Sleep, why dost thou leave me? - Kirsten Flagstad

Readers informed me that a storm named Dagmar, the worst storm to hit the region in 30 years, ripped through northern Sweden and central Norway over Christmas. There was some information at CNTV which also provides a video.

Another reader (or possibly the same one) sent an article from the Daily Mail about a "massive solar storm" that was expected to generate the "Northern Lights" on or about December 29, 30 and 31.

We are all aware that changes of great magnitude are going on around us. Our civilization has mutated into something uncomfortable and unnatural for us to live in. Heaven and Earth experience storms, violence and profound changes. And we have no control over any of this, so we feel helpless. And we seek things that are eternal. Great music and a beautiful human voice are eternal. I hope you all get some sleep tonight, but more and more I'm having trouble sleeping well during the hours when human beings should sleep - at night.

Here is an aria by Georg Friedrich Handel, from his opera Semele, sung by Kirsten Flagstad (1895 - 1962), the woman many consider to be the greatest soprano of all time, certainly the greatest Wagnerian soprano. Norwegian by birth, she was raised in Oslo within a musical family, and later studied in Stockholm. Her rise to operatic immortality was immediate and enduring - there had been no one like her before, and never would be again.

The story of what happened to her, including tragic misunderstandings of her role in politics during WWII has been the topic of countless books and articles. Having settled in Montana, she made the ill-fated decision to return to Norway during the German Occupation against the advice of many of her friends. Wikipedia relates:

Though she only performed during the war in Sweden and Switzerland, countries unoccupied by German forces, this fact did not temper the storm of public opinion that hurt her personally and professionally for the next several years. Her husband was arrested after the war for war-time profiteering in German-occupied Norway that involved his lumber business. This arrest, together with her decision to remain in occupied Norway, made her unpopular, particularly in the United States. The Norwegian ambassador and the columnist Walter Winchell spoke out against her. In 1948, she performed several benefit concerts for the United Jewish Appeal. In defense of Flagstad's husband, Henry Johansen, it should be noted that facts surfaced after his death that showed that he was arrested by the German Gestapo during the occupation and was released after 8 days. It then came to light, many years later, that Johansen's son by his first marriage, Henry Jr, had been a member of the Norwegian underground throughout World War 2.

Note: You may want to turn up the volume. It's a bit soft.



Oh sleep
Oh sleep, why dost thou leave me?
why dost thou leave me?
why thy visionary joys remove?
Oh sleep, oh sleep
oh sleep, again deceive me
oh sleep, again deceive me
to my arms restore my wand'ring love
my wand'ring love, restore my wand'ring love!
again deceive me, oh sleep!
to my arms, to my arms restore
my wand'ring love!

Many thanks to the Norwegian readers who visit this site - at least I think you are Norwegians, since you all post anonymously. For this reason I can't tell how many of you there are.

Below, Flagstad on a 100-kroner note.

Discovery at Chartres

Four new wall paintings, dating from the early 13th century, have been discovered in the north and south walls of Chartres cathedral. The discovery was made during a cleaning operation in October 2010, and restoration took place during May and June of 2011. They thought they knew everything there was to know about Chartres and its treasures, but the great cathedral apparently had not delivered up all its secrets.

A detailed account of the discovery and restoration, with numerous photos, can be found in French at Ceroart, but the technical terminology precludes a complete translation.

Due to their location on the under side of arches, the paintings, that simulated stained glass windows, had been protected, and thus were discovered in their original state, covered only by a layer of colorwash, ancient dust, and alterations due to active pulverulence (i.e., the process of turning into powder).

The first painting showed the outline of a person wearing a crown, seated on a throne and bearing a scepter in his right hand, a sign of royalty. It was quickly identified as King David. He is inserted in the center of a rose with eight petals symmetrically arranged around the circumference.

The second painting also depicts a person seated on a throne and playing a rebec placed vertically on his knees. This painting was much harder to discern than the first, due to various deposits that had mixed in with the picture and to the loss of portions of the picture, leaving exposed the stone on the upper part of the mural.

The other two paintings were difficult to discern because of the considerable amount of dust that prevented any underlying picture from being visible. Only the traces of a rose with eight lobes suggested the existence of a wall painting. However, after a month of work, the image of a person playing the violin became clearly visible on one of them. And after four months of restoration, the main motif of the second painting was discernible - a person seated from profile playing an organ.

The photo at top shows King David, inserted in the "rose" (actually a circle) with its eight petals or lobes. Below, the rebec player. His face is still not discernible.

A very nice Christmas present for lovers of architecture, Chartres and French culture.

Looking to Russia

Here's an interesting piece of news for those who look to Russia for salvation (and many in France do). While I don't feel qualified to take a stand on this, on the whole, it is possibly not a bad idea, insofar as you are willing to accept the existence of the EU itself. The article by Michel Garroté comes from Dreuz.

The Council of Ministers of the European Union approved amendments to EU regulations that would allow the Russian region of Kaliningrad to be included within the border zone of the European Union. The amendments aim to facilitate crossing the border into the Russian region of Kaliningrad where the population consists of almost a million inhabitants and which constitutes a Russian enclave within the European Union.

The amendments allow for a "derogation of the rules on border control" relative to the crossing of borders for those people who live in border regions. The amendments do not aim to erect barriers, but to facilitate cooperation between "regions of the European Union" and "their neighbors." Nearly a million Russians of Kaliningrad are henceforth part of Europe. That is called good news…

Note: I know very little about this. The author is implying that these Russians are potential patriots and defenders of Old Europe, and not globalists/socialists who would defend the influx of non-Europeans into the EU. Some readers feel the same way:

- Despite the healthy cultural differences, we are much closer to the Russian people than to Africans and Arabs. Our current situation reminds us of that every day. But we try not to hear. And Nature hates to be contradicted!

