It's the Césars!

Marc explains the news from France

Ugh. Tonight's the César awards, presented by the imaginary Académie des Césars" (French had to copy the Oscars, by inventing an institution just to award them). The Académie (not française, but des Césars), uses the term "nommé" for "nominee". You see, the French get their panties in a twist for the oddest things. While they see nothing wrong about saying "mail" instead of "courriel" for e-mail, and while they delight in doing their "footing" (jogging) wearing their "jogging" (track suit), their skin crawls when you say "nominé" for "nominee".

Why is this a problem? Well, because "nominé", despite its perfectly French looks, is an illegal alien. Search for "nominé" + "barbarisme" in Google and you get over 8000 hits. And almost all those riled up about this will tell you that the "right" term in French is "nommé".

Except, of course, that this is total BS. "Nommé" is the past participle of "nommer", a verb that means "to name". A civil servant is "nommé" to his position, for example. In the context of an award, it would mean the winner of the award, not a nominee. "Untel est nommé au César du meilleur acteur" would be far more likely to mean that Untel won the award, not that he was one of a number of candidates.<

And there you have the right "right" word. A far better choice would be "candidat".

What Polanski said and when he said it

For the apologists who keep claiming that Polanski did nothing criminal, never admitted it, was cheated regarding his sentence, blah blah blah, read the transcript of his plea hearing at The Smoking Gun.

Some key extracts.

MR. GUNSON: Mr. Polanski, to Count III of indictment number A-334139, which charges you with the commission of Unlawful Sexual Intercourse on March 10th, 1977, a felony, how do you plead?
DEFENDANT: Guilty
MR. GUNSON: Your Honor does the Court make a finding that
Mr. Polanski knew and understood his constitutional rights?
THE COURT: Yes, the Court's made such a finding.
MR. GUNSON: And that he knowingly and intelligently waived those rights?
THE COURT: I have made such a finding.
MR. GUNSON: And does the Court also make a finding that
Mr. Polanski knows of the consequences of his plea?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes.
THE COURT: Yes.

---

MR. GUNSON: Mr. Polanski, before you can plead quilty, you must understand the possible direct consequences of your plea. Do you understand you are pleading to a felony?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes.
MR. GUNSON: What is the maximum sentence for unlawful sexual intercourse?
THE DEFENDANT: It's one to fifteen -- twenty years in
State Prison.

---

MR. GUNSON: Who do you think will decide whether or not you will get probation?
DEFENDANT: The Judge.
MR GUNSON: Who do you think will determine whether the sentence will be a felony or a misdemeanor?
THE DEFENDANT: The Judge.
MR. GUNSON: Do you understand that at this time the Court has not made any decision as to what sentence you will receive?
THE DEFENDANT: (No response.)
MR. GUNSON: Do you understand that the Judge has not made any decision?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes.

Total, a French national champion

Marc explains the news from France

The story HERE.

A strike at refineries and depots of French oil company Total has created a strong likelihood for gas shortages in France. Total supplies about half of France's gas supply. The firm is the result of a takeover by privately owned Total Fina of state-owned Elf Aquitaine under the approving eye of "Socialist" prime minister Lionel Jospin. This is part of a philosophy of the French elite that France needs international "champions", powerhouses in each economic sector. This usually means that French firms need to merge. More recently, we've seen this in the takeover of state-owned Gaz de France by privately owned Suez in the field of energy and public services.  When a company is looking to be sold, the French government will impose as many impediments as possible to a foreign partner in favor of a French one.

One consequence is that there are inevitably more job losses in France, where all the duplication of central services is concentrated.  So why would the elite in the press and politics push these "solutions"? The answer, I think, is that it keeps the top jobs and the levers of patronage in the hands of the French elite, which moves so easily from government to the "private" sector and back.

Another negative outcome is what we're seeing with Total. By concentrating the country's refining and storage capacity in the hands of one firm, the country is more vulnerable to social unrest.

A history of the merger of Total, Petrofina, and Elf HERE.

DP Feb 18: One-by-one

LW1 has recovered from an abusive mother and cut off contact with her and her siblings and half-siblings. Now a younger half-sister, who has an ongoing relationship with mom, wants LW to join that big happy family. LW doesn't want to get back into that, but doesn't want to hurt the well-meaning younger half-sister. Prudie advises to tell the sister that she can't be involved in the family, period. Thanks, but no thanks.
My take: Prudie's right. It might be different if sister wasn't close to your mother, but she is, and that's bad for you.

LW2 is a trophy wife who is unhappy that the wives of her husband's friends don't seem to like her. This is made worse by husband's comments that these men all think she's just so hot. LW takes refuge in child care when they all get together. Prudie advises to join the party, but to also make her own friends among young mothers her age.
My take: Prudie's right. I want to know whether this is LW's husband's second or third marriage.

