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Saturday, December 27, 2003
posted by gbarto at 11:44 PM:
French news headlines:Notes Le Monde:
Earthquake: Iranian Despair, International Solidarity
Hope is just about lost for finding any more survivors and Iran is, needless to say, in shock. But the international community has rallied round, sending more than 800 rescuers. Running through the article, it is quite impressive how many countries have sent rescuers and everything from bandages to food to tea. Among those helping is the U.S. Le Monde makes a point of noting that though relations with Iran are strained to say the least (Pres. Bush has named the country as part of the axis of evil), the US is sending 200 rescuers and 75 tons of medical supplies are already on the way from American military stocks in Kuwait.
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posted by gbarto at 11:30 PM:
With Christmas past, the TurkeyBlog is almost past the flu (he hopes) and enjoyed a little day trip to one of the few spots in the South Bay area (sort of) to have snow on the ground, Mt. Hamilton. Driving from San Jose to Mt. Hamilton, one gets the feeling of having gone some fifty miles (twenty of them straight up!) but in fact it's just seventeen miles away. And all that stands between the two locales is more rock than a native of Michigan can conceive of in one place (all of a sudden, my home base in the Sierra Azul range seems just up the hill!). The reason why one goes to the top, of course, is 1) to see snow in the only place it usually shows up around here, namely way up high (though snow is no great attraction for me) and 2) to be way up high and see all that lies below. Here's my favorite view for the day:
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Friday, December 26, 2003
posted by gbarto at 11:34 PM:
A Dog's Life had some charming Christmas sentiments in keeping with its theme yesterday.* * *
posted by gbarto at 11:32 PM:
Guns in the parking lot?Cicero raises an interesting question: What's the liability if someone breaks into your car and does something with the handgun you've got in there? Particularly relevant since we have all these laws about when you have to leave your gun in the car. Is it better for a grown-up to carry his gun into a school or leave it unattended in an unoccupied car in a high school parking lot? Do rhyme and reason relate to any of the above? Not if your ultimate goal is to do in the NRA and eliminate concealed carry and second amendment rights altogether.
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posted by gbarto at 11:22 PM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: Earthquake in Iran: 20,000 dead; 30,000 injured.
Libé outdoes itself with this headline: Neuf mois de couacs en vrac pour Raffarin. The gentlest translation would be "Nine months of Random Missteps for Raffarin." But let's do the literal: "Nine months of willy-nilly quacking about..." Get the feeling things aren't looking pretty for the p.m. who at one time could do no wrong? Ever since the retirement overhaul got bungled, it's all gone to pieces. And a newspaper with Libé's working class left sensibilities cannot fail to smile, even if only the headline writer does so quite so openly.
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posted by gbarto at 9:48 PM:
Different standards?Iran Earthquake Kills Thousands
More than 20,000 reported killed after devastating magnitude 6.7 earthquake rattles Bam; officials say over 50,000 injured
Bloody Day for U.S. in Iraq
Five American soldiers die
oh, and by the way -
Calif. Mudslide Death Toll at Seven
Search still on for nine people
Granted, Iraq is a day to day danger, but is it really true that for one day at least it was more dangerous to go hiking than to serve in Baghdad? Especially considering percentage engaged to percentage harmed?
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posted by gbarto at 6:55 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: South-East Iran Struck by Violent Earthquake. Thousands dead at last word.
also: Bombing against Musharraf underscores Pakistan's fragility. The Pakistani leader just escaped his second bombing in about as many weeks, but with 14 dead and 140+ injured, he's got to be pretty uncomfortable. Uncomfortable enough to cease being a loyal ally in the War on Terror? And even if he's in it for the long haul, can he function effectively under these conditions?
Libé: At least 2000 dead in quake in Iran. Iranian state television is reporting 4,000 dead and 30,000 injured. The country is asking for international aid.
Note: When the holiday season and the TurkeyBlogger's flu abate, the French news headlines will become a little more complete again.
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Thursday, December 25, 2003
posted by gbarto at 1:26 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: The United States Has Its Turn with Mad Cow Disease.
Libé: Mad Cow Disease Has Crossed the Atlantic - unleashing embargoes on several countries.
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Wednesday, December 24, 2003
posted by gbarto at 6:26 PM:
from Le Monde:The United States Gets Its Turn With Mad Cow Disease
and more interesting,
The United States and France in State of Latent War
The article is in response to Walter Russel Mead's declaration that France has gone from being a "difficult ally" to "active opposition" (I'm translating the French quotes, not citing original sources). Nothing new in the story, but it's interesting that all this is on LeMonde's mind.
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posted by gbarto at 6:14 PM:
From the Federalist e-mail letter (see link below):"In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.' Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.' When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.' So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told." (Luke 2:1-20)
(Please link here for The Federalist's Christmas greeting page for you, and please share this link with family and friends -- http://Federalist.com/news/christmas.asp )
And from further down:
Historically, the actual year of Christ's birth is thought to be between 6 B.C. and 4 B.C., at the end of Herod's reign. The first mention of Christmas as a formal Nativity feast occurred in a Roman almanac dated A.D. 336. The day we celebrate Christ's birth, December 25th, was not chosen on the basis of historical evidence but rather to replace the pagan festival natalis solis invicti, the birth of the sun god Mithras, at winter solstice.
