It's the first round -- when the conservatives get a handle on the fact that a socialist is going to win, they will rally round Sarkozy. Watch.

Sarkozy’s Second Chance

Editorial of The New York Sun | April 22, 2012

“Sarkozy Loses” is the headline up on the Drudge Report over a dispatch of France24 with the early results of the first round of voting in the presidential election. It shows the socialist, Francois Holland, at around 29% and President Sarkozy at around 27%, which means the two of them will go into a runoff in which Jean-Marie Le Pen’s daughter, Marine, will play an outsized role. She was the big winner in the first round in the sense that her showing, at 18.5%, not only in third place but three or four percentage  points stronger than the polls had been indicating just before the first round. Francois Bayrou came in at 9%, significantly lower than the 13% that had been indicated in the polls. The ragtag fringes of the right and left held no surprises.

We’re happy to be able to report that our erstwhile correspondent in France, Michel Gurfinkiel, isn’t backing off from suggestion that President Sarkozy could still emerge with a second term. He seemed relatively alone in stressing that point before the vote, but now the wires and the various papers are echoing his line. Mr. Gurfinkiel cautions us that he’s not making a hard forecast; not all votes are counted yet. He does say the Le Pen vote will be “crucial,” as he put it in his latest telegram. He notes that the socialists have already started to woo the Le Pen voters openly. “I doubt they will succeed,” he writes. He adds that most of the present Le Pen voters are “former conservatives” who were disappointed with the classic Right. “They will not support the Left, nor suffer a Leftwing victory.”

Plus, Mr. Gurfinkiel writes, the other Le Pen voters are “former communists or socialists” who moved right and “who see extra-European immigration as the main reason for their economic hardship and the disintegration of French society: they are not going to support M. Hollande, who says he will grant voting franchise to foreign residents.” He says that Mme. Le Pen will have a say but “doesn’t own her followers and sympathizers’ votes. If she tells them to vote for Hollande, she is dead. If she says she doesn’t take sides, most of them will understand they must prevent a Leftwing victory. If she suggests the Right is just slightly better than the Left, they will see it as a full fledged endorsement.”

What M. Gurfinkiel is predicting is that something like 60 % of Mme. Le Pen’s voters in the first round will support Monsieur Sarkozy, while but 10 % will switch to Monsieur Hollande, and 30% will abstain. Monsieur Bayrou’s voters, he thinks, will not support the Left, as those who were prepared to do so already switched in the first round. The rest of the Bayrou voters will vote for Monsieur Sarkozy. Mr. Gurfinkiel writes that things may not yet be entirely clear. But writes he: “If I am right, we may have on May 6, in very broad terms: Hollande : 29% socialists + 12 % Melanchon + 4 % Leftwingers + 2% Le Pen + 1% Bayrou. Total :  48 % more or less. Sarkozy: 27% conservatives + 2% Dupont-Aignan + 16% Le Pen + 8% Bayrou. Total:  52 % more or less.”

Mr. Gurfinkiel cautions us that the pollster CSA gives much better odds to Monsieur Hollande, predicting he’ll win the presidency with 56% of the vote, and ascribing to him a much better share of both the Le Pen and Bayrou votes. On verra. Two weeks of hard campaigning are still ahead of both candidates. The thing that gets us about all this is that France raised up, in Monsieur Sarkozy, a president who was more pro-American than any in our adult lifetime. He wasn’t perfect by any means. But what a refreshing change from President Chirac. It strikes us that the change was an opportunity for a dynamic American leader with a genuine strategy for Europe to make a connection, to work it, and to build some excitement. Somehow that eluded our current president. There may be good reasons for this; the French are nothing if not difficult. But if the French center is lost to the socialists, there will be those asking “Who lost France?” And what is Mr. Obama going to say? All the more reason to hope that Mr. Gurfinkiel is right in his guesstimates of the outcome of the second round.

Richard Avedon, Nastassja Kinski and the Serpent, 14 June, 1981. Gelatin silver, printed 1982

In my insatiable desire to feed my oft-starved but fierce passion for art! music! love! (it's why I fight the fight), I am adding a cultural open art thread on Sunday evenings. Friday night music, Saturday night cinema, and now Sunday evening art. Avedon's snake .... fruit of knowledge and so forth.... seemed an appropriate first choice.

Levant on the enemedia's coddle of killer Khadr. Omar Khadr is returning to Canada. He is an enemy of the state, a Muslim soldier in the global jihad. He should have rotted in GITMO, if not faced a firing squad. No, instead Obama cut his sentence down from 40 years to 8 years, and then asked the Canadian government to take Khadr.

