Sarkozy, Eastwood and unrequited love

Clint Eastwood brings down the curtain on a busy foreign policy week for Nicolas Sarkozy tonight. The President is decorating the Hollywood star with the order of Commander of the Legion of Honour [Picture left from after the event]. Eastwood, 79, is rising from officer grade, awarded to him by President Chirac, to almost the highest distinction that France bestows on anyone. What is the service that Eastwood has rendered ? Sarkozy's office says the honour is deserved because Eastwood "is a global star who is very fond of France." 

Eastwood is one of France's -- and Sarkozy's -- favourite Americans. The President's love-hate relationship with the United States has turned out to be little different from that of his predecessors. Sarkozy began in 2007 almost by throwing himself into the arms of the United States. He took his first summer holiday as President in New England, not far from the Bushes. He has cooled off in a big way. Obama's refusal to take up his offer of special complicity has been taken as a personal affront by the French President. On Monday, he tore a strip off Obama over his failure to come to Berlin for the Wall celebrations, according to a leak of his remarks in le Canard Enchaîné.

"Obama is very disappointing in foreign policy. He doesn't just have difficult relations with me," he was quoted as saying. "It's the same with (Chancellor) Merkel and (Prime Minister) Brown. Europe does not excite him. As for the rest of the world, it's a disappointment too. The language has changed. There has been an opening up. The hand is outstretched but it is grasped by no-one."

A few days earlier Sarkozy launched into an anti-Obama tirade at the weekly cabinet meeting, comparing himself highly favourably with the US president, who, he said, had only managed to produce a single reform so far.(Le Canard is usually quite accurate with its Sarkozy quotes. Ministers read it closely to find out what the boss is thinking)

A colleague from the New York Times has just sent me this interesting quote from Obama's book “Dreams From My Father” . It explains his coolness to Europe. Talking of an early visit, he writes:  

By the end of the first week or so, I realized that I’d made a mistake. It wasn’t that Europe wasn’t beautiful; everything was just as I imagined it. It just wasn’t mine. I felt as if I were living out someone else’s romance; the incompleteness of my own history stood between me and the sites I saw like a hard pane of glass…”

The image of the rejected suitor also applies to Sarkozy's big event this week -- the presence of Angela Merkel at the Armistice Day ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe. Two days after the Berlin ceremonies, it was moving to see a German leader, surrounded by German uniforms, taking part for the first time in France's remembrance of Germany's 1918 capitulation. Sarkozy's aim was to emulate the gesture of reconciliation by the late President Mitterrand when he held hands with Chancellor Helmut Kohl at the Verdun battlefield in 1984.  

The ceremony was part of Sarkozy's push to revive the Franco-German axis that was traditionally the core of the European Union. He has returned to the safety of the old European locomotive after giving up on a new cosy relationship with Britain.Merkel has warmed to Sarkozy of late but she is wary of his grand schemes for unity. These include the permanent exchange of Cabinet Ministers. While Sarkozy's Arc de Triomphe speech was long on poetry, the German Chancellor used hers to ask for substance -- closer coordination on the economy, the environment and so on. Berlin deplores France's profligacy while Germany is trying to rein in its public deficits.

 It was easy to see that the rekindled Franco-German affair is still much warmer on the French side."France looks a little like the rejected lover in this couple de raison,"le Monde said on Wednesday..

Sarkozy confirmed his conversion to the Franco-German cause in a remark quoted by le Parisien yesterday. Everything in Europe, he said, is finally decided à deux, between France and Germany. We'll see if that is the case when the 27 leaders thrash out their choice for the new President of Europe at a summit next Thursday. Merkel and Sarkozy are reported to be behind Herman Van Rompuy, the Belgian Prime Minister.

In the meantime, Sarkozy found a moment to promote his domestic theme of the moment: the nature of the national soul. On the site of a World War Two Resistance monument in the Vercors, he revived a speech from his election campaign on patriotic pride. "One builds nothing on self-hatred, on hatred for one's own kind and detestation for one's own country. That is why we must talk about our national identity. It is a noble debate... not dangerous," he said. In passing, he repeated his view that Muslim women with covered faces "have no place in France".

Down in the polls half way through his term of office, Sarkozy is getting good mileage with his great debate on national identity. The government has circulated a list of topics for public meetings organised by its local officers (Read here). But two days after his hymn to Europe in Paris, Sarkozy neglected in his patriotic speech to make a single reference to Europe or any other country.

Comments

[FC]

"Everything in Europe, he said, is finally decided à deux, between France and Germany"

light blue touch paper and stand well back...

[Daisy]

If Obama ever showed Sarko some straight guy love, Angie would be left out in the cold.

Prattle about national identity is tiresome. It's usually used either as a distraction from the fact the leadership has run out of ideas or to justify some horrific policies. Dubya and his crew did it ad nauseum to justify the implementation of the Patriot Act, racial profiling and the war on terror.

btw, I'm an international nobody who is très fond of french accessories, can I get an award?

[azloon]

"Have you ever noticed that you come across somebody once in a whlle you shouldn't have fuc*ked with?

'Well, that' me." {Eastwood's best line in Gran Torino}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8coq2cUn1U&feature=related

How can Sarko be such an Eastwood fan and then act like such a 'pussy' about real and imagined slights from Obama?

Sack up, and stop your petulant whining Nicky. Why don't you make yourself that 'somebody' that others wish they hadn't fu*ked with? But do it Eastwood-style -- eyes open, mouth shut. Now that would be a noble 'Identity' France could emulate.

[do-re-mi]

Sarkosi is going to need to stand on a box to plant that decoration non?

I guess Angela is his lady of the moment as Obama didn’t put out.

National Identity : bring le Tome de Rochefort out. There is no money for war.

[Robert Marchenoir]

"Sarkozy repeated his view that Muslim women with covered faces have no place in France"...

...Thus implying that Muslim women with covered heads do.

That's like saying : it's outrageous that Nazis are able to walk down our streets waving large flags with svastikas.

While not mentioning the much larger numbers of Nazis already walking down the streets with a svastika pinned on their lapel.

You can't win a rational battle against islam (*). Either you crush it, or it crushes you.
____

(*) Assuming that Sarkozy is trying, which is highly doubtful when you see how hard his minister of Finance is working to ram "islamic finance" down France's throat).

[qwerty]

I don't quite get why Obama didn't come to Berlin. The destruction of the Berlin wall was not just a European event, it symbolised the breaking up of communist totalitarianism.

Don't quite get why he's so cool toward Europe either. He couldn't spare 24 hours for Berlin but managed to find a week in his agenda for Asia. Pragmatic, I suppose. Shifting poles.

