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Saturday, July 19, 2003
posted by gbarto at 2:52 AM:
Amusement for the day (from a Spanish translation of Calvin and Hobbes):
(The English, for non-Hispanophones, is:
To die... To sleep... no more...
And by a sleep to say we end the heartache, and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to..
Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished!
- the ironically titled Immortal Bard)
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posted by gbarto at 2:14 AM:
A few days old, but good all the same:Natalie Solent has a story that has to, er, be seen to be believed. Would the French cheat in the football league for the blind?
A Dog's Life - or should I call it BorzoiBlog - has the lowdown on Roman Catholic funeral cacologies.
Dr. Weevil considers writing analysis and blogs.
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posted by gbarto at 1:53 AM:
French news headlines... a daily round-up of the top stories on the websites of French newspapers:Le Monde: The UN Wants to Play Important Role in Iraq. And I want a million dollars... we'll see who Bush makes happy first but I suspect we'll both be disappointed.
Le Figaro: Ulrich Causes The Masks to Drop Away. In these trying times with questions about David Kelly's death, our war aims in Iraq, the role of the UN in the world, it's good to see Le Figaro getting to the bottom of what people are really made of. At least those riding in the Tour de France...
Libération: Kelly, Victim of Blair's War. The nice thing about Libé is you don't have to read the editorials to know where they stand.
Ouest-France: Bush and Blair Close Ranks.
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posted by gbarto at 1:42 AM:
Hit-and-Run Prior to Deadly Crash?Police: 86-year-old that plowed into farmers market was fleeing accident
The TurkeyBlog continues to hold that a) this is a damn shame and b) it may have been preventable. While it is not my view that we need power-struck DMV workers gleefully taking seniors' wheels, nor is it unreasonable to doublecheck the skills of a group of people with a higher than average accident rate and a tendency toward physical and mental difficulties that would impair driving. How many people's grandkids need to die before we ask if grandpa's still in shape to drive? The other group with similar accident rates - beginning drivers in their teens, are subject to a million rules and regulations. In many states, they spend their first two years in a probationary period with rules that otherwise only apply to those who have actually done bodily harm with their vehicles. What's the difference? Could it be the difference between 16-year olds who can't vote and a senior citizens' lobby that rivals the NRA in clout? Naah. After all, just because they'll dock a McDonald's worker's paycheck 7% or so to make sure millionaires get their Social Security checks on time doesn't mean they'd endanger lives for their members' convenience... does it?
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Friday, July 18, 2003
posted by gbarto at 4:06 AM:
Marcus has a lengthy consideration of whether we should rescue Africa. His answer is to note that there is a difference between charity of the strong and the US becoming the world's policeman.I'll surprise him by agreeing. It is worth noting - as Marcus does - that I am hardly a neo-isolationist. And I am not entirely averse to the phrase noblesse oblige. But I must ask, qu'est-ce qu'elle oblige - ou exige ? - what does it obligate one to, even require? Does it require watching our men dragged through the streets à la Mogadishu? Does it necessitate occupation forces to keep long-warring tribes separate, even if we're caught between their arrows, spears and machine-gun fire? It depends.
I defend the Iraq war on humanitarian grounds, it is true, but not purely humanitarian grounds. I think it ought be enough for the classic leftist to know that we had ousted a man who tyrannized his people, to know the war was just. But whether it was just and whether we wished to get involved are two different issues. We attacked Iraq because it was an atrocious regime that had declared itself inimical to our interests and paid blood money to murder our friends and allies in Israel as well as threatening the stability of an oil rich region. We had interests there that made the regime change a really good thing to do, and given the choice as to how to eliminate Saddam, trying to liberate the people rather than merely impose our own man reflected our desire to make the interests of the US and the Iraqi people coincide. This is a balance we ought to strike in Africa as well, making sure that we do not overextend ourselves in pursuit of causes that do not reflect our interests. Such causes should only be pursued if we have resources to spare and can see at least abstract benefits from our action. To wit, we must be repaid at least in gratitude and the promise of a headache down the road averted to act when our interests aren't directly threatened. It is not our job to die so that people can be pigheaded about getting help, and if the local tribes fail to join us in attempting to eliminate their oppressors - or even shoot at us from the other side - the only logical course is to send both a message about how we feel, then leave. Indeed, if we were in Iraq solely because we're good guys, we should have left by now. However, as I noted, we are in Iraq to pursue both our interests and those of the Iraqi people. If the Iraqi people do not help, we should cross their interests out of the equation, but we will still be there a while because we have our own issues to deal with.
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posted by gbarto at 3:38 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: Iraq: Mssrs. Bush and Blair defend the war.
Le Figaro: Mattei excludes 84 drugs from reimbursement. See Libé entry for more.
Libération: Pharmacopia: The first 84 condemned. In an effort to cut costs, the French national health system (Sécurité sociale) will stop reimbursing for selected inefficacious drugs. Libé doesn't think it will save the system from bankruptcy.
Ouest-France: 84 medicines soon unreimbursed.