LW3 is worried about their toddlers seeing her husband's large tattoo of a joint-smoking tiger on his back, a relic of his rebellious youth. Both LW and hubbie were wild youths, but she wants her own kids to be obedient bots. Tattoo is too large to have removed. Prudie advises not to worry about this, and if anything must be done to the tattoo, add something to turn the joint into something else (dildo?).
My take: Prudie's right. This is not a big deal, and if you think you must do something about it, Prudie's solution seems very common-sensical. But LW does need to get used to the idea that her children will rebel, whether she likes it or not. Maybe it's better to explain why the tattoo is there than to pretend it never existed?

LW4 is a woman who discreetly pointed out to another woman at the supermarket that the woman's fly was open. Husband thinks this is wrong, and that it's better not to tell, thus allowing the person to think that maybe noone's noticed. Prudie advises that husband is nuts. Please tell.
My take: Prudie's right. Who would ever think no-one noticed? (Had this happen to me this week...)

A real blog post from Slate.com's Brow Beat

[sic]

Jessica Grose: This week was a big improvement over last week. Including children was a genius twist @font-face { font-family: Cambria Math; } @font-face { font-family: Calibri; } @font-face { font-family: Verdana; } @page Section1 {size: 8.5in 11.0in; margin: 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin: .5in; mso-footer-margin: .5in; mso-paper-source: 0; } P.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-style-unhide: no; mso-style-qformat: yes; mso-style-parent: ""; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi } LI.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-style-unhide: no; mso-style-qformat: yes; mso-style-parent: ""; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi } DIV.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-style-unhide: no; mso-style-qformat: yes; mso-style-parent: ""; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi } .MsoChpDefault { mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-style-type: export-only; mso-default-props: yes } .MsoPapDefault { LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; mso-style-type: export-only } DIV.Section1 { page: Section1 } —the little buggers certainly were charming, especially Anthony's vampy wee one. The top designers are really pulling ahead of the pack: The tailoring on Seth Aaron's modish motorcycle jacket was impeccable, and the design on his kids outfit was whimsical and sweet. As you predicted last week, David, Janeane was auf'd, and good riddance to that Debbie Downer. Her "taste level" as the Proj Run judges often put it, was not up to snuff. Janeane is so down on herself that in her exit interview, she said: "I'm going to be international in the next two years. Not huge, but around." With that kind of attitude @font-face { font-family: Cambria Math; } @font-face { font-family: Calibri; } @font-face { font-family: Verdana; } @page Section1 {size: 8.5in 11.0in; margin: 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin: .5in; mso-footer-margin: .5in; mso-paper-source: 0; } P.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-style-unhide: no; mso-style-qformat: yes; mso-style-parent: ""; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi } LI.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-style-unhide: no; mso-style-qformat: yes; mso-style-parent: ""; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi } DIV.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-style-unhide: no; mso-style-qformat: yes; mso-style-parent: ""; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi } .MsoChpDefault { mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-style-type: export-only; mso-default-props: yes } .MsoPapDefault { LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; mso-style-type: export-only } DIV.Section1 { page: Section1 } —not to mention her sub-par design skills @font-face { font-family: Cambria Math; } @font-face { font-family: Calibri; } @font-face { font-family: Verdana; } @page Section1 {size: 8.5in 11.0in; margin: 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin: .5in; mso-footer-margin: .5in; mso-paper-source: 0; } P.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-style-unhide: no; mso-style-qformat: yes; mso-style-parent: ""; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi } LI.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-style-unhide: no; mso-style-qformat: yes; mso-style-parent: ""; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi } DIV.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-style-unhide: no; mso-style-qformat: yes; mso-style-parent: ""; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi } .MsoChpDefault { mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-style-type: export-only; mso-default-props: yes } .MsoPapDefault { LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; mso-style-type: export-only } DIV.Section1 { page: Section1 } —she is destined for mediocrity.

Allah forbid a fast food place should serve its clients' needs

Marc explains the news from France...

Quick is a fast food burger chain, the product of a long-ago merger of various European chains (ah, Freetime!). Apparently it is now owned indirectly by the French government (nobody really knew that until the latest scandal).

Anyhow, one of their outlets in Roubaix near Lille in northern France decided to serve its potential clientele of Muslim diners by going hallal. This included replacing bacon by smoked turkey.

In Islamopsychotic (I think it's beyond Islamophobic) France, this is an unholy provocation. What?!!! A restaurant that dares NOT serve pork! Time for a constitutional amendment requiring all citizens to eat Schweinfleisch. That would be a great way to begin deporting Jews and Muslims. I'm sure there are still plenty of people around with experience from the 1940s. The SNCF still has plenty of train cars...

Info on the current ownership HERE; http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-22/cdc-said-to-consider-sale-of-european-hamburger-chain-quick.html

A story (in French) about the "polemic": http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ikQoe-NSy-CPIWyOsxq6EZfC0nYQ

Nadine Morano has some identity issues

In which Marc explains the news from France.