[dot king]

National Identity : bring le Tome de Rochefort out.

Do Re Mi

It'll do nicely to stand on to pin that decoration on Clint!

[rocket]

Daisy

"I'm an international nobody who is très fond of french accessories, can I get an award? "

What kind of French acessories?

[rocket]

AZ

"Sack up, and stop your petulant whining Nicky. Why don't you make yourself that 'somebody' that others wish they hadn't fu*ked with? But do it Eastwood-style -- eyes open, mouth shut. Now that would be a noble 'Identity' France could emulate."

He's missing some inches to be a bad ass!

[rocket]

Qwert

"Don't quite get why he's so cool toward Europe either. He couldn't spare 24 hours for Berlin but managed to find a week in his agenda for Asia. Pragmatic, I suppose. Shifting poles."

He pushed back Asia a couple of days because of the Ft. Hood shootings. He was in Texas honoring fallen soldiers while France and Germany were partying at the wall. Priorities non?

[Daisy]

ROCKET: oh all the good kinds....handbags, scarves, shoes...

[Surcouf]

L'idée de dissoudre une victoire qui nous a coûté si cher dans une commémoration très politiquement correcte et pleine de bons sentiments (Europe et compagnie) ne me plaisait pas trop. Mais je suis allé assister à la cérémonie à l'Arc de Triomphe et, quand même, c'était beau.

Quand je pense qu'il y a 70 ans la présence des Allemands sur cette même place était une chose terrible pour la France, et qu'aujourd'hui (enfin, avant hier) la foule a acclamé Angela Merkel... on ne peut que se féliciter de la réconciliation.

Qui ne doit cependant pas signifier faire servilement la cour aux Allemands pour mener des politiques communes et coopérer plus étroitement dans n'importe quel domaine.

[Daniel Strohl]

"by its local officers" (CHARLES)

I don't want to diminish your merits, Charles :), but Robert Badinter used this morning on TV a more pregnant word ("féal") than your neutral "officer". He used also the expression "sous la férule".

Unfortunately, I didn't hear distinctly the whole sentence; but he probably meant "les préfets étant les féaux sous la férule de Sarkozy, le suzerain" :). The word suzerain or souverain is of my own invention...

PS:

Les socialistes font donner la Vieille Garde :). En effet, M. Badinter est né en 1928, si j'en crois sa biographie que j'ai "googlée" ce matin.

Mr.Badinter is a highly respected former law professor. He was also for a few years "Garde des Sceaux" (Minister of Justice) under Mitterrand. He contributed strongly to the abolition of the death penalty in France.

[I listened to Badinter too. He was great as usual. He said that there was no need for Sarkozy's 200 questions on national identity because there were just three points. La communauté de culture, de valeurs et de destin. By valeurs, he meant la République and singled out laicité. On culture, he mentioned literature in particular and cited Proust and la Princesse de Clèves, Sarkozy's bête noire. I'm not so clear on what he meant by destiny. But his sagesse and élégance is very far removed from the style of our dear president. CB]

[Daniel Strohl]

DAISY,

And perfume, I presume :).

Regarding scarves: if I remember well, CHARLES is an expert on expensive scarves :).

SURCOUF,

"on ne peut que se féliciter de la réconciliation"

Personne (moi le premier :) n'aurait osé imaginer cette cérémonie il y a quarante ans!

[Daisy]

DANIEL STROHL: as a general rule, perfumes aren't considered accessories, but I like those too. I also like french pastries, I don't drink but I heard the wines are great and brûlée the crème and I'm a happy girl. As the saying goes: Everyone loves France, no one likes the French :)

[Romain]

Badinter was nothing but Mitterand's liege man. And his "authorised" opinion, like that of his wife, is nothing but crap.

[Rick]

Using la Chapelle-en-Vercors for a sermon on national identity, or celebrating Armistice Day with the erstwhile adversary – each is symbolically incoherent. There are too many ironies for either venue to work.

[Daniel Strohl]

CHARLES,

I just heard a few words of Badinter's interview, i.e. the bit with féal and férule.

Communauté de culture: difficult to achieve with people hardly speaking French, and wanting to keep their own superior culture...
Of course, and fortunately, the latter is not always the case.

ROMAIN,

If I understand you well (I am afraid it is the case :), Badinter should also be "put on grass" - may be along with another elderly gentleman de gauche (the actor Roger Hanin, a brother-in-law of Mitterrand), still playing the role of a "fringant" :) commissaire de police although he is well over 80 years old (la retraite à 60 ans, tu parles! :). I just read that he made his last (?) film in February 2009.

[Daniel Strohl]

DAISY,

In addition to crème brûlée, we have crème renversée, crème fouettée and last but not least, crème anglaise :). Of course, we have also many "crèmes de beauté anti-rides, anti-vieillissement" and so on :).

More seriously:
"Angie would be left out in the cold". No, I don't think so. As far as I know, France is still the first customer and the first supplier of Germany. Nobody on both sides of the river Rhine does want to get in serious trouble because of possible ego problems :).

PS:

Daisy, do you know what Voltaire wrote about Canada? "Le Canada, pays couvert de neiges et de glaces huit mois de l'année, habité par des barbares, des ours et des castors" :). Et toc! :)

(Source: Wikipedia and partly, memory :)

[christopher muir]

Much as I welcomed Obama's great powers of oratory, recently I found myself easily distracted while listening to him. It could be that he is repeating himself too often. Until he decides firmly on troop numbers for Afghanistan, many will begin to wonder if the modern-day workload of a US president is beyond the capacity of any human being.

[Clemence de Roch]

Officer to Commander is the right progression in the Order of the legion of Honour. Eastwood isn't jumping a rank.

[Judith]

"By the end of the first week or so, I realized that I'd made a mistake. It wasn't that Europe wasn't beautiful; everything was just as I imagined it. It just wasn't mine. I felt as if I were living out someone else's romance; the incompleteness of my own history stood between me and the sites I saw like a hard pane of glass…"

I was taken aback when I read this paragraph in "Dreams from my Father". I guess I had assumed that anyone who was studying law and, presumably even then planning a political career, would have felt a deep affinity for Europe because of the ideas and philosophy that came from there.
Surely Greece as the foundational location of democracy and Rome and England as the source of law would have meant something to such a person on an intellectual level. Also I would have expected him to cherish Europe for the political ideas of the Enlightenment which fed straight into the founding documents of the USA.
BTW I did enjoy the footage of the joint Sarkozy/Merkel wreath laying, particularly the visual sense of balance there was between the two. The really nice touch was the matching blue tie and necklace.

