France General Discussion

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

Woerth, lol...

A commission for soccer, lol...

Breton secession, lol...

Ingrid Bétancourt, lol...


No serious news, apparently.

I disagree, the fact that all of this happens should make us seriously wonder.

Le President annonce la réorganisation du Gouvernement pour octobre et tirera sévèrement les conséquences du comportement de ministres.

I guess it's an obligation now, bye bye Rama, bye bye Roselyne, bye bye Eric, bye bye...?

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

lol, Colona's condemnation is canceled.

Sarkozy failed on everything!

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

http://www.lepost.fr/article/2010/07/03/2139468_la-nouvelle-chanson-du-ps-aussi-bien-que-le-lip-dub-de-l-ump.html#xtor=AL-235

Yay! PS POWER!

I wonder if it would better suit a summer camp for 3 years old or 5 years old kids...

Well, let's just hope it's only a song to open meetings when nobody cares about the music in the background.

So 'Martine Aubry spirit'.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

Oh, and on an other article related to political songs, that speaks of the fact that now it is the SNCF which asks for royalties for UMP lipdub, there are these words of Benjamin Lancar, leader of 'Jeunes Pop' (UMP's young militants):

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://www.lepost.fr/article/2010/01/16/1890676_lipdub-des-jeunes-ump-il-n-y-a-aucun-probleme-de-droits-avec-la-sncf.html#xtor=AL-277

So today.

If one day that Benjamin Lancar goes far in politics, then something would be really wrong, not that this is brilliant today but it would mean we could still do worse.

[Hash]

Similar, in parts, to the epic 1977 song of the PS, Changer la vie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDEgNp62jGk

Changer la vie, of course, was much better.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

Similar, in parts, to the epic 1977 song of the PS, Changer la vie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDEgNp62jGk

Changer la vie, of course, was much better.

Well, yes, at least it doesn't sound like a summer camp song.

Was cute, in a very hippie fashion.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

Wow, I just have a news alert saying that Christian Blanc and Alain Joyandet resigned from govt.

About Joyandet:

http://www.france24.com/fr/20100704-france-politique-demission-alain-joyandet-secretaire-etat-cooperation-francophonie-gouvernement

By the way, both had been taken in affairs of abuse of public money (Joyandet for a travel in air jet of...116,500 euros, Blanc for 4,500 euros of...cigars), and also Joyandet is accused of having benefited of an illegal building permit for his house in south east of France...

Both recognized having made errors with public money, but Joyandet denies for the building permit.

Well...

Will become hot for Woerth, he'll have to find a strong defense.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Good riddance.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

Oh well, I had misheard when it happened a while back for Blanc, 4,500 of cigars was what he finally decided to pay from his pocket once it has been known, the total bill for cigars is of...12,000 euros! (sometimes things look unreal, the guy allow himself 12,000 of cigars on public money, just, what the hell ), and well now he accuses his cabinet to have organized a system about that, anyhow Fillon asked him to pay for the whole.

Anyhow here are articles for both:

French:

http://www.france24.com/fr/20100704-france-gouvernement-demissions-alain-joyandet-christian-blanc-secretaire-etat-elysee-affaires

English (shorter, nothing much than what I said here):

http://www.france24.com/en/20100704-france-junior-ministers-alain-joyandet-christian-blanc-resign-spending-scandals

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

Well, would be seen as a blatant tactic to divert attention from Woerth, which is what it would be anyhow. Really bad if so, because it would appear as very blatant, people had already forgotten about these both, they wouldn't forget Woerth since it became very hot and now they would be reminded of those.

Sarkozy, you're out...

[Hash]

Wait. This should be the PS' new anthem. It's better than the failed attempt they just shat out. "La gauche solidaire, unie et populaire?"

[big bad fab]

If Bettencourt has really given money directly to Sarkozy, then, 2010-2012 will be like 1991-1993 for the PS.
And the result will be the same.
Doomed.
Expect a big fight between Aubry and DSK...

[Antonio the Sixth]

If Sarkozy is reelected in 2012, I will definitely lose the (tiny) faith that I still had on the French people.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

Wait. This should be the PS' new anthem. It's better than the failed attempt they just shat out. "La gauche solidaire, unie et populaire?"

