D-DAY 2012....and a story by Z about D DAY

HOW THE D-DAY INVASION WOULD BE REPORTED BY TODAY'S MEDIA
(hat tip: Art Yerty)(Z: whoever he is, thanks!)

NORMANDY, FRANCE (June 6, 1944) Three hundred French civilians were killed and thousands more were wounded today in the first hours of America's invasion of continental Europe. Casualties were heaviest among women and children. Most of the French casualties were the result of artillery fire from American ships attempting to knock out German fortifications prior to the landing of hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops. Reports from a makeshift hospital in the French town of St. Mere Eglise said the carnage was far worse than the French had anticipated, and that reaction against the American invasion was running high. "We are dying for no reason, "said a Frenchman speaking on condition of anonymity. "Americans can't even shoot straight. I never thought I'd say this, but life was better under Adolph Hitler."  (Z:  Think Saddam Hussein!)
The invasion also caused severe environmental damage. American troops, tanks, trucks and machinery destroyed miles of pristine shoreline and thousands of acres of ecologically sensitive wetlands. It was believed that the habitat of the spineless French crab was completely wiped out, thus threatening the species with extinction. A representative of Greenpeace said his organization, which had tried to stall the invasion for over a year, was appalled at the destruction, but not surprised. "This is just another example of how the military destroys the environment without a second thought," said Christine Moanmore. "And it's all about corporate greed."  (Z: Think Al Gore and the the OWS!)

Contacted at his Manhattan condo, a member of the French government-in-exile who abandoned Paris when Hitler invaded, said the invasion was based solely on American financial interests. "Everyone knows that President Roosevelt has ties to 'big beer'," said Pierre LeWimp. "Once the German beer industry is conquered, Roosevelt's beer cronies will control the world market and make a fortune."

Administration supporters said America's aggressive actions were based in part on the assertions of controversial scientist Albert Einstein, who sent a letter to Roosevelt speculating that the Germans were developing a secret weapon -- a so-called "atomic bomb". Such a weapon could produce casualties on a scale never seen before, and cause environmental damage that could last for thousands of years. Hitler has denied having such a weapon and international inspectors were unable to locate such weapons even after spending two long weekends in Germany. Shortly after the invasion began, reports surfaced that German prisoners had been abused by American soldiers. Mistreatment of Jews by Germans at their so-called "concentration camps" has been rumored, but so far this remains unproven. (Z:  Think Iraq and nukes)

Several thousand Americans died during the first hours of the invasion, and French officials are concerned that the uncollected corpses will pose a public-health risk. "The Americans should have planned for this in advance," they said. 'It's their mess, and we don't intend to help clean it up." (end of article)  (Z: think American liberal blogs, MSNBC, etc etc etc)

Z:  It does sound like the NEW YORK TIMES, doesn't it?  I thought this piece was was very well done and wanted to share it. 

Click HERE and see my story about the true reaction of the French to our invasion...out of the mouths of a Normandy native.   I hope you like it;  it was a very touching moment to me while living in Paris.

z

Radicalized or not?

From THIS article on the Toulouse, France killings:

(to the left is very pretty 8 yr old Miriam Monsonego, the daughter of the principal of the Jewish school....the killer cornered her and put a gun to her head and shot)

"French president Nicolas Sarkozy called for unity in France Thursday following the dramatic shootout that killed Toulouse gunman Mohamed Merah after a 32-hour standoff. Merah, a 23-year-old Frenchman of Algerian descent, had admitted Wednesday to negotiators that he had killed three children and their teacher and three French paratroopers, prosecutors said. And indeed, they said they found videotapes he had made of the killings in his apartment.
But French officials were facing sharp questions in the wake of the Toulouse killing spree, in particular about why they had failed to close in on Merah earlier.
The 23-year-old Toulouse mechanic had traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan at least twice, most recently in 2011. He claimed to have trained in jihadi camps in Waziristan, according to French prosecutors Thursday, who said he had also proclaimed allegiance to al-Qaida. Merah was also well-known to Toulouse law enforcement, having been convicted on numerous nonterrorism related crimes, like purse snatching, for which he served a year in prison. Indeed, his attorney reportedly said this week that at their last meeting a couple months ago, he had advised Merah to be on his best behavior because he had recently returned from Afghanistan and would be on the police's radar. (Merah had been picked up for driving without a license.)
"That is one of the big questions people in France are asking coming out of this," Christophe Bauer, a producer at French broadcaster France 24, told Yahoo News Thursday. "There's a sense he just came back from Afghanistan. French officials said they had been tracking him. But what does that tracking mean? Apparently, the French intelligence services in Toulouse talked to him when he got back from Afghanistan."

