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In a fashion statement only the French would make, a Parisian designer is selling a $1,395 tank top made to look like a tattered American flag marred by cigarette-burn holes and held together by safety pins. And it’s turning into one of spring’s hottest sellers.

The top, part of Balmain’s spring collection, sold out in minutes on luxury-fashion Web site Net-a-Porter.

Forever 21 and Topshop designed knockoffs of the protest-chic tank, which model Gisele Bundchen wore in a Chinese Vogue spread. But neither tear up Old Glory as much as Balmain’s original, designed by Christophe DeCarnin, who recently left the fashion house after reportedly checking into a mental hospital for exhaustion and depression. .

Two intitial thoughts: 1) Frankly, we'd be a little worried if the French weren't pulling something asinine like this, and 2) just one more reason to hate Tom Brady.

(Look at the quote in the picture)*

Exceptionalism: Americans demonstrate for less government, Europeans demonstrate for more.

From the Economist:

Not French, not fabricated and not as flaky as their detractors aver: these are the positives. Another one: in how many other countries would a powerful populist movement demand less of government, rather than endlessly and expensively more? Much of what is exceptional about America is its ideology of small government, free enterprise and self reliance. If that is what the tea-party movement is for, more power to its elbow.


Can they be serious?

Ideology is one thing. But if the tea-partiers do well next week, especially if the Republicans capture the House, they need to move past ideology into the realm of practical policy. This means having something serious to say about how actually to bring spending under control.

Now what?

B-Daddy has the answers, here.


* The money quote from The Candidate starring Robert Redford.

Your daily World Cup update

... and proving that just because Team USA is out, we still care.


Hey, who's up for another deep socio-political soccer discussion?


Out: Our great French teams are a testament to the diversity of the suburban ghettos.

In: Our crappy French teams area a testament to the diversity of the suburban ghettos.

Criticizing the situation in France's ghettoes is a delicate tap dance, because focusing on the criminal and other negative aspects plaguing those areas inevitably circles back to the people living in the largely immigrant and heavily Muslim areas.

So, intentions aside, the current attacks against the team can "encourage prejudice," and "liberate racist speech," said the general director of the advocacy group SOS Racism, Guillaume Ayne.

Politicians have fervently joined in the harangues, in particular questioning team members' disobedience, and the decision by some on the squad not to sing France's national anthem, "La Marseillaise."

On French radio, philosopher Alain Finkielkraut said the players represent the "spirit of the cité," a term used for ghettoized housing projects, which he said are "devouring" French society.

Problems afflicting the projects include high crime, poor education and a failure to integrate immigrant youths into French culture.

Les Bleus are "a terrible mirror" of French society, said Finkielkraut on Europe 1 radio.

"Nobody has said anything openly racist, yet," said sociologist Jacques Tarnero, who studies racism. However, the risk of tipping into xenophobia comes up when the French team is associated with the problems of the French ghettoes. It could confuse the public, he said.

We're trying to think of a parallel situation over here involving international sport and are having a difficult time of it. Guess the closest thing we can come up with is basketball where between the Dream Team of the 1992 Olympics and the gold medal-winning team of '08, we experienced some uncharacteristic difficulties which owed more to not being equipped or adept at the international style of hoops than anything else.

In fact, you internationalists out there would be pleased to know that American cultural hegemony has completely failed in global basketball and now the NBA with its reliance on ball-handling, passing and (drive, draw and dish for) 3-pointers and de-emphasizing the low-post game, resembles the international game more than it ever has.

An atmosphere of innovation

Freedom of the press. Freedom of religion. How about freedom of booze?


Back in 1976, the U.S. exported $6 million dollars worth of wine. By 2006, however, that figure climbed to a staggering $1 billion dollars. How did it happen? California’s great climate and the shocking results of a blind taste test set up by French wine makers in 1976 certainly helped but perhaps the most important factor is the California wine makers’ ability to innovate and create. Where the government here largely stays out of the wine making business, the French government sticks its nose into about every aspect of the wine-making process from deciding alcohol contents to dictating which type of grape can be grown in what region.

What results is perhaps some great tradition but also a stultified industry that is hog-tied by wine certification laws that prevent experimentation and innovation.

Check out reason.tv’s take on how all this went down in video below.



If embed no worky, please click here.

SCOREBOARD!

It may not have had that element of Cold War-era intrigue but we’re totally fine with some smack-talking from Frenchie for our Olympic red meat.

