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Saturday, November 08, 2003
posted by gbarto at 11:55 PM:
Tonight's TurkeyBlog in a quick special edition redated to avoid the dread Blogger archive bug. The Saudi bombs and gay non-sex come in right after the French news headlines.Le Monde: Riyadh plunged into mourning by bombing. Five dead, ninety-nine injured in the bombing of a complex used mostly for foreign business people and government workers. Will the Saudis be more cooperative with US investigators than after the Khobar Towers incident? And does this show Saudis are working with us, hence are targets? Or does it show that we're not safe in the kingdom? Maybe both.
Le Figaro: Le Figaro's right on top of what's important: The XV show no pity to Ireland. Apparently, Le XV kicked ass in their latest rugby match.
Libération: France maintains nuclear exceptionality. While much of the world abandons nuclear power, France (along with the US and a few other countries) is going full-steam ahead on nuclear power and related research.
Other news:
Here's FNC on the bombings in Riyadh:
Deadly Explosions Rock Saudi Capital
Fires rage after explosions in Riyadh.
Saudi gov't suspects Al Qaeda of carrying out homicide car bombing at residential compound in western Riyadh; at least two people killed, dozens wounded
And here's the gay non-sex story:
New Hampshire Supreme Court: Gay sex cannot be adultery
If a married woman has sex with another woman, is that adultery? The New Hampshire Supreme Court, ruling in a divorce case, says no.What's worse, the decision was the right one. Not, I have to say, on the merits. But on the law. As the AP article notes, New Hampshire law does not give much guidance in this case:
Part of the problem in New Hampshire is that adultery is not defined in the state's divorce laws. So the court looked up "adultery" in Webster's dictionary and found that it mentions intercourse. And it found an 1878 case that referred to adultery as "intercourse from which spurious issue may arise."Clearly, "spurious issue" is highly unlikely to be the result of any homosexual interaction. And, in the end, a spurious resolution is what the court has judiciously avoided in refusing to do the job of the legislature by suggesting that until that body drafts a coherent law regarding these matters, it will have no choice but to do its best with the incoherent law now in place. Which law does not, to all appearances, regard gay sex as anything at all with which the court need concern itself.
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posted by gbarto at 7:02 AM:
Le Monde says Europe's in a mess over Putin and Chechnya: Berlusconi is backing him, Denmark and Sweden are livid and London and Berlin are shutting up. Paris is in the visibly worried camp.More updates to come but blogger ate the first edition.
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Friday, November 07, 2003
posted by gbarto at 12:33 AM:
While Cicero and I disagree on the war on Iraq, he hits the nail on the head with respect to how a democratic republic must go about dealing with such matters and why the US Senate, for all its boasting about being the world's greatest deliberative body or whatever, is really a refuge for shameful stinkers. The Senate, it seems, passed W's funding measure for Iraq with a handful of Senators in the room and since no one called for quorum, the uncatalogued voice vote holds. This is bad for the Senate. It's also bad for America. The individual senators no doubt think themselves clever. They found a way to make their speeches while avoiding committment to a tough position - either walking away from the president in the middle of a war or signing on for a costly action the president views as necessary. But in the process, they have shown that the Senate is, as we already knew, a place where rich fat cats trade horses to feel important but avoid actual responsibility with odious rules regarding debate, procedures for passing bills, etc, designed to let each member from time to time have the direction of the republic subject to his whims. This latest measure sends a message to our troops: We, the Senate, will bail on what you're risking your lives for the second it interferes with our blow-drying schedules. It sends a message to Iraq: we don't want to go against Bush, but if you kill enough of our boys, we've covered our posteriors so we're ready to do so. Finally, it should send a message to Bush. It's time for the President to start hitting the Senate and the doubting left over the head with some serious argument as to what we're doing in Iraq. It is time that the president narrate a little video from the torture tapes Uday made, tell us what we see in the photos of the mass graves where the enemies of Saddam were dumped, introduce an interview with a Kurd who was gassed. Maybe even talk to an American pilot about what it was like having Saddam's men try to shoot his plane down as he patrolled the no-fly zones created by the UN negotiated peace treaty. It is time, in short, that Bush remind us of what we have eliminated and level with the public about the fact that more needs to be done to eliminate those who grew rich and powerful under Saddam's hateful regime and who will happily kill us to hang on to their villas, their luxurious lifestyles, etc. It is time the President came back to make the case for why we are in Iraq and why we have to stay - namely to root out these men before they can cause more destabilization in the region in their efforts to regain power. The case is there to be made. But Bush has to make it. So that when the Senate comports itself as odiously as it did in the Iraq vote, he can decry them for not backing a good cause, instead of just being grateful the skullduggery went his way this time.* * *
posted by gbarto at 12:13 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: Dependency Plan Under Fire From Critics. It would seem that few, whether politicians, business people or professionals, are impressed with the Raffarin plan to get everybody to work a day for free to pay for the services it became manifest France was not offering when thousands started dropping off during the August heat wave.