The following comment is a bit optimistic:

- For me, Russia has always been a fantastic civilization with a remarkable love of Art. Russian traditional music is the most beautiful in the world. We should be grateful to this ally who helped eliminate Nazism. I hope that this valorous people can overcome an old anti-Semitism that was exploited by the German army, which had included Cossacks, Muslims and which paraded (among other things) before the grand mufti of Jerusalem. Yes, pogroms are ancient history, vigilance permitting.

Some readers disagree:

- The enclave of Kaliningrad is an aberration that should not exist. It only proves to what extent we are weak before Russia.

- (…) the presence of this Russian enclave on European soil could legitimize the demand for the admission of Greater Russia to the European Union… by the same token, isn't Turkey using the argument of a thin piece of territory situated to the north of a certain strait? And where would all of that place the euro in relation to the dollar?

Note: The only answer you can give to the above is that Russia, by its religion, its history, its language and its Slavic ethnicity is closer to Europe than Turkey. But who would posit this argument without being labeled an "extreme" right-winger or a racist? After all, there are no differences between peoples (except of course those white European males who are the cause of all the world's ills.).

Here is a famous post-WWII Soviet Russian song entitled Cranes. To understand how it got its name, you need to read this short Wikipedia article.

Since the video was uploaded by a Russian, who provides information in Russian, I cannot tell you too much about this performance, except that the singer is the very well-known and admired Russian baritone Dimitri Hvorostovsky, as famous for his white mane as for his resonant voice.

There are several different English versions. I have chosen this one, but it may not be the best one. Also, I have made some changes that appear to be grammatically necessary, but I cannot be certain.

Cranes

(initial translation of Andrey, corrections-AMVAS)

Sometimes it seems to me that soldiers,
Who didn't return from bloody fields,
Did not lie down into our ground,
But turned into white cranes.
And they are flying and screaming to us from afar,
May be that is why we often ruefully fall silent?
Looking at the sky.

The weary wedge of cranes is flying, flying in the sky,
It flies in the fog at the end of day.
A small interval inside this wedge
Probably is reserved for me.
A day will come when I, with the flock of cranes,
Will fly in the same blue sky,
From the sky calling those, whom I left on the ground,
In the language of the birds.

Care Selve - Beniamino Gigli

Here is a beautiful aria, Care selve, from the opera Atalanta by Georg Friedrich Handel, sung by Italian tenor Beniamino Gigli (1890-1957). The recording dates from 1949. The words are very simple:

Care selve, ombre beate,
vengo in traccia del mio cor!

Beloved forests, joyous shadows:
I come in search of my heart.

Two Views of Christmas

As we know, Christianity is routinely persecuted, mocked, and reduced to the level of a lepers' colony throughout the Western world by politicians and policy-makers, and by those who carefully filter the news, giving the public only what they need to know - all the news that's fit to print, as the NYT claims. If it isn't fit (i.e. conforming to liberal groupthink) it won't get printed.

This article from Novopress, while not so important as news, illustrates again how our heritage is being snuffed out, not through book burnings or pogroms, but through deliberate omission. The mayor of Nantes, Jean-Marc Ayrault, left the following message at his blog on December 23:

"To all I wish you happy holidays and a wonderful New Year in 2012, the year of change."

Novopress comments:

What could be more normal at the end of the year, except that the mayor of Nantes is careful not to make the slightest reference to Christmas.

This absence will come as no surprise to those who have noticed that the municipal Christmas festivities in Nantes, the city of the Dukes of Brittany, omit almost all traditional symbols - tree, star, nativity scene, Santa Claus and his reindeer - in favor of anonymous light shows in the style of a consumer society's shopping mall.

And yet Christmas - the Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth - has been celebrated every December 25 since the 4th century. We know that before the appearance of Christianity, this date, in the European tradition, corresponded to the pagan winter solstice holiday. "Christmas, a holiday for remembrance, for the family, for faith and hope, has survived centuries and millennia without dying", observes philosopher Alain de Benoist. Hence, a deeply rooted faith for believers as well as non-believers, especially in the culture of the European peoples.

In abstaining from the mention of "Christmas", Jean-Marc Ayrault no doubt means to avoid any word apt to offend "diversity" or to upset "living-together". In a "multicultural" country, there are references that it is better to avoid. So what could be more "neutral", more "universal", than to wish everyone simply "happy holidays", with no added clarification? A surprising evolution on the part of a man who was, during his adolescence, an activist in the Christian youth movement.

Socialist candidate François Hollande, who recently named Jean-Marc Ayrault as a special adviser, clearly does not have the same reservations regarding the Islamic holidays:

"Today we celebrate the great holiday of solidarity and sharing of Aïd-al-Fitr. Following Ramadan, the month of fasting, a time full of joy and exchanges of good wishes and gifts, it illuminates the lives and households of millions of our Muslim compatriots. The product of a long tradition and bearer of rich cultural heritages, through the values that it brings and the social ideal that it strives for, (Aïd) is fully in line with the effort towards universality," wrote the Socialist presidential candidate last September.

Note: A reminder that Aïd is the "holiday" when thousands of sheep are slaughtered in bloody ritual despite the efforts of animal rights groups to enforce the requirement to stun them.

Today, if it is fashionable for the Socialist Party's upper echelon to render an effusive homage to Islam, uttering the simple word "Christmas" seems incongruous to them. "The word 'worker' is not a four-letter word", Pierre Mauroy is supposed to have said to Lionel Jospin. It does appear, though, that for Jean-Marc Ayrault, the word "Christmas" is.

Below, François Hollande, Socialist candidate (left) and Jean-Marc Ayrault, mayor of Nantes.


