Close Your Eyes and Pretend All's Okay Part 3

If you go to the comments of the previous entry you'll find several comments; all by some rascal named Anonymous. Upon closer inspection you'll see that one of the comments was apparently generated by a person who wants to direct the reader to his/her website dealing with miracle cancer cures or financial advise or some other "money-making opportunity." Ignore those. Your correspondent has nothing to do with that stuff.

On the other hand, there are a couple of comments posted by another Anonymous who actually comments on what yours has put forth. For the purpose of this blog, this Anonymous will be referred to as the Real Anonymous and it is his comments that part of this entry will address. The Real Anonymous is worthy of attention. The other guy is the Susan Powter of commenters -- a conman looking for the main chance.

To get to cases. It's unfortunate that Monsieur Anonymous chose Pamela Anderson and Grace Kelly as the Yank versions of Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve. Pamela Anderson was born and raised in Ladysmith, British Columbia, Canada, and only arrived in the U.S. after her adulthood. Her only talent is the exhibiting of her surgically enhanced figure and her rather plain face. Her motion picture career has, up until now, rather limited, and her television career, in Los Angeles, has pretty much been limited to late night television. At the best Ms. Anderson could be called the better looking (but not by much) older and more shapely cousin of the Olsen Twins from the Great White North.

Grace Kelly, while from a Philadelphia Mainline family, abandoned the States to become a monarch of a Cote d'Azure gambling hell called Monaco. She traded in her Gadsen flag for a tiara. I think I need not say more. Maureen O'Hara, Irish born and bred and now living in Bermuda (or is it the Bahamas?) has shown more loyalty to the Great Republic than did Princess Grace.

If we are going to make analogies of French celebrities regarded as Marianne to American celebrities regarded as symbols of Liberty, the better choices would be Rhonda Fleming (Bardot) versus Jacqueline Smith (Deneuve). One is prettier than the other, but who would you rather have loading your shootin' iron while fighting off Indians, Redcoats, Rebels, or Yankees. Now that I think of it, I'd probably rather have Jane Russell by my side since she could kick Robert Mitchum's ass, and she was eminently huggable. By that's neither here nor there.

The point is that the symbol of Liberty or Marianne, from your correspondent's point of view, is that Liberty is something to be embraced, as is Marianne. Not something to be stood back from and admired. Take Delacroix's painting of Liberty Leading the People to Freedom. The painting shows Liberty (the model for Marianne) in liberty cap and carrying the tricolor storming the ramparts of monarchy.. Is it not easier to imagine the divine Bardot doing such a thing than Mme. Deneuve?

But that's enough of that. I'm suing for a truce with M. Anonymous. He's correct in that it's a Ginger versus MaryAnne argument. I like MaryAnne.

In the real world, we have an old article by a German about the state of Europe:FrontPage magazine.com :: Europe -- Thy Name Is Cowardice by Matthias Dopfner

And if you have a few bucks to spend buy a copy of Robert Spenser's The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades. It'll let you know what the Mohammedans are all about.

Close Your Eyes and Pretend All's Okay Part 2

If you turn back the clock and read Close Your Eyes and Pretend All's Okay posted on November 12 you'll see that a kind soul named Anonymous (that chap is as ubiquitous as Forrest Gump, although I think I see the hidden hairy hand of an ex-Eagle Rocker involved in this) made two comments regarding my comment that the French making Catherine Deneueve the model for Marianne was a step down from Brigitte Bardot. To paraphrase my correspondent, I was committing a crime by saying that Deneueve was a step down from B.B. Read the comments before you read any further (or is it farther?).

Finished reading? Here's the scoop from Bloody Nib Manor. Mme. Deneueve was, and is, a remarkably beautiful woman. Her beauty, though, is of the architectural type. It's rather cold, though classic. She is a woman as imagined by a French philosopher/mathematician trying to appeal to the Deconstructionalists and Post Modernists. Has anyone besides me noticed that since Deneueve hit thirty when she smiled it seemed that she was doing you a favor by noting your mere existence. Mme. Deneueve is the Marianne of the French Academy -- a cool, logical (and one wonders when the French traded their vaunted talent for logic for a short term pragmatism that would make William James abandon the philosophy if he had lived long enough). Mme. Deneueve is a sort of Athena version of Marianne, except not so wise.

The almost divine Mme. Bardot, on the other hand, is, and was, a people's Marianne. She may not have the classical beauty of Mme. Deneueve, but she is much more attractive aesthetically, personally and sexually. B.B. is not just French, she is from the earth of France as it once was. She transcends class, region and time. She can be a Breton, a Parisianne, from Marseilles, the Alcelse (sp?) Lorraine, the Vendi or the French Alps. She represents a France that was, and not just a France of philosophers or salon loungers. The average ethnic crapaud has as much idea of Deconstructionalism or Post-Modernism as does the average Iowa corn farmer. He's not interested in, whenever he thinks of it, existentialism or Sartre or Camus or Derrida. He's interested in the survival of his nation. Brigitte Bardot represents the nation of France, as it was and as many Froggies think it is, much better than Mme. Deneueve who seems to think of nothing much more than herself and the appearance of others.

