[france] who is its mouthpiece

Jacques Chirac has expressed his regret over a bill that would make it a crime to deny the alleged Armenian genocide, Turkey's semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Sunday. Chirac made the regret on Saturday evening over a telephone call to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "I am very sorry over the initiative of the French National Assembly. I understand your feelings and furthermore I share them," Chirac was quoted as saying. So the first obvious question is: does Chirac speak for France or who for? Does the NA speak for France? Does the President support his Assembly’s legal decisions? Who speaks for France? Does anyone know? Read more here [and there are some bonus half-naked women as well].

[outing himself] who is this man

Click on photo to find out. Wonder if we could make this loop endless.

[nagging] is it ever justified

Samantha Brett has stolen my thunder on this one but here goes anyway: Nagging is clearly defined in literature and psychology as "repeatedly criticizing someone or complaining." Statistically, it causes more domestic violence and divorces than any other single issue. According to whom? According to the victims. The other half in the breakdown – the naggers – refuse to concede it as an issue and instead see the 1001 things they are complain about as the real cause. These are far easier to demonstrate. Read more here.

[sunday blogfocus] children and other issues

Dorian Gray or just DK?

It seems appropriate to start a Blogfocus on the theme of Children at the point of birth. Minette Marrin has a longish article on baby-trafficking and celebrities like Madonna who indulge in it: One could say that international baby shopping is fashionable. Indeed the demand is so great that in some places it has turned into a racket. Last week The Sunday Times reported on illegal baby traffic in Bulgaria, where some mothers are forced to sell their babies to dealers to pay debts, and others are cruelly tricked into handing them over for ever. Until two years ago baby trafficking was not a crime in Bulgaria. In Romania, where there are countless orphans in need of a home, the government stopped international adoptions in 2001 after allegations of trafficking. More bloggers here.

[baseball] tigers off to world series

Maybe you hate sport; maybe this is not your game; maybe this is not Sunday morning blogging material; still, it’s pretty significant: The Detroit Tigers have defeated the Oakland Athletics 6-3 to sweep the American League Championship Series 4-0 and head to the World Series for the first time since 1984. A dramatic three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning by Tigers right-fielder Magglio Ordonez broke a 3-3 tie to clinch the sweep, sending a raucous crowd of almost 43,000 towel-waving Detroit fans to their feet. Heavy underdogs to make the playoffs at the start of the season, the Tigers have now won seven straight post-season games by three runs or more, knocking out the New York Yankees and the A's. This is the stuff from which legends spring. As Blogger linking is not currently working, natch, the url is: http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/tigers-break-drought/2006/10/15/1160850798152.html

[atmosphere] a bit of sunday doggerel

James as he might have appeared countless years ago

Through the space ’tween two-foot thick white concrete walls,
Through two dusty panes of glass and the balcony’s third,
Through the grey oiled mist outside, as it hovers and palls,
The bright yellow derek looms across the road, unheard,
Criss-cross strutted monument in tubular iron;
Cables over unwhirring cogs, now abandoned on this supposed day of rest,
Hang limply from the cross-arm o’er-towering the driving school’s beserk,
Geometric, automotive ballet of colliding hopefuls taking test
And beyond, across the lake, the admired, ignored, cupola’d, log-built kirk.
Pensively by window, cup in hand andother clutching toast,
Gazing, sipping, hoods and jackets scurrying past eight floors below,
Marmalade drips from butter, splattering on the rug;
Expletives, mopping, considering which blogpiece first to post,
Groaning Kasperskied Windows running snail-paced slow,
The blogger taps the table, eye eyeing his balanced mug.