What a contrast between Ayrault's inability to say "Christmas" and Marine Le Pen's Christmas Eve message, posted on December 23, to her constituents! She begins by wishing Merry Christmas to all the children, all the families:

"My dear compatriots. As we approach Christmas night, that unique night that enchants our hearts and fills us with hope I wish all of you a very merry Christmas. Merry Christmas first to the children because Christmas is the birth of Baby Jesus, and so it is a holiday for all children. They are the ones we think about on Christmas eve, and especially those who are in want and in poverty. Merry Christmas to all families of course, because Christmas has always been the family holiday par excellence, the time when all generations gather together around a good meal, a Mass, and carols. Christmas is a universal, yet very French, holiday, deeply inscribed in our traditions. Some who would like to escape history try to blend it into the "end-of-the-year festivities", but that is nonsense. Christmas is a separate holiday, a holiday in and of itself, a holiday that takes us away from the materialism and selfishness that surround us and induces us to meditate about ourselves and our world, with our friends and loved ones."

She brushes aside the government's "sacred cows", such as the euro, that are more important than French people who are suffering and for whom 2011 was "interminable". And she has no patience with the "sweet talk" that precedes the elections only to be forgotten afterwards, or with campaign promises that are never kept. She closes with these words:

"Christmas is also, for millions of Frenchmen, young and old, a time of hope, a pause in the suffering. Change and action will come soon if all of us together decide to make it happen. For now, let's try to enjoy this very beautiful Christmas day and to calm our hearts and take hope. To all, to all the children, to all the families, Merry Christmas."

Two opposing mentalities: François Hollande, who grovels before Islam to further his career, and Marine Le Pen who stresses the Christian tradition as a reminder to the French of their Catholic heritage.

The Birth of Jesus and it's Impact on the National Debt

Go to the People's Cube for a larger image.

Christmas 2011 in Iraq

The Christians in Iraq are near extinction, says Raymond Ibrahim in an article posted at his website. Ibrahim is a prodigiously well-educated American-born Egyptian. His credentials place him in a unique position to know the truth about Islam and about our capacity (or incapacity) for dealing with the dangers of this relentless force. He has added a petition for those interested in sending a message to Obama or to one or more Republican presidential hopefuls.

In another article dated December 21, 2011, Ibrahim summarizes the persecution of Christians around the world. Here is a story from Nigeria:

Nigeria: The Muslim militant group, Boko Haram, executed two children of an ex-terrorist and "murderer" because he converted to Christianity. When still a terrorist, he "was poised to slit the throat of a Christian victim" when "he was suddenly struck with the weight of the evil he was about to commit." After finding he converted to Christianity, "Boko Haram members invaded his home, kidnapped his two children and informed him that they were going to execute them in retribution for his disloyalty to Islam. Clutching his phone, the man heard the sound of the guns that murdered his children."

H/T: VFR

From the French website Novopress comes this short item about Christians in Iraq this Christmas:

"The traditions will be respected at home and in the churches. Mass will be celebrated during the day for security reasons. This will be a Christmas (torn) between fear and unshakable faith." Those were the words of Jean Benjamin Sleiman, Archbishop of Bagdad, describing the atmosphere that will reign at Christmas for the Christian community of Iraq.

In the course of these past several years, the situation of the Christian faithful has considerably deteriorated. They are now considered as "dhimmis" and are therefore legally and socially inferior, and forced to pay the "jizya", the Islamic tribute owed by non-Muslim minorities for the privilege of practicing their faith.

Below, a short video of the situation in Iraq.

O Helga Natt - Jussi Björling

Thanks to the reader who sent this link. Swedish tenor Jussi Björling (1911-1960) is considered by many to be the world's greatest tenor after Enrico Caruso, and some put him ahead of Caruso. There are so many great ones, I can't choose, but this is one of the best versions of the French Christmas carol, by Adolphe Adam, that you'll ever hear. He sings in his native Swedish.

Here is a passage from Wikipedia on the cause of his death:

His widow, Anna-Lisa Björling, published a biography with the cooperation of Andrew Farkas that described Björling as a loving family man and generous colleague. However, Anna-Lisa did not attempt in the book to hide the destructive influence of Björling's alcoholism.

On 15 March 1960, Björling suffered a heart attack before a performance of La Bohème at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. However, he still performed that night. He died of heart-related causes (enlarged heart) six months later in Siarö, Sweden, aged 49. One of his final recordings was the Verdi Requiem conducted by Fritz Reiner for Decca Records which was recorded as late as June 1960 alongside Leontyne Price, Rosalind Elias and Giorgio Tozzi. He is buried in the little church cemetery at Stora Tuna, Sweden.

Off-topic note: I've heard there was a fire in the city of Saint Etienne that possibly destroyed army archives. Already there are sarcastic comments that Sarkozy wanted to destroy the files on Karachi. Do not believe anything until we have more information.

El Nacimiento - Rolando Villazón and Bryn Terfel

Here is a lovely Spanish carol sung by Mexican-born tenor Rolando Villazón, who is now a French citizen, and working in Lyon as a stage director, and Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel.

A Completely Islamic Europe by 2050?

I came upon a short article in French at Les 4 Vérités that reported the words of Ahmad-Hossein Sharifi, the research director at the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institution in Iran. According to this expert, France will be 70% Muslim by the year 2050, and the United States will be an Islamic country by 2070. While I have no way of knowing how to regard these figures, one thing can be said with no hesitation: Muslim leaders are aware of the Islamic threat to the West and are happy about it. They are on a civilizing mission against what they see as our decadent society.

