France General Discussion

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I don't often post about sports, but today's final for the Coupe de France opposed two Breton teams. Roazhon (Rennes) and Gwengamp (Guingamp, a city of 8000 people in western Cotes-d'Armor). Rennes won in 1965 and 1971, Guingamp lost in the 1997 final to Nice.

Guingamp defeated Rennes 2-1. Very surprising since Rennes is by far stronger than Guingamp, and Guingamp has a reputation to lose every match it plays.

Anyways, Bretagne won both ways.

Breizh atao!

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Well, the Assembly adopted the Hadopi internet fascism law yesterday, after the humiliation in the last week or so.

Assembly

UMP 284 in favour, 6 against (Goulard, the official party rebel and Sarkozy-hater; Denis Jacquat; Franck Marlin, anti-NATO; Lionel Tardy, DVD; Christian Vanneste, the homophobe CNI; Michel Zumkeller, liberal), 17 abstaining (Jean-Paul Anciaux; Yves Bur; Olivier Carré; René Couanau, my MP ; Henri Cuq, villepiniste; Lucien Degauchy, quasi-villepiniste; Yannick Favennec, libertarian; François-Michel Gonnot; Jean-Pierre Grand, villepiniste; Christophe Guilloteau; Pierre Lang; Jacques Le Guen, Breton villepiniste; Lionnel Luca, pro-death penalty slavery-lover; Patrice Martin-Lalande; Jean-Frédéric Poisson, FRS/Christian right; Georges Tron, villepiniste; Marie-Jo Zimmermann, villepiniste), 1 non-voting (Accoyer)
Socialist, PRG, MRC 190 against, 1 in favour (Jack Lang, who probably votes with the government more often than Goulard, lolz), 6 abstaining (Montebourg; Jean Michel; 4 Left Rads)
GDR (Commies + Greenies) 24 against
NC 11 in favour, 6 against (Abelin, Dionis du Séjour, Folliot, Lagarde, Préel, Rochebloine), 5 abstaining (Thierry Benoit, de Courson, Hillmeyer, Le Moal, Leteurtre)
NI, MoDem, DLR 7 against (3 MoDem, 2 MPF, 2 DLR)

557 voting, 529 valid votes, majority of 265. 296 in favour, 233 against.

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Julien Coupat is free!

PANIC OMG THE TERRORISTSZ IS FREE OMG PANIC

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A poll on regional attitudes in Bretagne.

Attachment to Bretagne
Very much attached 65.2%
Relatively attached 29.1%
Attached 94.3%
Relatively unattached 4.4%
Not at all attached 1.1%
Unattached 5.5%

...France
Very much attached 49%
Relatively attached 42.1%
Attached 91.1%
Relatively unattached 6%
Not at all attached 2.8%
Unattached 8.8%

...Europe
Very much attached 28.5%
Relatively attached 38.5%
Attached 67%
Relatively unattached 25.3%
Not at all attached 8.7%
Unattached 34%

Self-description
Breton only 1.5%
More Breton than French 22.5%
French=Breton 50%
More French than Breton 15.4%
French only 9.3%
Others 0.8%

Institutional future (Region, CR)
Region/CR is useless 1.4%
Region/CR should have less power 1.6%
Region/CR has sufficient powers 31.1%
Region/CR should have more devolved powers 51.9%
Region/CR should become an independent nation 4.6%
NSP 9.4%

http://www.agencebretagnepresse.com/pdfs/15280_2.pdf

Good results.

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Bayrou, you won't get my vote.

I'm not speaking about European elections, since I'm 16. Obviously I'm speaking about the only election who really counts for Bayrou : the 2012 presidential. I'm disappointed, terribly disappointed by his pathetic attacks against Cohn-Bendit. Cohn-Bendit is a great candidate, strongly socially liberal, but also intelligent, moderate and deeply european. He is leading a great and passionating campaign and his good performance in poll don't astonish me. If Monsieur Bayrou wants to be ahead of him, the only thing he has to do is doing a better campaign ( I don't know, for example, speaking about Europe instead of Sarkozy ? ). But no, he chose to attack in the stupidest and ugliest way he could : conspiracy theory and mud-digging personal attacks. I feel really stupid to have believed it could be honest : once again, Hashemite and co were right.