The "national great national debate on national identity of the nation" launched by Nicolas Sarkozy and run by the traitor Eric Besson has run its predictable pre-electoral race-baiting, immigrant-hating, Islamophobic course... or rather, has been nipped in the bud before more members of Sarkozy's party made more blatant racist "gaffes". Instead of the final major conference to sum up the results of the regional events (in short: immigrants bad, Muslims bad, foreigners bad, Africans bad), the process was aborted in the form of a cabinet seminar, in which various members of the cabinet yelled at Besson for fraking things up.

Among the fraking-uppers was Nadine Morano, minister of Family Affairs. During this long debate period, she said: "Moi, ce que je veux du jeune musulman, quand il est français, c'est qu'il aime son pays, c'est qu'il trouve un travail, c'est qu'il ne parle pas le verlan, qu'il ne mette pas sa casquette à l'envers" (What I expect from a young Muslim man, when he's French, is that he loves his country, that he finds a job, that he doesn't speak slang, and that he doesn't wear his baseball cap backwards.).

Today, Nadine Morano, the minister of moralizing (I'd say more, but she has a history of suing people who tell the truth about her), was questioned about the end of the debate. One of the "outcomes" of the cabinet seminar was the establishment of a blue-ribbon panel to think about the issues raised by the debate. The interviewer cited Georges Clemenceau, who said that the best way to bury an issue was to name a committee to study it. Morano replied: "Clemenceau a le droit de dire ce qu'il souhaite. C'est son analyse, pas la mienne" (Clemenceau is entitled to think as he pleases. That's his analysis, not mine). Nadine, a government minister, seems to ignore the identity of one of the most famous names in French history, the namesake for one of France's only aircraft carriers, prime minister during WWI, Clemenceau, The Tiger.

Message to Nadine: he's dead. He's been dead for some 80 years.

Charles thinks the truth has a sell-by date

Charles Windsor as reported by the Daily Telegraph:

It must be apparent to people deep down that...we cannot go on like this, just imagining that the principles of Enlightenment laid down in the 18th century still apply.

Yes, old principles wear out over time... We already know that Charles believes that "thou shalt not commit adultery" is no longer valid. And gravity has gone all wonky (look at his jowls). The whole "royal" thing has certainly worn out its welcome...

You know, I was sympathetic to Mr. Windsor's campaign for traditional architecture, but his new age woo is just too much. He's a twat, and needs to get a job, or do his job, which is to shut up and look pretty.

French version of TV theme songs

They're universally crap.





Fortunately the decline of the TV theme song, and in particular the long song that explains the premise of the show, means that we are spared these creations.

DP Feb 4, All-in-one

Dear Prudie,

I met my husband through his brother, who was a coworker of mine. Well before meeting my husband, I had a drunken petting session with his brother. After getting serious with my husband, I decided it was best to see as little of my future BIL as possible, so I found another job (which was no great lost, since I far preferred being a waitress to working a help line where I had to listen to dudes calling in for assistance while they sat on the can). Of course, I still see my BIL at various family events, and we do our best to ignore our indiscretion.

Nonetheless, I could not help feeling guilty, as if I had betrayed my husband, even though I wasn't married, going steady, or even aware of his existence when I almost had something similar to sex with his brother. And so I ended up telling him the whole sordid tale.

Well, as you can imagine, my husband freaked out at this news. I will spare you the insults addressed at me (and oddly enough, not at his brother), because something more significant occurred during his rant. My husband suffered a stroke caused by his intense screaming and jumping up and down.

He suffered temporary paralysis, but received great treatment, and has recovered most of his motor functions. Alas, he suffered significant memory loss, and after many months he can still not remember the last few days before the stroke.

I still feel horribly guilty, and I don't believe that I've truly unburdened myself to my husband because he can't remember my confession. And to make things worse, my new employer has gone bankrupt since he kept giving away his services to hard-luck cases for free (which seriously cramped my own finances: just what is the appropriate tip for a free lunch?), so I've had to return to my old job, where my BIL still works.

My question to you, Prudie, is:should I tell my husband again?

Yours,

Once Burned, Still Stupid

DP Feb 4, One-by-one

LW1: Huh? Your wife had sex with a guy before you were a couple. What's the big deal? Get the fuck over it!

VLW: Gosh, maybe if you didn't make people wait for 3 hours to get a living person on the line, they might be able to schedule their personal hygiene at a more suitable time.

LW2: You were dating, you weren't married. Why do you want to hit the self-destruct button on your marriage?

LW3: Prudie has good advice. There's also the option of handing him the butcher knife and inviting him to commit seppuku. When he doesn't, you can ask him what he's going to make of his new life.


LW4: This must be fake. Who would work under these conditions? And why in the world is it LW's husband's problem if the guy who's generous with other people's money gets in trouble? (Pretending to be charitable with other people's money is a particular peeve of mine... made more relevant by the Haiti earthquake... Oh, Bertrand Delanoe, what a hero you are for giving my money for aid to Haiti!).