We used to have poultry when I was young, but none of them ever committed suicide. I'm so ashamed of posting this... Hat tip Pravda, who else?
A chicken killed itself on the fence of one of the village residents in the Tula region of Russia. An eyewitness of the unimaginable bird suicide says that he was resting on a couch, when his wife rushed into the house and said that a chicken had just committed suicide by hanging itself on the neighbor's fence.
When then man came out to have a look at what was happening, he saw a chicken hanging on the fence indeed. The chicken was apparently trying to fly over the fence, but did not have enough force to surmount the obstacle.
The man's son said that the chicken probably decided to kill itself being unable to lead the horrible life in the provincial village. The chicken is a vulnerable and sensitive bird that might not have the energy to handle stressful situations. Most likely, the Russian suicidal chicken has lost the will to live.
The poor bird was not left hanging on the fence: it was cooked and eaten.
#1
"The BBC ought to have questioned the merit of putting a partisan statement concerning Marx into the mouth of a children's hero. Good of the BBC to rescue Marx from the scrap-heap of history."
#2
The new series of Dr Who has been cringe-worthy pretty much start to finish (of what I've seen). Self-satisfied, insusbtantial, achingly right-on and dull; it's as though it was written by Cherie Blair.
#13
Not those bloody (I can't even remember their name now) - 'San thingy' things? - nah, my 3 for a tenner Jindalee Cab Sav from Oz does me fine. I quoteth from the bottle:- "Ideally served wih pasta, pizza, grilled steak, casseroles, roasts and barbecues" ! :)
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
05/29/2005 19:40 Comments ||
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#14
Saint Cervois(?) - from Sainsbury's - have to admit I only scanned the label when I bought them and thought they might be Spanish, but that's not the point... I'll dig out an old bottle of French plonk tomorrow and raise a glass or two to the French voters. (I imagine on the bottle it'll say "ideally served with snails, amphibian extremities, and haughty sneers". ;) )
#1
Strange. I didn't hear THAT explanation for banning short skirts during chapel services at the private church high school I attended.
Ah, and that calls to mind a fond memory of Ginny, a year ahead of me and already dating a guy who was a real klutz and never managed to actually TAKE her out to any of the banquets. Short curly brown hair, cute smile, usually dressed conservatively. She came to school one day in short skirt and fish net hose. Knocked all the guys' socks off for an hour before she was called to the principal's office, to be followed by a quick trip home.
Her step-sister, merri-lou, had a crush on me, but I didn't have the heart to tell her I had a crush on Ginny, long before the fish-net stocking episode.
What a triangle. My teen-life was SO screwed up until I got to college.
#3
Ah, yes, Ptah. The memories of youth gone forever. **sigh** I remember in 8th grade having the prettiest girl in our class, Diane, come up to me and was desparate for a ride home. I told her that I had my bicycle. She said that it would be fine. Rode her home 3 miles. Seventh heaven for an 8th grader. Short skirt, no fishnet hose. No worries. Heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/29/2005 13:20 Comments ||
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#4
for some reason that song...my angel is the centerfold...or whatever...is running through my head.
NOUAKCHOTT - President Maaouiya Ould Taya departed on Saturday for a first-ever visit by a Mauritanian head of state to Yemen, a four-day swing aimed to reinforce bilateral cooperation. A statement from the presidency said Taya would join a series of talks with his counterpart Ali Abdullah Saleh, hoping to boost bilateral ties and "coordinate their positions on questions of common interest".
The warming of their relations began in April with the signature of six cooperation accords, in terms of investment, economics and education, as well as a vow to coordinate politically and globally. The last may be a reference to the anti-terrorism fight enthusiastically championed by the leaders of the two impoverished countries.
Mauritania has launched a crackdown on the vast northwest African state's Islamists, accusing them of links to the Al Qaeda network and jailing dozens of their most prominent leaders and religious teachers. Yemen, meanwhile is currently trying eight suspected Al Qaeda militants for plotting attacks on Western targets and for plotting to assassinate senior Yemeni officials.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Faced with crippling power outages and a grumbling public, Cuba's President Fidel Castro has made an urgent televised appeal for energy thrift, even demonstrating the relative merits of Chinese-made pressure cookers. "Exceptional measures are being taken" to cope with the crisis, Castro, 78, said in an hours-long appearance on state television late Thursday, as the crunch has begun to yield more blackouts, and longer ones, as Cuba heads into the hottest summer months.
"What kind of measures, El Jefe?"
"Exceptional measures, you idiot!"
As if to underscore that he, too, feels the heat, Castro read aloud "opinions" collected from the public, replete with harsh criticism for the blackouts. As local jokes have it, they are more reliable than the power supply.
If other countries have reality television shows, this was the Cuban version of accountability TV. Basic Industry Minister Yadira Garcia had a somewhat discouraging bottom line: Cuba's power plants are obsolescent and require complex maintenance, which adds to the number of blackouts. She said there are no spare parts readily available for the mostly vintage 1960s and 1970s Soviet- and Czech-technology plants. "You have to special-order them," which also contributes to blackout woes, she said.
And the guys in brown don't deliver.
Yet "May and June are very difficult months, with a lot of tensions," she said, and power simply will not be able to be kept flowing at all times. She said blackouts would continue for now, but did not give a date as to when they might stop.
I'll just bet she didn't.
Castro grilled state power company officials on the program, and they revealed that they need to replace 17,000 kilometers (10,563 miles) of power lines and 44,000 power line poles to modernize the country's distribution system.
It was the 29th extensive address by Castro since he began dramatically stepping up his public speaking appearances in March on problems plaguing the only one-party communist country in the Americas.
