8. oktober 2003

Austrians take off after Arnold victory In Austria, they are very, very proud of their son Arnold Schwarzenegger becoming Governor in California. Some are even rambling that he is the greatest Austrian ever, bigger than Mozart (yeah right), and that this will bring glory to the country.  Styria governor Waltraud Klasnic said Austria could only benefit from American interest in Mr Schwarzenegger's roots. "Now the sun will never set on Austria," she said. "When the sun goes down over Austria, it will be rising over Sacramento." On a bit more sober note, Dieter Hardt-Stremayr of Graz tourist office has more modest expectations: "Perhaps Americans might now stop mixing Austria up with Australia." Just remember: there are no kangaroos in Austria. And there are no terminators in Australia. 6:05:25 PM    comment []  trackback []

Media coverage of suicide may inspire copycats It is a sad fact that when the media reports about suicides, especially among celebrities, this can inspire other people to kill themselves. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, in cooperation with the WHO and many other organisations worldwide, has issued a report with recommendations to the media for how to report on suicides. 5:50:06 PM    comment []  trackback []

Aide: Arafat had a heart attack Yasser Arafat suffered "a mild heart attack" in the midst of the dramatic days last week, but officials blamed it on a flu to avoid creating "panic" among Palestinians. Arafat, who also suffer from Parkinson's, is still in frail health. He was treated in Ramallah by heart specialists. If he should have to leave for treatment abroad, Israel will certainly not let him return to the territories. Israel has threatened to expel or kill Arafat after continued terror attacks. The news of a heart attack is obviously not mourned in the Israeli government.  "It would be very convenient if nature were to take its course," said an Israeli foreign ministry official, Jonathan Peled. "But Mr Arafat is a cat with nine lives and we do not believe he has used all of them yet." Arafat is 74 years old. 3:01:58 PM    comment []  trackback []

George W. Bush blog The official blog of the US President? Not really, it's the official blog for the Bush-Cheney '04 reelection campaign. It contains the details of what is going on with the campaign, pro-Bush spin on various news items and press commentators, and links to official press releases. Still worth a look. 12:00:34 PM    comment []  trackback []

Chatroom brawl ends in real-life knife fight A quarrel in a Norwegian online chat room resulted in the participants agreeing to meet face to face outside the railwaystation in central Drammen, Norway. Just before 18:00 the police were called out after an 18 year old man was stabbed. The victim suffered two knife wounds but they are not described as serious. The police knows the identity of some of the participants, who will be interrogated later. (From a Norwegian article in Dagbladet) 9:42:29 AM    comment []  trackback []

Reorganisation left Rumsfeld in the dark When Bush decided to reorganise the Iraq reconstruction team, he did not inform Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld. He was told about the new Iraq Stabilization Group when he received a classified memo to that effect from Condi Rice, he told in an interview with the Financial Times and three European news organisations. Rumsfeld was asked several times why the changes were necessary. "I think you have to ask Condi that question," he said, according to a transcript posted on the Web site of the Financial Times. Pressed, he said: "I said I don't know. Isn't that clear? You don't understand English? I was not there for the backgrounding." Assuming this is a good description of his remarks, it appears that Rummy is falling out of favour, and that he's not happy about what is going on. In politics, perception is more important than reality on the ground, at least in the short term. And there is certainly a perception that the Iraq war aftermath is not going too well, which speaks volumes about the administration's failure to bring across reasonable expectations to people in the first place.  Surely, there is also a serious discontent about the absense of WMDs in Iraq. Secret labs and plans might have impressed people if they hadn't heard the administration talk earlier about definite evidence for huge stockpiles of battlefield weapons that posed a clear and present danger. Is it possible that Bush feels he has to sacrifice the neo-conservatives, who currently take heat from the left and the traditional conservative right alike, to get a second term? When I first heard that rumour, I thought it looked too unprincipled for Bush to do that. Now, I am not so sure. Update: Here is FT's transcript of the whole interview. 8:01:31 AM    comment []  trackback []

Recall watch: Arnie wins Keep an eye on this page to see cartoonists and stand-up comedians get their wish and California get Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Right now, 55.9% says "yes" to kick Davis and 44.1% says "no." Arnold leads the recall candidates by 51.2%, a pure majority. Still quite a few votes left to count, but nobody really expects anything to change dramatically. Yup, it's Governor Arnold from now on. 5:28:04 AM    comment []  trackback []

Too much Moore What exactly is anti-Americanism? In lieu of a longer, detailed discussion of this difficult issue, distinguishing between people who merely e.g. disagree with Bush on Kyoto and people who actually hate the guts of everything American, let me offer this brief definition of media anti-Americanism: You are anti-American if you tend to quote Michael Moore favourably. It is not a flawless definition, but I think it has a very high predictive power of whatever the real thing is. The Guardian is currently running his new "Dude" book as an article series (no surprise). The current chapter is basically a rehash of all the grand conspiracy theories of the loonie left, including the infamous Unocal Afghan gas pipeline and the Saudi's-owns-Bush. Bin Laden is a guy in a cave when that fits Moore's argument, and suddenly a multi-millionaire with extensive connections to the US administration when that fits his argument. Make up your mind, Moore. Which one is it? It will be funny to see how these far-leftists, who are now constantly emphasising (rightly so) how evil the Saudi leadership is, deal with it if the US actually invade Saudi Arabia. Now, let me guess: "no blood for oil"? 5:00:39 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.11.2003; 03:18:49.