main page
"To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
|
click here for a bigger sunset
One small voice in the proud tradition of FreeBlogging*
Saturday, September 20, 2003
posted by gbarto at 11:38 PM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: Fate of Alstom in Hands of Bankers. This is the company that has France in trouble with the EU over matters of finance, budget, etc. - France is a major shareholder.
Also: Latvia (Lettonia) votes massively in favor of joining EU. 67% in favor in fact.
* * *
posted by gbarto at 1:37 AM:
Several days old, but good Postrel write-up on Edward Teller, father of the H-bomb and one of the truly great men of the 20th century. When I read of his death, I feared I couldn't have enough to say for this scientist and social thinker of whom I became aware when researching SDI for a school debate. So, belatedly, I'll say my very small piece: Teller's work across half a century played a major role in securing to us the freedom we have today. May he rest in peace.* * *
posted by gbarto at 1:25 AM:
Mismanaged care at Virginia Postrel from one of her readers. See below for more thoughts on health care today.* * *
posted by gbarto at 1:17 AM:
Cicero has notes on the rising number of uninsured and the lack of health benefits provided at work.God bless corporate America. Just give it the opportunity and it will blow it every time. Ten years ago, they fought off government health care, arguing against all the damage it would do. And were right. In response they a) worked to cut red tape and improve market-based alternatives to show that there was a better way. b) rested on their laurels after their success and did nothing to secure their victory. c) instituted bizarre and byzantine health plans for their employees in a drive to grow profits at the expense of those who generated them in a way that made HillaryCare look not so unpalatable.
If you guessed c, you're probably also smart enough to know that the people who go into public administration and corporate management take the same accounting and economic theory classes in college and emerge with roughly the same disdain for the working man and woman and the same distrust of an open system like capitalism. Which is why instead of laying out the bucks to build and prove the viability of a truly free market health care system - particularly with a government racket already up and running - they'll spend their dough to try to get the next wave of legislation rigged in their favor.
* * *
posted by gbarto at 12:57 AM:
Cicero asks, "Liberals: Liars or Wackos?" Why not both? Oops. I hope I'm not stifling discourse (hee hee). I wrote that, by the way, because I'm afraid of death and minorities. In These Times says so, so it must be true.* * *
posted by gbarto at 12:30 AM:
We'll start French News Headlines with Ouest France:The Unemployed At End Of Their Rights. Payment of unemployment benefits is being reigned in; payments are being limited to a few years. I'm not sure how it works now; I know in the past people would take early retirement and draw unemployment until their pension kicked in. One question is how many people truly in dire straits were and will be denied sufficient help because of this practice. Curious how this country's solidarity with anyone trying to collect a check from the taxpayers has gradually given up more and more on its noble aspirations, even as the entitlement mentality wears on and every aggrieved group finds its cause more pressing even than starving homeless people, withering elderly in the summer heat, or the educational needs of the next generation. So what do you call the right of activists to be given whatever they want from the efforts of the taxpayers while the most downtrodden are swept out of sight? But of course: fraternité.
Le Figaro: Weekend of Alstom's Last Chance. At issue, will France get it together to turn in a budget acceptable to the EU standards? Or is the EU headed for a mess? Or both?
Le Monde: Alstom: One Weekend to Find a Solution. As above.
Libération: We'll skip Libé's top headline (about our tv programming) for this one: Alstom: Right and Left Against the Union. Which goes to the heart of the problem of French politics. The right and left share a belief in French exceptionalism that leads the left to economic nationalism for the sake of French socialism and the right to economic nationalism for the sake of French nationalism. Sanity and fiscal probity need not get involved.
By the way, the TurkeyBlog a) is no fan of the EU, b) is no fan of EU economic management and c) is delighted that the EU is in a tizzy over something new. That said, it's a shame that it takes a call for financial responsibility for the politicians of France to rediscover the importance of French sovereignty.
* * *
posted by gbarto at 12:02 AM:
Now where do people get off suggesting there's something backward about Islam?Nigerian mom may soon learn stoning fate
At issue, will the court that sentenced her withdraw its sentence, will the Nigerian Supreme Court overrule if it doesn't, or will Nigeria boldly announce a leap backwards and affirm everything Islam's critics say about its misogyny, violent tendencies and, frankly, it's failure to make it into the 19th century.
