BBC NEWS | In Pictures | Day in pictures

I know that this isn't "news" or "bubbalogic", but it's still pretty cool.

The Seattle Times: Nation & World: Jeb Bush is a Disgusting Runt

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush reopened Terri Schiavo's case yesterday by asking a prosecutor to review a perceived delay by her husband in seeking medical help after her collapse 15 years ago.

[...] Michael Schiavo accused the governor of attempting to deflect attention from the autopsy findings, which concluded that his wife was not strangled or beaten at the time of her collapse, as her parents had alleged. Why she collapsed remains undetermined.

Now the Rebubbalicans have been shown wrong, damned wrong and hateful by their Schiavo witch hunt, their only recourse is to turn up the Big Hate machine to eleven.

csmonitor.com | Is 'Downing Street Memo' a smoking gun?

"Joe Conason of Salon.com writes that Kinsley's response to the memo is just more proof that 'the leading lights of the Washington press corps are more embarrassed than the White House is by the revelations in the Downing Street memo.'

Mooing in plaintive chorus, the Beltway herd insists that the July 23, 2002, memo wasn't news -- which would be true if the absence of news were defined only by their refusal to report it."

This "news" is finally getting to the papers. Maybe there is still hope for James Guckert and Gannongate.

The Bubba-C: French Bashing is OK

The BBC says that the Congressman who famously requested that "French Toast" and "French Fries" be changed to "Freedom" toast and fries at the House of Representatives cafeteria has now "had a change of heart".

Good to see the BBC covering this kind of info, but too bad to see that the bashing continues.

To see this, first off, you need to realize a little of the history of the change from "French" to "Freedom". The BBC covered it well in an earlier article when they noted that the "freedom" switch originated in WWII with German-labeled items.

The owner [of a restaurant], Neal Rowland, said he got the idea from similar protest action against Germany during World War I, when sauerkraut was renamed liberty cabbage and frankfurters became hot dogs.

So, briefly, the "freedom" tribute was given to the enemy at the time of a bloody war. That same "tribute" was later given to France who, as an ally, tried to keep the US (or rather Bush) from going to war against Iraq on false pretenses, amongst other things. The reasons for which France argued against war have all shown to be justified (no WMD, no imminent threat, occupation doesn't build democracy). Furthermore, France was but a more vocal component of a much larger anti-war movement of historical proportions, especially with Britain itself.

Now back to the BBC article which claims that Walter Jones has made a "U-turn" about the war on Iraq. OK, maybe about the war on Iraq, but not for his French-bashing attitude. That's seems to still be OK as "Freedom Fries" and "Freedom Toast" are still on the menu. And no "apology" has come forth.

Yet the BBC didn't analyze this aspect of things. Why? Because for the BBC, much like the American press, French bashing is OK. The Bubba C, in short.

The US media and the French referendum

"Thomas Friedman of the Times made perhaps the most contemptuous and ignorant of all these attacks on the French voters in his June 3 column, headlined, “A Race to the Top.” Writing from Bangalore, India, Friedman sneered that “French voters are trying to preserve a 35-hour work week in a world where Indian engineers are ready to work a 35-hour day. Good luck.”

Hailing Bangalore as “the outsourcing capital of the world,” Friedman added, “The dirty little secret is that India is taking work from Europe or America not simply because of low wages. It is also because Indians are ready to work harder and can do anything from answering your phone to designing your next airplane or car.”

Friedman concluded, “this is a bad time for France and friends to lose their appetite for hard work—just when India, China and Poland are rediscovering theirs.”

In the course of Friedman’s absurd depiction of the Indian masses as wildly enthusiastic over the ruling elite’s repudiation of Indian “socialism” and its attack on previously established social protections, with Indian workers chomping at the bit to be super-exploited by native entrepreneurs and global corporations, the Times’ columnist noted in passing: “Sure, a huge portion of India still lives in wretched slums or villages...”

Such casual indifference to the horrific poverty that grips hundreds of millions of Indian people bespeaks a level of intellectual and moral depravity that requires little additional comment. Suffice it to say that Friedman has the same attitude to the conditions facing workers in France, or in the United States."

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who become violently sickened by the articles written by Enduring Friedman.

BBC NEWS | The treaty is dead, long live the treaty

"'It is important to hear all voices, not just some voices, so all member states should make their decisions on this treaty' said John Palmer of the European Policy Centre. 'What has happened underlines the need for the Union not to develop farther than its democratic polity. It must give ownership back to the people. But we will need another treaty.'

'However,' he went on, 'the next one will have to be built upwards and not delivered downwards. For example, another constitutional convention should be directly elected.' "

In other words, don't try to shove a load of baloney onto the European electorate (again)!