The body of Anna Nicole Smith has finally been embalmed under a court order issued a day earlier. Two embalmers finished the job around noon on Saturday, according to Joshua Perper, the Broward County medical examiner. They promised not to discuss, write about, photograph or draw the body.
Lawyers for photographer Larry Birkhead, who claims he is the father of Smith's baby girl, had fought to delay the embalming until an additional DNA sample was taken from her body on Thursday.
"They did an excellent job, and the body will be ready for viewing with no problem," Perper said. "In other words, she's basically looking like she looked in life or very, very close to that."
Lawyers for photographer Larry Birkhead, who claims he is the father of Smith's baby girl, had fought to delay the embalming until an additional DNA sample was taken from her body on Thursday.
The body remains at the medical examiner's facility, awaiting developments in a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, courthouse, where Smith's estranged mother Virgie Arthur and companion Howard Stern will resume their battle on Tuesday over where the Playboy model should be buried. Arthur wants Smith taken to her home state of Texas; Stern wants to put her in a plot in the Bahamas next to her son.
Perper said he was hopeful a decision would come soon. "I don't have any kind of reservations or fears that there will be any further deterioration of the body because of the delay in the decision of the judge," he said. "It is my belief that the judge will make the decision as soon as the party will present their case."
The question of who will inherit Smith's estate was also thrown into confusion on Friday with the release of a 2001 will in which the former Playboy centrefold said her fortune should be held in trust for her son - who died last year. The 19-page will did not say how much Smith was worth, so it is still a mystery how much money those battling over her and her baby daughter could get.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm sorry but they're all disrespecting the dead here.
#5
sorry Joe, I don't have any Ded pics of Anna Nicole but I do have a Dannielynn paternity video which has all the suspectant fathers taking the test.. Right HERE.
Fans and friends of Britney Spears rallied round the pop star last night as fears grew for her mental health. The 25-year-olds behaviour has become increasingly erratic, including reports that she had checked into a rehabilitation clinic but left after only 24 hours. In a bizarre sequence of events, Spears was filmed shaving her head in a Los Angeles hair salon on Friday evening before going to a tattoo parlour, where she reportedly had a tattoo of a pair of lips put on to her wrist.
Psychologists said yesterday that the behaviour was worryingly erratic and required attention, while fans of the pop star took to the internet to express their support for her.
Video footage from a Los Angeles television station showed Spears taking the clippers to her hair in full view of the paparazzi gathered outside. Esther Tognozzi, the salons co-owner, told US Weekly that after Spears had cut off her brunette hair extensions she just looked in the mirror and said with tears in her eyes, Oh, my God, I shaved it all off. My mom is going to be so upset with me. JT Tognozzi, her husband and salon co-owner, said: [Spears] didnt want her hair. We have it here at the salon and we will probably auction it off for charity.
Crowds of passers-by later gathered at the window of the Body and Soul tattoo parlour, as the singer, wearing a hooded tracksuit, and looking pale and drawn, ordered the tattoo. She just wanted something real small on her wrist, something dainty, said Max Gott, a tattoo artist. She got some cute little lips on her wrist.
Emily Wynne-Hughes, another employee, was quoted as saying that Spears wasnt making sense at all and you could tell shes not in a good place at all, and that she is totally freaking out. After she left the shop we all just looked around and said to each other, we just saw a huge celebrity on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Her behaviour came on the same day as a variety of US media reported that she had checked into, then out of, a rehabilitation clinic owned by Eric Clapton. It was claimed that she lasted only 24 hours at the Crossroads clinic, on the Caribbean island of Antigua.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Why, Britney, why - you don't have to cut off your lovely natural dark hair just to do a remake of "NOTHING COMPARES 2 U". You're not gonna tear up the Pope's pic, are you???
Essentially falsies for the head, KBK. The hairdresser weaves locks of hair into the woman's and voila! The boyish cut is miraculously long and lush. Hair extensions are expensive (at least for those with normal budgetary constraints) and can take hours to put in, but once done they're pretty permanent, and can be coloured, cut and styled like one's own hair.
#10
heh Dear Britney move to Darfur for a couple of years and 'camp out' with the peeps. You'll save yourself some psychobabble fees and gain sum priceless perspective in one trip.
HARARE (Rooters) - Zimbabwean riot police patrolled a restive Harare township on Monday to stop possible unrest, a day after crushing an opposition rally amid government fears of a new street campaign against President Robert Mugabe.
Heavily armed riot squads prevented the Movement for Democratic Change from holding a court-approved rally in Highfield on Sunday, firing teargas and water cannon to drive away stone-throwing protesters and arresting 122 people.
