Althouse: "So there was never a question of whether this narcissist millionaire shirt-unbuttoner would manfully rise to the defense of his poor, underprivileged pal Dominique Strauss-Kahn..."

May 17, 2011

"So there was never a question of whether this narcissist millionaire shirt-unbuttoner would manfully rise to the defense of his poor, underprivileged pal Dominique Strauss-Kahn..."

"... but just how thoroughly he would soil himself, his country, and his alleged professions in the course of the apologetics. Well, thanks to the editing genius of Tina Brown, we now have an answer."

Writes Matt Welch... about the loathsome French "philosopher" Bernard Henri-Levy. Those are Welch's quotes, but I'd have put them there independently.

80 comments:

Shouting Thomas said...: The feminist onslaught has brought us to this unimaginable juncture in human history... we're expecting Frenchmen to behave themselves!

I Want To Be Bad.

This thing of being a good little goodie is all very well
What can you do if you’re loaded with plenty of hell?; 5/17/11, 10:33 AM
MayBee said...: But Bernard Henri-Levy hated Sarah Palin! His judgement is very good! Or something.; 5/17/11, 10:34 AM
Titus said...: Shirt unbuttoner that is funny but sad.; 5/17/11, 10:34 AM
Bob Ellison said...: Bernard Henri-Levy and Newt Gingrich seem like similar personalities.; 5/17/11, 10:36 AM
gerry said...: But, DSK is a socialist! He simply MUST be innocent!; 5/17/11, 10:36 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: There's a place in France
Where the ladies wear no pants
And the men all run around
With their willies hanging down
There's a place in France .....; 5/17/11, 10:39 AM
Sprezzatura said...: That woman pictured at the link is stunning.; 5/17/11, 10:44 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Best imagined description of the incident to date:

Since if the accusations are true, a 62-year-old man known by every French person I've asked to have the sexual manners of a primate lunged nakedly at hired help half his age, grabbed her breast, knocked her to the floor, and chased her around his expensive hotel suite attempting with some success to thrust his penis into her body and discharge DNA evidence.

Oh, how I love to discharge DNA evidence!

How long till some enterprising capitalist films the porn classic based on this incident?; 5/17/11, 10:48 AM
YoungHegelian said...: The European intelligentsia see themselves as a self-selected aristocracy in ways unimaginable to an American.

Jeez, just look at the EU parliament. Six months in Brussels, six months in Strasburg. All expenses paid travel between the two cities. Two domiciles paid.
That's why the EU Parliament hasn't been able to pass a budget audit for over ten years now, dontcha know.

This is how the European upper class works. One gets to a certain level and skids are greased and doors are opened so one can live the rich life that social democracy would never allow otherwise.; 5/17/11, 10:49 AM
tim maguire said...: "...the editing genius of Tina Brown..."

There's a phrase you don't hear so often anymore.; 5/17/11, 10:49 AM
Richard Dolan said...: That BH-L is a big deal in France is bound to strike Americans as odd. Pompous self-regard is not the road to success here (although Cornel West has had a lot of success, and his shtick bears a certain resemblance to the BH-L act). In part, it's a reflection of the tightly structured and channeled French education, culminating in the ENS (BH-L personifies that to a tee). And there is a long tradition in France of idolizing the 'intellectual hero.' (I have in mind Victor Brombert's study of the same name about the classic French novels.)

We have a different notion of heroism, and look for our heros in different places.; 5/17/11, 10:51 AM
Fred4Pres said...: Bernard Henri-Levy just looks in the mirror each morning and has an orgasm.; 5/17/11, 10:53 AM
Fred4Pres said...: Bernard Henri-Levy is Neil Diamond without the talent, but double the arrogance.

I can see why he is big in France.; 5/17/11, 10:54 AM
Martha said...: I think the woman whose photo is at the link is the young French woman who claims she was assaulted by DMK several years ago during an interview for a book she was writing. I believe she is considering pressing charges in light of what is happening in NYC.

That Frenchnwoman referred to DMK as a chimpanzee in heat--or as a rutting chimpanzee according to another translation.; 5/17/11, 10:55 AM
MaxedOutMama said...: BHL's reaction badly hurts DSK's defense, because the general reaction in France is not that far off from BHL. Such a prevailing attitude could cause a man to feel that he could get away with this - and if the other claim is true, he has been getting away with such behavior.

