Two years ago, I asked for some help and advice here in researching the consequences of Hurricane Katrina for a horror thriller I was writing. I received much help, for which I was am extremely grateful.

The book has now come out. It is entitled THE KATRINA PROTOCOL and here is the publisher's blurb:

August 2005. As Hurricane Katrina is preparing to strike New Orleans, Hugo Van Helsing, the modern-day descendant of that notorious family, has come to the Big Easy to investigate the mysterious death of his uncle. From the French Quarter to St. Louis Cemetery No.1, from the Garden District to Bayou St. John, Hugo must untangle a frightening conspiracy that binds together the murky world of Voodoo and that of corrupt politicians. With a foreword by Xavier Maumejean. "A great horror novel in the tradition of Graham Masterton, with a touch of Poppy Z. Brite and Ann Rice." Charlotte Bousquet.

An old and very dear friend of ours is a lady farmer in Oregon who, on the side, does pet portraits, wool sculptures and landscapes. Her name is Raven O'Keefe. She is a hard worker who in recent years has had to take an extra job at her local paper to make ends meet.

You can see Raven's art on her site here:
http://ravenokeefe.com/

We just found out today that Raven is in danger of losing her farm (it sounds like a cliché but it's true) because of all the prices going up, losing some freelance income, etc. She really is in a desperate situation.

It would be a really good deed if you could spread the word that Raven needs some extra money and perhaps get her some commissions.

A good, kind and talented person like her shouldn't become homeless.

Last September, I wrote a diary entitled A View from Abroad which collected a few impressions from our local villagers.

To recap, we now live in a small village (pop. 1000) in the South of France (photo), having left Los Angeles in January 2005. (There's a blog and a book.)

Last Monday, Easter Monday, was, for a reason which escapes me, Omelet Day. Our local city hall had organized a town banquet, half-potluck, but with a giant omelet being the centerpiece. It was very convivial and a good time was had by all.

Being the town's token Americans, we were naturally grilled about the recent developments on the US front.

(More below fold.)

I can't encourage you enough to go and read Professor Roubini's latest post (and the comments as well).

We are facing now the risk of the mother of all financial crises and meltdowns. Moral hazard can be realistically address by wiping out reckless investors and lenders, having the government buying assets that need to be restructured at low prices closer to their fundamental value and limiting the mortgage debt reduction to truly deserving borrowers who were victims of predatory lending practices.  But radical and coherent policy action needs to be taken urgently and without further delay as there is now the risk that the US will experience its most severe recession in decades and that the US and global financial system may melt down.

Cutting to the case, the alternative seems to be an unprecedented swathe of nationalizations (with all the political and constitutional issues it raises), or total meltdown.

Also, there is no time to wait for a new President, and the current administration is on crack.

Not good.

This morning, I'm so angry I could scream.

Have you seen this BBC report (accessible on YouTube) on tent cities of foreclosure victims springing up outside L.A.?

And there is this bit of news from WAPO that makes me mad too: In 2 1/2 years, just as the international space station (in which we invested $100 billion) gets fully assembled, the United States will no longer have any spacecraft of its own capable of carrying astronauts and cargo to the station. We'll have to rely on the Russians.

As a brief intro for newcomers, we left Los Angeles at the end of 2004 and relocated in early 2005 to a small village in the South of France, as once told in the Lupin Exodus diaries. We have a blog with photos, etc. and wrote a book, OVER HERE: AN AMERICAN EXPAT IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE, on the subject.

Recently, the medical professionals in France have not been happy campers. They feel that they have not been getting paid high enough rates, which are price-controlled by the Government, for various procedures, and there have been various protests.

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I hope that our financial wizards Jérôme à Paris or Bondad can explain this article on Market Watch: Derivatives the new 'ticking bomb' - Buffett and Gross warn: $516 trillion bubble is a disaster waiting to happen.

I thought I had a layman’s simple-minded understanding of what derivatives are, but when I read that the total value of them appears to exceed the value of just about everything in the world, it makes me think I really have no clue what in the hell they really are!

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There are quite a few of us here, and in the country, former Edwards supporters, folks leaning towards Kucinich (because of his program more than his actual chances), who are not particularly in love with either Hillary or Obama.

I'd like to say a few words on their behalf.

Let's start with Hillary. She looks insincere even when she is probably sincere (as Josh Marshall pointed out) and will say or do anything to get elected. Not necessarily a bad thing in a politician, but hardly likable.

As for Obama, I'm sorry to say this but he's got that kind of slick Werner Ehrard charm/charisma which totally rubs some people (myself included) the wrong way. I just don't like the guy.

Now let's look at their programs; they are not that different, and frankly, they both suck.

Let's review below the fold:

I've just come across this amusing tidbit of news on CNN.

It appears that there are legislative elections in Meghalaya, a remote northeast Indian state, on March 3.

Amongst the candidates, many of whom bear colorful names often taken out of context from western world history, are Frankenstein Momin, Billy Kid Sangma and Adolf Lu Hitler Marak.

