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Saturday, October 18, 2003
posted by gbarto at 7:11 AM:
French news eaten by blogger, I see. Your news is merit pay for local bureaucrats (Le Monde) and investigations against a nursing home director for some deaths during the heat wave (Libé). More tonight.* * *
Friday, October 17, 2003
posted by gbarto at 2:19 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: Constitution: An enlarged Europe at pains to accept. Only the six founding countries of the EU have signed up for the document created by VGE and friends; all the newer members are still hemming, hawing or saying no thanks.
Le Figaro: "Gerhard Chirac" star in Brussels. The President of the Republic also spoke for Germany at today's conference, leaving Le Figaro to wonder when "Jacques Schroder" will come out to match the French president's performance.
Libération: Credit Lyonnais: Chirac Exposed. Elysée, i.e. the president, has rejected a settlement offer in the case of Executive Life in order to protect the board members.
Ouest-France: UN: façade of unanimity on Iraq.
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posted by gbarto at 2:04 AM:
Thought for the year... (I'm not going to make a habit of doing these.)With John Paul II's 25th anniversary as Pope, a lot of ink has been spilled (and bits flung) over where religion is headed, if anywhere. The problem, it seems to me, is that churches and communities of faith alike have lost their way. They've forgotten who Christianity is for: the sinner. When Jesus descended to earth and sacrificed his life to take away our sin, he made a profound statement about our fallibility and the help we need to overcome it. Yet, to attend some churches or listen to some preachers, one gets the idea that some inspired lunatic came down to reaffirm the Old Testament and assure the people who seemingly didn't need saving anyway that they're a-ok. And he died on the cross and was risen to prove it. These are the people for whom the rising from the dead is the big deal; they don't get around to thinking about the sins they need taken away, at least not to outward appearances. I hope inside they know better.
While it won't revitalize the church, it would at least turn it in the right direction if it considered two of Christ's dictates from the standpoint of the sinner who needs saving instead of the righteous man who really could just be Jewish and be judged by the old law without any problem. The first of these is the Golden Rule; the second is turning the other cheek. When we think of these in church, we too often hear of the heroic morality of the good guy. But this religion is about the redemption of the not so good guy. So why don't we hear about the person who was a jerk and was treated with compassion, so maybe saw the error of his ways - or maybe didn't - and got a better shot at getting things together? Because that's the essence of Christianity - the lowly sinner redeemed by a God who shows the care we want and need instead of returning to us the kind of care we're able to give Him, as though we had alot to give other than a desire to do better. And as for turning the other cheek, we're always hearing the praises of the person who took the punch, took the insult and stood still because fighting back wouldn't fix anything and would only add to the violence in the universe, etc. That's cute if you're one of the righteous who goes through life assured that you're all God could want in a worshipper - or at least a damn sight better than your friends, neighbors and co-workers. In that case, it's one more chance to show how God-like you are. But for the average sinner, turning the other cheek is just about following the Golden Rule because sooner or later, when you least expect it, you're going to be the jerk whose idiocy needs overlooking.
I think if the Church took a shot at doing what Jesus did - being there for the screw-ups and lowlifes and letting them know there was a place for them other than in the poster for the annual canned food drive, the church would be more vital. And think people would listen more if the lectures on compassion, caring, love, mom, apple pie, Chevrolet and the rest centered less on how God wants us to behave and more on our opportunity to - to take the cheesy phrase of three or four years ago - pay forward the compassion and understanding our Creator is purported to grant us while making ourselves more winning recipients of compassion when we need it.