I traced the French article back to two English-language articles. The first is from New Middle East News. The second, from which the following passages are drawn, is from MEMRI:

Sharifi called Western music "an element that disrupts a man's reason" and complained that "today, with the approval of the (Iranian) Culture Ministry, there are translations (in Iran) of the lyrics of [songs performed by] devil-worshipping singers, who enmesh young people in loss of identity and loss of (moral) restraint."

Sharifi harshly criticized the American family, saying "Today, 70% of married American women say that they would be happier if they had a dog and a Toyota instead of a husband." He added that only 7% of American families were "reasonable" and the other 93% were rootless and single-sex; in some cases, he said, Americans "would rather marry animals and robots than a human being."

At the same time, however, Sharifi stated that the Islamic way of life and Islam itself were spreading in the West: "In contrast to what people think, Islam is spreading in the world. For example, between 2000 and 2010, one thousand mosques were built in France, and 60 churches were turned into mosques or shut down. One out of every two babies born in the Netherlands is raised in a Muslim family, and therefore it can be expected that by 2025 all the Dutch will be Muslims. At the beginning of the (1979) Islamic Revolution in Iran, the Muslin population in the U.S. was 300,000 to 400,000 – but in light of the growth of the Muslim population in that country, this number today has reached nine million."

Note: This number I believe is inaccurate. This is not the first time someone has claimed that there are nine million Muslims in the USA. There has been no reliable count of heads, but you may want to consult this web page, especially the last paragraph. Or you may want to do more research on your own.

At an October 17, 2011 science conference in Qom, Sharifi expanded further on the spread of Islam and the Shi'a in the West. The following are the main points of his comments:

"Today, everyone acknowledges that the Islamic spirituality, and particularly Shi'ism, is spreading rapidly in the world – to the point where Islam has become an unrivaled religion in the world. If the Islamic trend continues at the present pace, the U.S. is predicted to become an Islamic country by 2070. According to these statistics, it is expected that by 2045 Germany will be completely Islamic; the Netherlands will also be completely Islamic by 2025, and by 2050 more than 70% of the French will be Muslims."

Venez Divin Messie - Raoul Jobin

A reader sent this wonderful French Christmas song, sung here by Raoul Jobin, the great French-Canadian tenor, possibly one of the greatest ever. Canada has produced many world-class opera singers: Jon Vickers, Ben Heppner, Louis and Gino Quillico, Teresa Stratas, Léopold Simoneau, and Maureen Forrester, to name a few.

He is singing the original text (printed below) by Simon-Joseph Pellegrin (1663-1745), which in turn is based on Biblical passages. The music is based on an old 16th-century Christmas hymn "Laissez paître vos bêtes". There is another text, composed by a Dominican and a Jesuit, that conforms to the "decisions adopted by the bishops of the world who gathered for the Vatican II Council." This newer version stresses the need for love, for light, and the hope that hatred and divisiveness come to an end. While the original text uses the words "those who are predestined", the new text speaks of those who are "saved". The original text says "all hells are unleashed against us in war", but the new text speaks of a "world in disarray". I feel the original is much stronger.

Venez divin Messie
Sauvez nos jours infortunés,
Venez source de Vie
Venez, venez, venez !

Ah ! Descendez, hâtez vos pas ;
Sauvez les hommes du trépas,
Secourez-nous, ne tardez pas.
Dans une peine extrême,
Gémissent nos coeurs affligés.
Venez Beaté Suprême,
Venez, venez, venez !

Venez divin Messie
Sauvez nos jours infortunés,
Venez source de Vie
Venez, venez, venez !

Ah ! Désarmez votre courroux,
Nous soupirons à vos genoux,
Seigneur nous n'espérons qu'en vous,
Pour nous livrer la guerre
Tous les enfers sont déchaînés ;
Descendez sur la terre
Venez, venez, venez !

Venez divin Messie
Sauvez nos jours infortunés,
Venez source de Vie
Venez, venez, venez !

Que nos soupirs soient entendus,
Les biens que nous avons perdus
Ne nous seront-ils pas rendus ?
Voyez couler nos larmes ;
Grand Dieu, si vous nous pardonnez
Nous n'aurons plus d'alarmes,
Venez, venez, venez !

Venez divin Messie
Sauvez nos jours infortunés,
Venez source de Vie
Venez, venez, venez !

The song says "Save our unhappy lives" ("Sauvez nos jours infortunés"). It reminded me of a faïence plate, made recently in Brittany, recalling the sad days of the French Revolution. A Breton girl is kneeling and says: "I weep for the misfortunes of France." I wondered about the word "maleurs". Is it misspelled (it should be "malheurs"), or is it an older spelling? It does not appear in my dictionary of Old French. Could one of today's misfortunes be that the fine people of Quimper where the plate was made no longer know how to spell?




Thanks to zazie for the song.

Update: I made a slight revision in my translation of "Sauvez nos jours infortunés". Originally I had said "Save us from our unfortunate times", but changed it to "Save our unhappy lives", which I think is more accurate.

Laudate Dominum - Hei-Kyung Hong

Born on July 4, 1959 in South Korea, Hei-Kyung Hong has had an impressive operatic career in the United States, where she has performed in a wide variety of roles. She spent much time on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera, but after the birth of her third child she began to appear on European stages as well. She returned to the Met and sang Violetta in La Traviata and Eva in Die Meistersinger - an incredible accomplishment for a Korean soprano, but she is a unique and beloved singer. She has devoted fans who feel that the Met has not been kind to her, yet her repertory is so vast it's hard to imagine what else she could have done. A Christian, she mourned for two years the death of her husband from cancer. More information at Wikipedia.

You will understand why she is so highly regarded when you hear this rendition of Mozart's Laudate Dominum. The Latin and English texts follow:

Laudate Dominum omnes gentes
Laudate eum, omnes populi
Quoniam confirmata est
Super nos misericordia eius,
Et veritas Domini manet in aeternum.

Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper.
Et in saecula saeculorum.
Amen.

Praise the Lord, all nations;
Praise Him, all people.
For He has bestowed
His mercy upon us,
And the truth of the Lord endures forever.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and forever,
and for generations of generations.
Amen.

Don't Vote for Him

I received an e-mail a few days ago from someone inquiring about Patrick Lozès, a black French politician running for president on an independent ticket. I had heard of him, and had even done some short posts a while back, but had not otherwise paid much attention to his activities. My correspondent was curious about Lozès' campaign poster (above) that says "In 2012 do not vote for a white man" and was wondering how he could get away with such a thing. My immediate reply was that the poster is a play on words, since in French elections a "vote blanc" is a blank vote, meaning that the voter went to the polls, and turned in a blank ballot. But of course, Lozès means something else, and the French websites I quickly skimmed through did not find the pun very funny.

It turns out that Lozès, founder and former head of CRAN (Representative Council of Black Associations), an organization that can roughly be compared to the NAACP, had been accused of embezzlement and money laundering. CRAN wanted nothing more to do with him and refused to support him as their candidate.

Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD) posted this article on November 27:

"When you're a presidential candidate you're obligated to be totally transparent!" Just in time. The police are in fact preparing to ask Patrick Lozès for his books. Lozès, who left the presidency of CRAN that he founded in 2005, is running for president under the colors of his own party: Allez la France! (Go France!)

Last October, Tracfin (an agency of the Finance Ministry that tracks money laundering) alerted the Paris prosecutor who requested that the BRDE (anti-fraud brigade) initiate a preliminary investigation of the suspicions of abuse of power and money laundering hovering over Lozès. The questions involved transfers of funds between CRAN's accounts and the personal account of Patrick Lozès (about 130,000 euros in the form of checks written between January 2009 and August 2011), as well as deposits totaling about 240,000 euros between July 2010 and August 2011, from a humanitarian organization called the World Children's Fund and made out to L & Associates, the consulting agency Patrick Lozès had created in 2008.

"Everything is transparent," repeated the elegant 46-year old pharmacist, with his bank documents to back him up. Checks from CRAN? Just a reimbursement of money he had advanced to them to pay for the notorious poll for which TNS Sofres (an opinion pollster) had charged 117,000 euros in 2007, and which revealed that 56% of the blacks of France said they were discriminated against. "CRAN's books were verified by an expert accountant and audited by an accounts commissioner," he emphasized.

Note: Born in 1965 in the West African country of Benin, Lozès moved to France in 1979 where he studied to be a pharmacist and later attended the Ecole supérieure de commerce, a school of advanced business studies.

Patrick Lozès displays the same serenity when he waves a contract dated July 24, 2010 that links his own one-man consulting firm, L & Associates, with the World Children's Fund. The document, signed by the founder of this American charity headquartered in Hong Kong, one Joseph Lam, stipulated that a monthly sum would be paid (to L & Associates) in exchange for lobbying actions, legal counsel, advice on communications and recruitment, etc… "If it had been a private firm I would have charged much more for my services," he responded when he was reminded of the charitable nature of the organization that had to pay.

A man of networks, Patrick Lozès is also the French representative of the National Black Chamber of Commerce consisting of about 100,000 enterprises. (The NBCC is a member of the United States Chamber of commerce.) It was through this connection that Joseph Lam presumably
contacted him for his services. Lam had encountered legal problems when the World Children's Fund, along with sixteen other Franco-American NGO's were investigated in Paris in 2009 for "fraud" and "abuse of power".

Note: This is news. It might be interesting to find out more about these sixteen so-called NGO's, what their activities are and how they affect both French and American societies.

His activities as consultant are not preventing him from campaigning with a slogan that is just a tad provocative: "In 2012, do not vote white". This centrist who was a UDF candidate in the 2002 legislative elections would be happy to "create a surprise" by becoming the "third man" in the presidential election. But he first has to obtain the five hundred signatures necessary - for now he claims to have two hundred promises - and to remove all suspicions hovering over his financial circumstances.

Note: The UDF alluded to above is today the MoDem, or Mouvement Démocrate, a so-called centrist party hardly distinguishable from Sarkozy's UMP, which in turn is hardly distinguishable from the Socialist Party.

A reminder that five hundred signatures from elected officials, usually mayors, are needed to become a candidate in a presidential election.

Regarding his campaign slogan, no one that I know of has taken him to court, though many angry comments were left at the forums and websites. The slogan, while clearly racial, is humorous enough to be ignored. Furthermore he is not a major candidate. But more importantly in France, as in America, only whites can be racists. If a white candidate used the reverse slogan "don't vote black", there would be hell to pay (and there would be no pun to help alleviate the meaning). So Lozès gets away with this. It remains to be seen if he gets away with his money laundering schemes. I suspect that at the most he will get a suspended sentence and move on to bigger and better schemes.

What else has he done or said that is worth reporting? Apparently a lot. Browsing through the websites I came upon references to comments he made at his blog, in 2010, about The Lion King. But first I need to remind you of two things: 1) While he was still president Jacques Chirac inaugurated the Branly Museum on the Quai Branly in Paris. This museum, dedicated to primitive art, had been Chirac's pet project, the former president being an aficionado of African and Polynesian cultures which he claimed had been neglected and wrongly overshadowed by Western artistic accomplishments. 2) In 2007, shortly after taking office, Nicolas Sarkozy delivered a notorious, painfully repetitive, blatantly contradictory speech in Dakar, Senegal, in which he said that Africans needed to take responsibility for their own future, but pointed out to them that if they were backward it was because they had not mixed in with European cultures, being cut off, as it were, by an excessive attachment to their monotonous rural culture, and that he would help them catch up. His implication, which was lost on his African audience, was that Africans would benefit intellectually by mixing with Europeans, a shocking statement that implicitly acknowledged the superiority of the white man. (Two years later Sarkozy would tell the French people that they had to intermarry with the immigrants or face dire consequences.)

