"Ne me pique pas" Court Bans French Pricks

Some news items are their own ironic commentary. From Fox News: PARIS — A French appeals court says Voodoo dolls of President Nicolas Sarkozy may remain on sale, but must carry a notice saying that pricking them harms the president's dignity.

From Le Figaro: Nicolas Sarkozy invoque la «violation du droit à l'image» pour demander le retrait de poupées vaudou à son effigie, vendues sur Internet depuis quinze jours. Le président de la République vient en effet d'assigner en référé les éditions K&B, qui commercialise les lots incriminés: des manuels vaudous, tirés à environ 12.000 exemplaires et vendus 12,95 euros, auxquels sont jointes des poupées à l'effigie de Nicolas Sarkozy ou de Ségolène Royal (bleu pour lui, rouge pour elle), ainsi qu'un lot de 12 aiguilles.

Jacques Brel sings "Ne me quitte pas" or "Don't leave me."

Dog's Best Friend — Ratchet's Reprieve

The dog was first domesticated 15,000 years ago in north-east Asia by the ancestors of the Eurasiatic and Amerind Peoples. (The Eurasiatics are the ancestors of the Indo-European, Uralic, Altaic and Eskimo peoples, among others, while the Amerinds are the ancestors of most of the Natives of the Americas.) Both evolved from pack animals, men and dogs have a similar primitive social hierarchy. The dog adapts well to human companionship, and man accepts the dog and bonds to him as family. The strength of that bond is rivalled only by that between man and horse, another pack animal.

There are people who don't like dogs. I won't go so far as Simon Marchmont to argue that they should be shot. Only people who actively dislike dogs arouse my suspicion. The love of dogs seems to be something natural to the military mind. The military does not normally allow soldiers to adopt pets overseas or to ship them home, but there is one recent happy exception.

Above is a picture of Seargeant Gwen Beberg with the puppy Ratchet she rescued from a burning trash pile in Iraq. And here is the story at FoxNews, but I think the picture says it all.