If she speaks English, will Chiraq throw a hissy fit?

The only female CEO of a CAC 40 quoted company is an American.

France wrong ... Zell Miller right

Bush was right.

Bush Is a Nincompoop, the Iraq War Is Indefensible, and Canal + Has the Images to Prove It

People who read our comments section will learn that the problem with this weblog (and the problem with most Americans) is that its webmasters (and the bulk of the American people) are not as lucid as the French are, and thus do not realize, among other things, what a doofus America's president is. Nor do they realize to what extent the Iraq war is indefensible.

And of course these critics (i.e., the greater part of the French people) can only be right, because they have the proof of Bush's foul-ups (and of the Iraq war's indefensibility and, in general, of America's sins) from French television and other media outlets. And there are so many of pieces of evidence!

The only problem with that, of course, is that if Bush comes across as a total nincompoop, it may have something to do with how the editing job is carried out.

In that respect, Arrêt sur Images shows how a White House press conference was (heavily) cut (by Canal +) in order to make Dubya look like a total nincompoop (merci à Gilbert).

Who makes America's presidents tremble? A woman … An old woman who is close to 78 [Helen Thomas] … The American president can't answer a question as simple as why he went to war in Iraq. I think he is overawed … What is he, he is like a young student who is up for his first public speech! Yeah, that's BHL's theory. [Bush] is infantilized [transformed into a child] by that old woman.

(Click on the the small gray camera next to the words "Actu de Perrine Dutreil : extraits d'une conférence de presse de George W. Bush dans la "Matinale" de Canal + et sur CNN... une affaire de montage" for the Bush sequence, which opens the 52-minute broadcast.)

Thank goodness the French have a responsible public service, thank goodness they can trust their leaders, and praise the Lord they are not subject to anything like Fox News!

Update: The YouTube version

How Key Facts of the Iraq Conflict Are Ignored by France's Media and Citizens

What is striking in French bookstores is not only the overabundance of books lambasting the Iraq war (and Bush, and America's capitalist system, etc…), it is not only the absence of books in favor of same (and the accompanying absence of any kind of balance), it is the virtual absence of even any volume that is matter-of-fact and neutral about the subject.

Nobody expects a bookstore not to have a minimum number of books devoted to the military operations of, say, World War II or to a given campaign. Of course, the Iraq conflict in no way compares with WWII (in fact, that's the point, some defenders of America's current war might reasonably say), but it so happens that American bookstores abound not only with books blasting and praising the Iraq war (and Bush, and American-style capitalism, etc…), U.S. bookstores abound with books detailing the straightforward military operations of the Iraq war and even individual battles, as well as photo-album-type books and DVD documentaries of the three-week conflict (from Time, National Geographic, NBC, etc) — and, of course, soldiers' (and Marines') memoirs of the conflict (or a given battle) — again, positive, negative, or simply straightforward.

But as far as I can tell, none of these have ever been translated into French, nor do many French authors seem to have taken up positive or simply neutral aspects. (Is there not a single Frenchman who is interested in the military operations of the war?!) Of course, if you show details of the Iraq war, it might show a humane(e) side to Yankee soldiers and to the Pentagon's military decisions, and that will make it harder to demonize the Americans or refer to the conflict as the worst tragedy to befall humanity since the Holocaust…

Another French book that is critical of the French attitude towards Saddam Hussein vis-à-vis its attitude towards America during (and before!) the Iraq crisis is being conveniently ignored. As Media Ratings reminds us (merci à Resilience TV),

during and after that conflict, our media joined in a disinformation campaign orchestrated by the Quai d'Orsay [France's foreign ministry] and passed on by consenting French media. This campaign was perfectly described by Alain Hertoghe who, in late 2003, published The War of Outrages: How the Press Disinformed Us on Iraq.

As I write in my book on anti-Americanism, La Croix editor Hertoghe was duly fired, and his book remained ignored by the mainstream media. Now a new book has come out, and Jeanne Assouly's tome (she's from France 2, proving good apples can be found even in the most rancid of barrels) too seems to be in the process of being thoroughly ignored by France's MSM.