Yes, good one, that original song from the singer Grégoire is pretty good for political movements, I'm surprised they don't use it more, but it's also a pretty good one for demonstrations, and here, they use it.

If Bettencourt has really given money directly to Sarkozy, then, 2010-2012 will be like 1991-1993 for the PS.
And the result will be the same.
Doomed.
Expect a big fight between Aubry and DSK...

If Sarkozy is reelected in 2012, I will definitely lose the (tiny) faith that I still had on the French people.

I'd be surprised there is a big fight between DSK and Aubry, DSK isn't a fighter, and Aubry has a smaller ego than others, that's why I always thought that Royal and Hollande would be in the foreground, because both really want it.

But, sure, the most trendy and of which the image hasn't been damaged yet remain Aubry and DSK, thus, so far they remain the biggest chance for PS, and once again I'd really be surprised they fight. More and more Aubry becomes the figurehead, actually. We'll see. On the other hand, I just saw the end but, Royal was pretty bad last time on TF1, she still gives the image of a non stable person, she seems less and less but, in a big primary, charisma can come back, you never know. Hollande on the other hand is interesting, because he keeps doing constructive balanced propositions, which could be useful in the end, but he remains invisible, and has a past with him. We'll see.

Oh and, about an eventual reelection of Sarkozy in 2012, well, so far, and that's a long time I think it, it's doomed, but as I always wrote too, it remains two big levers to him:

Force/Authority, 1st inside the country, focusing on security problems, being mroe harsh and repressive, insisting on identity issues too. That can still work, especially if new incidents happen.

And/or, on the international level, if there effectively is a major conflict (yeah, i always spoke about Iran, and I still do), then, I really don't know what could be the impact on the national scale, would also depend how Sarkozy would manage eventual events there (but really this military base there, oh damn, I don't like it...). Hey, could be good for Villepin!

Bayrou is out of course, I saw him on BFM TV recently, oh damn, may he retires soon, especially now that Villepin is occupying his ground, he really sounds ridiculous now, here too you never know in case of big events, but...

In short, unless big troubles inside or outside the country about which Sarkozy could play on the repressive levels, I don't see him winning.

Oh and, I heard mister Xavier Lemoine on itélé, mayor of the rough commune of Montfermeil (93 - IDF), far right ideas progress in UMP, it progresses, slowly but surely, the guy has ideas, and wanna share it, the guy knows that the biggest problem is a cultural problem, see that people living there, they are incompatible with the values of our Republic, see it's in the roots of culture, Islam is not compatible with French values, see?

Come to power left! Quick!

And still about far-right, I saw a line on TV about 3 far-right parties planning to ally against FN for 2012, didn't find much articles so far, if someone knows.

Anyhow, since the regionals I keep thinking we would have an harsher right in power, especially on identity/security and that these 2 years could be the last of the UMP in power, but could be long...

[Hash]

And still about far-right, I saw a line on TV about 3 far-right parties planning to ally against FN for 2012, didn't find much articles so far, if someone knows.

It's a pathetic and shameful little attempt by the 3 largest fringe crazies to unite into one thing. It's called something shameful like 'comité de la résistance nationale' and includes the remnants of the MNR (which is losing lots of members, back to the FN), Carl Lang's PDF which has taken a Christian right traditionalist route which makes no sense and a fringe neo-Nazi think called 'la nouvelle droite populaire' which is a semi-old neo-fascist racist and xenophobic 'identitaire' outfit. They shouldn't even get 500 signatures together and if they do they'll win as much as Schivardi got in 2007.

The PDF and the remnants of the MNR all support Gollnisch for 2011 and they said that they would be open to an alliance with a Gollnisch-led FN. Members of these three parties are basically egomaniacs who are pissed that Marine sidelined them in the FN, and their parties are the best examples of the 'groupuscules d'extrême-droite They really should go and get laid.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

And still about far-right, I saw a line on TV about 3 far-right parties planning to ally against FN for 2012, didn't find much articles so far, if someone knows.

It's a pathetic and shameful little attempt by the 3 largest fringe crazies to unite into one thing. It's called something shameful like 'comité de la résistance nationale' and includes the remnants of the MNR (which is losing lots of members, back to the FN), Carl Lang's PDF which has taken a Christian right traditionalist route which makes no sense and a fringe neo-Nazi think called 'la nouvelle droite populaire' which is a semi-old neo-fascist racist and xenophobic 'identitaire' outfit. They shouldn't even get 500 signatures together and if they do they'll win as much as Schivardi got in 2007.

