Bring back the Elgin Marbles

Back around 1800, when Greece was still suffering from 400 years of Turkish occupation, the British ambassador, Lord Elgin, got permission from the Turks to remove a good chunk of the Parthenon and bring it back to London, for display in the British Museum. Now that the Turks are gone, the Greeks would like their Parthenon back.

It's an interesting issue. I can sympathize with the argument that you can't ask that ever piece of antiquity from everywhere around the world be returned to its nation or origin, or you'd empty every museum in the world. Having said that, how does this story differ from the Nazi's pilfering the Louvre? While I'm sympathetic to the notion that not every artifact should go home, the Parthenon is a big deal. And taking massive chunks of it during a foreign occupation is, well, tacky. Now that the Greeks have a new modern museum to house the "Elgin Marbles," the British lose their number one argument - that the antiquities were better preserved in England than in Greece, where they could be better cared for. Not anymore.

Below is a cute video that demonstrates the problem. It's tied to a Web site called "Bring them back."

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John Cleese spends over $5,000 for travel because of the volcanic ash

Stories like this are everywhere at the moment. My friend who is trying to get to the US for a conference said others were driving to Spain in hopes of catching a flight out since there have not been as many disruptions there. A few years ago I had to get to an appointment so I hired a taxi out of London and spent nearly $400 because of a British rail strike. The things we do to keep our appointments.

He's more famous for a sketch about a Norwegian blue parrot than a Norwegian taxi, but John Cleese may have to change his routine. The actor and comedian reportedly took a cab from Oslo to Brussels on Friday costing 30,000 kroner (£3,300) after he was stranded, along with thousands of others, in the Norwegian capital by the volcanic ash plume from Iceland.

Cleese was in Norway to appear on the Scandinavian talkshow Skavlan when the cloud descended, closing airspace around the city. "We checked every option, but there were no boat and no train tickets available," he told Norwegian TV2 in a telephone interview posted on the network's website. "That's when my fabulous assistant determined that the easiest thing would be to take a taxi."

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US military warns oil output may dip causing massive shortages by 2015

This should be pretty. From the Guardian:

The US military has warned that surplus oil production capacity could disappear within two years and there could be serious shortages by 2015 with a significant economic and political impact.

The energy crisis outlined in a Joint Operating Environment report from the US Joint Forces Command, comes as the price of petrol in Britain reaches record levels and the cost of crude is predicted to soon top $100 a barrel.

"By 2012, surplus oil production capacity could entirely disappear, and as early as 2015, the shortfall in output could reach nearly 10 million barrels per day," says the report, which has a foreword by a senior commander, General James N Mattis.

It adds: "While it is difficult to predict precisely what economic, political, and strategic effects such a shortfall might produce, it surely would reduce the prospects for growth in both the developing and developed worlds. Such an economic slowdown would exacerbate other unresolved tensions, push fragile and failing states further down the path toward collapse, and perhaps have serious economic impact on both China and India."

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Pataki Calls RomneyCare ‘Unconstitutional,’ Joins Growing Conservative Opposition To Mass. Reform

Romney's been in a precarious place from the beginning since, experts say, his health care reform effort in Massachusetts is similar to the national plan just passed. From ThinkProgress:

Former Gov. George Pataki (R-NY), who is heading up an effort to petition the government to “repeal and replace” the new health care law, took a shot at Mitt Romney today, telling a Connecticut newspaper that Massachusetts’ health care reform law contained an “unconstitutional” individual mandate.

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Mandela's wife tells UK to 'keep quiet' about Zimbabwe

Um, no. There's no question that Britain's colonial past left much to be desired but please. As they say, two wrongs don't make a right. Human rights abuse is human rights abuse whether it's white against black, black against black or anything else. I say this as someone from a family who was subjected to British colonial rule and who emigrated because of it. There was never any love in my household growing up for the British but their stand against thugs like Mugabe is completely correct.

Graça Machel, a founder member of the Elders group of world leaders and the wife of Nelson Mandela, warned British politicians to "keep quiet" about countries such as Zimbabwe and let African diplomacy take its course.

Machel, 64, is a former first lady of Mozambique, where she served as education minister, and has won numerous international awards for her advocacy of women's and children's rights.

In an interview with the Guardian in Johannesburg, she indicated that the crisis in Zimbabwe has revealed the shortcomings of a persistent imperialist mindset.

"Can I be a little bit provocative?" Machel said. "I think this should be an opportunity for Britain to re-examine its relationship with its colonies. To acknowledge that with independence those nations will want to have a relationship with Britain which is of shoulder to shoulder, and they will not expect Britain to continue to be the big brother.

"When a nation is independent, there is no big brother. They are partners. Part of the reason why Britain finds it difficult to accept Zimbabwe is precisely because that relationship of a big brother is influencing [efforts] to try to understand."

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Maine 'moderate' Susan Collins to filibuster financial reform; GOP claims to have enough votes to block legislation

Big surprise there. GOP Senator Susan Collins of Maine once again proves what Joe has been saying for years - she's a conservative Republicans that votes lock-stop with the party's far-right leadership. Does the woman actually have a mind of her own, ever?