I hadn't followed this closely and thought he'd gone into a Jewish school or something and started shooting but he apparently had these poor victims, including 3 children, in his apartment and videotaped their killings.  This is unspeakable horror that's hard to grapple with, isn't it."

SO...what do we do?  This is a perfect example of why so many in Western society are justifiably on guard of Muslims.  Yet, we hear so many remind us that not all Muslims are terrorists as if any of us thought that was a palm to forehead revelation?     Here we go:

-he is a Muslim
-he was in Afghanistan at least twice. (have we closed any of those camps down yet?)
-he was in Pakistan at least twice.
-he claims to have studied jihad in Waziristan
-he's proclaimed allegiance to Al Qaeda
-French intel had been tracking him, they'd spoken to him upon his return from Afghanistan.

SO:

-what can they ask during intel interrogation?
-how can you tell if someone's lying?  Think he'll tell the truth?
-had he sworn Al Qaeda allegiance at those encounters with French terrorism experts?
-are people afraid to do anything because he's a muslim?

Do you think we're any different than the French are?    Trust me, I lived there, and they can ask a LOT more than we can, and take steps our citizens would find go against our liberties.  And THEY MISSED IT.

Now we'll have liberals suggest he's a 'one off' nut..."there you go again blaming all Muslims..."

Do you see that there's nothing we can do?  Does anybody see why some Americans and Europeans say "We can't take any more in, they can't be trusted?"   How WILL we know enough to stop killings like this...or FAR FAR more awful?

What a hideous situation islam has put us in. Not US, them.  All of them?  Some of you think so.  I do not.  But, it doesn't matter.  One lone crazed muslim killed a little eight year old blonde girl  by shooting her in the head.   That's enough.

z

The 4th Amendment be damned?

There is THIS from Indiana, and THIS from California.

The Indiana case is even worse than California's.  Look at this:

 INDIANAPOLIS | Overturning a common law dating back to the English Magna Carta of 1215, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Hoosiers have no right to resist unlawful police entry into their homes.

Z:  At least in California it seems that they can "only" enter your home if you're suspected of having driven under the influence, which is still horrible, of course (the DUI and the entrance):

 (AP) SAN FRANCISCO Police may enter Californians' homes without warrants to arrest those suspected of driving under the influence, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a case testing the scope of the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.


The 6-1 decision follows similar rulings in about a dozen other states. A dissenting justice said the majority handed authorities a "free pass" to unlawfully enter private homes and arrest people without warrants.


Under the Fourth Amendment, authorities are prohibited from entering a home and making an arrest without a warrant unless so-called "exigent" circumstances are present. Those include "hot pursuit" of a fleeing felon, imminent destruction of evidence and the risk of danger to the police or other persons inside or outside of a house, among others.


In this case, Justice Marvin Baxter wrote that the loss of evidence at issue was obtaining a measurement of the suspect's blood-alcohol level. Baxter added that a contrary ruling would allow "the corruption of evidence that occurs when the suspect takes advantage of any delay to ingest more alcohol -- or to claim to have done so -- or when the suspect evades police capture until he or she is no longer intoxicated."


Baxter and the majority was cautious in saying the decision would not give police carte blanche powers.

Z: I want to thank Carol at HER BLOG for bringing these things to my attention...   Is anybody who lives in Indiana hearing about your situation, which seems EONS worse that in California?  By the way, in California, I can go along with the situation described above because if someone runs from their car into their house while drunk and then a warrant must be served, the breath test will be invalid after some time; the alcohol dissipates with time....so is this as bad as it sounds?  As bad as Indiana's laws?

Since Carol had already blogged it at her excellent blog, I'd have hesitated to post this at all (though I think it needs even more exposure) but I post it so I can tell this funny and very true story:

Most of you know I had the amazing experience of living in Paris for four years.   At one social event, there was a policewoman there who told me something I wanted to share with you.  In France, search and seizure is a daily thing; they see something they feel is endangering or bothersome to people and the cops  take care of it, whether it's into one's home or one's car.   It's been done there forever and they don't look at it as unusual...EXCEPT, the policewoman told me the French love American "crimmies", or TV CRIME STORIES, and I laughed my head off when she told me "Now, we say we are coming in and the people inside say 'Do you have a warrant?'   We have to tell them 'we are in FRANCE, not America, we do not need a warrant, let us IN!"    She had to laugh, too!  I thought that was hilarious........and it seemed fitting for the situations above. (I must admit she didn't laugh quite as hard as I did). 

But, let's go back to America........What's your take on these Fourth Amendment situations?   How can Americans allow this to happen?  Is the California ruling as bad as Indiana's?  What's next?

geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeZ

Multiculturalism....how's that working for Western Societies?