Doesn't France have the Roman system in which such claims are examined by magistrate who then orders the police to take action or not? I don't doubt that under such a system it would be harder for women to make any sexual assault charges, and very hard indeed to file them against such powerful figures.; 5/17/11, 10:56 AM
Scott M said...: We have a different notion of heroism, and look for our heros in different places.

Wouldn't it be more fair to say that we have allow a much wider range of heroic types?; 5/17/11, 10:56 AM
edutcher said...: Given that Levy describes being arrested as "being thrown to the dogs", it implies We, The People are the dogs (no doubt Little Zero has a similar view).

The French motto is, after all, Liberte, egalite, fraternite.

It says nothing about justice.

WV "eurverp" What we're hearing from France these days.; 5/17/11, 10:59 AM
Carol_Herman said...: Nope. This is just typical stuff lawyers do to earn money. They can take any side of an argument, if you pay them. And, the whole trick is to convince the client to pay them money.

For the French, the HORROR of this story is that the French, themselves, labeled this guy THE SEDUCER.

At least Americans hold high the bar. You'd have to be Cary Grant, or Rock Hudson, to fool so many dames with good looking men. Who are queer. To the bone.

But who remembers Cary Grant?

Who cares about Hollywood types after Marlon Brando, and scrunge?

And, the best part of this story is that it is so funny!

AT THE HOTEL, meanwhile, this dude was in this penthouse about 20 times before. (Maybe, some maids like the approach? He's naked. And, if you play with his dick, he tips well.) Otherwise? That's the only tip for you!

He nearly got away!

This has MOVIE SCRIPT written all over it! Just like DOG DAY AFTERNOON. Which was based on real events. (When a male patient got housed at Kings County, Psychiatric, in Brooklyn. Wanting a sex change operation. The next time the patient came in, he was, in fact, put on the female floor, instead.)

Some operations "work."

Some do not.

But the French gal who came on board with her story of this ANIMAL Domin-icky seeking "chimpanzee sex." It's on TV. Recorded back in 2007. Or 2008. Right after the French kid ... who was in her early 20's ... And, beautiful enough to be a TV journalist ... said it OUT LOUD.

Hey. Maybe, if they let DSK "go" ... or jump bail ... which has not been forthcoming from the judge. Maybe, he can go to Germany and "jump" Angela Merkel? Maybe, she'd come out smiling?

Or maybe, Angela Merkel, if attacked, would go stark, raving, mad?

It's a french problem.

And, it's been translated into their language, for all I care.; 5/17/11, 11:06 AM
Scott M said...: Carol. Just an existential question, if you don't mind. Can you be gay, even to the bone, if you're dead?; 5/17/11, 11:08 AM
James said...: My youngest sister's husband is French and they live in Martinique. During the 2009 summer they were visiting and I had a TV tuned to Fox News. Sarah Palin came on the news and my sister immediately went into a rant claiming she was ill-informed, stupid and all the other claims made by the Left.

I listened for a while, then snapped and asked her how she arrived at her opinions. She told me she watches French and international news that were "superior" to U.S. news. I then countered that she'd never heard me discuss French politics or politicians so why was she bad-mouthing Palin. She looked at me and exclaimed..."Oh, my brother is a conservative."

Up to that point I would get e-mails and articles discussing Obama and U.S. politics forwarded from her daily....but they stopped immediately.

Even since the allegations against DSK broke I've been tempted to call her up and ask her opinion but she's probably not in the mood to hear my laughter.; 5/17/11, 11:10 AM
RuyDiaz said...: Like Matt Welch, I was expecting BHL to debase himself in this manner, and he didn't dissappoint. My 'favorite' passage is the following:

I hold it against the American judge who, by delivering him to the crowd of photo hounds, pretended to take him for a subject of justice like any other. [...]

Yes, he's no common subject, how dare that American judge believe in equality under the law.

Something on Welch's righteous anger: towards the end he pauses to give some due to the possibility of conspiracy.... This is one of the ways the human mind goes wrong, very wrong: conspiracies are very difficult to pull off and even mnore difficult to cover up, but we seem to have a strong bias in believing in concerted human (or superantural) action, over chance or character.; 5/17/11, 11:13 AM
sakredkow said...: I like this line from the source:

Since if the accusations are true, a 62-year-old man known by every French person I've asked to have the sexual manners of a primate lunged nakedly at hired help half his age....etc. etc.

