From today’s Guardian:

”A public prosecutor in Paris said yesterday that 12 past and present officials from Jacques Chirac's UMP party would appear in court next year after allegations of vote-rigging in the capital in the days when the French president was its mayor. In a 196-page report which could further damage Mr Chirac's reputation, the prosecutor said the officials, including the former mayor of the third arrondissement, Jacques Dominati, and his two sons, should be tried for "fraudulently influencing" the outcome of a poll.”

Jacques Chirac, some people may recall, has been a little, well, critical of US efforts to bring democracy to Iraq. Perhaps he should start looking a little closer to home.

And, oh yes, the same Guardian report contains this little nugget:

“Meanwhile, it emerged yesterday that expenditure by the Elysée palace has increased hugely since Mr Chirac was elected president in 1995. The revelation came a day after French MPs approved a 2005 presidential budget of €31.9m (£22m). The daily Le Monde said in 1994, the final year of François Mitterrand's presidency, that the Elysée had spent (in equivalent terms) €3.3m. Allegations of runaway spending under Mr Chirac are not new and were countered yesterday by his office, which said the budget increase was mainly due to a shortfall due to the abolition, in 2001, of the "special funds", an unaudited and hidden multi-million-pound slush fund that the French state allocated itself for "extraordinary expenses". Income to offset the cut appears in the presidential budget. “

There’s one place, and one place only, for this destructive and useless individual.

Jail.

Warning – this post may violate French law.

The ‘revelation’ that France’s new EU commissioner, Jacques Barrot, was in the past convicted for his role in a political funding scandal (because Barrot later benefited from an amnesty, mentioning this conviction is, apparently, a crime), is beginning to cause trouble in Brussels. Incoming EU president Barroso is now saying that no-one ever told him that the French nominee had had these legal, ahem, difficulties in the past.

Um, Barroso, old chap, have you ever heard of Google?

Regrettably, the post of an EU Commissioner is an important one. If we are to believe Barroso, it seems that not even the most rudimentary check was made on the background of Chirac’s nominee (given who was doing the nominating, a little caution might have been appropriate). For that lapse alone, Barroso should resign.

And he should take the collection of thieves, cronies, timeservers, lightweights and has-beens that he has the gall to call a commission with him.

Via the invaluable Zachtei blog

“A student of the Dalton Scholengemeenschap in The Hague was beat up after giving a presentation about Islam and the murder of Theo van Gogh, by a group of Moroccans who hadn't even heard the presentation. According to his classmates, they were acting on behalf of a girl who had, and who thought the lecture was insulting. Neither the classmates nor the teacher were able to identify anything offensive in the presentation.”

And, one might add, even if they had, that would not have justified this thuggery.

From the London Times

”GEERT WILDERS, the Dutch MP and controversial critic of Islam, has two policemen by his side even when in his high-security parliamentary office in case someone tries to decapitate him. Each day, he does not know where he is going to sleep that night, as he is taken from safe house to safe house in a convoy of armoured cars. He was taken into hiding when police investigating the murder of the film-maker Theo van Gogh on November 2 uncovered a network of radical Muslims with advanced plans to kill Mr Wilders, and other “enemies of Islam”. A video circulating on the internet offered 72 virgins in paradise to any Muslim who beheaded him.”

It has come to this.

From the Daily Telegraph:

“Churchgoers risk lung cancer because of unhealthy air caused by candles and incense, researchers say.”

The solution, as Antoine Clarke over at Samizdata notes, is obvious: The EU must “immediately ban all church-going for children, impose a tax on adult church-goers, put health warnings on the outsides of all churches….”

And, over here, I’d expect Nurse Bloomberg to do the same.

Well, mayor, why not?

Cruise was great fun, but exhausting for a hermit like me. Lucy had a grand time. The first panel I was on, included Bernard Lewis and Victor Davis Hanson, which is a bit like having me follow Yo Yo Ma and Itzach Perlman so I can play my kazoo. The second panel was quite fun, though it descended into a fairly intense metaphysical conversation between myself, Derb, Dinesh D'Souza, Ramesh and John O'Sullivan. I thought it was pretty interesting even if I'm not positive I know what it was all about. I think it would probably have been better in the original Greek.

One last thing before I retire for the evening: Charles' post about Middlebury. I have several close friends who went there in the late 80s and early 90s. They all said that the PC stuff never really penetrated there. Maybe it's like a tropical disease which dies as it approaches more northerly climes. Nevertheless, having visited a couple dozen campuses in the last couple years, I can attest that the left-wingyness of academy endures.

