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Saturday, July 12, 2003
posted by gbarto at 2:52 AM:
Marcus follows up my sci-fi post with a question about where the human race will head now that the human genome project will allow us to be more readily molded. I think, however, that the good news - or the bad news, depending on how you see it - is that human nature will endure. It's the same old problem that sacked the Soviet Union and makes sure our computers remain a pain in the you-know-what to run: Newton may have perceived himself as standing on the shoulders of giants, but those giants still only got to a certain height, and each time we try to reach too high and grab the brass ring of destiny or whatever, the top of the pile starts to tumble and we wind up rebuilding from some earlier point. To wit, the Aryan Race and Soviet Man stand as embarrassments in history. So too, the Great Society and the French Revolution. The bottom line is that even something so amazing as the Human Genome Project is going to be run by pigheaded, stubborn, self-centered and self-righteous human beings. Mistakes will be made and arguments will be had, and if 200+ years of our Constitutional republic is any indication, the end result will be the muddling of which we've grown so fond over the years. Countries good enough to be entrusted with the responsibilities of genetic engineering will in ways large and small end up taking a pass; countries lacking the moral gravity will tend to lack the other accoutrements of civilization that are necessary to a project like reformulating the human race having even a snail's chance at the Palio of succeeding. So... can and will things at points get nasty? Probably. Need we worry about what sort of people we want to design? Unlikely. In all probability, folks, 100 years from now there will still only be one good way of improving the human race: raising your kids well.* * *
posted by gbarto at 2:25 AM:
Good wishes to Greg Hlatky of A Dog's Life/BorzoiBlog, who had some sort of cardiac episode. But his posting was uninterrupted, including a write-up on Saint-Saëns. Greg characterizes the composer as "admirable perhaps, but neither lovable nor awesome." But leaving aside the awesomeness that I found in the Danse Macabre, how can anyone resist the enchantment of the Aquarium from the Carnival of the Animals? (Go here to see a really neat web-page for this enchanting piece.)While we're on the subject of music... I picked up Sony Classical's new preview disc at the local Barnes and Noble the other night. There are several beautiful and amazing pieces, but I would highlight Summer's (no last name) recording "Mal di luna," from the forthcoming album "Summer," a short song set to Beethoven's "Moonlight" sonata.
I'm less certain about Lara St. John's soon to be released effort, re: Bach. The piece on the disc, which contemporizes Bach's violin concerti, is too much contempo, not enough violin, but several of the other pieces (snippets available at her website) suggest that Sony may have chosen the weakest selection from the album for the preview disc. St. John, of course, is the vamp violinist who gets as much attention for her album covers as her playing, but for my money her recording of the Ciaccona from Bach's Partita No. 2 in Dmin (from
Bach Works for Violin Solo) is one of the best out there, while her latest effort, Bach: The Concerto Album is quite pleasing.Getting back to the Sony preview, a few others to watch: Mario Frangoulis and the duetting Marcelo Alvarez and Salvatore Licitra turn in nice performances, though some might find the first a bit too contempo as the music tries to decide whether to be melodramatic opera or pop. And Casey Stratton sounds like she's ready to pick up the mantle whenever Sarah MacLaughlin gets around to dropping it.
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posted by gbarto at 1:24 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: Housing: Deputies Adopt Borloo Plan. Which calls for 200,000 homes to be demolished, 200,000 renovated and 200,000 built in an urban renewal project.
Le Figaro: Heavy Verdict for the "Commando Erignac" - whose alleged killers all got 15 to life, a verdict deemed likely to prove unacceptable to Corsicans of the nationalistic stripe, particularly where people not present at the shooting but linked to the conspiracy are concerned.
Libé: Corsica: High-Risk Verdict.
Ouest-France: Record Prison Population in France.