[dot king]

DANIEL - there is a HUGE difference between Roger Hanin and Robert Badinter - the former is losing his marbles if recent TV appearances are anything to go by - and anyway he's hardly someone one consults on matters legal or poltical - the latter is as sharp and as clear (and as humane) a mind as you will find in France - however, he's "de gauche" (do I hear the click of a scratched record stuck in the same old blinkered groove somewhere?) and you cannot let pass an opportunity to lessen either his contribution to France's progress as a civilised society (yes, chopping heads off until 1981), or his talent in persuading the French OF THAT TIME (no easy task) that change was necessary.
BTW I hold Simone Weil in the same respect and admiration and she's "de droite" unless I'm very much mistaken.

[David Powell]

"By the end of the first week or so, I realized that I'd made a mistake. It wasn't that Europe wasn't beautiful; everything was just as I imagined it. It just wasn't mine. I felt as if I were living out someone else's romance; the incompleteness of my own history stood between me and the sites I saw like a hard pane of glass…"

I have read this too, and I am astonished that so many Europeans are so astonished because when I go to the USA I find them so different. They speak the same language, they listen to the same music, see the same films, and I have seen so much of them in my life. In films, on television, on newsreels, I felt I knew them.

But I don’t.

And whether talking to them in Denver or by the Grand Canyon or in bars or restaurants what struck me most is how different they are, not how similar.

And, despite my imperfect French, my struggles with the bureaucracy, and all that goes with being British and living in France I am much more comfortable here than in the States.

Despite the Daily Mail et al we Europeans share a long, if troubled history, and somehow this history defines us differently and the American history defines them, again differently.

For example, I recently read a speech by an American DEMOCRATIC Senator worried that Obama’s Health bill might mean the government was competing with Private Insurance companies.

They have, I read 30,000,000 un-insured an mostly unable to get adequate health cover.

Now, I cannot imagine a European politician looking at it that way, can you?

[You're right David. The United States is a much more foreign place for Britons than they commonly think. It's not till you live there that you realise how different the mentality and culture is. I've always thought that the British islanders, despite their sense of family with the English-speaking world and familarity with US entertainment, are in many ways closer to the European continentals than the Americans. And as you no doubt know, as a Brit you have to change you way of speaking if you want to be understood in the States -- unless you want to be a charming oddity like Hugh Grant. CB]

[Lex Stevens]

"I was taken aback when I read this paragraph in "Dreams from my Father". -- Judith

I was a little surprised as well, but I do understand what he is saying. I think it is a matter of the education that he had and that he went to high school in Hawaii.

I think that unless an American receives what is often referred to as a 'classical education,' is educated by Jesuits, or studies the traditional Liberal Arts in university, the gap between Europe and the US widens. I have never been to Hawaii, but I have noticed that when one gets as far west as California, Europe is but a dim memory, and there is no intellectual influence from Asia. The end of the world syndrome, I call it.

"Sarkozy repeated his view that Muslim women with covered faces have no place in France" -- CB

How exactly was that said in French? Sarkozy would be wise to separate the veil from the person, to attack the object itself, and not the person bearing the object. I think that 'Hate the sin, love the sinner' is the distinction that needs to be made, and he needs to explain -- in more abstract terms -- why the veil goes against everything that France stands for. Muslims in France will continue to embrace their traditions so long as those traditions work for them. They will abandon the veil and wrap themselves in the French flag only when the French flag actually has some meaning for them, and it will never have any meaning until it works for them.

In reality, I don't think Sarkozy is capable of that. He is using Muslims as pawns in his appeal to the FN and their sympathizers for his political ends. It is just too easy for the average politician to forgo
the 'enemy at the gate' to win votes.

[Lex Stevens]

Let me rephrase that last sentence.

They will abandon the veil and wrap themselves in the French flag only when the French flag has positive meaning for them, and that will not happen until it works for them.

[calgirl]

Len, just a dispatch from here "at the end of the world"...

Traveled to Europe six times so far, I'm pretty sure I can even find it on a map, (on a good day, at least..

Not sure exactly what is meant by "intellectual influence from Asia" but there is certainly a large population of Asian peoples in California, and that influence can be seen and felt in any number of ways...

And for Charles - actually, I had the pleasure just yesterday afternoon of participating in an online webinar with an instructor who was most definitely a Brit. The class participants were a very diverse group of Americans from across the U.S. - including a few who were non-native speakers and still learning English. None of us had any trouble understanding our instructor, who did an excellent job of presenting the material. I will admit, however, to being momentarily confused by the way he pronounced the words 'status' and 'contribute', although by using context I quickly understood what he had said.

[do-re-mi]

Badinter ... his "authorised" opinion... is nothing but crap.

Are you inhaling regression fumes?

Is everybody de Gauche a moron on law by definition? Only repression works. Only the right is right on Law?

The non-French people who come to France and have read any French writer from the Age of Enlightenment and see France as living Liberté-Egalité-Fraternité get a shock.
Sarkosi tickling the NF monster for vote is not disturbing and short-sighted.

[John O'D]

You're right David. The United States is a much more foreign place for Britons than they commonly think. It's not till you live there that you realise how different the mentality and culture is. I've always thought that the British islanders, despite their sense of family with the English-speaking world and familarity with US entertainment, are in many ways closer to the European continentals than the Americans. And as you no doubt know, as a Brit you have to change you way of speaking if you want to be understood in the States -- unless you want to be a charming oddity like Hugh Grant. CB]
Hmm, as a Brit with an Irish heritage living in France I'm caught between the two. In the US I find people who look like me, have names like mine and who share many interests and attitudes thus I'm very comfortable in that environment although I often find myself slipping into transatlantic language mode over there.
I was chastened to discover my cousins in NYC have a nickname for me - Austin Powers.

[calgirl]

Sorry, meant Lex, not Len. Still early here at the end of the world. Need coffee...

[rocket]

CB

"I'm not so clear on what he meant by destiny."

Mais le grand destin de la france bien sûr!

More seriously, I have had many French people speak to me about destiny. It's a very convenient argument as it cannot be controlled.

[Daniel Strohl]

DOT,

"there is a HUGE difference between Roger Hanin and Robert Badinter"

Thanks for the info - however, this rather obvious fact didn't escape me totally! :).

What they have in common with for instance Giscard and Pasqua and a few others less conspicuous is their age, i.e. over 80 (I am myself "only" 74 :). Therefore, I spoke of "putting on grass" :). Some of them are not able and/or willing to leave the limelight...

Regarding specifically Badinter, if you read again my first post, you will see that it was not at all derogatory.