Can you imagine? The sexual manners of a PRIMATE???; 5/17/11, 11:19 AM
Scott M said...: Can you imagine? The sexual manners of a PRIMATE???

The French aren't overly religious any more. This isn't that great of a stretch for them.; 5/17/11, 11:22 AM
write_effort said...: For being a defense of his friend, DSK, Levy's piece sure spends a lot of time saying "I".

BTW, I mentioned here yesterday that we would be hearing from B-HL, but even I am shocked by the inferences in his piece.; 5/17/11, 11:36 AM
Chip S. said...: Yesterday's defense was that he was having lunch with his daughter when the alleged attack occurred. Today it's that the contretemps was consensual.

My client couldn't have committed this crime, your honor, because he wasn't there. And if he was there, the woman wanted it.

What law firm did he retain--Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe?; 5/17/11, 11:38 AM
Kirk Parker said...: pbAndj,

Her appearance is apropos of nothing, probably, but no kidding!; 5/17/11, 11:44 AM
Trooper York said...: Listen, after they process this frog through the system lets just put him in the general population at Rikers and let it be known that he likes to rape black maids. He would be in line for a quick attitude adjustment.; 5/17/11, 11:54 AM
Angst said...: John Edwards was unavailable for comment.

wv: comers; 5/17/11, 12:02 PM
James said...: IMF chief claims consent in hotel 'attack'

Meanwhile, neighbors of the maid described her as an "extremely quiet," French-speaking immigrant from the West African nation of Guinea who lives with her teen daughter in The Bronx.

"She is extremely quiet. She only smiles at certain people," said neighbor Mark Gangadeen, adding that she wears a head scarf.

Another neighbor, Assetou Kamara, 33, said the woman is a devout Muslim.

A Socialist Jew attacking a "devout Muslim".... this one calls for Cedarford's unique analysis.

I'm just surprised that a few of the banlieues aren't burning.; 5/17/11, 12:12 PM
Chip S. said...: I think I can guess the basis for DSK's defense now--no true Frenchman can resist a woman in a headscarf. He was provoked.; 5/17/11, 12:16 PM
William said...: He is continuing in the fine tradition of douche bag French philosophers. Purists will say that he's no Jean-Paul Sartre, but the important thing is that he makes the effort.....Dominique Strauss-Kahn so loved the poor and wretched of the earth that he wanted to put his penis in their mouth..... What sixty two year old man walks around with such a raging libido that the mere sight of a chambermaid inspires thoughts of rape? That's an extraordinary level of horniness. How did he even survive adolesence?; 5/17/11, 12:23 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Trooper York said...
Listen, after they process this frog through the system lets just put him in the general population at Rikers and let it be known that he likes to rape black maids. He would be in line for a quick attitude adjustment.

5/17/11 11:54 AM

I am not a fan of prison rape, even for rapists. But he not in the 50 prisoner baracks in Rikers, but in his own private cell. He has not been convicted of anything. But if he is convicted (I assume he will be sent up river to a NY state prison), then chances are he will not be in protective custody. I would not want to be him.; 5/17/11, 12:24 PM
Trooper York said...: Fred... mistakes happen all the time. Things get misprocessed. He can be "mistakenly" put in the general population and he can explain the French Peoples theories about racism and sexism and the all around superiority of European culture. Yeah that's the ticket.

I think you couldn't do a better thing than putting the head of the IMF into the general population at Rikers.; 5/17/11, 12:27 PM
Seeing Red said...: I haven't been following the story.

Now his alibi has changed?

Heheheheheeeee

Welcome to America

Have a nice day!

Do we take bets who's running for cover at the UN?; 5/17/11, 12:43 PM
Seeing Red said...: Via The Belmont Club:

The most unfortunate headline of the day is from the Guardian’s Pierre Haski: “Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s fall is a blow for France’s Socialists”. The perils of the English language. The fall part is right. The blow part is now the subject of a criminal investigation. But this much is obviously true. Dominique Strauss-Kahn was a man sitting on top of the world. Why did he, er, blow it? In a little while he would have been President of France.; 5/17/11, 12:45 PM
RuyDiaz said...: What sixty two year old man walks around with such a raging libido that the mere sight of a chambermaid inspires thoughts of rape? That's an extraordinary level of horniness. How did he even survive adolesence?

