Gary Gygax has died.

Popular singer Björk Guðmundsdóttir is reported to have caused a bit of a rumpus in China after she cried “Tibet! Tibet!” during a concert in Shanghai. The notoriously gobby one made her vocal protest at the totalitarian state’s occupation of its southern neighbour, following a passionate rendition of the song “Declare Independence”.

Some concertgoers immediately left the building, and since then the Chinese blogosphere has been awash with indignation over the impish Icelandic artiste’s impudence. “Call the relevant authorities! Be gone with her! What a bitch! Fuck!,” is one choice comment.

A denunciation of Ms Guðmundsdóttir from George Galloway will follow once the occasional MP has had time to consult his thesaurus and copy of Fowler’s Modern English Usage.

She may have a voice like a cat on heat, but I quite like this woman.

Hirsi Ali is continuing to look for democratic nations whose principles extend to protecting her from fascist extremists. While there is no end of people lobbying for terrorist suspects, and all the artistic baggage that goes with it, the plight of Hirsi Ali seems to be of less interest. Perhaps if she put an orange jumpsuit on and explained how she had been “teaching” on the Afghan border she might fare better.

Still, there is some possible good news from the EU, and France in particular.

Hirsi Ali thanked a group of about 100 EU lawmakers who have signed a declaration asking EU member nations to take responsibility for her security. Backing by a majority of the 785 European Parliament members is needed by mid-March for the EU to take up the request _ but it is not obliged to approve it.
The United States will not pay for her protection because it argues there is no provision for it in U.S. law.
She had been working for the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, but on Thursday she refused, for security reasons, to say where she was currently located.

She said that since October she has been forced to try to raise funds herself to pay for her security arrangements. “The threats to my life have not subsided and the cost is beyond anything I can pay,” Hirsi Ali said in the EU assembly. “I find myself in a very desperate position. I don’t want to die. I want to live and I love life. I’m going to do anything legal to get help.”

The Netherlands has estimated the cost of full-scale protection of Hirsi Ali at some ¤2 million (US$2.9 million) a year. She declined to say how much she is paying for security in the U.S.

French Socialist lawmaker Benoit Hamon, who co-drafted the declaration, said the EU Parliament could take action itself and protect Hirsi Ali from its own funds. “It’s difficult to find a person more grounded in European values than this young lady. She’d like to return to Europe, her heart is in Europe,” he said.

Hirsi Ali said the declaration had full support from the French government and European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering. She said a number of French intellectuals and politicians have asked her if she would consider taking French citizenship if France pledged to pay for her protection. “The French initiative is beautiful,” she said, adding that she’d be honored to take on French nationality if it resolved her security troubles.

More on the French here:

In addition to Thursday’s action, Hirsi Ali recently requested French citizenship after receiving sympathetic support from French intellectuals and politicians, among them French star-philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, who has vied for honorary citizenship for Hirsi Ali. French Human Rights Minister Rama Yada, also among the advocates, told France-2 news, “We believe in France that Ayaan Hirsi Ali must be protected.” She is awaiting a response.

There is a blog out there that keeps managing to say more than all the crap accumulated by a million monkeys hitting their keybords for all eternity (and getting it posted at Comment is Fucking Worthless). And shit like that.

Example

Here