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posted by gbarto at 1:06 AM:
Cute Cavuto column on serious liberals and a certain big-headed but light-hearted commentator.* * *
Thursday, October 16, 2003
posted by gbarto at 1:12 AM:
Truly sad. Two bears are dead in Katmai National Park for the crime of mauling two humans who had no business being there and who deliberately got closer than allowed against the advice of rangers. While the TurkeyBlog is not a raging environmentalist, he respects bears being bears and opposes humans being idiots. We hope they'll make a small memorial to the bears at the site. Via A Dog's Life* * *
posted by gbarto at 1:06 AM:
Department of Peace? Cicero worries the Iraq war will just lead to more and more war. He may be right, and as a neocon, it's hard to know what to fear more - overdoing it or leaving something critical unfinished. What is clear is that if we advance again the administration will have to do a better job of explaining what's up, not least so it can figure out itself before it moves.For starters, those of us who live in blog-world know that the case against Iraq was being made long before the WMD issues really came up. You can use that either to say that Bush blew the WMD thing out of proportion for a war he wanted anyway or that he used the WMD issue effectively to at least prevent active opposition from a skeptical Europe for a war that had to be fought. But it's hard to argue that WMD's were the biggest thing on Bush's mind. After all, there was the support for Hamas, for suicide bombers, and there was the planned attempt on the life of Bush's father. There were the massacres of the Kurds. The violation of no-fly zone rules and the firing on American jets enforcing UN mandates. Just to name a few things. And why the administration didn't hammer these harder to truly make the case for taking on Iraq is a question that prompts worries, the first of which is how committed Bush is to the War on Terror beyond his rhetoric. He said that nations supporting terrorism could expect trouble. And we all but had the canceled checks for suicide bombers' families. Why wasn't that enough and why didn't he argue that it was sufficient, constituting proof that Iraq was supporting the slow but steady terrorizing and even annihilation of a free people? Maybe because Saudi Arabia supports terrorism the same way? We sincerely hope not and are in any case convinced we were right to act in Iraq. We may be right to act elsewhere. Like Saudi Arabia, for example. But the President needs to make clear why we're acting whenever and wherever we act and eschew the mouthing of pieties for the UN lest inanities pleasing to the ears of Chirac and the like come back to haunt him over matters that do not relate directly to American interests.
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posted by gbarto at 12:44 AM:
Rape in DehliAs Marcus says, pretty shocking stuff. Most recently, it's a Swiss diplomat, though the Indian capital has been a dangerous place for women in general of late. In fact, four presidential bodyguards are on the hook for another incident.
For the record, this is not about cultural differences, not about a need to understand that America, Britain or wherever has different cultural views on women's rights and protections. Nope. It's just wrong, and it will be the measure of Indian culture whether it cracks down and sends a clear message that this is not manly, just evil, or whether it continues on with the shrugging that preceded this latest when it was "merely" Indian women being victimized.
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posted by gbarto at 12:31 AM:
French news headlinesLe Monde tells us that The Church Celebrates 25 Years of John Paul II's Papacy.
Le Figaro takes a bolder tone - John Paul II, 25 Years of Courage.
Libération still leads with America Made Target In Gaza, about the bombing of a US diplomatic convoy, but their photo story of the moment is Ten Deaths in a Ferry Accident in New York.
Ouest-France has a surprising lead - Bruxelles: Chirac will speak for Schroder. That's right. At the summit of EU leaders, Chirac will speak on behalf of not only France but also Germany, the two having worked out common positions.
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Wednesday, October 15, 2003
posted by gbarto at 8:39 AM:
Instapundit says with our electrification and health care work in Iraq, all Cuba fans should get on board for the war. Interesting point.* * *
posted by gbarto at 8:34 AM:
People in need of serious help - the French Fry attacker?Woman Gets Jail In Assault On Boy, 4Apparently the boy, in line behind the woman, got ice cream on her dress. She was nine months pregnant at the time, hence the parenting classes.
Hot French Fries Smashed in Face
By Brigid Schulte
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 15, 2003; Page B01
A woman who chased a 4-year-old boy through a McDonald's restaurant in Montgomery County, pinned him in a headlock and screamed obscenities as she smeared his face with hot french fries was sentenced yesterday to four days in jail and ordered to attend anger management and parenting classes.
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posted by gbarto at 8:24 AM:
Here's the Post on the Palestine bombing:Blast in Gaza Strip Hits U.S. Convoy, Killing 3
Victims were private security guards at American embassy in Tel Aviv.