This is absolutely horrible.......MULTICULTURALISM doesn't WORK.  What more do we need to understand this?

Pretty bad, isn't it.   Can you comment without slamming all Muslims..or all of the French? You know  all of that can happen here.  Can you comment on the video and give constructive ideas for solutions?  Could Christians and Jews meet with Muslims to get them to try to stop the worst among them?
thanks..


z

Topless Family fun?

I just heard a television travel hostess, Laura McKenzie, talking about the Moulin Rouge in Paris. She said "And, yes, it's topless, but it's a HEALTHY TOPLESS, you can bring the whole FAMILY!" with a little grin.
Tell me, if you knew a French Review was topless but not, let's say, gratuitous (or intimate)?....Would you take a family of kids in who were elementary school or high school age?
I'm curious...........thanks!
z

HOW could I not post THIS?

6. 000 French people came out on June 11 for The Dinner in White..."bring your own white table, chairs, wear white and bring your food and wine..." No public announcements are made, it's just word of mouth, then they announce where to meet and when. This is apparently a yearly deal but we lived there 4 years and never heard of it. For those of you who know Paris, it's on the Place de la Concorde. We DID attend the "pique-nique" which had one picnic table stretching from the South to the North of France which was fun! Please, no anti-French comments..RESTRAIN yourselves (Beamish, that means you!)..........we just thought this picture was amazing! Joi de vivre! A votre Sante! Why not have a WHITE DINNER in your neighborhood? (Oh, that's right, 'racist'...oh, brother!)
z

"Let them eat cake...AFTER someone tastes it for poison..."

UPDATE: A dear friend emails me tonight reminding me "What about when Obama had PIZZA sent in from, I think, St. Louis? Any food taster THEN?" GOOD POINT!

Check THIS OUT from Agence France Presse....They are GLOWING at the Obama visit, or so it seems. They seem surprised that the Obama's paid for their meal, too. One Frenchman said he felt like he'd 'seen God'...I guess that's pretty popular lately?(make sure you watch that, by the way...thanks, Always On Watch).

Yes, the piece about the restaurant meal 'forgot' to report about the food taster. But, see the second link,...it happened.

What I'D like to know is who the sacrificial lamb who was willing to die for Obama is and how much they paid him? I wouldn't do that....even for French food, and that's saying something!

IN THE INTEREST OF FAIRNESS: Blogger Wordsmith from Nantucket comments that Bush did this once, too, in London....Yes, the Brits were not happy then, either..(article linked by Wordsmith on my comment page) ..If I were that nervous, I don't know WHAT I'd do; eat at one's own embassy, I guess? But, you could get a nut who passed all clearance there, too. Anybody have a better solution? (be polite :-) (Mr. Z, do NOT respond to this!! )

z

"In Normandy, we LOVE the Americans..........."

A true story we can all be proud of:
At ten thirty, she sweeps up the torn Metro tickets, the crumpled, empty cigarette packs, and paper sugar cube covers. I watch her every morning, as my husband and I have our morning café crème and baguette with butter. That is to say, as my husband has those delicious things, and I have a bitter, black café with cold water, a taste combination I have grown to savor. We say “bonjour” to everybody who’s behind the counter as we walk in, the proprietor, Serge, the black-vested barman, Brigitte, the blonde woman with a braid down her back which brushes her waist, and a little blonde woman with overly pinked cheeks. Every morning, it’s “bonjour,” or “merci, au revoir”, when we leave through the crowds standing at the bar getting their morning fix of caffeine and nicotine. She never leaves the back of the bar except to sweep, and we’ve never come to know her name.

We do know the names of our favorite servers we have come to know since we’ve lived near the Place Victor Hugo in Paris. We have felt like family for the last year, with Jean Paul, Mayda, and Jean Claude. They kiss our cheeks, or my hand, as we come in every morning, or on the evenings when we have dinner there. We talk about recipes, discussing the benefits of adding an egg yolk to mashed potatoes, or chestnuts to red cabbage at Christmas (Jean Paul went almost down to his knees in rapture when he talked about that!).

In the 2 ½ years we’ve come in to the café, I know the little blonde woman with the rouged cheeks has learned we’re not French…one only has to listen to my ‘Bon Jour’ to know that. I like to think that whatever else Jean Paul or Mayda might have said about us is kind. We have deep affection for these people and I think they do for us, too.