I've said that Bayrou is an egomaniac hypocrite who has no program. While I'm far from being a support of Cohn-Bendit (part of it has to do with my obsession with Georges Marchais) and the Greenies (who aren't in a position to call anybody hypocrites), Bayrou's behaviour was unsurprisingly disgusting. Not only did he have retarded and flawed conspiracies, but his personal attacks was really disgusting. I may have my own ideas on Cohn-Bendit's little stories and the old thing, but I would never use them in an election. As de Gaulle said, je ne pratique pas la politique des couilles molles, which is what Bayrou did.

Of course, the only party I could vote for without taking a shower afterwards is Strollad Breizh. I blame the whole political class for making this discussion about Sarko instead of Europe. Instead of having debates on policy at a time where a strong Europe and a strong France is needed, we have Bayrou calling Cohn-Bendit a pedophile and Cohn-Bendit calling his worthless (I admit, I clapped. The first time I've heard somebody with guts say the truth).

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Frédéric Mitterrand is rumoured to become Minister of Culture tommorrow, replacing the snob Albanel (who reminds me of the snob lady in Les Visiteurs). Mitterrand is the crook's gay nephew who used to do stupid shows for TV5 and is now director of the Villa Medicis in Rome.

Fred supported Jacquouille in 1995, but was an early supporter of the MRG.

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Frédéric Mitterrand is rumoured to become Minister of Culture tommorrow, replacing the snob Albanel (who reminds me of the snob lady in Les Visiteurs). Mitterrand is the crook's gay nephew who used to do stupid shows for TV5 and is now director of the Villa Medicis in Rome.

Fred supported Jacquouille in 1995, but was an early supporter of the MRG.

Journalists are still fascinated by ministerial reshuffes under Sarkozy: many, many rumours, many, many names dropped (to mess the left or the MoDem) even if they are completely impossible (but Frédéric Mitterrand will be minister), many, many incompetent guys but useful in the medias....

Sigh....

Juppé, reviens !

Yes, it was on Québecois radio this morning.

Of course, the media has released 600 names. Serge Letchimy, the PPM Mayor of Fort-de-France; Bernard Accoyer etc...

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Yay, cabinet shuffle

Shuffled minister

Michèle Alliot-Marie is now Minister of State, Minister of Justice
Brice Hortefeux is now Minister of the Interior
Xavier Darcos gets Labour
Bruno Le Maire gets Food, Fisheries and Agriculture
Luc Chatel adds Education on top of being spokesperson

New ministers

Frédéric Mitterrand (Ind) gets Culture and Communications
Michel Mercier (MoDem) gets Rurality and Territorial Development
Christian Estrosi gets Industry
Henri de Raincourt gets Parliamentary Relations

Secretaries of State:

Jean-Marie Bockel (GM) is Secretary of State for Justice
Rama Yade gets Sports. Human Rights joke is abolished.
Valérie Létard (NC) gets Sustainable Development
Hubert Falco gets Veterans
Pierre Lellouche gets European Affairs
Nora Berra MEP gets Seniors
Marie-Luce Penchard gets Overseas
Benoist Apparu gets Housing

Barnier, Dati are MEPs. Christine Albanel, Christine Boutin, Yves Jégo, Bernard Laporte, André Santini (NC) and Roger Karoutchi are out.

Nora Berra is the daughter of an Algerian soldier. Marie-Luce Penchard is actually from the DOM-TOMs and is black, so she certainly isn't a bad choice. Good idea to get somebody who actually knows the place aside from the Guadeloupe ClubMed in the job.

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Where goes Xavier Bertrand ?

He's been Secretary General of the UMP for the past few months, meaning he left government.

Marie-Luce Penchard is actually from the DOM-TOMs and is black, so she certainly isn't a bad choice. Good idea to get somebody who actually knows the place aside from the Guadeloupe ClubMed in the job.

Are you sure ?

She's the daughter of Lucette Michaux-Chevry...
Remember this "nice" old crap, specialized in undiplomatic words, pork and killing of political friends ?

Anyways, I'm of the opinion that a local is somehow better than a metropolitan like Jégo (who was incompetent).

For Mitterrand, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. The only thing I know of him is the time he was a TV5, where he was decent if not boring.

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Martine Billard, a Green MP for Paris from the ecosocialist wing of the Greenies, has left the Greens to join the PG. She criticizes the party's shift towards the centre under DC-B and apparently the PG is also a ecologist party now.

Interestingly, a number of ecosocialists from the Greenies seem to be on the verge of following suit. We could see some important members of the Green left moving to the PG and the Greenies re-orienting towards the centre as a result under DC-B's leadership.