However, as ROMAIN said, Badinter was Mitterrand's liege man - i.e. a politician, like a Sarkozy's liege man is also a politician, no more, no less...

I feel free to give my opinion about politics and politicians. However, doing so, I do not feel free "de taper sur la vie privée des hommes politiques", as this was exercised here on the blog regarding Sarkozy and his wife.

Regarding Simone Weil, I have the highest opinion of her - however NOT because she is "de droite". When she boxed the law about abortion and so on through parliament, she was submitted to much more abuse (sexist one of course included, not to say predominant) than Badinter with his "anti-head chopping" :) law.

BTW, Mme Weil wrote a few days ago a very convincing article (I think it was in Le Monde) to propose the candidature to the Presidency of Europe of Mrs. Vaira Vike-Freiberga, the former Latvian president. I think this is an excellent idea. First because if one believes Mme Weil - and I believe her :), the lady has all the required prerequisites. Second, because she is a woman - I am fed up with all the muscle flexing and chest drumming of male politicians. Third, the "small" European countries will understandably not endorse a British, French or German candidate. Fortunately, as far as I know, there are no French or German candidates :).

[qwerty]

Badinter too. He was great as usual. (CB)

He was one of my idols before I became blasé. Someone once wrote about him: "la passion de la raison quand elle s'exaspère jusqu'aux déraisons de la passion."

which i'd twist into: thin as a twig, he burned with a passion for abstract reason that went beyond reason. His combat (death penalty) was not for the men he defended, but for the cause, only the cause.

[Yvonne]

They have, I read 30,000,000 un-insured an mostly unable to get adequate health cover.

The 30 million uninsured is a debated number. According to research, some of those uninsured are young people who do not want to spend the money on health insurance and illegal immigrants. I will agree that healthcare in the U.S. is expensive and some type of reform needs to be done. The fear is that what the Obama Administration and a Democratic controlled Congress will make health insurance so expensive to the point where a country of 300 million citizens will end up on government rolls. The only way to keep the budget under control with healthcare reform would be to levy taxes and when politicians start talking about paying taxes, there is a huge revolt amongst Democrat, Republican, and Independent voters. This is where the huge problem comes in for Obama when he promised not to raise taxes on those making $250,000 or less and also rein in the budget deficit during his campaign last year. There is no way either one of those things will happen if the healthcare reforms which are currently being discussed are passed.

[azloon]

re various comment about Obama's writing, his absence from 20th anniversary ceremony, 'vast' cultural divide between Europe and U.S.

The Ceremony at the Wall made official what was known years ago: Europe is no longer the center of modern history as a focus of global ideological conflict. That ended with the fall of communism and the Wall.

So Obama, with roots in other cultures and aware of hegemonic aspirations to the East is focusing elsewhere.

Europe doesn't need "Daddy' U.S. anymore, so why should Obama try to hog the limelight at what was essentially a European event. The President of China wasn't there either.

Europe is a better, more stable place now as a result of that conflict and resolution. Now they must move on, seek cohesion, and protect themselves. In other words, be grown-ups.

Obama isn't unaware of the historic importance of European culture, and our debt to it. But it isn't all-important. The world is changing, immigrant by immigrant, and Euro-American cultural influence will wane. Obama knows this better than Europe. Just read today's headlines.

Europeans are so used to courting U.S. favor that anything Obama does that suggests he doesn't love them is blown way out of proportion. Get used to it, I'm afraid.

CalGirl has it right -- CB exaggerates language differences between U.S. and Britain.

Brits, though, can't understand certain Scottish and Irish dialects, and neither can we.

[Lex Stevens]

A little while I ago, I began to hear that unmistakable sound of football (soccer) fans chanting in front of the bar across the street from my store.

I look out the window to see a dozen young men chanting and waving French flags. Ah...les Bleus gagnent en Irlande. But wait. Could it be? I had to cross to make sure. They were all of Arab descent.

[azloon]

"Just read today's headlines"

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/world/asia/15china.html

He's got bigger fish to fry.

[Lex Stevens]

"So Obama, with roots in other cultures and aware of hegemonic aspirations to the East is focusing elsewhere." -- Azloon

Since he is not focusing on Israel/Palestine, I suppose you must mean beyond the river Jordan.

[Lex Stevens]

"The 30 million uninsured is a debated number" -- Yvonne

I'll say. I have a really difficult time believing that it is only 30 million people who do not have health insurance in the United States. I also think that there are probably several million people in the US who are under-insured or are do not have adequate access to health care.

[David Powell]

Yvonne, you write 'I will agree that healthcare in the U.S. is expensive and some type of reform needs to be done. The fear is that what the Obama Administration and a Democratic controlled Congress will make health insurance so expensive to the point where a country of 300 million citizens will end up on government rolls. The only way to keep the budget under control with healthcare reform would be to levy taxes and when politicians start talking about paying taxes, there is a huge revolt amongst Democrat, Republican, and Independent voters.

Precisely. I tried to phrase my words carefully, and there is no criticism implied, in either direction.

And what you write confirms what I was trying to say. In Europe we pay these taxes and, O.K., there is moaning and groaning but no 'mainline' politician would think of standing up and announcing the intended destruction of our health systems.

This is a seriously different view of society.

Similarly with what is loosely called 'gun-law.'

Without going into detail I hold 'Liberal' views; a large number of French people would think of me as irredemiably 'Anglo-Saxon' and right wing. However, if I were foolish enough to express my views in public in, say, Tulsa, I would be regarded as some kind of revolutionary who needed running out of town.

This is NOT a criticism of Americans; without exception the ones I have met have been kind, generous, interested, and interesting people.

Even the policeman who booked me for speeding.

But they are quite different from Europeans, and I am Welsh, British and European and more comfortable in Europe than I am in the USA.

So I am not surprised that Obama feels the way he does. I do too.

[Daniel Strohl]

LEX,

"I have a really difficult time believing that it is only 30 million people who do not have health insurance in the United States"

I read several times in French papers the figure of 40 or 45 millions. However, they omitted to explain from where it came from. It is very easy to throw big figures around.

However, one may safely say that the numbers are high. Let us hope that Obama will succeed in improving things. But the resistance seems to be stiff. Americans are as conservative as French when it comes to make necessary changes :).

"Ah...les Bleus gagnent en Irlande. But wait. Could it be? I had to cross to make sure. They were all of Arab descent"

This morning, the French media report that there were rather big troubles (riots with burned small ships and cars) in Marseille yesterday because the Algerian soccer team lost against the Egyptians! Usually, the youngsters of Algerian descent wave Algerian flags (in France :).