The PDF and the remnants of the MNR all support Gollnisch for 2011 and they said that they would be open to an alliance with a Gollnisch-led FN. Members of these three parties are basically egomaniacs who are pissed that Marine sidelined them in the FN, and their parties are the best examples of the 'groupuscules d'extrême-droite They really should go and get laid.

Since I went on Bloc Identitaire website, and didn't see them in it, I thought it could be something like that, yes.

Well, that's not new, but if there is a possible concurrent for FN, that's them imo, maybe not electorally, but at least in term of noise, 'apéros pinard et saucisson' have been their 1st big coup, it didn't surprise me.

[Hash]

The Bloc Identitaire is even more looney-tunes, they're outright Nazis. The MNR-NDP-PDF is 'moderate' compared to them. All are real fascists, but Bloc Identitaire is hardcore old racist stuff. Le Pen-type FN isn't really fascist, but more old style populism and Algérie française rhetoric, Megret was a real European technocratic Falangist-fascist type with less Algérie française rhetoric. The far-right is a fascinating world, really.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

Yes, yes, I know of all of this, but Bloc Identitaire wanna play big now, so they will keep quite harsh but will focus on populist stuffs, like the 'apéro pinard saucisson', to touch on a larger scale, they can't be as extrem as they use to be, but for sure, they would remain the most extrem far-right in France, that's a long time I see them growing, especially since it would surely be Marine Le Pen after her father, and even with her good will, she would certainly be seen as too mild, and that makes a space for things like Bloc Identitaire to grow, I think.

As I already said, I don't think they are electorally dangerous, especially if they would take votes to FN (in case they actually grow), but they can really 'feed the debate' and participate to make a bad ambiance, they know how to make coups, they already did some before that 'apéro', was just the biggest.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

lol

I just heard something on itélé. The law forbids to one person to give more than 7,500 € to one party, but you can give to as much parties as you want.

And, meanwhile, the number of parties in France passed from 28 in 1983 to...283 in 2008.

Enjoy...

[Antonio the Sixth]

So basically the PS and the UMP could theoretically just create a bunch of joke parties to receive more donations and then immediately merge them together...

But well, it seems more easy to do as Woerth and Sarko did : les dessous de table.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

But well, it seems more easy to do as Woerth and Sarko did : les dessous de table.

I always found dessous de table a cute expression, dunno why.

Well, unlike with dessous de table, with the existing system, all is legal. Hypocrite, but legal, then why going illegal.

For example, itélé said that Rama Yade has her own party (something with Colombes in the name), not saying it would say something about her, but well, beyond the money issue, it looks kinda ridiculous.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Oh LOL, that's so ridiculous...

[Hash]

Oh LOL, that's so ridiculous...

Actually, your first comment wasn't so bad. I know that a lot of the 300 parties are local shells, clubs which get party status: like MAM's club maybe, Rachid Kaci's "la droite libre", a lot of municipal parties and even I think real parties which get mysteriously "associated" with the PS/UMP. I know the NC associated with a Polynesian party to get money.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

lol

http://www.france24.com/fr/20100708-ump-achete-le%20mot-clef-bettencourt-soutien-a-eric-woerth-google

It speaks about the fact UMP buys key words on Google about Woerth affair, it speaks about this tactic in general too.

Blatant. Fail.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

Apparently Ali Soumaré isn't welcome in French politics:

http://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2010/07/16/ali-soumare-licencie-par-le-maire-ps-de-sarcelles_1389068_823448.html#xtor=AL-32280184

That black guy who has been the target of public racist comments from a UMP member during the regional campaign, and who is for once someone who actually represents the youth coming from French rough districts to which guys from there could identify themselves, and who also seem to be quite wise and constructive, that guy is now fired from the PS municipal team he was in, this under a pretext of 'absenteism', which is quite weird when you have seen the guy. The other version being that the PS mayor who fired him would have been jealous of the media coverage Ali Soumaré got when he has been a target, and feared for his place in the future...

I don't want to see that guy like a martyr, since we don't know what happened, but well, that seems hard for that guy who seems constructive to walk his path in politics...