really, it was all a mix-up over the word “caucasian”

French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand won the backing of fellow politicians on Sunday against calls for his resignation for having written about paying young male prostitutes in Thailand.

Government spokesman Luc Chatel, Immigration Minister Eric Besson and Left Party founder Jean-Luc Melenchon spoke out in support of the nephew of former President Francois Mitterrand, who has threatened legal action to protect his reputation.
[...]
Revelations that Mitterrand made in a 2005 book re-surfaced when he strongly defended Roman Polanski, who was arrested in Switzerland last month and faces extradition to the United States for having had sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977.

Well, turds of a feather, or something like that.  Interestingly, whereas public outcry against celebrities is simply turned aside and sneered at by their contemporaries, outcry against politicians is something not to be tolerated.

Melenchon told Europe 1 on Sunday that the continuing attacks on Mitterrand were “unacceptable” and criticized those who would “cast stones” at the minister.

...sound familiar?

When Utako Sakai was changing the background music in her beauty parlor recently, she did not opt for the classical piano pieces she usually chose.
A CD of President Barack Obama’s inaugural speech has sold a half million copies in Japan, leading publishers to flood the market with over a dozen language-learning titles centered on his oratory.
Instead, she picked her favorite CD: “President Obama’s Inaugural Address,” released by Asahi Press, a Japanese publisher of language books. She says the speech lifts her spirits and helps her to learn English all at once.

“All our customers love it,” said Ms. Sakai, who is based in Ayase City, in Kanagawa Prefecture, outside Tokyo.

~ * ~
Since the sales took off, he has received postcards from readers saying they had been touched by Mr. Obama’s speeches, but “those same people have said they were moved even though they didn’t understand English well,” he said. “Some even said the only phrase they caught was, ‘Yes, we can.’ They said they were in tears nonetheless.”

A German book publisher has canceled a novel about Islamic “honor killings,” fearing that the book would offend the Muslim community and put him in danger. Critics of the decision call it a cowardly move, but others say the publisher is simply being responsible.

via Holger Awakens

....I watched about 10 minutes of the news and had about 10 minutes worth of Internet time the whole week I was gone........

Feel free to compensate me. I had to wade through this.

So ends David Thompson’s latest foray into a choice fever swamp of weapons-grade crazy, in which we learn, among other things, that all heterosexual intercourse (including the use of what the school lunch industry refers to as “meat substitutes") is rape.

Now, before linking this, I will warn you...there are no photos, but some of the discussion is probably a little, um...frank for the workplace.  Or Sunday School.  But it’s worth reading if only to reinforce the understanding that there are people - and I use that word loosely - out there who can say things like

I believe male infanticide to be a better option than the current circumstances. I think it’s better than what we’ve got.

...without a trace of irony.

Also, that putting anything whatsoever in your hoo-ha means you’re a slave of the patriarchy.

Anyway, clicky to give David some love for braving the nutters on a slow Sunday afternoon.

Kind of a tome from Chris Muir, today.
Know how he feels, though.
Frankly, I’m surprised nobody’s gone postal yet.

Wellp,
I reckon this is what happens when you finally do a Q&A.

Oh, in case you missed it earlier ...

in Time ragazine?!?

Fun with PS, “Obama’s Other Awards”

From In-Teh-Tank-TIME?!?

oh.... my.

or things you learn from reading those little anecdotal newsletters they insert between the salt and pepper shakers at cheesy diners on road trips

Doctors for Obama....

Some people, doctors and patients alike, believe the white coat is necessary to make a doctor stand out from the crowd and bolster their authority…

At the American Medical Association’s annual conference, an unusual policy question was placed on the table: Should doctors abandon their white coats?

The concern comes from studies showing the potential for the long-sleeved garments to harbor dangerous bacteria like MRSA and C. difficile, and transfer it from one patient to the next…

spiffy!

more laterzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

That’s like the, the “Mount Rushmore” of shut-the-hell-up !
*snick*

Germans seek to oust Czech president Vaclav Klaus over EU treaty

… In faraway Brussels furious diplomats were calling for [Vaclav Klaus, the president of the Czech Republic] impeachment and even his country’s expulsion from the European Union because of his obstinate refusal to sign the Lisbon treaty. Klaus, now the only European leader holding out against ratifying the document, made it clear he did not give a damn.

European leaders were told he was not available to take their calls. The Eurosceptic president and his wife Livia were completing a brief tour of the Balkan country where Klaus, 68, attended the launch of the Albanian edition of his controversial book, Blue Planet in Green Shackles, which argues there is no such thing as man-made global warming.
...
Opponents of the treaty hope that Klaus will be able to stall ratification until the British general election in May. David Cameron, the Tory leader, has promised a referendum if his party wins and the treaty is still unsigned.

Klaus is unlikely to give in without at least some concessions. He is said to want to be seen as the leader who derailed the European project. A comparison is being drawn in Prague with Edvard Benes, the pre-war Czech leader who in 1938 had to flee to Britain after refusing to cede territory to Hitler under the Munich agreement.

Gotta love Klaus.
Not crazy about Germans throwin’ their weight around, though.

nope, nothing ominous about this story.  go back to sleep.

A physicist working at the world’s largest atom smasher has been arrested on suspicion of links to al-Qaida, adding to the woes of the $10 billion project that ceased operation a year ago - just days after its celebrated start up.

Okay, look.  I’m not one of those people who thinks the LHC is going to create a black hole and suck the planet into another dimension, or maybe make enough antimatter to blow up Obama’s ego, or even something much smaller like Vatican City.

You don’t have to be a wild-eyed doomsayer to be concerned when a bunch of suicidal nutcases start showing interest in advanced technologies, no matter how benign YOU perceive them.

The physicist had no contact with anything that could be used for terrorism, CERN said in a statement.

You do realize you’re talking about people who use their own BUTTHOLES for terrorism?

“None of our research has potential for military application, and all our results are published openly in the public domain,” the statement said.

Know what else has no perceived potential military application?  A Boeing 767.  Get your head out of your ass, Jacques.

Catholic church rejects Obama!

Sunday brings the canonization of five new saints ... [including] Damien de Veuster, the Belgian-born missionary to Hawaii’s Kalaupapa leper colony ....

Likewise celebrating its golden anniversary in the Union, the elevation of the figure known on the islands as “Father Damien”—a folk hero for Hawaiians of all sorts—has sparked a surge of civic pride in Aloha Country.

Geeze, it’s been nine months. What’s an iWon gotta do?
BTF:

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan vowed to launch a new offensive against militant strongholds along the Afghan border after a suicide bomber blew up a car near a crowded outdoor market on Friday, killing 49 people in the bloodiest attack to hit the country in six months.

The United States has been pushing Pakistan to take strong action against insurgents who are using its soil as a base for attacks in neighboring Afghanistan. A push into the rugged mountains of South Waziristan could be risky for the army, which was beaten back on three previous offensives into the Taliban heartland there and forced to sign peace deals.

But the army may have been emboldened by a reasonably successful military campaign in the Swat Valley and adjoining Buner district and by the killing in a U.S. missile strike of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. The military also appears committed to destroying Mehsud’s group, as opposed to its often ambivalent position toward other insurgents in the past. ...

Holger Awakens has a good commentary on this.
Now’s the time for the ol’ squeeze play. Maybe, we finally have a motivated ally as an anvil to our hammer as the Pakistanis push the Taliban into American kill zones, and vice versa.
We can better concentrate on AlQ after we’ve defeated the Taliban.
How’s that for a strategy, Barry? Hey, you already have the Nobel, so it’s okay to fight now.