Fire in the sky

When the target missile was destroyed, sending a brilliant white, mushroom-like cloud into the dark sky, the crowd began to applaud and cheer wildly.

" We smashed it," several people cheered as the rainbow colored contrail gave way to the cotton ball cloud of destruction above.»

This is the kind of thing the national and international press mentions only when it's failed.

As a result of this selective reporting, even they don't know off hand how
far along anti-missile defense is, as long as Dr. No knows. Hey, at least he has exquisite comic timing while he's teaching his adoring followers some Donner Family values.

- With thanks to Brian S.

The kids are alright

Interesting to note that the reactions of certain Arab countries to Israel's self-defense were far more balanced than the blatant and over-the-top anti-Semitism blurted out by a punch drunk Chiraq during his flop of a Garden Party. Chiraq's comments, and France's position, are subject to the fear of the reaction of French youth who might, at any moment, Fofana out across the country in an orgy tournante of killing, looting, and burning.

No linkage

They were just 4 everyday British lads. No-one knows what got in their heads. Maybe "they were provoked" by the notion that there might be a war in Iraq two years later, which would permit an end to any confusion as to why these garden variety British lads would do such a thing.

- h/t Drink-soaked Trotskyist Popinjays for WAR.

Remember to lock up the livesock too

« Dieudonné est atteint d'une maladie très grave : la parano du Juif »,

Said his former comedy partner Gad Elmaleh:

Montreal - “Dieudonné has a serious disease: the paranoia about Jews. It is a diagnosable psychiatric condition. What proves it is that he’s sure that a draft film project of his about Black people was shot down by Zionists forces.”

Chiraq hires Tribu Ka speechwriter

Jacques Chiraq speaks for ALL Europeans on Bastille Day: "I find honestly -- as all Europeans do -- that the current reactions are totally disproportionate". Of course, by "all Europeans", Chiraq means: the anti-Semitic mainstream European preSS (Al-Reuters, Al Guardian, Le Monde Al-Jazeera On the Seine, Libération PropagandaStaffel, France Info France Intox, etc. ad nauseum, anti-Semitic mainstream weasel politicos, and anti-Semitic French youth who would like nothing more than to have one more provocation before recommencing their killing and burning non-stop orgy tournante. And Chiraq just couldn't resist this one: "One may well ask if there isn't today a kind of wish to destroy Lebanon -- its infrastructure, its roads, its communications, its energy, its airport. And for what?"

Alright people, books on the floor.

It’s quiz-time. Name that city.

It is the capitol of the country that the Israelis should bomb to attach consequences to the actions of Hizballah, (translation: Army of God,) which the MSM prefers to spell Hezbollah for fear of telling anyone what their name means, even though it doesn’t even sound like that in Arabic.

The nation in question is the the gatekeeper of Hizballah's funds and weapons, and permits their cooperation of persons from a third country to assist them in combat.

Bonus round: name that third country in question.

Internecine violence, purges, vengeance, and bloodletting

Today the French celebrate Bastille Day. That is, only those who care about the notion of an autonomous nation-state.

Have fun storming the castle!

Party on, but don’t contribute to the cycle of violence.

Against Violence, Against Weapons, Against War (Some of the Time…)

A demonstration in Paris planned by the Iranian opposition movement the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to coincide with talks on Tehran's nuclear programme has been banned because of a threat to public order, police said Wednesday.

You know how people (French citizens, Yanks, other) are always being told, "All the world must stand for human rights, for freedom of speech, against violence and weapons and war. Those principles, and that love of solidarity, is the only reason France's citoyens (spontaneously) joined demonstrations against America (which were not against our American friends but against their leaders)"? Only thing, of course, is when a third country is involved (such as Iran or when China's prime minister comes for a state visit), suddenly all those principles go by the wayside and the demonstrations are banned…

You lucky, lucky bastard

Heres a man Id willingly give up Eriks right arm to meet: Felix Ismael Rodriguez a.k.a. Ché-blaster.

via Tex of Whacking Day

Wacky violent cult demands blood.

Tribu-Ka, complete with contrived history and ideology, are threatening the state with a “bloody response” if they don’t withdraw their anti-vigilante law, calling it unjust to let them go heeb-hunting.

My take is that these clown wouldn’t make it more than three blocks in North Philadelphia.

Merci à Kevin.

Thanks to the festive French youth

French authorities are only now taking notice of the fact that, for a few years now, public gatherings in France regularly degenerate into predictable orgies of violence.

Couldn't happen to a nicer shithole

Miserable failure.

Caption Contest

Have at it.

Hamas & Hizballah seek the release of one of their model citizens

In exchange for 3 Israeli soldiers, Hezbollah and Hamas are again demanding a mass release of their thugs, including one Samir Kuntar. Shrinkwrapped looks into just who Samir Kuntar is. Said one of his victims:

"As police began to arrive, the terrorists took Danny and Einat down to the beach. There, according to eyewitnesses, one of them shot Danny in front of Einat so that his death would be the last sight she would ever see. Then he smashed my little girl's skull in against a rock with his rifle butt. That terrorist was Samir Kuntar."

Meanwhile, the western leftist “peace” types don’t want Israel to over-react. In fact they don’t want them to react at all. The peace they seek for the Levant is that of the dead.

The fuse is lit!

Where’s the outrage? Where's the anger?

Indian police detain a near Camp Delta number of people, and not a peep from the lurking rats in London who like Pavlov’s dog would howl “we just won’t believe the lies anymore!” if the US was even tangentially involved.

Mumbai police said those rounded up included known thugs, gangsters and trouble makers, who might have information about the bombers. Most of the detentions were made overnight in Malwani, a north-eastern suburb of India's business capital, a police spokesman said.
He added that none of them has been formally arrested or charged, and they were brought in only for questioning to help with the investigations into Tuesday's serial bombings.

Thus we translate what the Indy, Graun, or Socialist Worker might say if it happened in Los Angeles:

Jack-botted thugs posing as Police rounded up known to include real or possible civil liberties activists, token community cultural representatives, and individuals about whom one may never be critical who might have information the regime wants with-held from the public. Most of the detentions were made overnight in a manner which would frighten children and pets, a police spokesman said.
He added that none of them has been formally arrested or charged, and they were brought in only for questioning which even in the absence of any evidence probably involves torture to help with the investigations into Tuesday's public demonstration of discontent.

The fuse is lit!

French youth's fave TV station attacked

It's a provocation! Guess they'll have to settle for watching their Pearl and Berg videos on their cellphones to get their "2 minute hate" fix.

Shifting the blame

Looks like SOS Racisme and the MRAP will have to call off their pitbulls.

Lucky he didn't break out his bomb belt

Zidane claims that his family was insulted by Materazzi. His thuggery was therefore provoked. Sort of like the killing and arson during last November's riots was provoked by Sarkozy calling the French youths racaille. In any case, being provoked is becoming a very common defense strategy among a certain portion of the French population. Remember these hyper-sensitive French and their wild eyed claims of being provoked? Zidane's mother says that Materazzi should be castrated. Violent impulses run in the family, I guess.

Europe reduces criticism of Israel (for a week and a half)

I’m sure it won’t last with all the Dr. Strangelovian twitching they’ve been up to for 30 years.
I guess that after the usual diplomatic flitting about they finally realized that what they did to Jörg Haider (drumming him out) is what the Israelis are doing to Hamas. Other than the fact that they’re both moonbats, the difference between them is that Hamas are dangerous killers, and Jörg is a tosser.