 I think it's time that NRO came out on the most important question facing Americans next week. That is, of course -- Cranberry Sauce: Can-shaped or Fresh?  

I should hope that the good conservatives of NRO will agree that the namby-pamby French-style berry-shaped sauce is [not for real Americans]-- real Americans eat it shaped like the can (as God intended). Could you see John Wayne eating anything else? Or ...Ronald Reagan?

French EU Commissioner Barrot's secret? Here is the answer, courtesy of EU Observer.

"EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Nigel Farage, a British eurosceptic MEP, caused a furore in the European Parliament on Thursday (18 November) by launching a strong attack on the French Commissioner, Jacques Barrot. Mr Farage, who belongs to the UK Independence Party, said that Mr Barrot should not be allowed to be a commissioner alleging he received an eight month suspended sentence in 2000 for a funding scandal involving his political party...under French law no reference is allowed to be made to the case in public after Mr Barrot came under a presidential amnesty"

Hmmm, Interesting (and seemingly backed up by the story linked to here). And who was president of France in 2000?

Why, it was Jacques Chirac.

The organization may be corrupt, malign and useless, but is it too much to expect that the UN will not set out actively to wreck Afghanistan's new democracy? It seems that it is.. Read this report from the Independent and consider its implications:

"So alarmed is the UN [by increased opium production in Afghanistan] that it is suggesting a remedy more radical than any that has been put forward before - bringing in US and British forces to fight a drugs war similar to the war on terror. It wants them to destroy farmers' crops on a massive scale before they can be harvested."

If there is anything more guaranteed to alienate the locals than that particular bone-headed suggestion, I can't think what it is. As to the wider point, it is only the 'war on drugs' that makes possible the super profits that make opium such a valuable currency for terrorists and other criminals. War against terror or war against drugs? You can't fight both, and I think that I know which one matters most.

Would that it were true. Those billboards are advertising to the suburbanites who commute to or through Philly. Most middle-class families (and anyone else uninterested in politics based on race or high taxes) have left Philly in the last decade. (I believe Philly is the only city of America's ten largest to have lost population over that period.) What is left is lots of Democrats, including a huge academic community (UPenn, Villanova, Temple, St. Joseph's, Loyola).

Trust me, there is as little acceptance of conservatives in Philly as in NYC, maybe less.

NEAS LAUDS KEENAN APPOINTMENT TO

NARAL PRO-CHOICE AMERICA

Washington - Following the announcement late Thursday that NARAL Pro-Choice America has chosen People For the American Way (PFAW) Director of Education Policy Nancy Keenan as its new president, PFAW President Ralph G. Neas had the following statement:

"At a time when many of the fundamental rights of American women are at risk, NARAL has found the perfect champion in Nancy Keenan.

"Nancy brings with her a lifetime of dedication to the fundamental rights and freedoms of women, a brilliant strategic mind, a sharp wit, great compassion and common sense. Nancy's ability to communicate the concerns of women and their families and bring people together made her a successful officeholder in her home state of Montana, and an effective advocate on the national stage. NARAL could not have made a better choice.

"We will miss her skill and savvy, but we know we will still be fighting side by side in the looming battles over the Supreme Court, on Capitol Hill, and in legislative chambers across America. With Nancy in charge, Naral Pro-Choice America and People For the American Way will continue their steadfast partnership in safeguarding reproductive rights and personal privacy for the women of America and their families."

Hurt Troops Need Clothes, Toiletries

By Justin Willett, Staff writer

LANDSTUHL, Germany - When wounded troops arrive at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center they often are wearing the same clothes they were wearing when they were injured; usually a dirty desert camouflage uniform, sometimes just a pair of boxer shorts.

The troops receive a $250 voucher from the Department of Defense.

But they are often unable to make it to the nearest Army and Air Force Exchange Services store at Ramstein Air Base for clothes or toiletries.

That's where Landstuhl's Pastoral Services Department comes in.

Pastoral services runs the Chaplain's Closet, a tiny building packed full of donated clothes, toiletries, books, movies and other personal items.

Lt. Col. Robert Hicks is a chaplain with the Alabama Air Guard. He works with Army, Marine, Navy and Air Force chaplains on getting the troops what they need.

This weekend, volunteers delivered wheelchairs full of items to hundreds of troops who arrived from Fallujah in the past week.

Senior Airman Karly Vogel, who is in the Minnesota Air Guard and is a chaplain's assistant at Landstuhl said the biggest need right now is large and extra-large sweatpants and shirts for Germany's cold weather.

"We rely on donations." she said. "There's so many troops that come through here, we have to work quick to get them what they need."