Ya know Fidel, you might save some power if you just shut up ...
Last year, a breakdown at the country's biggest power plant that dragged on for months cost Cuba more than 200 million dollars, according to government figures, not to mention regular blackouts. At the time, Castro acknowledged that Cuba has "a weak national electrical system" and launched an energy-saving program.
In April, Castro said normal lightbulbs would be phased out and replaced by fluorescent lighting.
We did that in our household. Four years ago.
He said new energy-saving rice cookers and refrigerators would begin to be distributed, and many Cubans complain that they have not received the more efficient appliances, according to "opinions" Castro read that were gathered by party officials.
In his television appearance, Castro sized up pots and pans, hot plates and fans. "This is the glorious little socialist (pressure) cooker," Castro said, eyeing a locally made model which he said was not up to snuff for energy savings. He gave a middling rating to a Colombian-made cooker and raved about the purported electrical efficiency of a Chinese model: "This is the Olympic champion of pressure cookers," he said, adding that Cuba had acquired two million of the Chinese-made cookers to distribute across Cuba at a heavily subsidized price.
The gravity of the 2004 crisis also led to the firing of then-Basic Industry chief, Marcos Portal -- who is married to Castro's niece and is a member of the Communist Party's politburo -- and his replacement by Garcia.
Soon to be replaced herself. Why, there's only one man who's indispensible ...
Nine eightsevensix oil- or gas-fired power plants produce more than 90 percent of the electricity used by Cuba's 11 million people.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/29/2005 02:37 ||
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#1
welcome to the liberal paradise. What better place for Autopia than a tropical island? It's such a lovely place.
#4
Fidel sounds like the Envirodweeebs in this country advocating energy conservation instead of just fixing the power grid. As has been stated numerous times on this site, socialist just don't get the 'cause/effect' concept.
#5
It's energy saving Cuban style.
People cook with kerosine (supplied at a subsidised price by the state).
State finds out this is too expensive.
State gives them new energy saving cookers powerd by electricity.
No more subsidized kerosine.
SAVE
But wait...
Electricity doesn't work, new rice cookers won't work.
SAVE MORE!!!
(OK, no boiled rice for people but you can't really please everybody)
BEIJING - Chinese-run websites have until the end of May to register their sites or face being shut down as part of a new government campaign to police the Internet, a leading portal announced Saturday.
The registration drive is an effort by the Ministry of Information Industry to clamp down on fraud and other "unhealthy" activity on the Internet, the portal Sohu.com said. "If you have not registered by June, then your website could be ordered shut down," the portal quoted an official from the Beijing communications bureau as saying.
The registration drive started in March and aims to issue registration numbers to all China-based websites, including commercial, government and personal sites, it said. Hundreds of thousands of websites are expected to be registered, the portal said, without giving a precise figure.
The move is the latest in China's efforts to police the Internet and follow stringent efforts—known as the Great Firewall of China—to keep content authorities see as "unhealthy", like pornography and anti-government postings, off the web.
China already requires all users of Internet cafes to register before using the Internet, while major websites have signed onto a code of conduct to keep non-authorized content off their websites and chatrooms.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
I just started my own website, and had it hosted in China for reasons of speed (overseas hosts are sloooow). I have to get a permit within 60 days or get shut down.
Details at http://www.zca.gov.cn/promu_query.asp?id=36
#4
I'm voting it for today's headline. According to the Washington Post, the constitution is being slaughtered at 57.26% "Non"! Chirac should go into the garden and eat worms.
#6
This is a big FU to the EU. But in truth, the euro-peons have NEVER been for unity. Except via hitler's attempt at a unified europe. And that didn't work out so well either.
More truth: IRAQ will have a constitution, the EU will not.
Posted by: Dave ||
05/29/2005 17:29 Comments ||
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#10
Thanks be to God!
The French finally did something good for a change, even if it was for a lot of the wrong reasons.
Let Freedom ring in France and throughout "Old Europe!"
#11
"...With 92 percent of votes counted, the treaty was rejected by 56.14 percent of voters, the Interior Ministry said. It was supported by 43.86 percent..."
Worried about the next election, Pooty? If there is one.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
05/29/2005 18:18 Comments ||
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#14
It's a vote against the constitution, not against the EU. The EU is vastly popular with the general populace across the continent; even in Britain there isn't a single mainstream party that wants to leave the EU (UKIP is not mainstream, i think you need atleast one MP before you could even think of calling yourself that). This is a good vote, it will pave the way for more accountability in Brussels and lead to a much more popular revamped constitution in a few years time.
Well done to the French for voting for a stronger Europe.
#15
The vote may appear as a positive step for a Europe with a more individualist mindset, however, it was voted down primarily due to the proposed constitution did not go FAR ENOUGH in promoting social programs. The French are a strange breed and this vote has not redeemed any of the pre-conceived opinions we Americans hold regarding this country.
#16
The EU is vastly popular with the general populace across the continent, ...
Oh, really? That's why of the first three public referenda to be held on the proposed constitution, two will result in public rejection of further political integration (I'm assuming the Dutch will also vote No, which is reasonable)?
... even in Britain there isn't a single mainstream party that wants to leave the EU (UKIP is not mainstream, i think you need atleast one MP before you could even think of calling yourself that).
UKIP actually won 12 seats in the UK's last European elections - and came third, beating the Lib Dems into fourth place. And the Tories beat Labour to first place. That makes two of the top three eurosceptic-to-eurorejectionist.
This is a good vote, ...
Agreed.
... it will pave the way for more accountability in Brussels ...