The fuse is lit!

Hizballah, Hamas, Guardian, creating a cycle of violence.

Syria says Israel deserved Hizbollah attacks, “world” prefers people dispose of their self preservation instincts.

More pressingly, lefties are trying to turn Enron embezzlers into political prisoners, and the personal has so greatly become the political, that people’s choice to shack up becomes a matter of public “debate”.

Leftism is no longer an ideology - it's become little more than a habit of projecting ones' emotions on the world.

Eat Your Heart Out, Michael Mann

Ever wonder what it’s like to be the rocket?



Video courtesy of NASA.

Unspinable

Another dodgy socialist politician get a get out of jail free card.

A former French prime minister [Cresson] has been officially criticised by the EU's top court for appointing her dentist as a top aide to the European Commission.

It found that Ms Cresson had appointed her dentist, Rene Berthelot, to the post of "visiting scientist" in order to allow him to act as a personal adviser.

However, the court said Mr Berthelot did not undertake any of the activities associated with his official job title - as an expert on AIDS - and was even too old to hold the post.

Unschpinbar, dude.

The fuse is lit!

Monday morning cultural quarterbacks

PARIS (Reuters) – the organization S.O.S Racisme required of the international Federation of football (FIFA) an investigation into the circumstances which surrounded expulsion of the leader of French play Zinedine Zidane for a blow of head, at the time of the finale of World of football against Italy.

“According to several well informed sources, it would seem that the Italian player Marco Materazzi called Zinedine Zidane a “dirty terrorist””, the organization wrote in an official statement. “If this assumption is confirmed, the Italian player would thus be guilty of a racist matter”, it added. “Whereas the whole of World Cup was dedicated to the fight against racism (...), we ask that FIFA show itself to be the greatest example of that declaration.”

To begin with, terrorists are not a “race”.

As bad as trash talk is, it’s sure isn’t the worst thing that’s been said on a field.

One kind of trash talk isn’t any worse than any other kind of trash talk. If someone thinks it ‘racial,’ that doesn’t mean the headbutt was any less worthy of a red card. If someone has had a racial comment made to them, it’s not like it suddenly makes you a foot shorter and completely helpless.

No-one has the slightest clue what they said to each other. Judging by the time of their exchange, there is no way in hell Materazzi had the time to read out a whole press release by SOS Racisme.

That greaseball that grabbed Zidane had it coming.

The fuse is lit!

Dr. Utopia’s ISMs.

The Grauniad’s Comment is Free site is the kind of mildewed corner of the British mind where they’re still arguing the merits of capitalism (for fear that anyone would be permitted to practice it, as if they could control the black market in the CCCP.)

Their virtuoso commenter, it turns out is a contrarian to their views with the handle “MrPikeBishop.” MrPikeBishop a.k.a. Frank Fisher is the kind of reader who makes a blog. He isn’t a drive-by shooter, but goes where he disagrees to liven up the joint, and get a few of the hackles up, in this case, on the Sesame Street of political ideological dialogue.

I was thinking of making you guess who was in pole position, but it's just too easy: MrPikeBishop has posted 2,407 comments on the site (and only a few of those were promoting his own blog), putting him way ahead of his nearest rival, altrui, at 1,565, closely followed by Szwagier with 1,522.

Lovely stuff. Especially when you consider how painful it is to try to explain to a leftist that farmers DO need a profit motive to produce food. All hail Pikey!

So – in the interest of educating the previously programmed, we have found the following as an aide. It’s a fillum, so it can be readily understood even by a product of a higher education on Sociology. Granted, it may be over the heads of the average leftist who would dispose of some rights here or there in the interest of “fair trade,” (doesn’t that just sound PERFECTly FAIR!,)but it might sink in when they’re a little older, standing in line to use their socially “fair” food ration cards.

Roll ‘em.:



When trying to teach the most fragile egos about democracy and capitalism, speak slowly and use small words and again - remember speak slowly.

Freedom is not a phrase just thrown around but sincerely uttered and meant

What follows is Christian Isely's first dispatch from the Middle East

Kuwait — April 23, 2004

I am working for Louis Berger, a US engineering firm contracted to the Department of Defense to manage infrastructure projects as a component of the larger reconstruction effort. We are specifically charged with managing transportation, communications, health, and the justice system physical infrastructures. I have a one year contract and will be living and working in the Green Zone in Baghdad. My role is to manage payroll and perform various administrative tasks. I may even participate in the hiring process for recruiting Iraqis.

I don't yet know how often I will write these. It totally depends on the situation on the ground in Baghdad. I will write as often as experience dictates. That is, as I experience things that I feel are important, I will write them down and report them (This also depends on my internet access).

Many of you expressed an interest in this newsletter since you wanted to get an inside perspective. I must admit, that is also one of the many reasons I signed up for this. I really want to know what is going on and why.

I don't yet know what things I can or cannot write about so don't be surprised if there are any topics that I don't touch upon.

I also don't yet know how much internet access or time I will have so don't be alarmed or surprised if I don't write you back immediately regarding any individual e-mails or questions.

I guess that about covers it.

Kuwait, a Staging Ground

Just a few days into my stint and it has already been an adventure!

I flew business class into Kuwait yesterday morning via British Airways and partook of the best airline food I've ever had the pleasure of eating. The meal included plenty of wine on the flight too. In theory, alcohol is non-existent in Kuwait. However, I suspect that if you are a member of the right circles, this is not a problem.

Upon arrival at the airport, I found the small office of Kellogg, Brown, and Root (KBR). KBR is a subsidiary of Halliburton and has many logistics contracts. One of their jobs is to process and transport Coalition personnel into and out of Iraq. I wasn’t the only one waiting to enter Iraq. Several other contractors showed up. Most must have been in the security industry for they had a tough mercenary look to them — cargo pants, tattoos, and muscular builds. Eventually, a KBR contractor led us out to what resembled a tour bus. After everyone was accounted for we left the airport and commenced to drive across the desert that is Kuwait.

Air pollution seems to be a problem here. A dismal haze was hanging around the horizon and some longer term residents have complained of respiratory problems or new allergies. I wondered if this had anything to do with the oil industry for also out on the horizon, were fires burning off the abundant natural gas.

Despite the enormous oil wealth of the country, there are hints of an earlier time for Bedouin, their sheep, and camels roamed beside us as we drove on the first rate highway toward the Persian Gulf.

Upon arriving at the hotel, our bus was searched for a bomb under the carriage. For this, the guards used a mirror stuck at an angle off of the end of a pole — kind of like a dentist's mirror. This allowed them to see the underside of the vehicle. I guess Kuwait isn’t even all that secure.

The hotel they have us staying at is the Kuwaiti Hilton and it is located on the beach complete with great views of massive oil tankers filling nearby or floating lazily out along the hazy horizon. There is a massively overpriced Starbuck's here which is quite a hangout in the evening when tens of Kuwaiti men (usually dressed in long white robes complete with Arab headgear) and young women in tight jeans sip from Starbuck's labeled mugs. I guess that's globalization for you. The coffee, by the way, tastes exactly the same as at home.

Kuwait’s Immigrants

I have already made a friend here. The hotel has a bus that ferries hotel employees between the city and work. I took the bus to make it into town and soon started up a conversation with one of the other passengers. His name was Eddie. He was a Catholic Indonesian and he was working here to support his wife and kid back home with his comparatively high wages earned in Kuwait. As it turns out, Kuwait has has an extremely large immigrant population made up mostly of Indians but there are also significant numbers of Pakistanis, Philippinos, Indonesians, and various Eastern Europeans.