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Sarko suffered a 'minor' seizure Sunday while jogging in Versailles. He spent the night under observation at the Val-de-Grace military hospital and left the hospital this morning up and walking. They assured us it's a inoffensive seizure which can happen to people under intense physical pressure (aka, running or jogging) and/or stress (aka, working).

While its medical effects are minor, most medias are interested in whether this will change his 'hyperpresident' style.

Some on the looney left seem to be certain that this was a media fabrication to boost his approval rating.

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Some on the looney left seem to be certain that this was a media fabrication to boost his approval rating.

Haha. Who and what did you hear exactly about this?

Newspaper comments [not LeFigaro.fr] (often overrun by the PG and Communist idiots).

I remember in the Euros the PG hacks were "we'll win 30% of the vote". As I say, they all live in 1946.

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Lefebvre in government is to give that idiot a job after Santini returned to his seat. As a loyalist and attack dog, he needed some kind of thank you.

Leroy is a younger centrist to take over Santini's old job, Public Function, since Santini was getting a bit old and corrupt.

Giacobbi is a good choice politically. He could have been one of the PRG's likely candidates in 2010 for the regionals in Corse (where the UMP won in 2004 only because the PRG was divided between Giacobbi and Zuccarelli, two rivals and also Renucci and a Communist) and he's (or his family name is - Giacobbi have held office in Haute-Corse since 1898) a big name in Corse.

Sarkozy, campaign 2007: I'll have a tiny team, 15 ministers maximum. We have now to finish with overcrowded governments...

Aha, he said ministers. He still has 15-16ish ministers, but IIRC, he never talked about secretaries of state! Mitterrand cabinets had a lot more Ministers (plus a lot of secretaries of state).

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Maybe a small secretary of state for the MPF soon... When I say that it's a Mitterrand-like government...

Horrible... I thought getting rid of Boutin meant finally stopping the social regression...

Who the hell cares? The MPF is irrelevant and always will be. It's not some Villiers hack who will influence government policy in the State Secretariat for Sewer Systems and Dog Catchers.

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Maybe a small secretary of state for the MPF soon... When I say that it's a Mitterrand-like government...

I would be very surprised it happens. The government is here for the image and De Villiers would be the hell of a wrong image. Plus for being in this government, you have to be liked by Sarkozy and to accept to be more or less a puppet of him, two other conditions that make the entry of De Villiers in the govt very unlikely.

It would also require that Besse and Souchet start voting with the government more often that not. Though knowing those doorknobs, it's likely when their job depends on it.

I spoke about Villiers then. You're right, Boutin is not crazy, just ridiculously old-fashionned...

Villiers is a joke. But so what, if he has his convictions and ideals, however retarded they may be? Isn't he in the right to have political ideas of his own, or does everybody need to be ideologically 'sane' and homogeneous according to your book of political thoughts? No.

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I respect many political positions and am ready to debate on economic and social issues, until people doesn't start to want us to get back into the Middle Age, hating anyone that refuses the "moral values", destroying individual freedom and starting crusades against the Evil Muslims. Sorry, but I'm not supposed to respect this sort of political views.

I never asked you to agree with them, but atleast to recognize that some people hold these views, however demented they may be. Not everybody can fit into sane political ideologically, so let's not try to make it so.

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rofl. Who's next? The PS?

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After the European campaign, they are indebted (it was the same for Villiers after his failed presidential bid of 1995).
And with the "new" electoral system for regional elections, implemented for the first time in 2004, they fear to have no (CPNT) or just one or two (MPF) regional counsellors.

The Euros showed how little room there remains for the MPF-CPNT in the current climate and they see that the only opportunity they have to save their seats (CPNT: 3 general councillors, MPF has a bunch of small things, including 2 MPs) is to ally with the strongest.

I don't like this unholy, heterogeneous Presidential Majority, containing both mad Eurosceptics and Europhiles, both social liberals and social conservatives, both centrists and nationalists... this destroys any chance of me supporting the UMP in anything... I'm not sure who I'll vote for in 2012, with Nihous as a protest option gone... I may end up voting Communist at this rate.

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He only has interest in saving them since they 'converted', more or less. Unlike the others who remain sidelined and forgotten since they're in 'resistance'.

Amusingly, I have the feeling that he might be pushing some 'resistants' to run in the regionals to lose massively and have them feel like sh**t afterwards... and politically out for a good time.

Actually, they are nothing but an old-fashioned thing, a beautiful speech but not slightest energy behind. PRG is Baylet, and Baylet seems to be nothing but the King of Tarn-et-Garonne and of La Dépêche du Midi (a big regional paper of the south-west).

