Jour de la Bastille
Allons enfants de la Patrie
For The Enlightenment, against the powers of darkness and unreason, information as a tool against all forms of fanaticism, to promote human and civil rights everywhere, freedom in all forms, and justice for all !
Labels: freely speaking, justice
President Bush still refuses to talk about what almost everyone else now understands is essential: the need for a plan to extricate American troops from a lost cause in Iraq.
Labels: playpen
Vatican says other Christian churches wounded - International Reuters:
Just a little assistance for the Reuters translators: the German word they translated as "wounded" also serves to describe a DEFECT, so essentially the papal dictator was declaring all churches other than his own as "religiously defective"."A 16-page document by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Pope Benedict once headed, described Christian Orthodox churches as true churches, but suffering from a 'wound' since they do not recognize the primacy of Pope.
But the document said the 'wound is still more profound' in Protestant denominations.
'Despite the fact that this teaching has created no little distress ... it is nevertheless difficult to see how the title of 'Church' could possibly be attributed to them,' it said."
Labels: freely speaking
The program would include license plate readers and 3,000 security cameras below Canal Street.
[...]
There is little evidence to suggest that security cameras deter crime or terrorists, said James J. Carafano, a senior fellow for homeland security at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research group in Washington.
For all its comprehensiveness, London’s Ring of Steel, which was built in the early 1990s to deter Irish Republican Army attacks, did not prevent the July 7, 2005, subway bombings or the attempted car bombings in London last month. But the British authorities said the cameras did prove useful in retracing the paths of the suspects’ cars last month, leading to several arrests.
While having 3,000 cameras whirring at the same time means loads of information will be captured, it also means there will be a lot of useless data to sift through. “The more hay you have, the harder it is to find the needle,” said Mr. Carafano.
Schäuble fordert Handy- und Internetverbot für TerrorverdächtigeSchäuble macht ernst: Für den Anti-Terror-Kampf fordert der Innenminister im Gespräch mit dem SPIEGEL eine deutliche Ausweitung der staatlichen Befugnisse. Seine Liste reicht von Handy- und Internetverboten bis zur vorsorglichen Internierung von Gefährdern."Man könnte beispielsweise einen Straftatbestand der Verschwörung einführen, wie in Amerika", sagte Schäuble im Gespräch mit dem SPIEGEL. Zudem denke er darüber nach, ob es Möglichkeiten gebe, "solche Gefährder zu behandeln wie Kombattanten und zu internieren".
Labels: freely speaking, justice
Labels: freely speaking
Labels: Hiddensee
Labels: Hiddensee
Just walk down the street to the inn for coffee and lunch...
This is the main street of the artists' and writers' town, the fashionable village of Kloster.
Labels: Hiddensee
Labels: freely speaking
Labels: Hiddensee
WE hold these Truths to be self-evident [...] all Men are created equal [...] certain unalienable Rights [...] among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness [...] to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted [...] deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed [...] [One] whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.
And here a video Fourth Of July to make you all envious:
Today we spent the morning on the beach (photos tomorrow) and yesterday, before the enchanting puppet production of Robinson Crusoe, included a nice hike in the hills at the islands north end, as shown here.
And the sun is still shining, so, with lunch over, we're off again.
Labels: Hiddensee
Beverly Sills, the acclaimed Brooklyn-born coloratura soprano who was more popular with the American public than any opera singer since Enrico Caruso, even among people who never set foot in an opera house, died last night at her home in Manhattan. She was 78.
Justin Lane for The New York Times
Beverly Sills in 2002, after coming out of retirement as chairwoman of Lincoln Center to lead the Metropolitan Opera
Unbelievably enough, while storms may be brewing elsewhere, we had a hazy sunny day yesterday, comfortable but not too hot; and the sun is shining this morning, though heavy thunderstorms are promised for the afternoon and evening. But then we're going to the puppet theater next door for their production of Robinson Crusoe, so who cares !
And here there are no cars (to be searched or feared), no airports (to wait in lines at or worry about attacks in), no trains (to miss because of wildcat strikes), no targets (to be hit by fundamentalists to defeat enlightenment), and no way on or off except by ferry from three easily controllable little harbors.
This is truly a little island paradise.
Yesterday we did the lighthouse and Enddorn; this morning we're going to do the Dornbusch hike up around the cliff edges to the west & north. And we're enjoying every minute of it.