Eddie took me to a few shops where I purchased an Arabic phrase book, Arabic music CD's, and Marlboro Reds (very cheap — about $15 a carton) — not that I'm a heavy smoker but they might be a good bargaining currency and I don't know how available or expensive they will be in Baghdad. Later, we ate at an Indonesian restaurant and he insisted on paying the majority of the check! We spoke of many things including the strange country of Kuwait that we had both found ourselves in, the dire situation in Iraq, Islam, his family, and what the future might hold for us.

After dinner, he took me to a Catholic church nearby. I was surprised that Kuwait even had churches. They are more tolerant than I thought! I soon found an Indian priest during an Indian wedding celebration (maybe they are originally from the Goa region?). I walked up to him while the bride and groom danced around in the crowd to much applause. I told him that I was leaving for Iraq the next day. He blessed my St. Christopher medal which my mother had given me for my protection. St. Christopher, by the way, is the patron saint of travelers.

Issued Equipment

Today, I was issued my PPE or Personal Protective Equipment. This included a gas mask (to protect me from those elusive Weapons of Mass Destruction), hood, duffel bag, pistol belt, canteen, kevlar flak vest, and helmet — All US army standard issue. The vest and helmet are needed for the 10 minute ride from Baghdad International Airport to the Green Zone. I was also instructed as to how to put on my mask and shown how to inject atropine (nerve gas antidote) into my leg. This of course occurred after I was shown grizzly photos of what small pox and mustard gas victims look like after exposure. This was probably the freakiest experience to date.

Most of the people running these briefings are ex-US military. In fact, most of the civilian contractors I’ve run into seem to be ex-military. Although I have nothing but respect for the service’s men and women, I am glad there are also people like myself with a very different perspective. To date, I have not met too many people who are as interested as I am in the cultural, historical, and political aspects of this entire venture. That is one area where I feel I will make a strong contribution since I am extremely interested in understanding as much about Iraq as possible. I have recently been reading a biography of Saddam Hussein so that I may familiarize myself with the last 50 years of Iraqi history.

The mood of most people I’ve met that are heading into Iraq seems to be very upbeat and most are very excited to be part of something so vital to American security and to the people of Iraq. However, there are also those who are here to make a quick buck via the substantial salaries. Some people have reinvested their earnings in the new Iraqi Dinar. I guess you could call it a bet on the success of the entire project. The idea is that should Iraq stabilize, the value of the Iraq Dinar will increase in relation to the US Dollar.

I have also met some Brits who are doing their part. Most of the British civilians apparently work in the South — especially in Basra. Of course these are the areas where the British exercise control.

Everyone I’ve talked to is disappointed about the Spanish pullout which was followed by Portugal and Honduras. I wonder what would have happened if the Madrid bombings had not taken place.

Everyone also recognizes that the UN will be playing a role when things settle down. What that role will be is still up in the air. There is also tremendous ambiguity as to what Iraqi sovereignty on July 1st will look like. Everything is always changing so it is difficult to predict the future.

I must say that the majority of the people I've met are sincere in their efforts and feel they are contributing to the freedom of the Iraqi people. Freedom is not a phrase just thrown around but sincerely uttered and meant. Although there of course is tremendous debate about the intentions of the US administration regarding Iraq, have no doubt that there are those who are here because they want to do the right thing.

I guess that's about it for now. I leave for Baghdad on a C-130 tomorrow morning and will write again as soon as I have the opportunity.

Today Is George Bush's Birthday

Today George Bush will be celebrating his birthday. Some will protest and say, that's not true, the president's birthday was July 6. But we're not talking about the same person, apparently. And the George Bush I have in mind will hardly be doing much bona fide celebrating, actually, in view of the fact that he turns only 3 today.

The George Bush I have in mind is not the one whose full name is George Walker Bush, nor the one whose full name is George Herbert Walker Bush, but the one whose full name is George Bush Abdul Kader Faris Abed El-Hussein (no relation to Saddam). And this George Bush was born in Baghdad on July 11, 2003.

As far as can be ascertained, George Bush’s parents named him in honor of some Western leader one of whose recent feats they found to be not only impressive and admirable, obviously, but worthy enough to name their new-born son after. They must have been plenty impressed, in view of the fact that they gave their child the name of someone not of their faith, with linguistic roots not of their culture. (Sort of like a Westerner — say, someone from the Bush clan — giving a newborn son a name such as Mohammed Ahmed Yusuf Bush.)

Now, here is what I suggest. I suggest that the West should send a number of representatives to Baghdad. The type of people that David Brooks calls “the members of the sneering brigade”, “the think-tank johnnies and the rest of the commentariate” in “their usual sky-is-falling mode” — people like José Bové, François Hollande, Jacques Chirac, Gerhard Schröder, José Luis Zapatero, Jean-Marie Colombani, Plantu, Willem (to name only the Europeans), etc… They should choose a couple of high-visibility VIPs, “arm” them with all the usual arguments, and send them to Baghdad.

And there, they should seek out the parents of George Bush. Once the couple has been found, they should patiently explain the “truth” to them and seek thereby to install some common sense in them. That would include telling them…
• that the war was unnecessary and a sham, conducted for bogus reasons;
• that Iraq, and the world, were far better off before the conflict;
• that the presence of foreign soldiers is “humiliating” for George Bush and his fellow countrymen;
• that they must resent America (or at least, the Bush administration) for the current situation in which thousands have been killed over a period of more than three years and hark back to the previous situation in which the secret police killed several thousands per month with total impunity;
• that, in contrast to the administration of George Bush’s namesake, they, the holier-than-thou members of the peace camp, had (and have) nothing but the best interests of his parents in mind;
• oh, and, of course, that George Bush’s namesake is nothing but a nincompoop and a despicable liar.

Once the parents of George Bush have been converted to the sky-is-falling truth, the “the members of the sneering brigade” could go to work convincing more of Iraq’s population.
The members of “the commentariate” could start with Mohammed, Ali, and Omar, the brothers from Iraq the Model and expand outwards, to include the Iraqis who lost hands and tongues to Saddam’s thugs, had their faced scarred by acid, had their sisters, mothers, and daughters raped, and had their parents, brothers, and children shot down and their bodies thrown into unnamed graves. With luck, “the think-tank johnnies” would eventually reach that vast majority of people who in polls believe life has never been better since the war toppled Saddam and who say they feel more optimistic than they ever had in the past.

Let us join together and wish them “good luck and godspeed with your sacred mission”.

Oh, and by the way, Georgie: Happy birthday!

Green like me.

Okay. I give. How can anyone fail to see that Global Warming isnt a huge issue. I see the scientific consensus now. 17000 scientists cant be wrong.

The fuse is lit!

Djack Lang approuve car "la vie est une fête"

When the Brits do it, the French preSS calls it hooliganism and calls for UK teams to be banned from European competition. When the chères têtes blondes do it, it's just fun and games in Djack Lang land. Stade Charlety was the scene of a series of gang fights yesterday. 12 people were treated for injuries (but nothing serious, we are assured by the powers that be). Stade Charlety was the scene of a stabbing after the semi-final match.

Here are some French youth clobbering some guy during a World Cup retransmission at Paris' Stade Charlety.

