Quote of the day

"Wilhelm II remains a poster child for all that is wrong with hereditary government. Vainglorious, desperately insecure, hugely ambitious, quick to take offense, ill-educated, boorish, narrow in his interests, knowledge and associations, the young Kaiser was both a patsy for those in his government and in his army who were gripped by the lust for power---and dangerous in his own right, as he dreamed of the glory that could be his as lord of a world-dominating state."
Thomas Levenson, of the monarch who launched the Great War
in Einstein in Berlin


HOMELAND SECURITY ALERT!

CODE BLEU! Homeland Security will now enforce certain provisions of the Homeland Security Act and monitor all VIDEO/DVD RENTAL stores for traitors and other malcontents who attempt to view any and all movies en francais, including dubbed and subtitled versions. The following films are on our terrorism don't-watch if you know what's good for you list. Innocents are hereby warned that said films may contain coded messages, with instructions to dissidents. These are the FORBIDDEN titles :

Grand Illusion Jean Renoir
J'Accuse Abel Gance
All Quiet on the Western Front (not actually French, but from a novel by a guy with a Frenchie kind of name, made by Hollywood dupes. Don't worry, we're watching them, too.)
Stolen Kisses and The Last Metro Francois Truffaut (disrespect to the military)
anything by Jean-Luc Godard (ditto)

Video stores are "requested" to sanitize other movies of objectionable references and/or francais for example, by eliminating the singing of a certain national anthem in Casablanca.

In addition, libraries will be monitored for so-called American citizens taking out books by Emile Zola, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Andre Gide, Moliere, Jean Cocteau, Carolyn Forche, Erich Maria Remarque, and above all, Alexis de Tocqueville.

If we catch you reading these, we won't even have to read you your rights. (You don't have them anyway.)