Just When You Thought She Hit Stupid Bottom...

...the dope shows us her stupid underground garage.

This Statue of Liberty was gifted to us by foreign leaders, really as a warning to us, it was a warning to us to stay unique and to stay exceptional from other countries. Certainly not to go down the path of other countries that adopted socialist policies.

Sarah Palin

________________________________________________

Did I mention it's a multilevel stupid underground garage?

I tell my parents all the time there is no better gift that they could have given me than besides such an appreciation for family and for faith and patriotism, it's been an upbringing in America in this most perfect state in America - Alaska, where we are independent and we have the pioneering spirit that more of America should hopefully get to look into the state and understand and really try to emulate because it's that pioneering spirit that America needs more of.

I get more coherent sentences out of the illegal immigrants around here.

Uh Oh

Military rumor mills are buzzing:

• Ramadan ends on September 19.
• Iran has stated that it will continue its nuclear program, even as we agree to hold talks.
• Did Netanyahu go to an undisclosed Arab country on Monday?
• Did Netanyahu go to Russia this week?
• Without anyone saying anything, Putin states that attacking Iran is unacceptable?
• At the same time, we have deployed an unusual number of submarines.

Could be nothing, but there is another issue: the disappearance of the Arctic Sea. On the positive side, Le France has urged Russia not to sell air-defense missiles to Iran.

All of this could be a confluence of unrelated events. I'm not panicked, but I would not be surprised if war broke out within the next couple of weeks.

The United Kingdom Joins France (Kind Of)

The UK has started work on their new carriers, the first of which is the HMS Queen Elizabeth. What a horrible name, considering their current, aging carriers are named Invinsible, Illustrious, and Ark Royal. But then again, our next aircraft carrier is sadly named the USS Gerald Ford. I guess "Midway," Coral Sea," or "John F. Kennedy" seemed too political for a Republican congress to name a major warship class after...

HMS Queen Elizabeth, a medium carrier capable of catapult launches

Here's the good news: the UK has quietly stated that it will be buying F-35Cs instead of F-35Bs. The F-35Bs are the short take-off and landing versions of the F-35 Lightning 2, designed to replace the Harriers. The F-35Cs are the American carrier versions, which means that the UK carriers will support both catapults and arresting gear. In other words, they will not be light carriers: they will be oil-powered medium carriers.

Better 2 medium carriers than 3 light ones. Or even 4 light ones.

Le France may buy one, though they prefer nuclear power. I predict they will forgo these and instead build another nuclear carrier.

Here's my hope: with a medium, catapult carrier design going into production, maybe other European navies with light carriers will follow. If Spain and Italy build a medium-class carrier each, based on the British design, and France builds another large carrier, then we are golden. A European Union with 6 good carriers (and Japan with 3 light ones) will contribute more to global security than our having 1 over 10. And I question how we can ever justify a navy with over 10 supercarriers (and over 8 amphibious assault/light carriers) after 2020.

The Russians Buy French

Russia--realizing that their navy is crumbling and that their ship-building infrastructure is all but in ruin--is buying a French Mistral-class amphibious assault carrier.

If you're not going to buy from us, buying from Le France is getting the next best thing when it comes to warships. Le France has a nuclear carrier and several potent surface combatants and submarines, all well-armed and formidable. But how pitiful does this make Russia look?

Turns out, not as pitiful as having an American destroyer show up unchallenged in their back yard during a major diplomatic crisis.

I do wonder if this is in part a reaction to the conflict in Georgia. I disagree with CNO Gary Roughead in regards to some of his shipbuilding decisions, but last summer when he ordered USS McFaul (DDG 74) into the port of Batum, Georgia he pulled a modern day 'Commodore Perry Goes to Tokyo' with that gunboat diplomacy, and it had to set off alarms in Moscow. Some may not have appreciated what he did, but I thought it was a brilliant exercise in naval diplomacy. Traditionally, naval diplomacy has been a critical element in sustaining peaceful relations in times of tension, and in hindsight I think sending USS McFaul (DDG 74) had exactly that effect. Teddy Roosevelt would have been impressed.

Commodore Perry goes to Tokyo indeed...That is exactly what this decision is about.