That's an excellent question.

Criminology 101 will tell you that violent criminal behavior peaks, depending on the crime, in late adolescence or early adulthood. By the time most offenders are 40, they have either changed the M.O. or left crime altogether.

So, to see a 62-year-old man engage in this kind of behavior is very rare. It is nearly unthinkable that he just got around to doing this kind of thing. If he did what he's alleged to be done, he has been doing this--and worse--for a long time. He just happenned to get caught this tiem.; 5/17/11, 12:46 PM
Joe Hogan said...: The French seem to take special exception to the photography of Strauss-Kahn being escorted by the police. Apparently they are unaware of the perp walk, especially as practiced by the NYPD. They seem to imagine this was a special effort to particularly embarass their socialist hero.

Au contraire, mon frere. Almost every day's editions of the NY News and Post and the local TV "newscasts" depict some poor soul, of every class and ethnicity being frog marched from the precinct en route to court or Rikers Island or The Tombs (the charming name of a local holding pen in Manhattan).

The only difference among these events is the number of cameras focused on the alleged miscreant.; 5/17/11, 12:47 PM
Seeing Red said...: Victor at TBC speculates:

Next– the Feds will comb through all Strauss-Kahns financial transactions and the insider tips he may have given to investors and states as well as any bribes he may have taken.

He was accused of corruption previously–but the insider trading laws are much more strict here than they are in France

Quite a few more heads might roll from Fed and IMF financial forensic investigation which we know are coming.

Who is he going to take down with him? and which regimes?

I can think of a few likely candidates

–Strauss-Kahn may in fact be too big to fail and someone may put a hit on him

The clot thickens–

---------------------

And he tried to sodomize her?

------------

The ripples because he couldn't keep it in his pants.....; 5/17/11, 12:59 PM
Chip S. said...: Ruy, My guess is that he mistakenly popped some Viagra instead of his heart medication, and didn't want to leave for his trans-Atlantic flight with an unspent cartridge.; 5/17/11, 12:59 PM
Anonymous said...: As a Philadelphian, I am pleased by the fact that DSK was denied bail. France shielded Ira Einhorn and Paris renamed a street after Mumia Abu-Jamal.

The Court was fully justified in denying bail, given France's thumbing its nose at the U.S. justice system.

Matt Welch is great. His was one of the fist blogs I followed regularly.; 5/17/11, 1:02 PM
HKatz said...: One of the commenters at the article (John @ 6:10 am) makes an excellent point:

Is the dignity of one maid in New York more important bringing prosperity to the developing world and a just government to France? It is only if you believe that every person is endowed with a unique and inviolable dignity before God or the law that you can answer such a question in the affirmative.

People are looking at DSK similar as to Polanski - Polanski can make "great art", so why stop him and his artistic greatness for the sake of one young girl? In the grand scheme of things, there are big people and there are little people... and if little people get hurt, who cares? They're not going to be a government bigshot or make Chinatown!

And then there's the easy slippery slope to killing people for the sake of some greater good or ideology (from the same commenter):
If that maid or people like her are not entitled to their personal dignity in the same way someone like Strauss Kahn is, she is in brutal terms less of a human being than he is. And if she is less of a human being, taking her life for the right end is perfectly justified.; 5/17/11, 1:03 PM
write_effort said...: We await Bernard-Henri Levy's rousing defense of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

(Or do Austrians not count?); 5/17/11, 1:07 PM
Chip S. said...: HKatz, It's an excellent comment if one grants the premise that DSK is uniquely qualified to run the IMF (he's just a political appointee), or if the current government of France is somehow unjust compared to the Socialists.

IOW, it's a crappy comment, even if we accept its dubious premise that the IMF does anything at all that brings "prosperity" [sic] to the developing world.; 5/17/11, 1:11 PM
Fred Drinkwater said...: Seeing Red / Belmont Club:
"The most unfortunate headline of the day is from the Guardian’s Pierre Haski: “Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s fall is a blow for France’s Socialists”."

In my opinion the most distressing thing about this headline is the use of the word "fall".

What is being implied here? That DSK was an unsullied soul who "fell" to temptation, a la Eve?
Or that he was knocked off his pedestal by events out of his control?