This morning, the blonde woman and I spoke for the first time. My husband and I sat fairly close to the bar and she had to sweep around our table so I lifted my purse off the ground to get it out of her way. “Don’t move, Madame, it is fine there,” she said in French. My husband made a comment about the mess on the floor, “there are ashtrays on the tables, why are there cigarette butts on the floor?” he complained. “The Parisians,” she said. “I’m from Normandy. You won’t see this there. Have you been there?”

“Normandy,” I said, “yes, we have been there. There are so many beautiful towns, and I love the specialties in Normandy, all the wonderful butter and cream, the blanquette de veau.” She looked proud. Tell the French you love their food, they’ll be yours forever. “Ah, oui, blanquette de veau…c’est magnifique!” She dragged her broom around floor under my chair and then stopped again. “In Normandy, we love the Americans,” she said, smiling.

“OH, I don’t think so!” I said to her..“I thought the French don’t usually like Americans,” I said, baiting her a bit but enjoying the compliment. She stopped sweeping, held the broom straight up in front of her, and looked directly into my eyes. “In Normandy we do…we will never forget what the Americans did for us. In Normandy, we like the Americans very much.”

I watched as she continued sweeping. She looked up from the floor and caught my eyes again, “very much.” I was almost moved to tears. She stopped again, leaning the broom stick in the cradle of her arm. “In Normandy, we have a statue of Patton….THIS high,” she gestured to about 7 feet in the air. We will never forget what the Americans did for us. Maybe in Paris they forget, but never in Normandy.” Suddenly, I felt seven feet tall, too.

I watched the blonde woman as she finished sweeping and brushed everything into the dustpan and into the trash. She put her broom away in the corner and went back behind the bar where she, again, became a one-woman perpetual café machine……never stopping, never ceasing to be pleasant, to offer a croissant, telling people to have a good day “bonne journee!” on their way out.

She looked up through the crowd and smiled at me, as she leaned forward, wiping off the bar top with a towel. How proud I felt this morning, like I’d actually helped the French myself! Who was I to take the compliment, I thought? Who am I? I wasn’t even born then. But I am an American. And, this morning, it felt even better than usual.

Z: Written in France, in 2002, I published this last January, but, after this last week, I felt it was right to do so again. This French waitress didn't need anybody apologizing for America.....

This man is a French Socialist ....

…… he was the Foreign Minister in the Jospin Government, and has no good word for Obama’s “No-nuclear” initiative.

From Der Spiegel, 040609 Translated by Mr. Z....funny that our media's not got translators so Americans can REALLY know what's happening...................................here. In America. When THEY get it 'righter' than WE do, we have real problems.....getting straightened out by socialist anti-nuke nuts? Oh, GREAT. (and yes, it was in French, translated into German and now it's in English. Yes, the Germans actually DO care what people around the world say. Of course, the American media does too, IF it's something they want YOU to know)

FRANKREICHS EX-AUSSENMINISTER VÉDRINE

"Obama betreibt Volksverdummung" Obama engages in stultification of the people

Der frühere französische Außenminister Védrine hält nichts von den Abrüstungsplänen des US-Präsidenten: Obamas Wunsch nach einer Welt ohne Atomwaffen sei pure Demagogie, sagte der Politiker - und warf ihm Volksverdummung vor. The former French Foreign Minister Védrine doesn’t think anything good about the demilitarization plans of the US King: Obama’s desire for a world without nuclear weapons is pure demagoguery, says the politician – and accused him of treating people as stupid.

Thanks, France....that's what most of us think, too.

"Dear President ...CHIRAC?" Please read additional information I just posted

My original blog information is misleading; it was this: "OKAY! Soooo....Mr. Obama has now addressed a letter to Jacques Chirac, the PAST President of France. What I'm most sorry about is that nobody at the White House is correcting these faux pas before they happen. Also, that the media was so darned hard on Bush for every single tiny slip and this is going virtually unnoticed. The media, again, shows its terrible bias."

I do stand behind the fact that this letter should never have gone out but it wasn't that Obama MISTOOK the name of the French President..it was written to the Chirac Foundation.

HERE IS THE BEST INFORMATION I'VE FOUND ON THE SUBJECT, after MUCH research in French and English, and I DO stand behind my opinion that this was not a good idea. This blogger tells what happened and why it shouldn't have been sent far better than I could:

From blogger FAUSTA:

My (very!) rough translation:

Will this correspondence lead to joint projects? For now, no meetings are in the works, and they have not met in person. But the objectives of the Chirac Foundation - sustainable development and dialogue between cultures agree with the American president’s.
Both men also share their opposition to the Iraq war, which started exactly five years ago, on March 20, 2003.

