Sunday, November 20, 2005

Sacre Bleu! More French Censorship!

On the New York Post's Page Six (where it belongs), a sordid tale of government repression in order to prevent the embarrassment of Nicolas Sarkozy:

In a brazen act of censorship, Sarkozy managed to halt the release of tell-all tome "C‚cilia Sarkozy: Between Heart and Reason" by threatening the publisher, Editions First, with grave "judicial consequences."
The book, authorized by C‚cilia, was penned by French journalist Val‚rie Domain, and reportedly lays bare the messy details of the Sarkozys' crumbled marriage, which has been gossip fodder since the couple's noisy split over the summer.
Some 25,000 copies were scheduled to hit stores on Nov. 24, but Editions First honcho Vincent Barbare was summoned to Sarkozy's office on Nov. 9 and ordered by the minister to nix the books.


The cowardly publisher caved in to the hard-line politico's demands, in what one French media veteran described as "an unprecedented and outrageous act of censorship." A sidestepping Editions First rep blamed the book ban on the recent wave of riots in Paris, saying it wasn't "convenient to put the books out [considering recent events] in France."

A pal of author Domain says the writer contacted Editions First recently but was told to forget about the book coming out or getting the original manuscript returned to her: "They told [Domain] there was too much pressure on [Editions First]. She's terrified. She doesn't even want to talk on the phone. And this is only going to get bigger."

Now inagine if BushChenyaburitan had done this...investigations, special prosecuters, calls for resignations, the whole nine yards. But it is apparently acceptable in France, just like...taking bribes from despots to overturn international sanctions!

Europe can keep their "superior morality"; I'll just sit quietly here in Jersey and watch the continent crumble...

Link to NY Post story here: http://www.nypost.com/gossip/pagesix.htm

UPDATE: I didn't realize my pal Johnny Depp had inhaled so deeply:

France and the whole of Europe have a great culture and an amazing history. Most important thing though is that people there know how to live! In America they've forgotten all about it. I'm afraid that the American culture is a disaster."

From his IMDB bio here: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000136/bio

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