Consider this fact: B.B. has made several publicized comments about the Islamization of France. In fact she's been sued over her comments and has had to pay penalties for her comments. B.B. cares for France. Mme. Deneueve, on the other hand, has only made the controversial comment that the reason that American women are overweight is that they eat too much bread. Who cares about France and who cares about herself? And just remember that B.B starred in a silly movie called Babette Goes to War. The movie took place during World War 2. Deneueve, on the other hand, has, as far as I know, only starred in war movies in which she is pretty much the victim.

Let's put it this way. Beauty is in many way subjective. All I know is that I'd rather have a cup of coffee or knock back a beer with B.B. than have champagne with Deneueve because in my mind Bardot is France and Deneueve is only an elite segment of said benighted nation.

Now let's get down to cases on the current unrest in France. If one watches the cable television news or reads the rags one would think that only cars have been burned by "disaffected" Islamic youth. But this, and the site is translation from the French so the grammar ain't great, shows that more than cars have been torched:Translated version of http://alexcorvus.blogspot.com/

A French Jewish philosopher has a few thoughts about what's going on in France:Haaretz - Israel News - What sort of Frenchmen are they? . Read the whole article.

And finally, if you've got a few bucks to spend, got to Amazon.com and order the novel The Camp of the Saints and read it. You'll see that some Froggies were more prescient than others.

A Couple O'Links

The rioting in France goes on and Chirac et amis continue to attempt to consult the shades of Voltaire, Rousseau and Louis XVI about the correct course of action to take.

Meanwhile, some of the rest of the western world seems to be waking up to the danger of Islamofacsism:

Islamic preachers drive the poisoning of young minds - Opinion - smh.com.au

World Magazine - Weekly News Christian Views

And remember that during the time that the Muslims controlled Spain the majority of Spaniards were not Muslim. They were Christians who gave up their faith and nation to acquire "peace."

Pat Robertson = Knucklehead

Bloody Nib Manor has since the 16th century, been a repository of hard core Protestantism. In fact, certain branches of the clan have gone as far as to adhere to the Puritan faction. Even the ever lovely Lady Nib, who is Japanese born and bred, is a Protestant of the old type i.e., pre Calvary Chapel/ Kumbaya.

And we here at the manse tend toward the conservative politically.

But sometimes we find ourselves wishing that those who have deigned themselves our spokesmen would just shut the hell up.

A case in point is Pat Robertson.

In the past couple of month Mr. Robertson has stated that it might be a good idea for the US government to assassinate Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and last week he told a city in the Northeast that they can forget any help from God because the populace voted out school board members who held to the theory of Intelligent Design instead of the Darwinian Theory of Evolution.

The man has shown himself to be an idiot and a prideful man. I believe that there was an Adam and Eve. I believe in the Creation as outlined in the Bible. But Robertson has gone way out of line. He has taken upon himself the mantle of a prophet. He seems to think that he is an Isaiah or Jeremiah without any proof that he has been given the mantle. But he insists that he knows God's mind. If that isn't pride, I don't know what is. Both Isaiah and Jeremiah were reluctant to take on the roles of prophets. They thought they were unworthy. Robertson, on the other hand, seems to think that he deserves to be a prophet. In other words, God owes him.

We here at Bloody Nib Manor will continue to refer and defer to the Scriptures instead of listening to a buffoon who tries to replace the church with the television church.

When your correspondent was a young apprentice Pat Robertson was know among the trade as "that moon-faced guy." Maybe back in those days we knew that he was a lunatic.

I don't know what Robertson's status with God is. He says that he's a Christian and I have to take him at his word. He's not been found in bed with a dead whore or a live boy. But his interpretation of the faith may be a little off.

I happened to come across, on the radio, Randi Rhodes of Air America, a liberal talk radio network. A caller said that her comments about Robertson's latest gassing were Christian bashing. She protested that she was not bashing Christians and that she was insulted by his accusation. But, in her comments it was apparent that she was bashing Christians because she saw Robertson as representative of the thought of all conservative or fundamentalist Christians. Is not the bashing of conservative, evangelical or fundamentalist Christians by using the club of Pat Robertson Christian bashing? The leaving out of liberal Christians of the Spong and Campolo type doesn't matter. When the US at large think of Christians they think of Calvary Chapel. Not Foundry UMC.