Your logic being...? I'd have thought the lesson to be learned by Brussels is that letting the ignorant plebs have a say in their own destiny is dangerous folly. I find your faith touching.
... and lead to a much more popular revamped constitution in a few years time.
The fact that the French have mainly opposed this constitution because they saw it as too anglo-saxon, and the British reject it as they feel it's too French/Franco-German/Continental... doesn't dampen your optimism? Let's face it: the EU as a political union and superstate entity is doomed because the people of Europe share one thing in common: they know a crock of shite when they see one.
#18
Giscard d'Estaing, age 79, may now retire and sip Absinthe with The King of the Belgians.
Posted by: Tom ||
05/29/2005 19:33 Comments ||
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#19
They violated the basic lawyer rule at court:
"Never ask a question you don't know what the answer will be."
Hubris, nothing more.
A major problem with Europe is that it's purpose in the 21st century hasn't been clearly defined yet. It gets enlarged and enlarged, just because...
But WHY Europe should be more than a free trade zone is not clear at all. The French tried to build up the US as an opponent.
But being against something is never good enough. That's why the Democrats failed. Their only common ground was to be against Bush. Not enough.
If Europe wants to be a global player, it needs to get ready for it. In its current shape, that's impossible.
Let's see whether Germany will focus more on Eastern Europe and it's transatlantic connections. If so, France faces a real problem.
#20
Great day for New Europe....move forward as a cohesive block leaving the trouble on the outside looking in....this is good....the prench were only supporting this as a way to seek compensation for their own idelness from the taxes of other states....now they've blown up their own strategic plan.......Beg that the other states move on without them, giving them NO quarter to interject additional largess into a renegotiated deal.
#21
Surely one of the reasons the EC, EEC, EU came about was because the european countries at the time thought a large economic trading bloc was a good idea to compete against the goliath that was/is America? This was sensible thinking at the time (everyone was thinking that way), but is hopelessly outdated now - the more countries embrace free-market ideals, the richer they get (there are abberations of course). The other reason was the very understandable notion that if countries were tied together economically (and politically - eventually), then they couldn't go to war against each other. Don't forget, this was all initiated just after WWII.
That idea has become vilely corrupted, and chickens are coming home to roost. Growth in the Eurozone is about 1-2%, with the US about 3-4% and China/India 7-9%. The old model is no longer sustainable and needs to be changed. Too many people in Europe think the world owes them a living, and it's not the case.
It'll only get worse before it gets better...
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
05/29/2005 19:58 Comments ||
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BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - Romania's defense minister has removed a top general from a key post for telling reporters that the United States would set up military bases near the Black Sea, the Defense Ministry said Saturday.
Brigade Gen. Valeriu Nicut lost his job as head of the military's strategic planning department after saying at an international conference in Bucharest on Wednesday that the U.S. would take over the Kogalniceanu air base near Constanta and have access to a nearby port.
Romania, an ally that has joined the U.S. in Iraq, has been in talks with Washington over hosting U.S. military bases and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld visited the Kogalniceanu base last year.
On Saturday, Romanian Defense Minister Teodor Atanasiu said he had removed Nicut from his position because the officer "made unauthorized statements to the media and because we've reached no agreement with the United States." Nicut remains in the military and will be given other responsibilities, the ministry said. Atanasiu said earlier this month the two countries were negotiating financing for the bases and determining each side's obligations.
As many as 3,500 U.S. troops were stationed here from February to March 2003 as the United States prepared to invade Iraq. The U.S. Air Force has also used Romania as a transport hub for operations in Afghanistan, although no U.S. troops are currently based in the country.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/29/2005 02:43 ||
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JFM, we anxiously await your observations. I'll be checking in with these fellows during the day as well. The first bottle of wine is on me at the O-club!.
The French began voting on Sunday in a referendum on the European Union's new constitution with opinion polls pointing to a rejection that supporters say could kill the charter and weaken France's role in Europe. Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) across mainland France. Overseas voters cast their ballots on Saturday. France has almost 42 million registered voters. First exit polls projecting the result are expected when polling stations close at 2000 GMT. The Interior Ministry is expected to issue an official estimate for the result after 2100 GMT. The constitution was signed by EU leaders last October in Rome after long and tough negotiations. It sets rules for the EU that are intended to make decision-making easier after the bloc's enlargement from 15 to 25 member states in May 2004. The charter requires the approval of all member states to go into force. If it were rejected, the EU would continue to operate under its current rules but they were designed for a smaller Union and voting could soon become paralyzed.
1) There was a suspicious rise in the YES for two institutes (another one kept the NO on the rise). It could be due to people having a remorse about the fact that if NO wins Europe will be destroyed, heaven will fall and cows will give coca-cola instead of milk. However it could also be due to Chirac preparing the ground for fraud so a last minute victory of the Yes being not suspicious
2) The sociology of the place where I live makes it a stronghold for the NO. Suspiciously we haven't got new electoral cards. Usual prcatice is to get a new one every year, specially when there is an election programmed. Cards are valid for more than one year but there will be disnifranchised people.
3) Chirac has paid special attention to the people in the overseas possessions. In those places clientelism and fraud are rampant. It was the "colonial" vote who was largely responsible for the YES victory about the 1992 referrendum
4) Embassies have started an unprecedented effort to make the expats vote. Since they are out of touch with what happens in France (and don't have to cope with the effects of governemnt policies) french expats tend largely to vote for the government.
5) Any fraud will be judged by the Constitutional Council who is populated by pro-YES people. Not a problem if they judge according to the law and justice. But I don't trust them, specially after seeing one of its members campaigning for the YES thus exhibiting a blatant direspect for the law: according to the law members of the Council must keep their mouths shut.
