News of the Restless

Strange things dead paramilitaries write...and stranger things they reveal. From Aporrea, a little note that will make you believe that there IS life after death, especially for crime and scandal in Colombia:

The ex-colonel of Colombian police, Danilo Gonzalez, who was assassinated in 2004, ordered the murder of former presidential candidaate Alvaro Gomez Hurtado, and the kidnapping of Venezuelan businessman Richard Boulton.

This, according to a letter from the late paramilitary chief Carlos Castaño, which was revealed today.

The letter from Castaño, also killed four years ago, and published by the weekly magazine Semana, also accuses Colonel Gonzalez of planning the kidnap of architect Juan Carlos Gaviria, brother of the former Colombian president and ex-secretary of the Organization of American States, Cesar Gaviria.

Continue reading "Letters from the Evil Dead" »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 1:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm always amazed that the same people who bawl over baby seals in some other part of the world have so little regard left over for abused humanity coming to their own shores. Take (please!) the example of Brigitte Bardot, recently convicted of racist hatemongering:

A leading French anti-racism group known as MRAP filed a lawsuit last year over a letter she sent to then-Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. The remarks were published in her foundation's quarterly journal.

In the December 2006 letter to Sarkozy, now the president, Bardot said France is "tired of being led by the nose by this population that is destroying us, destroying our country by imposing its acts."

Bardot, 73, was referring to the Muslim feast of Aid el-Kebir, celebrated by slaughtering sheep.

Continue reading "Brigitte Bardot, phoquez-vous!" »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 5:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Remember all those stories about mysteriously dying honeybee populations? Looks like we've got the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder all figured out, kiddies. Or at least, one very unsurprising chief suspect:

Germany has banned a family of pesticides that are blamed for the deaths of millions of honeybees. The German Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has suspended the registration for eight pesticide seed treatment products used in rapeseed oil and sweetcorn.

The move follows reports from German beekeepers in the Baden-Württemberg region that two thirds of their bees died earlier this month following the application of a pesticide called clothianidin.

"It's a real bee emergency," said Manfred Hederer, president of the German Professional Beekeepers' Association. "50-60% of the bees have died on average and some beekeepers have lost all their hives."

Tests on dead bees showed that 99% of those examined had a build-up of clothianidin. The chemical, produced by Bayer CropScience, a subsidiary of the German chemical giant Bayer, is sold in Europe under the trade name Poncho. It was applied to the seeds of sweetcorn planted along the Rhine this spring. The seeds are treated in advance of being planted or are sprayed while in the field.

Continue reading "Bzzzzzzzzzzzz--STING!!!" »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 9:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ah oui, cher(e) ami(e), Tante Bina a trouvé beaucoup d'histoires bien scandaleuses pour toi!

Ahem. En anglais:

Maxime Bernier, our beleaguered and blundering foreign-affairs minister, has finally resigned. The reason? His ex-girlfriend, the erstwhile biker babe Julie Couillard, is in fact something of a security risk--a fact that Bernier and the Harper Tories repeatedly denied. When questioned (very politely) on the matter of her questionable ties by the opposition, the Tories cried salaciousness.

And considering that Bernier left confidential documents at her house, there seems to be some validity to the line of questioning on her potential for security risks. Meanwhile, we find out that somebody bugged her bedsprings.

She also accompanied him to his swearing-in spilling major cleavage. And she's now spilling her story.

Who's salacious again?

Now, for a scary thought: I called Bernier on his cowardly putziness regarding torture earlier this year. He's also well known for his out-of-line remarks on Afghanistan. Now I wonder if he and his ex-GF were actually the official conduit for Afghan heroin--the only cash crop Afghanistan is actually cashing in on--to the Hell's Angels. You have to admit Julie's credentials are ideal for the job.

Meanwhile, Maxime is going down in history--like a sack of solid lead bricks.

Quel fromage.

Posted by Sabina Becker at 12:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...and whatever you do, don't eat the fuckin' burgers. You never know what could be in 'em, especially at the rate inspections are going.

The Bush administration on Friday urged a federal appeals court to stop meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease, but a skeptical judge questioned whether the government has that authority.

The government seeks to reverse a lower court ruling that allowed Kansas-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef to conduct more comprehensive testing to satisfy demand from overseas customers in Japan and elsewhere.

Less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows are currently tested for the disease under Agriculture Department guidelines. The agency argues that more widespread testing does not guarantee food safety and could result in a false positive that scares consumers.

"They want to create false assurances," Justice Department attorney Eric Flesig-Greene told a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Mmmmm, all-American beef. Just watch out for the Mad Cowboy Disease.

A little music with your dinner, monsieur?

Posted by Sabina Becker at 10:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...for the rude, snotty dickweed we have for a prime minister. Canadians are a polite lot in general, but you'd never know it to look at our PM. The Harper Index, a progressive news site that follows the foibles of the Stiffy, has a list of folks he's snubbed (which is sure to grow as time keeps on slipping-slipping-slipping into the future), and there are some doozers on it:

Bono, the international rock star and AIDS activist, was snubbed by Stephen Harper at the G8 summit, who said he was too busy to discuss the African AIDS crisis with him. "Meeting celebrities isn't my shtick," Harper said. "That was the shtick of the previous guy."