Political analysts said the crackdown had stoked tensions in the southern African country, where people are struggling with a desperate economic crisis and unemployment is surging.
Continued on Page 49
Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's opposition leader, has cancelled a planned mass rally in Harare after police arrested dozens of supporters, despite a court order to let the event go ahead. Police used teargas and water cannon on Sunday to disperse supporters from the sports ground in the Zimbabwe capital where the rally was to be held.
Nelson Chamisa, an MDC spokesman, said: "The rally has been cancelled for now. The sad thing is that police failed to respect the court order." Tsvangirai, who leads the the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), arrived at the venue but decided not to proceed with plans to address the crowd. He announced "the struggle continues" before leaving the venue with his security personnel.
Police armed with batons, guns and tear gas, supported by others in armoured trucks, arrived at the stadium and arrested dozens of supporters arriving for the rally, witnesses said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2007 00:00 ||
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...Evidently there's enough loyal cops left to make a difference.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/19/2007 10:21 Comments ||
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I think in this case it's more "Back the government or die when the "NEW REGIME" gets in power".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/19/2007 18:05 Comments ||
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Some 50 allegedly corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen in Bangladesh must account for their personal wealth or it will be confiscated, the countrys anti-graft body said on Sunday. The body published a list naming the individuals and said their fortunes would be confiscated within three days unless they filed a wealth statement. A dozen ex-ministers, including former power minister Iqbal Hassan Mahmud Tuku from the outgoing government led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), feature on the list. Former home minister Mohamad Nasim of the main opposition Awami League is also named.
In our primary investigation we have found clear evidence of corruption against the 50. Their wealth doesnt match their income, Delowar Hossain, the secretary of the anti-corruption commission, said. They have been asked to submit a wealth statement within the next 72 hours. If they fail to do it, we will temporarily confiscate or freeze their assets and properties, he said. Hossain said more names would be published within the next few days.
The list came after an interim government last week unveiled tough new emergency rules barring corrupt politicians from elections and confiscating their properties if they fail to come clean. Bangladesh has been under a state of emergency since January 11 when the president suspended national polls scheduled for January 22 and stepped down as the head of the interim government. The emergency followed months of crippling opposition protests over the disputed polls. At least 35 people died in the unrest.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2007 00:00 ||
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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he plans to nationalize the countrys food industry and trade up to the last fridge, driving dominant American companies out of the market. The leftist leader has also set his heart on money and tax reforms.
Hugo Chavez announced the nationalization of strategic industries after his election in December. Last week he announced an intention to nationalize all food warehouses and supermarkets that violate price controls. These measures came following a hike in sugar, meat and milk prices in early February.
Those in the food industry argue that the price controls prevented them from making any profit. A decree which gives the go-ahead to the nationalization of food enterprises and warehouses came into force last week.
The Venezuelan president on Thursday announced plans for removing three zeroes from the denomination of Venezuelas currency, saying it was psychologically damaging for $1 to be worth so many bolivars.
#1
Chavez is crankin' to catch up with Zim Bob in putting his nation down the economic toilet. If he wants to seize oil company assets and nationalize them, Citgo could be seized by our side. Just like Salvadore Allende did in chile, and Kennecott Copper spread out the lawyers far and wide and seized his shipments of copper, so he could not sell it.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/19/2007 0:58 Comments ||
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The oddsmakers in Vegas should set the over/under line for how long it will be before Hugo is hanging from a lamppost to 18 months, and I'll take the under.
#3
Nope, commie leaders always cling to power to the very end. Bar good old causescu (who was in fact ousted by other commies in disguise), I don't remember one commie Fearless Leader ever being chazed away by a revolting people. I say hugo will still be at the helm 10+ years from now, but I'd be delighted to be proven wrong sooner than later.
#10
Simple solution to "Consficating Food" Keep your warehouses OUTSIDE Venezuela, Shipments Are onlt moved Into Venezuela AFTER payment OUTSIDE Venezuela's reach, IN CASH, IN FULL, IN ADVANCE, be sure to include such things as the complete new price of whatever you use as transport,Semi-trucks, ships, etc he'll surely sieze those too.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/19/2007 20:40 Comments ||
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#11
Saw a tear jerker commercial by Citgo about the "gift" of oil for poor people in the United States of the TV yesterday; anyone else see it?
Go read the article about how the media and a PR firm manipulated the public regarding the whole Kosovo deal.
You think Hugo wouldn't stoop to hiring a PR firm to manipulate American opinion? He already has.