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Friday, July 11, 2003
posted by gbarto at 11:04 AM:
Excellent Jack Shafer column at Slate today on the subject of "End Reform Now!" Be sure to have a look.* * *
posted by gbarto at 3:04 AM:
Natalie Solent has several bits about hero-scientists in sci-fi. I haven't read through all the links, but was surprised not to run across the uber-scientist-god/psychometrician, Hari Seldon, from the Foundation series. What is sad is that this seems to be the best known book of his, whereas the Robot novels were much better. Still, the place Asimov shone was the short story. I think this was because the short story is a little more reminiscent of his short about-science articles: one idea and to the point. Writing novels, Asimov - like many sci-fi writers - got too hung up on the future and sometimes the future seemed grander or more important than the people who were living in it. In the short story, Asimov was forced to stick to his argument and did so beautifully, particularly in a few short stories trying to figure out what being human was all about. "Jerry was a man" comes to mind, but especially "Robot Dreams," which left me dumb with horror and sadness at the end. I have never figured out what to do with the Foundation series for it feels at times like an unintentional parody (or was it intentional) of the Soviet five-year plans gone even more awry than that awful society so long guided by the question, "What would Lenin do?" But "Robot Dreams" hit hard in a matter of pages and has stuck with me ever since.The one great who could write all about the future - even posited a "future history" - and not lose the people did get a mention. I speak, of course, of Robert Heinlein, whose characters always happen to live in the time in which they live and to go about their lives accordingly. Their own lives. From DT Burroughs to Jubal Harshaw to Lazarus Long, there is a universal polemic for individualism, freedom and hope that tomorrow will be better in spite of itself. As Friday navigates the mess she's in at the beginning of the novel of the same name, she is not the inhabitant of a future we little comprehend; she's a human being in a rough spot doing her best to get out of it. When Hugh Farnham sets up camp, he is not a disoriented time-traveler so much as every head-of-household dealing with a family crisis and an alcoholic to aggravate it. I think the correspondance between love for individuals and strong individual characters with the rejection of the all-powerful scientist is not an accident. Recalling what every sharp conservative knows - human nature is what human nature is - none of his characters are totally free of the defects which make the individual interesting but which would lead to disaster if projected on to the entire race.
It is failure to grapple with that one point - human nature is what human nature is - that gives us campaign finance reform, planned economies, dreams of "scientific" government and countless other horrors. How embarrassing, indeed, the way the smart set fails to see its own blind spots. Fortunately for Americans, at least, there was once a group of wise men that either from wisdom or from simple mistrust of one another decided such universal power was to be avoided. And despite the best efforts of generations of progressives and too frequent totterings in the wrong direction, what they put together has not yet been fully rent asunder. Thank God for the framers of the US Constitution, and thank God as well for the Robert Heinleins of the world who have come after to remind of their wisdom.
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posted by gbarto at 2:09 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: Iraq: George Bush beseeched to "rediscover" UN. The Senate passed a non-binding resolution asking him to ask the UN and NATO for assistance in Iraq.
Libé: Avignon Resigns Itself to Pulling the Curtain - as the strikes against festivals continue.
Ouest-France: Avignon, latest victim of the strikes. No word, however, on what the unions and performers will do for income, having used their moment of maximum exposure to march in picket lines rather than prancing on stage or set things up for those who do. A tragedy, truly, for the towns, for the tourism industry and for all those who are, knowingly or unknowingly, trading in their income for a chance to be part of the left's effort to shut down the Chirac-Raffarin regime.
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Thursday, July 10, 2003
posted by gbarto at 6:49 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: Strikes: Avignon Canceled, Medef Accused. Medef is the main union involved. This was to be the director's last festival; apparently last year was, though he didn't know it at the time.
Le Figaro: not functional
Libé: Curtains for Aix and Avignon.
Ouest-France: Festivals: Lar Rochelle, Aix and Avignon Canceled.
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posted by gbarto at 1:43 AM:
Condensed from the e-mail bag:This was written by a Texas attorney for an Amarillo paper. I assume the stories are true and not just hypotheticals.And the bad news that applies to anything government and burdensome:
Cut and pasted by Josh Ard
HIPAA: A Loss of Liberty
Just after celebrating Independence Day and our liberties, the Amarillo Globe-News published three articles about the impact of the HIPAA laws and regulations. As an estate planning and elder law attorney, I believe HIPAA threatens independence and liberty for many Americans...
What Is Happening
The following are examples of health-care crises in which people are encountering serious problems from HIPAA.
* After a man rushes his wife to the emergency room and helps her get situated in her room, he goes home to shower, change clothes, and eat. Upon returning, he can’t remember the room number. The “Information Desk” refuses to provide any information about his wife, not even the room number...
* An elderly man is hospitalized with pneumonia in serious condition and he is not expected to return home. The doctor and hospital refuse to provide any information about his condition to his only child who lives with him and cares for him. They say she does not have proper authorization and her father cannot sign one now...