Labels: Hiddensee
HIDDENSEE AT LAST
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From Hiddensee 2007 |
Labels: Hiddensee
Pew Global Attitudes Project: Summary of Findings: Global Unease With Major World Powers
Global Unease With Major World Powers
Rising Environmental Concern in 47-Nation Survey
Released: 06.27.07
A 47-nation survey finds global public opinion increasingly wary of the world's dominant nations and disapproving of their leaders. Anti-Americanism is extensive, as it has been for the past five years. At the same time, the image of China has slipped significantly among the publics of other major nations. Opinion about Russia is mixed, but confidence in its president, Vladimir Putin, has declined sharply. In fact, the Russian leader's negatives have soared to the point that they mirror the nearly worldwide lack of confidence in George W. Bush.
COPYRIGHT PEW RESEARCH CENTER
Pew Global Attitudes Project, a project of the PewResearchCenter
1615 L Street, NW Suite 700 Washington, DC 20036
p 202.419.4400 f 202.419.4399 e info@pewglobal.org
Labels: playpen
I was fortunate enough to have attended a fully integrated high school and to have had the opportunity to help create it. It is lamentable that future generations will perhaps no longer have the experience of learning and living with those OTHER from themselves. Education should not resign itself to being a mirror of the self, but always and only a window onto what the student himself is not.
Resegregation Now - New York Times
The Supreme Court ruled 53 years ago in Brown v. Board of Education that segregated education is inherently unequal, and it ordered the nation’s schools to integrate. Yesterday, the court switched sides and told two cities that they cannot take modest steps to bring public school students of different races together. It was a sad day for the court and for the ideal of racial equality.
[...]
There should be no mistaking just how radical this decision is. In dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens said it was his “firm conviction that no Member of the Court that I joined in 1975 would have agreed with today’s decision.” He also noted the “cruel irony” of the court relying on Brown v. Board of Education while robbing that landmark ruling of much of its force and spirit. The citizens of Louisville and Seattle, and the rest of the nation, can ponder the majority’s kind words about Brown as they get to work today making their schools, and their cities, more segregated.
Labels: freely speaking, justice
We're off Saturday for a week on our enchanted island of Hiddensee.
Finally a week just for us - to relax and enjoy all by ourselves !
And HERE'S THE LINK to the live webcam of the beach there from the fish restaurant we love to eat in!
Labels: Hiddensee
EU leaders clinch a deal on Reform Treaty
"An agreement on the reform of the EU institutions was reached at the European
Council in Brussels on 23 June. After two days of tough negotiations, EU leaders
agreed on a mandate for an Intergovernmental Conference which will draw up the
Reform Treaty by the end of 2007. If ratified, this treaty could enter into
force in June 2009, ahead of the next elections to the European Parliament."
This picture reveals a lot
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From CSD Berlin 2007 |
Labels: freely speaking, justice
The New York Times
Washington
At White House, Renewed Debate on Guantánamo
By HELENE COOPER and WILLIAM GLABERSON
Published: June 23, 2007
The Bush administration said top officials were once again debating how and when to close the detention facilities.
On Thursday night, in response to questions about the A.P. article, Gordon D. Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, issued an opaque statement that did not reflect the deep debate.
“The president has long expressed a desire to close the Guantánamo Bay detention facility and to do so in a responsible way,” his statement said. “A number of steps need to take place before that can happen, such as setting up military commissions and the repatriation to their home countries of detainees who have been cleared for release. These and other steps have not been completed. No decisions on the future of Guantánamo Bay are imminent and there will not be a White House meeting tomorrow.”
Labels: freely speaking, justice, playpen
And they shouldn't forget that Christopher Street Day is the day after tomorrow and that gay pride is powerful !
Equal rights for registered civil unions will be achieved; not even Bavaria is provinical enough to stop it. And this is Europe, not some uniformed parched tobacco field in the fundamentalist provinces of the south of the USA !
Bundestag Union: Kein gleiches Recht für schwule Paare in Deutschland - sueddeutsche.de:
Homosexuellen Partnerschaften sollen nach dem Willen der Union nicht dieselben Rechte wie einer Ehe eingeräumt werden. Ihr Koalitionspartner will trotzdem weiter an der rechtlichen Gleichstellung arbeiten. [...]