With history about to slip away and Michael Phelps cheering him on, Jason Lezak pulled up next to the lane rope and set out after hulking Alain Bernard, like a NASCAR driver drafting down the backstretch at Daytona. Only 25 meters to go, half the length of the pool. Every stroke brought Lezak a little closer, a little closer, a little closer, his body seemingly carried along by the Frenchman's massive wake. The two lunged for the wall together. When the result flashed on the board, Phelps was still on course for his record eight gold medals.

The French star was extremely confident about his team's chances heading into the big showdown. "The Americans? We're going to smash them," Bernard said. "That's what we came here for."

This stunning, thrilling and amazing upset victory by the men’s 4x100 freestyle relay team kept alive Michael Phelps’ quest for 8 gold medals. 2 down, 6 to go.

Lezak blazed the fastest 100 meter relay split ever, going 46.06 seconds and the American team, in the process, crushed their own world record, which they set in the prelims by 4 seconds. In all, 5 teams broke the world record… France, Australia, Italy and Sweden, which of course, meant that the Italians and Swedes break the world record but go home empty-handed.

By far, the most exciting swim race we’ve ever seen.

Click here for video from NBC Sports

H/T: Deadspin

UPDATE #1: 'Dawg passed this along from the road. Mark Spitz, who won 7 golds at the '72 Munich games, was not invited to the Games by the IOC or the USOC to witness the potentiality of Phelps breaking his gold count. Snubbed or bitter? You make the call.

Europe continues to kiss free speech good-bye

It seems that Great Britain has a little “context” dust-up of their own. British TV Channel 4, as part of a year-long investigation, featured in a program some remarks made by the preachers of the Religion of Peace inside their mosques.

The police, after initially investigating some of the individuals featured in the program, turned their sights on Channel 4. The police claimed that Channel 4 was taking the comments out of context and thus may have been possibly guilty of stirring up racial hatred.

Channel 4 stuck to their guns and eventually got a public retraction and apology from the police and prosecutors. Story here.

And this all points to the stupidity and ultimately the danger of these so-called “hate speech laws”. The very ambiguity of the letter and intent of these types of laws allows for their twisting and abuse. Similar to slimy operatives in Canada that post hate comments on websites of which they disagree in order to get those same sites investigated by various Canadian human rights commissions, the very hatred and intolerance that Channel 4 was exposing was turned right back around on them by the (thought) police as inciting hatred, themselves.

And actress, Brigitte Bardot has been fined once again by the French government for “inciting racial hatred”. Bardot, an animal rights activist wrote a letter to then-French Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, arguing that Muslims should stun animals before slaughtering them during the Aid al-Kabir holiday.

“I’ve had enough of being led by the nose by this whole population which is destroying us, and destroying our country by imposing their ways.”

She wrote to prosecutors: “I’m sickened by how anti-racist groups are harassing me.” We would like to challenge her description of these groups.

She was fined 12,000 pounds but considering about whom she was running this smack, we believe she got off easy.

Embrace the hatred of hate crime laws.

The Real Agents of "Change."

From the outstanding HBO mini-series “John Adams”. Here is Adams’ speech just prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. (Don’t panic – speech is just over 3:30. The balance of clip is a reading of the Declaration itself… and we’re all familiar with that, aren’t we?)




One of our favorite moments from the mini came when Adams was in the French court along with Ben Franklin. At the dinner table, Adams, the newcomer, was being tested by his hosts to see what pithy and thought-provoking responses he could give to their purposely off-balance questioning. When asked what hobbies he had (art…? the theater…?), Adams responded: “I do not have hobbies. I have no time for hobbies. I study politics and warfare so that my children can study engineering and medicine so that my grandchildren can study art and the theater.”

H/T: Coaches' Hot Seat ... no kidding

Cinco de Mayo and a Stephen Covey Moment

Besides knocking back margaritas and wearing large hats, Cinco de Mayo and the remembrance thereof carries deeper significance. Most people are aware that Cinco de Mayo is not really Mexican Independence Day (that’s September 16) but rather it is the day on which in 1862, the Mexican forces turned back Napolean III’s French forces at the Battle of Puebla.

But in keeping with sound organizational management practices, Cinco de Mayo also serves to remind us to celebrate victories while we can as the French forces captured Puebla 3 days later on their way to eventually taking Mexico City.