My clients, other elder law attorneys, and other news media across the nation are reporting many similar disturbing experiences resulting from HIPAA.
Some health-care entities apply HIPAA stringently, concerned about fines and prison sentences for violations. They would rather be safe than sorry. Who can blame them? But for family members just trying to help, the results are often frustration, a sense of powerlessness and anger.
What You Can Do
The key to protection from HIPAA is to be designated in writing by the patient as a “Personal Representative” (PR). A PR is treated as if he is the patient so health-care entities must disclose medical information...
For a minor child, the parent is generally the PR. However, she may have to prove she really is a parent of the child. For an adult, no one, not even a parent, spouse or child, has any right to medical information unless the patient designates the person as the PR...
Act now to preserve your liberty and independence. Contact your Congressman and Senators. Ask them to repeal HIPAA immediately. Tell them this unnecessary, overprotective law is causing great hardship at tremendous extra expense to the health care community and economy...
Act now! Raise the cry against HIPAA! And plan as if nothing will change.The blurb for the commentator reads:
Mark R. Ensign is an Amarillo attorney providing estate planning and elder law services.I am not sure the extent to which the more extreme problems described are taking place, but there is no question that the government often protects us right out of our security and this might be such a place. Reader comment on experiences both positive and negative welcomed.
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Wednesday, July 09, 2003
posted by gbarto at 10:26 AM:
From the Washington Post:Terry M. Neal: Talking Points
Bush Reverts to Liberal Rationale for Iraq War
Critics Still Oppose War Despite Hussein's Human Rights Record
Hmm. But why didn't the liberals therefore sing Hallelujah that Bush was doing the right thing, if for the wrong reasons, when we started to move on Iraq? To their credit, a handful led by Christopher Hitchens did. But when the Washington Post was seeking liberal commentary on the war, this was not where they typically looked.
What is more surprising in this piece is that it fails to capture the extent to which arguments other than WMD moved the readership of National Review and similar organs on the right to get on board for this war. I do not see many conservatives coming out of the woodwork and grumbling that Bush tricked them into supporting a humanitarian war they would otherwise have opposed. The WMD case was made not for conservatives, nor for liberals, but to get the United Nations out of the way, as I read it. This it accomplished. And a people were freed on the grounds a) of humanitarianism and b) the need to shut down a breeding ground for terrorism. The attacks we're seeing against our troops make it clear Iraq had elements that could and probably would play a role in terrorism in the region if not on a larger scale. In all, we've fought a good war that was worthy of fighting and is worth winning fully by the destruction of Iraqi radicals.
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posted by gbarto at 3:03 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde:
Palestine: Abbas Criticized, His Resignation Rejected.
The Prime Minister of the Palestinians offered to step down after Fatah, the political movement of Yassar Arafat, questioned his contacts with Israel. The ruling council of the party decided to refuse to acknowledge receipt of his letter of resignation.Le Figaro: Seems not to be working.
Libé: Strikers Pursue Strike Plans at Avignon Festival. Following up on last night's top story.
Ouest-France: Francofollies of la Rochelles Cancelled. By their founding director.
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posted by gbarto at 2:55 AM:
600 Feared Dead in BangladeshMany passengers asleep when triple-deck ferry capsizes in rocky waters
The numbers are shocking but this sort of tragedy is all too commonplace in the third world. And poor old Bangladesh seems so often to be just the country for massive tragedy, perhaps owing to the combination of lousy conditions and a large population. Amazingly awful.
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Tuesday, July 08, 2003
posted by gbarto at 1:27 AM:
Has Hlatky been reading Buckley spy novels or is the quote from somewhere else?It bore all the traces of a CIA assassination. Everyone except the intended victim was killed.
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posted by gbarto at 1:20 AM:
Seen on the Fox News rundown:Massachusetts Governor Helps Rescue Family From Lake in N.H.
Graham Campaigning in New Hampshire in New Hampshire
Ahem. That's Republican Governor Mitt Romney from Massachussetts.
They don't say where Democrat Bob Graham was when the family of New Hampshirites was in its hour of need. Probably too busy talking about Medicare Reform to be bothered.
Incidentally, it's also unclear where the Florida Democrat was when Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist helped out at a Florida crash scene on New Year's Day of this year.
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posted by gbarto at 1:09 AM:
Surgeons Separate Conjoined Twins29-year-old Iranian twins in critical condition following marathon surgery
And at least one didn't make it. No details yet.
