mardi 31 mai 2011
Caricature cellulaire et cancer...
Une étude récente (et pas la seule) effectue un lien entre l'utilisation du cellulaire et le développement de certains types de cancer...
Obama et sa nouvelle arme: le recensement!
Oui! Puisque la communauté hispanique est en pleine croissance et qu'elle vote un peu plus démocrate!
"Gaming out the political ramifications of such a dramatic demographic shift is not an easy calculus. The Hispanic population is not monolithic; nor does it vote on singular issues, often prioritizing immigration reform below economic matters. What works as an electoral motivator in Florida may fall short in Illinois.
Operatives from both sides of the ledger agree, however, that a both Democrats and Republicans have a generation-defining opportunity at hand. But only one party seems positioned to take advantage. In 2004, 5.1 million Hispanics voted for Democratic candidates, 4.3 million for Republicans. In 2008, the ratio changed, with 7.8 million voting Democratic and 3.6 million voting Republican, according to data compiled by New Policy Institute.
"When you talk about Democratic secret weapon -- it isn't so much a secret because everyone sees it coming -- but this is the year it could come," said Carlos Odio, Deputy Director for the Latino Vote Program during Barack Obama's 2008 campaign. "No one ever expects the flood to happen, but there is so much room for growth. If Democrats and progressives really played this, it could be a huge weapon. The census reinforces that."
Hector Barajas remains acutely aware of the weapon. As a Spanish media spokesman for both George W. Bush's 2004 presidential campaign and John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign as well as communications director for the California Republican Party, he has watched the evolving relationship between the GOP and the Latino population from a front row sear. His post in California has particularly presented challenges, with the bulging Hispanic community forcing statewide candidates into a sharp political pull between demographic realities and conservative political pressures."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/31/hispanic-population-rising-faster-than-anticipated_n_869209.html
Canucks de Vancouver: équipe "canadienne"?
La même question pourrait être soulevée pour toutes les équipes "canadiennes" ;)
Je trouvais la caricature bien sympathique...
Bachmann est "l'élue": elle a entendu l'appel!
Oui, elle a entendu l'appel... Et ce n'est pas la première fois. Dieu a déjà demandé à ce qu'elle fasse campagne pour siéger au Congrès:
"Well, every decision that I make I pray about as does my husband and I can tell you, yes, I've had that calling and that tugging on my heart that this is the right thing to do and because it's such a momentous decision, not only for myself, my husband and our 28 children, it is a momentous decision what ideas will I bring to bear? What are the resources that I have to marshal in terms of people, assets, the message and also the finances, the amount of time this will take, what this will mean for the nation. Am I the right person for the job? Every decision and every endeavor my husband and I have made we think it through, we're not rash people. We make a plan because we want to succeed, we don't want to fail and so we've been very deliberative in this process and that's why we're now coming to the culmination and next month, as I announced last night, I'll make that decision right here in Waterloo and the world will know."
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/bachmanns-prayers-answered-ive-had-that-calling-to-run-for-president.php?ref=fpb
DSK et la théorie du complot (NY Times)
Après ceux des tours du World Trade center et de Ben Laden, celui de DSK? L'avis de Roger Cohen dans le NY Times.
"And now we have the Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexual assault case, viewed, it seems, by close to 60 percent of French society as a conspiracy against the putative Socialist presidential candidate — a sting operation that somehow placed a West African immigrant maid in a $3,000 a night Sofitel suite whose number, 2806, corresponds to the date of the opening of the Socialist party primaries in France (06-28).
Oh, s’il vous please!
A rough rule goes like this: The freer a society the less inclined it is to conspiracy theories, while the greater its culture of dependency the more it will tend to see hidden hands at work everywhere.
France remains a nation of Napoleonic centralism where the functionary’s mentality holds sway. The ingrained reflex of that mind-set is to look to the state for salvation, to believe in some all-orchestrating higher power.
The nation’s world-class private sector, believers in agency rather than dependency, follows the old principle of “vivre heureux, vivre caché” — to live happily, live hidden — and thereby allows the functionary’s order to prevail as reference point. In this view, personal responsibility does not loom large.