And why shouldn't it? After all, Iraq, the Truth: What France Risks From the Saddam Hussein Trial, shows

• how the Iraq war could have been avoided;
• who participated in tracking down Saddam;
• who was involved in trying to orchestrate Saddam's exile to Russia;
• how Saddam was blinded by pacifist demonstrations in the West;
• what type of compromising archives the Americans hold;
• how France is paying its anti-American activism (notably in Africa);
• and the risks that a number of French leaders are running from the revelations at the trial.

Do you remember all the times we have been told by French politicians, by French media outlets, by common French citizens, how it is wise in life to remain suspicious and how you should always look for the hidden motive (but how this always turns out to only remain suspicious of the Americans and look only for the Americans' hidden motives — no reason to remain suspicious of the motives of pacifist "peace camp" members such as Russia, China, and Syria)? Do you remember the vicious "documentaries" on the Saddam Hussein trial from Arte? (In fact, do you remember all the scorn, snorts, and scandalization about Fox News, in conjunction with the totally relaxed attitude regarding the state channels that such TV channels as France 2, France 3, and Arte are?)

All starts to make sense… Don't it?

Who elected Bono?

Bono, who has been exploiting people’s sense of decency to get his face on the world’s TV screens for a decade by promoting a bouquet of Apple-pie causes finally understands those of us who have been graced with his omnipresence.

«Bono said Sunday in an Italian newspaper commentary that he feels exploited by the Italian premier's campaign.»

Step back a moment and look more clearly at is Bono's vocation of virtue: they’re being advanced regardless of his actions, and with significant amounts of other people’s money. So why not exploit a man who’s become a one-man cause that has as little significance as the little rubber wristbands themselves? It's an image no deeper than his one-name pseudonym.

The toast of the death camp

Russ Meyer would be proud.



It has that Ilsa the She-worf flair about it that’s sure to get your squirrelly neighbor warmed up, doesn’t it? I wonder if they know about this. Or this.

Not likely.

The Signature of a Teenage Schoolgirl?

While Pat Buchanan ties "the Revolt of the Over-Privileged" in with a general view of Europe's economies, John Rosenthal takes on France's double standards involved in accusing foreign media of showing bias and causing "incitement". His Trans-Atlantic Intelligencer goes on with a post about Dominique de Villepin. Those childish beings we usually call Americans will be happy to realize the type of maturity, subtlety, and avant-garde vision that lesson-givers like France's prime minister are capable of.

It still isn’t what it isn't.

There are many impenetrable reasons that the New York Times is what it is. Most of them are hardly worth caring about since words live on after writers die. An item of interest jumped out at me while reading the Sunday Book Review section – an obvious revision at someone’s request to fit in with the usual collection of reviews featuring abnormally heroic middle-aged women and other miscellaneous ruminants.

Mark Lilla competently reviews Michael Burleigh’s “Godless Europe”, a survey of Europe’s evolution into the world’s first and only society where religion is nearly entirely absent. It leads inevitably to the state that Islam is presently in, writing:

The other challenge is to learn how to distinguish between those whose political programs are inspired by genuine faith, and those whose defense of religion is inspired by reactionary utopianism having less to do with God than with redirecting the faulty course of history. In radical Islam we find both phenomena today, authentic faith and anti-modern fanaticism, shaken together into an explosive cocktail.

But here’s the kicker, and probably that phone call from “paper of record” HQ: the US has to be figured into it even though the US has virtually nothing to do with the subject of a Godless Europe. Even Europe’s having to deal with the often fanatical cultures it neighbors barely merits that much space in a subject as expansive as the co-option of the faith of Europeans by political leader, the merest of Christians:

And even in the United States we are witnessing the instrumetantalization of religion by those who evidently care less about our souls, or even their own, than about reversing the “apocalypse” of the 60’s.

First of all, when has anyone writing in the NY Times cared about anybody’s soul? Who out there who has found any faith NOT find the negligence and depersonalization of feeling in the interest of sensation that the years of 1968-74 brought the mushy, newspaper-believing middle anything other than a loss – a deficit of self-investigation that brings people closer to animals in their lack of self-awareness? How about all of that loathing of their own society it brought us too?
Calling it an “apocalypse” externalizes it too much, given that people brought it on themselves. It’s no wonder that personal laziness even appears in its’ identification.