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posted by gbarto at 1:06 AM:
Hastert Hit With Water BalloonMan charged with felony aggravated battery for getting House speaker wet
Over a water balloon? Hurling an object at the Speaker of the House may rightfully get you shot by nervous security guards in our edgy post-9/11 world, but if you make it past that hurdle, reality should be allowed to intrude. The man needs to be billed for the drycleaning (or replacement of the suit, depending, but Hastert's attire does not usually appear to consist of particularly delicate finery), to pay one hell of a fine for wasting everyone's time and to maybe spend a day or two in the clink.
Oh yes, and he needs to be spent on a speaking tour, proceeds donated to Hastert's favority charity. His topic: Confessions of a geek with nothing better to do than waterbomb the most boring House Speaker in history.
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posted by gbarto at 12:59 AM:
Killing Plot Teen Described as AngryMatthew Lovett, 18, reportedly kept list of classmates who teased him
This puts him in sharp contrast with the usual well-adjusted, happy-go-lucky teen one finds to be plotting mass murder. One can almost hear the police deputy: "I'd like to say that none of us saw this coming, but let's face it, the kid was messed up..."
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posted by gbarto at 12:51 AM:
French news headlines: Top Story: Festivals shut down by strikesLe Monde: Strikers: Strike deprives Avignon of Opening - of its festival season.
Le Figaro: Corsica: Taking Stock. The government is now talking down the vote as a "consultation" on the full implementation of measures they're going to do piece by piece anyway.
Libé: Strikers Say No to Aillagon and Avignon.
Ouest-France: Festivals: The Minister [of Culture] fails to prevent strikes.
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Monday, July 07, 2003
posted by gbarto at 5:10 AM:
Tucson Wildfire Speeds Downhill; Residents EvacuatedReminding once again that we need to clear out dead trees, underbrush, etc. and practice responsible forestry. That's the slogan we're going to use to make the left turn on cutting the occasional tree, etc: Don't Practice Unprotected Forestry!
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posted by gbarto at 5:02 AM:
Taylor Accepts Asylum OfferLiberian president's removal may clear way for U.S. troop deployment.
We'll be moving soon, I'm sure.
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posted by gbarto at 4:54 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: Corsica: Victory for "No" vote; Setback for Government. Prime Minister Raffarin and Interior Minister Sarkozy had both campaigned hard for this one. The reform would have given the island more independence and laid the groundwork for testing Raffarin's ideas for decentralization. It was defeated 50.98%-49.02% with 60% participation. Ouch.
Le Figaro: The Corsicans Say No To New Status. With the vote so close, it's amazing how starkly this is being presented as a major defeat for the government. I guess there's only one reason for this: in spite of their systems for tiered voting, etc., in this case, France actually held a vote with the issue framed in black and white. And just as a 50.98% tally for would have made the proposal law, this tiny margin against means it goes nowhere. Still, an amazing lack of nuance in the headlines. Nothing about sqeakers, heartbreakers or close margins until the text.
Libé: Parquet (read DA's office) wants postponement in Erignac trial; defense and Erignac's family opposed. Erignac, incidentally, is not the accused. He was the prefect of Corsica until he was assassinated. The alleged assassin in M. Colonna who's topped our headlines the last few nights. Why the government hasn't had time to get their notes ready during the four years Colonna was on the lam escapes us, but with the election setback, they'd better get this one right. Incidentally, the election headlines was Sarkozy Stopped in Corsica.
Ouest-France: Corsica: "No" carries in the referendum.
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Sunday, July 06, 2003
posted by gbarto at 4:01 PM:
From the mighty Neil Cavuto:So let me see if I have this right: Now the United Nations needs us. Not in Iraq, where it argued, we shouldn't go. But in Liberia (search), where it argues, we should go.There are those in the US who get ornery, even cantankerous, over this. Those who would note this story:
...The administration is indeed sending at least 1,000 G.I.s to Liberia -- maybe double that number down the road.
It’s part of a global peacekeeping force that needs some clout and we just provided it.
We could have bickered and dithered and ignored. We could have said, to hell with your request. But we didn't...
We could have been vindictive and said to the French and Germans, who led this request by the way, "You didn't do diddly for us, we ain't doing diddly for you." But we didn't...
You know, there are a lot of people who criticize this country, but we're always there when they need this country.