[dot king]

However, as ROMAIN said, Badinter was Mitterrand's liege man - i.e. a politician, like a Sarkozy's liege man is also a politician, no more, no less...

DANIEL

OK, I'm prepared to be wrong, but my understanding is that Badinter was a talented lawyer FIRST and won his battle for the abolition of the death penalty against heavy odds and with no political influence fighting his corner and SUBSEQUENTLY was appointed by Mittérand to the post of Garde des Sceaux - BECAUSE OF his talent as a lawyer.
That he was appointed by Mittérand doesn't lessen his talent or his integrity. He wasn't being treacherous as in the case of Besson for example.
He is often consulted on matters legal that fall within the political sphere, but he always speaks as a lawyer and what can be achieved in terms of the Constitution.
He is one of a very few who can be counted on to give his opinion with honesty.

I don't know whether you do it on purpose, but you always seem to miss (or sidestep :)) the point I'm making.

You do, in gact, go in for personal attacks on anyone whom you label "de gauche", you sort of include everyone and do it en masse, but you think you don't, therefore you believe you don't.
There, thought for the day. :)

[dot king]

corrigé - "in fact" not "in gact" phooooo . . .

[dot king]

"la passion de la raison quand elle s'exaspère jusqu'aux déraisons de la passion."

QWERTY

I'd translate it otherwise - "the passion of reason exasperated by unreasoned passion" - you added "abstract" which in fact doesn't (i) feature (ii) need to feature, both reason and passion being abstract nouns, and concepts.

"His combat (death penalty) was not for the men he defended, but for the cause, only the cause."

QWERTY

So he shouldn't have fought for it?
Place the word "slavery" instead of "death penalty" and in your terms, those who were against slavery were only fighting for a cause and therefore self-seeking? And slavery shouldn't have been a cause for abolition?
Martin Luther King should have kept his mouth shut too, I suppose.
Not to mention Nelson Mandela. And Gandhi.
And the suffragettes should have stayed home and embroidered tray-cloths and crocheted tea-cosies?

The list would be long of "causes".

Come on, slaves were freed and slavery abolished because of those who fought for a cause - just as Badinter fought to have the death penalty abolished - he lost several cases before he achieved his goal - and now no innocent person will ever be executed in France again - the "cause" means everyone. It applies universally once achieved.

We've seen recently just how easy it is to spend up to three years in prison just because someone points a finger. If Badinter hadn't won his "cause", Patrick Dils would be dead now for murders he didn't commit. The change came too late for Christian Ranucci.

[Rick]

I couldn't agree more, DAVID POWELL.

[Johnny Foreigner]

Speaking of cultural differences, I can speak from experience.

Being a global consumer of the Golden Arches and other fast-food outlets, I remember going to a place in Noo Joisey, to purchase some edible comestibles.

"I'd like a cheese quarterpounder please"

"Uhh?"

"Can I get a quarterpounder 'wit' cheese."

"OK, Coming right up"

(this is no lie or exageration)

Seems even different sentence structure rules have to be followed to make oneself understood. Obviously I was not going to stand in the middle of a store in a downtown NJ store and say "Now look here old chap, I believe a few manners are in order here my good man" :-)

I think the reason we Brits can understand US folk is because we obviously hear them a lot in films , although less so in TV as all the US imports seem to go to late night commercial and satellite TV now. But I grew up on Starsky and Hutch, Kojak, The A-Team and al the other fabulous Glen A Larson productions of the 70s/80s.

I enjoy travelling in the US but I have to admit the very first time I stepped outside of Newark airport, I never felt so much like I was in an alien world. Bizarrely it was things like the unfamiliar cars, different fonts in documents, switches which go up to put the lights on etc, and extraneous use of long words on the signs ("transportation" v "transport")

When I travel in Europe at least the cars are familiar, and it is small visual references such as this which make one feel "at home"

My US colleagues and I were usually more on the same wavelength than with my European ones in terms of humour, although I rather think the British self-effacing style begins to grate on the classic US self-belief

Net, I agree with CB that people underestimate the cultural differences that have arisen since we allowed the US to forge its own path 233 years ago.

:-)

[john gregory flinn]

"Europe does not excite him."

Many people in the US consider the Pacific Rim far more important. This includes President Obama, who on his visit to Japan explained how, inter alia, his upbringing in this region had made him a devotee.
Sarkozy (and others) may not be aware of the economic hegemony the US seeks to encourage and exploit there. I'm not sure if it's China or Japan but together they are invested in the vast majority of US dollar bonds issued world-wide.

[qwerty]

Goodness, Dot, I've always been staunchly against the death penalty, never wavered from that. Thank God for Badinter. I only mean that this very intellectual, elegant man was not particularly interested in the men whose heads he saved, left them to rot in prison (v. grim in France) without any further follow up. The repulsive Patrick Henry as an example. there is a great divide in a part of the French left (très bobo, très riche, ne veulent pas se salir les mains) and realities of French society.

[azloon]

[I were foolish enough to express my views in public in, say, Tulsa...I would be run out of town). David Powell

btw, David, along with some of the rest of us.

Anyway, the health care debate here is a bogus one, with apologies to Yvonne. We presently have 'socialized' medicine for 'seniors' (over 65) and it works almost perfectly, no complaints from anyone. So all we'd be doing now is extending socialized medicine to those under 65. (But dont' use the term socialized medicine in Tulsa- it's waving a cape in front of a charging bull).

Again, I'll say, it's not because of some fundamental difference between Europe and the U.S. that attention is being shifted elsewhere now, it's because of geo-politics. Defending Europe is passe, by and large. Otoh, dealing with our biggest lender, who holds our fate in its hands, is much more compelling and pressing,

And to be honest, I don't think Obama wants to get involved in public ceremonies involving Sarkosi. There's always some dust-up involving Sarko's maneuvering, his remarks, his sucking up. Tho he seems to have done quite well with Angela alone. So, maybe that's it. Women, shorter than he, only. No tall men.

All the cultural stuff mentioned as dividing us has been there for decades, so nothing new. I would say though that younger americans don't get indoctrinated at early ages in Europe and its great culture (of the past) which used to be the case when I was young. So, fewer young americans care about europe. It's just another place in this difficult world with its own intractable problems. They'd rather fool with their PlayStation.

Btw, I feel more comfortable in my bed at home than I did in hotel bed in Phoenix the other night, a hundred miles away. I don't make too much of that. I spent six months in Spain when I was 27 and seriously considered staying there to live and work. Ultimately, although I loved i there, I decided that I couldn't participate in their culture at a sufficiently involved level for me to be satisfied. That's not about discomfort, but about how deeply a foreigner can integrate, ever.