Cuba unveiled a marble plaque on Saturday commemorating the interview 50 years ago by New York Times reporter Herbert Matthews that helped build the legend of Fidel Castro, the state news agency Prensa Latina reported. The plaque was placed on the spot where Matthews met with Castro at his hideout in the Sierra Maestra mountains of south eastern Cuba. Castro had taken to the hills two months earlier with a handful of men who survived a disastrous landing from Mexico to launch a guerrilla movement against US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. The government had claimed Castro was dead. Matthews article, published by The New York Times on Feb 24, 1957, showed Castro was still alive and fighting. It immediately made the 30-year-old firebrand an international figure. In that glowing article Matthews wrote: The personality of the man (Castro) is overpowering. It was easy to see that his men adored him and also to see why he has caught the imagination of the youth of Cuba all over the island. Here was an educated, dedicated fanatic, a man of ideals, of courage and of remarkable qualities of leadership. The interview may also have helped Castro by exaggerating the size of his rebel force.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
If I recall the background correctly, Castro at the time had only a few dozen followers. So in order to put on a good show for the Timesman - who in the best Walter Duranty tradition was all too eager to shill for a communist thug - he had his remaining troops march past Matthews, slip into the bush, circle back around and march past him again and again, thus making it look like his force was in the thousands.
BTW, does anyone know if this toad is any relation to the traitorous pond-scum Chrissy Matthews?
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu BabalooZ) ||
02/19/2007 0:31 Comments ||
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Fidel Castro's niece said Sunday he was recovering well from surgery and would likely be "very active" again in Cuba's government. "Fidel is stupendous," said Mariela Castro Espin, daughter of acting President Raul Castro, who took over in July after his older brother underwent surgery.
Fidel Castro, 80, has disappeared from view since temporarily ceding power to his younger brother, aside from occasional videotaped meetings with foreign visitors. The most recent showed a Jan. 29 meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in which the Cuban leader seemed noticeably stronger and less haggard than in earlier images. The videotape eased speculation fed by a Jan. 16 report in the Spanish newspaper El Pais that described Castro as being in "very grave" condition after three failed operations. Cuban officials have not given details of his illness.
It has not been clear if Castro would eventually return to power fully or would leave the government in the hands of colleagues. There have been no visible signs of unrest or major policy changes since he stepped aside. "One way or the other he is going to be present and very active," said Castro Espin, who attended the dedication of a book of collected speeches and interviews by her mother Vilma Espin, a veteran of the revolution led by Castro.
Castro Espin, who heads the National Center for Sex Education, said she had not seen her uncle in recent days, but had spoken with "many people to be able to have information from different points of view" about his condition. "I know that he is very well, that he is recovering very well," she said. Castro "is recuperating as a man of 80 years should recuperate."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2007 00:00 ||
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said she had not seen her uncle in recent days, but had spoken with "many people to be able to have information from different points of view" about his condition. "I know that he is very well, that he is recovering very well," she said. Castro "is recuperating as a dead man of 80 years should recuperate."
so...she actually hasn't seen him, either. He's dead, Jim
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/19/2007 6:41 Comments ||
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Niece: Castro in 'Stupendous' Condition
heh I thought it was Fred's headline but it's the original too!
Stupendous, good gawd that word means it's official, hes ded olde meat for sure.. good news more chum for the Makos then.. bait the hooks!
MOSCOW Poland and the Czech Republic risk being targeted by Russian missiles if they agree to host a proposed U.S. missile defense system, a top Russian general warned Monday. Russia has been increasingly bellicose in its response to the U.S. proposal to build the missile defense system in Eastern Europe. President Vladimir Putin has said he does not trust U.S. claims that the system would be to guard the American East Coast and Europe from missiles launched from "rogue nations" in the Middle East.
Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, head of Russia's missile forces, said the system would upset strategic stability. It would be the first such site in Europe.
"If the governments of Poland and the Czech Republic take such a step ... the Strategic Missile Forces will be capable of targeting these facilities if a relevant decision is made," he said.
On Monday, Czech Premier Mirek Topolanek said his country and Poland were in favor of the U.S. missile defense proposal.
"I think it is in our joint interest to negotiate this initiative and to build in our area the missile defense," Topolanek said after talks in Warsaw with Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
The bases in Poland and the Czech Republic would be designed to intercept missiles being developed by Iran, U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry A. Obering, director of the Missile Defense Agency, said last month. Two other bases in Alaska and California would protect the U.S. from threats from North Korea, Obering said.
Kaczynski brushed aside Russia's fears, saying "the missile defense is not directed against any normal state."
"Any statement suggesting that the missile defense would change the alignment of forces in Europe is a misunderstanding," he said. "This truth is being conveyed to our partners in the west and the east."