The PRG isn't a political party. It's a faction of the PS.

On the topic of NDA and the DLR, I agree with Fabien. He has little chance to gain political relevance, but he's not politically dead. The Euro results, were, keeping in mind their campaign and their status in the political world, quite pleasing for them...

And Villepin won't be relevant anymore. He was destroyed during his Premiership by the CPE and the left and youth hates him and a large part of the UMP isn't exactly fond of him either. And the guy is full of sh**t and his days as the Hero of France fighting the Evil Americans are looooong gone. And Tron, Mariton and Goulard are irrelevant. I assume the average voter has no clue who they are (outside of their respective strongholds).

Dominique de Villepin.

Not a leader. Not worth the risk.

A message from the Conservative Party of Canada

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"young RG" (I don't remember their name) take the power, it will be quite a left wing of the PS: DSK, Royal, Delanoë, Moscovici and Hollande are all closer to the centre !

The PRG will probably fade into irrelevance once the bigwigs retire, even more than now...

Funny that the Jeunes RG are also members of IFLRY, like us Young Liberals. rofl.

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I was going to vote for Nihous as a protest option in 2012, but since he probably won't run, I'll be force to vote for another protest option. Dear God, my first vote and it's already as awful as hell.

I wish there was a viable, independent electoral option which was pro-European, socially liberal, secular, centrist and progressive. Sadly, this is France we're talking about and the chances of us having a party as cool as the Norwegian Venstre is next to zero

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Well, the two CPNT general councillors are sitting with the left. CPNT general councillor in Gironde is sitting with the left, in the ''Majorité départmentale'' and the CPNT general councillor in Hérault is ''PS apparenté''.

The website of the Herault general councils does not list Christophe Morgo as PS but as CPNT, but I digress. The CPNT vote here is left-wing, check how poorly Libertas did her compared to say, Somme or Manche.

The Somme CG doesn't seem to list partisan affiliations, probably 'cause they suck, but Wikipedia has the CPNT councilor there as an Independent.

And all of them seem relatively safe, fwiw.

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Ipsos approvals

July 2009

Sarkozy

Unfavourable 52% (+1)
Favourable 45% (-3)
NSP 3% (+2)



Fillon

Favourable 48% (-2)
Unfavourable 45% (nc)
NSP 7% (+2)



Top politicians

1. Bertrand Delanoe (PS) 62/27
2. Rama Yade (UMP) 61/21
3. Bernard Kouchner (DVG0 61/31
4. Jean-Louis Borloo (UMP-PR) 57/28
5. Michele Alliot-Marie (UMP) 56/35
6. Jack Lang (PS) 55/34
7. Fadela Amara 54/22
8. DSK (PS) 53/32
9. Christine Lagarde (UMP) 48/34
10. DCB (Greens) 45/36

Party leaders

Le Pen Sr. stands at 84% unfavourable
[Panzer Girl stands at 77% unfavourable]
[Royal stands at 67% unfavourable]
Bayrou stands at 57% unfavourable
Aubry stands at 56% unfavourable
Besancenot stands at 49% unfavourable
Bertrand at 35% unfavourable (39% favourable)
Morin stands at 26% unfavourable (with 41% NSP)

Alliot-Marie is the most popular politician with UMP supporters (84%), with Borloo (78%) and Kouchner (76%) also being on top. DSK is the most popular leftist with UMP supporters, with 62% favourables. Royal is the least popular with 90% unfavourable

Delanoe is the most popular politician with PS supporters (75%), with Lang (64%), and Rama Yade (60%) also being on top. Royal has net favourables with her party supporters, but only 56%. She can take solace in the fact that Hollande (55%) and Aubry (54%) are lower. Le Pen is the least popular with 94% unfavourable.

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Political updates

The President of Alsace, Adrien Zeller (UMP), died on August 22 at 69. Zeller had occupied the post since 1996, and also served for a long time as Mayor of Saverne but also as MEP and deputy. Until 2002, he was a member of the UDF-CDS, and was a self-defined démocrate social - though I liked to think that he was kind of a 'social Christian'. As Secretary of State for Social Security, he had tried to create something similar to the RMI - the RME (revenu minimum d'existence) which he did create in Saverne and which was the basis for Rocard's RMI. He was elected to the Regional Council in 1992 leading his own list opposed to then-President Marcel Rudloff (UDF-CDS) and became President in 1996 defeating a RPR opponent due to the support of the Greenies. He was strongly opposed to the FN, and was a convinced Europhile and a fervent supporter of decentralization. Alsace has lost a real FF, RIP.