Der Parlamentarische Geschäftsführer der Grünen, Volker Beck, sagte, es gebe keinen Grund, Lebenspartner schlechter zu stellen als Ehepaare. Den vom CSU-Abgeordneten Georg Fahrenschon betonten besonderen Schutz von Ehe und Familie wies Beck als "alte Leier" zurück.
Labels: freely speaking, justice
Ever wonder how legends are made? Find out on Lil' Bush: Resident of the United States, the animated series that takes you back to the playground days of our 43rd president, George W. Bush. Enjoy the antics of Lil' George and his Lil' White House posse, including Lil' Condi, Lil' Rummy and that unintelligible, foulmouthed wisecracker, Lil' Cheney. They're like the Little Rascals with access to the A-bomb -- getting into mischief, learning stuff and meeting friends (Lil' Tony Blair) and foes (Lil' Kim Jong Il). Plus, they're always ready with a song. And some influential alternative rockers are grabbing the mic to provide guest voices, including Iggy Pop, Frank Black, Jeff Tweedy, Colin Meloy, Anthony Kiedis, Flea and Dave Grohl. Creator Donick Cary has written for The Simpsons and Just Shoot Me, and now takes Lil' Bush from its cult following on Amp'd Mobile to your TV screen. So join Lil’ George as he leads his lil’ cabinet and takes this dream team to elementary school political glory. The new show airs Wednesdays at 10:30p / 9:30c.
Labels: freely speaking, playpen
Laboratory for a Fortressed World
by Naomi Klein
[from the July 2, 2007 issue
of The Nation]
Gaza in the hands of Hamas, with masked militants sitting in the president's chair; the West Bank on the edge; Israeli army camps hastily assembled in the Golan Heights; a spy satellite over Iran and Syria; war with Hezbollah a hair trigger away; a scandal-plagued political class facing a total loss of public faith.
At a glance, things aren't going well for Israel. But here's a puzzle: Why, in the midst of such chaos and carnage, is the Israeli economy booming like it's 1999, with a roaring stock market and growth rates nearing China's?
It would indeed be nice to know a few more people are thinking as well ! Are you one ? Do you think ?
And here's a cartoon that says it all from Harpers's Magazine by Mr. Fish
Labels: freely speaking
Labels: freely speaking
Hamas takes control of Gaza The Guardian Guardian Unlimited
Palestinian militants from Hamas stand at the desk of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, inside Abbas's personal office after it was taken over by Hamas infighting in Gaza City. Photograph: Hatem Moussa/AP.
Labels: freely speaking, justice
Judges Say U.S. Can’t Hold Man as ‘Combatant’
By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: June 12, 2007
A federal appeals court ruled that the president may not declare civilians in this country “enemy combatants” and have the military hold them indefinitely.
- The New York Times
Labels: freely speaking, justice, playpen
BBC NEWS Programmes: Panorama
A Saudi prince who negotiated a £40bn arms deal between Britain and Saudi Arabia received secret payments for over a decade, a BBC probe has found.
The UK's biggest arms dealer, BAE Systems, paid hundreds of millions of pounds to the ex-Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar bin Sultan.
The payments were made with the full knowledge of the Ministry of Defence.
Prince Bandar would not comment on the investigation and BAE Systems said it acted lawfully at all times.
The MoD said information about the Al Yamamah deal was confidential.
[...]
"It is one thing for a company to have engaged in alleged corruption overseas. It is another thing if British government ministers have approved it."
Panorama will be broadcast on Monday 11 June 2007 2030 BST
Labels: freely speaking
And we can rest assured Sarkozy had only had water to drink during his talks with Putin behind the expensive playpen fence at the Baltic Sea ...
Labels: freely speaking
Guantánamo is illegal, injust, and a disgrace for the United States.
Close it and raise charges against any inmates for whom that may be applicable and try them in a court of LAW. That would be "bringing them to justice".
Even the "military judges" created by the bushbaby playpen now rule against the very system they were appointed to act within, dismissing the charges raised there as groundless.
See, too, this correct editorial from the NYTimes: "Gitmo: A National Disgrace"
And meanwhile, they start their playpen session in the fenced off sanctuary on the Baltic coast without public opinion having any chance of approaching them.
Perhaps Angie or Sarko or the blairing lapdog or Proding or Putt-Putt or Chin-Chin will tell the bushbaby a thing or two
... about anything...
climate,
freedom,
justice,
democracy.
Even though taking advice from some of those sources on some of those topics, that bushbaby would be admitting how very little he knows about the subjects.