On the same subject, Le Figaro has the friendlier Raffarin Unveils His Dependence Plan.
Libé: CFDT Loses Opposition. Several factions within the union have now packed up and left.
Ouest-France: Employees Will Work One More Day. Though not necessarily Pentecost Monday. But I think we covered that sort of yesterday. In any case, Ouest-France is easily the most optimistic about the PM having a plan, as opposed to the rest of the world being ready to jump on said plan.
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Thursday, November 06, 2003
posted by gbarto at 3:06 PM:
Even the libertarian leaning TurkeyBlog is with Cicero on the partial-birth abortion issue and Wesley Clark's response. General Clark's assertion that he would have vetoed the bill Bush just signed and the assertions surrounding it - as reported by Cicero - tell us what we already knew: Wesley Clark is nothing more than a vehicle for Clintonian Democratic ideas whilst the Clintons are off stage. Formerly a fairly solid Republican, Clark has had stars in his eyes ever since luminaries from the fellow Arkansan's presidential administration started whispering "Ike" in his ear. But Wesley Clark is no Ike. As Allied Commander, DDE won a war and helped win a peace.What about Wesley Clark? Well, there are two choices: Either he was just an obedient general from the Clinton era, ready to watch thousands die in the backyard of his command authority if Bill Clinton didn't feel like acting. In which case, he is free from blame for the Bosnian concentration camps but also unworthy of political accolades for the eventual shutdown of Milosevic and Karadic. Or, more sinister, Wesley Clark was a voice of authority and willfully watched the slaughter of countless Bosnians because there wasn't yet sufficient international consensus for action. Given his prattle about Iraq, the second is disturbingly possible. Wesley Clark: He let the downtrodden die in Europe till France felt good about acting, and he'll let the downtrodden in the Middle East die too!
The theme may be, of course, overstated. But it dovetails nicely with our original issue: Wesley Clark will let anyone die who gets in the way of the Democratic agenda, notwithstanding a long career as a Republican. Oh the things ambition does to a man!
Incidentally, this also ties in with the latest plans the Wes has proposed for Iraq, starting with a bunch of international accords. How many Iraqi Shiites, Kurds, and others will have to die if the Wes wants to go into holding patterns until Europe is happy with him? And is this excessive internationalism or has no one told him he no longer answers to the NATO command structure?
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posted by gbarto at 8:46 AM:
French news headlines (late edition):Le Monde: Church Worried by Debate over Secularism. Specifically, they're worried that the question of whether Muslim girls can wear burqas or headdresses will reopen all the old thorny issues of church and state that have so many times rent France asunder, including a few civil wars. The TurkeyBlog, for his part, finds it extremely interesting that a society ostensibly so much more tolerant of the displaced than ours in the US is having this debate. And that it's the defenders of the separation of church and state who are saying, "No veils". You'd think they wanted to read the Bible in class or something.
Le Figaro: Pentecost Monday will be worked, but not in 2004. That's the day they want people to work for free and turn over the proceeds to a program to help the elderly. The measure is the Raffarin government's way of atoning for letting several thousand mostly elderly people die in August before admitting something needed to be done to help seniors combat the unusual heat. But there's resistance to the measure.
Libération: Libé also has the Pentecost story up top. Let's drop down and look at another headline: Charges dismissed against Claude Evin in Blood Contamination Scandal. He's a former health minister, and only the latest of multiple higher ups in Socialist governments of years past who have been let off the hook with a plea that, in effect, they didn't understand the decisions they were making or that those decisions had life and death consequences for citizens, not just political or financial consequences for their friends.