Khadr killed Sergeant First Class (SFC) Christopher James Speer (September 9, 1973 – August 6, 2002). Speer was a combat medic with a Delta Force. Speer was awarded the Soldier's Medal for risking his life to save two Afghan children who were trapped in a minefield on July 21, 2002, two weeks before his death.

Khadr killed an American soldier -- and Obama freed him. Muhammadan in the White House.

Allahu FUBAR.

More of the fallout and consequences of Obama's giant policy failures in the Middle East and beyond. The gas supply deal had been an important part of the Israeli/Egypt peace accord. Another nail in the coffin of peace, freedom, and the age of American hegemony.

As Obama's crushing failures mount on a daily basis, expect the enemedia to hunker down and produce Goebbels-style agitprop and pro-statist propaganda at a dizzying pace.

Egypt scraps Israel gas supply deal BBC (hat tip David)

Egyptian officials say they have scrapped an agreement to supply Israel with natural gas. Israel received around 40% of its gas supplies from Egypt and uses it to generate electricity.

The announcement comes after the cross-border pipeline suffered numerous sabotage attacks which cut supplies.

Egypt was the first Middle East country to sign a peace accord with Israel, and the energy deal has been a key part of agreements between the two state.

A statement from the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company said it was ending supplies because the terms of its contract had been breached.

Ampal, the Israeli company which buys the gas, said in a statement that it considers the attempt to terminate the contract "unlawful and in bad faith", and demanded its withdrawal.

There have been 14 attacks on the gas pipeline since last year's uprising which unseated the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak.

"I believe that (Occupy) Wall Street is fighting the monster of the day. The monster is not the Shah, the monster today is global Zionism."

"The tool they use to control the world is debt."

Islamophiliac Obama's crushing debt is the Jew's fault.

I love this girl!  We need an army of Madeleines. I met Madeleine McAulay, Teenage Political Maverick,
when she introduced herself to me at BlogCon. She is 16 and rational, reasoned and right -- the rarest of breeds in a culture that eats our young, destroys their ability to think critically, and inculcates them into the left's slavish, statist mindset. Bots

When I was young, there was an expression, "don't trust anyone over 30." Well today, with some exceptions, you can say, "don't trust anyone under 30." The right needs to stage the intellectual rescue of our youth. Back when cults were a thing, parents used to stage rescues of their children who were brainwashed and deprogram them. That's what we have to do as a society.

Go Mad go!

100,000 women undergo brutal genital mutilation illegally in Britain (and some of the victims are as young as TEN) Daily Mail

This Islamic practice is gaining a foothold in the West. Even in America, the Academy of Pediatrics suggested that federal and state laws might be more effective if they "enabled pediatricians to reach out to families by offering a 'ritual nick.'" It was only after blogs published the story and readers voiced fierce opposition that the AAP "retired" its 2010 revised statement on FGM. So do not think for one moment that is is not happening here in America. Enemedia outlets like the NY TImes call this savagery "A Cutting Tradition."

So is it any surprise to find doctors offering the misogynist butchery in the UK, a country further along the islamization process than the States?

Shocked? Don't be. Learn more at the Jessica Mokdad Human Rights Conference in Dearborn.

UK medics filmed offering female genital mutilation, report says The Sunday Times

FEMALE genital mutilations have been performed on up to 10,000 women in the UK, with some medics offering to carry out the brutal surgery on girls as young as 10, a report claimed today.

A doctor, a dentist and an alternative medicine practitioner were filmed telling undercover reporters from The (London) Sunday Times that they would carry out the illegal practice, or arrange for it to be done, on females in Britain.

Female genital mutilation (FGM), which carries a jail sentence of up to 14 years in Britain, is widespread across Africa and also practiced in parts of the Middle East, according to the World Health Organisation.

The procedure involves surgically removing external genitalia and, in some cases, the stitching of the vaginal opening, in a bid to reduce women's sex drive.

Victims, who range in age from babies to young teens, often suffer long-term damage and can be left in agony by the dangerous practice.

Forward, a charity that campaigns against FGM, estimates that around 100,000 women in the UK are victims of the practice.

One family doctor filmed by the newspaper suggested taking girls to Africa for the procedure and recommended a dentist he knew. The dentist in question told the reporter he was willing to circumcise two girls aged 10 and 13.

A supplier of alternative medicines also was filmed telling a reporter he would circumcise a 10-year-old girl for £750 ($1208).

None of the 43 police forces across England and Wales yet secured a conviction for the offense, including London's Metropolitan Police, which has received 166 reports of FGM since 2008.

Former supermodel Waris Dirie was mutilated as a child and now campaigns against the practice.

She said, "If a white girl is abused, the police come and break down the door. If a black girl is mutilated, nobody takes care of her. This is what I call racism."