I see this usage all the time, and it always frosts me.

IF the story is true, then it's clear that DSK did not "fall". He jumped.

"It's a fair cop, but Society is to blame."; 5/17/11, 1:14 PM
deborah said...: I think it's time for another Althouse/Welch diavlog.

ChipS, good one about the scarf being a provocation.; 5/17/11, 1:25 PM
HKatz said...: @ Chip S, who wrote:
It's an excellent comment if one grants the premise that DSK is uniquely qualified to run the IMF (he's just a political appointee)

I don't think the commenter was saying that DSK is uniquely qualified for anything, or that the IMF does any good. That's not the point.

He was presenting the argument of DSK's supporters (not his own argument), and showing why it's incompatible with the idea of people having equal dignity. And then the extension of that way of thinking (that there are big important people, and little people) and how it easily leads to corruption and also embracing ideological movements in which we can readily sacrifice these little people for larger causes.; 5/17/11, 1:28 PM
Chip S. said...: HKatz, I understand that, and to say that his arrest shows that a powerful guy doesn't necessarily get privileged treatment here is sufficient. There's no need for anyone to get all worked up about how this demonstrates that we're willing to accept the horrible loss of a social savior in order to dispense justice. Because the guy is pretty much just a turd. A highly privileged turd, but a turd nonetheless, who is now swirling around the toilet bowl.; 5/17/11, 1:33 PM
Chip S. said...: HK, As to your larger point about the self-importance of the ruling class, I concur completely.; 5/17/11, 1:35 PM
HKatz said...: There's no need for anyone to get all worked up about how this demonstrates that we're willing to accept the horrible loss of a social savior in order to dispense justice.

I agree with you that there's no need, unfortunately his most ardent supporters do see him as a social savior (or they say they do). And even if they can't be dissuaded on that point, they can at least be told that it doesn't matter how big a social savior they think he is.; 5/17/11, 1:43 PM
Chip S. said...: And even if they can't be dissuaded on that point, they can at least be told that it doesn't matter how big a social savior they think he is.

Well said, and it helps me clarify my original point--I object to granting them this premise at all. They're so delusional about their vision of social justice that they'll twist reality into whatever shapes are necessary for them to be right--as manifested by BHL's idiotic characterization of the US justice system as one that presumes guilt. So one winds up having to be willing to grant all sorts of crazy premises in order to talk to them on their own terms.

I think that their delusions should be challenged always and everywhere. But we're only disagreeing about rhetorical tactics, so I'm happy to let it go.; 5/17/11, 1:51 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Events have created a theme and Althouse is going with it. Scientists, philosophers, and politicians.

Fame and power, abuse of both. Do accomplishments liberate the great men from moral accountability?

So far, scientists=yes. Politicians=no. Philosophers=no.

Has Woody Allen come up yet?; 5/17/11, 1:54 PM
Anonymous said...: HKatz, It's an excellent comment if one grants the premise that DSK is uniquely qualified to run the IMF (he's just a political appointee)

You'd pretty much have to grant the premise, assuming that IMF stands for Involuntary Maid Fuckers.; 5/17/11, 2:33 PM
Winding down said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/17/11, 2:34 PM
RuyDiaz said...: So far, scientists=yes. Politicians=no. Philosophers=no.

Yes, Richard Feynmann.... Besides anything else, a self-promoting bullshitter. His particular brand was false modesty; 'I'm not that bright, just a hard worker!'

Don't think so. If you can solve calculus problems in your head, then sir, you have at least a four sigma brain, probably higher.; 5/17/11, 2:38 PM
mariner said...: phx,
Can you imagine? The sexual manners of a PRIMATE???

I understand this -- the French themselves are no longer primates.; 5/17/11, 3:10 PM
mariner said...: Chip S.
What law firm did he retain--Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe?

Crane, Poole and Schmidt?; 5/17/11, 3:11 PM
Col Mustard said...: Another neighbor, Assetou Kamara, 33, said the woman is a devout Muslim.

Doesn't this mean she has to come up with four witnesses to the rape or risk being stoned for being a slut?; 5/17/11, 3:50 PM
James said...: So while the French press is offended by photos of DSK in handcuffs they have no problems publishing the full details about the alleged victim.