Col. Eric Holmstrom is an Army reservist who was activated for one year and made chief of pastoral services at Landstuhl.

He said the hospital is a good place to minister, but there are always needs.

"We always have patients," he said. "And we always have a need."

Holmstrom said men's shoes sizes nine to 12 are in high demand as is cash.

Pastoral services only accepts new items. Ongoing needs at the Chaplain's Closet include: men's shoes sizes nine to 12, women's shoes size six to nine, men's and women's winter coats sizes medium through extra-large, and backpacks, gym bags and small suitcases.

I must protest. It is not enough that certain, select NROniks get to go off to a Caribbean Cruise. They now also debase themselves by taunting Kathryn in the Corner! The horror! The absolute depravity!

Therefore, I put out a call to all Corner readers. Flood the mailboxes of Rich Lowry! Demand equal time! We want to send Kathryn on a two-week vacation to the destination of her choice, accompanied by Mel Gibson, Jim Caviezel, and Don Rumsfield. Perhaps she could have a nice cabana on a beach in Aruba. Mel, Jim, and Don will hopefully volunteer to serve as her entourage providing entertainment and security.

Act now!! This is WAY more important than the Specter flap. YOU can make a difference!

Yesterday, local radio news reported on some [politically motivated (?)] vandalism against a Baptist church. The sheriff deputy quoted in the report said, "We think this is the work of juveniles because of the spray-painted satanic words and Pentagons."

Later news reports used a different quote.

Bummer - that was fun!

The Chaldean archbishop of Kirkuk criticized Western media "misinformation" about his country and insisted that Iraqis are looking forward to elections "because they will be useful for national unity."

"It is not all death and destruction," explained Archbishop Louis Sako in an interview Tuesday published by AsiaNews.

"Much is positive in Iraq today," he said. "Universities are operating, schools are open, people go out onto the streets normally." He did acknowledge that "where there's a kidnapping or a homicide the news gets out immediately, and this causes fear among the people."

Yet, "there is no organized resistance" in Iraq, the prelate insisted. "Those who commit such violence are resisting against Iraqis who want to build their country.

"Iraqis instead are resisting against terrorism and are not carrying out attacks, which instead are the work of foreign infiltrators. I have stressed this before: Saudis, Jordanians, Syrians and Sudanese have entered Iraq. Prime Minister Allawi has said this as well. And clearly, there are also Iraqi collaborators who, for money, help the terrorist hide."

"The Kyoto protocol requires a supranational bureaucratic monster in charge of rationing emissions and, therefore, economic activities. The Kyotoist system of quota allocation, mandatory restrictions and harsh penalties will be a sort of international Gosplan, a system to rival the former Soviet Union's. The majority of humankind does not accept this system, despite claims of worldwide support. Even with Russia's ratification, 75 per cent of the world's CO2 is emitted by, 68 per cent of the world's GDP is produced in, and 89 per cent of the world's population live in countries that are not handcuffed by Kyoto's restrictions. Like fascism and communism, Kyotoism is an attack on basic human freedoms behind a smokescreen of propaganda. Like those ideologies of human hatred, it will be exposed and defeated."

Wise words, and the welcome arrival of a splendid, if vaguely Bolshevik-sounding, new insult: "Kyotoism."

A noun, and an adjective ("Kyotoist"), to savour. Thanks, Andrei!

And I want to say something to my constituents and the people who may be listening who have contacted my office in very sincere concern for what they have seen played out here on the Senate floor and in the judicial confirmation process. I want to say to all of them, I appreciate your passion. I appreciate your concern. I appreciate your interest in the instruments of the government that ultimately the people of this country control. And we are going to need the involvement, the attention, the passion of all of the people.

And indeed, we are going to need to appeal to our better angels on the floor of the United States Senate and in the Senate Judiciary Committee when it comes to the next nominees for the United States Supreme Court. We all remember, whether it’s a confirmation process by which Judge Bork was blocked, by which Clarence Thomas was ultimately confirmed after going through a process that no one should have to go through, my hope is that we will have learned that that is not the way the Senate should conduct itself and that we will resolve among ourselves and resolve among the American people and to the people we represent that we will treat the President’s judicial nominees fairly, that we will treat them with dignity and that we will provide the up-or-down vote that the United States Constitution demands when it comes to the confirmation of the President’s judicial nominees.

I’m not suggesting for a minute that anyone violate their conscience. Indeed, any Senator with a sincere belief that an individual judge should not be confirmed should come to the floor, as no doubt they will, and explain to their colleagues why they feel so strongly, why they conscientiously object to this nominee and to vote their conscience. I think every Senator should do that, and I trust they will.

