Chirac's legacy

Worse than Neville Chamberlain, not as evil as the despots he coddled. Jacques Chirac will go down as a Vichy Frenchman born into the wrong era.

Anne Applebaum at Slate nails it:

During a visit to the Ivory Coast, Chirac once called "multi-partyism" a "kind of luxury," which his host, president-for-life Félix Houphouet-Boigny, could clearly not afford. During a visit to Tunisia, he proclaimed that, since "the most important human rights are the rights to be fed, to have health, to be educated, and to be housed," Tunisia's human rights record is "very advanced"—never mind the police who beat up dissidents. "Africa is not ready for democracy," he told a group of African leaders in the early 1990s.

On Saddam Hussein: "You are my personal friend. Let me assure you of my esteem, consideration, and bond."

On Eastern Europe supporting the United States in the United Nations: "It is not really responsible behavior. It is not well-brought-up behavior. They missed a good opportunity to shut up."

On Iran's nuclear program: "Having one or perhaps a second bomb a little later, well, that's not very dangerous." Theoretically, Chirac was supposed to be negotiating with Iran to give up its nuclear program at the time.

On hearing a French businessman address a European summit in English, "deeply shocked," he stormed out of the room.

As I say, it's a very important legacy: One of consistent scorn for the Anglo-American world in general and the English language in particular, of suspicion of Central Europe and profound disinterest in the wave of democratic transformation that swept the world in the 1980s and 1990s, of preference for the Arab and African dictators who had been, and remained, clients of France. In his later years, Chirac constantly searched, in almost all international conflicts, for novel ways of opposing the United States. All along, he did his best to protect France from the rapidly changing global economy.

Perky chick hits new low

You'd think that things could only get better when Dan "partisan political operative" Rather was replaced. Not exactly a tough act to follow.

But while Katie Couric's credibility is not as low as Rather's (she has yet to report a story relying on Civil War-era e-mails), her ratings are lower. The lowest in decades, as a matter of fact.

That's right

You say you're not from Frisco
Man, as if I couldn't tell
'Cause you can fill your tank with gas
And not sell your soul to hell.

Honesty is such a lonely word

Liberal law professors finally admit that the Second Amendment means what it says:

Laurence H. Tribe, a law professor at Harvard, said he had come to believe that the Second Amendment protected an individual right.

“My conclusion came as something of a surprise to me, and an unwelcome surprise,” Professor Tribe said. “I have always supported as a matter of policy very comprehensive gun control.”

The first two editions of Professor Tribe’s influential treatise on constitutional law, in 1978 and 1988, endorsed the collective rights view. The latest, published in 2000, sets out his current interpretation.

Several other leading liberal constitutional scholars, notably Akhil Reed Amar at Yale and Sanford Levinson at the University of Texas, are in broad agreement favoring an individual rights interpretation. Their work has in a remarkably short time upended the conventional understanding of the Second Amendment, and it set the stage for the Parker decision.

The earlier consensus, the law professors said in interviews, reflected received wisdom and political preferences rather than a serious consideration of the amendment’s text, history and place in the structure of the Constitution. “The standard liberal position,” Professor Levinson said, “is that the Second Amendment is basically just read out of the Constitution.”

Will Ferrell blows

Yeah, I've said it before.

But I'm watching an SNL retrospective, and seeing the cheerleader skits again reminds me just how bad Will Ferrell sucks ass.

Worst. Comedy. Ever.

Lucky Pierre

His victory was obvious, but his kind words were a surprise:

Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy greeted news of his election Sunday to a five-year term as France's president with a vow to serve as a leader for all people of France.

...

Sarkozy added that he wanted to tell his "American friends that they can rely on our friendship ... France will always be next to them when they need us."

Merde! Hating France was my whole raison d' etre!

Ah, well. It's been years since I've had a good Bordeaux. Time for a little rapprochement, as they say.

Go on, take the money and run

If you bought Amazon at $34 when I recommended it almost a year ago, you've done well. In December, with the stock up 16%, I said to stick with it.

Now AMZN is at $63 for a near-double in less than a year. I'm taking profits. I'll keep about 20% of my original position just for fun. With the market and the stock apparently priced for clear sailing ahead, I'll take some money off the table.