And finally, and cruelly, how can anyone take seriously anything that Randi Rhodes says? Her accent (Brooklyn, Bronx, or whatever) is so thick that one could listen to Plato and think it's all nonsense.

Close Your Eyes and Pretend All's Okay

Seventeen days after it started the rioting in France goes on. Apparently Chirac and Villapin and Co. have decided to declare victory over the disturbances by attempting to have "dialogue" with the arsonists. But isn't that the French way? You know the old joke: Why are trees planted along the Champs Elysees? So the German soldiers can march in the shade. It's somewhat reminiscent of Louis XVI trying to have "dialogue" with the Jacobins.

At one time in France it used to be the norm for government buildings to have busts of Marianne prominently placed. Marianne was the anthropological representation of France in the same way the Uncle Sam is of the United States or Jack Bull (and whatever happened to the great Jack Bull?) was of Great Britain. Over the years the image of Marianne changed. In the late 50s and 60s the image of Marianne was based on Bridgitte Bardot. During the 70s the image of Marianne was based on Catherine Deneuve (a step down in your correspondent's opinion). I don't know who the model for Marianne is now. But I suspect that within the next ten years Marianne, if represented at all, will be represented by some unknown woman wearing a chador. And then we'll know that France has become Gaulistan.

Mark Steyn has a few words to say about the current "disenfranchised youth." :Telegraph Opinion Early skirmish in the Eurabian civil war Check it out and laugh through your tears.

The War in Eurabia

Today marks the ninth days of riots in the suburbs of Paris by Islamic youth. If one reads the local rags on would believe that the rioters of just "youth", as if Jules and Marianne, having nothing better to do between their drinking of pastis and the eating of pate de foie gras decided to burn a few cars and a pre-school or two. Meanwhile, the President of La Belle France (Dominique de Villepin)thinks that "having dialogue" with the rioters will end the mayhem. But what can one expect from a man who considers himself a "poet." Poets are good for poetry and seducing silly teenage girls, and not much else. The Minister of the Interior, Nicholas Sarkozy, has taken a harder line. He expects people in France to act like civilized Frenchmen. He has called the rioters "thugs" and, for some reason, that appellation is considered controversial. Sarkozy, the son of Hungarian and Greek immigrants to France, knows what it's like to be a son of immigrants and expects a certain modicum of restraint and good behavior from second generation North Africans and Turks. But, apparently, the liberal faction sees the Muslim youth as somewhat stupid, primitive and naturally violent, so the youth must be handled with kid gloves.

But be that as it may, here's a round up of links concerning the War in Eurabia:
Paris When It Sizzles
Big Lizards:Blog:Entry “Arms For the Poor”
The Fall of France The Brussels Journal
The Daily Demarche: Oh, to be a fly on the wall. This is funny.
The Daily Demarche: "The City of Lights"- did they mean burning cars?

And finally, to show that some pigs are more equal than others from Australia. I've never beat the ever lovely Lady Nib, but if I ever do and the local constabulary are called, I'll use the excuse that I'm a Muslim:Herald Sun: Police told to respect traditions [ 25oct05 ].

A Retraction

We here at Nib Manor haven't enjoyed the gift of omniscience for a long time. It came to an end when about the time we turned thirty. At that time we realized that a rotten trick had been played on us and that world had become much more complicated.

So I find myself having to retract a statement made in a previous entry. In a previous post I stated that a savings bank in the United Kingdom has stopped giving out piggy banks as premiums for opening savings accounts because of protests by Mohammedans living in Great Britain. It turns out that the story may be false. I picked up the information from several websites, each of which linked to an English newspaper. Now, some of those sites say that the newspaper may have been duped or have fallen victim to a new urban legend.

So, if you live in England and want a piggy bank, you may still be able to get a free piggy for depositing some funds. BUT, I wouldn't be surprised that the story has inspired a Muslim in Derby to file a protest with the bank for "disrespecting" Islam. We'll be waiting for the story to rise again.

As you may have noticed, the illustration on this post says "Save The Flag (and the pig) Fly Free!" This, of course partially refers to the Islamic fatwah on pigs. But there is also a war on the Cross of Saint George, which is the red cross used on the English flag. Our Islamic friends protest St. George's Cross as an insult to them because many of the Crusaders fought under that flag. Prison officials in England have been told not to wear English flag lapel pins because Muslim inmates may be offended. There's nothing like buckling under to the hurt feelings of convicted criminals.

It's just too bad that George Washington didn't get his way in desiring that the stars on the American flag be six pointed stars. The US is constantly being portrayed, by the Arab world, as a slave to the Jews. Six pointed stars in the jack would just send them into paradoxisms of rage and they might never have immigrated here.

And finally, for those of you who notice such things, you might notice that the font of this post is different than that of previous post. The only reason is because I neglected to change the font to my preferred font before starting this entry. Nothing special here, so move along.