#2
I've been predicting massive fraud for ages now, but it's interesting that the latest Intrade figures still haven't touched 30% likelihood of passage.
#3
JFM-
If Chirac declares 'Fraud!', do you see him actually having the stones to accuse the US of being behind it? I am thinking that if anything got us to the point where we would give Phrawnce a genuine diplomatic slap, that would be it.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/29/2005 11:05 Comments ||
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#4
he'll blame England
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/29/2005 11:58 Comments ||
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#5
Hi folks,
Update on Froggystan-from La Merde:
"The French of Overseas Territories have massively abstained from voting"⦠http://www.lemondâ¦
#6
Is Jimmuh Cahtah there to "certify" the election?
If so, "yes" will win through massive vote fraud, certified by dear deified Peanut.
If not, the Phrogs have a chance at retaining some semblence of a country.
And maybe getting some dignity to boot.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/29/2005 12:08 Comments ||
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#7
"The French of Overseas Territories have massively abstained from voting"⦠http://www.lemondâ¦
They started voting yesterday, and IIUC, they voted more than for the Maastricht treaty 1992 referendum (abstention is generally higher than in most elections), and at that occasion they probably made the slight difference for the "yes" (JFM will tell you about this more knowledgeably)
The expatriates are also probably following the "yes" party line.
Btw, "Le Monde" official nick is either "L'Immonde", or "Al Jezeera sur Seine" (copyrighted MIF, whose W. currently serves at No Pasaran), not "La Merde", let's stay civil :-).
#8
If Chiraq fudges the election, the EU is doomed because they can act fraudulantly more easily when the tough choices come up again. Setting a precident, ya know. If the people vote NO, then the EU dream is dead in the water. Want to die slowly or quickly? The US is sitting by. It's Europe's dog and their fight. Final thought: Can't run an organization with 300+ pages of bylaws. Mega-minutae.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/29/2005 13:48 Comments ||
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#10
VERY UNRELIABLE, BEWARE, but according to the ntv teevee, at 17:00 CET there is 52-56% for the non, according to polls outside voting stations. Grain of salt, I got this through an alsacian guy on internet. We'll see.
#15
Since I'm on a commenting spree, I might add that I believe the "yes" will win, by a slight margin, just as the Maastricht treaty. French people will be afraid of stepping outside the line, in addition to whatever may have been tried by the Shirakie.
That brings us back to the others referendum (referenda?), in Holland and Luxembourg the "No" is ahead in the polls, and I don't see England voting for the constitution either.
Of course, I'm always wrong, that's a permanent feature of my life, so it means the "No" will probably win.
#16
I'm rooting for a "Non". That will clear the way for the French to continue their slide into statist squalor and serve as an object lesson for us all. Sounds like a majority of the electorate really wants no part of the Anglo-Saxon free market racket.
#22
There is a hint: "The reporter at the siege of a pro-YEs faction has told: militants cross fingers and want to beelive until the last second". This hints that the mouth-to-ear is that the NO will win.
Another hint: "At the siege of a pro-No faction people look serene"
#23
Non @ 56% according to TSR.ch... still, better to wait until 22:00 I guess... some socialist sez the No has won...
http://www.tsr.ch/tsr/index.html?
siteSect=200001&sid=5827030&cKey=1117395463000 (french)
One of the things to keep in mind is that Chirac made a last attempt speech last Thurday when the NO was at 55% If the NO had won by say 51% then Chirac could have posed as having nearly reversed the result. But since the effect of his speech has been nil the end result is that Chirac has been seriously weakened.
#32
When the German Bundestag ratified the Constitution Schroeder crowed: "The German people have approved the constitution with an overwhelming majority."
One of his more shameless lies and there's no shortage of those
#34
wow. In 1 paragraph or less, I have to wonder if what we are seeing is the collapse of the power structure that brought us the nonsense of liberalism. It's failed. Miserably failed. Historically failed. What once glittered is now fools gold.
Unlike Fayed and Zark - it ain't dead yet. It's only stable.
#35
A second thought is that given the large victory of the NO Chirac and his friends will not take the chance of a second referendum who would be a political suicide (BTW: The French really hate to vote twice on the same issue. Each time the vote of a mayor or deputy has been nullified due to irregularities end result has been that the original winner won again by a larger margin).
#37
It's a shame - I was hoping that 'Yes' would squeak through with a 50.01% share, the Dutch accept it by an equally tiny percentage, ....and then we reject it outright ;)
We signed up to an economic zone in 1973 - we *did not* sign up to having EU primacy over our laws.
For those of you who like "Yes Prime Minister", there's this
Sir Humphrey: "Minister, Britain has had the same foreign policy objective for at least the last 500 years: to create a disunited Europe. In that cause we have fought with the Dutch against the Spanish, with the Germans against the French, with the French and Italians against the Germans, and with the French against the Germans and Italians. Divide and rule, you see. Why should we change now when it's worked so well?" Jim Hacker: "That's all ancient history, surely." Sir Humphrey: "Yes, and current policy. We had to break the whole thing (the EEC) up, so we had to get inside. We tried to break it up from the outside, but that wouldn't work. Now that we're inside we can make a complete pig's breakfast of the whole thing: set the Germans against the French, the French against the Italians, the Italians against the Dutch. The Foreign Office is terribly pleased, it's just like old times."
Of course, if the vote is 'No', it lets that Socialist Blair off the hook - "Look, there's really no need for a vote on Europe now, is there?"
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
05/29/2005 16:12 Comments ||
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#38
Chirac will speak on French TV w/in minutes...