Bernard Stoessel (DVC, ex-MoDem) is Zeller's interim successor, but it seems likely that Stoessel will be elected by the Regional Council as President until 2010 soon. The UMP didn't nominate a candidate in Alsace in its regional primaries a few months ago, so the field is still open. Names for UMP top candidates in 2010 include Senator Philippe Richer, but former cabinet minister and incumbent deputy François Loos (Radical-UMP) and the UMP leader in the Bas-Rhin André Reichardt (a nobody, I've never heard of him) are also potential names. In addition, Stoessel could lead a centrist list. On the left, it is not known whether or not 2004 candidate and President of the Strasbourg Urban Community Jacques Bigot (PS) will be candidate. The Greenies will nominate their candidate soon - they had supported the PS in 2004.

Speaking of Greenies, Christiane Taubira (PRG-Walwari) has refused the Green offer to be top candidate in Ile-de-France in the regionals. Taubira had personally supported the Greenies in the Euros and even supported Voynet in 2007. In an article in LeMonde.fr, she also bitches about the PRG and like all leftists, she continues to believe in stuff like 'left-wing alternatives' and the creation of a 'large, multi-party rally and alternative'. She doesn't seem to exclude a candidacy for her outfit, Walwari, in Guyana, though.

The PS and the left is still bitching amongst each other about primaries and alliances. Mélenchon is pissed off about the talk of a PS-Green-MoDem alliance and continues to act like a jerk. And he also hates the Italian PD a whole lot, calling them a right-wing party and pretending as if there are no left-wingers in the Italian Parliament. He favours an alliance between the Left Front and the NPA in the first round, everywhere, and then runoff alliances. But he's quite livid about an alliance with the "centre". The PS seems close to adopting the idea of a primary in 2012, but a large-scale primary similar to the primaries in Italy in 2005 and 2007.

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Surprise, surprise, it's the Vichyist.

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Bayrou is now a left-winger (cue shock) after crying outloud 2007-2009 about how he's a real centrist, how he rejects left and right, and how only the centre is good.

"Il y a deux camps. Il y a le camp de ceux qui signent pour que le régime actuel dure dix ans (2007-2017). Et il y a le camp de ceux qui choisissent une alternance pour une société plus juste". - aka "There are two sides. There is the side of those who wish that the actual regime lasts ten years. And there is the side of those of choose an alternative for a more just society"

Of course, since he isn't very smart, he continues denying he's a left-winger, instead saying that he's just a 'progressive centrist'. Because, face it, dumbo, the name of two sides are right (those who wish that the actual regime lasts ten years) and the LEFT, yes, the LEFT, la sinistra ('alternative for a more just society', aka the Izquierda).

If you want my opinion, this is the equivalent of Bayrou shooting himself in the foot. Firstly, I think a good number of MoDem members joined the party because they were 'real' centrists. If they were centre-left social democrats, then they could have joined the PS, or if they don't like them, the Greenies or the Radicals. Secondly, most if not all MoDem mayors elected in 2008 did so with the support of the UMP. Bruno Joncour in Saint-Brieuc, since it's my neck of the woods, comes to mind quickly. I'm sure the situation in Arras and I think it was Mont-de-Marsan is the same. Those chaps find themselves in a tough spot, since I don't think Bousquet in Saint-Brieuc will be exactly pleased to become an ally of Joncour municipally if the MoDem's local elected officials follow the way of Mr. Flip Flops. The MoDem might now become a party similar to the PCF or Greenies, some electoral independence vis-a-vis of the PS in the first rounds (and Euros) but joining a Gauche plurielle movement in the runoffs.

Of course, this also has an important effect on the PS, and potentially re-opens the debate between the PS' so called social-liberal wing and its left-wing.

If my first point that the MoDem's members were hard-line centrists, this could potentially open a realm of possibilities for parties that continue to claim centrism, in a way or another. This could help the NC, which has recently taken up the strategy of saying that they're the only real centrists, but I'm not sure if many 'extreme centrists' will be interested by a 'party of deputies' which is the centrist component of the majority. Could it help Jean Arthuis' little AC, whose stated goal is to re-create the UDF in a way or another, with a potential enlargement to the PRG or PRV?

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It's funny how he really turns into leftist speeches when it's about all what concerns the crisis, haha, Sarkozy, the best ally of Besancenot. "If nothing changes, people will be right in revolting themselves", he kept repeating this since the beginning.

That's AL's thing since Day 1 of their existence.