November 27, 1942: The French Scuttle Their Fleet

On this day in 1942, French Admiral Jean de Laborde sinks the French fleet anchored in Toulon harbor, off the southern coast of France, in order to keep it out of German hands.

In June 1940, after the German invasion of France and the establishment of an unoccupied zone in the southeast, led by Gen. Philippe Petain, Adm. Jean Darlan was committed to keeping the French fleet out of German control. At the same time, as a minister in the government that had signed an armistice with the Germans, one that promised a relative "autonomy" to Vichy France, Darlan was prohibited from sailing that fleet to British or neutral waters. But a German-commandeered fleet in southern France, so close to British-controlled regions in North Africa, could prove disastrous to the Brits, who decided to take matters into their own hands by launching Operation Catapult: the attempt by a British naval force to persuade the French naval commander at Oran to either break the armistice and sail the French fleet out of the Germans' grasp-or to scuttle it. And if the French wouldn't, the Brits would.

And the British tried. In a five-minute missile bombardment, they managed to sink one French cruiser and two old battleships. They also killed 1,250 French sailors. This would be the genesis of much bad blood between France and England throughout the war. General Petain broke off diplomatic relations with Great Britain.

But two years later, with the Germans now in Vichy and the armistice already violated, Admiral Laborde finished the job the British had started. As the Germans launched Operation Lila, the attempt to commandeer the French fleet, Laborde ordered the sinking of 2 battle cruisers, 4 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, 1 aircraft transport, 30 destroyers, and 16 submarines. Three French subs managed to escape the Germans and make it to Algiers, Allied territory. Only one sub fell into German hands. The marine equivalent of a scorched-earth policy had succeeded.

Saying you're stunned about something like this, is like saying you're stunned to find out your wife was taking the best prenatal vitamins. Either you know it or you don't, but don't act stunned.

Apple Inc. said Friday that it was "stunned" to find that its iPhones have for years been using a "totally wrong" formula to determine how many bars of signal strength they are getting.

Apple said that's the reason behind widespread complaints from users that the latest model, iPhone 4, can show a sudden plunge in signal strength when they hold it in a way that covers a small black strip on one edge of the phone. Users have jokingly called this the "death grip" for the phone.

In his first address from the oval office since winning the election, President Obama addressed the American people about the Deep Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In the interest of public knowledge, I am posting the text of his speech below. I am not doing so because I support his speech.

Yes, this is a disclaimer.

Be warned. Like every other speech he has given during his presidency, much of what President Obama said consisted of bent or non-truths and quite a few old and broken cliches.

Read the rest of my post at 101 Dead Armadillos.

A watchdog panel overseeing the financial bailouts says the Obama administration's flagship mortgage aid program lags well behind the foreclosure crisis and leaves too many families out.

The Congressional Oversight Panel says in a report released Wednesday that the administration projects only one million families will end up with lower monthly payments as a result of the program. The report says six million families are more than two months behind with their payments, and 200,000 more families receive foreclosure notices each month.

A year and a half after launching the program, "Treasury is still fighting to get its foreclosure programs off the ground," Elizabeth Warren, who heads the independent panel set up by Congress, told reporters Tuesday.

I don't get it. The Democrats control the Congress. The Democrats control the White House. Why can't they get the job done here? If the plan has been implemented, why are they having trouble "getting it off the ground"?

Could it be? Maybe they never intended to help these homeowners in the first place? TARP funds were used by banks to buy other smaller banks, not everyday taxpayers. None of the bailouts have reached the American people, what made them think some sort of mortgage "aid" program was going to reach them? Someone should have used barcode scanners to keep track of where all that money went.

Maybe the mortgage companies should work with the homeowners to get "something" before the government takes everything and we all end up with "nothing"!