Labels: freely speaking, justice, playpen
The New York Times
International / Americas
Military Judges Dismiss Charges for 2 Detainees
By WILLIAM GLABERSON
Published: June 5, 2007
The rulings, the latest legal setbacks for the government’s effort to bring war crimes charges against detainees, could stall the military’s prosecutions at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
Labels: freely speaking, playpen
Between the bushbaby and pouting putin, we're on the way to a new nuclear arms race with fundamentalist terrorists waiting with bated breath for the goodies that, as a result, may well fall into their bloody hands. Anybody remember that we might should work together for enlightenment and human rights against the obscurantists ready to enslave us all?
Labels: freely speaking, playpen
Labels: Berlin, freely speaking, playpen
Here's where we went for a walk in the morning:
Here's where Detlef took me out to eat for lunch:And one shot of me there, too:
Hausvogteiplatz 11Thai, Asian / FusionThe three Good Time Restaurants have independently developed a good reputation for Thai food amongst Berliners - pretty amazing considering that a new Thai restaurant opens here every eight seconds. Little surprise really as the food quality here is high. All fruit and vegetables are flown-in daily and prepared and cooked traditionally by experienced chefs. Half the menu is also Indonesian - a refreshing mix-up for the Berlin gastronomy scene. Meals range from 12€ - 18€, lunch is cheaper. The fresh juices also give you a taste of the tropics. Hausvogteiplatz 11, Mitte, U2 Hausvogteiplatz.
von Friedrich SchillerDie Liebesgeschichte von Ferdinand und Luise ist von Beginn an eine Problembeziehung: Er ist adlig, reich und macht Karriere. Sie ist bürgerlich, arm und fromm.Luise sieht das Unheil heraufziehen, doch Ferdinand klammert sich blind an seine Utopie der alles besiegenden Liebe – und wird so zum gefundenen Opfer für die Neider und Intriganten, die ihn mit Lady Milford, der Konkubine des Fürsten, verkuppeln wollen. Kann man sich dieser Welt und dem Druck der Gewalt moralisch erwehren? Mit Luise stellt Schiller diese Frage und lässt die anderen Figuren des Stücks Antwort geben – das die nicht schön ausfällt, ist kein Wunder. An ein Wunder aber grenzt die moderne Klarheit und pathetische Eindringlichkeit von Schillers ausufernder Sprache: ein Klassiker, der noch heute wütend macht. Präsidentin von Walter: Ruth Reinecke, Ferdinand: Florian Stetter, Hofmarschall von Kalb: Michael Klammer, Lady Milford: Hilke Altefrohne, Wurm: Ronald Kukulies, Miller: Robert Kuchenbuch, Luise: Hanna Eichel, Ein Kammerdiener: Michael Klammer, Regie -Florian Fiedler, Bühne -Annette Riedel, Kostüme -Selina Peyer, Dramaturgie -Ludwig Haugk
Labels: Berlin
U.S. officials have raised a second round of unusually bluntly worded objections to a proposed global-warming declaration that Germany prepared for next month's Group of Eight summit, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.
Representatives from the world's leading industrial nations met the past two days in Heiligendamm, Germany, to negotiate over German Chancellor Angela Merkel's proposed statement, which calls for limiting the worldwide temperature rise this century to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit and cutting global greenhouse gas emissions to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Bush administration officials, who raised similar objections in April, rejected the idea of setting mandatory emissions targets as well as language calling for G-8 nations to raise overall energy efficiencies by 20 percent by 2020. With less than two weeks remaining, said sources familiar with the talks, the climate document is the only unresolved issue in the statements the world leaders are expected to sign at the June 6-8 summit.
"The U.S. still has serious, fundamental concerns about this draft statement," a paper dated May 14 states. "The treatment of climate change runs counter to our overall position and crosses multiple 'red lines' in terms of what we simply cannot agree to. . . . We have tried to 'tread lightly' but there is only so far we can go given our fundamental opposition to the German position."
Labels: freely speaking, playpen
«Auf uns kommt es an, [...] ob wir die Sterblichen sein können, die wir sind, nämlich die, die im Zuspruch des Seins stehen. Nur solche Wesen vermögen zu sterben, d.h. den Tod als Tod zu übernehmen.»