#40
Chirac acknowledges the NO victory. BUT... France remains in the EU and other countries will continue to vote on the EU Constitution. French national interest will be central to the future of EU negotiations. New government next week.
#42
Many NO-proponents on tv claim that it's a victory for anti-capitalism in France. Looks like their beef is that the EUSR is not similar enough to the USSR.
On the other hand, non-leftists see it as evidence of a clash between the people and the MSM + other "elite".
#43
Expect Blair to say "Look, there's no point in us having a vote, is there?, really?" and heave a great sigh of relief.
Didn't the Dutch government said that they wouldn't necessary abide by the vote, rather using it 'as a guide'?
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
05/29/2005 16:41 Comments ||
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#44
So, what happened?? Was this a vote solely against Chiraq, or against the new constitution? or perhaps against the EU's enlargement?
Posted by: Rafael ||
05/29/2005 16:41 Comments ||
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#45
From the outside it looks as if the French were unwilling to submit themselves to a more competitive economic regime. They don't want to compete in services etc. on an open footing.
That's my read of it, anyway .... and that 29.5% of eligible voters who abstained from either a yes or a no suggests that hopes for a more pro-US stance or more open economy are not justified.
Posted by: too true ||
05/29/2005 16:52 Comments ||
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#46
I can't be too jubilant because I wouldn't like to be lumped with many people who voted NON, for the wrong reasons.
The truth is, I don't want Europe to fail, I want it to be a democratic success.
#47
I have a note off sadness however not because that stinking treaty has been rejected but because it has been rejected or approved for the bad reasons.
The people who rejected it because they didn't want France dissolving in the EU. Call them patriots, nationalists or chauvinistics but at least they were coherent.
But then there are the people who voted NO because they feared the EU would destroy the semi-socialist French system. And there are the people who voted YES because they have wet dreams of France dominating world by using the EU as a lever and by having the French jokey riding the German donkey horse.
But the real issue was about democracy. In my agenda there is only one way to make a Constitution: by an elected assembly, preferently one elected specially for the occasion. Then there is a discussion in that assembly and ideally the end result is conformed through a referendum.
But it is undemocratic to have a small assembly of arbitrarily nominated people to make a text and then try to force it down upon the throats of the people telling them that bthe result is not negotiable and that if they vote NO it will be the end of times.
So it is very simple: if text is made by an unelected body then I don't even need to read it. It is NO
Another point: a Constitution must handle ONLY matters concerning the respective powers of executive, legislative and judicial plus the rights of the citizens. When a Constitution pretends to define policies (cf "the EU will have a spatial policy" or "the EU will protect the physical and moral health of sportsmen") then two things happen: you restrict the capability of the government to adapt to a moving situation (a Constitution is by necassity a document who is difficult to modify) and the second consequence is that elections are voided of their meaning when whatever the result: the guy who has been elected will have to apply the same policy then why to have elections at all?
Thus it is very simple: if you can't read the Constitution in less than half an hour then the Constitution is dealing in matters who should be left to the people and its representatives. If Constitution is 500 pages then something is wrong with it, and thus NO.
#48
I wouldn't call this a failure of Europe but rather a return to sanity perhaps (when viewed as a vote strictly on the constitution). OTOH, you're right regarding the dubiousness of the many people who voted 'no'.
Posted by: Rafael ||
05/29/2005 17:16 Comments ||
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#49
The weakening of Chirac has the positive effect of strengthening Sarkozy and he is one of the rare French politicians who is not antiamerican (the most heinous anti-americanism is not in the communist daily but in the rabidly pro-europeists "Le Monde" and "Le Point"). But someone (1) has filtered to the press that there are tensions between Sarkozy and his wife, then Sarkozy admitted it on TV, and now some people (2) have suggested that she has cheated on him. In France a politician cheating on his wife is no big deal a problem but being cheated can destroy a carreer.
(1) Who is in the best position to know about the private life of a citizen but the minister of the Police ie our old friend Dominique de Villepin?
(2) Many see the hand of Chirac behind the whole thing.
#51
Bravo, France for making the right choice, even if it was for the wrong reason.
They know in their hearts that the EU is a crock of merde!
Will we next see Jacques ChIRAQ getting the boot? Let's hope.
Then come the trials for corruption and fraud!
"Sarko" still sounds pretty promising.
Now that they've said "Ta guele" to the EU constitution, dare we hope for a return to the franc and that the EUro can be put in the poubelle?
I am persuaded Domininue eyes the Elysee and that Chirac would like him to be his successor (Chirac acts like if he had fallen on his spell, and hasn't fired him after his distarous advice on the 1997 dissolution).
But now the chief of the party is neither Villepin or Chirac but Sarkozy and the referendum has strongly weakened Chirac's influence on the party so no way he could get the UMP nominating Villepin. And difficult for him (Chirac) getting the nomination.
#55
Bravo to the French! A stepforward. Now prosecute Chirac for his crimes after he's out of office
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/29/2005 18:21 Comments ||
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#56
Yes, I noticed the same thing. Giscard is nowhere to be seen. I didn't expect so much cowardice of him: after all his losy work is one of the main reasons the voters rejected the Constitution.
BTW: I have been watching Antenne 2 and I trealized that in the debates the YES side was getting over 80% of the speaking time, with the NO people being silenced by the moderator: my tax euros at work.
#57
dare we hope for a return to the franc and that the EUro can be put in the poubelle?
the Euro is actually the good part of the EU experiment, so long as the remaining non-Euro countries don't join. Having twenty-something currencies is a nuisance, one is plain stupid, 3,4,5 is optimum for everyone concerned :)
Posted by: Rafael ||
05/29/2005 18:29 Comments ||
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#58
But, Rafael, the EU isn't tied to anything (much less gold!) except the (past) performance of the members' economies and that's been pretty bad in reality.