But no one, no Senator has a right, no group of Senators has a right, no minority has a right to tyrannize the majority of the United States Senate when we stand ready in a bipartisan fashion to cast a vote up or down for a judicial nominee. And I sincerely hope that we will not have only learned from the mistakes of the past when it comes to obstruction of the President’s judicial nominees, but we will conduct ourselves with the kind of dignity that the American people have come to expert from United States Senators and that we will conduct ourselves uprightly, with fairness and dignity and treat all we come in contact with exactly the same way.

Yesterday the national soccer teams of England and Spain met in Madrid. England has several black players. Throughout the match the Spanish fans in, full voice and in vast numbers, made monkey noises every time a black player on the English team touched the ball. To those not familiar with European soccer this is a shock but the conduct is quite common in many cities in Europe during matches. It is so common that the European Football Association has a campaign in place to try and stop the practice. If you take a look at today's Guardian it has several accounts of the racist conduct during the match.

How tiresome is it to hear the constant refrain that the Euros are so much more enlightened than us Americans on issue such as race etc.? In practice we know the truth is far different. Can you imagine the conduct I described above taking place at an American sporting event? Can you imagine the mentality of thousands of people in a European capital city that they felt so free to express their racism so overtly? Next time you hear a Euro begin a lecture hit him or her (figuratively, of course) with the facts surrounding racist behavior of Euros on any given Sat. or Sun. in their capital cities. The "red state rubes" they love to malign would never tolerate the racism that is a common part of their national pastimes.

In the days of Wild Bill Donavan there was very little bureaucracy; just enough analytical and clerical staff to get the job done. Further, every task taken on was executed with the approval of, and in support of the President and his policies. OSS had many successes in those days and very few failures. Also, they never "spoke out of school".

Now, after fifty years of burrowing deep into the fabric of the agency, liberal bureaucrats move in both covert and now, overt ways to derail administration policy. As to policy, these arrogant asses continue to try to make policy themselves!

Good for Goss! Maybe Condi can pull off a similar nest-cleaning at State. That one will be a tougher task. They've had over 200 years to stake out their turf. Over the past forty years my dealings with State were seldom pleasant.

clifford...when i was in Cambodia in the mid-seventies, an 'attache' at the embassy approached me for info on what was going on out in the outlying towns...Battambang, Seam Riap and other places. i flew DC3's for a civilian airline hauling cargo, but why he asked ME, i didn't know until i talked to the chief pilot. he said those types were AFRAID to go out into the field, and needed grist for their reports back to Langley. i don't think it has EVER CHANGED IN THE LAST THIRTY YEARS. if you want to make it in the agency or state dept, i think you have to go along to get a leg up. you got 'em pegged.

They voted for a Republican who's got the biggest deficit spending ever; they voted against all of their self-interest. And the issue that came out in exit polling was "we voted on the moral values." What that says to me is, these people believe it's more important than their family's well-being that we don't have abortion. And, to me, that is an intolerance that we have not experienced in this country since we put into insignificance the Ku Klux Klan.

One theory for the scarcity of Republican professors is that conservatives are simply not that interested in academic careers. A Democrat on the Berkeley faculty, George P. Lakoff, who teaches linguistics and is the author of "Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think," said that liberals choose academic fields that fit their world views. "Unlike conservatives," he said, "they believe in working for the public good and social justice, as well as knowledge and art for their own sake, which are what the humanities and social sciences are about."

Somewhere, deep in the shallow, shallow mind of George P. Lakoff, ignorance and pomposity are fighting for control of his ideas. It remains unclear which will win.

Should you get tired of emailing Specter's office...From a reader:

Jonah...

I was shocked to see that the Corner was not on the "BLOG LINKS" on MSNBC's hardblogger site. (I do check it ever so often to see what the dark side is thinking). Such intellectual luminaries as Wonkette and Kos are on there...and they put redstate, blogsforbush, and instapundit on there, but no Corner...As Jackie Chiles from Seinfeld said, "That is outrageous, egregious, preposterous."

You gotta blame somebody when your party loses the White House, the Senate and the House. So why not blame the Catholics?

That’s sort of what House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) did in a letter sent this week to major donors to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee....In the second paragraph of the letter, Pelosi said the election outcome showed a distinct pattern — that “the Democratic message was eclipsed by so-called values pronouncements.”

“As a devout Catholic, I observe with great regret the intervention of some Catholic bishops who joined evangelical leaders in the political arena,” Pelosi said. She said the bishops’ actions helped to blur the separation of church and state, “and that is wrong.”