I saw Marianne begging in the street with a sign at her feet that said "Will philosophize for food"

Now that the French have lost the World Cup and Zidane the Thug is officially retired, we can get back to brass tacks. So let's talk about French poverty which is continually fed by the French Social Model (which besides being a dysfunctional social model is also an outstanding blog which has just been featured in TCS Daily).

French youths out on the town

La racaille invades the Champs-Elysées.

Exclusive interview with Zidane

To find out, why Zidane, why?



MateLeSurLeNet.com

Paras misused defending middle class conceits

An embedded Times (UK) correspondent traveling with and protected by UK paratroopers is so grateful to them, that she’s willing to put a price on their lives – one that they can dwell on so they can take pride in their work, and see their mission as little more than low paid mercenary work.

All I can say is an extremely heartfelt thank you to those brave paras for somehow turning the situation round so we got out, and in particular Lee, the military policeman, for giving me water when I was so thirsty my tongue was sticking to the roof of my mouth and encouraging me to keep running when I thought I could run no more. When these courageous men are risking their lives out there, many for not much more than £1000 a month, I would have thought the least the Defence Minister could do is bother to show up in Parliament for yesterday’s emergency statement on Afghanistan.

If your life isn’t cheap enough for her fellahs, remember why she’s there to report – in large part about herself:

Fortunately the plane made it to Dubai and I managed to get back to London Saturday night, missing the penalty shootout but just in time for my son’s seventh birthday party the following day. It was a real “Cupcakes and Kalashnikovs” moment spending all Sunday morning making ham sandwiches for seven year olds with gunfire still ringing in my head then explaining to mothers who do not work, where I had been for the last few weeks.

Enough about me talking about me. Why don’t you talk about me?

Ben Duffy Helps Explain Why Europeans Love Soccer

Thuggery

A good illustration of a French dude using his head. Racaille.

Check out the whining French commentator bleating "why?, why?" at the end.

Great post-match commentary over at Atlas' place.

Les masques tombent

Une équipe franchouille qui, à l'encontre de la nation qu'elle représentait, avançait sans panache dans cette Coupe du Monde grâce à des penalties et autres largesses accordées par les arbitres, a perdu contre l'Italie. Pour étouffer définitivement l'intox Black-Blanc-Beur, Zinédine Zidane prouve que le naturel revient au galop en clôturant sa carrière internationale avec un geste digne des plus féroces racailles.

Very good suggestion

Except for it to happen, Europe would have to grow a pair. Not likely. Thanks to S.

I’d still take...

...a victory of age and treachery over youth and skill.

Update: dag. Lost my bet.

Pray hard (or else.)

The visceral anti-American world view will go along with anything to prop up its’ fragile ego. Remember that the mainstream media brought out the usual tch-tch ritual when those lovely Somali ‘Sharia courts’ booted out warlords who were doing deals with American intelligence. It seems they’re more intelligent that people give them credit for. After having to hear the European press laud the ‘grassrootsy’, ‘peaceful’, indeed proletarian nature of the Somali Sharia-istas, it might come as no surprise just how intolerant they are.

Under an edict issued by a leading Mogadishu cleric, the five-times daily prayer required by the Koran will be enforced under penalty of death, a move that appears to confirm the hardline nature of the city's Sharia courts.

"He who does not perform prayers will be considered as infidel and Sharia law orders that that person be killed," said Sheikh Abdalla Ali, a founder and high-ranking official in the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS).

It’s really quite simple – the only clue you need is to see who the international press gives the most column-inches to and be suspicious.
Next time you hear a religious zealot of one sort pounding on conservatives in the tolerant west, imagine what sort of ‘fair trial’ said luvvies would be getting in Somalia.

“See you in court.” Now THAT’s funny.




Oh yeah – there’s the other religion to discuss today... And my guess is France 2:1 Italy.

Remember, a fish rots from the neck up

Oh my. This sounds like “the lobster” is at it again.

"Rien a foutre", "on ne se mouille pas", et commentaires haineux? Ça s'applique a qui, exactement?

Merci pour ce morceau de critique très constructif.

De la part (nous n'en doutons aucunement) de personnes lucides entièrement objectives.

Bizarrement, je ne me souviens pas que nous ayions jamais fait des pronostics pour les matchs des Bleus, en bien ou en mal ; par contre, je me souviens d'un nombre de posts sur les pronostics de la presse française où le pessimisme et l'alarmisme se mêlaient au mépris (pour l'âge de Zidane, par exemple) et aux secouements de tête, etc.

En d'autres termes, avant d'aller se plaindre des étrangers, et de croire que toutes leurs critiques (voire leurs simples observations) sont malveillantes, on ferait mieux, parfois, de les écouter ou, en tout cas, de pointer le doigt vers soi-même. Voilà une raison d'être de ce blog, et c'est par ailleurs le message que vous prétendez faire aux Ricains tout le temps ("ce n'est pas contre le peuple américain que nous en avons, mais contre leurs leaders et leur politique"), mais il s'avère cette attitude ne s'applique pas en ce qui concerne la France — autre exemple de deux poids deux mesures qui forment une autre raison d'être de ce blog.

Entretemps, nous attendons toujours (depuis plus de deux ans et trois mois) une réponse à l'article suivant et/ou aux informations qu'il contient — une réponse autre que : ce ne sont que des Irakons, "rien a foutre", l'on ne se mouille pas, une énumération détaillée des raisons pour lesqulles il ne faut pas en tenir compte, et/ou (quand il y a le moindre incident ou controverse impliquant l'armée américaine) un 300eme de petit commentaire haineux contre les Etats-Unis (ou ses leaders).

La politique de la France reste très vivement critiquée par les Irakiens

Par Rémy Ourdan

Il est presque impossible, hormis chez les responsables baasistes déchus, de trouver quelqu'un qui soutienne la position de Paris dans la crise . La politique de la France reste très vivement critiquée par les Irakiens. Contrairement à ce que croient souvent les Européens, le fait d'être opposé à l'occupation américaine ne fait absolument pas monter la cote de popularité de l'Europe, ou de tel ou tel pays, en Irak. C'est un paradoxe, mais c'est une réalité. ...

Faut-il le souligner ? : des conflits où des hommes risquent la mort (fussent-ils américains, irakiens, britanniques, français, ou autres) sont infiniment plus importants que des évènements sportifs (que leurs joueurs comprennent des Français, des Américains, des Italiens, des Brésiliens, ou autres). Du coup, qui sont ceux, hooligans ou autres, qui voient dans le sport autre chose qu'un spectacle? Nous ou vous-même?

J'ajouterais que le seul fait de faire un brouhaha sur un évènement sportif, aussi important soit-il, tout en ignorant les aspects de conflits dans le monde qui ne collent pas à la version auto-congratulatoire de la vision du monde en question, est en soi-même une réponse "rien à foutre". (Réponse qui se rapporte sans doute au courage que vous prônez au plus haut.)

Cubans of the Northern Shore and Cubans of the Southern Shore

The photos of Robert Vanderhilst compare Cubans of the Southern shore to Cubans of the Northern shore.

Meanwhile, Le Monde 2 highlights the theories of Marylène Patou-Mathis (click on image "11"), a Frenchwoman (why doesn't that sound surprizing?) who laments the disappearance of Neanderthal man. And no wonder. "Too cool to survive" Neanderthal died out because, contrary to our ancestor, Cro-Magnon, he was intelligent, cultivated, and non-violent. (How long before we get a book entitled, "Frenchmen Descend From Neanderthals, Americans Descend From Cro-Magnons"?)

While we're at it, check out this book from that other product of the lucid society, Yves Paccalet.

