GalliaWatch

Nicolas Sarkozy: Disqualified!

2012-02-16T05:40:00.004-05:00

Nicolas Sarkozy has officially declared his candidacy and Marine Le Pen has responded to this rather perfunctory act with predictable irony. The video begins in the middle of a sentence:

- Marine Le Pen: …it will only be a pale copy of 2007. He'll bring out the smoke machine, but he gives the impression that he himself really no longer believes in his ability to once again convince people of his promises, so often repeated, but hardly ever fulfilled. (…) The only problem is that two months of campaign promises will not erase a five year term in office, because in this domain, Nicolas Sarkozy's record is shameful. Worse, he has betrayed the French people since, in a completely voluntary and cynical way he made false promises, he was manipulative repeatedly, he betrayed the hope that the French had placed in him. Candidate Sarkozy's word will have no bearing in this campaign. It will have no bearing because it will emanate from a president who cannot escape the record he is accountable for. A record that the French know only too well, since they endure it on a daily basis. In short, we know this only too well since the man has not changed. Nicolas Sarkozy will try for the umpteenth time to pull off another 2007, to attract the public through abundant speeches, and media saturation. Prepare yourselves. In his campaign he will act as if nothing has happened, as if everything can begin again, as if the incumbent president were a young colt in the world of politics, full of hope, with a future before him. His strategy will be clear - obviously he must avoid speaking of his results, and he must make people forget that he has just spent five years leading the country after five years under Jacques Chirac. That makes ten years. Ten years is long for such pitiful results. Nicolas Sarkozy is the candidate of false appearances. Nothing about him is sincere, nothing is true, everything is posture and imposture and I might add that this was particularly evident this evening. He speaks of values, but which values is he advocating, he who believes in nothing? He changes his mind regularly about everything. He who believes in no value but the stock market, a value he shares with his pals, cronies and pleasure-seeking companions. My fellow Frenchmen, a vote for Sarkozy is a wasted vote, a useless vote for a useless candidate who will certainly not do tomorrow what he did not do in five years. The French people should give Nicolas Sarkozy what he deserves - a red card. Too many betrayals, too many lies, too many manipulations, Nicolas Sarkozy must leave the stage and allow in a bold, enthusiastic, courageous and lucid team - mine!

Note that the reporters laugh along with her at the end.

The red card is a new feature of Marine Le Pen's campaign. She has asked her constituents to download the logo (below) and use it wherever they can as a replacement for their own avatar. A red card is used in sports to indicate a penalty or a disqualification.

Top banner and logo are from Nations Presse.

Sarkozy's Bid To Win Le Pen Voters

2012-02-15T17:39:00.003-05:00

Here's an English-language article from the Independent about the French campaign. It's not bad. The author seems to understand both her appeal and the mixture of Left-Right politics in her newly "toughened" agenda.

Marine Le Pen on Christian France

2012-02-15T08:57:00.001-05:00

In another excerpt from Marine's speech in Strasbourg she reminds her audience that France is a country of Christian traditions.

- Marine Le Pen: In a recent interview, he never mentions Islam but he severely attacks the Catholic Church that still benefits from exorbitant privileges in his opinion. But my friends, have they all forgotten that France is a country of Christian traditions? (Applause) Have they turned us into nomads to the point where they brutally cut us off from our roots? Have they all forgotten that France is the land of the "white mantle of cathedrals", that for fifteen centuries Catholicism was the religion of nearly all Frenchmen? Let us be proud of this history and let us stop denying it or avoiding it!

Note: Because this excerpt is so short, we don't know the name of the person interviewed. It will be necessary to go back over the whole speech to find it. I doubt that Sarkozy would talk like that. Possibly Hollande or Jacques Attali, etc...

Remembering Saint Valentine

2012-02-15T07:57:00.007-05:00

Here are a few words about Saint Valentine from Alexandre Simonnot of the Front National:

Though Valentine's Day has become, alas, more temporal than spiritual, having been extracted from the pious calendar of the saints for commercial ends, it remains, above all, the commemoration of a great saint, who died a martyr.

Saint Valentine was a priest. His virtue was so great and so dazzling in the city of Rome that Emperor Claudius learned of him and had him arrested. After holding him for two days in prison, in chains, he had him brought before the tribunal for interrogation. The Emperor wanted to understand why Valentine did not take advantage of the pleasures of this world. Valentine replied that his only pleasure, his only desire was to serve Jesus Christ.

One of the judges asked Valentine what he thought of the gods Jupiter and Mercury. He answered that they were wretched and had spent their whole life in voluptuousness and bodily pleasures. Accused of blasphemy, Valentine surprised the Emperor through the wisdom of his answers.

Tempted to protect Valentine, but fearing the anger of the people, Claudius turned him over to the Prefect who placed him in the hands of the judge, Asterius, to be investigated and punished for sacrilege. Asterius asked Valentine for proof of Jesus Christ. Valentine went about the task and restored sight to a young blind girl. The judge and his wife prostrated themselves before Valentine who ordered them to destroy all idols and to convert to the Christian faith.

Judge Asterius, his wife and forty-six persons were thus baptized. This aroused the fears of the Emperor who ordered the arrest of all these people. Valentine, after a long stay in a narrow prison, was beaten with clubs. Finally on February 14, 268, he was decapitated on the Via Flaminia.

Several centuries after his death, Valentine was canonized in honor of his sacrifice for Love. His feast day was instituted to counteract the Lupercalia, the pagan holiday celebrated on fertility day and dedicated to Lupercus, god of flocks and shepherds.

Wikipedia quotes Plutarch on Lupercalia:

"Lupercalia, of which many write that it was anciently celebrated by shepherds, and has also some connection with the Arcadian Lycaea. At this time many of the noble youths and magistrates run up and down through the city naked, for sport and laughter striking those they meet with shaggy thongs. And many women of rank also purposely get in their way, and like children at school present their hands to be struck, believing that the pregnant will thus be helped in delivery, and the barren to pregnancy."

And so Saint Valentine became the patron of young engaged couples and lovers. To give them fertility and prosperity.

The very model of sacrifice of oneself for others, may Saint Valentine bless and protect young lovers and accompany them in the giving of oneself, in fidelity and in Love.

There is another Wikipedia page on Saint Valentine's Day. The account differs from the one above in that it states that almost nothing is known about Saint Valentine:

"Saint Valentine's head was preserved in the abbey of New Minster, Winchester and venerated. But there is no evidence that Saint Valentine was a popular saint before Chaucer's poems in 14th century, not even in the area of Winchester. Saint Valentine's celebration didn't differ from the celebrations of many other saints, and no church was ever dedicated to him.

In the 1969 revision of the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints, the feast day of Saint Valentine on February 14 was removed from the General Roman Calendar and relegated to particular (local or even national) calendars for the following reason: 'Though the memorial of Saint Valentine is ancient, it is left to particular calendars, since, apart from his name, nothing is known of Saint Valentine except that he was buried on the Via Flaminia on February 14'"

Here's more about Valentine's Day in France:

"Using the language of the law courts for the rituals of courtly love, a 'High Court of Love' was established in Paris on Valentine's Day in 1400. The court dealt with love contracts, betrayals, and violence against women. Judges were selected by women on the basis of a poetry reading."

Note: What a novel method for choosing judges!

"The earliest surviving valentine is a 15th-century rondeau written by Charles, Duke of Orléans to his wife. At the time, the duke was being held in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt, 1415."

Original French:

Je suis déjà d’amour tanné,
Ma très douce Valentinée,
Car pour moi fûtes trop tard née,
Et moi pour vous fus trop tôt né.
Dieu lui pardonne qui estrené
M’a de vous, pour toute l’année
Je suis déjà, etc.
Ma très douce, etc.
Bien m’étais suspeçonné,
Qu’aurais telle destinée,
Ainsi que passât ceste journée,
Combien qu’Amours l’eût ordonné.
Je suis déjà, etc.

English version:

I am already sick of love,
My very gentle Valentine,
Since for me you were born too soon,
And I for you was born too late.
God forgives he who has estranged
Me from you for the whole year.
I am already sick of love,
My very gentle Valentine,
Well might I have suspected,
That such a destiny,
Thus would have happened this day,
How much Love would have commanded it to be.
I am already sick of love,
My very gentle Valentine

Source

Is it merely coincidence that the first Valentine poem was in French, by a nobleman fighting for his country?

Wikipedia also discusses the holiday in Muslim countries and the attempts to ban it. There is nothing surprising about banning Valentine's Day in an Islamic country, therefore, there should be nothing surprising about banning sharia, halal and burqas in a Western country.

Note: This post is a day late. As usual I went off in different directions, and read more about this holiday than I intended. I also re-read parts of Hamlet - don't forget, Ophelia sings a song about Valentine's Day, and it is not a happy one. Having been seduced by Hamlet, her fate is now sealed (see Act IV, scene 5).

Marine Le Pen Triumphs in Strasbourg

2012-02-14T01:38:00.005-05:00

Marine Le Pen delivered a major speech in Strasbourg on Sunday. She spoke for an hour and twenty-five minutes and covered all the topics. She looked stunning in a pants suit and she sounded one hundred percent secure in her determination to change France. She gleefully roasted Sarkozy, Interior Minister Guéant, and Socialist "economist" Jacques Attali, who had once said that France was a "hotel" for nomads. She denounced the persecution of websites such as François Desouche and said she wants to return France to the French people. You can view this brilliant presentation by Marine Le Pen in two parts, about forty-five minutes each, at Nations Presse.

The media coverage of the event was typical in that they derided her for going "back to her basics", as if there were anywhere else to go, considering the state of the nation. The following two videos, also from Nations Presse, show the reactions of both media and public.

The first video (below) begins with the anchor on the left introducing the segment:

- So much for the meeting in Strasbourg. Marine Le Pen returned to her favorite topics, immigration and crime, you were able to watch it live, as she spoke before two thousand sympathizers at the Palais des congrès in Strasbourg. It was an undisguised response to Nicolas Sarkozy, whom she accused of electoral expediency a few weeks before the election. "Thirty-two thousand illegals are given legal status every year, I call that massive amnesty," Marine Le Pen insisted. "Sarkozy is the poster child of immigration."

Note: Marine did not say "poster child". She said "Monsieur Plus" ("Mr. More"). I could not think of an adequate translation.

The scene switches to journalist Myriam Encaoua at the gathering where Marine Le Pen has just finished speaking and the public sings the Marseillaise.

Encaoua - If Nicolas Sarkozy has decided to move to the right, Marine Le Pen has toughened her tone today in Strasbourg, the candidate of the "extreme-right" has brought back all the old themes, and those who miss her father will be satisfied.

Encaoua (who appears to be completely out of her element as she describes the gathering) enumerates the themes:

- Immigration, crime, laïcité, time for action, the objective was to attack Nicolas Sarkozy's record. Marine Le Pen thought Nicolas Sarkozy would draw his double-edged-sword on immigration and instead he drew a plastic blade.

(Encaoua has to shout above the sound of the Marseillaise, and appears annoyed.)

- Marine Le Pen has pledged to reduce from 200,000 to 10,000 the number of legal new arrivals, Marine Le Pen spoke of the social emergency to stop immigration, which is the cause of crime and unemployment. Regarding laïcité, she said that Islam has to adapt to the principles of the Republic. Those are a few of the campaign promises from the candidate of the Front National.

The first anchor thanks her for her explanation.

Note: She did not say "explanation", but "décryptage" which means "decoding", as if there were some hidden meaning in Marine Le Pen's speech. The speech, in fact, was clear as a bell and needed no decoding. Rather, the journalists are the ones who need to be "decoded".

The second video (below) also mentions her "return to the basics":

- Reporter: We had already heard her criticize Europe , the euro, and globalism. This Sunday, Marine Le Pen concentrated on just one adversary.

- Marine: What has he (Sarkozy) done, my friends, I ask you.

- Audience: Nothing.

- Marine: Sarkozy is the poster child of immigration. A raving immigrationist. Did you vote for Sarkozy for this? Did you elect him for this?

- Reporter: Marine Le Pen pledged to stop amnesty, abolish the "jus soli", and to deport criminals back to their homeland.

Note: "Jus soli" is the right to citizenship to anyone born in a given country.

The scene switches to favorable comments from the audience. Then the reporter speaks again:

- Reporter: The chairman of the FN also gave her version of laïcité: ban halal food in school cafeterias, ban affirmative action. Certainly, her positions had toughened.

- Florian Philippot (co-campaign manager): It's true that we had to emphasize these themes: immigration, crime, laïcité. The reason is simple - no one talks about them.

- Reporter: In 2007, Nicolas Sarkoy's UMP had succeeded in siphoning off votes from the Front National. This time, Marine Le Pen has decided she will not be in competition over what she regards as her own territory.

The third video (below) is a three-minute segment from her speech in which she strongly defends the Internet.

- Marine Le Pen: The Internet has a special place because it is thanks to the Internet that people are able to form an unbiased opinion.

When you see the air-time that has been granted by the main-stream media, from January 1 to January 27: Francois Hollande: 58 hours and 20 minutes; Sarkozy: 55 hours and 36 minutes; Bayrou: 13 hours and 25 minutes; and Marine Le Pen 11 hours and 30 minutes, you will see that if we rely on the so-called fairness of the public services (i.e., the totality of the news media) we will have great difficulty in reaching all of our compatriots. I believe that for the month of January, in the political reports of TF 1, I was entitled to three per cent of the words, and on France 2 it was a bit better - I think it was three minutes 26 seconds. That's the way we are forced to fight. And because I'm speaking about the Internet, and you know that I defend the freedom of the Internet because I can see and you can see it is the Internet that spreads freedom of speech and expression. So I'm taking this opportunity to send a friendly signal to a website that is not of the Front National but whose administrators are today the victims of a veritable judicial persecution - our friends at François Desouche.

Her defense of the Internet is in stark contrast to Nicolas Sarkozy's attempts to control the web through inquisitorial and Big Brother tactics. About a year ago, Le Monde published an article listing those web-sites they regarded as "extreme-right" or "Catholic fundamentalist". The purpose of the article was to warn readers not to visit those dangerous racist sites.

Whitney Houston - One Moment In Time

2012-02-12T00:50:00.007-05:00

I just learned of her death at age 48 about an hour ago. YouTube is drowning in R.I.P's. A few hours ago the restaurant down the street was blaring her songs through outdoor loud-speakers, but I didn't know she had died. I didn't follow her career closely, as I tend not to like today's singers as much as the older ones. Today, they rarely move me, except to cover my ears from the excesses of their tremendously over-amplified screaming. Often, too, they over-emote, in a desperate and futile attempt to draw meaning from lyrics that have little to say. But I always liked this song. I remember it from the Olympics back when I still enjoyed the Games. Here, she gives a monumental performance. My question is: Are drugs necessary to perform like this? Today's singers are "monumental", they seem to sing beyond the capacity of the human voice and they have an extraordinary ability to arouse feverish agitation in their audience, whereas, in the old days, we used to just clap, and feel happy. But since the sixties, and especially since the eighties, the audiences are transported to another plane, which then becomes like a drug that they can never get enough of. No amount of amplification is ever enough, no amount of human physical perfection is ever enough. Such audiences cannot tolerate the prettier music of the old days, with its humanity and its ordinary-looking singers. They crave big thrills. I think it may have started with Elvis Presley, though he was still of the older culture.

In this video, despite the amplification, she still has a very human dimension. She looks very pretty albeit too thin. And the cross around her neck adds a special meaning.

Update, a few minutes after posting: I found this article from Fox News informative. Here is an excerpt:

The New York Times wrote that Houston "possesses one of her generation's most powerful gospel-trained voices, but she eschews many of the churchier mannerisms of her forerunners. She uses ornamental gospel phrasing only sparingly, and instead of projecting an earthy, tearful vulnerability, communicates cool self-assurance and strength, building pop ballads to majestic, sustained peaks of intensity."

Her decision not to follow the more soulful inflections of singers like Franklin drew criticism by some who saw her as playing down her black roots to go pop and reach white audiences. The criticism would become a constant refrain through much of her career. She was even booed during the "Soul Train Awards" in 1989.

"Sometimes it gets down to that, you know?" she told Katie Couric in 1996. "You're not black enough for them. I don't know. You're not R&B enough. You're very pop. The white audience has taken you away from them."

Test Post

2012-02-11T05:34:00.006-05:00

Verizon is down in parts of the East Coast. I cannot browse the web, but for some reason I got into Blogger. I can browse on my iPhone, but it isn't very convenient. Verizon says they are "working on it." I've been experiencing problems with YouTube for about two weeks, but I thought it was the modem. Unfortunately there is little that I can do without an ISP.

Where Did Kärcher Go?

2012-02-10T08:02:00.006-05:00

Here's a communiqué dated February 10 from Michel Thooris, Marine Le Pen's Security adviser:

More than a hundred police were gathered on Thursday before the courthouse in Evry (department of Essonne, southeast of Paris) to protest against the judges' policies that, they say, do not support them in cases of insults and assaults.

Despite high hopes at the outset, the police force has been overtaken by the consequences of the policies that Nicolas Sarkozy has pursued since 2002.

The president had promised to clean up the ghettos with a power hose ("Kärcher" is a brand name for power hose). The result? Gangs now control the neighborhoods. Sarkozy's Kärcher looks more like a Vaporetto minus the steam than a real Kärcher. The police have become impotent and confronted with thugs who now run entire cities.

Overwhelmed by the thousands of major and minor crimes committed every day in France and in the Overseas Departments, the judges cannot try but an infinitesimal number of cases, with courtrooms bursting at the seams and prisons full. The decisions made by the judges are rarely ideological. They are the consequence of the daily flood of crimes that need to be processed quickly and of the lack of means to find a suitable penal solution.

The electoral highjacking of 2007 will not repeat itself. The French people have been tricked and betrayed. The voters understand that Marine Le Pen is the only one who can rebuild the French police and judiciary abandoned by public officials of both the Left and the Right.

Louis Aliot Appeals to the Mayors

2012-02-10T06:01:00.009-05:00

In this video from Nations-Presse, Louis Aliot, vice-chairman of the Front National, responds to reporters' questions about two of Nicolas Sarkozy's recent policy positions. I could not catch every word, but this is the gist of the interview:

The male anchor first points out that Marine Le Pen had called for a return to the system of referendums and asks Aliot whether or not he applauds Nicolas Sarkozy's recent declaration that there should be a referendum on reforming unemployment compensation. Aliot responds that he cannot applaud such a position when, 70 days before the first round, Nicolas Sarkozy suddenly remembers that referendums exist and that he can ask the French people to decide on important issues. Aliot recalls that the French people had voted by referendum against the European Constitution in 2005, and it was Nicolas Sarkozy who revived the Constitution behind the people's back and had it passed by Parliament. Aliot adds that there is in the mind of the president a certain duplicity and a certain desire to communicate, but that he was hardly convincing.