Yes, we do a lot of things wrong, but when everything hits the fan, we do one thing right: We calm, protect and save people...
That’s not bad for a country the world loves to hate, until the world is too scared to move.
American Soldier Shot Dead in Iraqand say, "Screw the world, it can damn well look after itself if that's the way it's going to be." But there's a difference between us and the France and Germanies and even UNs of this world: We are better than that. Noblesse oblige, - to use a French phrase the French don't have to worry about anymore.
GI shot in head waiting to buy a soft drink at Baghdad University
However imperfect the US is, at the moment it is top dog among nations. And there is a growing danger it will so remain. The US is a country strong enough to project its power just about anywhere in the world? Great enough to draw immigrants by the millions from around the world. Engaging enough that round the world our movies are watched, our music is listened to, our merchandise is eagerly purchased. Self-confident enough that its press can write anything it damn well pleases, assured that the most scathing attack on a popular leader will only result in letters to the editor. It's the last of these that makes us so damn powerful and keeps us so damn powerful and that the world doesn't understand.
The United States has mighty arms. But it also has mighty brains. When the giant moves in an important way, it is with the voice of the people in its ear: From letters to the editor to newspaper editorials, from television commentaries to the "letters from our viewers" segments on news/commentary programs, from statements of support for our troops in state capitals to the Berkeley city council's denunciation of all things Republican, from congressional debates to chanting protesters pro and con to, yes, weblogs, the many voices are free to speak.
Why didn't world opinion have the same impact upon us that it has upon other nations? We've got enough opinion of our own, thank you. When the president moved on Iraq, it was with the knowledge that all 260 million plus citizens would be watching and judging both him and his party. That in their judgment they could affect him indirectly as popular support increased or decreased the willingness of those he leads to stick out their necks for him and very directly with a one-way ticket back to Crawford in a couple years if he screwed up too badly or even led with insufficient boldness.
Why is the United States the greatest nation in the world at the moment? People have talked in the past about military power and economic strength as the hallmarks of mighty nations. But those rely on the people being ready and willing and able to do the people's business in all spheres of life, within and without the reach of government. Which is why - listen closely, China - the great nations of the future will achieve their greatness by the freedom they afford and their responsiveness to public opinion.
Lots of people think that you could only vote for the Communists in the days of the Soviet Union. In the annual elections, this was true. But there was a daily election held of which the government was only marginally aware. The people had been allotted on minor freedom. They could grow their own vegetables on their own land and they were kept separate from the collective's output. The yield per acre was astoundingly high on the private plots versus that of the collective farms: People worked harder on their own land, planted it more carefully, maintained it more carefully. And when the state wasn't looking, they stole (!) from the collective farms the supplies they needed to improve their own plots. In ways aboveboard and underhanded, even illegal, the people voted regularly for private ownership and for reclaiming from the public sphere some of what it had taken from the private. Defenders of the Soviet experiment will perhaps argue that theft from the collective was pure larceny, not political protest, and that if the people hadn't undermined the collective for their own petty self-interest the discrepancies between the two types of farming wouldn't have been so great. Precisely. The people were not "the people," but millions of individuals. Whether the system was unworthy of them or they were unworthy of the system is immaterial. It did not work. Social evolution declared it a dodo among governmental forms.
When freedom, and particularly the freedom to speak, are constrained, unexpected feedback mechanisms must develop in order to express the hopes, fears, dreams and visions of life that the people hold. These mechanisms are always there and crafty leaders will always try to hear what they have to say. A Soviet economist looking at the charts could have noted the dissatisfaction people seemed to feel with working on a collective far. But just as the farmers could not speak freely and openly, he probably could not. Instead of listening to this subtle protest, Soviet ag managers probably tried to suppress it. I am not sufficiently expert in Soviet agricultural policy to follow the nuances. But there is no doubt that until Gorbachev's perestroika, it was the general trend of Soviet government to try explicitly to destroy all those blips in the system that should have told them the patient was succombing to a slow but progressive disease (he says in a violent clash of metaphors!).