[MH: Der Satz vom Grund, S. 209]It is up to us whether or not we can be the mortals we are, namely, the ones standing in Being's comforting-addressing ascription. Only such human-selves are capable of dying, i.e. of taking on death as death. [my own translation]
One month ago today, the Countess gathered her life together into a collected graceful completion.
Labels: countess, freely speaking, Heidegger
... and glad not to have to do anything today!
... and glad the wolf is out of the meadow!
... and glad the sun is shining!
... and ready just to doze off with a good book.
Labels: freely speaking
Allocution de M. Nicolas SARKOZY, Président de la République, à l'occasion de la cérémonie d’installation
"Je ferai de la défense des droits de l'homme et de la lutte contre le réchauffement climatique les priorités de l'action diplomatique de la France dans le monde."
At the linked site, video and audio transmissions of the speech are also available. Whatever one thought before the election, we should all carefully listen to this speech in order to know exactly what was said and to what one may in future hold this new president accountable.
Labels: freely speaking
[MH: GA, Bd.67, S.262]Was ist heute größer —
das Mißwollen gegen das Denken
oder das Mißvergnügen am Denken
oder die Mißleitung im Denken
oder die Angst vor dem Denken
oder das Unvermögen zum Denken (womit nicht die persönliche Unfähigkeit zur Denktätigkeit gemeint ist)
oder sind gar alle gleich groß, weil sie das Selbe sind?
Die Folge eines Auslassen der Wahrheit des Seins — das Un-mögen des Seins. »
Labels: freely speaking, Heidegger
... you can still sing along with this group of jubilant nuns. Let music reign!
And credit is due here, for sharing this with me, to the Lady-in-Waiting and to her friend in her choral group who put her onto it.
La chronique de Philippe SOLLERS
Le journal du mois
Paru dans le JDD, Lundi 30 Avril 2007
>Le mauvais rêve du mois dernier continue. Après mon interrogatoire éprouvant au ministère de l'Identité nationale, me voici maintenant convoqué au ministère du Contrôle génétique. Le nouveau président de la République française, Nicolas Sarkozy, vient de l'inaugurer, et ça va chauffer.
Labels: freely speaking
The New York Times
Editorial
The Democrats’ Pledge
Published: May 9, 2007
[...] let’s be clear. There is nothing “conservative” or “tough on terrorism” in selectively stripping people of their rights. [...]
Democratic leaders must make promised measures to restore habeas corpus a priority and members of both parties must vote on principle, not out of fear of attack ads.
Labels: justice
Warschauer Pakt 2007 – Solidaritätsaktion für den CSD in Warschau
Die Initiative Warschauer Pakt 2007 wird auch in diesem Jahr die „Parade der Gleichheit" aktiv unterstützen. Die Parade wird am 19. Mai 2007 in Warschau stattfinden. Nähere Informationen werden fortlaufend hier sowie auf der polnisch/deutschen Website der Veranstalter veröffentlicht. Aktuelle Stimmungsbilder und praktische Infos (zum Beispiel wo es T-Shirts für die Demo gibt) findet sich auf unserem WarschauerPakt-Blog.
Labels: justice
Le duel BHL-Glucksmann
Bernard-Henri Lévy (for Royal) and André Glucksmann (for Sarkozy) debate the issues at stake, and one can hope they will continue to exert influence with their voices now that the vote has gone to Sarko.
Here, it is warm and sunny and we have friends to meet who also need some support, one in a relationship crisis, others amidst trauma therapy, and we hope to have a nice walk in the countryside...
Time to share, and glad we are together to do so!
"Pour Ségolène Royal et contre Nicolas Sarkozy", un appel d'intellectuels de gauche avant le second tour de la présidentielle.
Labels: freely speaking
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From Mourning the ... |
Labels: countess
New York Times - Editorial
Still Waiting for Answers
Published: April 29, 2007
Why, after all this time, are Americans still in the dark about many of the Bush administration’s most important decisions? [...]
The country does not need any more myths. It needs answers.
Labels: countess
Bill Moyers Journal . Buying the War . Additional Interviews PBS
Four years ago on May 1, President Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln wearing a flight suit and delivered a speech in front of a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner. He was hailed by media stars as a "breathtaking" example of presidential leadership in toppling Saddam Hussein. Despite profound questions over the failure to locate weapons of mass destruction and the increasing violence in Baghdad, many in the press confirmed the White House's claim that the war was won. MSNBC's Chris Matthews declared, "We're all neo-cons now;" NPR's Bob Edwards said, "The war in Iraq is essentially over;" and Fortune magazine's Jeff Birnbaum said, "It is amazing how thorough the victory in Iraq really was in the broadest context."