The female anchor then asks Louis Aliot what he thinks of Nicolas Sarkozy's statement that any party that has 20 - 25% of the votes should be placed on the ballot.

Louis Aliot: But he is President of the French Republic. Article 5 of the Constitution confers on him the role of guarantor of institutions and arbiter, thank heaven for that, thank heaven, that the President of the French Republic recognizes that Marine Le Pen ought to be able to run in the presidential election. I only hope this public declaration is not masking other more secret calculations that aim to put pressure on elected officials and prevent her from being a candidate. But I think we should take him at his word. And I would like to take this opportunity to ask the mayors to give their signatures to Marine Le Pen. This does not mean they support her, but it simply is a way of allowing pluralism in the presidential election.

Note: The candidates do not necessarily have to go around begging for signatures. The procedure is that the mayors and other elected officials simply "present" the candidate (we might say "sponsor") voluntarily and of their own free will.

A Plot Against Marine Le Pen?

2012-02-09T06:40:00.004-05:00

A plot to prevent Marine Le Pen from obtaining the 500 necessary signatures that would permit her to run in the first round of the election has been a hot topic at the website Nations-Presses for several days. These signatures from mayors and other elected officials are a requirement of the French voting system. Originally their purpose was to prevent too many minor and frivolous parties from running and clogging the process. But lately their purpose has been to serve as an obstacle to larger parties such as the Front National. In 2007, the MPF, Philippe de Villiers' patriotic and sovereigntist party, struggled but in the end managed to get the signatures. The Front National has always had difficulty in this matter, but this time it appears that there may be an attempt to sabotage the candidacy of Marine Le Pen.

While at the outset these signatures were anonymous, that changed in 1976 when a reform was passed requiring the names of the mayors and elected officials to be made public. Due to pressures from the Establishment parties, and hostility towards the Front National, many mayors are unwilling to sponsor Marine Le Pen, unwilling to endure the consequences that could be severe. For example, they may be deprived of needed subsidies or equipment for their municipality or their region. They may be harassed or intimidated.

A quick Google search shows that the English-language press is also following this story of French political intrigues. At least one of the articles is virulently anti-Le Pen. Here is the last part of Bernard-Henri Lévy's denunciation of the Front National posted at Huffington Post. His theory is that Marine Le Pen is either really in need of signatures through her own fault and her own dangerous ideas, or that Marine Le Pen is faking it and really has the signatures "in the bag". This article is truly worthy of the man who wrote it:

1. Under Marine as under Jean-Marie Le Pen, the FN is the party of eructation, of hatred and contempt for France and for the French -- it is, as it always has been, a party unlike any of the others.

2. Its difficulties in collecting the indispensable signatures, even if overcome, are proof that the revulsion it inspires is not a fad favored by intellectuals or anti-racist militants -- it is a profound sentiment, deeply spread throughout the country and, evidently, growing.

3. Present or not in the election -- and were it not, would democracy necessarily be the lesser for its absence? -- it is essential that its influence regress further and that the great debate about the choices of society proposed by the major and minor candidates not be too polluted by activists whose program is not to govern the country but to destabilize it.

20 %, according to the polls? 25 %? I'm betting, here, on a Front National the wisdom of voters, aided by its own suicidal stupidity, will reduce to a level that better reflects the spirit of the Republic and the honor of France.

Unfortunately, many English-languages readers will be influenced by this man's venom.

Posted below is the document that seems to confirm that there is a deliberate effort being made to prevent her from running. However, I cannot verify anything as I write this. All I can say is that the document outlines what the consequences would be for the major candidates, i.e., Sarkozy, Hollande and Bayrou, if Marine Le Pen were NOT present on the ballot. In this document Marine Le Pen is called "Gamma".

I do not know why, all of a sudden, François Bayrou is in the picture. In 2007 he was known as the "third man", the "centrist" who might have destabilized either Ségolène Royal or Nicolas Sarkozy and gone on to the second round. But he came in third, after Sarkozy and Royal, with 18.57% of the votes. Jean-Marie Le Pen was fourth, one of the worst showings of the FN.

It could be that Nicolas Sarkozy is again counting on Bayrou to be the "third man" who will attract enough voters to push Marine out of the second round. But the document does not say this. The document is predicated on the total absence of Marine Le Pen in the first round.

More information will be posted. Until I know more, I prefer to remain cautious about drawing conclusions.

Louis Aliot Reacts

2012-02-09T04:28:00.005-05:00

Here is a short article from Nations-Presses:

Following the remarks of Interior Minister Claude Guéant, who declared that "all civilizations are not equal", Louis Aliot, vice-president of the Front National, spokesman and campaign manager of Marine Le Pen, in charge of national mobilization ("rassemblement"), reacted at the microphones of France 2:

"It is undeniable that there is both a calculated attempt to eliminate the possibility of Marine Le Pen being in the first round of the election, and at the same time, there is the idea of speaking to a certain electorate. You know, we aren't dupes, the French people aren't dupes."

Let's hope he's right. In 2007, the French voters believed Sarkozy when he said that the question of national identity was of paramount importance to him. He said it only as a way of tricking the voters into believing that he espoused the ideas of Jean-Marie Le Pen but not his flaws. Claude Guéant, at the behest of his boss no doubt, is trying to prove that lightening can strike twice in the same place. Louis Aliot's implication that there might be a concerted effort a-foot to prevent Marine Le Pen from running is a topic being discussed at various websites. I hope to have more soon.

The one-minute video below shows Claude Guéant arriving at the student union to give his speech. The on-screen text reads:

"Contrary to the relativist ideology of the Left, for us, all civilizations are not equal." "In any case, we must protect our civilization."

The scene then switches to Louis Aliot, whose words are quoted above.

"All Civilizations Are Not Equal"

2012-02-08T07:16:00.004-05:00

It looks like Interior Minister Claude Guéant has been designated Nicolas Sarkozy's official patriot. The minister recently made some statements that the president himself would never make for fear of looking like… Marine Le Pen. This article from Le Figaro explains:

Claude Guéant set off a lively debate when he declared that "all civilizations are not equal" ("toutes les civilizations ne se valent pas") in a speech on the French Republic that was immediately denounced by the Left as an attempt by Nicolas Sarkozy to steal votes from the Front National, less than eighty days from the first round of the presidential election.

Note: The Left may be "right" for once.

Very quickly, the statement made by the Interior Minister during a seminar organized by Uni, a right-wing student association, spread on the Internet, provoking indignation. At first it was hypothetical, since the meeting took place behind closed doors, then it was confirmed the same evening by Claude Guéant's entourage.

Sunday on RTL, the Interior Minister repeated the same statement: "Contrary to what the relativist ideology of the Left says, for us, all civilizations are not equal. Those that defend humanity appear to us more advanced than those who deny it. Those that defend freedom, equality and fraternity, appear to us superior to those that accept tyranny, the inferiority of women, or social or ethnic hatred."

Accusing "certain persons on the Left of having taken his words out of context and of having thus removed dignity from a democratic debate," the minister explained: "It means very clearly that for us, all things are not equal". In response to a question from RTL: "Was our civilization inferior when France did not have universal suffrage (before 1945) or when it had the death penalty (before 1981)?" the minister replied: "I can say very clearly that it was inferior to what it is today."

The president of the French Office of Immigration and Integration (OFII), Arno Klarsfeld, defended the minister. "Claude Guéant says things that are obvious. If the Left wants to campaign on the notion that racism or the Taliban are equal to French or British civilization, let them," he declared to AFP. "I prefer a civilization that respects freedom of conscience rather than a civilization that massacres religious freedoms," he continued. "I prefer a civilization where women are equal to men to a civilization where men trample on women."

Note: Arno Klarsfeld is actually saying "I prefer a multi-ethnic France where Islam can flourish freely to a France where Islam would be stigmatized or banned, and where white Europeans would be the dominant group." It must be remembered that both Klarsfeld and Guéant are working within the strict limits of Nicolas Sarkozy's idea of superior civilization. Neither Guéant nor Klarsfeld condones a return to traditional France.

Former presidential candidate of the Socialist Party, ex-civil union partner of François Hollande, Ségolène Royal denounced "a calculated and completely voluntary offense" by Claude Guéant, deeming his remarks "obscurantist and dangerous because behind the clash of civilizations, there is war."

In a communiqué, the Socialist Youth Movement (MJS) condemned Claude Guéant's remarks, and asked him what he was trying to do "by locking himself in a xenophobic and racist rhetoric." The minister "is part of a category of persons who differentiate and hierarchize men, and allow the fall into a veritable cultural racism," they added. SOS Racism said, in a communiqué, that it hoped for an "immediate denial" of the remarks. "If these remarks, very grave, had really and truly been uttered by the Interior Minister currently in office, they would mark a new stage in the drift towards unacceptable extremes, structured notably by a logic of the inferiority of the Other."

A quick look at some of the left-wing blogs and news sources indicate a violent reaction to Guéant's words. And a complete misunderstanding, since the minister is saying that today's France (which is mixed racially, Islamised, and where women have as many freedoms as men) is superior. But isn't that what the Left would say as well? What does the French Left want? I suppose they want the annihilation of all white Europeans. When that happens, they won't have to worry about a superior civilization any more.

Marine Explodes

2012-02-08T03:33:00.002-05:00

Marine Le Pen responds (again) to questions about her presence at the Viennese ball on January 27. The journalist from Le Monde, Abel Mestre, asks her about the "parallel she drew between Ben Ali, Bashar al-Assad, etc… and Hitler." He recalls that she said she is "opposed to all totalitarianisms be they Nazi, Communist or Globalist." He wonders if this is not relativizing Nazism. She loses patience.

Oh no, Monsieur, I can't say anything anymore, I can't say anything anymore. What I mean is… Hitler died sixty years ago. If I have to repeat what I think of Nazism, I'll repeat it as many times as necessary. Nazism was an abomination. At times I regret not having lived then so that I could have fought against it. I have no tolerance for this totalitarianism, none. I said clearly that I regard it as the height of barbarity. What I'm saying is that once again you are holding me responsible for something for which I have absolutely no responsibility, I have no affinity for this totalitarianism, neither close nor remote, neither close nor remote. What I've noticed is that other dictators today could have precise ideological affinities with people who are now in the presidential race, but nobody ever asks them (i.e., the presidential candidates) to explain their ideological affinities. I can't say anything anymore. I'll give you an anecdote. I explained on television that I went to this ball where I met many women, contrary to the crazy things you may have read; I was seated at a table with Swedish and Austrian Jews, and I said that there were no more neonazis there than there was butter on a skewer, and as I left an assistant asked me if the expression "butter on a skewer" might not raise a controversy. This is what we've come to. You've really got to have a twisted mind, I agree with you, but now I'm suspicious…

Note: "Butter on a skewer" is a French expression for "none at all", since obviously you cannot put butter on a skewer. The French word for butter "beurre" is pronounced the same way as the word "beur", a popular way of saying "North African", usually Algerian. The word "beur" is not pejorative but derives from Berber.

Once again, those who try to create any kind of ambiguity, and believe me, the extreme Left and the Socialist Party use this type of ambiguity which is almost a trivialization, Monsieur Mestre. Isn't it a trivialization of the horror of Nazism to label as "Nazi" anyone who disagrees with you in any circumstance? Isn't it a trivialization of Nazism to assimilate Marine Le Pen, an elected official, an honest person, a mother, to Hitler? Isn't it a trivialization of Nazism when the Socialist Youth party made a poster of Mr. Sarkozy, arm extended, with the words "How far will he go?" That is trivialization, and those who use for electoral purposes this kind of calumny, this baseness, ought to look at themselves in the mirror and ask themselves if these odious comparisons that they make don't contribute to the trivialization.

Hollande Looks To Obama

2012-02-07T04:17:00.008-05:00

According to Yves Daoudal, in his weekly newsletter #157, Socialist candidate François Hollande is following the example of Barack Obama:

François Hollande is a candidate for the French presidency. But for his campaign he wants the best, and the best is American. He went to the United States to get the team that conducted Obama's campaign online: Blue State Digital.

In the Hollande campaign headquarters, these days, they only speak American. There is Matt Ipcar, the man who conceived Obama's campaign site and that of the White House, Joe Rospars, the man who was at the commands of the campaign, Ryan Davis who took care of social networks, Sam Jeffers, strategy director of Blue State, and Steve Jacobs, one of the managers of Blue State, no less.

In 2009, everyone laughed when Ségolène Royal declared that Obama's team had copied her. In fact, Mme Royal's online campaign had been studied in America as an example… of what not to do.

Be that as it may, now it is her ex-partner François Hollande, who is copying (openly, that is) Obama's campaign. The only difference being that Obama had 300 million dollars to spend, and Hollande has two million euros.

Below, a photo that caused a lot of conversation on the web. When he was about to sign a charter from the Abbé Pierre Foundation on the need for better housing, François Hollande was attacked by a woman who surged from behind and emptied a sack of flour on him. She was immediately caught by the candidate's protective service, but the incident caused concern among security police who insist that a candidate on a podium should be safe from such attacks. In its way, it is a beautiful but eerie photograph, with the ghost-like face of the woman appearing in a cloud of sulfuric smoke. The candidate at first continued to sign the document, but then went in the back to clean up. He returned to finish the signing. Photo (and others) from Le Parisien.

Riposte Laïque Condemned by French Tribunal

2012-02-06T04:56:00.008-05:00

Two contributors to Riposte Laïque, the website devoted to the defense of the law on separation of Church and State, a law that has been violated many times in multiple ways by a succession of French leaders, have been tried by a French court on charges of discrimination against a group (ethnic, racial, religious). The final verdict will be delivered on March 23. The two writers risk a suspended sentence of two and three months, and a hefty fine of 150,000 euros.

A reminder that the contributors to this website are, for the most part, leftists, Socialists, feminists and anti-clerics who began to see the light regarding Islam, immigration, and freedom of speech. They perceived also the level of collaboration of the Socialist Party in the gradual dilution of French identity through what has come to be known as "population substitution." They truly seem to have experienced an epiphany.

The legal action against Pierre Cassen and Pascal Hilout is a result of accusations of discrimination by several anti-racist organizations: the LDH (Human Rights League), MRAP (Movement against Racism and for Friendship among Peoples), and LICRA (International League against Racism and Antisemitism). These accusations are based on two articles, one by Pierre Cassen, one by Pascal Hilout, that express deep concern over the Islamization of France. The two articles go back to April and October 2010. The first, entitled "France is in a state of civil war, it's a fact…" reviews just a few of the numerous crimes and acts of urban violence that have plagued France since the massive immigration started and points to the indifference and/or collaboration of the authorities entrusted with the security of the country. The second article, by Pascal Hilout, an Algerian-born Muslim apostate, entitled "Can we defeat the Islamist offensive by democratic means alone?" suggests that democratic processes, while helpful at times, are not enough to stop the spread of Islam, noting the increase of veiled women, the wide-spread necessity to eat halal food since nothing else is available and often French people are even afraid to buy pork. The article also discusses the flaws within the Front National but concludes that the FN is not the enemy, Islam is. Pascal Hilout concludes his article by saying that democracy may have to be violated to some extent in order to save freedom.

A blow-by-blow description of the trial by Caroline Alamachère reveals that the witnesses for the prosecution were poorly prepared, expressed themselves unconvincingly and seemed eager to get it over with, while the accused, Pierre Cassen and Pascal Hilout, presented well-thought-out, honest and persuasive arguments that even at times seemed to please the presiding judge. One of the witnesses for Riposte Laïque was none other than Oscar Freysinger, from Switzerland.

Alamachère's account is quite long. Here are just a few excerpts. First the interrogation of Pierre Cassen (photo):

The judge asked him of whom he spoke when he mentioned physical attacks in his article, and became irritated when Pierre answered that he was speaking of criminals of sub-Saharan origin and others. It was not enough for the judge who insisted on knowing precisely who they were. (…) Pierre brought up the pressures from ethnic groups, the halal merchants who were replacing traditional shop owners, the treasurer of the mosque of Roubaix who declared that sharia and the practice of stoning would be followed as soon as there were enough Muslims in France. He then quoted Erdogan who spoke of democracy as a bus you take and get off as soon as you have arrived, he spoke of France being threatened, of his refusal to see his children and grandchildren grow up in a neighborhood they will be minorities, and he said he refused to "sweep the dust under the rug." The judge asked him then if one can be French and Muslim. Pierre responded yes, if you respect the country.

The testimony of Pascal Hilout (photo) is very unusual. He brings up ideas that are rarely mentioned. Here is what Alamachère reports:

On the witness stand Pascal spoke about his childhood in Taza, his enrollment in a Koranic school then in a "modern" school under the French protectorate at the request of his grandmother who had to wear the veil under pressure. He told of his awakening, his arrival in France and his confrontation with Islam that he thought was behind him. He recalled that the first ones to demonstrate against Salman Rushdie were not Iranians but Muslims from Great Britain and he stated that for him Islam is equal to Islamism.

He spoke of his Muslim given name (Pascal Hilout was born "Mohammed"), this tattoo that you keep for your life, which prompted the judge to respond that he had nonetheless changed his first name, to which Pascal replied that he did it out of a desire to assimilate into a country he loved and out of a refusal to be called Mohammed which no longer meant anything to him. Pascal then spoke of his "atavism" and his libido that engenders in him a desire for conquest, of the religion that is present "even to the end of his penis" (the word used in French is "zizi", a term used by children), of the markings by a religion as one brands cattle. Prosecuting attorney Tubiana made gestures of disapproval and asked him tricky questions, but Pascal never fell into any of the traps set for him.

Note: He is saying that he is permanently marked physically and psychically by his early life as a Muslim. That he even has the blood of a conqueror because of his Islamic heritage.

Regarding the witnesses for the prosecution they were, according to this report, pathetic:

Then began the testimony of the prosecutors' witnesses. First, Jean Bauberot, a sociologist specializing in "laïcité" who made the usual parallel between Islamophobia and antisemitism and who said that the Muslim prayers in the street were "small annoyances" that were overblown to create tension. His remarks were confusing, he lacked confidence, and he hesitated.