It bemuses me to read the media reports of a secular Indonesia that allows the devout Muslim Aceh province to implement sharia. As if sharia will be "contained."As if it is going to stay within the borders of Aceh. As if devout Muslims are not waging war in all of Indonesia to implement the sharia. As if devout Muslims are not burning down churches and slaughtering Christians in order to spread Islam in the way of Muhammad, by the sword.

Eleven caned in Indonesia's Aceh province

From: HeraldSun
April 21, 2012
AUTHORITIES in Indonesia say 10 men and a woman have been publicly caned for gambling and immoral behaviour under Islamic law in conservative Aceh province.

Prosecutor's office official Putra Masduri said nine people convicted of gambling were caned four to 12 times. He said today that two others - a man and woman - were caned nine times after being found naked together by local residents.

All were beaten on Friday in front of dozens of people at a field in Langsa, the capital of East Aceh district, after being tried by the local Shariah Court.

Indonesia has a policy of secularism but allows highly conservative Aceh province to implement a version of Sharia.

One can only imagine what would happen to a Western diplomat caught urinating outside Qaradawi's door or Ahmadinejad's door, or better yet, Arafat's grave.

Taser diplomacy for Kuwaiti official caught short on Blair's doorstep Daily Mail

Police used a taser to stop a man urinating on Tony Blair’s doorstep...only to later learn he was a Kuwaiti government official. The diplomatic protection officers had been patrolling outside the former Prime Minister’s £4.3 million London townhouse.

They approached the man, who appeared to be drunk, and asked him to stop urinating.

A scuffle ensued in the 3am incident and the police fired the 50,000-volt taser to incapacitate the Arab man so they could arrest him.

The unarmed suspect, Ayedh Alrashidi, who only speaks Arabic and understands little English, collapsed and was taken to a nearby hospital.

It was later revealed that Mr Alrashidi, 40, described as ‘a wealthy and peaceful man’, is a government official from Kuwait.

He was charged with being drunk and disorderly and assaulting a police officer.

[....]

A friend of Mr Alrashidi said: ‘He didn’t deserve to be treated like that, he is a man who lives a life of luxury in Kuwait, as a respected government official."

Read the rest.

Instead of pledging support and solidarity for and with Israel, these cowering Ghetto Jews go begging to Israel not to defend herself and her people, because they're afraid of what will happen to themselves in Europe. They fear an escalation, like the one they witnessed of anti-Jewish violence and death marches by Islamic supremacists and their leftist jackboots after the "Cast Lead" defensive in January 2009. The European Jews should make Aliyah, not do the bidding of the Jew-haters and annihilationists. Instead, they ask Israel not to defend herself so they won't have to "fear" in a Europe they have had no business living in since 1945.

What a stunning betrayal the week of Holocaust Remembrance day. Oh, the horrible irony.

European Jewish group fears Israel-Iran backlash Associated Press – Apr 18, 2012 (hat tip Choi)

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The head of a major European Jewish group warned Wednesday of a "dramatic increase" in anti-Semitic violence across the continent if Israel attacks Iran to stop its nuclear development program.

The U.S. and its allies suspect that Iran is trying to develop a nuclear weapon — a charge that Tehran denies. Israel views a nuclear-armed Iran as a threat to its very existence, and claiming that time is running out, has repeatedly hinted that it is prepared to strike Iran's nuclear installations if necessary.

Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, said he feared a minority of angry, extremist European Muslims who live in impoverished neighborhoods might use an Israeli attack as a pretext to hit local Jews, particularly in France and Great Britain.

"If Israel attacks Iran, it will be a dramatic increase of anti-Semitic, very violent attacks against Jews," Kantor said. "And the vehicle for the realization of the attacks will be these enclave communities, where the level of hatred is very high and they are prepared to attack enemies inside their countries," he said.

Israeli leaders have reacted with skepticism to the latest efforts by world powers to negotiate with Iran over its nuclear program. Israel's deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon, said Wednesday the talks may be an Iranian stalling tactic as it pushes forward with a weapons program. He cautioned against "falling into the trap of a good atmosphere" and urged the West to impose tougher economic sanctions on Iran immediately.

Kantor, a Russian-Swiss businessman, said his group is prodding European governments to take more measures to protect Jewish communities. He said its biggest efforts were focused on combatting anti-Semitism in the radical fringes of European Muslim neighborhoods.

"We have to understand it's like a bomb ready to explode," he said.

Kantor said his group is expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to discuss its concerns, but the chief responsibility for the safety of European Jews lay with their own governments.

He spoke at Tel Aviv University after the presentation of an annual report on worldwide anti-Semitic attacks. The report was issued before Israel's yearly memorial day for the 6 million Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust of World War II. The commemoration was beginning at sundown Wednesday.

The report said the number of attacks declined in 2011, but they were generally more violent than in previous years.