...
"Buying the War" examines the press coverage in the lead-up to the war as evidence of a paradigm shift in the role of journalists in democracy and asks, four years after the invasion, what's changed? "More and more the media become, I think, common carriers of administration statements and critics of the administration," says THE WASHINGTON POST's Walter Pincus. "We've sort of given up being independent on our own."
After the Lawyers - New York Times
Editorial
Published: April 27, 2007
It can be hard to tell whom the Bush administration considers more of an enemy at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp: the prisoners or the lawyers. [...]
Mr. Bush thinks that he has the right to ignore the Constitution when it suits him. But this is a nation of laws, not the whims of men, and giving legal rights to the guilty as well as the innocent is a price of true justice. The only remedy is for lawmakers to rewrite the Military Commissions Act to restore basic rights to Guantánamo Bay and to impose full accountability for what has happened there.
As this report on the antidemocratic, unjust, and unconstitutional - and completely arrogant - "requests" of the Justice Department from the New York Times confirms, the bushbaby playpen still blocks any and all efforts to bring suspected terrorists to justice, which of course means charging them, providing a speedy and fair trial, and a judgement on guilt or innocence from a fair and impartial court.
(And why is anyone in favor of Gonzales keeping his ill-fitted post?)
The New York Times
Washington
Court Asked to Limit Lawyers at Guantánamo
By WILLIAM GLABERSON
Published: April 26, 2007
A Justice Department filing in a federal appeals court proposes limits on lawyers’ contact with their clients and access to secret evidence in their cases.
[...]
“These rules,” Mr. Hafetz of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University said, “are an effort to restore Guantánamo to its prior status as a legal black hole.”
Rose Tyson Gardner, 80, died Saturday, April 21, 2007, following a brief illness.[...]Memorial services will be held Saturday, April 28, at 4 p.m. at West Haven Presbyterian Church, Rocky Mount, conducted by the Rev. Connie Button. The family will receive friends in the Fellowship Hall at 3 p.m. before the service. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials are made to Hospice and Palliative Care of Nash General Hospital, West Haven Presbyterian Church or leukemia research. Arrangements are entrusted to Bowling Funeral Home and Crematory, 661 English Road, Rocky Mount, NC 27804.Published in the Rocky Mount Telegram on 4/25/2007.
Labels: countess
LIBÉRATION
Présidentielle. Les leçons du scrutin. Editorial
Le choix de la clarté
Par Laurent JOFFRIN
QUOTIDIEN : lundi 23 avril 2007
La France a sauvé la gauche. En dépit d'une campagne incertaine et des poignards venus de son propre camp, Ségolène Royal approche les scores de François mitterrand au premier tour, ce qui lui laisse tous les espoirs au second, dans cette élection où on la disait mal placée, malhabile, maladroite. Vote utile ? Pas seulement. Après tout, beaucoup pensaient que le vrai vote utile s'appelait François Bayrou. Les Français ont jugé, d'abord, qu'on ne pouvait pas effacer de notre mémoire tant de luttes populaires, tant de conquêtes chèrement obtenues, qu'on ne pouvait pas rayer de l'avenir l'ancienne espérance d'un monde plus juste. Royal qualifiée sans conteste, le rêve vit toujours.