Here's Slate French edition: SlateAfrique; 5/17/11, 4:53 PM
Allan said...: Bernard-Henri Lévy a laughing stock for quoting fictional philosopher; 5/17/11, 5:03 PM
Mike said...: Is this clown's Bernard Henry-Levi or Bernard Helmsley? I mean laws are for the little people aren't they?

One more French twit. It's guys like him that give the other one percent of French "intellectuals" a bad name.; 5/17/11, 5:11 PM
Carol_Herman said...: In the current version DSK (Domin-Icky) says he had the sex. But that the "MAID WANTED IT" ... So, of course, he took his clothes off.

But then "he didn't flee" ... he went out to lunch with his daughter at a very fancy french restaurant in NYC. Where reservations are a must.

He doesn't say that unlike NYC buses, that run by every few minutes. He had to wait for the plane ride provided by Air France. So why not eat?

"Lover boy" sits in jail.

And, maybe, this type of excuse works in france. But it doesn't sound like the maid "really wanted it."

It also doesn't sound like he had the powers to force air france to take off early.

There's a better chance that Princess Diana was KILLED, than this guy was "set up."; 5/17/11, 5:20 PM
Chip S. said...: Allan, That's a great story, especially BHL's defense of his own stupidity: "fake but accurate." The Sex Life of Immanuel Kant! Le Botulisme!

Vraiment, BHL?; 5/17/11, 5:33 PM
HT said...: Chip S. said...

Yesterday's defense was that he was having lunch with his daughter when the alleged attack occurred. Today it's that the contretemps was consensual.

My client couldn't have committed this crime, your honor, because he wasn't there. And if he was there, the woman wanted it.

What law firm did he retain--Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe?

5/17/11 11:38 AM

___

When I first heard that story about DSK not being in the hotel at the time of the attack, I figured that the people telling it knew full well it was pure BS, they were just trying to take up some space and time with a counter argument to get people thinking. I figured they wouldn't necessarily stick to it. It was a PR move. There will be others.; 5/17/11, 7:07 PM
Strelnikov said...: Given one particular allegation, the term "shirt-lifter" might be appropriate.; 5/17/11, 7:17 PM
Cedarford said...: James - "A Socialist Jew attacking a "devout Muslim".... this one calls for Cedarford's unique analysis."

I'm holding judgment on this, due to the high frequency of false rape accusations and nothing in this guys background revealing any preference for dark African meat.

However, the same "usual suspects" that rallied in Hollywood and Jewish-European intellectual circles to Roman Polanski's defense seem to be gearing up to stand with Dominique Strauss Kahn as well. Or at least the Jewish European intellectuals.; 5/17/11, 7:20 PM
Revenant said...: I like how the "sex is icky and gross" crowd has decided to stick with the story that Feynman's mutually consensual sex life was "an abuse of power".

What "power" was being abused remains a mystery. The power of his gigantic brain to lure women into his bed, presumably? :); 5/17/11, 7:20 PM
Carol_Herman said...: I would have gone to bed with Feynman in a minute! And, back in those days I was dropping eggs.

It's also good to remember that Monica Lewinsky, while fat, turned her butt toward Bill Clinton. And, with her finger lifted the back of her thong. And, popped it like a rubber band.

You can say "Bill Clinton was smitten." But actually he just got an erection.

When he wanted Monica, he'd stay in the White House. But he asked her to go and buy a pizza. (Which she paid for, herself.)

The rule pretty much is that sex interests women, too.

And, back in the old days? When skirts were to the floor? They'd hold their fans a certain way. Or they'd drop their handkerchiefs.

Why do we also blame the guy for being attracted?

You've never seen a woman's eyes lighting up?

More men are more shy than you'll ever know!

Also, back in the old days? Females weren't students at Caltech. Richard Feynman still enjoyed teaching.; 5/17/11, 7:54 PM
Luther said...: I'm not capable of describing such. But it is the inflation of the entire matter that deserves commentary. In the sense that if 'Jacques' the elevator operator was the perpetrator this wouldn't even be news. I'm no anarchist, nor even a libertarian, but double standards have pissed me off for the last fifty or so years.

We need some fucking outrage somewhere, somewhere where it matters. Though it is too late, I think.; 5/17/11, 8:33 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Sex is fine. Great, even.