At his blog, on October 30, 2010, Patrick Lozès said the following:

Once again they are talking about the Dakar speech delivered by President Nicolas Sarkozy before an audience of students, teachers and political personalities.

Nicolas Sarkozy certainly did say in his speech that colonization had been a mistake, but he declared that the main problem with Africa was that "the African had not entered sufficiently into History".

Many things have been said about this speech that irritated, to put it mildly, those who know Africa and its history, because this "point of view" can be contradicted in a thousand ways, if only through the argument of culture. The truth is that more and more museums around the world celebrate African culture (therefore the entry into History of the African): the Branly Museum is a good example.

Moreover, publications, films, stage spectacles for children and adults allow us to oppose, without passion, the thesis of an a-historical Africa.

The Lion King (seen by millions of people) demonstrates, for example, to more and more people that the African not only entered into History but that he never left it.

It isn't because you don't know the history of Africa and its peoples that this history does not exist!

Culture is one of the most effective ways to restore history to Africa…

This post elicited forty-two responses, some of which are worth looking at:

- With your article, we are no longer just on the brink of stupidity, Mr. Lozès, we are knee deep in it. The Lion King, really? And why not Kirikou? You shame the blacks of this country.

- Ah, The Lion King, that American film, greatly inspired by a Japanese screenplay. A fine example of African cultural production indeed. Mr. Lozès, your anti-Sarkozy feelings are making you say stupid things. Sarkozy never said that African culture was non-existent. He said that Africa had not entered sufficiently into history. Personally I can't say he's wrong. Great black personalities are unfortunately rare, and totally absent from certain areas such as science and philosophy, and overrepresented in others (sports, rap, crime…)

- Hah! What an enlightened demonstration backed by a multitude of arguments!! The Branly museum, museum of primitive arts!!! What a dazzling entry into History compared to the Gutenberg printing press, the experiments of Lavoisier and Curie, and the development of scanners…As for the example of The Lion King… I think it deserves a grocer's diploma, oops a pharmacist's diploma!

When you realize that the theory of the first man originating in Africa was only a fictitious idea that went to the aid of anti-racism associations, the idea of several starting points for man being much more realistic (the oldest non-hominid ancestor having been found in Spain!!! Did this ancestor then go to Africa to become homo sapiens??!! What a joke!) When did Africans really enter into history???

Note: They were hard on Patrick, but he deserved it. However, he did not attack Sarkozy for the most glaring faults in the Dakar speech - the demeaning pandering, the reassurances that Africans are really not backward - they just need to mix in with whites, the oscillation between praise for the "brilliant" African civilizations of the past and the undeniable fact that they lag behind the rest of the world.

Patrick Lozès focused on the entry of Africa into History, added his own profundities and provided us with a good laugh.

The Real Saint Nicholas

Sveti Nikola


I found this Serbian Christmas song at a blog called 1389, a reference to the year of the Battle of Kosovo. The translation:

In truth you were revealed to your flock as a rule of faith,
an image of humility and a teacher of abstinence;
your humility exalted you;
your poverty enriched you.
Hierarch Father Nicholas,
entreat Christ our God
that our souls may be saved.

In addition to the music, you can find the story of Saint Nicholas of Myra narrated in a series of texts based on Orthodox theology and traditions. Here is one passage:

When his parents died, he gave away all of his inheritance to the needy, and thereafter almsgiving was his greatest glory. He always took particular care that his charity be done in secret. Perhaps the most famous story of his open-handedness concerns a debt-ridden man who had no money to provide dowries for his daughters, or even to support them, and in despair had resolved to give them into prostitution. On three successive nights the Saint threw a bag of gold into the window of the man’s house, saving him and his daughters from sin and hopelessness. The man searched relentlessly to find and thank his benefactor; when at last he discovered that it was Nicholas, the Saint made him promise not to reveal the good deed until after he had died. (This story may be the thin thread that connects the Saint with the modern-day Santa Claus).

1389 has much material on Canada (the administrators explain that any anti-Islamic Canadian in need of a forum is welcome to express himself at 1389), and several articles on Serbia, Kosovo and the Balkans, from the point of view of committed counter-jihadists. America's role in the Kosovo fiasco is not minimized, nor should it be. The blog's administrators seem to be mostly Americans. The following passage is from an article on Western dhimmitude in Kosovo:

(…) modern day Kosovo is about humiliating Serbia and for the remaining Serbs they either will be forced to accept Albanian Kosovo rule or they will just be marginalized to the point where economic necessity means that they will leave.

Serbian Orthodox Christianity in Kosovo is becoming a museum whereby famous monuments and monasteries are protected by Western forces; however, the faithful have no freedom to roam around Kosovo freely.

The Turkish Ottomans would be pleased with the bidding of America, the United Kingdom, and other Western nations. Not in their wildest dreams would they have envisaged a mainly Christian and non-Muslim West offering Kosovo “on a Muslim plate” and with all aspects of Serbian Orthodox Christianity “being the final dinner.”

I should add that the French Catholic websites that I consult often have articles on Kosovo and other parts of the world where Christians are in danger, such as the newly "liberated" countries of the Middle East. If I don't post more often on these topics, it is only because of lack of time. Traditional French Catholics show unwavering support for their fellow Christians all over the world, and pray for Christian martyrs being held captive in places like Pakistan or Afghanistan.

