France General Discussion II: Living under Marxism

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What Lief said basically. Yeah, the French riot police is usually pretty awful, but these demonstrators are the last kind for which I'd feel sorry.

Yeah, the anti-gay marriage crowd are basically disgusting homophobes who use the most absurd and retarded 'arguments' and put on some big melodramatic show. Just look at Christine Boutin's 'OMG I'M DYING' or Henri Guaino trying to imitate de Gaulle. And when you look further into the movements behind it, you find charming company: the Catholic fundies, the neo-fascists/racists or the UMP's cohort of morons and tools. Besides, any movement whose leader's name is 'Frigide Barjot' is obviously a joke.

Unfortunate to see the gwenn ha du associated to this disgusting gang. Please don't associate our flag with your bigoted cause.

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Regional breakdown of Flanby's unpopularity by BVA (35% approval nationally)



Flanby has also broken another symbolic threshold in his unstoppable race to the bottom: an LH2 poll places him below 30% approval, at 27%.

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Bit wierd than Lower Normandy is in the TOP 6 of the best Hollande regions.

Probably has something to do with small sample sizes and large margin of errors. I didn't look at the poll in question, but I suspect these national polls with regional breakdowns will have some large MOEs in certain regions

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Big TV interview yesterday for Flanby in which he confirmed that he's utterly useless and incompetent, and that he will basically continue Sarko's policies.

http://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2013/03/29/retraites-cumul-pma-hollande-s-eloigne-du-programme-socialiste_3150260_823448.html

Guy Mollet 2.0

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(though, of course, I voted for Hollande and I would do it again if the alternative was Sarkozy... but probably not by the 1st round)

Yes, Flanby is probably still better than Sarkozy. To begin with, Sarkozy is an abrasive and dishonest dickhead while I still get the feeling that Flanby is personally decent and honest (even if also an imbecile); although I have no doubt that by 2017 this government will be just as absurdly corrupt as all the other ones. Also, Flanby's gang don't hate gays, browns and Muslims.

Don't blame me, I never considered voting for Flanby in the first round

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What makes his case even more hilarious is that he was the minister in charge of fighting tax evasion.

I have a hard time believing that nobody in the PS or the government knew what was his deal before the sh**t hit the fan.

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On a lighter note: the top 10 funniest cabinet portfolios in French history

http://www.topito.com/top-ministere-nom-etrange

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The latest buzz is about a bunch of people, from the UMP to the PS, wanting to hold a referendum on the "moralization" of politics which would include stuff like limiting dual office holding, transparency on politicians' wealth, cracking down on lobbies and big business in politics and other stuff (including, maybe, voting rights for foreigners). So basically, asking voters if they agree with the idea that politicians shouldn't be crooks and douchebags.

Are politicians really that fucking retarded now? Yeah, let's organize a referendum on vague fluffy sh**t which basically every single voter agrees with; that'll show them that we're not corrupt crooks! Never mind that only 6 people in the whole country would give a sh**t and bother turning out to vote.

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Yeah, because national polling for a municipal election is really the best way to predict this.

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In fallout from Mr. Swiss Bank Account, all cabinet ministers have published their assets:

http://www.declarations-patrimoine.gouvernement.fr/

Topito gives us the top 11 funniest things on those: http://www.topito.com/top-scandales-publication-patrimoine-ministres

Including: Ayrault has the same car as Scoobydoo, Fabius is obviously filthy rich but owes some cash to HSBC, Peillon is probably getting swindled on his house renovations.

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Cahuzac has resigned as an MNA. By-election incoming soon, I guess.

Wait, won't he be replaced by his "suppléant"?

Deputies are replaced by their suppléant if they die in office, if they enter cabinet, joins the ConCon (or becomes Défenseur des droits) or has a governmental 'mission' (usually some political bullsh**t) lasting over 6 months.