It's the lying, betrayal and misery that's the problem. Bringing up these ills is no more a blanket condemnation of sex than a hit and run is a condemnation of automobiles. The bad result is what matters, not the means.

That tends to get left out. Why do so many people want to reduce sex to nothing but recreation whenever the consequences are bad? Isn't that strange? Why must sex be an unalloyed good in all circumstances, when nothing else in life is clear cut black or white? Isn't it complicated?

If we want to talk about Clinton, even Monica Lewinsky felt betrayed by the end of it. And what about Hillary and Chelsea? And what example does that make for everyone else? That fling was hardly consequence free! Why give Clinton a pass for causing a constitutional crisis? His lack of self control was a problem for everyone. That's not just the fault of bible-thumping puritans. Evasion of responsibility when it comes to self control is a common behavior, but we don't have to let people off the hook.

When you have responsibilities it DOES matter how you act. That goes from the poorest parent all the way to the President.

Sorry, but the idea that sex occupies its own hermetically sealed compartment in our lives just isn't true. A lot of people would like it to be for their own convenience!

Like Althouse likes to say, the worst things we do to each other are perfectly legal.; 5/17/11, 10:04 PM
Revenant said...: It's the lying, betrayal and misery that's the problem

Your delusions were boring when you presented them the first time. They're still boring.; 5/17/11, 11:35 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Not boring enough to ignore, apparently.

I think I'll type some more. I'm on a roll.

Not sure why it's delusional to point out that actions have consequences and that the actions of any elite are observed by everyone as a signal for what's permissible. That's Theodore Darlymple's whole schtick. I'm hardly alone in saying these things. Not as well, of course, but it's not any less true.

Libertarians are boring. It's all about them.; 5/17/11, 11:44 PM
Kirby Olson said...: I hope they get this guy in with the general population at Rikers soon so that he has to fight for control of the Channel Switcher. Otherwise it might be all about him, that is, the news, might, be, all, about, him.; 5/17/11, 11:50 PM
Peter Hoh said...: Looks like DSK is getting a little love from the right, too.

Here's Ben Stein's second of 8 points:

In life, events tend to follow patterns. People who commit crimes tend to be criminals, for example. Can anyone tell me any economists who have been convicted of violent sex crimes? Can anyone tell me of any heads of nonprofit international economic entities who have ever been charged and convicted of violent sexual crimes? Is it likely that just by chance this hotel maid found the only one in this category? Maybe Mr. Strauss-Kahn is guilty but if so, he is one of a kind, and criminals are not usually one of a kind.; 5/18/11, 12:54 AM
Gary Rosen said...: " the same "usual suspects" that rallied in Hollywood and Jewish-European intellectual circles to Roman Polanski's defense "

Bwahaha. One of the usual suspects was the ol' flophouse masturbator C-fudd himself. The only time he sticks up for a Jooooo is when one of them turns out to be a molester. Not too surprising for C-fudd, the delegate from NAMBLA.; 5/18/11, 1:32 AM
Revenant said...: Here's Ben Stein's second of 8 points:

Ben Stein really should have stuck to hosting game shows.; 5/18/11, 2:13 AM
HT said...: Re Ben Stein.

DSK is not just an economist.

As someone at work from Africa explained it to me the other day, he's got the business down, the academia side down, the government down. He's the complete package. And what's more, he's a leader.; 5/18/11, 6:41 AM
Seeing Red said...: ...The man, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, remained jailed under a suicide watch Wednesday as a lawyer for the woman sought to rebut whispered allegations that her charges were a conspiracy and a setup....

Via Drudge.

Poor baby, can't stand 2 b amongst the common man.; 5/18/11, 10:08 AM
Seeing Red said...: ...Strauss-Kahn's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said at his client's arraignment this week that defense lawyers believe the forensic evidence "will not be consistent with a forcible encounter....

I'll start popping the corn.

verification is

nutdogi?

LOLOL; 5/18/11, 10:10 AM
Trooper York said...: It seems that the woman who was attacked is living in subsidized housing for people with AIDS.

I guess Froggy might have got a little extra sauce for his baget.

There is justice in this world sometimes. Just sayn'; 5/18/11, 1:11 PM
toygun said...: Why so much childish hatred on a brilliant man? "Unbuttoner" isnt even a witty insult.You're just jealous,envious,of BHL's genius and fame.; 8/9/11, 5:49 PM