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3. september 2004
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Heart surgery for Clinton
Former president Bill Clinton is admitted to hospital suffering mild chest pain and short breath, and is to undergo a quadruple heart bypass.
For some reason, I've always liked Bill Clinton. I hope he recovers quickly and enjoys his retirement for many years yet.
For what it's worth, I'm worried about Kerry, true, but I have little doubt Clinton would have done what was necessary and right after September 11th.
This being the time it is, I can't help wonder what influence this news story will have on the opinion polls. It takes attention away from Kerry, sure, but I'm not entirely convinced that is bad for him.
10:31:36 PM 
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Norway opens Rugby World Cup
The Rugby World Cup kicks off with the first qualifying game this Saturday, and Norway has the honour of opening the tournament away at Andorra.
It would be a massive exaggeration to say that Rugby is a big sport in Norway; our national press has so far not mentioned this opening game in the biggest tournament in the world's second largest team sport with a single word.
Andorra is a million places (or something like that) above Norway in the rankings, so it will be a very tough game. The national manager is a good friend of mine, and I know a few of the players on the pitch that will defend our colours, and I hope they will pull off a miracle with the oval ball.
9:52:52 PM
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Schwarzenegger's childhood memories challenged
Historians challenge Arnold Schwarzenegger's memory about his childhood on Austria, and this is receiving a growing attention in the press. In his convention speech, the California governor recalled seeing Soviet tanks in the streets in his childhood. Can't be true, historians somewhat confusingly say.
"It's a fact -- as a child he could not have seen a Soviet tank in Styria," the southeastern province where Schwarzenegger was born and raised, historian Stefan Karner told the Vienna newspaper Kurier.
Schwarzenegger, now a naturalized U.S. citizen, was born on July 30, 1947, when Styria and the neighboring province of Carinthia belonged to the British zone. At the time, postwar Austria was occupied by the four wartime allies, which also included the United States, the Soviet Union and France.
The Soviets already had left Styria in July 1945, less than three months after the end of the war, Karner noted.
Karner may have a good grasp of his history, but he hasn't read Schwarzenegger's speech. In it, Schwarzenegger made it clear that he saw these tanks only when he travelled into the Soviet zone of control.
When I was a boy, the Soviets occupied part of Austria. I saw their tanks in the streets. I saw communism with my own eyes. I remember the fear we had when we had to cross into the Soviet sector. Growing up, we were told, "Don't look the soldiers in the eye. Look straight ahead." It was a common belief that Soviet soldiers could take a man out of his own car and ship him off to the Soviet Union as slave labor.
My family didn't have a car - but one day we were in my uncle's car. It was near dark as we came to a Soviet checkpoint. [bold added]
The historian may be forgiven, at least partly, for not having read the context of the speech when journalists presented him with his former countryman's words. But those left-leaning journalists who presented this can hardly be ignorant of the fact that historical facts support Schwarzenegger's version. His part of the country were not run by the Soviets, but he could (and, he says, did) travel to the parts that were.
Another criticism is that Austria wasn't run by socialists just after World War II, like Schwarzenegger said it was. The conservatives, historians say, were in power both after the war and just before he left for the US. This is a matter of cultural translation. Somebody will have to tell me how the conservatives are in Austria, but I know that Norway is a social-democratic country whether it is run by the Labour party, which calls itself socialist, or the coalition of Christian-Democrats and Conservatives that are currently in power. The non-socialists, who actually call themselves bourgeois parties (!), differ on some policies, but none oppose the state controlled welfare state we have. That is a socialist country, and I would not be surprised if Schwarzenegger is correct in considering all the major parties in Austria, then and now, socialist, at least by American standards.
Update: This article had an aftermath: flamewar with a Norwegian journalist.
8:28:24 PM
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Bounce or fluke?
RasmussenReports presidential tracking poll has Bush ahead by 49% against Kerry's 45%. The day before, they were even at 47%.
This is a three-day rolling average, which should mean Bush's speech is not part of any of this. But the early speeches by McCain, Schwarzenegger and the first lady may have been influencing some of these polled voters.
Over the next few days, we'll see if this represents a real convention bounce for George Bush.
PS: RealClearPolitics have a very useful table summarising all the latest polls. All the latest polls have Bush in the lead, but none have been done after his acceptance speech.
Update: Definately a bounce. The Time poll gives Bush a two digit lead. A three way poll of likely voters gives a 52-41-3.
3:47:47 PM
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Russian school stormed
Russian forces have stormed the school where hundreds of children and parents have been held hostage. The networks report about total chaos, but also many people rescued, some injured.
Many of the terrorists have been killed by security forces, but there are indications that 13 got away (did the Russians take lessons from the Saudis or what?).
The initial messages indicate that the terrorists, either intentionally or by accident, blew up parts of the school causing a roof collapse. If this is true, the terrorists forced the security forces' hand while they were unprepared and could not obtain the element of surprise on their side.
No actual causalty figures yet, but I remember the 2002 Moscow theatre storming, which initially sounded like a success but were in reality an absolute disaster. The death toll among the hostages so far is low, "at least seven," but I fear they will increase sharply. Let's hope I am wrong.
From the behaviour and demand of the terrorists, it appears this was an operation designed to end in a bloodbath. This is a new low even for Chechen terrorists, and that says a hell of a lot.
Update: Unconfirmed testimonies reported by ITV and BBC says at least a hundred dead have been found in the gym. Both BBC and CNN says "dozens" were found dead. It's "breaking news" right now, so no details. The 13 escaped terrorists are apparently surrounded in a nearby house, maybe having some children as hostages.
Update 2: Oh my. "At least 100 dead."
Update 3: Words fail. Putin's aide Aslanbek Aslakhanov says 'the death toll would be considerably higher than 150' of the up to 1,200 that may have been held hostage. Some children are still held by terrorists on the run. And this may well have been done by terrorists from beyond Chechnya:
He added that 20 hostage-takers had died in exchanges of fire with troops, at least nine of them Arabs.
Whatever errors the government and the security forces may or may not have done, our deepest contempt should be with the fanatical monsters who planned and executed this horrible act of mass murder.
3:11:23 PM
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Damn Userland!
Radio Userland, my blog software, for some reason decided it wanted to erase my template and insert the old default version. Thus, my right sidebar and AdSense panels evaporated into thin air.
1:55:44 PM
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© Copyright 2004 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.10.2004; 07:21:24.
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