La France a aussi choisi la clarté. Une droite franche affrontera au second tour une gauche qui doit faire le pari du renouveau. Ce duel salutaire est celui de toutes les démocraties modernes. La France a inventé la configuration droite-gauche pendant la Révolution. Fidèle à elle-même, elle a jugé que l'outil pouvait encore servir, dans un monde où la question sociale et celle de la liberté individuelle face aux pouvoirs restent les deux grands marqueurs de la civilisation des droits de l'homme. La vaste mobilisation civique survenue dans une nation qu'on disait désabusée, fatiguée de la classe politique, ajoute encore à l'aveuglante clarté de la volonté populaire. Au-delà du souvenir douloureux de 2002, les Français ont voulu que s'ouvrent devant eux deux chemins, nettement dessinés sur la carte de l'Histoire. Ce choix n'enlève rien au
mérite des autres candidats, hommes et femmes de talent éliminés dans une compétition loyale. Ils ont exprimé des sensibilités fortes. Ils pèseront sur le choix ultime. Encore faut-il que ce choix reste clair. On le sait, l'élection de Sarkozy serait une rupture. Faisant preuve d'une roublardise certaine n'est-il pas aussi l'homme du passif ? , l'intéressé n'en a pas fait mystère. Pour la première fois, une droite qui dit son nom se présente à visage découvert devant l'électeur. Autorité de l'Etat, fermeté policière, fermeture migratoire, ouverture marchande, repli identitaire : le programme est affiché. Tant mieux, au fond. Nous savons à quoi nous en tenir. La France veut-elle de cette droite-là au pouvoir ? La question est limpide. A condition que les masques restent au vestiaire. Lesté d'une bonne part des électeurs de Le Pen, le candidat de l'UMP va maintenant chercher à rassurer. A son projet néoconservateur, Nicolas Sarkozy va, à coup sûr, accrocher quelques guirlandes progressistes, quelques fanfreluches sociales. Laissez venir à moi les petits centristes. Dans la campagne qui commence, il faudra se souvenir de la campagne qui s'est achevée samedi. Dans son discours inaugural fort bon au demeurant , Sarkozy avait évoqué les mânes de Victor Hugo et de la république valeureuse. Puis, au fil des meetings et des incidents, il a droitisé son discours. Il avait débuté avec Jaurès. Il a fini avec Le Pen. Ne l'oublions pas. Pour autant, la gauche ne peut pas se contenter de ces utiles rappels. Sarkozy est très à droite, d'accord. Mais cette élection ne saurait se changer trivialement en référendum sur un homme, aussi symbolique soit-il. A un projet négatif, il faut opposer un projet positif. La madone des meetings ne peut pas se contenter de pointer du doigt le méchant Sarkozy. Elle doit défendre des mesures, des propositions, des décisions. Pas celles de la vieille gauche, épuisée par la gestion et une certaine forme de cynisme. Il faut réduire vraiment cette fois la fracture sociale, réconcilier une France fragmentée, mettre le service public au service du public, relancer l'entreprise pour relancer l'embauche, rassurer les faibles et intimider les forts, bref, au-delà d'une posture démocratique et d'une sensibilité à l'opinion, avoir une vision. Le combat s'engage. Un combat Royal.
© Libération
Labels: freely speaking
Deadlines, War Money and Pork - New York Times
Editorial
Deadlines, War Money and Pork
Published: April 23, 2007
President Bush is taking every opportunity to rail against the troop withdrawal deadlines in the war-spending bills that Congress is readying for passage.
Labels: playpen
A l'alta fantasia qui mancò possa;
ma già volgeva il mio disio e'l velle,
sì come rota ch'igualmente è mossa,
l'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle.
Here vigour fail'd the tow'ring fantasy:
But yet the will roll'd onward, like a wheel
In even motion, by the Love impell'd,
That moves the sun in heav'n and all the stars.
L’imagination perdit ici ses forces ;
mais déjà mon envie avec ma volonté
tournaient comme une roue aux ordres de l’amour
qui pousse le soleil et les autres étoiles.
Hier war die Macht der Phantasie bezwungen,
Doch Wunsch und Will’, in Kraft aus ew’ger
Ferne, Ward, wie ein Rad, gleichmäßig umgeschwungen,
Durch Liebe, die beweget Sonn’ und Sterne.
- Dante Alighieri
Labels: countess
Thank you, Countess.We all love you, too.Rose Tyson GardnerAugust 30, 1926 - April 21, 2007
Labels: countess
If this doesn't make you understand that fundamentalists are something beyond either Islam or Christianity, then your world may well be ending tomorrow!
Watch the trailer and I'll be looking for the film in total.
Hopefully we may have a chance to teach some of those kids, because up to now they're only being indoctrinated.
Teach them literature! Teach them to READ books, ALL books, as many as they can get there hands on.
And beware of people ready to die for their gods!
Das Ewige ist das Einstige und zwar in dem wesenhaft-einigen Doppelsinn des vormalig-gewesenen Anfangs und des einstmals Kommenden. Nicht die Langeweile einer still gelegten und überallhin endlosen Gegenwart.
The eternal is the former (or: what "once was") and, to be precise, in the intrinsically united (or: the "essentially being one with itself") double meaning of the beginning that has previously been and of that which formerly was ("once was") to come. Not the boredom (or: "long enduring while") of some present rendered motionless (or: "laid to rest", or: "closed down") and endless in all directions.