State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez said Monday the United States has worked closely with the Czech and Polish governments to develop the missile defense system and that it was in no way directed at Russia.
"We have offered to cooperate with Russia on missile defense because we believe we face a common threat emanating from the Middle East as well as other areas," Vasquez said.
Solovtsov said he was concerned that the United States, which plans to deploy 10 interceptors in Poland, could boost those numbers in the future.
The general also said it would take Russia less than six years to build upgraded versions of medium range missiles if Moscow decided to pull out of a 1987 agreement with the U.S. that banned their deployment.
"It is not difficult to restore their production," Solovtsov told a news conference. "The missiles were dismantled, but the production technology has remained."
Russian military officials have said Moscow's decision to pull out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty would depend on whether the United States goes ahead with the missile defense plan. The key arms control agreement was negotiated between Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and former President Ronald Reagan.
At a European security conference earlier this month, Putin said the treaty was outdated, and that many nations had since developed the medium-range missiles eliminated by Russia and the United States.
#1
Threatening a missile attack strikes me as a poor incentive to pass on missile defense. Are the Russians nuts? I would have thought they had much bigger problems to worry about than warlike Poles or Czechs.
#3
Once you've had an empire, which the USSR clearly was, it's awfully hard to let client states go their own way. Look at France's behaviour toward Francophone Africa.
#4
This is a violation of the security guarantees given by the Soviet Union and its legal successor state, The Russian Federation, to Non Nuclear Weapon States (NNWS) that signed the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Posted by: John Frum ||
02/19/2007 13:40 Comments ||
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#5
The kinder, gentler bear: defending yourself against our missiles is reason enough to attack you.
#6
The Russians are about as subtle as a fire engine, ain't they?
Posted by: Dave D. ||
02/19/2007 13:53 Comments ||
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The Russians really want to be moved into the trash bin of history after pissing everyone off and having the muzzies and Chinese take over, aren't they?
#8
After being under Russia's boot for 40 years, I don't think that either the Poles or the Czechs are going to be very moved by their threats. In fact, I think both countries might consider a bilateral agreement that if menaced by Russia, they start to build their own strategic missiles.
#9
so now the russians can think again about arming the Iranians in their proxy war against the US. I think its a good move for the USA and real Europeans.
#10
...Well, look at it this way - we KNOW how to handle the Soviets Russians.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/19/2007 16:19 Comments ||
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I don't understand the logic:
"Putin said the treaty was outdated, and that many nations had since developed the medium-range missiles eliminated by Russia and the United States."
"We have offered to cooperate with Russia on missile defense because we believe we face a common threat emanating from the Middle East as well as other areas," Vasquez said."
Russia recognizes the problem, but even refuses cooperative defense with us: they're trying to create an issue of conflict for some reason when there really isn't one - why? If something doesn't make sense, you don't know the whole story (except when dealing with Muslims.)
Kyodo) _ The USS Mustin, a U.S. Navy destroyer equipped with the most advanced Aegis missile guidance system, will make a call at Nagasaki Port for five days from March 1, the Nagasaki prefectural government said Monday.
The U.S. Navy said the call by the 9,238-ton warship that is deployed at a base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, is aimed at promoting friendship. Or is someone expecting things to heat up in the Axis of Evil around that date? Wishful thinking, I'm sure.
The Nagasaki prefectural and city governments have requested Japan's Foreign Ministry and the United States to keep from making the port call as "citizens of a prefecture that suffered from atomic bombing hold complex feelings," but the requests were rejected, they said. "The port call stirs concerns among atomic-bomb victims and citizens of the bomb site, and we absolutely will not tolerate it," said Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito in a released statement.
The scheduled port call at Nagasaki is the first by a U.S. fleet since last February.
USS Mustin is not nuclear powered, so that can't be it. Must be the usual local socialist, progressive crazies trying to stir things up.
#1
"The port call stirs concerns among atomic-bomb victims and citizens of the bomb site, and we absolutely will not tolerate it," said Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito in a released statement.
If I was him, I'd be more concerned about having a genuine North Korean atomic bomb drop in on my head.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/19/2007 6:08 Comments ||
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#2
Maybe the Nagasaki prefectural and city governments official need a vacation to Manila to see what their Imperial Japanese forces did to the civilians of that city in February 1945. I'm sure there are some still around who have 'complex feelings' they'd like to communicate.
#3
Yes, this always surprizes and disgusts me, the way the japanese offer themselves as victims and from there moral beacons, thanks to being nuked in WWII.
From what I understand, japanese textbooks and general official History is quite matter-of-factly revisionnist in that regard. I guess not being bothered by that old judeo-christian guilt is a big boost in holding the moral highground despite your dark past.