World Cup: France Versus Italy

Tonight, France's soccer team, les Bleus, confronts Italy for the World Cup.

Not in my name

Don't call them that. Not in my name. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gets in his sound bite for the weekend accusing Israel of "new crimes against humanity", as if the hateful primates he presides over could be classified as such.

The comment culture - an unlikely antidote to a foggy media

Commenting on an article which is provocative by UK standards in the Telegraph, we find some interesting comments between the invasion of the drive-by shooters.

“Isn't American hatred the barely disguised hatred of an ideal, namely capitalism? The left loathe the triumph of this ideology over their own bankrupt collectivism.

This is what they will never forgive America: for embodying an ideal that has trumped their own impoverished, failed and delinquent creed.”

also

“The critics of US policy are a funny, mixed-up bunch. One minute they say, "focus on the present, not on the past", and the next they say, "what about Granada, Somalia, Vietnam?"

One minute they say, "America is a bully", and the next they say, "why didn't you do anything about the dictatorships in Africa?"

One minute they say, "Bush is a simpleton", and the next they say, "Bush is the greatest criminal mastermind the world has ever seen!"

The hate directed at the US is quite clearly a re-direction of the self-hatred that most Europeans feel for themselves and their neighbours.

Our politicians stand for nothing, so we hate the American politicians who have a vision.

Our armed forces are pitiful, so we hate the most powerful armed force on the planet.

Our global cultural significance is in continual decline, so we hate a culture on the ascendance.

Our economies are stagnant, so we hate the fast-growing wealth of America, and blame "big business".

Our nations have lost faith in God and in hope and optimism, so we hate America, a land which still believes.

The hatred of America is the single biggest case of lack of self-esteem I have ever encountered. Stop being so pathetically self-centred and self-loathing! Maybe then you'll stop feeling as though you have to blame the nation that is so obviously doing a bit better than you are.

Oh, and by the way, I am solidly British and quite secure, thank you very much.”

Now compare the range of opinion at the Telegraph, often accused of being the poodle of the intolerant fascistic BushChimpyHitlerBurton, with the tender and thoughtful Guardian, where every day is the triumphal May Day march taking pride in the glorious struggle against da man - whoever he may be that day, but always having an American accent:

The truth is the symbiotic relationship between bin Laden and Bush. they need eachother to buttress their own power and relevance: ...According to Suskind’s book, CIA analysts had spent years “parsing each expressed word of the al-Qaeda leader and his deputy, [Ayman] Zawahiri. What they’d learned over nearly a decade is that bin-Laden speaks only for strategic reasons. … “Their [the CIA’s] assessments, at day’s end, are a distillate of the kind of secret, internal conversations that the American public [was] not sanctioned to hear: strategic analysis. Today’s conclusion: bin-Laden’s message was clearly designed to assist the President’s reelection.

even if the president can’t be re-elected – unless you’ve aready convinced yourself that the’s “a dictator”. Lost in the Graun’s endless flow of spittle, the occasional reminder of how they’re talking-talking-talking themselves into an illusion:

I'm trying to remember how many CIF articles are currently about the US. Yet no writer is talking about the US I live in: Outside the Northeast and LA, and not easily written off as redneck land. I live in a small city (about 500K) with a significant immigrant population (mostly Hispanic and Thai). We have our share of flag-wavers (and an oddly named "Patriot's Corner" from which they can wave their flags). About half the people I know vote Republican, and about half Democrat. The local economy is going well, Madame Mayor is well-respected and liked, and you can still get affordable housing on the water.

I suspect that this is closer to the real America than the Guardian columnists know.

I know that they don’t know, judging by this spurious nonsense:

The reason for the difference in mentality is that Europeans rely on a broader range of media to get their news.”

Broad indeed: BBC, The Guardian, Indymedia... You know, the substantive middle ground...

Being Bono Means Always Having to Say You're Sorry

"I Support Two Teams: Switzerland and Whoever Beats France"

…ce voisin français perçu comme écrasant et arrogant … le "grand voisin condescendant, qui a inventé à la fois le concept de chauvinisme et l'appellation P'tit Suisse".

It's not only the Québécois but also the Swiss who are P'd off at the country of the "Frouze", a nation whose media tend to "treat [Switzerland] as an appendix of France".

Black-blanc-beur ???

No, just black and blue.

SOS Education

As we have mentioned before, there is good reason to think that French schools are training a generation of anti-Americans… Now a French association is fighting back.

The worst schoolbook is the Martin Ivernel history manuel, published by Hatier. It goes as far as praising the Soviet Union and its alleged pacific policies, all the while omitting to mention the millions of dead in Ukraine, in China, in Cambodia, in North Korea, and elsewhere.

Anti-Americanism is not alone (there are also books teaching children cuss words — "if you don't know enough cuss words, ask your parents to help you, they know more of them than you do" — etc), but it — and the attendant lack of the most basic kind of serious perspective on history — features prominently in the reasons that pushed half a dozen concerned parents to create SOS Éducation. France itself is hardly better served, by the way:

[The Nathan text book for the sixième grade] quotes neither Montaigne, nor Racine, nor Balzac, nor Flaubert, nor most of our great authors. Instead of having our children read classical texts, they are lectured about skateboards, roller skates, the Boule and Bill comic book, and Harry Potter … many history books have abandoned all attempts at chronological continuity … the child can go without transition from Vercingetorix to Charlemagne, from Louis XIV to the French Revolution, from Napoleon to Jules Ferry. Thus, the Nathan history manual for the quatrième grade tells the whole [sic] history of the 19th century without once quoting Louis XVIII, Charles X, or Louis-Philippe!

Apparently, SOS Éducation's protests are getting the publishers' attention. In order to muzzle its voice, the latter are in the process of launching a massive lawsuit against the non-profit association.

Not NOW, Mabel!

This must be that Amour dangereux du drapeau that they lecture Americans about.



via Contra-Mundum who realizes that it's just a game.

Sixty million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong

As in NEVER. So stop asking, okay?

It’s not just Americans that many French have a problem with, it even with the world’s Francophones. It just isn’t cool to mention it in a social environment where only an American run civil prison where about a dozen rapist and murderers were illegally abused can be called another Auschwitz.

An alt-media paper The Montral Mirror’s Chris Barry interviews the authors of an “ethnographic analysis” of French society by Montreal based journalists Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow:

Montreal Mirror: I’ve yet to meet a Frenchman who didn’t look down his nose at the Québécois—usually accusing them of being unsophisticated.

[...]

Jean-Benoît Nadeau: In France it’s impolite to ask someone from out of nowhere their name or what they do in life. Which is a very standard conversation starter here, the lowest common denominator of conversation. The French don’t value the lowest common denominator.
JB: They definitely don’t like being asked what they do for a living.
Montreal Mirror: Maybe because half the population is living off the state.

[...]

Montreal Mirror: But getting to the truly important issues, how come those bloody Parisians won’t pick up after their dogs?

Julie Barlow: Because the thought doesn’t even cross their minds. Partly because the whole French system doesn’t rely on civic initiative. The government picks up after the dogs. It’s as simple as that. The French couldn’t imagine it being any other way.

What’s true at first blush about a socialistic society is that behind the good intentions to restore the dignity of a few badly off, they create a atmosphere of dependency that takes virtually everyone’s self-respect away. To one degree or another, when you think of bellicose popular cultures and optimistic ones, that “degree or another” is the degree of their collectivism leeching off of each society.