CNN article.

If, like me, you're sometimes tired of reading Obama/Hillary diaries, reflect that we could be swamped under Frankenstein/Adolf Hitler ones.

As I explained in my last diary, I don't particularly care who we nominate, as long as we take the GOP down.

I do believe (perhaps wrongly?) that Obama is marginally more electable against McCain than Hillary. So, go Obama, go.

Yet, this election weirdly reminds me of the first election in which I voted, the 1976 election, and Obama reminds me of Jimmy Carter, especially during that campaign. I'm having flashbacks.

I like Jimmy Carter, I think he was ahead of his times, and unlike many, I don't think he was a bad President at all. But somehow, he floundered.

Obama reminds me of Jimmy Carter; I listened to him, I read what he said, and IMHO I don't think he's got a clue and he will not be a good president for the shitstorm that's ahead, which will be far worse than what Jimmy Carter had to face in 1979. I don't mean to imply that he is a bad man; I just mean to say, we're going to elect another Jimmy Carter. I suppose we could do worse.

Let's win with Obama, for sure, but I'll make a prediction that in 2010, we'll be in trouble. But then again we'd be in worse trouble with McCain.

Like many here, I am sick and tired of the partisan bickering between those who favor Hillary, Obama or Edwards, or rather I should say, who strongly favor one of the three, to the point of being openly negative towards the other two.

Personally, I don't give a damn who gets the nomination and I'll explain why.

The electability. Honestly, the GOP is running a slate of freaks. I have never seen in my entire life (born in '54) such a bunch of weirdos. Dole and Dukakis were at least halfway credible. Perot talked sense (though he was a kook too). Nixon would be a million times more electable than the current GOP slate. We could run Kermit the Frog and still win.

And you know what? If we ran a sock puppet and lost against Mitt or McCain, then the country would deserve its fate. "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink," etc. If Madness prevails again this time, no matter who our candidate is, when we're truly beyond fucked.

More rant below...

There are many stories today that can be used to illustrate the fact that American society has become sick.

Like the fish unaware of the water in which it moves, we have become if not entirely unaware (although many are), but somewhat inured to how bad and twisted we, as a society (and present company excepted, I suppose) have become.

Once in a while, a news story filters out and hammers the point like a dentist poking at the nerve during a root canal.

The latest example of this is the story of two British teenage girls who visited New York with their mother during the holidays; when the mother had to be hospitalized because of a bout of pneumonia, the girls were detained, strip searched and virtually jailed by social services.

The story reported by the BBC

More below fold

To all our dear Kossack friends, a very merry happy Xmas (or Winter Solstice!) from expats Lupin, Mrs Lupin and the recently transplanted Granny Lupin. (Long story, see earlier diaries.)

Here, it's the season of the  "Xmas markets", each village has one with plenty of goodies from local folk. Very bad for your wallet and your weight.

Last week-end, we took some photos which we put on our website here:

photos

Don't look at them if you feel hungry!

blog

I was doing a bit of research today and I had an opportunity to reread FANTASTIC FOUR #21 (December 1963) and came across this scene on page 4.

(Disclaimer: I have written comics, including for Marvel.)

The villain is a purple cowled character named the Hate-Monger who uses a "hate ray" on people as part of his world domination plan. There he is on a platform, shouting at the crowd...

...more below fold...

My little village in Southern France is only 90 minutes from the Mediterranean coast line. There, one fascinating sight is the Via Domitia, the Roman road that was built in 118 BC to connect Rome to the Provence and the colonies in Spain, and which still stands today.

Being there is a humbling experience, to say the least, as the crushing weight of history comes rushing all at once, all two thousand years of it, and one's thoughts are inevitably drawn to reflect on the fall of mighty empires which thought themselves eternal.

...more below fold...

This morning, my local rag, LA DEPECHE DU MIDI, had a frontpage article about that international conference in Washington where a panel of two dozen former pilots and government officials called on the U.S. government to reopen its UFO investigations. (MSNBC link)

A sidebar is an interview with Claude Poher, identified as an astrophysicist, engineer in space research & electronics, and former director of GEPAN, a French UFO investigating group.

Mr Power said:

(continued below fold)

After her husband passed away last August, Mrs Lupin's Mom, 84-year-old Irene, bravely decided to expatriate herself and come and live with us in the South of France. Previous chapters include:
Mom is moving to France - Part I
Mom is moving to France – Part II

I am now pleased to report : Mission Accomplished! Granny Lupin has landed.

The details, as usual, below the fold...

The story so far:

Irene, Mrs. Lupin's 83-year-old mom, now alone, shaken by her husband Bob's loss and her clashes with the healthcare system, has bravely decided to expatriate herself and come and live with us in the South of France, proving that, even at her age, one can embark on new adventures. This move is being chronicled in this series of diaries:
Mom is moving to France - Part I

For background diaries Lupin Exodus and Healthcare to Bob, see links below fold.

The story continues...