#5
Maybe a few of 'em would also like to visit such diverse places as Shanghai, Bataan, Seoul, or maybe talk to the survivors (or children of surviviors) of the "comfort women", the Kwai River Bridge, or the Bataan Death March (if you can find any still left alive).
I bet they'd come away with a whole new set of those "complex feelings" Procopious mentioned above.
#6
USS Mustin is not nuclear powered, so that can't be it. Must be the usual local socialist, progressive crazies trying to stir things up.
But the locals always ask if the ship(s) are carrying nuclear weapons and since the official policy is to "neither confirm or deny" in any statement made to anyone, the local rabblerousers use that as a convenient trigger to rile up the "usual suspects."
#8
Went to Nagasaki on the USS Blue Ridge (I think 1995 or 96). We expected lots of protests. On the way in there was a flotilla of protest boats on the starboard side. I was on the port side and thought more protest boats were coming. They were a welcoming group. I don't know who organized that but I remember a lady on the loud speaker thanking us for helping Japan and she was waving an American flag for ages; longer than I would of waved it myself.
When we moored I looked out on the pier and it was crowded with well wishes. The demonstrators were off to the side.
During a visit there were lines of people standing in the sun to visit.
There's lots of protests in Japan but a lot of it is formalized, no heart in it. Lot's of good people there.
Airbus has been forced to postpone an announcement on a major overhaul of the business, amid disagreement between its various European partners. The struggling planemaker said it had shelved plans to reveal a radical restructuring, likely to result in thousands of job losses, on Tuesday. France, Germany, the UK and Spain, all home to Airbus factories, have been unable to agree on future contracts.
Costly delays to the A380 superjumbo have hit the company's finances. Parent firm EADS says Airbus needs to reduce its costs by 5bn euros (£3.4bn) by 2010 to boost productivity and make up for the losses from the delays to the flagship project. Further savings after 2010 - in the region of 2bn euros a year - are also likely. Government ministers and union officials from all four countries have been lobbying Airbus bosses in recent days, fearing that plants in their countries will bear the brunt of the cuts.
Newspaper reports have suggested that Airbus could cut up to 12,000 jobs from its 57,000-strong workforce. But Airbus said it had been unable to reach a "consensus" on the restructuring, particularly over which plants in which countries would handle the manufacturing and final assembly of the new A350 plane.
The firm said it hoped to resume negotiations on how contracts to build the plane - finally approved in December - would be shared out in the next few days. I can't wait to see how the EU deploys its Rapid Response Force in a situation where casualties are expected.
Battle-lines are being drawn in the salons of Paris' Left Bank after several eminent philosophers did the unthinkable and publicly disavowed the Socialist presidential candidate Ségolène Royal in favour of "la droite". France's traditionally Left-wing intellectual elite has been ablaze since one of its leading members, the former Maoist André Glucksmann, wrote an article in Le Monde entitled: "Why I choose Nicolas Sarkozy."
Jean-Paul Sartre will no doubt be turning in his grave, but Mr Glucksmann, who co-founded the influential New Philosophy movement in the 1970s, said that the Right-wing interior minister is the only candidate who represents France's tradition of anti-totalitarian humanism -- "the France of the heart".
Conscious that his backing of Mr Sarkozy would earn him many enemies, he described the Left as fatally out of touch and "marinating in its own narcissism". "Fatally out of touch and marinating in its own narcissism." Sounds like the Left, all right!
Posted by: Mike ||
02/19/2007 06:11 ||
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#1
The New Philosphy movement was formed by French former maoist and communist philososphers after opening their eyes on the realities of Gulag, Cambodia and China. They were very critical of communism and marxism but most of them remained in the left.
#2
About Sartre: his participation inn the Resistance was zero, zilch, nada. But thanks to haviong sold his souil to the Communist Party (not Brejnev Communism's, Stalin's communism) after France's liberation he headed the Depuration Committe for Litterature. That allowed him to break the carrers of those who displeased him and more importantly to populate the carreermaking positions for litterature (eg reading comittees for main editors, jurys of litterary prizes) with communist sympathizers.
He was the man who told "Every anti-communist is a son of bitch" (that was in times of Stalin and lets not forget the help given by the French Communist Party to the Nazis during the 1940 invasion.
And about him "It is better to be wrong with Sartre than to be right with Aron". Aron was liberal, right winger and unlike Sartre a Free French from the beginning
#3
Sartre wrote plays for the Communists in the 30s, then just as happily for the Nazis in the 40s, then for the Communists again after the war was lost. In his Anti-Semite and Jew he wrote that there would be Jews so long as there were antisemites to define and hate them. He was a nasty, dirty man who always looked for a way to live comfortably while servicing the hatreds of others.