Ouest-France: Also on the Pentecost issue: Solidarity: The Assistance Plan to be Unveiled Today Solidarity was the name the government gave this fund reallocation project. They, like everyone else, have rolled over their headlines or copy to push the big part of the story, namely that nothing will be changed in 2004.
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posted by gbarto at 8:19 AM:
The TurkeySister says Matrix Revolutions was ok but could have been a really great film, had it been cut to an hour and forty minutes from the more than 2 hours it ran. She'll have more in a day or two, but her students want their schoolwork back so it will have to wait.* * *
Wednesday, November 05, 2003
posted by gbarto at 12:14 AM:
Congratulations Dave!
Letterman Becomes a Dad at 56
Late-night host's girlfriend delivers a baby boy late Monday night
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posted by gbarto at 12:12 AM:
French news headlines:Ouest-France: Local Taxes: Households Get Conked. While there's lots of talk about national taxes, local taxes can be the worst in France.
Police on the trail of the Real IRA. Five Bretons and two Irishmen associated with the group picked up in the last 24 hours.
Le Monde: Bercy Fogs French Message on Deficits. That is, after getting dispensation from the EU to work things out with on their deficits, a treasury official suggested the whole budget could be reworked. We would tsk, tsk, but the TurkeyBlog has a certain fondness for countries that tell international bodies pushing against said countries' interests to cheese off.
Le Figaro is not coming up at the moment.
Libération: François Pinault, Fashion Victim. His deals with Gucci are still in progress but two of Gucci's top designers are walking. Oops.
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Tuesday, November 04, 2003
posted by gbarto at 11:45 PM:
Off to the side, you'll notice an ad for a place called Liberals are Swell. If they're paying to help keep this site up, damn straight they are. And if you're the sort of reader who normally agrees with me, this would be a great place to go to have your twenty minutes of cardiovascular a day without having to run. Though it did not get my blood pressure up the way, say, a typical Krugman column would, its title still is true to what it advocates. Those reading me to keep tabs on the enemy should enjoy, by the way. Click one, click all, and keep the TurkeyBlog in corn feed...* * *
posted by gbarto at 12:47 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: Paris obtains the indulgence of its EU partners - regarding its plans for bringing France's deficits under control but not quite yet.
Le Figaro: DeGaulle and the Harkis: the debate. A Harki is an Algerian who fought for France during the Algerian civil war. The families of two Harkis are going after folks from DeGaulle's inner circle for crimes against humanity for the way they handled the conflict and its aftermath.
Libé: The Matrix's Other Dimension. Says Libé, with part 3 coming it's time to look at the sociology and philosophy the film has stirred up.
Ouest-France: Thompson Television Turns Chinese. Thompson (of France) and TCL of China have teamed up to build a big global partnership. Among the consequences, Thompson is going out of the TV biz.
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Monday, November 03, 2003
posted by gbarto at 12:39 AM:
Let's all wish a happy 2nd blogiversary to Natalie Solent, may her wit and her tongue remain ever sharp.* * *
posted by gbarto at 12:21 AM:
Stolen from Common Sense and Wonder's quote board because it struck me tonight:Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."
--Robert Heinlein
While you visit for their great quotes - you did follow the link, didn't you? - be sure to see their item from a few days ago on the mess that is Russia.
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posted by gbarto at 12:11 AM:
A Dog's Life has the inside track on neuticles. Be sure to read for an amusing anecdote as well as word on just what neuticles are.* * *
posted by gbarto at 12:06 AM:
French news update:Step one: Go visit the remarkable Cicero and read down - he's translated some big time Spanish and French articles with a care the TurkeyBlog simply lacks the time or patience to offer. After that, you can read the latest headlines here:
Le Monde: Iraq: Despite Deaths, American Determination. Says Rumsfeld, even if their numbers and identities are uncertain, the US has the will and the means to do what it takes to track down the terrorists and ultimately shut them down. His determination - and the American public's will be necessary to win this war, but it can be won.
Le Figaro: Iraq: America's Bloodiest Day - since Bush's declaration the war was over and won, that it. The death total wound up 18, 15 from the helicopter that was shot down. I hear, by the way, that the helicopter was shot down with a French-made missile, but I have no written confirmation, only rumors.