Note: Bauberot probably had to be careful of what he said, since he was a member of the Stasi commission set up in July 2003 under Jacques Chirac, for the purpose of studying how to reconcile Islam with the 1905 French law on separation of Church and State, called "laïcité", although he abstained from the final vote on the commission's report.

For those interested, English Wikipedia has more on the Stasi Commission.

French readers can consult French Wikipedia for more information on Bauberot.

Then came Christine Delphy, a pro-veil feminist activist, a little grey-haired lady with an innocent face. She claimed that Muslims are necessarily secular when they live in a secular country. OK, let's see. If you put a chihuahua inside a fish tank, he becomes a fish. Obviously!

And so it went for nine hours.

At top, a typical RL cartoon showing the three anti-racist organizations LDH, MRAP, and LICRA shouting "Islamophobia is racism. Death to Riposte Laïque."

Below, the courthouse in Paris.

Marine Goes to the Ball

2012-02-01T20:29:00.007-05:00

She went to a ball in Vienna and look at what happened. The following video was produced by the left-leaning journal L'Express.

Here is the text of the video. The background music is by Tchaikovsky. I'll never know why they didn't choose Wagner.

Marine Le Pen waltzes in Vienna with neonazis.

This Friday evening, Martin Graf took Marine Le Pen waltzing at the traditional ball of these corporations, a reception closed to the press where, every year, holocaust deniers are applauded.

Note: By "corporation" the author seems to mean "neonazi organizations".

Martin Graf is an ideologue, the leader of the toughest wing of the Austrian extreme-right. He is a member of Olympia, a "Burschenschaft", a secret organization banned to Jews and women whose members have as their duty to transmit in society, through covert means, neonazi, pan-germanic, antisemitic and negationist ideas. In the basements of the wealthy neighborhoods of Vienna they practice dueling with swords and they recognize each other by the scar they proudly exhibit on one cheek.

Between 3000 and 5000 demonstrators were gathered in front of the doors of the building to denounce the ball of the neonazis. And Marine Le Pen dined with the head of the neonazi FPO party, Heinz-Christian Strache.

Actor Hubsi Kramar, who was not invited, had arrived at a previous Vienna ball in a limousine, disguised as Adolf Hitler, denouncing this ball that, even today, serves the unity of neonazis in Europe.

Thank you Hubsi, and shame on Marine Le Pen.

The video switches to Hubsi Kramar, dressed as Hitler, arriving at the Vienna ball.

The last several minutes show a still of Marine Le Pen.

For some basic information on Martin Graf, see Wikipedia.

Below, taken from the Wikipedia article on Heinz-Christian Strache, are some of Strache's campaign slogans:

Wien darf nicht Istanbul werden (Vienna must not become Istanbul). A variation on an FPÖ slogan from the Haider era: Wien darf nicht Chicago werden. Vienna has a significant Turkish minority, the FPÖ is opposed to Turkish EU membership and it refers to the defeat of the Ottoman empire in the Battle of Vienna in 1683, a symbolic historic victory of the West over Islam.

Daham statt Islam ("at home" [i.e., folks who are native to Austria], not Islam)

Deutsch statt "nix verstehen" (German, not "no understand")

Pummerin statt Muezzin (Pummerin, not muezzin). Pummerin is the main bell in St. Stephan's Cathedral in Vienna, and so a religious Christian symbol in Vienna.

Heimat im Herzen (homeland at heart)

Arbeit statt Zuwanderung (jobs, not immigration)

The Union des Français Juifs (Union of Jewish Frenchmen) has come to the defense of Heinz-Christian Strache. In a communiqué posted at Nations-Presse, Jacques Rosen explains why being associated with Strache is not equivalent to being a neonazi:

(…) Mr. Strache is the leader of the FPO (Freedom Party, an Austrian party now credited in polls with 28% of the votes). In the politically correct press, the FPO is systematically presented as a party of the extreme-right, and in certain leftist publications, Mr. Strache is squarely depicted as a neonazi.

It is time to set the record straight and to persevere in unmasking the liars:

1. We obtained the official program of the FPO. In Chapter 2, page 5, Judaism is explicitly mentioned as being part of the Austrian and European identity.

2. Heinz-Christian Strache went to Israel in December 2010, at the invitation of several politicians, including Ayoub Kara, Likoud vice-minister of the development of the Negev and of Galilee.

3. During this official visit, Mr. Strache also visited the Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem.

4. During his return visit to Vienna, Mr. Kara declared: "I am happy to be here by the side of my friend H.C. Strache."

5. Following these visits, Israeli rabbi Yeshayahu Hollander declared: "The members of the right-wing parties who came to Israel and met Mr. Kara, including Mr. Strache, whom Mr. Kara visited in Austria, have declared and have given reasons to believe that they are not antisemitic…"

So who do they think they're kidding?

Since when does the extreme-right recognize Judaism as an integral part of European national identities, and since when do neonazis meditate at Yad Vashem? Do words still have any meaning to those who would try to teach lessons in bien-pensance? They scream antisemitism when it suits them, and they are careful not to look at the real antisemitism in our country - that of radical Islamists.

(…)

Another communiqué from the Union des Français Juifs, dated January 29, two days after the ball, also attempts to clarify the situation and provides some unusual historical facts:

(…) This ball takes place every year in a Viennese palace, the Hofburg, where the seat of the Austrian presidency is also located.

To see in this ball a neonazi gathering is an insult to Viennese students. If SOS Racism and the UEJF (Union of Jewish Students of France, a leftist group) know nothing about fraternities - student associations that exist in the United States and in certain European countries, but not in France - this does not give them the right to defame them.

Note: SOS Racism and the UEJF were among those who denounced Marine Le Pen's presence at the ball, saying it was for "those who still dream of the Third Reich."

These associations are for the most part apolitical, they function democratically, and they are not secret. Theodor Herzl, Heinrich Heine, and even Karl Marx belonged to them.

In response to allegations that the ball was deliberately held on a date that remembered the Holocaust, the author explains that this ball is always given on the last Friday of January. This year it happened to coincide with the commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz. This, he says, was sheer coincidence, and at any rate the commemoration date in Israel is different.

It happened that Swedish deputy Kent Ekroth and Austrian deputy David Lazar of the FPO, both Jewish, were also present a this ball. "A disgusting ball for those who still dream of the Third Reich." Really?

Below, Marine in Perpignan on Sunday (January 29), where she had a highly successful visit and spoke before an audience of two thousand. She also rendered homage to the "Harkis", Algerians who fought on the side of France during the Algerian War. Despite the Vienna ball, she seems to be on a roll, and gaining momentum.

A World-Wide Ban on Criticism of Islam?

2012-02-01T04:37:00.005-05:00

This nine-minute video, hosted by Christine Tasin, appears at Riposte Laïque. It is a warning about the proposed plan to criminalize on a world-wide basis any criticism of Islam or sharia. The video is in sections, with text or commentary from Christine in French. There is also an English-language segment. Throughout part of the video you will hear in the background the air "Va, Pensiero" from the opera Nabucco by Verdi. This beloved song is sung in the opera by the Hebrew slaves in Babylon as they long for their homeland.

I have put in italics those passages that appear as text in the video, and I have divided my translation into thirteen sections for convenience. Several sections are adaptations or condensations of the original.

1 - Christine Tasin: The European countries have agreed to host, in July, the next meeting of the Istanbul Process, the project to criminalize any criticism of Islam. The place and date are not yet known. But the news is troubling.

2 - (Written text) "The Istanbul Process is directed by the OCI (Organization of Islamic Cooperation), headquartered in Saudi Arabia, an intergovernmental organization created on September 25, 1969 under the name of Organization of the Islamic Conference. It groups together fifty-seven member States and possesses a permanent delegation to the U.N. It changed its name on June 28, 2011 and is the only international organization on a supra-national level that is religious in nature."

3 - Christine Tasin's voice is heard over the Riposte Laïque banner featuring an article by Bernard Dick entitled The OCI Exerts Pressure to Turn Defamation of a Religion into a Crime.

Christine Tasin: The goal of the Istanbul Process is to write into international law a ban of all criticism of Islam and sharia.

The OCI has already had a vote in this direction, referring to the notorious 16/18 resolution of the United Nations Council on Human Rights that calls on all countries to fight against the stigmatization of religions. In order for this resolution to be implemented the Western nations have to follow it. Until now this has not been the case. Yet two important steps have been taken. First Washington hosted in December 2011 a meeting of the Istanbul Process. Agreeing to host this meeting means agreeing to the idea that Islamophobia should be suppressed. It means legitimizing the OCI and its fight against freedom of speech. It means agreeing that blasphemy should again be made a crime

4 - (Written text) "To know more about the OCI, the Istanbul Process and what the U.S.A. and Brussels are devising. A world worse than 1984. The disappearance, pure and simple, of freedom of speech, and religion imposed on everybody. Will they succeed in turning us into silent trembling slaves?"

5 - (Written text by Bernard Dick) "To say that jihadists use Islamic texts and teachings while encouraging violence in order to impose the supremacy of Islam and sharia is liable to become a crime. The complicity of the United States and Western governments on this question is a betrayal of our values and a submission to political Islam, a submission to moneyed Islamic organizations."

6 - (Written text translated from the Arabic by Bernard Dick) "In the course of the months to come, the American capital, Washington, will host a coordinating committee to discuss with the OCI the modalities of application of the 16/18 decision on the defamation of religions, the ban on stereotyped images of religions and their followers, as well as the spread of religious tolerance, which was adopted last March by the Human Rights Council (of the United Nations) with the approval of the Western nations. This resolution had been adopted after long discussions between the OIC and the countries where the phenomenon of Islamophobia is known."

7 - (Written text translated from the Arabic by Bernard Dick) "The same sources say that the next meetings have as their goal to provide a legal basis for the decision of the Council on Human Rights of the United Nations and to allow those States affected by this problem to legislate, and even more: to enact international laws that would prevent inciting to hatred resulting from defamation of religions."

8 - Christine Tasin: We have no illusions about Obama who has defended Islam.

(Written text) "Obama has made Islam a religion of the United States"

(Written text from Obama's Cairo speech, 2009) "In the same way, it is important that Western countries avoid preventing Muslims from practicing their religion as they wish, for example, by dictating what Muslim women must wear. In a word, we cannot disguise hostility toward religion under the cover of liberalism."

(Written text) "Obama: 'The United States Will Never Be At War with Islam'

The American president gave a speech in Cairo in the form of a reconciliation with the Muslim world. He gave his support to the creation of a Palestinian State and asked that Israeli colonization cease."

9 - This part is in English. Republican Congressman Dan Lungren questions Paul N. Stockton, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Defense. Notice that besides arguing about Islam they each have a different pronunciation for al-Qaeda.

10 - Christine Tasin points out the importance of the United States that serves as a model for other countries.

(Written text, Obama's speech) "Well-versed in history, I know too the debt that civilization owes to Islam. And all through history, Islam has proved, in words and in deeds, the possibilities of religious tolerance and of racial equality." (Applause) "I know too that Islam has always been a part of American History."

11 - Christine Tasin: We know the litany of oppressive measures, torture and intimidation endured by those in Islamic countries who contravene the Islamic laws: death sentences, stoning, amputation, flagellation are the lot of hundreds of people every day. The United States has no problem with this, the United States is doing all it can to make Islamic law world law. We know the lot of women in Islamic countries and the hell they live in from childhood. What are our elite doing that they are willing to host such a conference? We cannot, we must not allow this to happen. We must protest, we must rise up, we must say to all our representatives, all our deputies that we do not want this. There must be a movement that rises up against this abomination.

12 - The French flag is the backdrop for a pop-style patriotic song:

"People of France, the time has come for you to break the silence and have your voice heard, People of France do not resign yourselves, Resist the enemy of your laws."

13 - Christine Tasin: We have no illusions. The European Commission, like Obama, works secretly to prevent us from criticizing Islam. Proof? The Commission has created a network to sensitize people about the radical reaction following the massacre in Norway. I quote Le Monde, 09/09/2011, regarding the killer Anders Breivik:

"We are afraid (…) that his act becomes, in the future, a source of inspiration for other extremists, because the ideas of groups hostile to Islam have spread considerably since 2001. 'They dispose of a vast potential for recruitment, superior to that of the neo-nazis obsessed with the Jewish question. They benefit from a feeling of skepticism with regard to Muslims that is widespread in our societies,' he explained."

Christine Tasin: We cannot say that we didn't know. It is urgent to get out of the European Union. And it is urgent that the ruling elite change their national and international policies. Vive la République! Vive la France!

There is an English-language article on this topic at the New York Post.

Withdrawal From Afghanistan

2012-01-30T04:06:00.006-05:00

On January 20 Yves Daoudal posted this item at his website:

For the second time in a few weeks, French soldiers have been killed by soldiers of the Afghan army whom they were training…

Sarkozy is angry: "If security conditions are not clearly established, the question of an early withdrawal of the French army arises."

I don't really see what is meant by security conditions for soldiers in a country at war… and you had to be uncommonly naïve not to predict that the Taliban would join the Afghan army in order to take advantage of French military instruction…

Sarkozy's remarks are no doubt a way of admitting that it is not our war, and of announcing the return of French soldiers without admitting defeat...

Yesterday (Saturday) I received an e-mail from Diana West, with a link to an article at her blog announcing the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan. She links also to an article in the Peninsula Clarion describing the angry reaction of Afghan MP Tahira Mujadedi. Here are excerpts:

Mujadedi argued that Afghan forces in Kapisa are not ready to go it alone in fighting the Taliban insurgency, which is especially strong in several of the province's districts. She warned that if NATO forces pull back from Kapisa, it could also destabilize nearby Kabul, the Afghan capital.

"We have had so many attacks, ambushes and also suicide attacks in Kapisa," Mujadedi said. "Unfortunately, our national police and army, while present in Kapisa, are unable to provide good security for people." (…)

"When military forces are present in a war zone, anything can happen," she said. The French troops "are not here for a holiday," she added.

But the killing of the unarmed French troops by a Afghan soldier whom they were training has deepened discontent with the Afghan war in France, where Sarkozy is facing a tough election this year. France has about 3,600 troops in the international force, which is mostly made up of American troops.

When you visit Diana West's blog (linked above), browse through the many articles she has written on Afghanistan. Like Yves Daoudal, she has kept a chronicle of our failures, cover-ups, and losses in this apparently futile war. Diana is a nationally syndicated columnist, and one of the few true conservative writers to break through the barriers erected by liberal journalism and reach a public normally deprived of enlightened viewpoints.

The photo below shows Hamid Karzai at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Paris on January 27. According to the military website FNCV:

Karzai and Nicolas Sarkozy signed a bilateral agreement of friendship and cooperation that details the civil and military aid from France to Afghanistan. The meeting between the two heads of State, scheduled long ago, took place in a special atmosphere, after the deaths of four French soldiers (…)

According to the initial withdrawal plan, six hundred French soldiers were to return home in 2012. But, in fact, one thousand will return. Beginning in March, the security of Kapisa Valley - for the moment in the hands of the French - will be the responsibility of the Afghan army. And that was not in the initial plan. For now, President Sarkozy insists it has nothing to do with the deaths of four French soldiers on January 20.

For Sarkozy it will be a "gradual" withdrawal that will also mean the end of combat missions for French troops in 2013. The troops will then be moved into positions as trainers for the army and the Afghan police.

Yves Daoudal has also chronicled the casualties and military decisions in Afghanistan. Like many Frenchmen he feels that it is not France's war. In March 2009, he quoted Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Afghanistan:

"We are not going to win this war merely by staying there. Quite frankly, we will never succeed in defeating the insurrection. In my opinion, Afghanistan has always had in its history an insurrection of one form or another. So what we need in Afghanistan is a government that is capable of managing this insurrection."

It is interesting to compare what Harper said with what Tahira Mujadedi (see above) claims - essentially, that the current Afghan government cannot manage the insurrection.

According to Wikipedia there have been 2,765 coalition deaths in Afghanistan as of December 20, 2011. Regarding France:

A total of 82 French soldiers have died thus far. 61 soldiers have been killed in action, of the others: seven have died in vehicle accidents, four were killed by an Afghan soldier who turned and fired their rifle on French soldiers during training, one in a helicopter crash, two committed suicide, two have drowned, one was killed by a lightning strike, two died from a non-hostile gunshot wound, one died in an accidental explosion, and one died of unknown causes.

The largest number of soldiers killed was when French troops were ambushed in the area of Sirobi, some 50 km (31 mi) east of Kabul, in August 2008. Ten French troops were killed and a further 21 wounded in the attack - the heaviest loss of troops France has suffered since deploying to Afghanistan in 2001.

Finally, despite the general opposition to the presence of the French on Afghan soil, there are those who want the troops to finish their mission. At Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD), Pierre Servent explains why France is wrong to leave. Here is just the beginning of his editorial, written just before Sarkozy's decision was announced:

If France were to withdraw her forces early from Afghanistan, as the president indicated on Friday, it would be an error. First, that would amount to giving the Taliban a considerable political and psychological advantage. Next, it would penalize the passing of the baton between French soldiers and Afghan soldiers, police and gendarmes. Finally, it would set a bad example, vis-à-vis the coalition of 47 nations of which we are a part, to all those who are also tempted by a premature withdrawal. France has in fact discovered the extent to which infiltration, one of the modus operandi of Taliban extremists, can be deadly. (…)

Japanese Restaurants Now Serve Halal

2012-01-27T04:43:00.005-05:00

Japanese restaurants in France are offering halal food. Miyako is a franchise that serves Paris and the surrounding area. Novopress reports:

Here is a major discovery thanks to the Japanese restaurant Miyako in the department of Val-de-Marne: the publicity flyer for this establishment indicates that the menus prepared for sale contain halal meat. We didn't realize until now that in Japanese culture, the gastronomical codes required the use of meat from animals bled while alive and turned in the direction of Mecca. In this case we are close to merchandise fraud. The problem here is a lack of respect for the customer, a frontal attack on his knowledge and his intelligence. When a person who likes sushi goes into a Japanese restaurant, it is, in the majority of cases, with the intention of eating traditional meals from the land of the rising sun, and not halal meals that refer to an Islamic culture. This case also reminds us that certain luxury products with a French brand name, and proudly touted as French brands, are in truth made in China.

With globalism, anything is possible.