Continue reading "On behalf of all Canadians, I apologize..." »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 11:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oh, it's just France kissing both the dimpled cheeks of Chavecito...again.

France's top diplomat sought help from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday to press for the liberation of rebel-held hostages in Colombia.

Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is aiming at restarting talks to free hostages who include French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt.

"We spoke about the liberation of the hostages, all of the hostages, of course Ingrid, but also all of the others," Kouchner said after emerging from the presidential palace. He revealed few details of the conversation.

Kouchner has said he believes Chavez can play an important role. The leftist rebels express an ideological affinity with the socialist president and have freed six Colombian hostages to his government so far this year.

Heh. Looks like all those France-haters left over from the run-up to Gulf War II can now join all the Venezuela-haters in screaming over this. (Why do you people hate the freeing of hostages, people?)

And, bonus! The AP has had a moment of correctitude in saying that the FARC are sympathetic to Chavecito, rather than the other way 'round as usual.

Posted by Sabina Becker at 10:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yep, Alvaro Uribe really IS a lawless, psychopathic little thug. Get a load of his latest bons mots:

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said Wednesday that he doesn't regret ordering a cross-border raid on a rebel camp in Ecuador, despite the death of four Mexican students there.

Uribe told Mexico's Televisa network that the students were seen in a video with the guerrillas, indicating they were in league with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

"They were not doing humanitarian work. They were not hostages. So why were they there?" Uribe said. "They were there as accomplices of this activity. They were there as agents of terrorism."

Continue reading "They were accomplices, so they had it coming" »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 10:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Seems like only yesterday they were announcing that France was getting involved in getting Ingrid Betancourt back from the FARC. (All right, it was the day before yesterday. But still.)

And now, all of a sudden, France is out again.

Well, at least we know Ingrid is not in imminent danger of dying. But she's still a prisoner, and still probably despondent as hell--especially if she knows about this latest turn of events.

Too bad El Narco has been sabotaging Chavecito's efforts and killing Raul Reyes, or maybe Ingrid would be free now instead.

C'est la merde, non?

Posted by Sabina Becker at 11:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...très different from the Americans when it comes to public-service ads. They take health a lot more seriously than they do censorship, and they certainly believe in making sure the kiddies are thoroughly informed. Le voici, c'est le gai:

The bit at the ends says: "Live long enough to find Mr. Right. Protect yourself. AIDES."

Et bien sûr, it's always a good idea to use condoms faithfully when you're looking for love in all the wrong places. Unfortunately, they won't protect you from one thing here: the sappy earworm, which made Your Humble Scribe cry (almost as much as all the horrible misadventures our cute hero has before he finds Dr. Le Bon.) Consider yourself warned.

Posted by Sabina Becker at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My guess is, it was the slick advertising. I mean, have you ever seen so much horseshit as this?

Golly gee, oh gosh wow...you'd almost dare swear it wasn't really about sex for pay, eh?

Sadly, it is. And here's what it would cost you to partake:

Continue reading "Exactly what was Eliot Spitzer paying for, anyway?" »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 1:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Un grand salut to a French supermarket chain for its efforts in going after the corporate greedheads...je vous admire, chers messieurs et 'dames!

The French supermarket chain Leclerc, one of the most important in the country, has decided to punish the big brands for raising the prices of their products too high, according to the daily Le Monde.

As of Friday, February 1, the chain plans to remove the following articles from its shelves: the 12-pack of the cheese "La vache qui rit", by Fromageries Bel; Ajax cleanser, made by Colgate-Palmolive; L'Oreal and Nivea facial creams; Orangina soft drinks; and Brossard cookies.

These products had raised their prices between 8.29% and 20.63% in recent months, which the chain does not consider justifiable in light of inflation.

"These items will not return to our stores until the suppliers agree not to raise their prices above the average of others of their kind," stated one of the owners of the chain, Miguel Eduardo Leclerc.

Translation mine.

Yowie zowie, that's positively shades of Chavecito!

As much as I love that Laughing Cow cream cheese, I've been finding it prohibitively expensive here in Canada, too. We could use this kind of price-fighting here.

Dis donc, Miguel Eduardo, ne pouvez-vous aller à faire la même chose ici?

Posted by Sabina Becker at 12:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Come on, Reuters guys, admit it...you just wanna see Hugo Chavez naked. First you were obsessed with his genitals, and now you make THIS your lede?

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez in an interview with supermodel Naomi Campbell predicted that the U.S "empire" is about to fall, called Jesus Christ history's No. 1 revolutionary -- and offered to pose topless.

"Why not? Touch my muscles!" the burly, 53 year-old former paratrooper said, when asked if he would follow the example of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who caused a stir last year with a series of shirtless pictures.

Continue reading "Reuters still hot for Chavecito's bod" »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 2:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Zut alors. He's just proposed to Mick Jagger's old mistress (and Eric Clapton's sloppy seconds).