Countless Franco-American differences of culture have been highlighted by the DSK case — in the judicial system, the press, attitudes to public figures’ private lives, sex and the gravity of a rape charge — but a very fundamental one lies in the relation to authority. French deference to power — with the accompanying conspiracy theories — has encountered the hard-knuckled application of U.S. law as applied equally to anyone accused of a serious crime."
Intéressant qu'on soit en accord ou pas...
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/opinion/31iht-edcohen31.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212
La France menottée (Le Devoir)
Très beau topo ce matin dans Le Devoir... L'interprétation de l'Auteur est-elle bonne?
"Une image «plus violente», s'indigneront certains, que l'agression présumée dont une femme de chambre de l'hôtel Sofitel de Manhattan aurait été victime. Il y a en effet de quoi se poser de sérieuses questions sur la façon dont les choses sont perçues et hiérarchisées au pays des droits de l'homme. Et plus spécifiquement sur les moeurs et valeurs de la classe politico-médiatique.
En menottant DSK, la police new-yorkaise n'a pas simplement bâté un «agresseur prétendu». C'est toute la nation «libre» de France qui a été réduite à la contention forcée.
Une posture absolument impensable pour une grande majorité de Français, libres penseurs par essence, libertaires et beaumarchistes par obédience. D'où le choc, d'où le déni.
La présomption d'innocence et le droit à la vie privée, si chers aux politiciens français, ne peuvent à eux seuls suffire à justifier le silence, le doute extrême et la langue de bois des médias et des milieux politiques de l'Hexagone.
D'un côté, on s'élève pour accuser la justice américaine de traiter DSK comme un vulgaire accusé de droit commun, sans faire cas de son statut et de ce qu'il représente, et, de l'autre, on prétexte dans les milieux concernés que cette affaire ne relève pas de la politique, mais de la vie privée, donc exige de se «montrer digne et discret». Plus français, tu meurs.
Faut-il s'en offusquer? Faut-il juger? Faut-il intervenir?
Bien entendu. Car toute cette affaire et le choc subi par les Français cachent une vérité que bien peu encore envisagent. Une vérité qui répugne et dont la France ne veut pas. 57 % des gens interrogés dans un sondage ne croient pas à la culpabilité de DSK et surtout imaginent un odieux et hypothétique complot (international et français) destiné à déstabiliser, d'abord le patron du FMI et du même coup le futur gagnant de l'élection présidentielle de 2012. Un scénario hollywoodien idéal pour garder la tête dans les nuages — pour ne pas dire, dans le sable — et oublier la réalité.
Et c'est précisément cela qui, aux yeux de certains, «justifie» le peu de considération apparente faite à la «victime». Cela dérange ici et déclenche l'ire de bien des commentateurs et éditorialistes étrangers, la plus manifeste sera celle de Denise Bombardier, tant dans ce journal qu'à la radio de France Inter."
http://www.ledevoir.com/international/europe/324427/questions-d-image-la-france-menottee
lundi 30 mai 2011
Michele Bachmann
Au cas où... Elle est représentante au Congrès et songe à faire campagne pour la présidence. Voici un lien pour son site et un vidéo qui dénonce "Obamacare": http://www.michelebachmann.com/
Tim Pawlenty: A time for truth
Lien pour le site et vidéo:http://www.timpawlenty.com/pages/announcement2012
Obama for America
Que prévoient les organisateurs de la campagne Obama pour l'été? Un exemple de leurs activités sur le site Obama for America. Le site est accessible et fonctionne bien. J'ai hâte de voir ceux des républicains.
Memorial day: ma citation du jour (tirée de Witness to war)
"Every time a veteran dies, a library burns"
Citation tirée d'un article sur CNN. On y présente l'initiative "Witness to war" de Tom Beaty.
"Roland Marbaugh wrote 509 pages of his tales of war -- from the swampy Solomon Islands in World War II to the frozen Chosin Reservoir in Korea.
His son typed them all up on an electric typewriter in the 1980s but unpublished, Marbaugh's stories remained largely in his mind. Until now.
Marbaugh's story will soon be among 600 others on Witness to War, a virtual library of Americans in combat. When his testimony is posted in a few days, viewers will be able to hear the former Marine captain, now a spry 91, recount harrowing tales with photographic precision.
Some things never dulled in Marbaugh's memory. Like how fellow Marine "Wee Willie Wilson" killed 19 Japanese in their foxholes on the Pacific island of Bougainville and was awarded a prestigious Naval Cross for his "valiant fighting spirit."
"He had 20 rounds of ammunition; killed 19 Japanese. Willy was a show-off," Marbaugh said of his fellow Marine. "We don't know how he got in their bunker. He never told me."
Marbaugh might have never gotten a chance to recount his stories had it not been for Atlanta entrepreneur Tom Beaty, the founder of Witness to War."
Le site de Witness to war: http://www.witnesstowar.org/
L'article sur CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/26/war.stories/index.html
Jon Huntsman: un appel à sa candidature!
Il ne s'est toujours pas prononcé (à la gauche d'Obama sur la photo)... Ce serait un candidat solide de centre-droite, pas mauvais au plan national!. Préfère-t-il attendre 2016? Rappelons que Huntsman a été gouverneur et ambassadeur en Chine (où il a fait l'éloge d'Obama!). Une épine au pied? Comme Romneyil est mormon.
"As people in Utah well know, and reporters and political pundits are starting to learn, Huntsman exudes a level-headed vibe and has a long history of political acts and statements that place him squarely in the center-right part of the political spectrum. Which, it just so happens, is where most of the American electorate finds its comfort zone.
As governor, Huntsman worked well, and patiently, with members of a state Legislature that was well to his right. As ambassador to China, he was duty-bound to serve when called by a White House that was well to his left. The fact that he has the ability to negotiate such swift political currents without losing his way or his cool is a characteristic that not only belongs in the White House, but would improve the quality of our campaign discourse even from a candidate who doesn’t win. Or who might be positioned better for 2016.
Huntsman’s views on various issues can also help to move the debate to a rational middle ground. He is not a climate change denier, and wants steps taken to deal with it, but not if it means placing an intolerable burden on the economy. He brooks no hatred of illegal immigrants, but favors a plan to secure the border before integrating those already here into mainstream American life. He does not favor same-sex marriage, but is for civil unions. We thought he was unwise to sign the since-repealed school voucher bill in Utah, but otherwise he is known to be a friend of public education.
Like fellow Republican hopeful Mitt Romney, Huntsman may find his Mormon ancestry a barrier to being accepted by many non-Utah voters. But, while Romney can strike observers as a political chameleon, Huntsman is all diplomat, doesn’t wear his religious faith on his sleeve, and moves comfortably among people of all backgrounds and beliefs. That should be good not only for Huntsman, but for all Mormons and all Americans of any religious background.
Huntsman’s sense of balance would benefit the whole of Campaign 2012, win or lose. He should run."
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/51899794-82/huntsman-political-campaign-run.html.csp
Endeavour: le retour en direct sur NASA TV
Endeavour se posera mercredi après son dernier vol. Il est possible de suivre la progression en direct sur le site web de la NASA, un site que je négligeais de visiter avant ma visite du Kennedy Space Center en janvier.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
Memorial day: une "tradition noire"
Très bel article de l'historien David W. Blight (Université Yale, spécialiste de l'esclavage) dans le NY Times de ce matin. Une majorité d'américains célèbrent le Memorial day et se souviennent que cette journée était à l'origine une manière de commémorer tous les morts de la guerre de Sécession, aussi bien nordistes que sudistes. On a fixé l'origine de la tradition à 1868. Ce que Blight apporte comme contribution est significatif. Le premier Memorial se serait déroulé en 1865. La toile qui coiffe ce billet est de Owen Freeman.
"The largest of these events, forgotten until I had some extraordinary luck in an archive at Harvard, took place on May 1, 1865. During the final year of the war, the Confederates had converted the city’s Washington Race Course and Jockey Club into an outdoor prison. Union captives were kept in horrible conditions in the interior of the track; at least 257 died of disease and were hastily buried in a mass grave behind the grandstand.
After the Confederate evacuation of Charleston black workmen went to the site, reburied the Union dead properly, and built a high fence around the cemetery. They whitewashed the fence and built an archway over an entrance on which they inscribed the words, “Martyrs of the Race Course.”
The symbolic power of this Low Country planter aristocracy’s bastion was not lost on the freedpeople, who then, in cooperation with white missionaries and teachers, staged a parade of 10,000 on the track. A New York Tribune correspondent witnessed the event, describing “a procession of friends and mourners as South Carolina and the United States never saw before.”
The procession was led by 3,000 black schoolchildren carrying armloads of roses and singing the Union marching song “John Brown’s Body.” Several hundred black women followed with baskets of flowers, wreaths and crosses. Then came black men marching in cadence, followed by contingents of Union infantrymen. Within the cemetery enclosure a black children’s choir sang “We’ll Rally Around the Flag,” the “Star-Spangled Banner” and spirituals before a series of black ministers read from the Bible.
After the dedication the crowd dispersed into the infield and did what many of us do on Memorial Day: enjoyed picnics, listened to speeches and watched soldiers drill. Among the full brigade of Union infantrymen participating were the famous 54th Massachusetts and the 34th and 104th United States Colored Troops, who performed a special double-columned march around the gravesite.
The war was over, and Memorial Day had been founded by African-Americans in a ritual of remembrance and consecration. The war, they had boldly announced, had been about the triumph of their emancipation over a slaveholders’ republic. They were themselves the true patriots."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/30/opinion/30blight.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=thab1
dimanche 29 mai 2011
Sarah Palin et... Mustang Sally
L'arrivée de Sarah Palin en moto aujourd'hui pour un rassemblements de motards m'a fait pensé à la chanson Mustang Sally. Allez, tous en coeur: "Ride Sarah ride". Topo du site politico et vidéo d'une interprétation de Mustangs Sally par les Commitments.
"Palin's arrival kicked off the Tea Party favorite's bus tour up the northeastern coast. It also overwhelmed Rolling Thunder's security capabilities and strained organizers' patience as photographers, journalists and admirers swarmed the former Alaska governor after she hopped off the back of a black bike in the parking lot of the Pentagon.
There were few details about the tour available, and Palin herself seemed to be winging it.
"So what's the plan here?" she said after hopping off the bike driven by a female rider.
West for one said that the talk should focus on vets and not Palin.
"I don't think any talk about Palin coming here is right here, the talk is about Memorial Day, the talk is about like I said those people who have given that ultimate sacrifice," West said.
"After you served 22 years in the United States Army, what brings me out today is there are people here that I served with, there are people here who served with my older brother in Vietnam," West, who rented a bike because getting his own up from Florida was too much trouble, told TPM. "And this is the right thing, for us to always remember those who had given their lives in the ultimate sacrifice and to never forget our POWs and MIAs."
Some were upset by the way Palin showed up.
"I'm very not appreciative of the way she came in here," Ted Shpak, Rolling Thunder's national legislative director, told Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post. "If she wanted to come on the ride, she should have come in the back." (Palin, instead, came in the front of the Pentagon's north parking lot, where event staff and press had gathered.)"
Bill Maher et la violence de certains chrétiens (ouf!)
Désolé pour les voix qu'on entend au début (vous pouvez passer la première minute)... Maher, une fois de plus, ne fait pas dans la dentelle. J'imagine le nombre de lettres que le réseau a probablement du gérer...
Sarah Palin: d'abord enrichir Sarah Palin inc.?
Si Donald Trump le fait... L'auteur donne quelques chiffres pour appuyer son opinion. Palin ne souhaite pas devenir la première femme "commander in chief" en entreprenant sa tournée "One nation", elle voudrait profiter de la manne... Aimez-vous le look de son autobus?
"Four months after leaving the governorship, Palin released Going Rogue, a wildly successful book with a wildly successful book tour that included a bus tour to 11 states (sound familiar?) and media saturation on television, radio, and online. Palin received an advance of $7 million for her first book -- to say nothing of the royalties she received based on sales. In a clever political twist, she asked donors to her Political Action Committee to give $100 in exchange for a copy of her book. The Palin family's participation on reality television shows has raked in another $3 million. She currently earns around $100,000 for a single speech. Then there's the house in Arizona she recently purchased for $1.7 million.
In fact, ABC News estimated in April 2010 that Palin had earned at least 100 times her governor's salary since her resignation -- and that was more than a year ago. How rogue is that?"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-r-hoopes-jr/palin-2012_b_868319.html
Libye: la loi s'applique-t-elle à Obama?
Belle réflexion dans le Washington post de ce matin... Obama négligerait de respecter la War Powers Resolution de 1973 à cesser les opérations militaires après 60 jours. Pourquoi n'intervient-on pas au Congrès sur cette question?
"The U.S. intervention in Libya’s civil war, intervention that began with a surplus of confusion about capabilities and a shortage of candor about objectives, is now taking a toll on the rule of law. In a bipartisan cascade of hypocrisies, a liberal president, with the collaborative silence of most congressional conservatives, is traducing the War Powers Resolution.
Enacted in 1973 over President Nixon’s veto, the WPR may or may not be wise. It is, however, unquestionably a law, and Barack Obama certainly is violating it. It stipulates that a president must terminate military action 60 days after initiating it (or 90, if the president “certifies” in writing an “unavoidable military necessity” respecting the safety of U.S. forces), unless Congress approves it. Congress has been supine and silent about this war, which began more than 70 days ago.
All presidents have resented the WPR but have taken care to act “consistent with” its 48-hour reporting requirement. So on March 21, two days after the administration took the nation to war in Libya, Obama notified Congress of this obvious fact, stressing that U.S. operations would be “limited in their nature, duration, and scope” in the service of a “limited and well-defined mission.” Months ago, before it metastasized into regime change, the “well-defined” mission was to protect civilians."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/is-obama-above-the-law/2011/05/26/AGL5zyCH_story.html
Printemps arabe: les bases fragiles de la démocratie
La difficile et périlleuse transition vers des sociétés démocratiques dans des pays qui n'ont pas d'historique et/ou d'institutions solides pour assurer le respect des droits de la personne. Comment éviter la montée de nouvelles dictatures et/ou de régimes à parti unique?
"The preconditions for democracy are lacking in the Arab world partly because Hosni Mubarak and other Arab dictators spent the past half-century emasculating the news media, suppressing intellectual inquiry, restricting artistic expression, banning political parties, and co-opting regional, ethnic and religious organizations to silence dissenting voices.
But the handicaps of Arab civil society also have historical causes that transcend the policies of modern rulers. Until the establishment of colonial regimes in the late 19th century, Arab societies were ruled under Shariah law, which essentially precludes autonomous and self-governing private organizations. Thus, while Western Europe was making its tortuous transition from arbitrary rule by monarchs to democratic rule of law, the Middle East retained authoritarian political structures. Such a political environment prevented democratic institutions from taking root and ultimately facilitated the rise of modern Arab dictatorships."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/opinion/29kuran.html?ref=todayspaper
Michel-Ange: la surprenante découverte d'une Pietà à Buffalo!
Pendant longtemps, les experts croyaient que la Pietà réalisée par Michel-Ange pour Vittoria Colonna n'était que le dessin sur la droite (on le retrouve au Isabella Stewart Garner museum de Boston). De nouvelles expertises tendent maintenant à démontrer que la toile sur la gauche puisse être une oeuvre du grand maître qui se trouve... À Buffalo! Un papier intéressant dans le NY Times et un parcours unique!
"IN 1885, when the Metropolitan Museum of Art was young and New York was home to much new wealth but only a few old masters, the museum showcased a painting on loan from Europe that created a minor stir.
It was a small wood-panel Pietà depicting an earthy-looking Virgin Mary holding her dead son, assisted by two muscular angels, a tableau widely acknowledged to have been created by Michelangelo, though the Met’s catalog went only as far as saying that the painting had been attributed to him by its owner.
That owner was a German baroness who had sent the painting to America in the hopes of selling it. But it never found a buyer and eventually passed into the hands of acquaintances, members of an upper-middle-class Rochester family who hung it for many years above a fireplace, referring to it with great affection — but little direct evidence — as “the Mike.” After it tumbled from its perch while being dusted one day in the 1970s, the painting was moved from the mantel to a safe spot behind the couch, where it effectively disappeared from awareness, both scholarly and otherwise.
The kind of work the family believed it to be — an easel painting by Michelangelo — is among the most elusive treasures in Renaissance art. Michelangelo probably made only a handful, is not known to have signed any, and broad consensus has formed around the attribution of only one, at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Tonawanda, N.Y., a faded mill town north of Buffalo, might be the last place on earth scholars would begin the hunt for another. But over the last decade, thanks almost entirely to the stubborn crusading of a retired fighter pilot there named Martin Kober, who inherited the Pietà, the painting has re-emerged as the main character in a compelling art-historical mystery."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/arts/design/the-pieta-behind-the-couch.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha28
Troupes américaines: les périls du retour à la maison (NY Times)
Toute une transition attend les hommes et les femmes qui depuis 1 an vivent une réalité tellement différente ce qui les attend à la maison...
"Capt. Adrian Bonenberger made plans for his final patrol to Imam Sahib. But inside, he was sweating the details of a different mission: going home. Which soldiers would drive drunk, get into fights or struggle with emotional demons, he wondered. What would it take to keep them safe in America?
Sgt. Brian Keith boarded the plane home feeling a strange dread. His wife wanted a divorce and had moved away, taking their son and most of their bank account with her. At the end of his flight lay an empty apartment and the blank slate of a new life.
“A lot of people were excited about coming home,” Sergeant Keith said. “Me, I just sat there and I wondered: What am I coming back to?”
For a year, they had navigated minefields and ducked bullets, endured tedium inside barbed-wired outposts and stitched together the frayed seams of long-distance relationships. One would think that going home would be the easiest thing troops could do.
But it is not so simple. The final weeks in a war zone are often the most dangerous, as weary troops get sloppy or unfocused. Once they arrive home, alcohol abuse, traffic accidents and other measures of mayhem typically rise as they blow off steam.
Weeks later, as the joy of return subsides, deep-seated emotional or psychological problems can begin to show. The sleeplessness, anxiety and irritability of post-traumatic stress disorder, for instance, often take months to emerge as combat veterans confront the tensions of home and the recurring memories of war."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/us/29soldiers.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2
La citation du jour
"A lot of people were excited about coming home. Me, I just sat there and I wondered: What am I coming back to?"
Le sergent américain Brian Keith qui termine une année de service en Afghanistan...
La toile est du peintre américain Thomas Kinkade.
samedi 28 mai 2011
Sarah Palin's Greatest Hits (c'est un peu facile, ce sera mon sourire du samedi soir)
Si vous tenez jusqu'à la fin... De vraies déclarations! Je ne peux croire qu'elle sera candidate, rien de bon pour les républicains.
Sarah Palin présidente? Vous souvenez vous de la Réaction de Joe Biden?
Comme Mme Palin débute une tournée nationale et que plusieurs analystes croient qu'elle annoncera sa candidature, j'ai pensé vous laisser cet extrait d'une émission sur MSNBC ... Joe Biden réagit à une déclaration de Palin qui croit être en mesure de vaincre Obama (novembre 2010).
Réchauffement climatique: des candidats républicains réorientent leur position!
Certains changements sont assez spectaculaires...
One thing that Tim Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney have in common: These GOP presidential contenders all are running away from their past positions on global warming, driven by their party's loud doubters who question the science and disdain government solutions.
All four have stepped back from previous stances on the issue, either apologizing outright or softening what they said earlier. And those who haven't fully recanted are under pressure to do so.
The latest sign of that pressure came Thursday when New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he was pulling his state out of a regional agreement to reduce greenhouse gases, saying it won't work. While Christie, a rising GOP star, has said he's not running for president, some in the party continue to recruit him.
It's an indicator of a shift on the issue among conservative Republicans, who have an outsized influence in the party's presidential primary elections. Over the last few years, Gallup polling has shown a decline in the share of Americans saying that global warming's effects have already begun – from a high of 61 percent in 2008 to 49 percent in March. The change is driven almost entirely by conservatives.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/27/primary-election-2012-gop_n_867914.html
Rick Santorum dans la course chez les républicains? Une annonce en juin
L'ancien sénateur (1995-2007) de la Pennsylvanie lancerait sa campagne bientôt. Symboliquement il ferait son annonce près d'une ville de charbon où travaillait son grand-père, un immigrant irlandais qui fuyait l'Allemagne fasciste. Une candidature qui pourrait être intéressante (il a un style agressif et il ne craint pas la controverse) malgré les sondages récents qui lui accordent peu de chances. Il est socialement et économiquement à droite.
"Santorum is arguably the most frequent flyer in the battle for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. His trip to Iowa last weekend was his 15th to the state that kicks off the presidential primary and caucus calendar since 2009.
In the same period of time, he also made 16 trips to New Hampshire, which holds the first primary, and 14 to South Carolina, the first southern primary state on the road to the White House.
Late last year Santorum started building up staff in these crucial early voting states. On May 3 he announced the formation of a presidential exploratory committee, filing papers with the Federal Election Commission. Two days later he participated in the first GOP presidential debate, in Greenville, South Carolina.
The former two-term senator lost his 2006 re-election bid by 18 points to Democrat Bob Casey Jr. and until last year was largely out of public view except for appearances on Fox News."
Obama, cet arrogant!
C'est l'avis de l'ancien président pakistanais Pervez Musharraf
"Musharraf further called the May raid an "act of war."
"Certainly no country has a right to intrude into any other country," Musharraf told Piers Morgan. "If technically or legally you see it, it's an act of war."
The American president said this week in an interview on British television that, if the opportunity arose, he would do the same thing again to take out al Qaeda terrorists.
"I think such arrogance should not be shown publicly to the world," Musharraf said. "I think it is arrogance that: 'We don't care. We don't care for your national opinion. We don't care for your people. We will come in and do the same thing.' This is arrogance."
Musharraf conceded that it was a "terrible mishap, a terrible failure" that Pakistani intelligence didn't seem to know more about bin Laden's whereabouts, saying they should have know he was living in a compound in Abbottabad, a short distance from a Pakistan military academy.
Rectitude politique? Et si Palin et Bachmann n'étaient pas de belles femmes?
Je ne m'autoriserais pas un tel commentaire! Mais je triche un brin en vous laissant le texte de Marty Caplan, directeur du Norman Lear Center et professeur à USC Annenberg School.
"All these ladies regularly say things that are -- to use Professor Jon Stewart's formulation -- evil or stupid. Bachmann, for example, has called the Obama Administration a "gangster government"; she's proposed a witch hunt for "anti-America" members of Congress; she's said that Lexington and Concord, where the shots heard round the world were fired, are in New Hampshire; her claims about Obama's policies on everything from taxes and monetary policy to the environment and health care have earned her more than a dozen grades of Barely True and Pants on Fire from Politifact.com, the independent, Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking site.
But as Michele Bachmann inches toward a bid for the GOP nomination for the presidential nomination, and as Sarah Palin launches a media frenzy about her White House intentions, I have to think that their plausibility as candidates doesn't simply derive from their Tea Party cred. After all, Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Jean Schmidt (R-OH) also adhere the most extreme right wing positions of the Republican party's base, but I don't see MSNBC lavishing on them the kind of base-riling scorn that Bachmann and Palin get; they're not asked to keynote all the big creationist-birther-AK47 confabs.