The Christmas star that guided the Wise Men to Bethlehem may have been any of a number of recorded astronomical events coinciding with the likeliest dates of that first Christmas. Halley's Comet appeared in 12 B.C., and ancient Chinese texts note "exploding" stars, or novas, observed in both 4 and 5 B.C. Exceptionally bright planetary conjunctions occurred in 2, 6, and 7 B.C.; among these, the most promising candidate for the Holy Star was the triple conjunction of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn in 6 B.C.
The prophet Isaiah wrote of the coming Messiah, that "the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light...." Clearly, well before the birth of Jesus, man longed for light in the days of greatest darkness. Early Christians selected December 25th for the Nativity feast to proclaim that Jesus Christ was the real Light of the World, the true "Sun of Righteousness," the foretold Messiah. As Jesus later said, he had not come to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them. Christians believe these things are not merely enduring, but eternal -- because we are created in the image of Eternal God. And we believe that Christmas, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, marks the event which changed the world forever.
Be sure to visit the link to see the whole thing, including America's early Christmas traditions and non-traditions - it was banned as a heathen ritual in several states.
More posting planned above - you should already have seen it - but just in case I don't mention it again,
Merry Christmas from the TurkeyBlog
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Tuesday, December 23, 2003
posted by gbarto at 10:51 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: The Grand Bluff of the Adepts of Human Cloning. It was 26 December of last year that the Raelians claimed they had the first human clone baby. What's up with it? And why has no proof been furnished that it was a clone, or that a baby Eve even exists?
And how slow does the news have to be for a year old story about a crackpot cult of mad scientists to be at the top of the website?
Libé: Italian Government to the Rescue of Parmalat. Parmalat is an agricultural corporation about which the TurkeyBlog knows absolutely nothing. Apparently it's about to declare bankruptcy, but not until the government gets done changing the bankruptcy laws (expressly for it) and the consequences of a bankruptcy for its owners.
Note: The TurkeyBlog has managed to get the flu running throughout the Bay Area and, apparently, much of the U.S. Any oddities in recent or soon forthcoming commentary are to be attributed to the cough medicines.
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Monday, December 22, 2003
posted by gbarto at 12:22 AM:
Cicero says there's more to life than blogging. He's been reading Corneille; might do Shakespeare's MacBeth next. For Corneille, I recommend The Comic Illusion (L'illusion comique), a charming little number destined to delight. As for Shakespeare, I've been looking at King Lear of late, but have found it to appeal a little too much to my black sense of humor. I gather from the forward that you aren't supposed to chuckle as often as I am.* * *
posted by gbarto at 12:11 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde has not changed from the previous update.
Libé: Attached to the Veil and Well Guarded. 3000 Muslim women took to the streets to demonstrate against the law banning the Islamic veil in public schools - surrounded by a male guard.
Ouest-France: Saint-Nazaire says Goodbye to Queen Mary 2. Saint-Nazaire being the place it was docked when a boarding plank gave way, killing a dozen. The boat is finally off and on its way.
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Sunday, December 21, 2003
posted by gbarto at 9:58 AM:
Here's Steve Den Beste's excellent analysis of what's been going on with Iraq and the Middle East: Libya's apparent buckling on WMDs is one more proof we're on the right track and that the rabble rousers aren't in as great a position as some might think. That goes along with the Le Monde headline posted immediately below. It seems that with Saddam's capture, we learned enough to make a few arrests. Those arrests put us on the trail for a few more. And so on, until suddenly a couple hundred potential insurgents had been locked up. Most of these were taken near the Syrian border, and if a Le Monde story from a couple of days ago applies, the insurgents are probably mostly Syrian and Saudi.Given what's been happening, is Bashal el-Assad going to try to start secret negotiations with the British next? Highly unlikely. But a few other regimes in the Middle East (Kuwait, Jordan) may be seriously considering stepping up their levels of cooperativeness. As for the Saudis, I think their hope for coming out of this well got flushed down the toilet when the king took ill and the crown prince took over ages ago. Something will have to be done with the Saudis but so long as they're pretending to help, the president will probably quietly make suggestions about what the regime needs to do rather than directly confronting them. On the one hand, that's unfortunate: It would be nice to see the Saudis publicly called on the carpet. On the other hand, Bush has turned out to have a great deal of internal clarity about what he was doing in places where people saw blindspots before. He's playing this for history, which throws off people calculating how his actions this afternoon will play in the morning papers, and throws off enemies calculating their immediate vulnerability. How long was it that Bush seemingly kowtowed to the UN, prompting fears that French foreign policy would direct the American army and that we would give up in the War on Terror before we'd begun to fight? Instead, he'd rigged a clever diplomatic game which destroyed the UN's credibility and took the stock of France, Germany and Russia as international players down about six pegs. Those who are right now screwing us behind closed doors while collecting the occasional endorsement in public about their limited helping in the War on Terror would do well to read Mr. Bush's paens to the UN before he left it it the dumpster out back when it got in his way at the wrong moment. The time is coming for Syria, for Iran and for Saudi Arabia. Only Mr. Bush knows the timetable.
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posted by gbarto at 9:39 AM:
Le Monde: Iraq: The American Army Intensifies Its Tracking. According to Gen. Richard Myers, we've caught hundreds allied with the insurgency thanks to tougher efforts and intelligence gathered as a result of our capture of Saddam. Many of the people, notes Le Monde, were picked up not far from the Syrian border. Hmm.* * *
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