Le France's Mistral-class amphibious assault carrier, similar to an American Wasp-class warship

The Scariest Movie Of 2008

Not even close...The Halloween of French horror films, equal parts John Carpenter and Alfred Hitchcock. Revolting and tense, it is one of my favorite horror films of all time.

Vive la France!

The French Are Making The Best Horror Movies

Here's one I have to see: Ils. I love me some home invasion flicks.

Leçons from France via Walid Phares

In the Western debate on how best to counter the rise and expansion of the Jihadi movement, particularly the Salafists, within liberal democracies, European experiences are important because of the sheer numbers of militants and the dissemination within many urban areas. France's counter terrorism experiences are one among these learning processes for all other European Govenrment but also for North American CT planning as well. In an article I published in the Middle East Times today I commented on France's Interior Minister remarks on the state of confrontation with the Jihadists. In a recent series of seminars in Paris, which I will report about on CTB, I also interacted with a number of French legislators and CT officials dealing with the French involvement in Afghanistan and the Sahel. In short, France is heading towards "increasing engagement with al Qaeda on two continents, Asia and Africa, as well as at home.

Read it all at Counterterrorism Blog.

I Love The French

I know some people on this blog give me shit because I'm an unrepentant francophile. But I think Sarkozy is fucking awesome, and this news solidifies my love for him:

French president expected to marry former model.

I claim pro-France dibs! If you don't like it, suck it!

Transparently Absurd

The Pope says that if you visit some dopey shrine your stint in purgatory will be shortened.

Catholic pilgrims who visit Lourdes from now through next year, which will mark the 150th anniversary of the miracle claim, will receive an "indulgence" from the Pope, which he says will speed the trip to heaven.

Who buys this bullshit? How about instead telling the third world that if you follow the Catholic church's policy against condoms, you're stint in purgatory will be sooner than you planned?

Cowardice

Looks like CNN can write a whole piece on the current French riots without saying anything of value. Nowhere in the article are the two most obvious questions addressed in a journalistic manner:

1. Who's rioting?
2. Why?

However, if you're clever enough to notice a certain phrase repeated twice, like the clumsy obfuscations of a bad liar, you can figure it out.

"sons of African immigrants," "two men of North African descent"

Just say it CNN, for fucks sake! It's Muslim immigrants, and they are rioting against the police because they don't recognize French authoritah, especially the police.

I smell the piss-soaked pants of infotainers. Can someone find me a journalist?

Sarkozy Wins Strike

Are the French getting it?

Made aware of this story at Counterterrorism Blog*

How Alexis Debat managed to cheat everyone in Washington
Par Rue89 15H40 15/09/2007

For years, this "expert" managed to fool think tanks and media despite flashing warning signals.

How could someone, in the age of the Internet, manage to fake interviews with world leaders without being caught, while working for the famous investigative unit of one of the biggest American television networks?

Broken by Rue89, the affair of the mythomaniac analyst is causing a stir in the United States. How did Alexis Debat, a self-proclaimed expert on terrorism, manage to build such a career for himself --as a regular contributor to the foreign affairs reviews Politique Internationale and National Interest, as a consultant for ABC News and an analyst of the prestigious Nixon Center attending conferences with the cream of the crop of American foreign policy circles?

M. Debat

Read it all at Rue89.

*Removal of Content
In light of the ongoing investigations into allegations that Alexis Debat has fabricated news stories, the Counterterrorism Blog has removed his contributions on the site, pending the outcome of the current controversies.
--The Counterterrorism Blog Editors

You'll Dance To Anything...

I know what will be featured on VH1's "I Love The Aughts" in 3 years. France's new dance craze: Tecktonik. It's like older kinds of dancing, only stupider.

So how long before late-night television is filled with "lose over 80 pounds in 3 days with a new weight loss revolution: tecktonik!" It looks so fun, it's hardly like exercise at all! And it comes with a diet book!

France should stick to food and booze. And aircraft carriers. Dancing should not look like an anime kung fu battle with your inner demons. That's what psychopharmaceuticals and Pernod are for.