#4
One class I was required to take while getting my French degree was a semester-long class reading Sartre works. After some time, I complained to my teacher that the wrong people always seemed to "come out on top" in his works and Sartre seemed to be championing evil. She said that those evil people are how humans really are.
I suppose she had a point-that there really are rotten people in the world (that's one good reason for the right to bear arms), but I grew exhausted reading that stuff. At the end of the semester, I had a book-burning festival with a colleague who also couldn't stand Sartre. This was my only book burning experience but it was one joyous, midnight event. My teacher was mortified-in her eyes I had become some redneck fascist burning books. I reminded her that it was my right to express my opinion of someone else's ideas this way-it was a form of freedom of speech. I wasn't suggesting that violence should be done to Sartre; I was showing what I thought of his works and letting off some steam after completing a very difficult and trying class.
I later was able to appreciate some of Sartre's works, but only after growing a thicker skin and adding a few years under my belt. Existentialism may be considered the sophisticate's philosophy, but to me it seems to encourage the worst in humanity.
#5
Sartre's remolding of French intelligentsia (thanks to his 1944 position in epuration committees) is not a minor factor for present days French anti-american hysteria at a moment where the civilized world should close ranks against the common enemy.
#8
One class I was required to take while getting my French degree was a semester-long class reading Sartre works.
Oh, you poor thing!
He was lucky. You could be forced to read Sartre in litterature class and then to read him again in philosophy class. I was lucky: my philosophy teacher thought he was a fourth rate philosopher and an el cheapo imitator of Heideger so I escaped the "Sartre as philosopher". But my teacher was an exception in French educational system. system.
#9
JFM-I agree you got the worse of the bargain by having to go through it twice, plus you had the added disadvantage of national adoration of the man. I paid the teacher back well in senior sem-I chose a Belgian symbolist, which was difficult for an existentialist to read. And by the way, I am a girl-the nickname carried over from childhood.
On topic, what is the French fascination with socialism?
#10
On topic, what is the French fascination with socialism?
Elites favor because it it gives them more power.
Non-elitees due to the record of injustice in the French society.
Voltaire and his gang wanted the right to vote only for those who were learned enough while advocating for the... closure of the schools for the poor because "instruction is harmful for the populace".
With Napoleon the blue collars became second calls citizens: no right to vote of course but also their testimony was BY LAW considered as inferior to the testimony of a bourgeois, no right to strike (that wasa abolished not by him) but by the Revolution. Finally blue collars were to have a booklet annotated by employers and police (ie a bad annotation and you could find impossible to get a new job).
Also unlike in America where workers were lettered (thanks to action of Protesxtant churches), encouraged to innovate and often had the minimum skills for starting their own business there no succes stories between French proletarians (delibarately kept unlettered by the bourgeoisie and working in top down companies).
Because French capitalism offered them no perspective French workers turned to socialism.
#11
Conscious that his backing of Mr Sarkozy would earn him many enemies, he described the Left as fatally out of touch and "marinating in its own narcissism".
It is a bit unfair to blame the French Left for "marinating in its own narcissism" when this is an apt description of France as a whole.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/19/2007 11:49 Comments ||
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#13
Thanks for the input, JFM, I now have a different perspective on French politics.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/19/2007 12:25 Comments ||
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#14
That's swell, Excalibur, you're a canuck IIRC, and you succeed in being more anti-french than a briton, which is a nice achievement, and I bet you're not even trying hard. Unfortunately, since Canada doesn't register on french collective imagination (excpet for québecquois who are generally seen in a positive way, with a charming accent and all), unlike the Perfide Albion for which we have lots of old fashioned intra-european prejudices, I cannot say back that canucks are X or do X... still, you do seem a bit obsessed with us froggies, being unable to give to the usual racist bashing which would get you sinktrapped if it were directed against blacks for example.
Btw, do you have keyboard shortcuts for that (smell, garlic, snails, surrender, white flag, etc, etc...) or do you have to type it each time?
#16
TW-:) It was torture enough for her to have to re-read the plays. Sadly, my senior sem was her last-she developed brain cancer and died within a year. She was actually pleased that she had re-read one of the plays-at the end of her life, she had a different perspective on it. She was a great mentor.
#17
"Elites favor because it it gives them more power."
I am guessing that this power would be the power to raise taxes and dole out monies to selected groups? But who is being taxed in France? Aren't the elites hit pretty hard by taxes there?
Probably lots of under the table income and tax loopholes the size of canyons?
#18
Probably lots of under the table income and tax loopholes the size of canyons?