[azloon]

'I'd like a cheese quarter pounder, please
...." JF

The fact that one idiot in New Jersey didn't instantly recognize what you wanted means little. 99.9% of all other americans, including mcdonald's employees would know exactly what you wanted (btw, McDondald's is probably not the best place to go to do studies of british speech comprehension by americans,or studies of comprehension of anything for that matter).

You would though get a blank stare virtually anywhere over here in our fast-food culture, if you asked the help if they had any 'edible comestibles.'

You have a good ear for american speech. Can you do a good spoken version of it?

[It's to do with intonation far more than vocabulary. Americans often don't understand British English because they don't hear the end of the sentence. In the English accent (not Scottish) the words speed up and fade out before the end, especially if the speaker is of the diffident kind. American English hits all the words much more asertively and evenly. Frightfully sorry to point that out of course, do forgive me. CB]

[Lex Stevens]

"I never felt so much like I was in an alien world. Bizarrely it was things like the unfamiliar cars..."

An Irish friend brought her 25 year old daughter to the states for the first time recently. The daughter kept saying things like "Oh, look at the lorry" or "Oh, look at the firemen." My friend and I had a good laugh because we have forgotten the novelty of things when one first begins to travel.

[Johnny Foreigner]

Fair point AZ

you probably wouldn't get an oxbridge don in a London McDo's either

[Johnny Foreigner]

Although I am not a total Hugh Grant - being from Up North I tend to descend into glottal stops if not checked beforehand

[azloon]

CB, that's rather, rather kind of you, old chap, to point that out, if i might say so...... :)

but Johnny the F's point was not about intonation, it was about word order in sentences i.e. 'cheese quarter-pounder' v. 'quarter-pounder with cheese.'

Agree with you about emphasis, swallowing words (our view of your 'dropping off').

------------

Do-Re-Mi, CB

By the by, did you notice that Belle De Jour has 'outed' herself? Not a French matter except in its reference to a French film icon.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article6917260.ece

I have to say she is a real 'babe,' and I look forward to more provocative photos of her in Esquire or Maxim.

I think she was underselling herself at 300 pounds/hour. She probably didn't think to hire a consultant (or a quality pimp).

I am thinking she could have offered the GFE (Girl Friend Experience) for several thousand a day.

And she could have thrown in scientific experiment as a bonus.

[dot king]

"I only mean that this very intellectual, elegant man was not particularly interested in the men whose heads he saved, left them to rot in prison (v. grim in France) without any further follow up."

QWERTY - he saved their lives and those of the ones who followed, whether innocent and wrongly accused or guilty, at least he left room for re-examination.
He regularly speaks these days about conditions of incarceration which have probably deteriorated since he got the death penalty abolished in 81.
You said you were being blasé - and when I say "Martin Luther King could have kept his mouth shut" it is of course a way of exaggerating to make a humorous point.

Your argument doesn't really hold water though - how many of those who fought to abolish slavery actually made sure of the freed slaves' quality of life afterwards? That they didn't, or might not have, doesn't detract from the achievement.

Each has his rôle - Badinter achieved something very important in France's modern history - IMESHO of course. :)

[dot king]

being from Up North I tend to descend into glottal stops if not checked beforehand

JF

How far OOP NAWTH?
I've just started a book, which isn't mine, but someone has given it "back" to me thinking it is mine, called "Be a falling leaf" by Bob Bibby - it's a police mystery, set in a UK secondary school in Tamworth. The victim is an OFSTED inspector (I suspect the writer might be a former teacher), cyanide in the coffee.
The caretaker (sorry "Premises Manager") is from West Bromwich and his speeches are all written with a Brummy accent - takes some concentration - and I can hear him in my head. Says "Nao" and ends every utterance with "loike", interspersed with "ennyrowdup". :D

[Johnny Foreigner]

Dot - Leeds is my primary origin, but never had much truck with the war of the roses palaver as you once commented on yourself in a similar vein.

It does strike me when people can't tell the difference between Yorkshire and Lancashire accents. Although I am sure not true in your case I remember spending 2 years living in Preston where the women had some of the deepest voices imaginable! Going back to that part of the pwaorld in October reminded me just how beautiful is the countryside, but now teeming with earthlings that you can't even get from Colne to Skipton in less than 30 minutes

[Daniel Strohl]

QWERTY

"(très bobo, très riche, ne veulent pas se salir les mains)"

et habitent exclusivement les quartiers huppés :).

DOT,

"You do, in fact, go in for personal attacks on anyone whom you label "de gauche"

For you, the following (which I wrote in my first post) is a personal attack:

"Mr.Badinter is a highly respected former law professor. He was also for a few years "Garde des Sceaux" (Minister of Justice) under Mitterrand. He contributed strongly to the abolition of the death penalty in France"

There is nothing derogatory, expressed or implied in this statement. I simply added that he is (or was) a politician, like other politicians. Unlike many politicians, he is a respected high level jurist - as you pointed out.

Generally speaking, politicians right or left have the same aim: get to power and stay at power. I have preferences for the right leaning politicians (of course not for all of them :), you have preferences for the left leaning politicians (probably not for all of them either :).

Regarding "personal" attacks, I made simply a little bit of irony regarding his age. However, I read several times here much more severe attacks on character particularities (supposed or real :) and even physical particularities of Sarkozy, Besson, Hortefeux and tutti quanti...

Regarding the score in personal attacks, you and some other posters are still leading the field by a
large margin :). If the occasion arises (i.e. an article by CHARLES, for instance on Ségolène, who replayed yesterday a modern version of "la prise de la Bastille" :), I will try "de réduire le score"...

[dot king]

DANIEL - you have a talent for missing the point - you should bottle it mixed with Scnapps and sell it - many would find it indispensable :).

I wasn't meaning about Badinter in particular when I said you went in for personal attacks - you never miss an opprtunity to attack Ségolène Royal, or Bernard Thibault - the CGT, the syndicats, and the Left in general and anyone associated.

It was a more general point. Not a pointed point ;D.

Just because you attack ideas doesn't make it any less personal, what a person believes is just as much a part of them as their height, their weight, their bald-or-hairiness . . . etc.

No amount of compensated heels or hair implants (for eg) could make me share the views of Sarkozy, Hortefeu, Besson - what I think of them and their views and OK - their physical attributes le cas échéant - is as much a part of who I am as their ideas (and yours) are a part of what they (you) are.