OK, so here are the facts:

• Obama’s letter was sent on March 20, the anniversary of the Iraq war.
• The US still has troops in Iraq defending that country, and those troops are not only fighting but actively engaged in building a civil society.
• Each and any action by the Obama administration will be closely examined. Publicly approaching a private foundation with language that can be interpreted as being against the US presence in Iraq actively undermines that effort.

Additionally,

• Nicolas Sarkozy came to power by running not only against the Socialists, but by actually running against Chirac within Chirac’s own party. Is it a good idea to publicly “extend a hand” to Chirac, then?
• Chirac in fact, was allegedly involved in the affaire Clearstream
• Chirac’s administration as mayor of Paris was marked by corruption, from the water works contracts to other kinds of graft, and let’s not forget about his lunch money.
• Back in 2006 I was posting about Chirac’s own secret service. You may also recall Chirac’s support of Hugo Chavez.

And let’s not forget that Chirac’s foundation strongly promotes the globalisation tax, a tax on wealth generated by globalization:

“It could be a tax on airplane tickets, on carbon dioxide, on health products sold in industrialised countries, and indeed on international
financial transactions,” one source said.

So, pray tell, why send the letter in the first place?

AMEN, and thanks, FAUSTA.....Z

This part of my original post stands:
BY THE WAY: What happened to OIL FOR FOOD and notre Monsieur Jacques Chirac?
As I often say about things which disappear in the leftist media blur "must be yet another thing down Sandy Burger's pants, huh?" With Wm Jefferson's frozen money case, etc...all those things which just suddenly....die for 'lack of interest'? I WAS INTERESTED, weren't you?

z

Nuclear Power... too scary to continue or the wave of the future? By Mr. Z

Sweden had been a socialist leaning country for a long time. That made it only natural that decisions would be made on the basis of feelings rather than facts. Consequently, after the Three-Mile-Island incident in 1979, the Swedish government made a decision which would become a role model for other countries to follow, most prominently Germany after it got a Socialist/Green Government in the 1990’s: Sweden decided in 1980 to stop any activity in building new nuclear power plants and phase the old ones out.

Fast forward to today: Like in many other European countries, and as opposed to the trend in the U.S., the Swedes decided that they needed to revert from socialism and they elected a center-right coalition government in 2006. As part of a revision in policies, this center-right government made a landmark decision on February 5, 2009 to rescind the ban of nuclear power and to call for the construction of new reactors as old ones are phased out.

Not only has this bill the Swedish opposition and the environmentalists around the world in arms, it also brings the German government into difficulties in explaining its current official anti-nuclear course. For various reasons, it is clear that a generation of alternative energy must be advanced (the environmental nuts around Al Gore say it’s because of CO₂ generation which, as it turns out, is a completely bogus reason – others say, rightfully so, it is to become independent from energy sources in countries which don’t have our future at heart). Since most alternative energy sources have major disadvantages, a rapid conversion is not possible. Since nuclear power does not have these disadvantages, it would be the ideal source to fill in the blanks. But that goes against the feelings of the left wing nuts.

Other small and large European countries are relying more and more on nuclear power: Italy has reversed its prior decision to stop nuclear power (after it changed from a socialist to a conservative government), France has launched two new nuclear plants, Great Britain will built eight new ones. In Finland, a new nuclear plant is under construction, and other East European countries plan to put nuclear power plants back on the grid. The reasons are simple: Increasing electricity consumption, new renewable energy not sufficiently available, and the increasing power play by the Russians with the supply of gas. This dependency on Russian gas has become of similar importance and as critical as dependence on the sheiks in the Middle East.

After the demise of the leftist Schroeder government in Germany, one of the important themes of the election campaigns two years ago was the potential reversal of the stop of nuclear power implemented by the Schroeder government. Unfortunately, the Conservatives with the centrist Free Democrats could not achieve a majority in the Parliament, a government was formed in a so-called “Great Coalition” between the Socialists and Conservatives, and the reversal of the nuclear stop could not be achieved. But the Conservatives have never given up on their position, and this item will certainly be one major item in the Federal elections to be held in German in the autumn of 2009. And the reversal of position by the Swedish government will certainly not make it easy for the Socialists in Germany to maintain their position, particularly since every energy supply study in Germany shows that there will be a substantial gap between demand and supply in the future. That gap would be substantially enlarged in case of their taking the nuclear power plants off the grid, and could not possibly be compensated for by renewable energy. But then, there is this European Grid Agreement, through which Germany will be able to buy electricity from France, generated by…… nuclear power plants.

The U.S. needs to learn from this experience and build nuclear power plants – that is currently the only way to help ensure independence from ME oil; all other renewable energy sources will first have to be fully developed before they have an effect larger than the famous drop in the bucket.

A complete story including several very interesting diagrams.

By Mr. Z