Finally some of you may be interested in a lengthy film review of a movie called In the Land of Blood and Honey, about the Bosnian war, written and directed by Angelina Jolie. This passage is near the end:

Like the kangaroo court in The Hague, Angelina Jolie’s film continues the process of condemning the Serbian people with collective guilt—denying them equal rights and equal justice as international political leaders continue to amputate portions of Serbian territory against her will and in violation of the UN Charter in which Serbia was a founding member; the Geneva Conventions, the Helsinki Final Act, and the NATO Treaty including violating UN Resolution #1244 that guaranteed Kosovo as sovereign Serbian territory as part of the peace agreement arranged by Richard Holbrooke. Surely, Jolie cannot be this ignorant?

Actor Jon Voight, Angelina Jolie’s father, attended Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, New York, a school built in the 1950s and named after the Croatian Roman Catholic priest who was convicted by the allies of war crimes in WWII. He spent ten years in prison for his crimes against Serbs and Jews in Croatia, perhaps a clue to Jolie’s obvious anti-Serb bias.

As always with book and film reviews, be sure to see the movie before passing final judgment.

Bach/Gounod - Battle/Parkening

I had a terrible time deciding which version to post this year. The Bach/Gounod Ave Maria is so widely recorded by so many great artists, that it might be best to just pull a name out of a hat. For now, here are Kathleen Battle and Christopher Parkening. The guitar accompaniment was the deciding factor.

The Non-Terrorist of Liège

The video above shows the evacuation of St. Lambert Square in Liège.

I know everybody read about the killings in Liège. And I'm sure everybody wondered about the killer, since his name was not given at first. The French press was its usual mum's-the-word self, granting far less coverage to this crime than to the Oslo shooting, which was, to be sure, more deadly in terms of victims. For French readers Riposte Laïque has a critical article by Jacques Philarcheïn, in which he denounces the protective instincts of the media when the killer turned out to be a non-European beset by "difficulties" rather than a tall blond Norwegian who was declared insane.

Below, another short video showing a scene of panic.



Click here for the Daily Mail account of the killings - it's loaded with info and pictures.

A reader sent this link to Alerta Digital, a Spanish website, where we find the only indication I know of that the killer was connected to a salafist group. First, the Spanish text, then my translation:

Por la tarde, las autoridades confirmaban que sólo un hombre estaba detrás del ataque que conmocionó a la tranquila ciudad de 200.000 habitantes. Aunque el dato no ha sido revelado por casi ningún medio informagtivo europeo, Nordine Amrani estaba vinculado a una asociación islámica de tendencia salafista.

In the afternoon, the authorities confirmed that one man alone was behind the attack that shook the peaceful city of 200,000 inhabitants. Although almost no European news media revealed it, Nordine Amrani was connected to an Islamic association of the salafist ideology.

Note: As I said I have not seen this reported elsewhere, and the article does not provide a link. We have to accept it cautiously.

Here is a condensed version of an article at Dreuz.info from the pen of Jean-Patrick Grumberg.

With such a name, with a crime that strangely resembles suicide attacks committed almost every day by Islamists, considering that all terrorist attacks - except one - are committed in the name of Islam, how do we explain that no media service, no journalist, raised the question, or suggested the hypothesis?

Have Islamic terrorists disappeared?

Have Islamic terrorists ceased to be terrorists? Could it be that they have become moderate?

Is it my interpretation, or are the newspapers, the radio strangely silent this morning, as if the atrocious act were already relegated to the rank of dogs run over by a truck?

I did not see one specialist on Islam, not one expert on terrorism or against terrorism, on the morning news.

Are journalists programmed to such a degree that only one voice is heard and self-censorship reigns? (…)

Is this because the criminal is not a Catholic fanatic? He is not of the extreme-right, he is not an "Israeli colonizer", his name is not Anders Breivik, therefore he cannot be a terrorist, or maybe just a tiny bit of a moderate terrorist?

The silence of the media seems to be saying: he has no religious motive or hatred of Christians, because the religious wars stopped several centuries ago. He is not a martyr who will join the seventy-five virgins, and his atrocious murder is not the jihad, even less so an application of sharia.

The message is that his name is Nordine Amrani (and even at that very few news sources reveal it), his crime has no connection to the fact that he is Muslim, for this can only be the work of an unstable personality, a lone wolf, and in fact, we don't know the motive for the crime. Really? Not even a faint intuition? (…)

No one in the sphere of left-wing and extreme left-wing fascists wonders who armed and inspired Amrani. The question has no point since it was the act of a madman. (…)

Note: One of the photos at the Daily Mail shows his cache of weapons:


Some journalists, in order to stigmatize xenophobia, are perhaps going to shout that the killings will trigger mockery from the extreme-right and the populists, kindle hatred, and serve as a pretext for arousing fear.

Yes, because this criminal who is not a terrorist was full of love, you see, while those who dare question the possible religious motives of this terrorist who is not a terrorist, those people are extremists full of hatred. Moreover, I am sure the criminal did not go to the mosque, did not give weapons to Islamist groups, and grew pot in order to learn horticulture.

However, should a journalist uncover a clue, what am I saying? a thread, no, a hair, a link with Israel… ah, should someone find a way of pinning the crime on Israel, then you would hear about it.

After this atrocious crime, the criminal known to the justice system killed himself. This morning they found a dead woman in his apartment. (…)

Peace to the victims, and to the families destroyed by this abominable act.

Below, Amrani's pot garden.


For the record, Amrani killed five people, besides himself, and injured at least 123, some of whom are listed as critical. One of the dead was a baby boy named Gabriel, 17 months, who was in his mother's arms. Two teens, 15 and 17 lost their lives, as did a woman, 75, who died at the hospital. The woman, age 45, found dead in his apartment on Tuesday was a neighbor's housekeeper who had gone there at his invitation to discuss possible employment.