Libé leads with Elections: The Trotsko Attitude. At issue, the Trotskyist left's attempts to create a unified party, this time with the Revolutionary Communist League's call for the Lutte Ouvrière (Worker's struggle) types to join in their party. Libé notes this is only the umpteenth time a radical left party proposed a real or new left or new radicalism with the idea that all the other leftists should shut down and sign up with them. Sadly for them, none of said parties has managed to woo its fellow leftists to sign up, never mind France, which shows the French may not be as crazy or politically misguided as sometimes perceived. They may have fallen for Mitterand, but the day France votes for Arlette in the same numbers that it celebrates her is the day the country has gone completely off the rails.
Ouest-France: American Struck Hard in Iraq. As you've read about above, below and everywhere else.
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Sunday, November 02, 2003
posted by gbarto at 11:44 PM:
Dan Sneider of the Mercury News is the sort who usually just misses the point, but today's column on Putin's moves to take over Yuko Oil hits the nail on the head in several places. To all evidence, Putin is blowing Russia's chance - yet again - to move into the civilized West and out of that class of backward states that thinks it can be a grown up nation without growing up. Sneider concludes:``All the natural resources that Russia possesses belong not to some corporation,'' Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov warned recently, ``but to the people of Russia.''No kidding. I wonder what Bush would see if he looked into Putin's eyes today. As I said a few days ago, if you've got money or any other stake in Russia, last week was a great time to pull it out.
When Russian leaders talk like that, it is time to be worried.
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posted by gbarto at 12:38 PM:
I see we've got a delinking debate going over a lawsuit involving a blogger. I'll point to Tom Macguire, linked at Instapundit (betcha the extra three readers from TurkeyBlog will be the straw that breaks the camel's back on his bandwidth). There have been one or two delinking campaigns before that caught my attention, but so far I haven't been linked to a site involved in such quarrels that excited my outrage (though I have supported some sites that were targets). The TurkeyBlog's views are not unlike Wilde's on art: never mind right or wrong; blogs either appeal, stimulate, provoke and even irritate enough that it's worth occupying the brain cells to see what they have to say or (like this one) they don't. If a blog disappears from my blogroll, it is because I no longer enjoy reading it and don't think my visitors would either. However, it is less likely the content (there are at least three links on here to people with whom I pretty strongly disagree on some issues) than a question of inspidness, tired rhetoric or excessive bombast (as in the two posts below) that would provoke me to a "delinking".* * *
posted by gbarto at 11:49 AM:
French news headlines off to a late start:Le Monde, like everyone, is leading at the moment with "Iraq: Deadly Attack on Americans." Indeed, a helicopter shot down, 15 dead, 21 injured. The attack took place at Fallouja. Readers of the previous French news update, immediately below, will find my thoughts essentially unchanged from update to update: whatever the rhetoric, we are in a war. It is a war we can and should win, but we have to take it seriously for what it is if we are to do so. Clinton's awful mistake - that led inexorably to 9/11 and the mess we're in - was that foreign policy regarding terrorism, the ABC of atomic, biological and chemical and even genocide (in the former Yugoslavia) was essentially about international law enforcement. In meting out punishments - a cruise missile here, a small raid there, Clinton went through an astonishingly large chunk of our arsenal while accomplishing little. In making our army the cops, he allowed the murder of millions because the goal was "arresting" Karadic and Milosevic, not settling a high stakes territorial dispute. Yada yada yada. I offer the yadas because what Clinton did is now irrelevant, except to the extent that we can learn from it. We are where we are, confronting what we are confronting. It sounds like tautology, but alas a subset of the Bushies have fallen into the Clintonian distrust of reality unfiltered by perception and they are saying that a war isn't. Whether it be the case of the lowly Clinton or that of the usually solid Bush, having a foreign policy in which the other side is waging war while we're pretending to be the local magistrate or city council or police force - as though the preservation of a civilized status quo is the aim and not the crushing of a threat to a now absent stability in danger of never emerging - is ridiculous. America can win this war. But if our gameplan is to preserve and ameliorate a nonexistent peace, we're in trouble. If it looks like a duck, talks like a duck and walks like a duck, it's probably a duck. This is among the finer pieces of wisdom that Ronald Reagan left us. How is it that a Rhodes scholar and a Harvard MBA can't grasp it? Fight the good fight, George. Lay down your olive branches, for there's work to be done.
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