The cultural side, i.e., the human side, is tossed away in order to focus only on the mercantile aspect, the search for maximum profits, the Grail of globalism. If that's the case, how can we be surprised that merchants encourage cultural mixtures. You can sell the same product to two people of mixed blood. However, it takes more brains and effort to sell to an African and to a Frenchman. So cultural mixing is also an economic strategy.

Note: People of mixed blood are less demanding, than people of pure blood. This seems to be the gist of the above paragraph. Big companies have an easier and cheaper job selling to the "métissés", the mixed races, who don't know or care what they are, than to a Frenchman, for example, who is very demanding.

I assume it leads to the conclusion that a Japanese restaurant that sells halal meals will make more money because it has a larger, more indifferent clientele than a Japanese restaurant that prepares authentic Japanese food for connoisseurs.

Novopress concludes:

Just a reminder that when you eat halal food, you the consumer are paying a "tax" to the mosques and to Muslim associations that verify the halal food as conforming to Islamic law. This money contributes mathematically to the Islamization of France.

Readers' comments indicate that this is not new, and that many "Japanese" restaurants actually have Chinese owners.

While this article is about halal, the same idea of mixing cultures could be said about McDonald's. Frenchmen who eat at McDonald's are less demanding than Frenchmen who refuse to eat there in favor of their authentically French brasserie. Of course, halal is more ominous - the French are soon not going to be able to avoid halal foods. You can at least refuse to go to McDonald's. And I believe McDonald's serves halal food as well - two reasons for not going there.

In short, mixing races on a massive scale results in a dumbing-down of the population and a boon to the international corporations.

En Partant - Nana Mouskouri

2012-01-26T05:28:00.003-05:00

As a musical interlude here is Tom Paxton's great song Outward Bound, sung here in French by Nana Mouskouri.

The English version, also sung by Nana Mouskouri, is here.

Below, a translation of the French lyrics, which are very similar to the original English:

Outward bound, on an imaginary ship,
Outward bound, you the captain, I the sailor
Alone in the world, we left all our friends on the shores
This morning when we departed.

Outward bound, on a voyage without ports of call
Outward bound, with our dreams for our ocean
We will watch the green prairies disappear
Slowly, far from us, far from time.

And farewell, adieu, so long, vaya con dios
May Heaven give us what we are searching for
Just yesterday, the wine was sweeter than honey
God, those times, those times were good.

Outward bound on an imaginary ship
Walking on an old dusty road
Every moment that we have to live
Will be made into a legend for our children

And farewell, adieu, so long, vaya con dios
May Heaven give us what we are searching for
Just yesterday, the wine was sweeter than honey
God, those times, those times were good.

New Kid on the Block

2012-01-26T04:28:00.009-05:00

France welcomes Croatia to the European Union. From Le Figaro:

France is happy today over the referendum vote on the admission of Croatia to the European Union, and regards this as an example to follow for the other countries of the Balkans (…)

The Croats approved by more than 66% of the votes the admission of their country to the European Union. But participation (43.58%) was very low in this referendum deemed "crucial" by the authorities of this young republic, twenty years after its independence from the former Yugoslavia.

In a joint communiqué, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé and European Affairs Minister Jean Leonetti declared:

"Yesterday, the Croats approved by referendum the admission of their country to the European Union. The results indicate that they made this choice unambiguously. We are particularly happy that they have decided to make their State the 28th member of the Union, marking thus their confidence in the European project."

At his blog Yves Daoudal writes:

"Welcome aboard the slave ship."

French Senate Passes Law on Genocide Denial

2012-01-26T02:46:00.006-05:00

The French Senate (above) voted into law a bill that makes denial of the genocide of the Armenians by the Turks a crime. The result has been a flood of commentary, recriminations, congratulations, and questions over the consequences of this new law.

I repeat for the hundredth time that I sympathize fully with the cause of the Armenians, and with their current concerns over the presence of Turks in Europe. But I do not support this law. It means that while many people on a daily basis, in the ghettos and in the Turkish neighborhoods will shout anything they please with impunity about the Armenian genocide, if one white European happens to say something against the Armenians and gets caught he risks a jail sentence or a fine. Such laws are not enforceable. The Gayssot law, which forbids denial of the Holocaust of WWII has not been enforceable for this reason and it has increased the animosity towards the Jews about whom, it would appear, one cannot say anything negative, especially with regard to the Holocaust.

These laws do not bring back the dead, nor do they honor the dead in any way. They are a political expedient in response to demands from the "oppressed" minority or they bolster the image of the government in the eyes of the world. Sarkozy's government is tough, it pulls no punches, it will put you in jail if you deny the genocide. But if you are a North African immigrant, and you decide to burn a few cars, rape a few girls or throw rocks at the police you will receive a slap on the wrist and maybe even some money to go back home to Algeria where you can deposit the money and then return to France through the open-door policy currently in use.

Here is a slightly condensed report from France-Soir, which summarizes the basic information. There may be an attempt to repeal this law through the Constitutional Council:

The outraged reactions grew steadily in number in Turkey on Tuesday after the voting the night before by the French Senate on a bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian genocide under the Ottoman Empire. At the same time, Paris appealed to Ankara to remain calm.

The weekly speech by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the deputies of his party was expected to give more details on what type of sanctions against France were being considered.

After the Turkish Minister of Justice Sadullah Ergin, denounced "the total lack of respect for Turkey", the Foreign Minister "strongly condemned" on Monday night an "irresponsible act" on the part of France.

On Tuesday, Labor Minister Faruk Celik called Nicolas Sarkozy, who supported the bill, as an assassin of History:

"Sarkozy will go down in History as the man who massacred History"

The Turkish press was unanimous in denouncing blow dealt by France to freedom of opinion:

"Shame on you, France" was the headline of the popular daily Vatan. "France, where the ideal of freedom was born, has dealt the unkindest blow to freedom of expression. By passing the law on denial of the genocide, she has renounced her past."

"President Sarkozy turned his back on freedom and on Turkey, in exchange for a few votes", proclaimed the popular paper Posta.

The widely read paper Hürriyet ran as its headline "He massacred democracy", next to a photo of the French president.

Two papers usually in opposition to each other, the very secular Cumhuriyet and the conservative Islamic Zaman joined voices on Tuesday to denounce "French justice" and an "historic shame" respectively.

These reactions prompted Foreign Minister Alain Juppé to appeal to Turkey for "calm".

"I would like to appeal to our Turkish friends to remain calm and I extend my hand to this "great country, this great economic and political power", declared the minister on the Canal Plus television channel.

The Senate ratified on Monday night a bill already passed through the National Assembly on December 22 that punishes the denial of all genocides recognized by France, including that of the Armenians in 1915, with one year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros.

Turkey refuses the term of genocide, all the while recognizing that massacres were committed and that some 500,000 Armenians perished in Anatolia between 1915 and 1917. The Armenians speak of 1,500,000 dead.

Turkey accused the French president of trying to win over the voters of Armenian origin before the election scheduled for this Spring.

After the vote in the National Assembly, Mr. Erdogan had reacted very angrily, freezing political and military cooperation with France, its ally in NATO, and denouncing a "genocide" committed by the French colonists in Algeria. (…)

New sanctions against France may not be announced until after the promulgation of the law, if indeed it is ratified by the French Constitutional Council, according to the widely distributed daily HaberTürk, quoting sources from within the AKP Party after a meeting Monday night. These sources indicate that Mr. Erdogan has declared his intention not to visit France again, if the law is ratified, so long as Mr. Sarkozy is in power.

Note: In France a law passed by both houses has to be "promulgated" or ratified by the President of the French Republic within two weeks. Only then can it be executed. However, if there is a question about the law, the Constitutional Council must rule on its constitutionality before the President "promulgates" it. If the Council gives the OK, Sarkozy will ratify the law and from that point on it must be executed.

While some say he did this to win Armenian voters, it is more likely he did it to win other voters as well - all those who believe such laws are a sign of the high moral principles of France and her leader. And this may be a substantial chunk of the population.

It will be very interesting to see what Turkey does, and how France tries to soothe the outraged "great" nation.

Below, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Crime Rising

2012-01-24T05:55:00.004-05:00

Here are some recent statistics on crime, as reported by Novopress:

The figures on crime in 2011, presented by Claude Guéant on January 17, reveal an ever increasing assault on the safety of the French people. While the Interior Minister dared to boast about a ridiculous drop of 0.34% in crime overall, other figures were much more instructive.

Thus, the rate of burglaries of primary residences rose by 17.1% compared to 2010. Other significant data include violence against people, notably voluntary homicides, that rose more than 10%. Note too that violent acts against people have increased more than 22% in the last ten years.

These figures are certainly a low estimate since many French people, disappointed and discouraged by the absence of a concerted policy against crime and immigration, have given up filing complaints. Furthermore, certain types of misdeeds are not included in the State's calculations, such as bank card fraud.

Back to Future

2012-01-24T05:02:00.004-05:00

The French, who are in great need of some recreation, are holding their bellies following the remarks made by Sarkozy's former Defense Minister Hervé Morin, 50. Morin is a presidential candidate for the Nouveau Centre (New Center) Party and has so far amassed about 0% of the voters' pledges. He will probably drop below that now, unless the French rally to his cause out of gratitude. Here is the article from Le Parisien (but it's all over the web):

The centrist candidate Hervé Morin, 50, got carried away Sunday during a visit to Nice when he said in a speech that he had seen the allies land in Normandy… 67 years ago. "Those of you who have white hair, you saw the landing in Provence not far from here," addressing himself to the older members of his audience. "I saw the landing of the allies in Normandy. We have lived through ordeals much more difficult than those we are living through today," added the chairman of the Nouveau Centre, credited with 0 to 1% in the polls.

Note: As I post, the 35-second video of his historical slip is not working. Try instead the version at Le Salon Beige.

Don't forget Al Gore invented the Internet, Latin is spoken in Latin America (I'm not sure Dan Quayle actually said that), Rick Perry could not remember which government agency he would abolish, and Nicolas Sarkozy saw the Berlin Wall come down.

Louis XVI, Executed January 21, 1793

2012-01-21T05:41:00.006-05:00

The image of the king is from Le Post, a French website that is soon to become the French version of the Huffington Post. Headed by Anne Sinclair, wife of Dominique Strauss-Kahn. She apparently feels it's time to go back to work and make some money to offset the losses from last summer. Lawyers are very demanding.

Below the picture it reads:

To govern men is not to subjugate them.

A sovereign could do nothing more useful than to inspire in his nation a grand idea of itself.

The first duty of a king is to make his people happy.

Alexis de Toqueville wrote in the mid-1880's:

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years.”

Quoted in a speech delivered by Allen West, posted at Blog 1389.

(Mis)interpreting the Torah

2012-01-20T05:29:00.005-05:00

Grand Rabbi of France Gilles Bernheim has declared that the values of Judaism are incompatible with those of the Front National. The article appears at SudOuest, a local paper of Bordeaux:

Grand Rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim, when questioned by Sud-Ouest about the attempts made by Marine Le Pen to coax Jewish voters into voting for the FN, declared that "the values of Judaism are incompatible with those of the Front National. And whatever Marine Le Pen's position favoring Israel might be, that will change nothing.

Questioned also on Eva Joly's proposal to make Yom Kippur and Eïd El-Kebir national holidays, the Grand Rabbi replied that he did not have to respond to every statement made by politicians. "I would not want the presidential election to benefit corporatist interests. That is not my idea of the relationship between the political and the religious."

Note: Eva Joly (née Gro Eva Farseth) is the Norwegian-born candidate of the Ecology Party (with support from the Green Party) for the presidency of France in 2012. In 1967 she married Frenchman Pascal Joly, by whom she had two children. They later separated. He committed suicide in 2001. She became known to the public when she was appointed examining magistrate in the Elf-Aquitaine financial scandal in 1994, involving a widespread network of corruption in the French oil industry. In the course of the legal proceedings one person she exonerated was Dominique Strauss-
Kahn.

Gilles Bernheim was in Bordeaux last Sunday to commemorate the rounding-up of 400 Jews from southwestern France in the Synagogue of Bordeaux during WWII. Jews from Bayonne, Pau, Libourne and even Arcachon had been imprisoned in the synagogue before being deported to Drancy, then to Auschwitz.

A contributor to Riposte Laïque named Elisseievna, who is Jewish, responds to rabbi Bernheim's declaration in a long reproach, in which she attempts to explain why Jews are "bleeding heart liberals", citing Leviticus 19:33-34, where Jews are told to love foreigners:

"For you were foreigners in the land of Egypt."

Often, however, Jews seem to be victims of a theoretical hypertrophy of virtue, and boast of spreading this overflow of love, without any reciprocity whatsoever, to the foreigner who does not see himself as a foreigner! Even more - and we live through situations like this today - "foreigners" claiming to be the true possessors of our country - France - and calling us intruders, find themselves theoretically invested with loving protection ordered by the Torah. It must be stated clearly: this twisting of the moral conscience, laden with suicidal tendencies, is of galuti origin (meaning in relation to existence in exile in the diaspora, and not in Israel).

(…)

In conclusion, it seems to me more than evident, Mr. Grand Rabbi of France, that the policies Marine Le Pen proposes are the only ones that can (…) ensure the safety of French Jews. Go for a walk through the middle schools of the ghettos, Gilles Bernheim, listen to what the immigrant children and adolescents, or children of immigrants, are thinking today about the Jews, and then tell me if you can see, in the current state of things, a way of eradicating the terrible rise of antisemitism other than stopping Muslim immigration, all the while applying French laws to stop the kingpins behind Islamic subversive activities. If the laissez-faire policy toward Islam, which is that of all the other candidates, is continued, in a few years, Mr. Grand Rabbi, France will be "judenrein", Notre-Dame de Paris will really be a mosque as Elena Tchoudinova imagined it would be, and the France of Solomon ben Isaac de Troyes will soon be nothing but a memory, because we can count on indifference and the art of Islamic cultural ethnocide to eradicate every last trace. I don't know if this is what you prefer in the name of I don't know what values you call Jewish, but as for me, I will fight against this ethnic cleansing, and for this reason also, I think I will fight with "our new Joan of Arc".

Note: "Judenrein" means "cleansed of Jews."

The reference to Notre-Dame concerns the book by Russian author Elena Tchoudinova in which she describes the last Mass in the cathedral before the definitive capitulation to Islam.

Solomon Yitzhaki of Troyes, known as Rashi, February 22, 1040 – July 13, 1105, was a medieval French rabbi famed as the author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). See Wikipedia

I did not have time to research Galuti values, but I found this interesting piece at Palm Tree of Deborah. I can't tell if "galutnik" is correct or pejorative. "Galuti" is the word that seems to be preferred. Possibly "galutnik" is derived from "beatnik" and "peacenik"?

My soul has been churning in righteous indignation for more than 24 hours now and it isn’t lessening even one little bit and it won’t until I get this off of my chest.

After dinner on Leil Shabbat, I sat down to read a small magazine. I didn’t get any further than the first letter to the editor. It was obviously from a visiting galutnik Jew condemning the editorial decision that included in the magazine’s Yom Haatzmaut profile of various Israeli Jews’ comments on the holiday a wish for an Israel without Arabs. I won’t sully this blog by repeating verbatim what was written. Suffice it to say that reference was made to racism and democratic ideals, an obnoxious and obscene comparison between innocent Jews and murderous Arabs with special attention to a perfectly nice Arab waiter, who for all the writer knew could be plotting the next mass poisoning. But, you know, I don’t expect anything better from galutnik Jews. Their minds have already been poisoned by “Western ideals.” For lack of true Torah knowledge, they think it’s the same thing. What a shock they have in store!

Renault Promotes Gay Marriage

2012-01-19T15:43:00.001-05:00

"Congratulations, Dad."

"Times change. So does Twingo."

No comment.

Europe's Fate

2012-01-17T05:14:00.006-05:00

According to Islamisation, on January 6, 2012, Egyptian imam Ali Abu Al-Hasan delivered a sermon on Al-Hekma television. Here is one passage:

"…with Muslim emigration into Europe and the unwillingness of Europeans to marry and have children… One hundred persons will be succeeded by only eighty, and ten years later, these eighty will be replaced by sixty, and these sixty will later be replaced by forty, and these forty will be a mere ten one decade later, and twenty years later, not one of them will remain!

Europe has become aware of this. In time, Europe will become a single Islamic State, and will know only that: 'There is no other god but Allah and Mohammed is his messenger.'

That's the way it is, whether they like it or not. It is Allah's decision. Islam is arriving!"

With 470,000 visas issued annually by the Interior Ministry (official figures for 2008) to nationals of Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey, we can't help but believe that the Sarkozy government agrees with Islamic imperialism.

Click here for the video of the above, from MEMRI, with English subtitles. And see if you don't agree that the voice of the imam sounds very much like that of Hitler.

A Question of Neutrality

2012-01-16T07:23:00.003-05:00

In his newsletter #154, available through subscription, Yves Daoudal relates the events at a high school in Saint-Dié, department of the Vosges, in Lorraine, eastern France. It concerns a cancellation by the Guillaume Budé Association, a scholastic society devoted to ancient history and languages, of a conference on the Armenian genocide. The Association issued this communiqué:

"We must cancel the January 20 conference by Madame Paule Gehay on the Armenian genocide. The principal has, in fact, determined that the current situation was not favorable for us to be able to discuss calmly this topic, and that the school must remain neutral. The next conference has been scheduled for Friday March 2 at 5:30 p.m.: 'Lenin, revolutionary or putschist?' by Jean-Jacques Marie, historian, and author of a biography of Lenin."

Yves Daoudal comments:

I fail to see how speaking about the Armenian genocide violates the neutrality of the school. It is an historic event, even officially recognized by the French Republic. To speak in a school of the Republic about an event recognized by the Republic (and the denial of which will soon be a punishable offense…) cannot contravene the republican neutrality of the school…

If I understand correctly, the mention of the Armenian genocide leads one to designate the guilty and the victims, and that the guilty are Muslims and the victims are Christians. And that IS contrary to "neutrality". It is even contrary to laïcité…

On the other hand, there is no problem with the next conference. The one by Jean-Jacques Marie on Lenin.

Jean-Jacques Marie has been a Trotskyist militant for… 50 years. He was a member of the OCI (Internationalist Communist Organization) (…) He stayed on when the OCI became the Internationalist Communist Party (PCI) in 1981. And since 1992, he has been in the Workers' Party (which joined the PCI).