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Thursday, July 17, 2003
posted by gbarto at 12:19 PM:
Scattershot commentary:Police Probing Driver's Competence
Santa Monica cops say 86-year-old man who killed nine recently hit garage
Drop down three for my take.
Gunfire Erupts Along Korean DMZ
Incident comes as North Korea backs off bilateral talk demands with U.S.
Uh oh. First time in a while they've exchanged fire.
Baathist Holiday Sparks High Alert
New 'Saddam' tape airs; documents show attacks were planned before war
On the tape, Saddam calls Bush a liar. So who do you trust? Well, if you're Howard Dean or his ilk, it's much easier to trust someone who gasses his own people than a man whose father had the initials GHWB.
But the American people?
Bush Approval Ratings Remain Strong
Poll: Many say no Democrat could do better than the president
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posted by gbarto at 6:32 AM:
Common Sense and Wonder has some commonsensical thoughts on wealth versus income and how camouflaging the distinction allows the left to sell soak the rich politics without hurting Sens. Rockefeller and Kennedy.* * *
posted by gbarto at 6:18 AM:
Here they come! It's the French news headlines!Ouest-France: Vacations in the Great West End in Mourning Due to Violent Storms. Seven dead, including two foreign tourists. The second story, "The Fright of My Life," is a series of interviews with campers at a park where a 16-year old boy was killed when a tree fell on his tent.
Le Figaro: Weather: The Rage of Summer. Here's the summary graf:
The Dog Days continue their ravages. After drying out the crops, asphyxiating the rivers, polluting the towns, and destroying hectares and hectares of forests, they've killed seven people, including two, indirectly, in a fire in Sarthe, between Tuesday night and Wednesday...Visitors from last night will recall that a mother and son were killed when one of the candles they were using because of a power outage was upset and burned down their home; these were the deaths indirectly attributed to the storm.
Le Monde: Nationalists Walk Out of Corsican Assembly. Between the referendum on greater independence for Corsica and the trials for those complicit in the killing of Prefect Erignac, they've had it.
Libé: Brussels Makes Restaurateurs Salivate- with a plan to lower the VAT from 19.6% to 5.5%. Libé is also the first place I've seen photos from the Santa Monica disaster (see post below). It is, for the moment, part of their revolving photo album of images from the day.
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posted by gbarto at 5:53 AM:
Santa Monica Wreck Kills NinePolice look into why 86-year-old plowed into popular L.A.-area farmers market
Absolutely incredible and horrible. The stories have all downplayed whether he was competent to drive or whether there had been questions about his driving, but it's a question that needs to be asked, and not just about this guy. Coming from a small town, I've known of too many cases where every excuse in the book was made about why not to take the keys away from people who were a threat to public safety. Some of those cases ended most tragically. For those dodging the question of whether pop or grandpa is still up to driving because it would break his heart to lose his wheels, note that an awful lot of hearts got broken today, including this elderly driver's if he understands what he did. Not to put too fine a point on it, but if this guy still held his driver's license because no one had the heart to take it away, it's an error in judgment that ranks with selling assault weapons to Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Such errors should prompt a serious reconsideration of where our best intentions might lead. To put it another way, remember the old - and sick - joke:
When I die, I want it to be peacefully and in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming and yelling like his passengers.The joke isn't that funny, anyway, but it's decidedly unfunny if you're one of the people that gets involved - knowingly or unknowingly - in its becoming reality. If someone you love suffers unusual memory lapses, shows signs of Alzheimer's, etc., don't do them the "favor" of at least letting them drive. Make sure they get regularly tested for their driving ability and keep them off the roads and out of the headlines if there's doubt.
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posted by gbarto at 5:31 AM:
Time for a little change:Holiday Sparks High Alert
Rumors spread that Saddam may surface on Baathist anniversary; documents show current attacks on soldiers were planned before war
• Missile Misses Plane Landing in Baghdad
• Pro-American Mayor and Son Killed in Iraq
• Commander: U.S. Troops in Iraq Facing Yearlong Tours
We are going to have to give up the b.s. about the war being fully won, acknowledge that we initially merely won in enough sectors to oust the old regime but that the larger goal of a free Iraq requires the sort of total conquest we haven't done yet and drop the boy scout routine as we return to full war footing. This starts with an announcement that any and all Baath party members from the old regime who don't surrender will be considered enemy combatants eligible for bullets. It means warning the people that while we want the best for them, until such time as they cease to provide a place into which opposition forces can fade we will have to consider them suspect and err on the side of the safety of our soldiers and the importance of their cause. It means, in short, asking of Iraqis the same thing we ask of nations: Are you with us or against us? No other answers allowed. And it means acknowledging where those who can't say they're with us ultimately are in a dirty war where people out of uniform and ignoring the Geneva conventions are taking potshots at our soldiers. Iraqis need to be made aware that any and all newfound freedoms are contingent upon the same thing they are here: a citizenry that by and large exercises both the rights and the responsibilities that come with freedom. Indeed, we have a lot of our soldiers exercising the dearest responsibilities of freedom, laying their lives on the line to create a world less hostile to the freedoms we cherish. They deserve our full support, and that includes giving them the tools to do their job and allowing them to win a full victory.