* * *
Friday, September 19, 2003
posted by gbarto at 2:16 AM:
If the post below baffles, don't worry. It's related to a little debate on a linguistic listserv and should really only interest geeks who love word games and geeks who get worked up about linguistics professors.* * *
posted by gbarto at 2:14 AM:
Tihs is just a tset to dtreimene if the phnoemenon of rdeabele wrod sacrmbels was jsut a fulke. Yuo can raed aobut it at teh cmmoentray psoted hree. Tehre has been a gaert dael of dbeate on the piont in adacemic crciles, or so I haer.* * *
posted by gbarto at 2:07 AM:
A Dog's Life has worrying thoughts on Ostalgia, the fond remembrance of life under communism in East Germany. His worry about a society gone off the rails may not be too far off.* * *
posted by gbarto at 2:04 AM:
Dr. Weevil wants to know about the Hebrew inscription on the basement steps in his new house. If you know Hebrew, go have a look and let him know in the comments section.* * *
posted by gbarto at 1:35 AM:
Wow!
Blogger made a post, ITX Design received it and it's now visible on the blog! Wonders never cease...* * *
posted by gbarto at 1:33 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: Iraq: Black Thursday For American Forces. 11 soldiers lost in 24 hours. The one up note: the arrest of the former Defense Minister.
Le Figaro: Bush Ensarled In His Contradictions. Specifically, he conceded that Saddam Hussein had no direct link with 9/11. Still, somebody handing out cash prizes to the families of suicide bombers can't be said to be an enemy of terrorism, nor a lover of peace, nor any less, indeed, than a threat to the stability of the Middle East and, as such, a likely inciter of terrorism past and future.
Libération: A Heavily Armed Peace in the Ivory Coast. Say Libé, "One year after a failed coup, the situation remains explosive."
Ouest-France: Health Insurance Program On Verge Of Anemia. And the sub-head - or, rather, supra-head, since it comes first but in small letters - evokes hemhorraging. Very graphic.
* * *
Thursday, September 18, 2003
posted by gbarto at 1:00 PM:
Natalie Solent looks at why we maybe should be troubled by the EU.I just want to take a moment to talk about petty minded nationalism, because it's a great springboard for a joke...
So, I was reading about Belgium the other day. You know, the place with Brussels, capital of the EU. Belgians agree about the EU. They don't necessarily agree about Belgium. Many of the Flemish, in particular (or so saith the author I was reading, and it was in print so it must be true) think of themselves as Flamand first, Belgian second. Is Belgium the next Yugoslavia? Unlikely. Czechoslovakia. Doubtful. But still, when we hear the "Why can't we just get along?" motif from the EU partisans, the appropriate responses are 1) like the Walloons and the Flemish? and 2) like the French and the Belgians?
Which brings me to a great Belgian joke (modified) that I nicked from this book. I will look up the author one day so I can credit him (maybe he'll write and let us know!) and refer you... Anyway:
Two Belgians were driving their freight truck down the highway when they came to a tunnel with a sign above it reading: Maximum Height: 4 meters. Now they knew they were driving a truck that was five meters high, so they stopped just ahead of the tunnel. The passenger then jumped out, ran up, surveyed the tunnel, then got back in the truck.
"It's okay," he said, "no cops."
* * *
posted by gbarto at 11:54 AM:
The five people who drop by here from time to time may have noticed we were missing last night. ITX Design, where this page is hosted, had an electrical fire and had to shut down power to their complex so that no fire fighters would get electrocuted putting it out. Glad I kept a little bit cool about the outage, since I'd feel pretty stupid accidentally asserting that the TurkeyBlog's accessibility was more important than the lives of the fire personnel! Anyway, our best wishes to ITX Design, which has been a good and reliable hosting service, and which had the good grace to send everyone a note as to what was up, not just those who complained.As to what was missing, here are the posts at the Old Turkey Blog last night:
Marcus wonders where the civil libertarians were when black boxes went in cars.
Hmmm. gbarto.com down. So, in fact, is the host company, ITX Design. I'll be curious to see how long it takes them to get back on-line. Glad I'm just selling a few books with them, and not trying to run a big time business.
Anyway, here are French news headlines, to be updated to the main site when it's back up:
Le Monde: Paris and Berlin Take the Initiative In Relaunch. It's their 81st summit and the second joint ministerial conference. On the docket: Economic issues.