Right on. The Enlightened Elites are living very well, thankyouverymuch, sucking money from the 17 millions of active french who have to support 43 millions civil servants, retirees, welfare recipients,... not only do they enjoy a free luxury life, all expense paid (the cook of the senate just won the Bocuse award, that means he's top notch), with a lifestyle unimaginable for an US pol,... but they earn lot of money (françois "I don't like rich people" hollande and marie-ségolène royal earn about 60 000 euros a month).
#19
It is a bit unfair to blame the French Left for "marinating in its own narcissism" when this is an apt description of France as a whole.
Not to start a war here, but I for one, thought that was a quality shot. Sure, it's based on stereotype, so what. So is every black, ignorant American, drunken Canadian and hairy armpit joke.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
02/19/2007 14:08 Comments ||
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#20
It's just that I'm not very receptive to repetition-based humor.
#23
To those who make the kind of racsit anti-French jokes A6089 complained about I warn them that my dream is:
go into America, become a citizen, swear loyalty to the Contitution, become a member of the NRA, have a house with a mast flying the American flag and once there is no doubt to anyone I am a true American patriot, hunt the little jokers and make them swallow their teeth.
#25
just don't say "y'all" like our lil greek boy...
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/19/2007 17:45 Comments ||
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#26
JFM, anytime you want to visit the Hill Country of Texas, y'all let me know. We kin go out and enjoy some good fun like shootin' ana drinkin' ana chasin' wimmen.
I supply the guns, you pay for the ammo and get the wimmin with your oh-so-sexy french voice.
Seriously. It would be a hoot (i.e. Texan for fun).
White House hopeful Barack Obama, taking a fellow black lawmaker to task, said Saturday voters are ready to elect a black president.
I agree. President Condi Rice has a nice ring to it ...
"Some people said we cant do this, we cant do that, so we shouldnt even try. If I have your support, if I have your energy and involvement and commitment and ideas, then Im here to tell you, Yes we can."
The first-in-the-South contest here is seen as a test of candidates abilities to reach black voters. Half of the states Democratic primary voters are black. Obama responded to comments this past week by Democratic state Sen. Robert Ford of Charleston, who helped mobilize black voters for former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards in 2004, but has switched to Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2008 presidential race. Ford said one reason he was supporting Clinton, the New York senator, is that he is skeptical Obama can win the presidency and worries his nomination could hurt other Democratic candidates.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I agree. America is ready for a black president.
However, America does not want a socialist, empty suit with no brain fro president. Thus, it ain't gonna be you.
#2
I have a dream that one day presidential candidates will be judged, not by the color of their skin, but by the goofy-ass statements that come out of their mouths.
I have a dream that one day Democrats will rise up and declare they care more about the security of this nation than about trying to screw George Bush
I have a dream that.. ah, crap. Will you look at that! Bong water all over the carpet. damn.
#6
White House hopeful Barack Obama, taking a fellow black lawmaker to task, said Saturday voters are ready to elect a black president.
Rice-Steele '08: the "Black is Beautiful" ticket!
Posted by: Mike ||
02/19/2007 6:01 Comments ||
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#7
Regards color or gender, who cares? This empty little media creation fails all meaningful tests. The whole campaign to make him appear substantive and centrist is laughable - to all but the drones.
...And I can't help but think of Alfred E Newman every time I see that pic.
Posted by: Captain Lewis ||
02/19/2007 9:51 Comments ||
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#2
The irony being that they're meeting in meet in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) to discuss the subject. The other irony being that while the conservative branch of the Anglican Church fits in nicely with the Catholics, the liberal branch of the Catholics would probably be happier Anglican, except for all the lovely pageantry of pope and cardinals in full regalia.
The Prophet of Garbage
Joseph Longo's Plasma Converter turns our most vile and toxic trash into clean energyand promises to make a relic of the landfill
By Michael Behar | March 2007 (Popular Science)
.....The entire thing takes up about as much space as a two-car garage, surprisingly compact for a machine that can consume nearly any type of wastefrom dirty diapers to chemical weaponsby annihilating toxic materials in a process as old as non trivial the universe itself. Called plasma gasification, it works a little like the big bang, only backward (you get nothing from something). Inside a sealed vessel made of stainless steel and filled with a stable gaseither pure nitrogen or, as in this case, ordinary aira 650-volt current passing between two electrodes rips electrons from the air, converting the gas into plasma. Current flows continuously through this newly formed plasma, creating a field of extremely intense energy very much like lightning. The radiant energy of the plasma arc is so powerful, it disintegrates trash into its constituent elements by tearing apart molecular bonds. The system is capable of breaking down pretty much anything except nuclear waste, the isotopes of which are indestructible. The only by-products are an obsidian-like glass used as a raw material for numerous applications, including bathroom tiles and high-strength asphalt, and a synthesis gas, or syngasa mixture of primarily hydrogen and carbon monoxide that can be converted into a variety of marketable fuels, including ethanol, natural gas and hydrogen....