Since the 2008 constitutional reform, a cabinet minister who leaves cabinet no longer needs to go through a by-election if he wants to reclaim his seat as deputy - he/she automatically regains it from the suppléant. In this case, Cahuzac (like Boutin when she left cabinet) chose not to reclaim his seat, so he resigned and there will be a by-election within 3 months.

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God, the UMP is even more disgusting and repulsive - trying to use the Boston tragedies to play political games and filibuster gay marriage.

http://www.lemonde.fr/ameriques/article/2013/04/16/attentats-de-boston-wauquiez-veut-reporter-le-debat-sur-le-mariage-gay_3160525_3222.html

Guys, my friend's cat is sick these days. Let's just cancel gay marriage and care for the cat ok?

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If anybody cares, here are the details of the presidential re-run polls:

Ifop, change to October 2012 poll
Poison Dwarf (UMP) 30% (+0.5%)
Flanby (PS) 22% (-6%)
Panzergirl (FN) 22% (+2.5%)
Mélenchon (FG) 11% (+1%)
Bayrou (MoDem) 10% (+3%)
NDA (DLR) 2% (nc)
Joly (EELV) 1.5% (-0.5%)
Poutou (NPA) 1% (-0.5%)
Arthaud (LO) 0.5% (nc)

http://ifop.fr/media/poll/2222-1-study_file.pdf

OpinionWay
Poison Dwarf (UMP) 28%
Flanby (PS) 23%
Panzergirl (FN) 21%
Mélenchon (FG) 11%
Bayrou (MoDem) 11%
Joly (EELV) 3%
NDA (DLR) 2%
Poutou (NPA) 0.5%
Arthaud (LO) 0.5%

Poison Dwarf (UMP) 53%
Flanby (PS) 47%

http://www.lefigaro.fr/assets/pdf/OpinionwayHollandeunan.pdf

In other news, Flanby has hit a new record low in the Ifop tracker: 74% dissatisfied, 25% satisfied (-6). This is apparently a record low for any President, at any time, in Ifop's trackers. Though this is not (yet) an historic record low for all trackers, however: Sofres had Chirac at 19% approvals at one point in 2006. 25% is the lowest Flanby has been in any poll.

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More of the same bullsh**t from the PS. They've always said the opposite of what they've actually done in practice, since 1945 at least.

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More of the same bullsh**t from the PS. They've always said the opposite of what they've actually done in practice, since 1945 at least.

That's the classic example, of course. And it should be brought up every now and again to remind people.

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Mr. Swiss Bank Accounts (Cahuzac) is thinking about running in the by-election in his old seat.

http://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2013/05/07/le-ps-designe-son-candidat-dans-le-lot-et-garonne-pour-succeder-a-cahuzac_3172081_823448.html

"Aucune décision prise. Certains parlent pour moi sans mandat pour cela. Et je constate une forme d'attente ou d'espérance chez certains". This guy is really the epitome of arrogance and the stereotype of the slimy politician who should be run over by a truck.

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ConCon validates the entire gay marriage law:
http://www.francetvinfo.fr/le-conseil-constitutionnel-valide-le-mariage-pour-tous_326516.html#xtor=EPR-51-%5Balerteinfo%5D-20130517-%5Bbouton%5D-%5Bfacebook

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Ultramontane Catholic militants (the bulk of elderly anti-gay 'activists') in France are a really tiny minority but they're really an insane group of nutcases and weirdos. It's always great when some journalists go out and interview them about the random nonsense they're sprouting or mocking their style. You wouldn't imagine the kind of sh**t they say (even in front of cameras), it's even more insane than the sh**t FN members say. These ultramontane Catholics always look, act and talk as if they've been living under a rock since 1750 or something.

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Was the man in question one of those Catholics (I could easily believe it if it weren't for the 'sinful' suicide)?