As I note in the posts below, this ought to remind us what we're up against - what Israel's up against - when it comes to Middle East peace. These people have no compunction about killing anyone in order to keep Jewish blood flowing. So, are Americans sincere about the War on Terror? Or will we continue to pretend that if we can just find the right negotiation formula, Hamas, Hezbollah, etc. will want peace after all? It's clear they don't, clear they must be destroyed, and clear that anyone more interested in peace than pieties has to take the shattering of the group's organization and the crushing of its mentality as a first priority.
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posted by gbarto at 8:11 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: China Launches Itself on a Space Odyssey
Le Figaro: US Targeted by a Bombing in Gaza. Three dead in "an unprecedented attack on a diplomatic convoy." Which tells us this was done by people who either a) don't want peace or b) want to make negotiations as awful as possible to try to wring out concessions. Of course we know that it's the first, that this is the work of Hamas, Hezbollah or another group that doesn't even pretend to want peace. Comes the question, if the US is serious about the War on Terror, how soon will it join Israel in dealing with local terrorists who have murdered American government personnel?
Libération: Yang Liwei, Child of the Heavens.
Ouest-France: Schools Seem to be in Recession. After ten years - 1985-95 - of improving performance, schools took a turn for the worse, a new book with its own prescriptions for French education says.
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posted by gbarto at 7:50 AM:
Three Americans Killed in Gaza BlastRemote-controlled bomb explodes under diplomatic convoy, destroying van; all U.S. citizens advised to leave Gaza Strip
And that's the price of diplomacy with these people - your best efforts to work with those who claim to be reasonable get shot out from under you by people they'll denounce, sure, but will do nothing about and insist Israel must leave alone.
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Tuesday, October 14, 2003
posted by gbarto at 1:07 AM:
French news headlinesFor all the leftists in America who are feeling repressed... get over it. Here's Le Monde's lead headline at the moment:
Bolivia: Big Protests, Bloody Repression
Bolivie : forte protestation, sanglante répression
La Bolivie est plongée dans une crise politique et sociale aiguë. Quatre ministres ont démissionné lundi pour marquer leur désaccord face à la violente répression des manifestations antigouvernementales, qui a fait plus de cinquante morts et une centaine de blessés depuis trois semaines. En dépit des protestations massives demandant son départ et des défections au sein de son gouvernement, le président bolivien, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, a annoncé qu'il ne démissionnerait pas. / Bolivia has been plunged into an acute social and political crisis. Four ministers resigned Monday to signal their disagreement [with the government] in the face of the violent repression of anti-government protests, which has left more than fifty dead and around 100 injured in the last three weeks. In spite of massive protests demanding his departure and defections at the heart of his government, the Bolivian president, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, has announced he will not resign.
Le Figaro: Raffarin wants to renovate, not overturn. Figurative translation: Raffarin wants to cut health insurance but save his job.
Libération: French Military Exception Attacked. Specifically, that the military is being spared from the budget axe to which all else is subject.
Ouest-France: local headline - Airport: Green light for Notre-Dame-des-Landes. So the western part of France will get a decent airport after all. More action on a TGV west also promised.
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posted by gbarto at 12:48 AM:
A while back, I mentioned an e-mail suggesting a boycott of Exxon-Mobil to drive down gas prices... I still think competition would be nice, but there are holes in this plan, of which I'll mention one: As the biggest seller of gasoline, XOM doesn't just sell a lot of gasoline. It has a lot in inventory. A pretty big share of the gasoline consumers buy in any given day, in fact. If consumers suddenly try to shop elsewhere, the other stations are going to have a shortage. And do we know what happens when a bunch of gas stations suddenly need to book emergency gasoline orders? Uh huh. Prices go up. While Exxon, in order to get back in the market, might be forced to discount relative to other stations to break the "boycott", they might well have only to hang on a week or two in order for that relative discount to come out to the price they were charging anyway. Here's my table:| Week | Exxon | Others | Percent difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1.95 | 1.95 | 0% |
| 2 | 1.95 | 1.99 | 2% |
| 3 | 1.95 | 2.05 | 5% |
| 4 | 1.95 | 2.12 | 9% |
With supply to other stations constricted and prices rising, XOM would soon be underselling its competitors by nearly 10% in this little model - without charging one penny less for gasoline. While my model may overstate short term price inflation, I would add that XOM probably would also wind up charging more because the initial rush on gas stocks by other companies could drive up their costs for fuel they sell but don't refine themselves. A boycott of all oil in favor of something else that can replace it long term would have possibilities for forcing a change in gasoline pricing, but this plan is more likely to put more dollars in other companies' pockets short term and XOM's thereafter than to truly help consumers.