When there is freedom and particularly the freedom to blather, chatter, prattle, criticize, nag, etc., coupled with the right to choose one's leaders, what happened in the Soviet Union... doesn't. Leaders either listen or are replaced. And so government evolves over time to meet the needs of the moment quicker and the needs of the ages more wisely (I can hear Cicero gnashing his teeth at this assertion). In the past few weeks, we've had a few Supreme Court decisions over here that marked movement in new directions in varying degrees. We've also had a few stinkers. But be that as it may, the closest we come to a Supreme Soviet, the Supreme Court - a group of people with guaranteed life employment no matter what they decide for the people - has even been trying to figure out how to respond to and become a factor in public opinion. They are wise enough to know - having read Plessy and Scott at law school - that if they are injudicious, public opinion will freely make fun of them long after they are unable to defend themselves.
And so it is that when the world criticizes us, they fail to understand: The United States is so steeped in self-criticism, in deciding what it is and what it wants to be, that the sharpest words the French can muster cannot compare with the things we say to each other as we hash out our positions large and small. Why is the United States so great and so good? Because when we act, it is with the conscience of millions gradually learning, gradually growing, gradually refining what this American republic stands for. Our imperfections are many and sometimes glaring. Our past with slavery and segregation is shameful. But we are learning, slowly but surely, each generation carrying a little more knowledge of the possibilities and limits of freedom.
For all the cries of O Tempora, O Mores from the Buchanans on the right and the blatherers on the left, George W. Bush is leading a society that is frightfully good in spite of its more bizarre impulses. He leads a society that has buried slavery and segregation, is working on racism. That is fighting Muslim extremism while defending the religious freedom of Muslims - they, too, are citizens, after all. And so we're going to Liberia. As we went to Iraq. In the one case, the UN was against it. In this case, they're all for it. But that is of course, irrelevant. For George W. Bush does not serve the UN, he serves the United States. As in Iraq, he has decided America has something to offer to the situation. And that our consciences will in the long run suffer for it if we don't. May his judgment be wise. For he's sure to catch hell if it isn't. And from something far more dear to him than the world's leaders and foreign press: his own people.
Posted at 8:03 a.m.; tacked on here since dreaded Blogger Archive bug is keeping it off the archive page:
Over 100 Hurt in Turkey Blast
Powerful explosion at gas station shakes capital city of Ankara
Only it wasn't good old gasoline, it was liquified petroleum gas. From the story:
Liquefied petroleum gas cars, which use a combination of gases including propane and butane, are popular in Turkey because the fuel is cheap. Some groups have raised safety concerns, saying that cars powered by the gas catch fire more easily than standard gasoline powered cars.Something to keep in mind as different modified gasolines are offered as the silver bullet that's going to make cars clean and cheap. With all such innovations, check the science, see which politicians are funded by the patent holder and then start tallying the pros and cons before buying in.
Posted at 7:55 a.m.; tacked on here since dreaded Blogger Archive bug is keeping it off the archive page:
Back rather late "tonight" with the French news headlines for Sat. night/Sunday morning:
Le Monde: Israel accepts the liberation of Palestinian detainees. They're releasing 350 detainees, i.e. everyone not connected to murder. Hamas says it's not enough.
Also, Two Days After the Arrest of Yvan Colonna, Corsica Votes in a referendum of that island's status in the French Republic. At noon, participation was 24.8%.
Ouest-France: Yvan Colonna Being Questioned - Presumed Assassin of Prefict Erignac Moved to Paris Where He Is Locked Up.
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posted by gbarto at 8:03 AM:
Over 100 Hurt in Turkey BlastPowerful explosion at gas station shakes capital city of Ankara
Only it wasn't good old gasoline, it was liquified petroleum gas. From the story:
Liquefied petroleum gas cars, which use a combination of gases including propane and butane, are popular in Turkey because the fuel is cheap. Some groups have raised safety concerns, saying that cars powered by the gas catch fire more easily than standard gasoline powered cars.Something to keep in mind as different modified gasolines are offered as the silver bullet that's going to make cars clean and cheap. With all such innovations, check the science, see which politicians are funded by the patent holder and then start tallying the pros and cons before buying in.
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posted by gbarto at 7:55 AM:
Back rather late "tonight" with the French news headlines for Sat. night/Sunday morning:Le Monde: Israel accepts the liberation of Palestinian detainees. They're releasing 350 detainees, i.e. everyone not connected to murder. Hamas says it's not enough.
Also, Two Days After the Arrest of Yvan Colonna, Corsica Votes in a referendum of that island's status in the French Republic. At noon, participation was 24.8%.
Ouest-France: Yvan Colonna Being Questioned - Presumed Assassin of Prefict Erignac Moved to Paris Where He Is Locked Up.
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