- h/t to astute reader Val.

Channeling the dead for affirmation

What would Mother Gaia Ché do?

Che Guevara's last night alive relived on NY stage

Well, no not really his last night – what lefties desperate to have their world view go unchallenged and undebated wish it was like:

After writing "The Motorcycle Diaries" screenplay, Jose Rivera felt he had more to say about Ernesto "Che" Guevara, so he wrote a play he says shows the Latin American revolutionary would have had plenty to say about the war in Iraq.

Certainly he would have plenty to say. He was himself a mass murderer that aspired to grow to the scale of Saddam Hussein, and he would probably have defended to death Saddam’s capacity to murder innocents In Iraq and abroad who were inconvenient to him.

Che was always asking those questions and criticizing U.S. imperialistic impulses all over the world," he said.

Because he wanted to do the same, only with mock ‘popular will’ which wished to use mobocracy instead of democracy, and to use it to enslave people and make them all equally controllable instead of allowing them to realize their desires for their own lives in their own way.

Now imagine defending to no end a limited set of views spinning around events by a murderer from 40 years ago. Imagine that remodeling the immoral nature of them into something else is ones’ life work. Think for a moment how weak an intellect one has to have to continue that charade, and try to see the entire world through the prism or what ultimately was little more than a KGB funded operation to get other people to unwittingly do their killing for them.

Now imagine that this is the core belief of your weltanschauung, and this is what you get:

"My daughter wore a Che T-shirt to school and she was criticized by one of the teachers saying 'He's a terrorist,' and 'Why would you glorify a terrorist?'," Rivera said, adding that he does not expect to take the new play to Miami.

That’s because he WAS a terrorist, and he was proud of it. He saw it as ‘cleansing’ and necessary to build a new world order that’s alien to human nature and virtually every form of human morality.

They wanted to break it to break people, to modify and control them. Others think that they still can, trying to convince people that an ideology that imprisons free thinkers and contrarians will “give them a voice” that no one is denying them in democracy to begin with. The voice they want is in fact the reverse – the silencing of others’ voices, just as Ché with his capricious murders, Saddam with his poison gas attacks, and even down to Obrador trying to take by intimidation what he couldn’t win in the ballot box by calling mobs out into the streets.

Kudos though to Rivera’s kid’s teacher that didn’t tow the party line of the ‘hand that rocks the cradle’ collectivist vision that had to virtually give up on pushing it on intellectually developed adults who know better.

Further Gore-yness from a sore loser in Mexico

Headlines:

Mexican conservative wins tight battle

...but...

Leftist calls supporters onto streets in Mexican crisis

...and... the BBC refuses to concede that there is no story here:

Mexico candidate vows vote fight

Mexico's centre-left presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said he will challenge the outcome of Sunday's presidential election.

Suddenly and much to the surprise of the actual center left in Mexico (that didn’t seem to care for this brick-chucker,) he has now been pronounced a harmless, warm and fuzzy “center left” kind of guy by the hit-and-run "international media."

Others still can never be satisfied by even a marginal reporting of actual facts. These punks thinks BBC Mundo, with it's puny theoretical market share based on 10 stations carrying them part of the day, has influenced the vote in favor of Calderon.

It’s as it every day is like nursing a Wednesday morning hangover

Excessive dependence from outside markets puts everything in jeopardy goes the least agitational reasoning of anti-globo arguments, but this is only true when there the economy within is a good outside participant and a mediocre internal one.

The euro zone occasionally enjoys an uptick in growth by piggybacking on strong global trade. But the good days never last; there has been no real boom since the dotcom days at the end of the last decade. The sorry reality is that what is celebrated as a great year for European economic progress would be decried as a catastrophic near-recession in America.

The saying goes that when the US sneezes, the rest of the world gets a cold. By ‘the world’ people who would say this generally mean their world. Meant as a slight on the US by saying that she lacks a sense of responsibility for the care of others before itself, one wonders where this parasitic notion will lead. The saying is, after all, decades old. Don’t you think it’s time export based European economies built a little bit of an immunity and stop making the US trade defecit (that they otherwise complain about gladly when it comes to the cost of borrowing) responsible for their well being?
They are, in that sense, still a little like underdeveloped economies dependant on wealth coming from abroad rather than developing markets and spending power from within.

Hunting Jews in Fwance, and burning Jewish books in Germ-many

Sophisticated Zeropeans do not like to admit as much, but the simple fact is that incidents like this are far more common than their fragile sensibilities would allow them to confess.

1974: La nécessité pour la diplomatie américaine de "ménager les sensibilités française et européennes"

In an article about declassified State Department telegrams from the 1970s, Corine Lesnes teaches us about international life 30 years ago, among other things, reports about a young brilliant technocrat (who, however, is lacking in humanity), platitudes in diplomatic life, and a French general scornful of the Americans who goes solliciting the American ambassador in respectful terms. (As we've always pointed out, there is quite a difference in high-falutin' public declarations about historic friendship and common causes on the one hand, and, on the other, what is said behind the Americans' back.)

Of the 11,300 documents concerning France (400,000 altogether), 26 (9,800 altogether) were considered improper to be declasified. Only the declassified titles give an idea of their content and show how close they are to today's concerns:

Le 21 novembre 1974, l'Iran signe un accord sur un réacteur nucléaire avec la France et la République fédérale d'Allemagne. La France et l'Inde coopèrent dans le domaine des matières fissiles...

He demanded that the country respect his "triumph."

It's lefty's way.

Mexico gets its' own Al Gore:

Mr. López Obrador now claims that there are three million "lost" votes, and that he senses all kinds of "irregularities," none of which are backed up with evidence.

Meanwhile the press' love affair is mutating into silent running.
TV - radio update: BBC reported Obredon's protest and his "comeback," but not Calderón's numerical lead betwixt.

All we hear is radio goo-goo, radio ga-ga.

Via Biased BBC and as Ufois2 linked as well: I can't get enough of getting a load of this puckered priest of propaganda banging his spoon on his high-chair – a BBC presenter ranted on about wanting George Bush to "rot in hell".

The Radio Ulster host was presenting his morning show yesterday - July 4, US Independence Day - when he said it was also the American President's birthday.

After telling his listeners Mr. Bush had just turned 60, he added: "May I say I hope you rot in hell".

Ironically, the popular presenter and Belfast Telegraph columnist got the birth date wrong - the current President celebrates his birthday tomorrow, July 6.

One Radio Ulster listener, who contacted the Belfast Telegraph, said: "I couldn't believe what I was hearing, especially on Independence Day."

It fits neatly into a business program interview I heard yesterday on the BBC World Service discussing credit cards (only American owned versions of the plastic fantanstic of course), where the guests were complaining about Americans and their personal debt. If this problem appeared anwhere else on earth, let alone old Blighty where the desease of betting on anything that runs on two or four legs seems to persist unabated - they'll know who's to blame.
One American activist type who clearly hasn’t lived in the US in ages said of credit cards: that is was “about the times”. That you had Ronald Reagan encouraging it with a phrase about “a shining White House on the hill” – that possessions turned into the goal of the good life, blah, blah, blah

Newsflash, Spanky – it was “a shining city on the hill”, and he was talking about the disposition of the American public spirit, not the private accumulation of anything. That a population working with a common goal can make a good society. It was largely about the elevation of the poor out of their hardship. Hardly the emboldening of avarice that our friend would like us to believe.