Stille Nacht - Fritz Wunderlich and Hermann Prey

Here is a very beautiful version of the most famous Christmas carol of all time, sung in German by two of the greatest German singers of the 20th century. It was recorded in 1966, the year of Wunderlich's death, one of those devastating losses for the world of opera. Hermann Prey died in 1998.

Erdogan Pressures Sarkozy

This article from Le Figaro is dated December 16.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan today called on President Nicolas Sarkozy to block a bill that would ban Armenian genocide denial, according to Anatolie, the Turkish press agency.

"This bill directly targets the Turkish Republic, the Turkish nation and the Turkish community of France, and we consider it as hostile," said Erdogan in a letter addressed to the French president.

Erdogan, whose country has always refused to recognize the Armenian genocide (1915-1917), also evoked the "irreparable" impact that passage of the bill in the French Parliament would have on Franco-Turkish relations, and exhorted Sarkozy to block it. "I sincerely hope that you will keep your promise to defeat initiatives of this type and thus prevent steps that will have irreparable consequences" on our bilateral relations, said Erdogan. He also called on France to show some "good sense" and to prevent bilateral relations from becoming "the hostage of demands by third parties", making a reference to Armenia.

The bill is to be examined on December 22 by the National Assembly. The Turkish embassy in Paris has already warned that a favorable vote next Thursday would result in a recall of the ambassador to France, Tahsin Burcuoglu, and the freezing of all cooperation with Paris. Turkey acknowledges that up to 500,000 Armenians perished in Ottoman Anatolia during the First World War, but believes that they were not victims of an extermination campaign, but of the chaos of the last years of the Ottoman Empire. For the Armenians, it was a genocide in which more than one and a half million people died.

Note: As I have said repeatedly, laws that criminalize an opinion are both harmful and counter-productive. The only result will be more restrictions on freedom of speech, and more hostility towards Armenians. However my reasons for being against this potential new law and Erdogan's are quite different, his being rooted in the refusal to recognize his country's past deeds.

There is more on this story at Le Point, where we learn a bit more about the bill:

The text, that provides for one year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros for any attempt to dispute the Armenian genocide, will be examined on December 22. (…)

In addition, Recep Tayyip Erdogan evoked French colonialism and affirmed that the country had committed "inhuman slaughters" in Algeria and Rwanda. "If the French Parliament wants to study history, I suggest they shed some light on the events in Algeria and Rwanda, that they clarify the role of the French soldiers," he said. "No historian, no politician can find genocide in our past. Those who want to find genocide should turn to their own dirty and bloody history," he added. (…)

Note: I would only say that historians do have a duty to examine Turkey's past, but politicians, while they should be well-informed of history, should not legislate what we can and cannot say about Turkey or any other country.

One last point: so long as Turkey refuses to acknowledge the genocide of the Armenians, there is a better chance that its accession to the EU will be put off.

Sarkozy Attacks Cameron - Again

I have a list of fifteen possible articles that should have been prepared over the past four days. But this is a busy time for me and as usual many things did not get done.

Nicolas Sarkozy continues to insult David Cameron with clockwork regularity. The latest attack was reported in the American news, and originated possibly with an article in the satirical French magazine Canard Enchaîné. Here are excerpts from an article in Politics Home, a UK website:

Mr Cameron's words to his backbench 1922 Committee (note: this committee consists of the Conservative MP's) also followed a fresh attack from French President Nicolas Sarkozy for his use of the veto at last week's EU summit. Sarkozy said that Mr Cameron had behaved like "an obstinate kid" during last week's EU summit. The latest broadside from the French President came as other eurozone states tried to reach out to the UK to find a lasting solution for the EU crisis.

Downing Street refused to comment on President Sarkozy's remarks directly, but the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "Our focus was pursuing the national interest."

French magazine Canard Enchainé today quotes President Sarkozy boasting about his summit triumph. "It's the first time that we have said 'no' to the English. Cameron behaved like an obstinate kid, with a single obsession: protecting the City, which wants to carry on behaving like an off-shore centre. No country supported him. That is the mark of a political defeat."

(…) "Objectively, it was a good coup. I manoeuvered well," Sarkozy is quoted as saying. "The whole world recognised that my proposal was the only possible course.... The accord will perhaps not put an end to the crisis, but it is a tool for facing up to it. The dynamism of the Franco-German axis enabled us to rally 26 countries."

While Sarkozy boasted about his performance, France lost her AAA rating. This short article from France 24 indicates that Foreign Minister Alain Juppé is not particularly concerned:

AFP - For France to lose its triple-A debt rating would be bad news but "not a cataclysm", Foreign Minister Alain Juppe was quoted as saying Wednesday, amid rumours a downgrade was imminent.

Since the weekend, French officials have been preparing the ground for a ratings agency to decide that the nation's public finances no longer merit a perfect debt rating, a result once seen as a disaster.

"It wouldn't be good news, but it wouldn't be a cataclysm either," Juppe told the financial daily Les Echos, in an interview conducted on Tuesday.

"The United States lost their triple-A and still manage to borrow on the markets in good conditions," he noted.

Ratings agencies Standard & Poors and Moody's have warned they are looking again at all eurozone member states -- even triple-A powers like France and Germany -- amid fears the bloc's sovereign debts are unsustainable.

Eurozone members have tried to reassure markets by adopting austerity measures and promising to sign a new "fiscal compact" by March that would bind them to tighter budgetary discipline.

But many commentators believe the measures are insufficient to counter the sheer weight of debt being held by countries such as Greece and Italy -- and in turn by private banks in France and elsewhere.

All member states have been warned but France is thought particularly vulnerable, despite President Nicolas Sarkozy's vow to defend its rating.

A related article from the Daily Mail provides more information on the euro crisis. Below, a clip from the article: