France General Discussion

[Math]

I hate his authoritative side, bur he is better than Royal, the crazy person who tries anything to destroy her opponent and who see complots everywhere.

You should forgive her. She's crazy, indeed.

[Χahar]

Is the NPA supposed to absorb the far-left parties?

[Hashemite]

Is the NPA supposed to absorb the far-left parties?

Besancenot hopes so. But as it stands now, it realistically won't and the party will just be the LCR under a new name.


BTW, GREAT NEWS!

The MoI gnomes have decided to keep the departmental number on the new license plates!

The owner will be free to choose the departmental number he wishes, though. The freedom haters wanted to remove the numbers from license plates.

35!

[Hashemite]

Surprised the bureaucrats allowed "Breizh" to be on there. It was already quite a fight to get the Gwenn ha du on there over a stupid bureaucratic regional logo (though the current one is much more symbolic and miles better than the old one).

[Χahar]

Some states here do that. California doesn't.

[Sibboleth]

Sarko Voodoo dolls, anyone...

[Benwah [why on Earth do I post something] Courseyay]

Sarko Voodoo dolls, anyone...

French media goes a bit crazy on it.

Debates and debates and debates, now it goes on "more of that it is a caricature and a bit an insult for the Voodoo religion".

Well, as in France everybody has his opinion on it, I'll give mine. I think it's nothing more than a portable "jeu de massacre" (that's the game which consisted in launching tomatoes or else in the picture of a known figure in older times, don't know if it still exists...).

Here, instead of tomatoes you put the needles on caricatured famous things that did Sarkozy written on his doll (or Royal, because she's the other one to have a doll). And this caricatured jeux de massacre is adapted to an other caricatured thing of our epoch which is enough attractive for westerners and which is a Voodoo doll.

Some interesting things according to me:

First, it is a "jeux de massacre" it's not like a mocking drawing, there is an interaction, you act on it, you put the needles.

Second, it is a portable one, means it is a one that you can have under your hand at any time, it's not like the ancient jeux de massacre which were played only in the fest of city or of the village, so you can use when you want, as much as you want.

Third, and last one, the fact that the Voodoo doll is chosen shows that the caricature of this thing is on in our epoch. And the fact that this kind of thing is on in West in our epoch tends to confirm the fact that irrational and spirits things are on here by caricatured ways.

Well, personally, before I to see that this doll made so much debates I didn't really pay attention to it, but yes, I think this event tells us 2 or 3 interesting things on our epoch...

That said, I think that most of people who buy it (and it's a great selling success), buy it just to laugh with their friends without asking themselves so much questions, but if they don't, it can be interesting that some others do it for them...

[Hashemite]

News from FNland. Marine Le Pen, MEP representing the Ile-de-France EU constituency, has carpetbagged to the North-West constituency (Nord, Picardie etc) to be the top candidate on the 2009 FN list and where she stands a better chance of winning re-election (she wouldn't stand a chance running again in Paris). However, this has pissed off her rival and one of the two current FN MEPs for North-West, Carl Lang, who was the top candidate there in 2004. He is now running a dissident FN list (while technically staying a FN member) against the official FN list, which will be led by Marine Le Pen.

Remember, a list needs 5% of the votes in a constituency to be eligible for a seat.

[Senator MaxQue]

News from FNland. Marine Le Pen, MEP representing the Ile-de-France EU constituency, has carpetbagged to the North-West constituency (Nord, Picardie etc) to be the top candidate on the 2009 FN list and where she stands a better chance of winning re-election (she wouldn't stand a chance running again in Paris). However, this has pissed off her rival and one of the two current FN MEPs for North-West, Carl Lang, who was the top candidate there in 2004. He is now running a dissident FN list (while technically staying a FN member) against the official FN list, which will be led by Marine Le Pen.

Remember, a list needs 5% of the votes in a constituency to be eligible for a seat.

Yay! Hopefully, they will divide their vote and they will not be elected.

[Χahar]

Will Le Pen be Jean-Marie's successor?

[Hashemite]

Will Le Pen be Jean-Marie's successor?

Possibly. IIRC, she remains by far the most popular of all potential contenders (Gollnisch, Lang). I don't know if Louis Aliot will run or not. Probably not since he's close to Marine.


Ah, found something else from FNland. Carl Lang is trying to get Jean-Claude Martinez to run against Louis Aliot in the South-West.

[PGSable]

Eurostat announced yesterday that the Eurozone was in a recession for the first time in its history; its GDP declined by 0.2% during the third trimester. On the other hand, Christine Lagarde and François Fillon announced that France was technically not in a recession, because its GDP had increased by 0.14% during the third trimester (it fell by 0.5% in both the UK and Germany). Fillon did warn that a recession was likely for 2009.

[afleitch]

Eurostat announced yesterday that the Eurozone was in a recession for the first time in its history; its GDP declined by 0.2% during the third trimester. On the other hand, Christine Lagarde and François Fillon announced that France was technically not in a recession, because its GDP had increased by 0.14% during the third trimester (it fell by 0.5% in both the UK and Germany). Fillon did warn that a recession was likely for 2009.

Think of it like a competition to hold your breath. Everyone is going to have to start breathing and loose the game, but some will gasp for air before others.

[Hashemite]

The UMP deputy for Moselle-9 has committed suicide after killing a woman.

[Χahar]

The UMP deputy for Moselle-9 has committed suicide after killing a woman.

When's the by-election?

[Hashemite]

The UMP deputy for Moselle-9 has committed suicide after killing a woman.

When's the by-election?

There is no by-election.

[Χahar]

The UMP deputy for Moselle-9 has committed suicide after killing a woman.

When's the by-election?

There is no by-election.

Why not?

[Hashemite]

The UMP deputy for Moselle-9 has committed suicide after killing a woman.

When's the by-election?

There is no by-election.

Why not?

Suppleants take over when a deputy dies. This has already happened a few times in the 13th legislature.

[Χahar]

The UMP deputy for Moselle-9 has committed suicide after killing a woman.

When's the by-election?

There is no by-election.

Why not?

Suppleants take over when a deputy dies. This has already happened a few times in the 13th legislature.

Then what are by-elections for?

[Hashemite]

The UMP deputy for Moselle-9 has committed suicide after killing a woman.

When's the by-election?

There is no by-election.

Why not?

Suppleants take over when a deputy dies. This has already happened a few times in the 13th legislature.

Then what are by-elections for?

Resignations, invalid original elections.

[Χahar]

The UMP deputy for Moselle-9 has committed suicide after killing a woman.

When's the by-election?

There is no by-election.

Why not?

Suppleants take over when a deputy dies. This has already happened a few times in the 13th legislature.

Then what are by-elections for?

Resignations, invalid original elections.

Sort of an odd law. What's the reasoning?

[Benwah [why on Earth do I post something] Courseyay]

The UMP deputy for Moselle-9 has committed suicide after killing a woman.

When's the by-election?

There is no by-election.

Why not?

Suppleants take over when a deputy dies. This has already happened a few times in the 13th legislature.

Then what are by-elections for?

Resignations, invalid original elections.

Sort of an odd law. What's the reasoning?

I don't know but if I can try:

I guess it is because a resignation or an invalid original election engage the whole team for political meanings. The death of a deputy is a personal thing, without political implications.

[Hashemite]

Trade union "professional" elections (technically, prud'homale elections) were held in France yesterday. Turnout was 24.76.

Result for the "Collège des Salariés" (workers), where the major trade unions run (the employers college has little known unions)

CGT 33.76 (+1.43). General Confederation of Labour. Second-largest trade union in terms of members, and historically the PCF trade union, although the two are separate since the '90's. Its leader has long hair and looks like he hasn't taken a shower in years.
CFDT 21.67 (-3.56). French Democratic Confederation of Labour. Biggest trade union in terms of members, and historically closer to the PSU and later PS.
FO 15.68 (-2.6). Force Ouvrière. Founded in 1948 by CGT members opposed to the close alliance with the PCF. Sceptical about the Common Programme and PCF ministers in the Mauroy government. Independent trade union, really. I call it Farce Ouvrière (Worker's Farce).
CFTC 8.64 (-1.01). French Confederation of Christian Workers. Very old trade union, from which the CFDT split in 1964. Historically influential in metallurgy.
CFE-CGC 8.17 (+1.16). French Confederation of Management - General Confederation of Executives. The trade union of cadres (management/executives).
UNSA 6.17 (+1.18). Union nationale des syndicats autonomes. New trade union founded in '93.
Solidaires 3.78 (+2.27). Left-wing, anti-globalization trade union.
Others 1.4 (+0.21)

Maybe I'll make a map.

[PGSable]

Patrick Devedjian will resign as general secretary of the UMP and as MNA to serve as minister for the economic recovery. Brice Hortefeux appears to be the favorite to replace him as general secretary.

[PGSable]

Yade, who was under consideration to replace Jouyet as secretary of state for European affairs, turned down Sarkozy's requests that she run in the upcoming EU elections. The Elysée says that "she doesn't have any political sense."

Today, on International Human Rights Day, Kouchner said that it was a mistake for him to ask for the creation of the office of secretary of state for human rights:

I think I was wrong to ask for an office of secretary of state for human rights. It's a mistake. […] There is a permanent contradiction between human rights and a country's foreign policy, even in France. […] This contradiction can be fruitful, but did we need to give it a governmental character by creating this office of secretary of state? I do not think so anymore, and it's a mistake on my part to have suggested it to the president.

Yade's answer:

In eighteen months, I did a lot […] For example, I had the European Union adopt a project against violence against women. […] I also rallied seventeen countries to the cause of child soldiers so that concrete measures can be passed against their recruitment. […] All of these fields in so little time have allowed France to show its leadership role in human rights and to be followed by other states.

For what it's worth, Copé defends Yade:

No one thought that naming a secretary of state for human rights would solve the global human rights problem. At the same time, I think that having a secretary of state for human rights is useful.