But the principal of the high school in Saint-Dié felt that this is an example of neutrality.

At Le Salon Beige, a Catholic website, there are several comments about this story.

- I know Saint-Dié and I know that there is a very large Turkish community there. Were there local pressures?

- The principal must be afraid that the parents of the Turkish community burn the school down. Courage is not in good supply nowadays… It is also true that he has nothing to fear from the Armenian community whose mores are less barbaric due to the enrichment of Christian civilization. He has also taught us his conception of neutrality: snuff out the truth (and discussions) out of fear of violence.

The FN Is Not A Fascist Party

2012-01-16T00:48:00.003-05:00

Five faces appear in this video from March 8, 2011. The first asks the basic question which is answered by political scientist Jean-Yves Camus and another man, unidentified. A fourth man, with his shirt-collar open, is Ivan Rioufol, a journalist with Le Figaro who tries but fails to contribute. At the very end we see briefly a white-haired man who agrees (by his nod) with the others.

- Is the Front National a fascist party?

- No. And for thirty years the pretense of the anti-fascists has failed. Perhaps they should start thinking of something else. Neither Marine Le Pen nor the Italian Northern League, nor the Swiss People's Party nor the populist parties of Scandinavia are the heirs of the fascism of the 1930's.

- Are these images meant to frighten people, are they useless, and above all are they out of sync with reality?

- They are certainly out of sync with reality. There haven't been any survivors of the traditional extreme Right for almost twenty-five years. They have to try something else.

- No one can believe that the election of one of these parties to the government of a European country would mean that hordes of fascist leagues would land in our cities and our villages. No one can believe this. So to adopt an anti-fascist position is erroneous, because no one believes it. On the other hand, and on the contrary, as these parties progress toward respectability, in society and in the representative bodies, what emerges is the possibility of an alliance (of these parties) with the ruling government party.

Note: One potential outcome we have to be aware of is that the Front National, should it ever accede to power and form an alliance with the Establishment Right, may weaken in its resolve to save France from whatever dangers assail her. The danger of an alliance is the danger of accommodation and compromise. For now, it is easy for Marine Le Pen to be a clarion voice of the opposition, a fount of truth and patriotism in a sea of mediocrity and collaboration. Everything she says rings true because everybody else is so bad. On the other hand, if she ever gets enough votes to win, then that would mean that there are enough Frenchmen who would immediately recognize any accommodation on her part and (hopefully) make known their displeasure. We are far from that point now; this is just speculation.

As Low As You Can Get

2012-01-15T04:54:00.005-05:00

It's inconceivable that a journalist would treat Marine Le Pen (or anybody) like this, but the image above was featured on a show hosted by Laurent Ruquier January 7.

This article from Nations-Presse explains:

On January 9, Bruno Bilde, director of communications for the Marine Le Pen presidential campaign, addressed a letter to the attention of Rémy Pflimlin, president of France Télévision, to denounce the way Marine Le Pen was treated on the Laurent Ruquier show on France 2. During his show, Ruquier displayed a poster that was supposed to be humorous: "Le Pen: the candidate who is like you", with an illustration of a stool of excrement on a background of the French colors.

Today (January 12), Rémy Pflimlin announced in the press that he supported the talk-show host and was defending him. A short while ago Bruno Bilde sent a stinging response to Rémy Pflimlin:

"Your letter shows that you do not know the ethical and juridical rules: defamation and offense are only crimes when they are public. It is clear that by displaying this poster during his show, Laurent Ruquier offended Marine Le Pen. I might add that since the show is not live, you yourself, as director of programming, were responsible for the broadcast of this poster and that you also committed the infraction."

Below, the first letter, dated January 9, sent by Bruno Bilde to Rémy Pflimlin. In it he points out that Marine Le Pen is the only candidate to be treated this way in public. He then lists the other insults she has been the victim of on France Télévision. Among them, a suit filed against Ruquier after he transformed Marine Le Pen's family tree into a swastika.

The letter goes on:

"Now Monsieur Ruquier compares Mme Le Pen to a shit. By adding 'the candidate who is like you', Laurent Ruquier insults at the same time millions of television viewers and voters."

Bruno Bilde has sent a copy of this letter to the High Council on Audiovisual, an agency similar to our FCC.

Couple Attacked near Mantes-la-Jolie

2012-01-14T06:02:00.004-05:00

Here's one of many crimes reported on a daily basis in France. The report, dated January 12, comes from Novopress:

Another French couple has been the victim of a terrifying burglary. A woman was discovered dead and her husband gravely injured on Wednesday at their home in Porcheville, department of Yvelines, near Mantes-la-Jolie. At mid-morning, the postman discovered the couple bound, the woman dead and her 74-year-old handicapped husband in serious condition. He was taken to a Paris hospital where it was determined that his life was in danger. One room of the home had been ransacked. A police source suggested the hypothesis of a hostage-taking that had "gone wrong".

Note: Like its American counterpart the French press uses the phrase "gone wrong" to describe a crime that starts out as a lesser offense and becomes in some mysterious way a greater offense. But is there a hostage-taking that "goes right"? A "mugging gone wrong" is one where the victim is more than mugged, he is killed. So a "mugging gone right" is a successful mugging. Crazy.

BTW, if a criminal attempts to mug somebody and fails, is that a mugging gone wrong or a mugging gone right? Is the criminal in some way compensated for his effort? At least he tried.

With crime rising rapidly and criminals armed to the teeth, the French people do not have official means to defend themselves. The possibilities are laughable (tear gas, gas pistols, blank bullets, etc…) Unlike the United States where defending oneself against an attack is a right. Like Sarah McKinley, a young widow from Oklahoma who bravely saved her own life and that of her baby on New Year's eve when her home was attacked.

The story of Sarah McKinley appears at CBS News, among other sources. The strange thing about this case is that Sarah asked permission from the 911 dispatcher to use her guns (she had two) against the intruder who was about to enter the home. The dispatcher said she had to protect herself and her baby.

Note: Mantes-la-Jolie has become notorious for its violent immigrant population. Possibly older people should receive police protection, or be moved out of the area.

Charges of Anti-Semitism (The Changing Face of the Front National)

2012-01-12T20:07:00.007-05:00

One of the hardest jobs facing Marine Le Pen has been to correct the impression that the Front National is inherently antisemitic. This problem is, as we know, the consequence of her father's seemingly reckless but more likely well-calculated remarks about the concentration camps during WWII. His other remarks asserting the compatibility of Islam with the laws of the French Republic, his actions such as attending a performance given by French-African "humorist" Dieudonné who brought Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson onto the stage, his policy shift toward "inclusion" of immigrants, that stunned his voters during the 2007 campaign, all of these things and more induced potential voters not to vote for Le Pen but to choose instead the leader of the Establishment Right, Jacques Chirac, and later Nicolas Sarkozy.

Marine Le Pen inherited the thankless task of convincing the people that neither she nor the Front National is antisemitic. She has reached out to Israel and sent Louis Aliot, the vice-chairman of the FN to the Jewish State possibly to pave the way for a future meeting between Israeli leaders and herself. She has assured the Jews of France that they have nothing to fear from the Front National, despite accusations of antisemitism from Robert Prasquier, the leftist leader of the leftist CRIF (Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France) and Serge Klarsfeld, the lawyer responsible for hunting down and prosecuting former Nazis.

Now, the vice-chairman of the Front National, Louis Aliot, has been accused of being a "well-known antisemite". Louis Aliot, born in France of a French father and a repatriated Algerian mother who is half Jewish, making Aliot one quarter Jewish (like Nicolas Sarkozy), has been Marine Le Pen's colleague for ten years and her intimate companion for two. She is twice divorced with children, and Aliot is also divorced with two children.

The accusations of antisemitism against Aliot emanate from Edward Amiach, a member of the UPJF (a union of French Jewish managers) and candidate for the seat of deputy in the National Assembly in the 2012 legislative election which will follow soon after the presidential contest. Amiach is a candidate from the 8th voting district of Frenchmen living overseas in the countries of Italy, Malta, Saint-Marin, the Holy See, Cyprus, Greece, Turkey and Israel. The French citizens living in these countries will elect eleven deputies to the National Assembly.

The following communiqué appears at Nations-Presse, a website of the Front National, but it originated at a new website called The Union of Jewish Frenchmen (UFJ), a website by and for patriotic French Jews who have the same concerns as Marine Le Pen and who support her in her presidential bid. This is a refreshing and encouraging development:

By saying that it is "common knowledge" that Louis Aliot, vice-chairman of the Front National, is a "true antisemite", Edward Amiach uses the same arguments used by anti-zionists of the Left and extreme Left, the very ones who on January 8 in Seine-Saint-Denis, aided by the "young people" of the department, attacked a gathering where Marine Le Pen was to give a campaign speech.

Edward Amiach aligns himself also with the UEJF (Union of Jewish Students of France) who refuses to acknowledge that the Al-Dura affair was a carefully planned set-up against Israel.

And he aligns himself with Jean Glavany, the Socialist deputy who, in a parliamentary report, spoke of "a veritable Israeli apartheid" towards the Palestinians.

With friends like Edward Amiach, French Jews do not need enemies.

We should remind this honorable candidate for deputy from the 8th district of French citizens living abroad, and supported by the Jewish managers of France, that not only have neither Marine Le Pen nor Louis Aliot ever made anti-Semitic remarks, but the mere respect for the history of Jews in France ought to impel you to observe greater restraint in your language.

We suggest he read the book by Simon Epstein A French Paradox: Anti-Racists in the Collaboration, Anti-Semites in the Resistance (Albin Michel, Paris 2008), in which he observes that the collaborators came, in their majority, from the Left, while the Resistance fighters for a Free France in London were in the main from the Right. As for Edward Amiach's (new?) Communist friends, they did not resist (except for Charles Tillon) until after June 22, 1941, when Hitler's Germany invaded the Soviet Union.

Of course, his friends, were in Seine-Saint-Denis on January 8, shouting against Marine Le Pen.

The Union of Jewish Frenchmen supports Louis Aliot in his legal action against Edward Amiach and affirms to Louis Aliot its solidarity against these attacks that only serve the cause of the enemies of the Jewish people in general, and of Jewish Frenchmen in particular.

Note: Normally we say "French Jews", in French: "Juifs français" or "Juifs de France". However, the author of this communiqué uses a slightly different turn of phrase: "Français juifs" which translates as "Jewish Frenchmen". In the first example, the person is a Jew first and French as a descriptive term, while in the second, he is a Frenchman first and a Jew as an added description.

At the top, Marine Le Pen with Louis Aliot to her left (on the far right in the photo). Below, Aliot in Israel.

For many voters, for those completely loyal to Jean-Marie Le Pen, for those who joined the FN for its antisemitic image, for those who believe Israel to be a world-conquering, imperialistic vassal to the United States, for those who believe Israel has committed genocide against the Palestinians, this will be a bitter pill. They will regard the FN as a "Zionist" party, and Marine as a friend to the "Zionists".

For now, it appears only that Marine Le Pen is being realistic and that she wants to rid the party of a connotation that can only bring about its eternal damnation. She has made it clear in her foreign policy platform that she regards the Arab world as an essential part of French foreign policy and that she would like France to take the role of intermediary in the resolution of conflicts. But she has also said, at least with regard to Islam, that Muslim nations must not in any way dictate or influence the decisions of the French president or government. Neither she nor Louis Aliot has apologized for the conduct of Jean-Marie Le Pen or for the Front National. Aliot has only said "That's in the past". Their desire to start afresh unencumbered by past errors is obvious and apologies tend to make everything worse and more complicated than they need to be.

As for Jews who collaborate with the enemy, they have made their choice and will pay whatever price awaits them in this world, or the next.

Clermont-Ferrand Police Accused of Brutality

2012-01-11T06:19:00.006-05:00

A death in the city of Clermont-Ferrand is making news. Following several days in a coma, Wissam El-Yamni, 30, who was beaten by two police officers when he threw projectiles at their car on New Year's Eve, died on Monday (January 9). Le Parisien reports:

The man who was in a coma ever since his violent arrest on New Year's Eve in Clermont-Ferrand died on Monday. "We learned of his death during the afternoon. He had been in a coma for several days" announced attorney Jean-François Canis, confirming information from the regional newspaper La Montagne. Wissam El-Yamni was under the influence of alcohol, marijuana and cocaine at the time of his arrest near a shopping center in the Gauthière neighborhood.

According to the police, he was very agitated, and attacked the police, throwing projectiles at their car. After a police chase, he was pinned to the ground, handcuffed and led to police headquarters. He fell into a coma after suffering a heart attack during the ride. He had no medical precedents. He had fractures and lesions to the neck when help arrived.

Interior Minister Claude Guéant mentioned the case during a trip to Sevran (Seine-Saint-Denis). "A judicial inquiry has been decided on. I cannot express the slightest opinion on this case. The only thing I would like to say is that if there was a difficult arrest, it was not due to the police officers."

The tension, ever since, has been palpable in Clermont-Ferrand, with several dozen cars burned this weekend and a silent march of more than 500 people on Saturday. The participants, youth from the working class neighborhoods ("quartiers populaires") of the city for the most part, paraded in front of the police station carrying a banner reading: Nobody is above the law. Stop police brutality. We are all with you, Wissam."

The article describes a helicopter armed with a projector and four bus loads of riot police arriving on the scene at 9:00 p.m.

On New Year's Eve, a resident of the neighborhood, Laure Marchand had witnessed the attack while at her window smoking a cigarette:

"Two people pinned him to the ground and beat him in the torso and the head," she insisted.

She also declared:

"In the supermarket, late in the afternoon, the young people said: 'He is dead'. They were all angry."

The prefect announced on Monday that security measures would be maintained and reenforced if the need arises.

Three young persons ages 18 - 20 appeared in court on Monday afternoon for throwing rocks on New Year's Eve. All three deny the charges. The first one was sentenced to four months in prison, with probation after the second month, the second was released, and the third, convicted also for rebellion, will spend one year in prison without probation and with a "mandat de dépôt" since he was a repeat offender.

Note: A "mandat de dépôt" is an order from the judge to the police to escort a criminal to prison.

A judicial inquiry was opened on Friday by the prosecution of Clermont-Ferrand charging two police officers with "voluntary blows and injuries inflicted by persons invested with public authority." According to the lawyer for the family of Wissam El-Yamni the wording of the charges will be changed to "acts of violence that brought about death". The lawyer said he would request that "a maximum number of witnesses be heard by the examining magistrates."

Since this article was posted in Le Parisien, there have been numerous updates. Here are just two of several headlines:

The LDH (Human Rights League) and the CGT (a major French labor union) have declared that the two policemen should be suspended as a means of bringing calm back to the neighborhood. The lawyer for the LDH claims that "young people may feel there is a double standard, with some being sent immediately to court and put on trial, on the one hand, while the police officers are back at work, on the other. (Le Parisien)

Synergie (the second most important police union) has said it supports the policemen. In a communiqué, the union "exhorts the petty inquisitors to abstain from a media lynching of the incriminated officers…" The union also said it "refuted the comforting theories of the culture of excuse" that sought to "victimize the criminals and absolve them of the acts they had committed over the past few days". (Le Parisien)

Below, police patrol Clermont-Ferrand.

Marine Le Pen in Seine-Saint-Denis

2012-01-09T06:49:00.005-05:00

As indicated in the previous post, Marine Le Pen visited Seine-Saint-Denis on Sunday, January 8. SSD, as most of you know, is the notorious department northeast of Paris where major rioting made headlines around the world in 2005. Seine-Saint-Denis contains one of the largest immigrant populations in France. According to demographer Michèle Tribalat numerous cities of the department contain less than 5% of young people (under 18) of European stock. (Wikipedia)

It was the riots of 2005 that made known throughout the world the word "racaille" (scum) when Nicolas Sarkozy famously promised one of the harassed residents there that he would rid the streets of the "racaille" using a power-hose.

Eight cities of Seine-Saint-Denis rank among the ten most violent cities of France.

The administration of the department has been in hands of Communists and/or Socialists for decades.

It was into this turbulent, hostile ambiance that Marine Le Pen ventured yesterday with members of her staff to meet her supporters and share a Christmas cake. The following is from Nations-Presse, a website of the Front National:

In 2007 Sarkozy placed a security expert at the head of the prefecture of Seine-Saint-Denis: the former head of RAID (an elite special force) and the CRS (riot police), Christian Lambert, nicknamed Panda because of his physiognomy. And we would see what we would see, said Elysée Palace and the Interior Ministry, with this new super-cop in charge… And we saw! Sunday, January 8, 2012, it was Christian Lambert who was sent to keep order at the public meeting of Marine Le Pen in Seine-Saint-Denis. The result: the "racaille" took over the streets and attacked everybody for part of the afternoon, in near impunity. There were several wounded, including a Front National member and a France 3 journalist.

There were several hundred of them, leftists of all stripes, anti-fascists for a day, activists and other professionals of street agitation, supported by hundreds of "racaille" who came from the lawless ghettos of Seine-Saint-Denis, to disrupt Marine Le Pen's public meeting (…) Leading the pack were several leftist elected officials, including Bally Bagayoko, adjunct to the Communist mayor of Saint-Denis in charge of Youth.

Early in the afternoon, completely overwhelmed, the inadequate police forces were not able to prevent vandals from going near parking lots close to the meeting hall. Left-wing hit men and ghetto thugs attacked passers-by, drivers, and FN members and sympathizers who had come from the four corners of France to applaud the presidential candidate. Some peaceful pedestrians were even spat upon and insulted, others turned and went back, taking a different route for safety. By mid-afternoon, there was at least one FN member from Yvelines injured in the eye following a head-butt from a thug. A female journalist was even struck on the head by a stone… From the camp of the "demonstrators", there were all sorts of projectiles hurled freely at the police, with no arrests at all.

Marine Le Pen had been scheduled to share the Christmas cake ("tirer les rois") with FN members and sympathizers at 3:30 p.m. The start of the meeting was somewhat delayed. By late afternoon, while the media announced that the "demonstration" had dispersed "calmly", several reliable witnesses informed the FN of confrontations between "racaille" and CRS who were now more numerous. After a long delay, no doubt under orders from the Interior Ministry (for we cannot imagine Christian Lambert that incompetent), several CRS units who had arrived late as reinforcements, finally got the upper hand over the rioters (…)

In its report of the demonstrations, Nouvel Observateur noted the following statement from Bally Bagayoko (mentioned above):

"The values of the FN are not those of this city, which are values of solidarity and mixture. The FN has no place here."