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Monday, October 13, 2003
posted by gbarto at 2:49 AM:
Dr. Weevil makes the case - and it's a persuasive one - that Arafat's health is no worse than usual but that the PLA hyped it up to stay Israel's hand. He hopes Israel won't be led into letting Arafat last too long. We hope so too.* * *
posted by gbarto at 2:39 AM:
Natalie Solent refers a big survey on what blogging's about.* * *
posted by gbarto at 2:37 AM:
Cicero wonders how the PC police allowed "lame" to creep into slang.* * *
posted by gbarto at 2:34 AM:
Cicero pooh poohs the idea of the blogosphere moving into criticism but his post - which is cultural criticism - raises eyebrows, however boring he thinks litcrit blogging would be. And his closing suggestion to just read a little Christina Rosetti is sound enough, though I prefer Coleridge and Blake (but you would have guessed that, I'm sure).* * *
posted by gbarto at 2:23 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde has "Paris and Berlin Reaffirm their Commanality of Views" up top, but the link seems to be broken, so we'll send the curious Francophone to Raffarin Launches the Reform Process for the Social Security System - which includes all social service, including health insurance and unemployment, not just government run citizen pensions.
Le Figaro has a cultural issue I can't imagine here: Female High School Students at Aubervilliers Close to Fundamentalists. They were thrown out last week for refusing to take off their veils and conform to their high school dress code. Now the French Council on Islam (yes, it's a government body; they have one for everything) has declared its support for the girls.
Libération: The Net forgets the Crash. This asserted in response to growth for Yahoo, eBay and Amazon. The assertion is very cute and now doubt felt to be true in Paris, but living here in the San Jose area I go by eBay about four times a week. And it is an impressive presence. Over in Cupertino (?), however, HP looks positively austere. And that is to say nothing of the boarded up office spaces for places like AskJeeves that one used to hear about on CNBC but that have disappeared or shrunk considerably. Bottom line, the net remembers the crash very well; it has merely accorded to those who performed well the respect they have earned for weathering the storms.
Ouest-France: Baghdad: Bombings Target US. Thanks for making that clear...
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posted by gbarto at 2:00 AM:
Six Killed in Baghdad Car BombingsDozens wounded as two homicide bombers attack closely guarded hotel housing U.S. security personnel
They've done it again. More violence, more dead. Woo hoo. The Muslims of the world must be oh so proud. Those who are, of course, are traitors to their faith, not to mention moral idiots.
The truth of the matter is that Saddam and crew, whatever their capacity for destruction, are cockroaches on the landscape of history, enduring perhaps but contributing little (and let us apologize if any cockroaches are insulted). When they succeed in educating a single child, we here at the TurkeyBlog will start taking them seriously as a force in history, not dinosaurs breathing their last. But the killers now on the loose weren't doing a very good job of educating children, or much else, even when they had the state and the resources that state had to deploy. And their relevance to the world, whatever their transitory appearances in the papers seem to indicate, is fast declining.
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posted by gbarto at 1:51 AM:
For those of you who are big on business, economics and, well, money, be sure to check out The Carnival of the Capitalists, where the best business commentary from some of your favorite bloggers is assembled. Edition one is at:http://www.businesspundit.com/archives/000712.html
Thanks to Jay Solo for the heads up.
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Sunday, October 12, 2003
posted by gbarto at 6:49 AM:
French headlines for a Saturday, coming from Le Monde:New Deadly Bombing in Baghdad. At least seven killed at hotel in center of Baghdad, though said hotel was already behind steel and concrete barriers. A car bomb was used.
France: Workers Attached to 35-Hour Work Week. Sixty-six percent like being guaranteed a living wage for 35 hours a week worth of work. I would too - if I had a job in the system.
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