The American Way

The American way, at least when it comes to sexual assault, is making a deep impression on the French (tomorrow pigs will fly).

First, a recap.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, known as DSK, was lounging around his $3000 a night hotel room in New York when he was surprised in the all together by the maid. Then something happens. Sometime later the maid is found cringing in a hallway by her supervisor. She is visibly distraught and vomiting. The hotel staff then does the right thing: they calm her down, listen to her story, and most important of all, believe it. She claims DSK chased her down and forced her to have oral sex until she pushed him back on a chair and fled. The hotel management then does the right thing: they call the police and tell them where DSK is, on a plane ready to depart for France, which has no extradition treaty with the US.

Journalistic mayhem ensues, the world economy trembles, the Socialist Party of France winces, and friends of DSK in France make some truly unfortunate statements defending him. For them, "no one died" and it was simply a mere case of "lifting the maid's skirt" and he is a very important man of great charm (and wealth and power). No big deal. At least for French males.

As for the women, once they began to figured out what was really going on, they began to react. And it was not pretty. Some French women even went so far as to comment favorably on the American sense of justice! Here's one from the Guardian:

Stepping into the fray came the formidable Gisèle Halimi, a women's rights activist and lawyer, who, at the age of 84, declared in an interview she was "convinced" that "if this [DSK] business had occurred in France, we would have known nothing about it". The US legal system, she said, reaffirms women's dignity and the protection of the weakest. "It has to be said, it's a victory for American feminists who, for years, have worked to show that sexual harassment and rape were serious crimes."

The whole article is worth a read. And even Time Magazine published a decent article by Judith Warner on the same reaction which you ought to read:

"Finally, women found out that nothing had changed," Blache says. "Appearances have changed, but life, work, men not helping out more in the household — none of this actually had. We felt we had made gains and those gains were gone or going. Things were starting to boil over."

Then, just to show that it is not only the Socialist poobah who has a problem with women, one of Sarkozy's ministers was accused of rape by two women who had kept it a secret for years. Why come forward now?

The women told the newspaper Le Parisien last week that Tron assaulted them behind locked doors at the town hall.

One said she was too ashamed to tell anyone at first, but that she spoke out after the charges were brought in New York against Strauss-Kahn.

"When I saw that a chambermaid was capable of taking on Dominique Strauss-Kahn, I told myself I didn't have the right to keep quiet," said the woman, who was not identified by name.

It seems the French have caught an American disease. Good for them.

makes me proud to be an American.

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In honor of the O'Bama clan

Both those over here and those over there. Sparked by the Prez' returning to the old sod. The Irish are delirious because between the charming Irish American chief executive and the Queen of that other place they have earned an extra $20 million from tourists.

So, a little musical tribute to the Irish, the near Irish, and the wanna be's.

Language quiz!

Yes, that favorite part of the world of Sententiae for one or two of you, I hope, is back. Watch this sad-sweet little animated video. Here is the quiz:

Without looking at the credits at the end, what language does the granddad speak?

hint: it is not a language from the Caucasus

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A Dream of a Thousand Cats

Juxtaposition is everything.




First, watch this little video. (Carmen made me watch it, much as I dislike animals).

Then, read this little comic book story. Or should I call it a graphic novel? Or, "Sequential Art" (apparently the newest academic term for comic books). It is Neil Gaiman's now classic tale "A Dream of a Thousand Cats" from The Sandman series. Peculiarly addictive, by the way.

Adds a little something to the appreciation of "she's" motivation, don't you think?

Favorite quote:

Little one, I would like to see anyone -- prophet, king or god -- persuade a thousand cats to do anything at the same time.

I think I'll go play with Mosby Cat now. Ta.

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Well, he gets the girl

In an effort to make up for that post that some malcontent named Peacock took offense to, I hereby publish a picture of sexy bald guy Lex Luthor (not the gov. of a big state to the south) who has gotten a beautiful young lady.


Besides, my point was not to poke fun at folliclely challenged pates, but the gray paté beneath the pate.

and I am sure that Lex is a liberal democrat.

Watch it buster

News from that state to our south ...

... you know the one.

It has managed to separate itself from the pack of 50 this year in at least one category! And here it is folks, against awesome competition, the Most Unpopular Governor in America ...

... Nosferatu.

No, no. Lex Luthor.


Ok, Ok. It's actually this fellow:

In the poll, 57% of registered voters said they're unhappy with how Scott has handled his job as governor, a record high. At the same time, only 29% of voters said they approved of Scott's job performance, making Scott the most unpopular of 10 governors Quinnipiac has surveyed this year.

You get what you vote for. Or in the case of those too inane to vote, you get who wins.

for personal reason I prefer to think of him as Gov. Luthor.

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Without Comment

The Rapture: So far so good

Is everyone still out there?

I am here, in the house. No sign of The Rapture, yet. But then I can't see anyone from where I am. I last saw Carmen with a pot of picadillo leaving for ...

... her church. .... and now she's nowhere to be seen.

you don't suppose ...

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The press release: illustrated

from here.

More news of the weird

That would be politics in Florida.

Apparently the recently elected criminal in chief, aka The Governor, has managed to destroy the reputation of the Republican Party in a mere 100 days. Here is an brief article about it focusing on the upset victory of a Democrat in Jacksonville:

Reflecting on the upset in the Jacksonville mayor's race, St. Petersburg Political Editor Adam Smith said, "Jacksonville is a Republican stronghold, but even with that relatively conservative electorate polls show Barack Obama more popular than Rick Scott. That election in Florida's largest city was not about Obama or Scott, but there's no question that Scott's talk about draconian cuts to school budgets and other services helped elect a Democrat arguing that cuts need to be targeted and strategic. One of the best days for Democrat Alvin Brown came when Rick Scott came to Jacksonville to campaign for the Republican mayoral nominee at a Tea Party rally."