Another thing that didn’t leap off the page because of its’ very commonness was another review. Joyce Johnson reviews Gail Caldwell’s “A Strong West Wind.” Gail Caldwell is The Boston Globe’s book critic. A group which is that self aware shows signs of decay when it reviews it’s own. If only they could be a little more aware of others. Aware enough to know that critics discussing work by critics seem too eager to look at he world around them to notice what’s just around that circle: the world around them, replete with violence hiding behind religion. Joining them are the victims who are all too willing to make that same violence impossible to deal with by waving the magic wand of something they are least likely to grasp – the regard of any religion, just as Napoleon had.

Villepin reaps the bitter harvest of apeasement

Nidra Poller gives us the definitive word on French Leftists, anarchists, racaille and other assorted casseurs. Thanks to E-nough.

"EHESS, the elite center of postgraduate sociology, citadel of the ideology that drives the students who protest the evil CPE, was invaded last Monday. Taking advantage of an open-door policy for all who wished to discuss the nefarious precarious work contract, a crowd of anarchists, underdogs and assorted outlaws slipped in and kicked everyone else out. Those abstract victims of ultraliberalism that EHESS loves to study materialized, and expropriated the expropriators. Dismayed professors carrying trendy Apple computers rushed out of the elegant premises. When the police finally evacuated the squatters five days later, they found the building sacked, defiled, covered with filth and graffiti: Death to Democracy, F -- You, and the inevitable Jewish star."

For those who missed it, check out the essay that Poller wrote about the French pacifist Left when Bertrand Cantat, French rocker, repeatedly left hooked his movie star limousine leftist girlfriend into her own permanent utopia.

French youth

For these scumbags, it's Al-Manar 24/7. When they are out and about, it's a little whoring for the chicks, a little dealing for the guys, and alot of Jew hunting for the whole crowd.

The French are increasingly touchy about how their shithole is being portrayed elsewhere (particularly in Anglo-Saxon countries) as related in the article's last paragraph:

Some commentators seem traumatised by too much reality, upbraiding the foreign media for painting “la belle France” in an unflattering light. But the truth is ugly, particularly when it comes to the barbarians camped at the gate.

The West is the best ...

... you just get here, we'll do the rest.

Hello meester. Do you want to buy my seester?

The inter-euro-coppers have been meeting repeatedly to stem the tide of cacherones that come with the fußball mobs. Nonetheless managed prostitution is encouraging uncontrollable human trafficking, despite the best efforts of the unemployment-amt.

Without being able to sort out right from wrong, it's not like they have a leg to stand on when it even comes to limiting harm.

The approach is flaccid, at best.

La Fwance, un pays précaire ...

... pour les investisseurs.

This is your brain on Trotskist-Maoist-Communism

French experts take exception to recent intra-European IQ studies.

Orbiting planet dork

Ridley Scott is to make a biopic on the life of Mohammad with the incisive working title: Mohammad! This is sure to make him both a dhimmi and a blasphemer of sorts, and by all known standards a target of quite a bit of “love.”

Mediawatch.org.uk reports that the dazzle of the limelight can p-whip even the most obstinate.:

«Iqbal Sacranie [TR.: drunkard] of the MCB was reportedly furious when he first heard about the project. However, when he was offered the role of head consultant on Islamic matters, he had a change of heart:

“I am proud to be part of this important project which will increase understanding of Islam and build bridges between faith communities.” »

Décidément nous n'avons pas les mêmes valeurs

With opinions like that he can come to France and run for President.

French rap?!? I thought it was the Monkees

More French rap with Assassin. The clip has frequent references to Mumia, Paris city citizen of honor thanks to Notre Dame de Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë.

Radio Days

Astute European blogger blows apart moonbat conspiracy theories in our midsts.

Germany: number 1 in the number 2 business

The observer of Hermann notes that the smell is ubiquitous.

So much so, that you don’t notice it. It’s why Hermann thinks his shit don’t stink.

Genau. Natürlich.

Et puis, avoir ce cloaque de Fwance en plein milieu n'arrange pas les choses ...

"In a multipolar neighbourhood, the European Union is losing its will to attract".