-----------------------
[this company is building its first demo in Connecticut; might be ready for serious10 ton/day testing by summer 2007 - a few non trivial kinks still needed to be worked out as of the time the article was written}
#6
A Different kind of garbage story in today's New Orleans Times-Picayne:
TALKING TRASH
Garbage removal is elevated to an art form by some of New Orleans' trash collectors
The light-blue garbage can was full, but Cornelius Washington twirled it across the pavement like a 70-pound ballerina. From his gloves, the can danced to the back of a garbage truck at the edge of Canal Street, where Washington's younger colleague "T," Torreyon Davis, waited.
Davis reached out with one hand, flipped the can into the air upside down and tapped it against the truck, spilling its contents into the truck's big metal jaws. Then he flicked the empty can back to Washington.
The performance earned hoots from a group of college kids standing nearby, draped in flashing beads. "Did you see those garbage men?" said one, punching his friend on the arm. Washington raised a gloved hand in acknowledgment, then ran alongside the moving truck and hopped on.
Davis, 28, said he is proud to be earning money collecting other people's discards. But he plans to eventually return to school to become a diesel mechanic.
Not Washington. "This is my livelihood," he said. "I look at it like it's a gym. I get paid to go to the gym. I'll be 47 next month, and everyone says I'm in great shape. That's because I run behind that truck."
You can find the whole story on http://www.nola.com/news - it's pretty good.
Organic food may be no better for the environment than conventional produce and in some cases is contributing more to global warming than intensive agriculture, according to a government report.
The first comprehensive study of the environmental impact of food production found there was "insufficient evidence" to say organic produce has fewer ecological side-effects than other farming methods.
. . . academics at the Manchester Business School (MBS), who conducted the study, said that was counterbalanced by other organic foods - such as milk, tomatoes and chicken - which are significantly less energy efficient and can be more polluting than intensively-farmed equivalents.
Ken Green, professor of environmental management at MBS, who co-wrote the report, said: "You cannot say that all organic food is better for the environment than all food grown conventionally. If you look carefully at the amount of energy required to produce these foods you get a complicated picture. In some cases, the carbon footprint for organics is larger." For the hip urban leftist pseudo-hippie, this finding presents an intractible dilemma: shop at Organic Joe's (or whatever they call it) and contribute to global warming, or at Kroger's with the breeder fundo peasants?
Posted by: Mike ||
02/19/2007 08:21 ||
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#1
The evil "carbon footprint" of food production can only be eliminated by the liquidation of consumers of food.
#2
It can be very amusing to follow these calculations to the end. It turns out, f'r instance, that cloth nappies and disposable diapers have just about the same environmental load... until one realizes that the disposables can be so easily composted except for the thin plastic outer layer, and then the disposables win. Or the bottle recycling required in Germany -- those recycled through the shops are good for an average of 1.5 cycles before they chip or break. And that isn't even counting the manual labour to sort out the one in three that can't be refilled in each batch. Or planting trees on sealed rubbish tips -- does the planet win because of the increased carbon dioxide absorbtion, or lose because of the heavy metals and other pollutants pulled up through the tree roots and released with the dead leaves in the autumn? Anguper Hupomosing9418 nailed the real belief.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The body of Anna Nicole Smith has finally been embalmed under a court order issued a day earlier. Two embalmers finished the job around noon on Saturday, according to Joshua Perper, the Broward County medical examiner. They promised not to discuss, write about, photograph or draw the body. 
HARARE (Rooters) - Zimbabwean riot police patrolled a restive Harare township on Monday to stop possible unrest, a day after crushing an opposition rally amid government fears of a new street campaign against President Robert Mugabe.
Fidel Castro's niece said Sunday he was recovering well from surgery and would likely be "very active" again in Cuba's government. "Fidel is stupendous," said Mariela Castro Espin, daughter of acting President Raul Castro, who took over in July after his older brother underwent surgery. 
Airbus has been forced to postpone an announcement on a major overhaul of the business, amid disagreement between its various European partners. The struggling planemaker said it had shelved plans to reveal a radical restructuring, likely to result in thousands of job losses, on Tuesday. France, Germany, the UK and Spain, all home to Airbus factories, have been unable to agree on future contracts.
White House hopeful Barack Obama, taking a fellow black lawmaker to task, said Saturday voters are ready to elect a black president. 