Do you have any idea what it takes to make a Democrat popular in Jacksonville? Whatever it is, let's see more of it.

after all, it only took Napoleon 100 days to blow it at Waterloo.

Update: I didn't realize this when I wrote it, but Newt "Loose Lips" Gingrich is actually campaigning in Waterloo, Iowa. Coincidence?

Song for the day.

And now for something different. Courtesy of Carmen, a little song to while away this delightful May afternoon down here in the land of Wilkes:

The Lay of the Brave Sir Robin.

MINSTREL (singing):

Bravely bold Sir Robin, rode forth from Camelot.
He was not afraid to die, o Brave Sir Robin.
He was not at all afraid to be killed in nasty ways.
Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Robin!
He was not in the least bit scared to be mashed into a pulp,
Or to have his eyes gouged out, and his elbows broken.
To have his kneecaps split, and his body burned away,
And his limbs all hacked and mangled, brave Sir Robin!
His head smashed in and his heart cut out,
And his liver removed and his bowels unplugged,
And his nostrils ripped and his bottom burned off,
And his penis--

Here, the manuscript breaks off.

Mercifullly. From Carminae sacrae Britonorum de Radulfo lama glama admiratione, ms 144a, fol. 76 r, coll. pythonis.

New Motto for Sententiae!

I have been informed by La Cid* that the Clemen's family motto is:

Shabby but not rumpled**

Our new professional motto for Sententiae however is supplied by one of the "idea" men from the Republican party***, Newt "Loose Lips" Gingrich:

“Any ad which quotes what I said on Sunday is a falsehood because I have said publicly those words were inaccurate and unfortunate.”

So there.

I am now immune to criticism for whatever I said. Or will say. This is great.


*aka Carmen

**I intend to translate that into Latin someday for the family crest.

*** the other one being Paul Ryan, a man so stupid he thinks Atlas Shrugged is a great political novel. Where do they find these people? (btw, you and I pay his salary)

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Is he running for President?

This is an actual headline from the e-version of the Washington Post today:

Flickr Designer Publicly Criticizes Flickr’s Design

Must be a Republican.

from Georgia.

Not intended as a factual statement?

Apparently. Here is the latest from Newt Gingrich.

So let me say on the record, any ad which quotes what I said on Sunday is a falsehood.

So, let me say on the record ... this man seriously wants to run for president? And the Republicans let him?

the 90s are beginning to come back to me now.

Trolls from Japan via Paris in Alaska

Catchy title, huh? Actually this is from Mudflats, the go to blog for intelligent commentary about Alaska politics by a real Alaskan. She keeps a running account (apparently) of the trolls who visit her site. I like this one, with Mudflats commentary.

Every Tea Party type troll sounds like an ESL troll, and I’ll give you that point. But this one came complete with Japanese characters in the identifier. And it is actually sort of a a sweet little troll. Here’s what he had to say:

I find myself strongly over it, and love learning on this topic, and melted it a bit leaving resin on the bottom of the part 2.

Awwww. (pinches the trolls cheek) I find myself strongly over it too, little fella. Even though you left resin on the bottom of the part 2.

Another interesting thing about this troll I discovered as I checked his location of origin, feeling certain it would be Tokyo, is that he is actually from Paris. Yes – Paris, France. And they say Parisians are rude! This is the cutest little troll I’ve ever seen.

There is some more gushing but you get the picture. The way to Mudflats heart is speaking fractured near incomprehensible English with a Japanese/French accent.

Oh - it was about being WEIRD

OK. I have said often enough that the Tea Party is about nothing, in the Latin sense of Nihil. But after reading this amusing little article in the Washington Post I now realize it was about something: the state of social disintegration on the planet Trzzlinioch in the Alpha Centauri sector.

Wesbury [a Tea Party 'leader'] suggested that Republicans should show some “adult kind of behavior.”

This was a curious request coming from a group that included two men wearing tricorn hats and colonial costumes. Temple had a feather in his hat, carried a 5-foot musket and, without explanation, switched to a Scottish accent during the news conference. Next to him was a man dressed up as George Washington who read a 215-year-old passage.

read the article - it shows that the entire Republican congressional leadership has stepped out of the pentagram.

Bashing the elites

Never let an opportunity go by to point out the fecklessness of our elites.

I don't usually read Paul Krugman but his column today caught my eye. By and large I agree with it - which means he is getting smarter! Here's the core of his argument:

... what we’re experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. The policies that got us into this mess weren’t responses to public demand. They were, with few exceptions, policies championed by small groups of influential people — in many cases, the same people now lecturing the rest of us on the need to get serious. And by trying to shift the blame to the general populace, elites are ducking some much-needed reflection on their own catastrophic mistakes.

He then goes on to name names. One theme that I repeat over and over on this blog is that the elites have all disgraced themselves in the era of the double aughts. And now they are trying to blame it all on you and me.

we should be ashamed of ourselves for causing all this mayhem.

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Coincidence?

This little observation is from Andrew Sullivan:

12.50 am. The eighth anniversary of "Mission Accomplished." To the day. The 66th anniversary of the anouncement of the death of Adolph Hitler. To the day.

Without Comment