Of that vision, Reagan said in his farewell speech from the White House:

And how stands the city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was eight years ago. But more than that; after 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no matter what storm. And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home.

The phrase made it into the media discussion loop. Because it had a richness and depth haters of Reagan HAD to try to denigrate it and anything he said to cover for an absence of valid ideas that could inspire people to disagree with him. Just as his sincere and touching manner of letters writing belies the decade long unceasing charge that Reagan was illiterate, the vulgarity of the left reveals that they have no interest in a good and just society. It caused the same hostility to be turned back on them, and showed them to be unreasonable, intolerant, uncouth, and unworthy to lead well.

We see the same thing again from the one-note-Johnnies of the left – frequently abusing their positions in academia or otherwise. No notion of a good society that people can work toward, just some adoration of their favorite pieties and Rube Goldberg government management of peoples’ lives. “lifestyle concepts” do not make a philosophy – they are little more than a bribe to yet another faction of the population that they had cleft away into captive emotional isolation. What has never suited the type was to have the room to imagine a “Shining city on the hill,” or anything else that's much larger than their world view, outside the narrow frame of what remains little more than a variant on the failed Marxist class struggle theory.

One place where they’re still trying to sell it is back on the BBC’s airwaves. A quick survey of their news operation’s coverage of elections in Mexico has proved out that they aren’t just picking sides, but trying to project non-existent imagery on the two candidates, just as our friend with the “shining White House on the Hill” has. From Biased BBC again, and their commenters we get to play a game of who using BBC clues to identify the conservative:

One of the most popular politicians in Mexico ... It ended in a triumph for him ... As mayor of Mexico City, he won respect as much for his reputation for honesty, a gruelling work schedule and his humble lifestyle as for his ambitious public works and social programmes targeting the poor and disadvantaged ... He often draws on his humble origins - growing up in a village of 600 in Tabasco State, the son of a store owner... recognition of indigenous people's rights, scholarships for the handicapped and improving healthcare and education ... He says he will pay for social spending, higher pensions and wages by wiping out corruption, cutting down on government waste and cracking down on tax evasion

A Harvard educated lawyer, [he], is favoured by the business community. He has run a negative campaign.

One gets a platform presentation, the other is described by the ugly gruntwork of electioneering, imagery, and they go one to present any skeletons have in his closet.

Thay are, by the way, BOTH “career politicians” – but since that’s a seemingly bad thing, only one of them is identified as such.

It simply never ends. One more note on the plastic fantastic. The interview included the brains behind the Diner's Club Card, a charge card. They were talking to the wrong guy anyway.
The advent of the credit card came with Bank of America successful start of the BankAmericard some years later. The Graun, of course attributes this to Barkleys somehow, but that article goes back to 1998, before it became obvious that someone could use it to wag their finger at American-ness (living, breathing, etc., etc.)

Aren't they just darling?

Solidarity ...

... with Oriana Fallaci.

They do have a monopoly on the production of white flags

Strategic yogurt production is not working out so well for the French. Time to find a new policy.

One day the BBC guy will find out that when you die and go to heaven -- you go to Texas

The BBC bully boys win a long awaited Eurowanker mention.

BBC “Reports” News

Monitor here for possible BBC stealth edits.



Shouldn’t that at least say US Afghan raid kills 35 suspected Taleban?

US-led forces in Afghanistan say they have killed about 35 militants in a raid on a "known Taleban compound" in the south of the country.

Buses carrying Afghan army officers and government workers were the target.
The Taleban claimed responsibility for both Tuesday and Wednesday's attacks.

So are they the Taleban or the “Taleban”? Based on the leader can we not assume that the Taliban even exist? Or are they tring to tell us that it's all in our heads?

Chat with Hubert Védrine

Le Monde has chosen July 4 (11 a.m. French time) for a chat with the man who coined the term "hyper-power" for the United States (thus ensuring that debate is unnecessary in systematically proving Uncle Sam at fault automatically in every instance). If you have any questions for Hubert Védrine (preferably in French), you can already submit them now.

Update:

…ce serait une erreur de ramener cet affrontement [la guerre contre le terrorisme] entre quelques milliers de terroristes et, d'autre part, le monde occidental et la plupart des régimes arabo-musulmans modérés, à une affaire d'énergie. C'est évidemment secondaire dans la démarche d'Al-Qaida, et je ne crois pas que cela ait joué un rôle essentiel dans la guerre en Irak. Si les Etats-Unis avaient été préoccupés par cette seule question, ils auraient fait modifier le régime des sanctions de l'ONU contre Saddam Hussein, et ils auraient facilement obtenu de ce dernier un quasi-monopole de l'accès au pétrole irakien.

There are things that even France's former foreign minister can not deny. Among the things that Védrine (who not only coined the word "hyperpuissance" but, as Steve reminds us, did so before George W Bush's rise to the presidency, i.e., during the term of Bill Clinton who, as we are constantly being reminded, supposedly represented the good, wise America in the eyes of the Europeans) has to admit is the fact of Europeans' self-obsession (and their concomittant inability — and unwillingness — to understand anything beyond their own borders):

Les Européens ont du mal à le comprendre, mais il est vrai qu'ils sont devenus tellement ingénus, ils croient tellement que ce sont leurs croyances actuelles qui sont normales, alors qu'ils ne sont que 500 millions sur 6,5 milliards d'habitants, qu'ils ne comprennent pas grand-chose à ce qui se passe en Russie, en Chine, dans le monde arabe ou africain, en Israël, ou même aux Etats-Unis.

In the chat moderated by Constance Baudry, Védrine ends by saying that

aujourd'hui, tout le langage de la politique étrangère a repris les formules qui étaient celles de la gauche naguère : paix, communauté internationale, coopération, multilatéralisme, prévention des conflits, etc [and that] la vision des années 1990 (communauté internationale, grands sommets de l'ONU, etc.) était une illusion d'optique. Il nous faut une politique plus réaliste et plus active.

Birds of a feather

Klan Gets Permit for Gettysburg Protest

GETTYSBURG, Pa. -- The National Park Service has granted the Ku Klux Klan's request to hold a rally and protest the Iraq war at the Civil War battlefield where Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address.

One set of authoritarian symps to coincide with another:

US Anti-War Protesters to Launch Fast

The list of anticipated fasters includes anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, mother of an American serviceman killed in Iraq, and Michael Berg, the father of an American citizen who was captured by insurgents in Iraq and later beheaded.

Several members of Congress are expected to take part, as well as a British and a Canadian lawmaker. Actors Danny Glover, Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon, as well as country musician Willie Nelson, are among a long list of celebrities.

"For some of us, it is an open-ended fast, meaning we are not sure how long we will go, but we are determined to go as long as our bodies allow us to," said Medea Benjamin, who helped organize the event, called "Troops Home Fast."

They have been reduced to resorted fakery, misrepresentation, and personal abuse to now demanding actions that will lead to certain failure to prove their point... “Troops home fast” indeed – pull them out before any success for the US initiative in the region becomes apparent to the public outside of Iraq and the rest of the Near East. When will they finally get that trying to talk it down can’t make a thing true.

The fuse is lit!

A face that can give you the Hershey squirts

Related: Regional devolution gives Evo no revolución. Via GatewayPundit

The fuse is lit!

Too bad about your peashooter, scooter.

There are conflicting reports about the time of flight before failure of the early morning launch of the North Korean long range missile.
News reports have varied from 30 seconds to more than 90.
Were it in the range of a 45-60, there is a possibility that there was a failure to lighting the second stage. Less than that, a likely failure in the first stage or the attitude control.