I think the EUro has been doing so well on the currency market because bazillionaires like Soros and the Clown Princes of Saudi Arabia have been buying it to hurt the dollar and the U.S..
Once markets face how bankrupt the EU really is and based on its future prospects as a muscular "common market," it will drop like a rock.
The only hope for EU member countries is to return to running their own budgets, markets and industries as sovereign nation-states and not by Socialist policy wonks in Brussels!
(And on a local level, IIRC, going to the EU caused mucho inflation of prices all over the EU, which is still the case now.)
#59
I think you're missing the main value of a shared currency. It removes many inefficiencies in trade. If it were the ONLY currency available, it would be too susceptible to manipulation by authorities, but with a few others active in the EU, it serves a useful role.
Posted by: too true ||
05/29/2005 18:46 Comments ||
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#60
tt, what are you saying, exactly?
The whole point of the EU is that it could be manipulated at will by the Secretariat of the Supreme Soviet EU in Brussels, regardless of how member countries were performing.
Hence we have the spectacle of Brussels "forgiving" France, Germany and Italy for falling far below their target economic growth rates, for which they were supposed to pay fines (?) and to which the alleged value of the EUro is pegged.
#61
A cautionary note here: the most implacable French opponents of the constitution are also the most anti-American and anti-capitalist. OTOH my take is that what they are rejecting is the notion of a more "competitive" EU, ie one that will liberalize its labor markets and thereby grow fast enough to truly challenge the US in the strategic and international realm. So it's a vote against not just Americanization but also the EU elites' dreams of superpower grandeur. Net-net, the Non represents an outcome favorable to US interests.
#62
a longer version of above: The EU elites have entirely misread the public. The prevailing mood in Germany, Italy, Holland and France is one of frustration and disappointment with the political class. Kaletsky is right that unemployment and stagnation explain much of this, but my colleagues and friends in France and Italy also indicate a strong belief that the elites are focused on grand ambitions in the international sphere, to the exclusion of domestic needs.
It's a bit like the pro-Perot mood we saw in the US in 1991-92 and to a lesser extent in the runup to the NAFTA debate. Ordinary Europeans who do not work for multinationals or for the EU do not have any interest in the grand project to make the EU into a superpower rival to the US. They want what most people in most countries want: greater economic security.
I suspect that continental west Europeans perceive, correctly, that to the extent the EU elites pursue their chimera of an economically-competitive EU that can and will stand up to the US, there will be less economic security for ordinary Europeans.
The people get it: can't challenge the hyperpower without becoming more like the hyperpower. Setting out to preserve the distinctly unAmerican nature of the EU against a supposedly rapacious US hyperpower, the EU elites will have to scale back EU social policies.
The illogic of the EU's amerophobic mission is coming around to bite them in the ass. Most Europeans are simply asking why it's not enough for Europe to be quietly prosperous, peaceful and a minor player on the world stage. Can't blame 'em
Note this is happening while world wine consumption is rising rapidly. French wine exports sank again in the first quarter of 2005 confirming a downward spiral which has plunged the sector into crisis and brought thousands of wine-growers out onto the streets in protest.
"Global over-production in 2004, which is put at between 10 to 20 million hectolitres, is pulling prices down and adding to the problems of French wines which are being asked to become simpler in taste to meet growing world consumption," said Louis-Regis Affre, an official from the French Federation of Exporters of Wines and Spirits (FEVS).
Apart from champagnes and sparkling wines, exports of French wine dropped some 13.0 percent in value and 13.2 percent in volume in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period last year, FEVS said.
This adds to the misery seen in 2004, when French wine exports lost some 9.2 percent in value, of which some 752 million euros (943 million dollars) were lost in just the first quarter.
#1
Thank Chirac and your anti-Coalition policies, Froggies. You made it very clear you didn't like us or want to help us in any way. Why, then, should you be surprised when none of us want to buy any of your exports anymore? Payback's a mutha, copains.
Posted by: mac ||
05/29/2005 1:39 Comments ||
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#2
Good French wine is selling, it is their crap no one will buy anymore, and they make way to much of it.
#4
I occasionally bought French wine prior to the Iraq war lead up, but I haven't bought a single bottle since. I'd be interested to see a sales breakdown by country and also whether the boycott got any press in France.
#6
Also quit buying French wine when they sided with Saddam Hussein.
I also make a point of stating my disgust in restaurants when I see that they have French bottles on the wine list. Further, I have the impression there are fewer of them in restaurants, nowadays.
#7
SPOD is right. The good producers have always sold and continue to sell in every price category, but for a long time (centuries?) a lot of crap -- often grossly overpriced -- has traded in on the whole French wine mystique.
Not any more. Though the industrial Aussie junk isn't much better.
#8
is pulling prices down and adding to the problems of French wines which are being asked to become simpler in taste to meet growing world consumption,"
yes, that's it! The problem is that the rest of the world just isn't sophisticated enough for your wine. Make it simpler in taste. In fact - why not grape juice?
#9
"Global over-production in 2004, which is put at between 10 to 20 million hectolitres, is pulling prices down and adding to the problems of French wines which are being asked to become simpler in taste to meet growing world consumption," said Louis-Regis Affre, an official from the French Federation of Exporters of Wines and Spirits (FEVS).
Nitwit. We're not asking that your wines taste simpler. We're asking that your politicians get more honest, which is a hell of a lot taller order to fill.
Get cracking or you'll go under to no one's regret.