Mitch McConnell has rounded up the necessary votes to block Democrats from bringing Wall Street reform to the Senate floor, a spokesman for the Senate Minority Leader said on Friday afternoon.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said on Thursday he planned to bring the bill to the floor next week where it would be debated and amendments added. McConnell has now persuaded 41 Republicans to vote against debating reform.

McConnell's office sends along a statement from Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who had been the holdout, that she will indeed vote to filibuster a motion to proceed: "If the Majority Leader brings the partisan Senate Banking Committee bill to the floor next week, Senator Collins will vote against a motion to proceed."

Republicans are trying to block reform at the behest of Wall Street. They've been told to use the talking point that the financial reform bill is actually a bail out bill for big business. It's the new death panel. Just lie about anything and hope it sticks. Of course, this one is even more egregious since the GOP is actually whoring for it's financial donors on Wall Street, while pretending that it's sticking up for the little guy.

Harry Reid says the GOP can "bring it on." Reid needs to force the Republicans to hold a real filibuster, and force them to stay up all night to block financial reform. Read the rest of this post...

Mexican Catholic bishop says 'sex education' is behind the church's ongoing child-rape scandal

Yes. Teach a Catholic priest how to use a condom and he simply must rape a child. And then, his boss, Cardinal Ratzinger, must then help to cover up the child rape. All because someone taught a fifth grader where babies come from. From AP:

On Thursday, Bishop Felipe Arizmendi said that "when there is generalized sexual licentiousness, it is more common to have pederasty."

"In the midst of the invasion of so much eroticism, it is not easy to remain faithful in celibacy, or in respecting children," Arizmendi, the bishop of the San Cristobal de las Casas diocese in Chiapas state, said at a meeting of Mexican bishops.

Okay, that is just sick. Who in their right mind suggests that when you're surrounded by eroticism you feel the tug to rape children? I don't feel that way when watching porn. I don't know anyone who does. Perhaps it's time to ask Bishop Arizmendi a hell of a lot more questions about just why he feels that any man exposed to eroticism wants to rape children. I find this admission rather troubling. Read the rest of this post...

Saturday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

From a video of Amy Winehouse in the post below to one of Barack Obama. How's that for covering the spectrum?

Obama's weekly address is about Wall Street reform. He actually called out Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn (by title, not by name):

Now, unsurprisingly, these reforms have not exactly been welcomed by the people who profit from the status quo – as well their allies in Washington. This is probably why the special interests have spent a lot of time and money lobbying to kill or weaken the bill. Just the other day, in fact, the Leader of the Senate Republicans [that would would be Mitch McConnell] and the Chair of the Republican Senate campaign committee [that would be John Cornyn (R-tX)] met with two dozen top Wall Street executives to talk about how to block progress on this issue.

Lo and behold, when he returned to Washington, the Senate Republican Leader came out against the common-sense reforms we’ve proposed. In doing so, he made the cynical and deceptive assertion that reform would somehow enable future bailouts – when he knows that it would do just the opposite.

Now, let's see if the Democrats stand strong on reform. The GOPers are going to filibuster this bill when it hits the Senate floor next week. Tough talk requires tough action, too.

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Amy Winehouse

It looks like Charles de Gaulle and quite a few other airports are closed for the day. Our friend is coming back into Paris to spend the night and try again tomorrow. In theory he has a ticket for Sunday to America so as long as the airport is open, he's flying. Lots of others heading over for the same conference have discovered that besides not flying today, their tickets have been canceled. Ouch.

Gorgeous day here so I'm hoping to get in a nice long ride. For the first time I've done over 200km for a week and there's still one more day to go. It's a long way from my huffing and puffing a year ago to do a short ride. My cycling partner is back in France soon so I can't wait to start doing longer rides with him. I've already planted the idea of Paris to Normandy. Read the rest of this post...

Volcanic ash continues to disrupt flights in northern Europe

More chaos and thousands of flights canceled. The airlines are losing a lot of money because the flights are all grounded. We had a friend arrive from Brittany last night who is headed to the US for a conference and was in a panic because as of this morning Charles de Gaulle was still closed. He's due to present on Tuesday but it's hardly a given that he will get out today or tomorrow or Monday. Another friend phoned me from Rome as he had to take the overnight train from Rome to Paris where he will catch the Eurostar back to London. Unfortunately, he couldn't find anything available until Monday evening so he's stuck and can't get back to work on Monday.

Crazy days and even now, nobody besides Mother Nature have any idea how long it will last. BBC:

Virtually all of Europe's major airports remain closed as a huge plume of volcanic ash drifts south across the continent from Iceland.

Millions of air travellers are stranded across Europe after some 16,000 flights were cancelled on Friday.

Britain and Ireland have re-imposed flight bans, warning of "worsening" conditions throughout Saturday.

Airlines are losing some £130m ($200m) a day in the biggest airspace shutdown since World War II.

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