I was wrong, this guy wasn't one of those ultramontane Catholics from the 1750s but actually a far-right (fascist variety) ideologue who was apparently a pretty famous name in fascist/far-right circles for his work in the past. He is a former OAS, and he apparently was into the idea of "political sacrifice" (suicide). He seems to have been a 'nationalist revolutionary', the faction of the French far-right closer to actual neo-fascism with a knack for weird sh**t (neo-Paganism etc) but also the usual stuff (French Algeria, hating the browns). These guys were never dominant in the FN; they were dominant in organizations like Ordre nouveau, GUD or GRECE and split from the FN in 1973 to form the PFN.

ETA: Panzergirl tweeted her sympathies with the dude and said that his last 'highly political gesture' was trying to 'awaken' the people of France. Good to know that she still sympathizes with neo-fascist lunatics despite the bullsh**t appearances. But it is kind of weird for her to express so much support, despite being full of sh**t when it comes to the "de-diabolisation" BS, Panzergirl has never really cared much (or gotten along particularly well) with the more fascistic groupings of the far-right (that's more Gollnisch's bunch, or with the various anti-Panzergirl clownish dissidents like Carl Lang). I'm not sure why she expressed sympathies and support for this random lunatic, when she should know better than associating with the cranks.

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Any of you watching?

Why would I have any interest in watching a bunch of neo-fascists and bigoted homophobes stage some utterly retarded and reactionary bitchfest?

Besides, nobody in France actually cares about them anymore and almost everybody finds the whole thing to be silly at best, retarded and reactionary at worst. Some people will really need to move on and find new scapegoats for their bigotry. After all, they'll always have Muslims and browns to pick on.

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Reaping what she has sown.

If the homophobes and the fascists decides to kill each others, I certainly won't try to put myself between them.

I'm probably in the minority here, but I find unvarnished bloodlust a bit more disturbing than opposition to same-sex marriage.

I certainly agree:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/09/gay-man-french-homophobia-facebook
http://www.aljazeera.com/video/europe/2013/04/2013411235537971668.html

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Christine Boutin finally proves (again) that she's a bigot and vicious homophobe: http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/2013/05/27/christine-boutin-et-son-nouveau-derapage-anti-gay-dans-les-grandes-gueules-de-rmc_n_3342252.html

"We are invaded by gays"

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The online UMP primary for mayor of Paris, with NKM and 3 others, opened today. Metronews.fr revealed that their super-safe high-tech system was a load of sh**t, given that one person voted four times under four different names without too much of a hassle. Seems like the UMP no longer tries to hide that it supports vote rigging.

http://www.metronews.fr/paris/municipales-a-paris-comment-metronews-a-fraude-a-la-primaire-de-l-ump/mmeD!jk3goaowk8DkQ/

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The online UMP primary for mayor of Paris, with NKM and 3 others, opened today. Metronews.fr revealed that their super-safe high-tech system was a load of sh**t, given that one person voted four times under four different names without too much of a hassle. Seems like the UMP no longer tries to hide that it supports vote rigging.

http://www.metronews.fr/paris/municipales-a-paris-comment-metronews-a-fraude-a-la-primaire-de-l-ump/mmeD!jk3goaowk8DkQ/

LOL.

The UMP's obligatory bitchfest has started even earlier: Bournazel (some young idiot who is apparently a major candidate) is calling for the vote cancelled. Lo and behold, the master election-rigger (Jeff) is calling for 'moderation' and calm. I guess this means "let the vote rigging go on guys, stop whining" in Copespeak.

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The UMP primary in Paris is over and:

NKM (deputy of the Essonne, former mayor of Longjumeau, moderate, 'green', anti-FN; abstained on gay marriage) 58.16%
Jean-François Legaret (mayor 1st arrdt, pro-Tiberi dissident in 2001, filloniste, conservative) 20.4%
Pierre-Yves Bournazel (young municipal councillor, copéiste, supported by Guillaume Peltier and some of the Droite forte, the right-wing faction of the UMP, but he's moderate on some issues and allegedly backed gay marriage in 2010) 10.75%
Franck Margain (regional councillor, member of Christine Boutin's microparty, PCD, anti-gay marriage) 10.34%