Nader says he’ll now accept signatures collected by GOP

In an about-face, Ralph Nader decided Monday to accept thousands of petition signatures collected by Michigan Republicans if that was the only way he could qualify for the state’s presidential ballot.

On Thursday, Michigan Republican Party officials submitted 43,000 signatures — far more than the 30,000 needed — to ensure Nader could appear on the ballot as an independent. Republicans began collecting signatures after it appeared that Nader would not get on the ballot as the Reform Party’s candidate for president.

Why is Nader running? It is clear that Nader has no constituency, no mandate, and that Republicans only want him on the ballot to hurt Kerry. And, contrary to his promises, he is attacking Kerry more than Bush. He is becoming pathetic.

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Sharon’s call for Jews to flee outrages France

When Israel’s prime minister on Sunday urged the Jews of France to flee immediately to Israel to escape anti-Semitism at home, the reaction was swift, angry and unified. French officials, lawmakers, commentators and Jewish leaders all told Sharon that he was out of line.

Joseph Zrihen, vice-president of Crif, an umbrella group representing Jewish organisations in France, responded by saying

My children suffer more than I do for being Jewish. I think it’s much more common in France among young people nowadays. My children have to face a daily barrage of insults and name-callings

But, however bad the situation may be, Sharon’s comments were highly excessive. He simply has no legitimacy to make appeals like that. There has been a Jewish community in France for over 2,000 years. You cannot talk about “French Jews”; we are simply French citizens of Jewish denomination, just as there are French citizens of Muslim and Christian denomination.

If one of us were to make the decision to go to live in Israel it would be the highly personal, spiritual choice of an individual. Sharon is wrong to suggest such a decision could be collective. One thing is for sure: we must keep our heads and not panic. I have faith in this government to fight against this anti-Semitism.

So yes, there is anti-Semitism in France, as well as many other places too. But why was Sharon attacking France, and attacking now, just before he was planning to travel there?

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Arnold’s drops mask, gets smacked down.

Schwarzenegger’s homophobic, insulting comment calling California legislators who dare disagree with him, “girlie men”, has backfired. As I write this, the story is front page on Google News, with 367 links, the overwhelming majority of which reacted negatively to his comments.

Forget the jolly big-smile pose he puts on for the cameras. Like Jesse Ventura, who also had temper tantrums when his intimidation tactics stopped working, Arnold’s self-created train wreck has begun.

Schwarzenegger comments hurt budget talks

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s weekend road trip — during which he targeted Democratic lawmakers for ouster in November and mocked uncooperative legislators as “girly men” — appears to have moved budget talks backward.

‘Girlie men’ jibe backfires on Arnie

The humour, however, did not translate politically. “It uses an image that is associated with gay men in an insulting way, and it was supposed to be an insult,” said state senator Sheila Kuehl. “That’s very troubling that he would use such a homophobic way of trying to put down legislative leadership.”

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New terrorist weapon?

Blast turns drink machine into chemical weapon

United States Homeland Security officials were notified after an exploding vending machine turned the coolant freon into phosgene, a poisonous gas used as a chemical weapon in World War I.

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