The sooner the failure, the better it is for everyone other than the NorKs since the less of a failure that they could monitor, the less likely it is that they could correct its' flaws.

Lighting of a stage in flight has always been a difficult problem to solve. The longer it takes for them to sort it out the better it is for the people threatened by North Korea, and its' likely clients such as Iran.

There could have been many reasons for firing 2 (some reports say 5) medium range missiles with the Taepodong.
It may simply be more cost effective.
They could have been trying make showstopping vaudevillian video agitprop.
They might have wanted to integrate a excercise simulating wartime operation.
They might have had so little confidence in the new missile, that they wanted to at least present the Japanese, South Koreans, and the rest of world with the barrage to limit the deflated threat of a botched launch.

But as with everything about the hermit kingdom of North Korea, one can only watch and speculate.

Welcome to France's world

Géoportail, the French taxpayer funded application that is meant to beat Google Earth and stop Google's relentless bid to create a techno-cultural American-centric worldview, is a flop. The service was launched on 23 June and, unable to absorb the incoming traffic, has been inaccessible since then. Now we learn that it was much ado about nothing.

Stoke it up!

.ram link.

Launch scheduled for 14h38-Local, 18h38-UTC, 20h38-CET.

Greenie micromanagement for thee, but not for me

So sayeth one European after another. Someday they might finally admit that its ineffectual to try to control nature when mans emissions are meaningless compared to the fluctuation in the suns output.

The fuse is lit!

The Candidates in France's Presidential Elections of 2007

…so far…

Dans le doute, le silence est d'or

Le nom du New York Times

fait plus que jamais figure d'épouvantail dans le pays républicain profond.

Personne ne s'étonnera qu'avec des expressions comme "un ton carrément menacant", Corine Lesnes parvient à donner une vision a priori négative et des États-Unis en général et des conservateurs en particulier — sans parler de la liberté de la presse — dans son article du Monde sur la presse américaine. Or, la première phrase dément tout à fait la vision horrifique d'une Amérique zombie à genox devant Fox News.

Aux Etats-Unis, l'une des activités préférées des militants conservateurs est d'attaquer la presse "de gauche" — soit tous les médias, de leur point de vue, à l'exception de la chaîne de télévision Fox News.

Ce que confirme bien ce que nous avons écrit par le passé sur la chaîne et sa (manque relative de) popularité. Relire surtout l'article de Stéphane.

Des lecteurs ont été choqués que Le Monde reprenne [une scène de ménage du ministre des affaires étrangères], révélée par Le Canard enchaîné. Nicole Truffaut (Compiègne), par exemple, dénonce "un article de concierge, fait de ragots de bas étage, sur la vie privée du ministre".

Entretemps, nombre de lecteurs ont écrit au médiateur du Monde pour se plaindre du traitement de Philippe Douste-Blazy.

"Le ton perfide de cet article m'a profondément déplu. Je l'ai trouvé humainement blessant et intellectuellement peu convaincant."

Et à Robert Solé d'entonner un

Où s'arrête la légitime information des citoyens ? Où commence le voyeurisme ? Un événement privé ne mérite de figurer dans Le Monde que dans deux circonstances : s'il a une incidence sur la vie publique ou s'il est indispensable pour connaître la personnalité d'un dirigeant.

La règle ne s'applique pas mécaniquement. Chaque cas appelle une évaluation. Mais, dans le doute, le silence est d'or.

Très bien. Mais les indignations des uns et les mea culpa des autres ne sont nullement le genre d'attitude qui est souvent prôné lorsqu'il s'agissait de traiter du manque de connaissances internationales de Bush ou de son pretzel avalé de travers la gorge. Voilà un "événement privé" qui mérite de figurer dans Le Monde ; voilà qui n'est aucunement "des ragots de bas étage" (loin de là) , voilà qui est, au contraire "intellectuellement" trés "convaincant". Et pour cause : là, il s'agit des Ricains (ou de leurs leaders) qu'il convient de fustiger à tout moment!

BB said Iraq must not be concerned about U.N. weapons inspectors, suggesting that the regime should "put 600 mukhabarat" in place to monitor them

A Korean businessman, Tongsun Park, hinted that he needed $10 million from Saddam Hussein so he could "take care" of Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali

writes Benny Avni (merci à RV) as we recall how often we have been told to castigate American greed and asked to cast doubt on America's real reasons for its attitude in the Iraq crisis, and, conversely, invited to trust the word of the members of the "peace camp" and to put our confidence in the United Nations.

Mr. Boutros-Ghali told Mr. Park he wanted to "neutralize" a top U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq and that he was relying on his "Iraqi friends" to aid his mid-1990s bid for reelection, according to testimony. …

Mr. Vincent said under oath that he believed a 1995 defection by a son-in-law of Saddam, Hussein Kemal, revived U.N. efforts to find Iraq's illicit weapons and changed attitudes in Baghdad about accepting an oil-for-food plan. He went to see his U.N. contact, Mr. Park, who previously had arranged meetings with Mr. Boutros-Ghali and other officials.

During their meeting, Mr. Park "asked for $10 million to take care of expenses and to take care of some people," Mr. Vincent told the court. He assumed "some people" meant Mr. Boutros-Ghali, he said. He later relayed the conversation with Mr. Park to his main contact in Baghdad, Nizar Hamdoon, a friend of his from high school and Iraq's then-ambassador to the United Nations.

Mr. Vincent told the jury that Hamdoon, who died in 2003, said, "I guess we have to take care of B.B." He said the initials were understood to be a reference to Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

A year later, as the secretary-general was vying unsuccessfully for a second five-year term at Turtle Bay, Mr. Park relayed a conversation with Mr. Boutros-Ghali, Mr. Vincent said. According to notes kept by Mr. Vincent and shown in court, the secretary-general said, "I want to rely on my Iraqi friends to assist in my campaign for a second term."

Mr. Boutros-Ghali wanted to impress Saddam's top aide, Tariq Aziz, and the Turtle Bay leader told Mr. Park he was a friend of the regime, Mr. Vincent said.

According to Mr. Vincent's notes, Mr. Boutros-Ghali said he always suspected the chief U.N. weapons inspector, Rolf Ekeus, "had links to the United States." Mr. Boutros-Ghali added, how ever, that he had not yet been able to "neutralize" the Swedish inspector.

Mr. Vincent testified Wednesday that in an earlier stage of his and Mr. Park's dealings with the secretary-general, Mr. Boutros-Ghali said Iraq must not be overly concerned about U.N. weapons inspectors, suggesting that the regime should "put 600 mukhabarat" — or secret servicemen — in place to monitor them. …

So That's How You Bring ABout World Peace

Reporting from Berlin is Benjamin Duffy:

These bears are somehow supposed to bring about world peace. Don't ask me how, I think a liberal thought it up. Each bear is supposed to represent one of the 192 nations of the UN. Each bear was given to an artist in each of the countries, and the artist could paint it however he/she wanted to. Now they are on tour all over the world you know — "healing the world" and "making it a better place"

Interesting site they chose for the international peace bear display. The building behind it belongs to the world famous Humboldt University. The open area where the bears are standing was also the site of a massive Nazi book-burning back in 1933. At the time, this building was a library, and the Nazis hauled out 20,000 books into the public area in front. They burnt books written by authors who were Jewish, Leftist, pacifistic, or sometimes just not German.

They are already dishing up the sob stories

French youth will get to wank each other off.