Making attacks on the president and some of his henchmen, or whoever you choose for whatever reason is half the fun of blogging - it's allowed. :)

[dot king]

JF - I lived in Preston for 7 years but don't think I have a particularly deep voice - though I suppose not being a native Prestonian must account for it!
I agree that there is a marked difference between Lancs and Yorks accents - I used to be able to tell the difference amongst Blackburn, Bolton, Wigan, Manchester, Preston, Blackpool accents. Though I'm probably rusty on that now.
I think you either have an "ear" or you don't.
Pleased we don't have a red/white rose rivalry interfering in our communication . . . :)

[John O'D]

Johnny Foreigner - Me too, I'm a loiner.

[do-re-mi]

Azloon,

Belle de Jour

I thought of you when I saw that yesterday, I nearly spit out my buttered crumpet and then got hit by a feather.

In a earlier post to you I thought she was a gay man selling the happy hooker crap.
Well no she is beautiful, PHD smart, write well and knows a bag of tricks in bed.
Sorry she is too young for you Azloon at 34. lol.

Yet there is a little thing weird about the whole thing.

[azloon]

[Sorry she is too young for you Azloon at 34. lol.] Do-Re-Mi

She is not at all 'too young for me,' but, I'm afraid, I am too old for her. But let's let her decide. :)

You never know. If she was adventurous enough to experiment with selling her sexual services, she may be open to the idea of a 'sugar daddy.'

But I am afraid with all her book royalties (and her brains and looks), she's not going to need a 'sugar daddy.'

It will interesting to discover the sequence of events leading up to her 'outing.' Was she threatened, did she simply want the publicity so she could write under he own name, or what else possibly?

She'll be amazed at the amount of male attention she's going to get now. She has the face of a 'madonna' and an actual documented history of whoring.

In other words, she's the complete package. :)

[do-re-mi]

Azloon,
But let's let her decide. :)

lol

"discover the sequence of events leading up to her 'outing."

Ex-boyfriend problems.

In other words, she's the complete package. :)
If you keep your nitro exposed to sunlight that is.

[Daniel Strohl]

DOT,

"it's allowed. :)"

Therefore, I will continue :).

[azloon]

[if you keep your nitro exposed to sunlight that is]

pour le meilleur ou pour le pire, c'est le histoire de ma vie (and I have the wonderful memories and ugly scars to prove it).

re 'ex-boyfriend problems'

tres interessant. I knew you were the right person to ask.

so, she was threatened? sex tapes? nude photos as a 18 year old? a list of former clients?

this could get plus interessant.

[dot king]

AZLOON, DO RE MI

I haven't the faintest idea who you two are talking about, but it gives me a decent opening to the following -

Did anyone else see the "Complément d'Enquête" programme last night? (I know it was past many a bedtime.)
It was announced as being about the scourge of sexual tourism, but turned out, thanks to all the interviews taking place in Parisian exchangist clubs, the Folies Bergères, and finally (or at least at the point where I gave up) at The Hustler, to be more of a promotion of sexual tourism, exhibitionism, and of course the inevitable marriage agency specialising in Russian women who have a more "traditional" approach to the man/woman relationship (I think gratitude was one of the features, as once into their 30's, no Russian man wants them) - so said the Europe 1 late-night phone-in psychologist.
(What a long sentence!)
Directly after a report on sexual tourism with (often) underage prostitutes in the Dominican Republic, Duquesne interviewed Catherine Millet who spoke lovingly of her own expeditions into prostitution in the "Bois", thus taking away any of the horror that the young women in the DR live, just to survive.
Exhibitionism was regarded by the police with satisfactory gravity, but was pre-lightened by having Millet get all aglow about exhibiting her body (another pathetic narcissist).
I think they wanted to create some kind of contrast between the luxury of these cabarets and clubs and the sordid nature of sexual tourism and casual exhibitionism, but it didn't work at all - and Benoit Duquesne wasn't at all at ease in (i) the surroundings (ii) the subject, and especially with (iii) Catherine Millet - judging by the look on his face and general body-language I think he was both frightened and disgusted by her.

[do-re-mi]

Azloon,

I like smut is that it!!! lol

I find the stuff fascinating.

Mainly because I come from a very repressive - conservative background with the Madonna / Whore syndrome that stone women that don’t live a conventional life yet blame women for men’s fault. My mother still call a short dress “ un appel au viol” and I had to use therapy to get my head empty of all this crap.

Broke, I used my overdraft. I can’t compartmentalise and my sex drive is rather selective and can’t be turned on by cash.

Frankly I think she should have written fiction instead of a blog. To an extend I am ambivalent, because I am grateful for women like Annie Sprinkle or Betty Dodson, but they are educators. Selling your positive experience as a prostitute makes me uneasy.

Get the Daily Mail online, that should be fun. The paper gets his Sloggie knickers in a twist over sexual stories yet use them to sell papers. I have met many prostitutes who don’t sell their bodies in street corners but stay in loveless marriages or crap jobs because they don’t want to be alone or without the power that money confers.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1228136/BELLE-DE-JOUR-UNMASKED-The-high-class-escort-girl-diary-sensation-research-student-PhD-Shocked-Not-boyfriend-deceived.html

An ex-boyfriend got deceived. It has an old fashioned melo feel to it, the deceived boyfriend is going to Afghanistan ( what, broken hearted about to step on a mine?)

The Belle de Jour franchise is a money-making machine. Up to now she may have been able to compartmentalise her life and feelings, the writing (good) help her separate her real self and Belle de Jour. I don’t know what the media storm is going to bring or the effect it will have on her life. Maybe now she needs integration. The fact that she is brainy and clever makes her miles apart from the average prostitute who doesn’t have a PHD to fall back on or the looks to get as an escort. I actually met a few escorts when I was working in posh places and the amount of cocaine hovered by their noses to be able to tolerate the men they had to perform to, was a real eye opener. Belle de Jour is not typical. Catherine Millet book was, to me anyway, far more gross and fracked up. I read an article on sex workers working for a charity as sex surrogates for the disabled, well that makes sense I thought. Sex is used to sell everything, its power of healing has been lost.
Then again I could be accused of hypocrisy in my treatment of the Namaste Princess. You can sell your body but please don’t impose your crap singing unto others and don’t steal other people’s husbands.

Dot

Catherine Millet is minging. I gave up her book after few pages.

[do-re-mi]

Dot

I wrote to Azloon in an earlier blog:

Belle de Jour is a former high class hooker who makes her job sound real fun. She is not the kind who does it because of poverty, slavery, a crack habit or because abuse in childhood makes it feel familiar. I have a feeling her books have been written by a gay man.

The boom times in London have been great for sex trafficking, the Eastern European girls taken from their village under false claims, trust me, have had a different experience than Belle de Jour.
Millet is a nutcase, bet she was abused as a child.