The video below shows Marine arriving for the luncheon, demonstrators carrying signs saying "No fascists here" and similar slogans. We also see former Defense Minister Hervé Morin, in a dapper gray coat, meeting with the demonstrators and expressing his opposition to Marine's message. Finally she cuts the cake and says her "priority is France."

Two Tributes to Joan of Arc

2012-01-08T05:14:00.007-05:00

January 6, 2012 was the 600th anniversary of the birth of Joan of Arc, an event that will be honored and celebrated throughout the year ahead. How fitting that Marine Le Pen should be rising in popularity at this moment. How fitting that the Front National, which had always used Joan of Arc as its symbol of patriotism, should now have at its head a woman determined to save France.

Of course, Marine is not Joan, but she comes much closer than Nicolas Sarkozy (above) who visited Domrémy-la Pucelle, her birthplace on January 6 and said:

"As President I owed it to myself to render here today, in her natal village, this solemn homage that France renders to those to whom she owes her freedom and her grandeur", he declared during a speech at Vaucouleurs, where Joan had launched her victorious campaign against the English in 1429.

"Joan belongs to no party, no faction, no clan. Joan is France in those things that are the most unique and the most universal to France, for Joan is no doubt the best known, most respected, most beloved French woman in the entire world," he added. "Joan is France in those things that are the noblest and most humble to France."

"May we continue to think of her as the symbol of our unity and not leave her in the hands of those who would exploit her to divide us. To divide in the name of Joan of Arc is to betray the memory of Joan of Arc," he snapped, targeting the Front National whose chairman, Marine Le Pen, along with her father Jean-Marie, will also honor, in Paris, the memory of the girl who "kicked the English out of France."

Note: The symbolism could not be more striking. Joan defeated the English. Marine has to defeat Islam and the anti-nationalist forces, such as Nicolas Sarkozy, the Socialist Party and the European Unionists. But Joan took up arms against a country that, though the enemy of France, was still culturally related. Marine cannot take up arms or wage any kind of war and she has to defeat an alien culture that refuses to give up once its talons are embedded in the institutions and psyche of a country.

As scheduled, Marine Le Pen and her father arrived at the place des Pyramides in Paris yesterday (Saturday, January 7). The Front National will again celebrate the 600th anniversary of the birth of Joan of Arc on May 1, between the two rounds of the presidential election.

The symbolism becomes eerie. The FN has always celebrated Joan of Arc on May 1. This year that date falls between the two rounds. If Marine makes it to through the first round, the suspense will be torture. If she doesn't, she will probably use May 1, 2012 as the start of her 2017 campaign, without being daunted.

An article from Le Parisien focuses on the appearance of Marine and her father at the place des Pyramides in Paris:

(…) For more than thirty years the founder of the FN has organized the parade dedicated to Joan of Arc.

Note: This refers to the May 1 celebration that usually includes a parade.

Le Pen picked up a tradition of the extreme Right that goes back to l'Action Française and Charles Maurras.

Note: The connection between the Front National and Charles Maurras is somewhat arbitrary. Maurras was an unusual and complex thinker who worked all his life on various ways of achieving a more authentically French France. This included a State religion, which for him was a way of keeping law and order. He was a counter-revolutionary and almost necessarily anti-Semitic, though he hated Hitler and denounced his racist agenda. It is not possible to go into detail here on Maurras, but Wikipedia has a page in English. Maybe a Google search would be beneficial.

In making an association between Maurras and the Front National, Le Parisien is reminding its readers that Jean-Marie Le Pen and his daughter arise from a dubious and untrustworthy matrix - that of French anti-Semitic polemicists and writers of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Le Parisien goes on:

On France 2 Television Thursday Marine Le Pen commented that "Joan of Arc belongs to all the French, but I clearly see that Nicolas Sarkozy is chasing me." And she added: "He has to learn that I have stronger convictions, that I have a purer heart and that I have longer legs, and consequently, he is going to have a lot of trouble, I think, catching up with me."

Joan of Arc is part of Jean-Marie Le Pen's world. His home in Saint-Cloud contains busts and portraits of the saint. As for Marine Le Pen, one of her daughters is named Jehanne.

Below, the statue of Joan of Arc at the place des Pyramides in Paris.

The video below shows the gathering at the place des Pyramides. After a brief set-up, the first minute is devoted to the reporter on the scene who says there are few people present, and explains that Jean-Marie, not Marine, will deliver the speech at the foot of the statue. In the background, in fact, there does not appear to be a crowd. Then we see Jean-Marie Le Pen, in the middle of his speech, who proclaims:

"We do not accept the insinuations, direct or indirect, that the Front National highjacked the image of Joan of Arc. Of course, Joan of Arc, as the other said (note: the "other" is Nicolas Sarkozy), does not belong to any party, group or camp. Joan of Arc, as we have always said, belongs to the French people. But she certainly does not belong to the party that never talks about her, or who only talks about her before an election."

The video returns to the reporter who informs us that Marine Le Pen will be in Seine-Saint-Denis on Sunday January 8, to address people of the middle class and possibly the ghettos.

Then we see the words: "Few people present? See for yourself!!!" The camera spans the place des Pyramides that now seems to have filled up with spectators.

From Napoleon to... Salma Hayek

2012-01-06T04:37:00.008-05:00

Mexican actress Salma Hayek has been awarded the French Légion d'Honneur. Her record of accomplishments entitling her to such an honor can be found at Wikipedia:

Hayek's charitable work includes increasing awareness on violence against women and discrimination against immigrants. On July 19, 2005, Hayek testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary supporting reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. In February 2006, she donated $25,000 to a Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, shelter for battered women and another $50,000 to Monterrey based anti-domestic violence groups. Hayek is a board member of V-Day, the charity founded by playwright Eve Ensler.

Since the birth of her daughter, Hayek has worked to help mothers in developing nations worldwide, teaming up with Pampers and UNICEF to help stop the spread of life-threatening maternal and neonatal tetanus. She is a global spokesperson for the Pampers/UNICEF partnership 1 Pack = 1 Vaccine to help raise awareness of the program.

Hayek also advocates breastfeeding. During a UNICEF fact-finding trip to Sierra Leone, she breastfed a hungry week-old baby whose mother could not produce milk.

In 2010, Hayek's humanitarian work earned her a nomination for the VH1 Do Something Awards.

Those interested can watch a short video of Hayek breastfeeding the African baby. In the video she explains why she did it.

The Légion d'Honneur award itself, created by Napoleon, is explained in Wikipedia:

In the French Revolution all French orders of chivalry were abolished. It was the wish of Napoleon Bonaparte, the First Consul and de facto sole ruler, to create a reward to commend civilians and soldiers and from this wish was instituted a Légion d'Honneur, a body of men that was not an order of chivalry, for Napoleon did know that France did not want a new nobility system, but a recognition of merit. (…)

The order was the first modern order of merit. The orders of the monarchy were often limited to Roman Catholics and all knights had to be noblemen. The military decorations were the perks of the officers. The Légion, however, was open to men of all ranks and professions. Only merit or bravery counted. The new legionnaire had to be sworn in the Légion. (…)

Although research is made difficult by the loss of the archives, it is known that three women who fought with the army were decorated with the order: Virginie Ghesquière, Marie-Jeanne Schelling and a nun, Sister Anne Biget.

The Légion d'honneur was prominent and visible in the empire. The Emperor always wore it and the fashion of the time allowed for decorations to be worn most of the time. The king of Sweden therefore refused the order; it was too common in his eyes. (...)

The President of the French Republic is the Grand Master of the Order and appoints all other members of the Order—by convention, on the advice of the Government. Its principal officers are the Chancellor and Secretary-General. (…)

French nationals, men and women, can be received into the légion, for "eminent merit" (mérites éminents) in military or civil life. In practice, in current usage, the order is conferred, in addition to military recipients, to entrepreneurs, high-level civil servants, sport champions in as well as others with connections in the executive. Members of the French Parliament cannot receive the order, except for valour in war, and ministers are not allowed to nominate their accountants.

Click here for a complete list of those who have received this honor. Everyone from Victor Hugo to Barbra Streisand, from Dwight Eisenhower to Jerry Lewis, from Louis Pasteur to Josephine Baker. Friend of animals and enemy of French politicians Brigitte Bardot was not among them. Nor were soprano Régine Crespin or showman Maurice Chevalier. Nor were the great composer Maurice Ravel, or the eminent French conductors Jean Martinon, Pierre Monteux, and Charles Munch. But Renée Fleming and Robert Redford are there.

Not everyone is happy with the choice of Miss Hayek. Here is an article from Yahoo, sent by a reader:

As actress Salma Hayek prepares to receive the Légion d'Honneur, there are those who are not at all pleased, like Henri Torre, an ex-minister, who was also a recipient.

Henri Torre, 78 and a former minister is refusing to be decorated with the Légion d'Honneur. "Too many people have been decorated who did not deserve to be.. They have made a mockery of this high distinction by naming anybody", declared Torre. And by "anybody", the former senator means members of show business, often decorated during the five-year term of Nicolas Sarkozy.

It must be admitted that the naming of Salma Hayek has engendered much talk. A blogger affiliated with the journal Marianne set the tone when he gave advance notice that the list of recipients this year would be "once again be an occasion for mirth, surprise and shock at the ribbon ceremony, that honors eminent services rendered to the nation."

At the website of l'Express readers' comments flooded in when the announcement was made. "Why not Tintin and Milou," asked one reader, while another predicted that "Napoleon was turning in his grave."

A reminder nonetheless that Salma Hayek is being decorated for her work as a "movie director and producer, an active member of charitable foundations: 23 years of services," according to the Official Record.

The main thing to remember is that Hayek is married to French billionaire François-Henri Pinault, director of Financière Pinault and chairman of the board of Artémis. Besides his daughter by Hayek, he has two children by his first wife and is the father of model Linda Evangelista's baby, born in 2006. Here is what one website says about him:

Since the day he was born, Francois-Henri had money growing out of his ears. His father, tycoon Francois Pinault, is the founder of retail company PPR and ranked no. 74 among the world’s richest people in 2006.

Currently, Francois-Henri is the CEO of PPR, which basically runs the luxury-goods market. PPR owns big brands Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, and Balenciaga.

Pinault is a friend of Nicolas Sarkozy leading some to the conclusion that this was the real reason for the award to his wife.

Below a photo of Hayek pregnant while engaged to Pinault.

Some revealing photos (not nudity) of Miss Hayek are posted here.

The painting at the top shows the first distribution of the Légion d'Honneur, July 15, 1804.

Turkey Threatens, Vilifies France

2012-01-05T05:03:00.008-05:00

This article from 20 Minutes, dated December 26, describes the cyber-attacks of Christmas Sunday on the websites of the French Senate and UMP deputy Valérie Boyer. The attacks were the work of a group of Turkish hackers called "Grayhatz":

Two cyber-attacks took place on Sunday (December 25) against the Senate's website and that of UMP deputy Valérie Boyer. Sunday morning, the Senate's site was the victim of a service shutdown, making all access impossible. It was finally working late Monday afternoon. Sunday, Valérie Boyer's website was pirated, with the usual homepage replaced by the Turkish flag and a message from "Grayhatz" (see above). Monday her site displayed the message "Site unavailable."

According to Guillaume Perrier, the correspondent from Le Monde in Turkey, responsibility for the attack against the Senate was claimed by a famous Turkish hacker known as Iskorpitx. Perrier reported at his blog that Iskorpitx had already pirated the websites of the ministry of Education and of Securité Sociale (National Health) in 2006, as well as that of the New Zealand Parliament in 2010 following the recognition by that body of the Armenian genocide.

It is indeed the controversy about the Armenian genocide that connects these Internet attacks. Last Thursday (December 22) the bill condemning denial of the genocide, drawn up by Valérie Boyer, was adopted by the National Assembly, provoking the anger of Turks, from Prime Minister Erdogan to the members of the Turkish community in France… Including therefore Turkish hackers, labeled by Guillaume Perrier as "good little soldiers of cybernationalism." Among them, Grayhatz, the group responsible for the hacking of Valérie Boyer's site, expressed satisfaction at the media attention given to these attacks, all the while calling for similar actions against sites representing the French State, the UMP party and Nicolas Sarkozy (…)

The article points out that the National Assembly did not want to reveal how it was protecting itself, following the attacks.

So much the better. According to Guillaume Perrier, on the eve of the vote in the National Assembly, the leader of Akincilar, another Turkish group of hackers, had sent out this message: there is "only one target: France". (…) Grayhatz, which could be connected to Akincilar, sent another warning on December 24: "We are going to hack all the websites of the French deputies. We will explain ourselves when we have finished protesting at other websites."

Another article at 20 Minutes gives background information on the bill that was voted on December 22. Here are some excerpts:

The bill aims to "repress questioning or great minimization" of all genocides, including that perpetrated against the Armenians. The text provides for a one-year prison sentence and a fine of 45,000 euros in any case of denial of a genocide recognized by the law. The bill was approved by the vast majority of the fifty deputies, of all parties, who were present for the vote.

Note: Theoretically there are 577 deputies. Only 50 were present that day.

Valérie Boyer who drew up the bill gave her reasons:

"To give meaning and legislative coherence through the addition, to the recognition of the Armenian genocide, of a condemnation of its denial, as is the case for the Holocaust."

She also recalled that this was one of Sarkozy's campaign promises. Concerning the accusations of electoral expediency that surround this law, she responded: "I would say to the Turks that the desire to win an election is not a sin," though she did not directly deny this possible motivation.

Armenia was happy about the results of the vote by the French deputies. On the other side, the reaction of the Turkish government was severe: the prime minister recalled his ambassador in Paris, spoke of a French policy based on "racism" and "xenophobia" and cancelled all scheduled political, economic and military meetings with France. Recep Tayyip Erdogan also spoke of the genocide by the French of Algerians, and lashed out at the father of the French president, Pal Sarkozy, declaring he was sure that "he has many things to say to his son about the massacres committed by the French in Algeria." There was also some criticism in France: Foreign Minister Alain Juppé qualified this law as being "not timely", while François Hollande, though he supported the bill, spoke of the strategic motivation of the UMP.

Note: Pal Sarkozy, father of Nicolas, denies ever having been in Algeria.

The article closes with a reminder that the bill still has to go to the Senate and be approved, but the Parliament (meaning both houses) is no longer in session after February because of the Presidential and legislative elections. The time remaining to get the bill approved by the Senate is very limited and there is the possibility that there will be no definitive vote before the election.

Below, Turks demonstrate in front of the National Assembly on December 22, 2011.

In the video below Erdogan accuses France of murdering thousands of Algerians in ovens. In the first part of the clip we hear the version broadcast by France 2, where the words "in ovens" were made inaudible. In the second part, we hear the same sentence in its entirety as broadcast by Euronews. The author of the video chose to repeat six times the critical phrase:

"Fifteen percent of the Algerian population was massacred by the French beginning in 1945. It was a genocide. Algerians were massacred en masse in ovens."

Note: First, I have never heard of ovens being used by the French, but I do not know everything about the Algerian War. And since I do not understand Turkish I can only assume the author of the video is accurately describing the deletion of the word "ovens" by France 2.

Second, Erdogan apparently forgot the terror of the Ottoman Empire's pirates along the Barbary Coast of North Africa, until the "genocidal" French (and Americans) put a stop to it.

Third, I'm not entirely sure about the significance of the "bleep" by France 2 - why censor the word "ovens"? To protect Erdogan? Was France 2 under orders from Sarkozy, as the video implies in the written text? Or was this to spare the French viewers from an unpleasant fact about the Algerian War? A "fact" that has never been mentioned before as far as I know. Why did Erdogan use the word "ovens"? That is fairly simple: to equate what the French did in Algeria with what the Germans did in WWII.

The Guardian did not mention "ovens" in its December 23 article, nor did the other English-language sources I checked, but I have not checked them all.

Below, an ex-voto of a Turkish ship engaged in a naval battle with the Order of Malta, 1719, somewhere on the Barbary Coast.

Karachigate

2012-01-03T06:11:00.005-05:00

Here's the first of what may be many articles on a mushrooming scandal that could affect the political future of Nicolas Sarkozy. The affair, known as Karachigate, is providing some interesting campaign material for Marine Le Pen. The attorney for the Front National, Wallerand de Saint Just issued this statement:

The latest revelations on the Karachi Affair implicate Nicolas Sarkozy even more in what appears to be a veritable affaire d'État. It is clear that the Luxembourger company Heine, the creation of which was ratified by Nicolas Sarkozy when he was budget minister, is the pivotal factor in the corruption pact of the Karachi Affair. Faced with more and more serious suspicions, Nicolas Sarkozy should explain his "system" immediately to the French people, in the clearest possible language. The "Sarkozy System" mixes conflicts of interest, corruption and embezzlement: the French people have the right to know all the consequences of the case, before casting their ballot next April.

Note: Sarkozy was budget minister in 1994.

Rather than translate from the French, I am cheating this time, and borrowing an article dated September 21 directly from the English-language Telegraph:

Two of Nicolas Sarkozy's close friends were detained for questioning on Wednesday over the "Karachi affair", as the political corruption case drew closer to the French president.

The pair were held as part of an investigation into whether legal commissions from French arms sales to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were illegally kicked back to fund the 1994-5 presidential campaign of Edouard Balladur.

Mr Sarkozy was Mr Balladur's budget minister and presidential campaign spokesman at the time, and validated the commission system.

One of the two detained men, Nicolas Bazire, was Mr Sarkozy's witness at his wedding to Carla Bruni in 2008, as well as Mr Balladur's then-cabinet chief and presidential campaign manager.

The other, Thierry Gaubert, was Mr Sarkozy's head of communication when he was mayor of Neuilly, then his cabinet chief when he was budget and communication minister.

The judge detained the men after Mr Gaubert's ex-wife, Princess Helene of Yugoslavia, told him he had brought back briefcases stuffed with cash in the mid-1990s, handing them over to Mr Bazire.

Police also searched the home and office of Mr Bazire, today a top manager LVMH, the world's largest luxury group.

The princess, a descendant of king Umberto II of Italy, reportedly told the judge that Mr Gaubert was accompanied in his trips to Switzerland by Ziad Takieddine, a middleman in huge arms deals.