Nicolas Sarkozy will marry his supermodel lover Carla Bruni next month - in time for the two to enjoy a state visit to Britain.

The wedding will take place in Paris on February 8 or 9, according to a newspaper owned by a close friend of the French president.

This will be two weeks after Mr Sarkozy celebrates his 53rd birthday, and less than four months after his divorce from his second wife, Cecilia, also a model.

Nice to know he's not superficial or anything.

Superficial-as-anything update: The French are not amused. The Beeb has the deets.

Posted by Sabina Becker at 12:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Zut alors, que c'est beau...

Continue reading "Chavecito en Paris? Incroyable!" »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 8:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

And for that matter--when? It all sounds terribly familiar...

France and the US have dismissed a finding by the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog Mohammed ElBaradei that there is no evidence of Iran building a bomb.

French Defence Minister Herve Morin challenged Iran to allow UN inspectors unlimited access to sites.

A White House spokeswoman said Iran was "enriching and reprocessing uranium, and the reason that one does that is to lead towards a nuclear weapon".

Mr ElBaradei said on Sunday that Tehran was years away from developing a bomb.

Gee, this sounds just like that smoking gun that was supposed to turn into a mushroom cloud. But did it? I don't remember, I was too busy watching Dubya crawling around on all fours looking for WMDs.

Well, at least they can't piss all over the French this time. C'est la guerre!

Posted by Sabina Becker at 9:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...for Marcel Marceau, who said so much without uttering a peep.

Continue reading "And now, a moment of silence..." »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 8:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Provocateurs policiers? En Canada? C'est impossible.

Non. C'est bien possible:

Story from the Toronto Star:

Continue reading "Police provocateurs unmasked in Montebello" »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

A bunch of ex-Venezuelan escualidos tried to lay siege to the media during the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Montreal race, to report only their (false) version of the story of the RCTV non-renewal. Much to their surprise, a Bolivarian contingent was already out in force to counter them! In the end, the escualidos came away with zero coverage. The strong police presence securing the streets apparently prevented any attempts at a physical confrontation, although there was apparently a lot of shouting from both sides.

This might be a good time to visit the Quebec Bolivarian Society's page, oui?

Posted by Sabina Becker at 4:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Only in France would they come up with THIS way of ringing in the New Year:

Hundreds of protesters in France have rung in the New Year by holding a light-hearted march against it.

Parodying the French readiness to say "non", the demonstrators in the western city of Nantes waved banners reading: "No to 2007" and "Now is better!"

The marchers called on governments and the UN to stop time's "mad race" and declare a moratorium on the future.

Continue reading "Vive le Grump!" »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blah, blah blah...

That, Gentle Reader, is the sound of the mainstream media in the US, talking a lot and not actually saying anything. For the last five years, it's been doing nothing but that on one particular day when it owes the public so much more than just some obligatory annual orgy of grief and remembrance with an unholy admixture of misplaced patriotism.

Continue reading "The obligatory fifth-anniversary 9-11 post, with a difference" »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 6:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

...and what have we learned?

Well, for starters, that the BushCo Imperial Preznitcy is rather reminiscent of the royal family of France--heedless of everything, right up to its date with La Guillotine:

Continue reading "One year after Katrina..." »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 1:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Hello again, FRENCH fries.

And bwahahahahaha!

Continue reading "Bye-bye, freedom fries!" »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 9:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Now, this is NO way to portray a Mountie. Quite aside from the fact that Condi stands for just about everything unCanadian and couldn't get her man if you dropped him smack on his ass in front of her, I take umbrage at this on the grounds that Mounties only ride black horses. (It goes better with the red serge. No, I'm not kidding.)

Posted by Sabina Becker at 2:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

When I first heard the "We are all (insert name of plucky little hard-done-by country here) now" meme, I was put out by it. It was a little too simplistic an expression of empathy for the victims of the 9-11 tragedy, and besides, it was a bit bass-ackwards, seeing as 9-11 was more like a cold shower of welcome-to-the-world reality for Americans. So when Le Monde proclaimed that "we are all Americans now", my first thought was, I'm unspeakably sad for those whom this has affected, but count me the fuck out of "we". I'm still a Canadian and a citizen of the world, and no amount of terrorism is gonna change that!

Continue reading "We are all shitheads now" »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 2:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Ever wonder what they're really like underneath it all? Worth1000.com did, and some photoshoppers answered:

Who knew Kim Jong (Mentally) Il was so, er, American?

Somehow, I always suspected Toady Blair was into this.

King Abdullah of Jordan is a perfect gentleman. He pretends not to notice that Auntie Condi forgot her skirt!

Posted by Sabina Becker at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lapin a l'estragon (Tarragon Rabbit Stew)

1-2 kg rabbit, cut up

2 cups chicken broth

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 medium onions, sliced

3 medium carrots, sliced

2 stalks celery, sliced

Continue reading "Zut alors! She can cook, too..." »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 5:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Michelle, ma belle,

These are words that go together well:

Ma Michelle...

Michelle, ma belle,

Sont des mots qui vont tres bien ensemble,

Tres bien ensemble...

Continue reading "Michelle, ma belle..." »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 11:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)