So, here it is:

A BRIEF HISTORY OF FRANCE SINCE THE REVOLUTION

1789-1792 Period of increasing strife, culminating in French Revolution (technically, the first of many French revolutions)
1792-1804 Chaos (also known as the First Republic)
1792-1795 The Convention
1795-1799 The Directory
1799-1804 The Consulate
1804-1815 Empire of Napoleon I
1815-1830 Restoration of Bourbon monarchs.
1830 Revolution
1830-1848 Louis-Philippe rules as King of the French. (Yeah, they had a revolution and ended up with another king.)
1848 Revolution
1848-1852 Chaos (also known as the Second Republic)
1851 Napoleon III kicks the bastards out
1852-1870 Empire of Napoleon III
1870 Revolution
1870-1940 Third Republic - which, for France, doesn't suck too badly
1871 Attempts at restoration of monarchy fail
1871 Paris Commune
1877 Attempts at restoration of monarchy fail
1940-1944 German occupation, Vichy government
1940 British sink French fleet, French actually fight back for first time in WWII
1945 France rescued by U.S. and Britain
1946 Attempts at restoration of monarchy fail
1946-1958 Fourth Republic
1958-present Long slow decline (also known as the Fifth Republic)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 09:15 AM | No Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Never did like fruit bats.

(via Balloon Juice)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 08:32 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Most U.S. troops will leave Iraq within a year because the Army is "broken, worn out" and "living hand to mouth," Rep. John Murtha told a civic group.

Murtha predicted most troops will be out of Iraq within a year.

"I predict he'll make it look like we're staying the course," Murtha said, referring to Bush. "Staying the course is not a policy."

He said a civil war is likely because of ongoing factionalism among Sunni Arabs, and Kurds and Shiites.

immediate redeployment

immediate redeployment

I won't question his patriotism; I'll just point out that he's a partisan hack and an idiot.

(FOXNews)

Update: The Commissar has his own take on the story.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 05:26 PM | No Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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THE US military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the US mission in Iraq.

secret, adj. 1. Anything that wasn't explained to us in words of one syllable. Repeatedly.

While the articles are basically truthful, they present only one side of events and omit information that might reflect poorly on the US or Iraqi governments, officials said.

One slightly odd thing: When The Age picked up this story from the LA Times, they changed the expression "basically factual" to "basically truthful". Eh.

(via Protein Wisdom, additional reporting by You Big Mouth, You!
There's also some interesting commentary at Jawa Report)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 07:32 PM | No Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Hugh: I'll take the Frist.

Voters: Sorry, Frist's off. You could have some Rice instead.

Attila Girl: Rice Rice Rice Rice Rice Rice Rice Rice lovely Rice, wonderful Rice!

Update: Blargh. Links to Hewitt fail due to broken referrer-spam filter. Click here for working-link version.

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Spam - it's an education.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 02:27 AM | No Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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So, the entire last 6 hours in a nutshell is:

“Hell no! We won’t vote! oh, wait. We have to vote? Well, in that case, Hell no! You’re all wrong! We object! Do we still have to vote? Okay. We all vote on the same side you do.”

At Euphoric Reality.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:55 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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WASHINGTON - The House on Friday overwhelmingly rejected calls for an immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq, a vote engineered by the Republicans that was intended to fail. Democrats derided the vote as a political stunt, although it was exactly what they had wanted.

"Our troops have become the enemy. We need to change direction in Iraq," said Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a Democratic hawk whose call a day earlier for pulling out troops sparked stirred Republicans to respond to a nasty, personal debate season of Democrat attacks over the war pretty much everything.

The House voted 403-3 to reject a nonbinding resolution calling for an immediate troop withdrawal, after Democrats had failed in desperate attempts to stop the resolution coming to a vote.

"We want to make sure that we support our troops that are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. We will not retreat," Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said as the GOP leadership pushed the issue to a vote over the protest of Democrats. [Hey, that paragraph didn't need any editing!]

It was the second time in less than a week that President Bush's Iraq policy stirred heated debate in Congress. On Tuesday, the Senate defeated a Democratic push for Bush to lay out a timetable for withdrawal, and then scored an own goal by submitting their own bill for the same thing.