#11
Buy California wine - that is where the majority of french wine "comes" from today. After the devistating die-off of the french vineyards several decades ago, due to disease, California sent millions of clippings to graph/plant.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
05/29/2005 10:42 Comments ||
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#12
between 10 to 20 million hectolitres
Now those people are just making words up.
Silly euroweenies...
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
05/29/2005 10:46 Comments ||
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#13
If you want me to buy your wines, start putting a kangaroo on the label.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/29/2005 10:52 Comments ||
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#14
I used to buy Mouton Cadet bordeaux, but not since 2002. I drink Cali and Aussie wines - Costco stocks excellent ones of both
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/29/2005 11:33 Comments ||
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#15
Maybe the frogs could just cut the "complex" wines with a bit of water for us simpletons, reducing the cost. Then they could cut the price, and then ... wait a minute ... I STILL wouldn't buy any!
Mebbe they oughta hold their collective breaths until we all "sophisticate."
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/29/2005 11:45 Comments ||
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#16
--problems of French wines which are being asked to become simpler in taste---
ach!
#20
Thanks to the French incessant attempts to backstab the US, I have boycotted thier wines. THe nice thing is: it led to my discovery of a lot of good Aussie and Chilean wines, Italian table wines, and a lot of US wines that I would not have tried before.
Now, I am not specifically boycotting French wines anymore: I am simply drinking BETTER wines that have their vintage elsewhere.
I suspect this is what happened: their politics led to a boycott - which gave other wines a chance to fill the gap, and which finally showed that French wines are overrated and consist more of hype than taste. The French opened the door, now they watch people leave as they go with rationality and taste instead of wine snobbery and hype.
#21
I, too, have stopped buying French wine. I drink a lot of Austrian, Italian, and Chilean stuff instead. I sometimes get Californian, but I worry that if I'm trying to avoid giving money to left-wing peaceniks then maybe California ain't the best option. In any case, France is definitely out.
Posted by: Tom ||
05/29/2005 19:58 Comments ||
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#23
Captain:
You're probably OK. California wines are mostly in the inland valleys, while the idiotarians cluster on the coastal cities. Most (not all, but most) of areas around Sonoma, Napa, Paso Robles, etc. went for Ahnold in '03 and W in '04.
#26
nice smear, Ptah - we're not all SF or Hollywood
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/29/2005 22:13 Comments ||
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#27
Hey, Frank, we know some great things come out of Napa and from the other non-Lib-dominated parts of California!
(Thanks, France, for planting some of your best vines in American soil--those wines are very nice!)
I, too, joined the French boycott back in 2003 when they stabbed us in the back in the UN even though I was the biggest Francophone before that.
(I've lived in Paris and have spoken French since I was 6.)
I refuse to give up my Chanel skin care (it works so well!) unless we do declare formal war against them, but I was happy to see that the latest Chanel products I bought were made in the USA.
State Sen. John Ford, a member of one of Tennessee's most powerful political families, has resigned after being placed under house arrest facing charges from a two-year FBI sting, the lieutenant governor said Saturday. Ford announced his resignation in a letter Lt. Gov. John Wilder read to the Senate.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
"I plan to spend the rest of my time with my family clearing my name," he wrote.
OJ can help senator.
This puts him as the frontrunner in the '08 Demo primaries.
UNITED NATIONS: UN human rights programmes need twice as many staffers and twice as much cash if the world body is to bridge the gap between "lofty rhetoric" and "sobering realities," the top UN rights official said on Friday. The main UN human rights body is hamstrung in dealing with the "daily assaults on human dignity and freedom," despite progress over the past 60 years, Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a report requested by Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
"In an organisation pledged to promote and protect human rights, this is a call to action," Arbour wrote. "Our objective must be to help bridge the gap between the lofty rhetoric of human rights in the halls of the United Nations, and its sobering realities on the ground." Arbour said staff and money should double over the next five to six years and more bureaus opened in individual countries. She called for rapid-response teams, monitors in peacekeeping operations and a proper follow-up to hundreds of findings submitted in reports by UN rights investigators.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
quick, bring on a larger assembly of perverts and give them more dollars.
Signed,
The 'High' Commish
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/29/2005 1:29 Comments ||
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#2
this is a call to action...
Whoa, lady, if you're trying to get Kofi to give you more money that's the worst possible approach you could have taken. Now that he knows you want action he's not even going to return your phone calls.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/29/2005 10:48 Comments ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2005 8:03 Comments ||
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#3
ROTFL. Looks like it's solar-powered, too.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/29/2005 10:22 Comments ||
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#4
Fred---That one is a classic! LMAO! Nice 270 deg gauge. Definitely a high end assembly.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/29/2005 12:56 Comments ||
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#5
Exactly, 'cept I would change the labels to "resting comfortably," "improving," "vultures take wing," "stable," and the needle halfway down to "toe tag."
Jury-decreed marriage: Groom lets friends rape his bride
MULTAN: In an act of revenge, a woman was gang-raped with the consent of her in-laws by three people on her wedding night in Dera Ghazi Khan, police said. Ghulam Hussain, the father of the victim Kaneez Kubra, told reporters that his daughter was married to Mujahid Hussain on April 28, as ordered by a panchayat (local jury) under the wani custom since Kaneez's brother Abdul Majid had sexual relations with Mujahid's sister Sumera.
After the wedding, Kaneez Kubra went to the groom's home. Her husband stayed with her in their room till 11pm and then left. Afterwards, Mujahid's grandfather Shahroo Khan and his mother Mukhtar came in and told the bride that the wedding was just an excuse to exact revenge on Majid for outraging Sumera's modesty.