The Franco-Lebanese businessman was last week placed under investigation for receiving multi-million pound commissions in French arms contracts with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. It is alleged part of the commissions were kicked back to French politicians, notably Mr Balladur.

As budget minister, Mr Sarkozy validated the commission system for the arms deals. Mr Sarkozy has denied any knowledge of illegal "retrocommissions".

When Jacques Chirac won the 1995 presidential elections, he immediately stopped the payment of commissions.

Judges in a separate investigation are probing whether a bomb attack in Karachi in 2002 that killed 11 French submarine engineers and four others was ordered by Pakistani officials angry at losing out on promised bribes.

Mr Takieddine has denied receiving any commissions from the submarine sales, but a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the affair estimates he received 33 million euros (£29 million) for the deal and was curiously imposed by the Balladur government as an intermediary at the last moment.

Earlier this month, Mr Takieddine's former British wife, Nicola Johnson, was interviewed by the judge investigating the commissions, and reportedly provided details of Mr Takieddine's offshore accounts.

A French court last week ordered Miss Johnson's ex-husband to pay her 3 million euros (£2.6 million) in a divorce settlement after she said he hid a 104 million-euro (£91 million) fortune from the French taxman.

The photo at the top of Edouard Balladur and Sarkozy probably dates from the mid-1990's.

If you do a Google search on "Karachi Affair" or "Karachigate", you'll find more.

French readers who may not have kept up on this can read background information at Le Post.

Sleep, why dost thou leave me? - Kirsten Flagstad

2011-12-31T17:59:00.006-05:00

Readers informed me that a storm named Dagmar, the worst storm to hit the region in 30 years, ripped through northern Sweden and central Norway over Christmas. There was some information at CNTV which also provides a video.

Another reader (or possibly the same one) sent an article from the Daily Mail about a "massive solar storm" that was expected to generate the "Northern Lights" on or about December 29, 30 and 31.

We are all aware that changes of great magnitude are going on around us. Our civilization has mutated into something uncomfortable and unnatural for us to live in. Heaven and Earth experience storms, violence and profound changes. And we have no control over any of this, so we feel helpless. And we seek things that are eternal. Great music and a beautiful human voice are eternal. I hope you all get some sleep tonight, but more and more I'm having trouble sleeping well during the hours when human beings should sleep - at night.

Here is an aria by Georg Friedrich Handel, from his opera Semele, sung by Kirsten Flagstad (1895 - 1962), the woman many consider to be the greatest soprano of all time, certainly the greatest Wagnerian soprano. Norwegian by birth, she was raised in Oslo within a musical family, and later studied in Stockholm. Her rise to operatic immortality was immediate and enduring - there had been no one like her before, and never would be again.

The story of what happened to her, including tragic misunderstandings of her role in politics during WWII has been the topic of countless books and articles. Having settled in Montana, she made the ill-fated decision to return to Norway during the German Occupation against the advice of many of her friends. Wikipedia relates:

Though she only performed during the war in Sweden and Switzerland, countries unoccupied by German forces, this fact did not temper the storm of public opinion that hurt her personally and professionally for the next several years. Her husband was arrested after the war for war-time profiteering in German-occupied Norway that involved his lumber business. This arrest, together with her decision to remain in occupied Norway, made her unpopular, particularly in the United States. The Norwegian ambassador and the columnist Walter Winchell spoke out against her. In 1948, she performed several benefit concerts for the United Jewish Appeal. In defense of Flagstad's husband, Henry Johansen, it should be noted that facts surfaced after his death that showed that he was arrested by the German Gestapo during the occupation and was released after 8 days. It then came to light, many years later, that Johansen's son by his first marriage, Henry Jr, had been a member of the Norwegian underground throughout World War 2.

Note: You may want to turn up the volume. It's a bit soft.

Oh sleep
Oh sleep, why dost thou leave me?
why dost thou leave me?
why thy visionary joys remove?
Oh sleep, oh sleep
oh sleep, again deceive me
oh sleep, again deceive me
to my arms restore my wand'ring love
my wand'ring love, restore my wand'ring love!
again deceive me, oh sleep!
to my arms, to my arms restore
my wand'ring love!

Many thanks to the Norwegian readers who visit this site - at least I think you are Norwegians, since you all post anonymously. For this reason I can't tell how many of you there are.

Below, Flagstad on a 100-kroner note.

Discovery at Chartres

2011-12-31T06:46:00.005-05:00

Four new wall paintings, dating from the early 13th century, have been discovered in the north and south walls of Chartres cathedral. The discovery was made during a cleaning operation in October 2010, and restoration took place during May and June of 2011. They thought they knew everything there was to know about Chartres and its treasures, but the great cathedral apparently had not delivered up all its secrets.

A detailed account of the discovery and restoration, with numerous photos, can be found in French at Ceroart, but the technical terminology precludes a complete translation.

Due to their location on the under side of arches, the paintings, that simulated stained glass windows, had been protected, and thus were discovered in their original state, covered only by a layer of colorwash, ancient dust, and alterations due to active pulverulence (i.e., the process of turning into powder).

The first painting showed the outline of a person wearing a crown, seated on a throne and bearing a scepter in his right hand, a sign of royalty. It was quickly identified as King David. He is inserted in the center of a rose with eight petals symmetrically arranged around the circumference.

The second painting also depicts a person seated on a throne and playing a rebec placed vertically on his knees. This painting was much harder to discern than the first, due to various deposits that had mixed in with the picture and to the loss of portions of the picture, leaving exposed the stone on the upper part of the mural.

The other two paintings were difficult to discern because of the considerable amount of dust that prevented any underlying picture from being visible. Only the traces of a rose with eight lobes suggested the existence of a wall painting. However, after a month of work, the image of a person playing the violin became clearly visible on one of them. And after four months of restoration, the main motif of the second painting was discernible - a person seated from profile playing an organ.

The photo at top shows King David, inserted in the "rose" (actually a circle) with its eight petals or lobes. Below, the rebec player. His face is still not discernible.

A very nice Christmas present for lovers of architecture, Chartres and French culture.

Looking to Russia

2011-12-28T18:21:00.003-05:00

Here's an interesting piece of news for those who look to Russia for salvation (and many in France do). While I don't feel qualified to take a stand on this, on the whole, it is possibly not a bad idea, insofar as you are willing to accept the existence of the EU itself. The article by Michel Garroté comes from Dreuz.

The Council of Ministers of the European Union approved amendments to EU regulations that would allow the Russian region of Kaliningrad to be included within the border zone of the European Union. The amendments aim to facilitate crossing the border into the Russian region of Kaliningrad where the population consists of almost a million inhabitants and which constitutes a Russian enclave within the European Union.

The amendments allow for a "derogation of the rules on border control" relative to the crossing of borders for those people who live in border regions. The amendments do not aim to erect barriers, but to facilitate cooperation between "regions of the European Union" and "their neighbors." Nearly a million Russians of Kaliningrad are henceforth part of Europe. That is called good news…

Note: I know very little about this. The author is implying that these Russians are potential patriots and defenders of Old Europe, and not globalists/socialists who would defend the influx of non-Europeans into the EU. Some readers feel the same way:

- Despite the healthy cultural differences, we are much closer to the Russian people than to Africans and Arabs. Our current situation reminds us of that every day. But we try not to hear. And Nature hates to be contradicted!

The following comment is a bit optimistic:

- For me, Russia has always been a fantastic civilization with a remarkable love of Art. Russian traditional music is the most beautiful in the world. We should be grateful to this ally who helped eliminate Nazism. I hope that this valorous people can overcome an old anti-Semitism that was exploited by the German army, which had included Cossacks, Muslims and which paraded (among other things) before the grand mufti of Jerusalem. Yes, pogroms are ancient history, vigilance permitting.

Some readers disagree:

- The enclave of Kaliningrad is an aberration that should not exist. It only proves to what extent we are weak before Russia.

- (…) the presence of this Russian enclave on European soil could legitimize the demand for the admission of Greater Russia to the European Union… by the same token, isn't Turkey using the argument of a thin piece of territory situated to the north of a certain strait? And where would all of that place the euro in relation to the dollar?

Note: The only answer you can give to the above is that Russia, by its religion, its history, its language and its Slavic ethnicity is closer to Europe than Turkey. But who would posit this argument without being labeled an "extreme" right-winger or a racist? After all, there are no differences between peoples (except of course those white European males who are the cause of all the world's ills.).

Here is a famous post-WWII Soviet Russian song entitled Cranes. To understand how it got its name, you need to read this short Wikipedia article.

Since the video was uploaded by a Russian, who provides information in Russian, I cannot tell you too much about this performance, except that the singer is the very well-known and admired Russian baritone Dimitri Hvorostovsky, as famous for his white mane as for his resonant voice.

There are several different English versions. I have chosen this one, but it may not be the best one. Also, I have made some changes that appear to be grammatically necessary, but I cannot be certain.

Cranes

(initial translation of Andrey, corrections-AMVAS)

Sometimes it seems to me that soldiers,
Who didn't return from bloody fields,
Did not lie down into our ground,
But turned into white cranes.
And they are flying and screaming to us from afar,
May be that is why we often ruefully fall silent?
Looking at the sky.

The weary wedge of cranes is flying, flying in the sky,
It flies in the fog at the end of day.
A small interval inside this wedge
Probably is reserved for me.
A day will come when I, with the flock of cranes,
Will fly in the same blue sky,
From the sky calling those, whom I left on the ground,
In the language of the birds.

Care Selve - Beniamino Gigli

2011-12-28T08:13:00.002-05:00

Here is a beautiful aria, Care selve, from the opera Atalanta by Georg Friedrich Handel, sung by Italian tenor Beniamino Gigli (1890-1957). The recording dates from 1949. The words are very simple:

Care selve, ombre beate,
vengo in traccia del mio cor!

Beloved forests, joyous shadows:
I come in search of my heart.

Two Views of Christmas

2011-12-28T07:09:00.005-05:00

As we know, Christianity is routinely persecuted, mocked, and reduced to the level of a lepers' colony throughout the Western world by politicians and policy-makers, and by those who carefully filter the news, giving the public only what they need to know - all the news that's fit to print, as the NYT claims. If it isn't fit (i.e. conforming to liberal groupthink) it won't get printed.

This article from Novopress, while not so important as news, illustrates again how our heritage is being snuffed out, not through book burnings or pogroms, but through deliberate omission. The mayor of Nantes, Jean-Marc Ayrault, left the following message at his blog on December 23:

"To all I wish you happy holidays and a wonderful New Year in 2012, the year of change."

Novopress comments:

What could be more normal at the end of the year, except that the mayor of Nantes is careful not to make the slightest reference to Christmas.

This absence will come as no surprise to those who have noticed that the municipal Christmas festivities in Nantes, the city of the Dukes of Brittany, omit almost all traditional symbols - tree, star, nativity scene, Santa Claus and his reindeer - in favor of anonymous light shows in the style of a consumer society's shopping mall.

And yet Christmas - the Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth - has been celebrated every December 25 since the 4th century. We know that before the appearance of Christianity, this date, in the European tradition, corresponded to the pagan winter solstice holiday. "Christmas, a holiday for remembrance, for the family, for faith and hope, has survived centuries and millennia without dying", observes philosopher Alain de Benoist. Hence, a deeply rooted faith for believers as well as non-believers, especially in the culture of the European peoples.

In abstaining from the mention of "Christmas", Jean-Marc Ayrault no doubt means to avoid any word apt to offend "diversity" or to upset "living-together". In a "multicultural" country, there are references that it is better to avoid. So what could be more "neutral", more "universal", than to wish everyone simply "happy holidays", with no added clarification? A surprising evolution on the part of a man who was, during his adolescence, an activist in the Christian youth movement.

Socialist candidate François Hollande, who recently named Jean-Marc Ayrault as a special adviser, clearly does not have the same reservations regarding the Islamic holidays:

"Today we celebrate the great holiday of solidarity and sharing of Aïd-al-Fitr. Following Ramadan, the month of fasting, a time full of joy and exchanges of good wishes and gifts, it illuminates the lives and households of millions of our Muslim compatriots. The product of a long tradition and bearer of rich cultural heritages, through the values that it brings and the social ideal that it strives for, (Aïd) is fully in line with the effort towards universality," wrote the Socialist presidential candidate last September.

Note: A reminder that Aïd is the "holiday" when thousands of sheep are slaughtered in bloody ritual despite the efforts of animal rights groups to enforce the requirement to stun them.

Today, if it is fashionable for the Socialist Party's upper echelon to render an effusive homage to Islam, uttering the simple word "Christmas" seems incongruous to them. "The word 'worker' is not a four-letter word", Pierre Mauroy is supposed to have said to Lionel Jospin. It does appear, though, that for Jean-Marc Ayrault, the word "Christmas" is.

Below, François Hollande, Socialist candidate (left) and Jean-Marc Ayrault, mayor of Nantes.

What a contrast between Ayrault's inability to say "Christmas" and Marine Le Pen's Christmas Eve message, posted on December 23, to her constituents! She begins by wishing Merry Christmas to all the children, all the families:

"My dear compatriots. As we approach Christmas night, that unique night that enchants our hearts and fills us with hope I wish all of you a very merry Christmas. Merry Christmas first to the children because Christmas is the birth of Baby Jesus, and so it is a holiday for all children. They are the ones we think about on Christmas eve, and especially those who are in want and in poverty. Merry Christmas to all families of course, because Christmas has always been the family holiday par excellence, the time when all generations gather together around a good meal, a Mass, and carols. Christmas is a universal, yet very French, holiday, deeply inscribed in our traditions. Some who would like to escape history try to blend it into the "end-of-the-year festivities", but that is nonsense. Christmas is a separate holiday, a holiday in and of itself, a holiday that takes us away from the materialism and selfishness that surround us and induces us to meditate about ourselves and our world, with our friends and loved ones."

She brushes aside the government's "sacred cows", such as the euro, that are more important than French people who are suffering and for whom 2011 was "interminable". And she has no patience with the "sweet talk" that precedes the elections only to be forgotten afterwards, or with campaign promises that are never kept. She closes with these words:

"Christmas is also, for millions of Frenchmen, young and old, a time of hope, a pause in the suffering. Change and action will come soon if all of us together decide to make it happen. For now, let's try to enjoy this very beautiful Christmas day and to calm our hearts and take hope. To all, to all the children, to all the families, Merry Christmas."

Two opposing mentalities: François Hollande, who grovels before Islam to further his career, and Marine Le Pen who stresses the Christian tradition as a reminder to the French of their Catholic heritage.

The Birth of Jesus and it's Impact on the National Debt

2011-12-26T13:52:00.003-05:00

Go to the People's Cube for a larger image.

Christmas 2011 in Iraq

2011-12-26T00:59:00.005-05:00

The Christians in Iraq are near extinction, says Raymond Ibrahim in an article posted at his website. Ibrahim is a prodigiously well-educated American-born Egyptian. His credentials place him in a unique position to know the truth about Islam and about our capacity (or incapacity) for dealing with the dangers of this relentless force. He has added a petition for those interested in sending a message to Obama or to one or more Republican presidential hopefuls.

In another article dated December 21, 2011, Ibrahim summarizes the persecution of Christians around the world. Here is a story from Nigeria:

Nigeria: The Muslim militant group, Boko Haram, executed two children of an ex-terrorist and "murderer" because he converted to Christianity. When still a terrorist, he "was poised to slit the throat of a Christian victim" when "he was suddenly struck with the weight of the evil he was about to commit." After finding he converted to Christianity, "Boko Haram members invaded his home, kidnapped his two children and informed him that they were going to execute them in retribution for his disloyalty to Islam. Clutching his phone, the man heard the sound of the guns that murdered his children."

H/T: VFR

From the French website Novopress comes this short item about Christians in Iraq this Christmas:

"The traditions will be respected at home and in the churches. Mass will be celebrated during the day for security reasons. This will be a Christmas (torn) between fear and unshakable faith." Those were the words of Jean Benjamin Sleiman, Archbishop of Bagdad, describing the atmosphere that will reign at Christmas for the Christian community of Iraq.

In the course of these past several years, the situation of the Christian faithful has considerably deteriorated. They are now considered as "dhimmis" and are therefore legally and socially inferior, and forced to pay the "jizya", the Islamic tribute owed by non-Muslim minorities for the privilege of practicing their faith.

Below, a short video of the situation in Iraq.

O Helga Natt - Jussi Björling

2011-12-24T16:25:00.004-05:00

Thanks to the reader who sent this link. Swedish tenor Jussi Björling (1911-1960) is considered by many to be the world's greatest tenor after Enrico Caruso, and some put him ahead of Caruso. There are so many great ones, I can't choose, but this is one of the best versions of the French Christmas carol, by Adolphe Adam, that you'll ever hear. He sings in his native Swedish.

Here is a passage from Wikipedia on the cause of his death:

His widow, Anna-Lisa Björling, published a biography with the cooperation of Andrew Farkas that described Björling as a loving family man and generous colleague. However, Anna-Lisa did not attempt in the book to hide the destructive influence of Björling's alcoholism.

On 15 March 1960, Björling suffered a heart attack before a performance of La Bohème at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. However, he still performed that night. He died of heart-related causes (enlarged heart) six months later in Siarö, Sweden, aged 49. One of his final recordings was the Verdi Requiem conducted by Fritz Reiner for Decca Records which was recorded as late as June 1960 alongside Leontyne Price, Rosalind Elias and Giorgio Tozzi. He is buried in the little church cemetery at Stora Tuna, Sweden.

Off-topic note: I've heard there was a fire in the city of Saint Etienne that possibly destroyed army archives. Already there are sarcastic comments that Sarkozy wanted to destroy the files on Karachi. Do not believe anything until we have more information.

El Nacimiento - Rolando Villazón and Bryn Terfel

2011-12-24T04:23:00.004-05:00

Here is a lovely Spanish carol sung by Mexican-born tenor Rolando Villazón, who is now a French citizen, and working in Lyon as a stage director, and Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel.

A Completely Islamic Europe by 2050?

2011-12-24T03:10:00.005-05:00

I came upon a short article in French at Les 4 Vérités that reported the words of Ahmad-Hossein Sharifi, the research director at the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institution in Iran. According to this expert, France will be 70% Muslim by the year 2050, and the United States will be an Islamic country by 2070. While I have no way of knowing how to regard these figures, one thing can be said with no hesitation: Muslim leaders are aware of the Islamic threat to the West and are happy about it. They are on a civilizing mission against what they see as our decadent society.

I traced the French article back to two English-language articles. The first is from New Middle East News. The second, from which the following passages are drawn, is from MEMRI:

Sharifi called Western music "an element that disrupts a man's reason" and complained that "today, with the approval of the (Iranian) Culture Ministry, there are translations (in Iran) of the lyrics of [songs performed by] devil-worshipping singers, who enmesh young people in loss of identity and loss of (moral) restraint."

Sharifi harshly criticized the American family, saying "Today, 70% of married American women say that they would be happier if they had a dog and a Toyota instead of a husband." He added that only 7% of American families were "reasonable" and the other 93% were rootless and single-sex; in some cases, he said, Americans "would rather marry animals and robots than a human being."

At the same time, however, Sharifi stated that the Islamic way of life and Islam itself were spreading in the West: "In contrast to what people think, Islam is spreading in the world. For example, between 2000 and 2010, one thousand mosques were built in France, and 60 churches were turned into mosques or shut down. One out of every two babies born in the Netherlands is raised in a Muslim family, and therefore it can be expected that by 2025 all the Dutch will be Muslims. At the beginning of the (1979) Islamic Revolution in Iran, the Muslin population in the U.S. was 300,000 to 400,000 – but in light of the growth of the Muslim population in that country, this number today has reached nine million."

Note: This number I believe is inaccurate. This is not the first time someone has claimed that there are nine million Muslims in the USA. There has been no reliable count of heads, but you may want to consult this web page, especially the last paragraph. Or you may want to do more research on your own.

At an October 17, 2011 science conference in Qom, Sharifi expanded further on the spread of Islam and the Shi'a in the West. The following are the main points of his comments:

"Today, everyone acknowledges that the Islamic spirituality, and particularly Shi'ism, is spreading rapidly in the world – to the point where Islam has become an unrivaled religion in the world. If the Islamic trend continues at the present pace, the U.S. is predicted to become an Islamic country by 2070. According to these statistics, it is expected that by 2045 Germany will be completely Islamic; the Netherlands will also be completely Islamic by 2025, and by 2050 more than 70% of the French will be Muslims."

Venez Divin Messie - Raoul Jobin

2011-12-21T17:48:00.007-05:00

A reader sent this wonderful French Christmas song, sung here by Raoul Jobin, the great French-Canadian tenor, possibly one of the greatest ever. Canada has produced many world-class opera singers: Jon Vickers, Ben Heppner, Louis and Gino Quillico, Teresa Stratas, Léopold Simoneau, and Maureen Forrester, to name a few.

He is singing the original text (printed below) by Simon-Joseph Pellegrin (1663-1745), which in turn is based on Biblical passages. The music is based on an old 16th-century Christmas hymn "Laissez paître vos bêtes". There is another text, composed by a Dominican and a Jesuit, that conforms to the "decisions adopted by the bishops of the world who gathered for the Vatican II Council." This newer version stresses the need for love, for light, and the hope that hatred and divisiveness come to an end. While the original text uses the words "those who are predestined", the new text speaks of those who are "saved". The original text says "all hells are unleashed against us in war", but the new text speaks of a "world in disarray". I feel the original is much stronger.

Venez divin Messie
Sauvez nos jours infortunés,
Venez source de Vie
Venez, venez, venez !

Ah ! Descendez, hâtez vos pas ;
Sauvez les hommes du trépas,
Secourez-nous, ne tardez pas.
Dans une peine extrême,
Gémissent nos coeurs affligés.
Venez Beaté Suprême,
Venez, venez, venez !

Venez divin Messie
Sauvez nos jours infortunés,
Venez source de Vie
Venez, venez, venez !

Ah ! Désarmez votre courroux,
Nous soupirons à vos genoux,
Seigneur nous n'espérons qu'en vous,
Pour nous livrer la guerre
Tous les enfers sont déchaînés ;
Descendez sur la terre
Venez, venez, venez !

Venez divin Messie
Sauvez nos jours infortunés,
Venez source de Vie
Venez, venez, venez !

Que nos soupirs soient entendus,
Les biens que nous avons perdus
Ne nous seront-ils pas rendus ?
Voyez couler nos larmes ;
Grand Dieu, si vous nous pardonnez
Nous n'aurons plus d'alarmes,
Venez, venez, venez !

Venez divin Messie
Sauvez nos jours infortunés,
Venez source de Vie
Venez, venez, venez !

The song says "Save our unhappy lives" ("Sauvez nos jours infortunés"). It reminded me of a faïence plate, made recently in Brittany, recalling the sad days of the French Revolution. A Breton girl is kneeling and says: "I weep for the misfortunes of France." I wondered about the word "maleurs". Is it misspelled (it should be "malheurs"), or is it an older spelling? It does not appear in my dictionary of Old French. Could one of today's misfortunes be that the fine people of Quimper where the plate was made no longer know how to spell?

Thanks to zazie for the song.

Update: I made a slight revision in my translation of "Sauvez nos jours infortunés". Originally I had said "Save us from our unfortunate times", but changed it to "Save our unhappy lives", which I think is more accurate.

Laudate Dominum - Hei-Kyung Hong

2011-12-21T06:33:00.004-05:00

Born on July 4, 1959 in South Korea, Hei-Kyung Hong has had an impressive operatic career in the United States, where she has performed in a wide variety of roles. She spent much time on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera, but after the birth of her third child she began to appear on European stages as well. She returned to the Met and sang Violetta in La Traviata and Eva in Die Meistersinger - an incredible accomplishment for a Korean soprano, but she is a unique and beloved singer. She has devoted fans who feel that the Met has not been kind to her, yet her repertory is so vast it's hard to imagine what else she could have done. A Christian, she mourned for two years the death of her husband from cancer. More information at Wikipedia.

You will understand why she is so highly regarded when you hear this rendition of Mozart's Laudate Dominum. The Latin and English texts follow:

Laudate Dominum omnes gentes
Laudate eum, omnes populi
Quoniam confirmata est
Super nos misericordia eius,
Et veritas Domini manet in aeternum.

Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper.
Et in saecula saeculorum.
Amen.

Praise the Lord, all nations;
Praise Him, all people.
For He has bestowed
His mercy upon us,
And the truth of the Lord endures forever.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and forever,
and for generations of generations.
Amen.

Don't Vote for Him

2011-12-21T04:09:00.010-05:00

I received an e-mail a few days ago from someone inquiring about Patrick Lozès, a black French politician running for president on an independent ticket. I had heard of him, and had even done some short posts a while back, but had not otherwise paid much attention to his activities. My correspondent was curious about Lozès' campaign poster (above) that says "In 2012 do not vote for a white man" and was wondering how he could get away with such a thing. My immediate reply was that the poster is a play on words, since in French elections a "vote blanc" is a blank vote, meaning that the voter went to the polls, and turned in a blank ballot. But of course, Lozès means something else, and the French websites I quickly skimmed through did not find the pun very funny.

It turns out that Lozès, founder and former head of CRAN (Representative Council of Black Associations), an organization that can roughly be compared to the NAACP, had been accused of embezzlement and money laundering. CRAN wanted nothing more to do with him and refused to support him as their candidate.

Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD) posted this article on November 27:

"When you're a presidential candidate you're obligated to be totally transparent!" Just in time. The police are in fact preparing to ask Patrick Lozès for his books. Lozès, who left the presidency of CRAN that he founded in 2005, is running for president under the colors of his own party: Allez la France! (Go France!)

Last October, Tracfin (an agency of the Finance Ministry that tracks money laundering) alerted the Paris prosecutor who requested that the BRDE (anti-fraud brigade) initiate a preliminary investigation of the suspicions of abuse of power and money laundering hovering over Lozès. The questions involved transfers of funds between CRAN's accounts and the personal account of Patrick Lozès (about 130,000 euros in the form of checks written between January 2009 and August 2011), as well as deposits totaling about 240,000 euros between July 2010 and August 2011, from a humanitarian organization called the World Children's Fund and made out to L & Associates, the consulting agency Patrick Lozès had created in 2008.

"Everything is transparent," repeated the elegant 46-year old pharmacist, with his bank documents to back him up. Checks from CRAN? Just a reimbursement of money he had advanced to them to pay for the notorious poll for which TNS Sofres (an opinion pollster) had charged 117,000 euros in 2007, and which revealed that 56% of the blacks of France said they were discriminated against. "CRAN's books were verified by an expert accountant and audited by an accounts commissioner," he emphasized.

Note: Born in 1965 in the West African country of Benin, Lozès moved to France in 1979 where he studied to be a pharmacist and later attended the Ecole supérieure de commerce, a school of advanced business studies.

Patrick Lozès displays the same serenity when he waves a contract dated July 24, 2010 that links his own one-man consulting firm, L & Associates, with the World Children's Fund. The document, signed by the founder of this American charity headquartered in Hong Kong, one Joseph Lam, stipulated that a monthly sum would be paid (to L & Associates) in exchange for lobbying actions, legal counsel, advice on communications and recruitment, etc… "If it had been a private firm I would have charged much more for my services," he responded when he was reminded of the charitable nature of the organization that had to pay.

A man of networks, Patrick Lozès is also the French representative of the National Black Chamber of Commerce consisting of about 100,000 enterprises. (The NBCC is a member of the United States Chamber of commerce.) It was through this connection that Joseph Lam presumably
contacted him for his services. Lam had encountered legal problems when the World Children's Fund, along with sixteen other Franco-American NGO's were investigated in Paris in 2009 for "fraud" and "abuse of power".

Note: This is news. It might be interesting to find out more about these sixteen so-called NGO's, what their activities are and how they affect both French and American societies.

His activities as consultant are not preventing him from campaigning with a slogan that is just a tad provocative: "In 2012, do not vote white". This centrist who was a UDF candidate in the 2002 legislative elections would be happy to "create a surprise" by becoming the "third man" in the presidential election. But he first has to obtain the five hundred signatures necessary - for now he claims to have two hundred promises - and to remove all suspicions hovering over his financial circumstances.

Note: The UDF alluded to above is today the MoDem, or Mouvement Démocrate, a so-called centrist party hardly distinguishable from Sarkozy's UMP, which in turn is hardly distinguishable from the Socialist Party.

A reminder that five hundred signatures from elected officials, usually mayors, are needed to become a candidate in a presidential election.

Regarding his campaign slogan, no one that I know of has taken him to court, though many angry comments were left at the forums and websites. The slogan, while clearly racial, is humorous enough to be ignored. Furthermore he is not a major candidate. But more importantly in France, as in America, only whites can be racists. If a white candidate used the reverse slogan "don't vote black", there would be hell to pay (and there would be no pun to help alleviate the meaning). So Lozès gets away with this. It remains to be seen if he gets away with his money laundering schemes. I suspect that at the most he will get a suspended sentence and move on to bigger and better schemes.

What else has he done or said that is worth reporting? Apparently a lot. Browsing through the websites I came upon references to comments he made at his blog, in 2010, about The Lion King. But first I need to remind you of two things: 1) While he was still president Jacques Chirac inaugurated the Branly Museum on the Quai Branly in Paris. This museum, dedicated to primitive art, had been Chirac's pet project, the former president being an aficionado of African and Polynesian cultures which he claimed had been neglected and wrongly overshadowed by Western artistic accomplishments. 2) In 2007, shortly after taking office, Nicolas Sarkozy delivered a notorious, painfully repetitive, blatantly contradictory speech in Dakar, Senegal, in which he said that Africans needed to take responsibility for their own future, but pointed out to them that if they were backward it was because they had not mixed in with European cultures, being cut off, as it were, by an excessive attachment to their monotonous rural culture, and that he would help them catch up. His implication, which was lost on his African audience, was that Africans would benefit intellectually by mixing with Europeans, a shocking statement that implicitly acknowledged the superiority of the white man. (Two years later Sarkozy would tell the French people that they had to intermarry with the immigrants or face dire consequences.)

At his blog, on October 30, 2010, Patrick Lozès said the following:

Once again they are talking about the Dakar speech delivered by President Nicolas Sarkozy before an audience of students, teachers and political personalities.

Nicolas Sarkozy certainly did say in his speech that colonization had been a mistake, but he declared that the main problem with Africa was that "the African had not entered sufficiently into History".

Many things have been said about this speech that irritated, to put it mildly, those who know Africa and its history, because this "point of view" can be contradicted in a thousand ways, if only through the argument of culture. The truth is that more and more museums around the world celebrate African culture (therefore the entry into History of the African): the Branly Museum is a good example.

Moreover, publications, films, stage spectacles for children and adults allow us to oppose, without passion, the thesis of an a-historical Africa.

The Lion King (seen by millions of people) demonstrates, for example, to more and more people that the African not only entered into History but that he never left it.

It isn't because you don't know the history of Africa and its peoples that this history does not exist!

Culture is one of the most effective ways to restore history to Africa…

This post elicited forty-two responses, some of which are worth looking at:

- With your article, we are no longer just on the brink of stupidity, Mr. Lozès, we are knee deep in it. The Lion King, really? And why not Kirikou? You shame the blacks of this country.

- Ah, The Lion King, that American film, greatly inspired by a Japanese screenplay. A fine example of African cultural production indeed. Mr. Lozès, your anti-Sarkozy feelings are making you say stupid things. Sarkozy never said that African culture was non-existent. He said that Africa had not entered sufficiently into history. Personally I can't say he's wrong. Great black personalities are unfortunately rare, and totally absent from certain areas such as science and philosophy, and overrepresented in others (sports, rap, crime…)

- Hah! What an enlightened demonstration backed by a multitude of arguments!! The Branly museum, museum of primitive arts!!! What a dazzling entry into History compared to the Gutenberg printing press, the experiments of Lavoisier and Curie, and the development of scanners…As for the example of The Lion King… I think it deserves a grocer's diploma, oops a pharmacist's diploma!

When you realize that the theory of the first man originating in Africa was only a fictitious idea that went to the aid of anti-racism associations, the idea of several starting points for man being much more realistic (the oldest non-hominid ancestor having been found in Spain!!! Did this ancestor then go to Africa to become homo sapiens??!! What a joke!) When did Africans really enter into history???

Note: They were hard on Patrick, but he deserved it. However, he did not attack Sarkozy for the most glaring faults in the Dakar speech - the demeaning pandering, the reassurances that Africans are really not backward - they just need to mix in with whites, the oscillation between praise for the "brilliant" African civilizations of the past and the undeniable fact that they lag behind the rest of the world.

Patrick Lozès focused on the entry of Africa into History, added his own profundities and provided us with a good laugh.

The Real Saint Nicholas

2011-12-19T21:25:00.008-05:00

Sveti Nikola

I found this Serbian Christmas song at a blog called 1389, a reference to the year of the Battle of Kosovo. The translation:

In truth you were revealed to your flock as a rule of faith,
an image of humility and a teacher of abstinence;
your humility exalted you;
your poverty enriched you.
Hierarch Father Nicholas,
entreat Christ our God
that our souls may be saved.

In addition to the music, you can find the story of Saint Nicholas of Myra narrated in a series of texts based on Orthodox theology and traditions. Here is one passage:

When his parents died, he gave away all of his inheritance to the needy, and thereafter almsgiving was his greatest glory. He always took particular care that his charity be done in secret. Perhaps the most famous story of his open-handedness concerns a debt-ridden man who had no money to provide dowries for his daughters, or even to support them, and in despair had resolved to give them into prostitution. On three successive nights the Saint threw a bag of gold into the window of the man’s house, saving him and his daughters from sin and hopelessness. The man searched relentlessly to find and thank his benefactor; when at last he discovered that it was Nicholas, the Saint made him promise not to reveal the good deed until after he had died. (This story may be the thin thread that connects the Saint with the modern-day Santa Claus).

1389 has much material on Canada (the administrators explain that any anti-Islamic Canadian in need of a forum is welcome to express himself at 1389), and several articles on Serbia, Kosovo and the Balkans, from the point of view of committed counter-jihadists. America's role in the Kosovo fiasco is not minimized, nor should it be. The blog's administrators seem to be mostly Americans. The following passage is from an article on Western dhimmitude in Kosovo:

(…) modern day Kosovo is about humiliating Serbia and for the remaining Serbs they either will be forced to accept Albanian Kosovo rule or they will just be marginalized to the point where economic necessity means that they will leave.

Serbian Orthodox Christianity in Kosovo is becoming a museum whereby famous monuments and monasteries are protected by Western forces; however, the faithful have no freedom to roam around Kosovo freely.

The Turkish Ottomans would be pleased with the bidding of America, the United Kingdom, and other Western nations. Not in their wildest dreams would they have envisaged a mainly Christian and non-Muslim West offering Kosovo “on a Muslim plate” and with all aspects of Serbian Orthodox Christianity “being the final dinner.”

I should add that the French Catholic websites that I consult often have articles on Kosovo and other parts of the world where Christians are in danger, such as the newly "liberated" countries of the Middle East. If I don't post more often on these topics, it is only because of lack of time. Traditional French Catholics show unwavering support for their fellow Christians all over the world, and pray for Christian martyrs being held captive in places like Pakistan or Afghanistan.

Finally some of you may be interested in a lengthy film review of a movie called In the Land of Blood and Honey, about the Bosnian war, written and directed by Angelina Jolie. This passage is near the end:

Like the kangaroo court in The Hague, Angelina Jolie’s film continues the process of condemning the Serbian people with collective guilt—denying them equal rights and equal justice as international political leaders continue to amputate portions of Serbian territory against her will and in violation of the UN Charter in which Serbia was a founding member; the Geneva Conventions, the Helsinki Final Act, and the NATO Treaty including violating UN Resolution #1244 that guaranteed Kosovo as sovereign Serbian territory as part of the peace agreement arranged by Richard Holbrooke. Surely, Jolie cannot be this ignorant?

Actor Jon Voight, Angelina Jolie’s father, attended Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, New York, a school built in the 1950s and named after the Croatian Roman Catholic priest who was convicted by the allies of war crimes in WWII. He spent ten years in prison for his crimes against Serbs and Jews in Croatia, perhaps a clue to Jolie’s obvious anti-Serb bias.

As always with book and film reviews, be sure to see the movie before passing final judgment.

Bach/Gounod - Battle/Parkening

2011-12-19T06:48:00.003-05:00

I had a terrible time deciding which version to post this year. The Bach/Gounod Ave Maria is so widely recorded by so many great artists, that it might be best to just pull a name out of a hat. For now, here are Kathleen Battle and Christopher Parkening. The guitar accompaniment was the deciding factor.