Murtha, a 73-year-old Marine veteran decorated for combat service in Vietnam, issued his call for a troop withdrawal unconditional surrender and the abandonment of the Iraqi people at a news conference on Thursday. In little more than 24 hours, Hastert and Republicans decided to put the question to the House.

Democrats, aghast that their bluff had been called, said it was a political stunt and quickly decided to vote against it in an attempt to drain it of significance.

"A disgrace," declared House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "The rankest of politics and the absence of any sense of shame," added Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 House Democrat, "not that there's anything wrong with that."

Republicans hoped to place Democrats in an unappealing position — either supporting a withdrawal that critics said would be precipitous or opposing it and angering voters who want an end to the conflict living up to the reality of their own demands. They also hoped the vote could restore GOP momentum on an issue — the war — that has seen plummeting public support in recent weeks according to the same polls that predicted a comfortable win for John Edwards last November. [Kerry. What? Kerry was the presidential candidate, not Edwards. You're kidding. No, really, he was. Does it matter now? Guess not.]

Democrats claimed Republicans were changing the meaning of Murtha's withdrawal proposal. He has said a smooth withdrawal would take six months, although Murtha's own proposal called for an "immediate redeployment".

At one point in the emotional debate, Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, told of a phone call she received from a Marine colonel.

"He asked me to send Congress a message — stay the course. He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message — that cowards cut and run, Marines never do," Schmidt said. Murtha is a 37-year Marine veteran.

Democrats booed and shouted her down — causing the House to come to a standstill. However, no pies were thrown.

Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., charged across the chamber's center aisle screaming that Republicans were making uncalled-for personal attacks. "You guys are pathetic! Pathetic!" yelled Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass. Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, apologised to the nation for the behaviour of the House Democrats, explaining that they were a bit tired and would "feel better after a nap".

"It's just heinous," Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., said of the Republican move. "Whatever that means. It's a good word, though. Heinous. I think it means they pulled this out of their ass.

"This is a personal attack on one of the best members, one of the most respected members of this House and it is outrageous," said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. "We never intended it to come to a vote."

A growing number of House members and senators, looking ahead to off-year elections next November, are publicly worrying about a quagmire in Vietnam. [Iraq! What? The war is in Iraq, not Vietnam. Iraq? Isn't that a desert? Well, yes, mostly. So how does it become a quaqmire? Isn't that a swamp or something? Oh, never mind.] They have been staking out new positions on a war that is increasingly unpopular with the American public according to the latest opinion polls, which we both know aren't worth diddly, has resulted in more than 2,000 U.S. military deaths - far fewer than any other major war - and has cost more than $200 billion, which would be enough money to rebuild half of New Orleans, at least until next year.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 01:01 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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The Republicans, of course, intend to vote against it. The point is to force the Democrats to go on record. Or to go on record refusing to go on record. As John Cole notes at the above link, it's time to shut up and vote.

I wonder if the Democrats even know what a petard is?

More at Let Freedom Ring and Bareknuckle Politics.

(via Insty)

Update: No End But Victory is liveblogging the debate, but I'm a bit confused as to what exactly is happening right now. One thing for certain: The Democrats are not happy bunnies.

Oh! Here we go. Looks like it's on for real now. I'm sure the Democrats are enjoying being held back past 8 o'clock while their words are thrown in their faces.

MuNu Views:

Ace of Spades
The Jawa Report
The Llama Butchers

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 08:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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What you, the Americans, get:

• Leaders who actually say what they mean. Well, you've got Rumsfeld, but we've got Howard and Costello and Downer and lots more where they came from.
  
• Your President replaces our Governor General as head of state.
  
• A really big naval base in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
  
• Kangaroo steaks. Tastier and leaner than beef. And no BSE!
  
• Tim Blair.
  
• Holly Valance.
  
• Several thousand miles of beachfront property.
  
• The weather that California claims to have.

• Nuclear warships. We've always wanted some.
  
• Amazon.
  
• The Bill of Rights. Particularly the second one.
  
• Dave Barry.
  
• Condi Rice.
  
• A free trade agreement that really means it.
  
• Halloween and Thanksgiving. It's a long haul to Christmas down here, and they will break the monotony nicely.

What say you?

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 06:18 AM | Comments (20) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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