The U.S. has done much in Iraq and there is much cause for celebration. The old regime is dead. But so long as records of crimes against humanities remain undiscovered, so long as the ways in which certain citizens were complicit in torture, mass murder and more remain unknown, so long as thugs with hopes of tribal prominence propelling them into leadership in their old fiefdoms remain at large, there are going to be people with serious motives for killing us to keep us from getting our mission accomplished. To these people, the war continues. And though it humbles us to have to adjust our foreign policy to their lowly ways, adjust it we must in admitting that if they are at war with us we will have to be with war at them until such time as they are truly vainquished.
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Wednesday, July 16, 2003
posted by gbarto at 5:41 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: Chirac Up Against Challenge of His Fiscal Promises. Tax reductions aren't coming after all.
Le Figaro: The Great West Struck By Murderous Storms. That's France's west coast regions, from Landes to Charente-Maritime to Maine-et-Loire, where 4 have died and 10 have been badly injured.
Libé: Storms bring mourning in the west. Same as Le Figaro.
Ouest-France: Violent Storms Tonight in West and Southwest. And Ouest-France is running - without linked story - a bulletin on two indirect victims - a mother and son who died in a house fire started by one of the candles they were using due to a power outage.
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Tuesday, July 15, 2003
posted by gbarto at 3:55 AM:
Common Sense and Wonder has been writing about great but unheard music.* * *
posted by gbarto at 3:41 AM:
The ever-provocative Cicero seems quite intent upon provoking in this note on government and race. And he notes below, quite rightly, the stupidity of trying to run with the bulls in Pamplona, an act whose stupidity just got one guy quite dead.* * *
posted by gbarto at 2:42 AM:
French news headlines:Note that today/yesterday was Bastille Day in France, the day on which they celebrate the French Revolution and the start of French democracy. Though there have been stops and starts - a few kings here, some emperors there... - the day remains an important one, important enough that the President usually gets dragged into a TV interview about the year past and the year to come. This year was no exception and whereas last year's scoop was an attempt on Chirac's life, this year's is Chirac's faith in dialogue as a cure-all.
Le Monde: M. Chirac Draws Lightning Bolts from Eurogroup after suggesting in a Bastille Day interview that EU policies on financial growth and stability could be loosened up.
Le Figaro: Chirac puts forth reform through dialogue.
Libé: Chirac, the "Adapter" of Social Conflicts, who called on the French to adapt to a changing world rather than protesting it.
Ouest-France: July 14 is under the sign of dialogue... Ouest-France found something astrological about Chirac's calming assurances that with dialogue all would be well.
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Monday, July 14, 2003
posted by gbarto at 3:47 AM:
I see our FNC headline of the moment is Bush Team Defends Statement. I think some of this is a matter of perspective. The CIA is in the biz of making sure the President knows as much about what's up as can be known. But that means that with something like Saddam there are two possible approaches: If you're advising whether the UN can be forced to acknowledge the need to clean up WMDs, there'd damn well better be WMDs to be cleaned up. But if you're suggesting what the President needs to keep in mind while setting a course, it would be as irresponsible to suggest that Bush need not lose sleep over an African source for uranium for Iraq as it would be to tell the UN you're one hundred percent certain when you're only 95% certain.This is a point the administration needs to keep coming back to: we were up against a guy who had fought Iran and Kuwait, who had gassed his own people, who had boldly announced he would not accede to requests for proof he was WMD free. So we were only 95% sure he had them. There's a helluva lot of smoke indicating a fire not too long ago put out. And so, as Tenet was duty bound to assume the worse unless he had proof of things being better, so the US was duty bound - by noblesse oblige - to assume the worst and attempt to protect the world from it.
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posted by gbarto at 3:35 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: Chirac Up Against Corsica and the Strikers. And not doing so well so far... except that he hasn't buckled or been driven from office.
Libé: For Chirac, A Rougher Bastille Day than Foreseen.
Ouest-France: Just to be different, Ouest-France says, "The President's Projects Advance." Those are better road conditions, the fight against cancer and more opportunities for the handicapped.
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posted by gbarto at 3:28 AM:
Once again updating Sunday. Passing along a special thanks to the folks at blogger for the dreaded Blogger Archive Bug. What will they think of next?French news headlines:
Le Monde: Iraq: Council of Government Meets.
Ouest-France: Boost the Morale of the Country: The French are worried, the Left is depresed, the lessons of our poll.
I'm not sure what Cicero's other reader thinks, but I thought he did a pretty nice job with this little essay on the difference between the real need to close cultural gaps and bring society together and what leftist racemongers are peddling.
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Sunday, July 13, 2003
posted by gbarto at 3:07 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: Iraq: Council of Government Meets.
Ouest-France: Boost the Morale of the Country: The French are worried, the Left is depresed, the lessons of our poll.
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posted by gbarto at 12:12 AM:
I'm not sure what Cicero's other reader thinks, but I thought he did a pretty nice job with this little essay on the difference between the real need to close cultural gaps and bring society together and what leftist racemongers are peddling.* * *
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