Mujahid Hussain then invited his three friends Muhammad Rafiq, Shabbir Muhammad and Abdul Majid Almani, who gang-raped the bride. The next day, Mujahid Hussain took her to the house of his friend Ghulam Mustafa, who also assaulted her. On April 30, when Ghulam Hussain and other relatives arrived to take Kaneez back as per tradition, she related the story to her father.
When Ghulam Hussain approached the police, they refused to register a case against the groom and his friends. He then approached high authorities and Civil Lines police instituted a case on the orders of the Dera Ghazi Khan district police officer (DPO). "We have registered a case against seven people — Mujahid Hussain (groom), his friends Muhammad Rafiq, Shabbir Muhammad, Abdul Majid Almani and Ghulam Mustafa, his grandfather Shahroo Khan, and mother Mukhtar Mai under sections 10/4, 19/2and 7/79 of Islamic law and detailed a team to arrest them, DPO Dera Ghazi Khan Salman Chaudhry told Daily Times.
Investigation Officer Zulfikar Ali Qureshi said the police were making raids to arrest the accused but they had left the area and gone into hiding after the case was registered against them. staff report
Posted by: john ||
05/29/2005 18:51 ||
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#1
I'm afraid to ask how old the bride was.
It sounds like that place is well on its way to becoming "Bartertown" al a Mad Max.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
05/29/2005 20:59 Comments ||
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#5
How many honor killings and "honor rapes", if that's the right term to describe this barbarity, happen in Pak each year? Anyone have any hard stats?
Why do the moderate muslims - who, we're assured, are the vast majority of muslims worldwide - tolerate this?
New Delhi, May. 29 (PTI): The Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind today demanded reservation for Muslims in Parliament, Legislative Assemblies and Government jobs and extended support to the 'model nikahnama' prepared by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board.
At the end of its 28th All India General Session held here, the Jamiat adopted a series of resolutions, which included demand for removal of restrictions on reservations based on religion, passing a Riot Prevention Act and immediate release of those arrested under POTA.
Claiming that minority people are being harassed in Assam, the meeting, chaired by the Jamiat President Maulana Asaad Madani, termed the backlash against illegal migrants in the State as "plan to turn the State into another Gujarat".
During the two-day General Session of the Jamiat, Ulamas from all parts of the country held talks on various matters concerning the community, which included protection of women's rights, constitutional status to Minority Educational Commission, compensation to the victims of communal riots, sacrilege of holy Koran by the US forces.
Posted by: john ||
05/29/2005 14:25 ||
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Police on Saturday got Riyasat Ali released, the kidnapped plaintiff of a murder case. Reportedly, in 1997, Arshad, alias Achu, had murdered Rasheed and was sentenced to death by the district sessions court. However, Arshad's family presented forged documents in the court that claimed that Riyasat Ali, Rasheed's uncle, had forgiven Mr Arshad.
Before the issuance of a black warrant, Mr Arshad's family kidnapped Riyasat Ali, forcing the family to agree to forgive him. Muhammad Rafi, Riyasat Ali's nephew, reported Mr Ali's abduction asking the judge to postpone the convict's hanging fearing his uncle's death, Dr Arif Mushtaq, the district police officer, told reporters. The police were given 15 days to apprehend the kidnappers. Dr Arif said after several futile raids the police arrested two relatives of the kidnappers, Achu Kishwer Bibi and Shahida Bibi. On interrogation, they revealed that Riyasat Ali was being taken to Layyah by train. Police intercepted the kidnappers and got Riyasat Ali released and arrested Arshad's accomplice, Rafique Gujjar. However, the other kidnappers fled.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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NATIONWIDE school examinations in Zimbabwe set to begin tomorrow have been postponed for a month after the truck carrying the tests from South Africa was stolen. The Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council rescheduled both ordinary level and advanced level exams. The truck was stolen a week ago near Pretoria, the capital of South Africa, where the exam papers were printed. The driver was left for dead, but is now recovering in hospital, according to the chairman of the exam council, Phineas Makhurane. Makhurane did not disclose whether the papers would be reprinted or completely revised to prevent possible cheating.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Does anyone know where the Delta house guys were at the time?
#2
The Zimba 3-ring circus... I mean government, could apply past measures that always had an impact. They could expell all students and teachers from the country and allow the illiterate to occupy the school desks and teaching posts throughout the region... that way a new front at making an even playing field for everyone will be achieved, the old status quo student body & teaching staff will have had it's neck broken, and a new generation of grateful & loyal followers in education will join the ranks of the grateful & loyal farmers, businessmen & civil service workers. Yes, the sun always rises & never sets in Zimbaland. Now.. if they could just come up with a plan to get rid of those pesky pre-schoolers and medical specialists... they are so like very counter-revolutionary. I am certain that the Chicom helping Zimbaland will help provide a final solution for them too after they corner the market on bicycles, clothing and farm management there. Zimbaland... the land of tears... the land of fears...
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.
UNITED NATIONS: UN human rights programmes need twice as many staffers and twice as much cash if the world body is to bridge the gap between "lofty rhetoric" and "sobering realities," the top UN rights official said on Friday. The main UN human rights body is hamstrung in dealing with the "daily assaults on human dignity and freedom," despite progress over the past 60 years, 
Police on Saturday got Riyasat Ali released, the kidnapped plaintiff of a murder case. Reportedly, in 1997, Arshad, alias Achu, had murdered Rasheed and was sentenced to death by the district sessions court. However, Arshad's family presented forged documents in the court that claimed that Riyasat Ali, Rasheed's uncle, had forgiven Mr Arshad. 