I am going to quote you lines spoken by Robert Downey as Harry ( who is at a Hollywood party with his love interest Harmony and Val Kilmer – as Gay Perry and who steals the movie) from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang that made me laught out loud when I first heard it, it applies to the Millet kind.

Harry: What is it out here with these women?
Harmony: Oh please, Harry, they're no different from anywhere else.
Harry: Yes, they are. These are damaged goods, every one of them, from way back. I'm telling you, you take a guy who sleeps with 100 women a year, go into his childhood - dollars to doughnuts, it's relatively unspectacular...
Harry: [putting a cigarette in his mouth] ... Now, you take one of these... gals, who sleeps with 100 guys a year, and I *bet* you if you look in their childhood, there's something rotten in Denver.
Harmony: Denmark.
Harry: [closing his cigarette lighter] That too! But it's abandonment, it's abuse, it's, "My uncle put his ping-ping in my papa!"... and then they all come out here!
Harry: [continuing] I mean, it's literally like someone took America by the East Coast and *shook* it, and all the normal girls managed to hang on.

[azloon]

[I mean, it's literally like someone took America by the East Coast and *shook* it, and all the normal girls managed to hang on] movie quote from DRM

lol, if only this were true. It's as though these guys think they are models of sanity. We always imagine 'screwedupness' resides elsewhere. Does this guy really think that a man who beds 100 women a year has no serious issues, and really is more together than a woman who does it?

Belle de Jour is in for a rough time, I'm afraid. She has the outward appearance of self-assuredness and calm, but I detect a wounded soul beneath. And the media will hound her unmercifully.

She actually said that one of the reasons she 'came out' is that she hated missing the parties for the release of her books. Poor girl. I think she just wants to be loved.

[Johnny Foreigner]

Thanks to Belle de Jour, the UK government has got a new idea to reduce the student loan burden

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2228&Itemid=81&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thedailymash+%28The+Daily+Mash.+It%27s+news+to+us.%29

I particularly enjoyed the quote about another student supplementing his income by getting a job at Costa Coffee (UK rival to Starbucks)

[do-re-mi]

Azloon,

The KK B Bang writer may have been talking about women in Hollywood. lol

“Belle de Jour is in for a rough time, I'm afraid. She has the outward appearance of self-assuredness and calm, but I detect a wounded soul beneath. And the media will hound her unmercifully.She actually said that one of the reasons she 'came out' is that she hated missing the parties for the release of her books. Poor girl. I think she just wants to be loved.”

You are right. You can be book smart yet be totally emotionally retarded or ignorant of your emotional motivation. I was amazed when I realised that. I have dated incredibly intelligent and educated men who looked down on my lack of college credentials ( drop out) but ignored their own emotional shortcomings (cause if your brain matter works to a PHD level it can override any short comings in the emotional department, making you a more rational human being and therefore superior- in theory). Those little escapades took care of my mental inferiority complex.

I place my bets on a daddy thing.

Apparently her father got addicted to prostitutes when his marriage broke up.

At least she didn’t do like Kathryn Harrison's who wrote The Kiss.

[do-re-mi]

Dot , Azloon,

and anybody thinking that Belle de Jour is typical.

http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/pdf/Prostitutionin9Countries.pdf

[do-re-mi]

Johnny Foreigner

very funny.

[azloon]

JF

Funny, the Daily Mash.

I learned at least four new (not used here) expressions for various sex acts.

It's amazing that the exact same behaviors, performed tens of millions of times every hour, around the globe, can have as many different slang expressions to describe them. And in their contexts, no one really needs to understand them in order to know exactly what they mean. Any word or phrase will do perfectly.

[azloon]

[I place my bets on a daddy thing.] DRM

Yeah, and the media are sort of ignoring this obvious link lest they be accused of practicing psychotherapy without a license.

I am wondering if she isn't just another symptom of our culture of celebrity, a person whose claim to fame wasn't marketable under her own name, and it needed anonymity to produce titillation. But once produced, and curiosity generated, it was ready for 'prime time.' Voila! Here we are.

Yes, educational credentials can mask myriad shortcomings. amazing how much credibility we give highly educated people, not only in their field of so-called expertise, but in other matters as well.

Btw, we like college dropouts over here, especially smart ones. there is almost 'reverse prestige' since so many kids slavishly complete meaningless degrees. A dropout is often considered to have recognized this 'treadmill' aspect of 'higher' education and intelligently sought fulfillment elsewhere. In fact, a high number of the most successful innovators in Silicon Valley never finished university. A badge of honor -- "See, I did this on brains alone!'

[do-re-mi]

Azloon,

The creation by the Silicon Valley guys are driving recipients of a more traditional education crazy. Lol

The young son of a relative spent a great deal of time alone with his computer when his parents divorce turned nasty. He created games for a company who sent him a job offer that he had to turn down as he was only 14 at the time. The company told him ( well his horrified mother really, to call them when he turns 18) but all his parents worry because his grades are not up to scratch. They themselves don’t do computers. Put this child in front of a PC he is a genius, ( his mother starts her sentences with “ is it legal? “), put him in a classroom he is an idiot apparently. The fact that a War of the Roses is affecting him seem to escape his parents.

The fame and recognition of “Belle de Jour” the creation may have created envy in her creator. Total speculation on my part.

Before you had “ fiction” where you can be detached but now it’s first person. Me think therapy has played a part.

[azloon]

[Me think therapy has played a part.] Doremi

Brooke Magnanti's therapist:

"I have bad news and good news for you.

First, the bad news is that you've created a huge mess for yourself, and its going to take years of therapy to unravel your childhood and understand how you came to this place."

"The good news is that as a result of this mess, paying for it is no problem."

The Grand Ecole-bound classmates of your computer whiz relative may be working for him someday.

[do-re-mi]

Azloon,

At least she has money to pay for her therapist. I did it wrong, I could still be messed up and have better furniture.

What would reality TV be without people who should have chosen therapy instead. The fact that train wrecks like Jordan are making money hand over fists as celebrities, providing us our own Bedlam tours beamed to our living room, make them think they are doing all right.

computer whiz relative : maybe, at the moments spots trouble him.

[azloon]

[What would reality TV be without people who should have chosen therapy instead. The fact that train wrecks like Jordan are making money hand over fists as celebrities, providing us our own Bedlam tours beamed to our living room, make them think they are doing all right.] DRM

Therapy comes later, after rehab.

'trouble spots him,' or 'spots trouble him'? I've had both problems.

[do-re-mi]

Azloon,

Bet trouble spots you a mile away. :-)))

Spots and a retainer trouble him at the moment.