Ahhh, Demotivators

They can't even hang on to their own Elvis

“In France, To Earn A Lot Of Money Is To Be Seen As A Little Bit Criminal”

"However, the smart ones are voting with their feet:

Angry at paying more than 72 percent of his income in taxes, he moved to the ski resort of Gstaad last December in a storm of publicity. After Sarkozy's May election, Hallyday hinted he might come back. His press attache Catherine Battner says he has yet to make up his mind.

Fleeing the Tax

Households fleeing the fortune tax climbed to a record 649 in 2005 from 370 in 1997, according to a study by French Senator Philippe Marini. "

Read it all at No Pasarán.

Via ¡No Pasarán!

PANORAMA 'DOES A HATCHET JOB' ON SAUDI DEAL SAYS RAF HERO
Daily Express

"The OECD making a fuss about investigations is rather farcical when you find out that it is France that’s leading the campaign to blacken Britain’s name – and win all the deals for Matra and Dassault, makers of Mirage fighter jets.

“The Saudis bought a cracking aircraft in the British Tornado and the Hawk trainer is second to none. Of course Bandar would have given his opinion. After all he could have flown the damned things if he’d wanted to. France has been out in the cold for a long time. They tried to block the military operation to rid Iraq of Saddam.

“Meanwhile they were busy building a French car manufacturing plant in Iran.

“Let’s face it, the French have always been opportunistic when it comes to weapons deals. Maybe their military industry is flat on its face.

“But we took enough French-built Exocets during the Falklands for me not to feel too sorry for them.”

The Daily Express has been told by a senior diplomatic source that the former French Prime Prime Minister, Dominique du Villepin – he famously attacked Britain and the US at the UN for proposed involvement in the second Gulf War – was heavily motivated in his outburst by the fact that the French could not field an operational aircraft carrier.

The RAF source said: “The Clemenceau, their flagship, had been in dry dock for over a year and their military contribution would have been seriously undermined and derided had they not had their military shop window in operation.

So good I just posted the whole article

Fat, Happy Angst-Ridden, and Stupid

posted by Joe Noory @ 12:56 AM

You are what you bleat.

One is a EU super-group of fat-fighters. Formally this is referred to as a High Level Group comprised of a representative from every member state. The group would compile programmes on nutrition, overweight and obesity health issues.

More than 50% of the adult population is overweight or obese in most member states, the EC says. In the child population, an estimated 21 million are overweight, with the number increasing by 400,000 every year.

The beaurocracy is a nice touch, isn’t it? It must be soothing somehow – something to break up the omnipresent anarchy of company and property owner wanting to do what they want with their own stuff from time to time:

Shoe factory workers in southern France took four senior managers captive on Wednesday after the firm announced plans to relocate its production to Tunisia.

Managers of Jallatte, Europe's leading manufacturer of safety shoes, told workers early Wednesday they intended to cut 285 out of 336 jobs across its four French production sites.

Furious at the news, union leaders and workers burst into a meeting in the southern town of Saint Hippolyte du Fort, attended by four top executives, including Giovanni Falco, managing director of the company's Italian owner JAL.

The managers were held captive for several hours, until Falco agreed to push back by three weeks a June 6 meeting intended to kickstart the restructuring plan.

When in doubt, the logical thing to do about a company that can’t break even is obvious: take hostages. It must be the mysterious X-factor in that “most productive people in the world” thing they keep banging on about.

Fat, happy, and stupid.

Via ¡No Pasarán!: Que ce foutu pays de merde aille droit dans le mur ! *

L’élection de Ségolène Royal serait un désastre
by Guy Millière @ Les 4 Vérités

The election of Ségolène Royal would be a disaster
by Guy Millière @ Hugo the Translator


"We have Ségolène, the incompetent, half-witted, and arrogant representative of a party that, along with the entire French Left, has not known how to shift with modern times and remains stuck in a mode of reasoning that seems a throwback to the time of oil lamps. Opposite, we have Sarkozy, a man whose virtues and shortcomings I have already described in these columns.

Among his virtues is an understanding of the extent of the disaster on the brink of which this country finds itself. Among his shortcomings are the elements of interventionism, of state control, and of Bonapartism, which are, alas, very French."

*What this screwed-up country of merde go straight in the wall! (This was the best translation I could get.)