L'éternel est le jadis (ce qu'il y avait une fois) et, précisément, dans le sens double essentiellement unifié du commencement qu'il y avait auparavant et de ce qui une fois était à venir. Non pas l'ennui (la durée longue, le perdurer) d'un présent figé et partout sans fin.
The Countess had decided to have no more transfusions; the strain provides her no benefit though her counts be low. The Countess is resting a lot, from pain medications and from the sapping of leukemia. The Countess is at peace and peaceful and nearing peace.
Time-Space is not endless, but eternal, not long, but vast, always beginning. And man is there to realize this, to be human, to share.
It was the Countess who taught me how to read.
Labels: countess, freely speaking, Heidegger
I don't believe there is any inherent value in the cultivation of the self. And I think there is no culture (using the term normatively) without a standard of altruism, of regard for others. I do believe there is an inherent value in extending our sense of what a human life can be. If literature has engaged me as a project, first as reader and then as writer, it is as an extension of my sympathies to others selves, other domains, other dreams, other words, other territories of concern.
Labels: countess, freely speaking, justice
Writing is reading what I am not, as is reading a contact with what I am not. In both expressions, the key words are BEING and NOT, or nothingness.
There where I am not is where I write and read to and from. So that not is not nothing: nothingness is certainly not nothing.
BEING essentially from the abyss of enowning truth into being from nothingness, only apparently a circle, indeed a gigantic spiral: the screw turns down into its base while spiraling upward with each turn. The base does not precede, it is enowned: from abyss to "byss", from the truth of being to the being of truth. Man is enowned in being-there to catch flashes of that enowning, Being, Nothingness, Truth.
It isn't confused; it is different:
The other beginning.
Welcome.
In the hopes the bushbaby might listen finally if the whole world petitions him directly, check out this short petition from avaaz.org calling for immediate closure of the lawless prison in Guantánamo.
Here, the text of the petition:
Here, a link for you to sign the petition online:Petition to US President Bush: We call upon US President Bush to close Guantanamo Bay prison forever. Every detainee should be charged with a crime and tried in a legitimate court or immediately released. We further call on President Bush to respect international law and basic human rights in the handling of all current and future prisoners in US custody.
Avaaz.org is a community of global citizens who take action on the major issues facing the world today. The aim of Avaaz.org is to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people shape global decisions. Avaaz.org members act for a more just and peaceful world and a globalisation with a human face.
As Harper's reports, the playpen sometimes denies those who disagree with the bushbaby access to their flights at times - or at least displaces their luggage. So watch out what you say or write or maybe even read and just keep hoping you can board your next flight! Harper's Magazine On 1 March 07, I was scheduled to fly on American Airlines to Newark, NJ, to attend an academic conference at Princeton University, designed to focus on my latest scholarly book, onstitutional Democracy, published by Johns Hopkins University Press this past Thanksgiving.
Murphy relates that he did eventually get a boarding pass and caught his flight. An attendant warned him: “they're going to ransack your luggage.” On the way back, his luggage was “lost.” Writes Murphy: “Airlines do lose a lot of luggage and this 'loss' could have been a mere coincidence. In light of previous events, however, I'm a tad skeptical.”
No Comment
Tales from Stasiland: Making the No-Fly List
by Scott Horton, April 9, 2007
Meet the latest addition to the Bush Administration's Enemies List: His name is Walter F. Murphy. He is the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence emeritus at Princeton University, and perhaps the nation's leading scholar working on the frontier turf between public law and political science. He's also a retired Marine Corps colonel, wounded in combat
for his country and decorated for valor under fire.
Over at Balkinization, Mark Graber treats us to Prof. Murphy's first-hand account:
When I tried to use the curb-side check in at the Sunport, I was denied a boarding pass because I was on the Terrorist Watch list. I was instructed to go inside and talk to a clerk...
I presented my credentials from the Marine Corps to a very polite clerk for American Airlines. One of the two people to whom I talked asked a question and offered a frightening comment: “Have you been in any peace marches? We ban a lot of people from flying because of that.” I explained that I had not so marched but had, in September, 2006, given a lecture at Princeton, televised and put on the Web, highly critical of George Bush for his many violations of the Constitution. “That'll do it,” the man said.
Labels: playpen