Le Figaro: Corsica, Security, Islam, Sarkozy's Truths. So now we know the top three things on the mind of the Interior Minister.
Libération: Air of Regression In Recess - as talk of uniforms, same sex schools, etc., suggests a return to the authoritarian school of yesteryear.
Ouest-France: Local Taxes Going Up - now that the PM is transferring authority from Paris to the provinces.
* * *
posted by gbarto at 4:44 AM:
Testing.* * *
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
posted by gbarto at 3:20 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: Middle East: The American Position In Question. Specifically, they want to know why we simultaneously blocked a resolution to protect Yassir Arafat and threatened to cut off Israel's aid if they kept expanding into the Occupied Territories. Maybe they've never heard of passive-agressives... or maybe the US thinks it's better for us to prod the Israelis while letting the Palestinians know they can't count on the international community to cover for their terrorism than to throw the whole thing over to a broadly anti-Semitic body with a bad track record with Israel.
Le Figaro: Chirac's Support for Raffarin. The President has been campaigning and advancing his party's agenda.
Libération: Chirac Resurfaces to Help Raffarin.
Ouest-France: Chirac: Reform Will Be Pursued.
* * *
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
posted by gbarto at 3:40 AM:
Cicero dissects the latest nonsense from Robert Reich, namely the latter's claim that there should be a special tax on the rich to pay for Iraq.* * *
posted by gbarto at 3:29 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde's lead certainly doesn't sound like what the government was hoping to hear: Jean-Pierre Raffarin's Foggy Fiscal Message. Things are a little confused, what with his announcement of a cut in income tax last week followed by the decision to raise a half-dozen user fees and taxes on fuel, etc.
Le Figaro: is down.
Libération: Hmm. And this doesn't sound good for the internationalists. Cancun: The World Trade Disorganization.
Ouest-France: At Cancun, the North Scores Off the South. North and South are what used to be called the First and Third World. The last time I checked, the English code was "Developed" vs. "Developing" nations, but it's probably changed in the interim. I suspect that even as you are reading, a university professor somewhere is thinking about trying to get it changed to "Evil Destroyers" and "Noble, oppressed peoples."
* * *
posted by gbarto at 3:15 AM:
If I follow the headers correctly, this is for attribution to Robert Houston at the University of Arizona; I got it from the TurkeySister:Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.Pretty cool.
* * *
Monday, September 15, 2003
posted by gbarto at 4:15 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: Swedes Say No To Single Currency. 56% said no, 41% said yes and there were some blank ballots in there.
Le Figaro: The Swedes' No To A Single Currency. In a related article, Le Figaro takes the defeat as A Negative Signal For Europe.
Libé: Fiscal matters: After the fall, passing to the cash registers? The Finance Ministry wants to raise fees on fuel, medicine, tobacco, etc., to make up budget shortfalls.
Ouest-France: Swedes Say "No" To Euro. Ouest-France notes that this puts them with Great Britain and Denmark as far as monetary policy goes.
* * *
Sunday, September 14, 2003
posted by gbarto at 1:13 AM:
Natalie Solent has some good observations on why we keep looking back to 9/11. Sometimes it's too much to see all at once.* * *
posted by gbarto at 12:56 AM:
From the honest anti-war corner, Cicero has thoughts on GW Bush and the left. Those truly opposed to war would do well to visit his page for a coherent, conservative argument against the neocon positions. Neocons (including the TurkeyBlog), likewise, should drop by to find out where they need to rethink and doublecheck their reasoning. There are different worldviews at issue here, but that doesn't mean that sloppy thinking about matters of life and death is acceptable. There may be no one right answer, but there are wrong answers, namely those detached from reality in which muddled thinking sets us off in a direction other than that which the thinker intends..* * *
posted by gbarto at 12:47 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde leads with Incertainty Over The Referendum In Sweden. Specifically, will there be a sympathy vote in assassinated Foreign Minister Anna Lindh's honor, or will Swedes stick to the opinions they held before and reject the Euro?
Also, Iraq: Differences Persist For The Five In Geneva, i.e. the UN Sec. Council foreign ministers aren't making headway deciding what, if any, role the UN should have.
* * *
French Elections, 1st round
Second round special page
Second Round Results Map
The TurkeyBlog main page contains only the 20 most recent entries.
To go further back, check the archive in the right hand bar.