In a politainment era, looks -- even sex appeal -- matter. On the male side, this could account for Sen. John Thune (R-SD) still getting mentioned as a presidential contender, even though he's said he's not interested, in contrast with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), whom nobody is mentioning as a 2012 possibility, and whose cheekbones aren't remotely as chiseled. It also could explain John Huntsman's appeal, and Mitt Romney's frontrunner standing in the polls. And in an inverse way, it makes the effort by Roger Ailes and Rush Limbaugh to draft New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for the Republican nomination completely plausible (who could be more authentic than a guy who looks like Chris Christie?), and it lent gravitas to the Mitch Daniels boomlet (real wonks don't have great hair). Speaking of hair, Donald Trump could be the outlier that proves the theory.
Let me stipulate, in case any Bachmann or Palin fans are reaching for stones to throw at my glass house, that I am not a 10. I'm not a zero, either. I know that my looks haven't gotten me anywhere, and they also haven't stopped me from getting anywhere, though an Abercrombie job interview would likely have been a sobering exception. If you think my take is nothing more than a nerd's revenge for an unrequited crush on the prom queen, I'll be glad to forward your messages to my therapist. And if you think my focusing on their looks is shamefully sexist, I guess that just goes to show that the political correctness cartoon doesn't apply only to liberals.
In the end, it could be that it's hard to my eyes off Bachmann and Palin not despite their political views, but because of them -- that is, because the gulf between how pretty they are and how doggie they talk is so shocking. It's a bit like that character type you sometimes see on a TV show, the sweet little old lady who swears like a stevedore. It wouldn't be remarkable if some crone had a potty mouth. But the verbal foulness is ironically endearing when it comes from the last person you'd predict. Maybe this is too big a stretch, but I can't help thinking that the reason Bachmann and Palin don't repulse me is the same reason I'm so fond of Betty White."
http://www.jewishjournal.com/marty_kaplan
Stephen Colbert et sa candidature pour 2012: jusqu'où peut-il pousser la blague? Souvez-vous de Robin Williams dans "Man of the year"
Non seulement la candidature de Colbert est délicate pour les autorités et pour le financement, mais elle place son employeur dans une situation inconfortable. Sa candidature me rappelle un film mettant en vedette Robin Williams dans le rôle d'un humoriste qui fait campagne (personnage inspiré du même Colbert et de Jon Stewart!). Je vous laisse un clip!
The campaign finance reform community is by and large cheering on Stephen Colbert's pursuit of a Super PAC, seeing it as an inspired way to call public attention to the excesses of the current election system. One of the foremost reformers in town, Trevor Potter, even joined Colbert as his lawyer when the Comedy Central star filed a request with the Federal Election Commission two weeks ago.
But on Friday, two major reform groups -- including one that Potter leads -- urged the FEC not to give Colbert everything he and Potter are asking for. They argue that doing so would set precedents that serious political candidates and their corporate media sponsors could use to avoid disclosure.
"We appreciate that Mr. Colbert submitted his advisory opinion request in the spirit of political comedy, but we're not going to stand by and watch potentially damaging unintended consequences to decades of important campaign finance law," said Paul Ryan, associate legal counsel for the Campaign Legal Center. Potter, who was serving Colbert in his capacity as an attorney with the Caplin and Drysdale law firm, is the president of the center, and recused himself from discussions on the matter.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/27/colbert-petition-to-fec-s_n_868141.html
John Edwards: un salaud, pas un criminel! (Washington post)
Ça résume plutôt bien ma pensée...
"I could go on, but, really, is there anyone left in America with a shred of respect for Edwards? Anyone?
Didn’t think so.
But being a jerk, even on an Edwardsian scale, is not a felony, which is what federal prosecutors have been pursuing for more than two years. The original theory of the case was that Edwards misused campaign funds to support his mistress, Rielle Hunter. That would have been a serious matter, except the theory fizzled.
Some prosecutors would have stopped there. The U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, George Holding, did not.
The current case against Edwards, the one for which he is on the verge of being indicted, rests on a novel and expansive reading of what constitutes a campaign contribution.
The crux of the case is that during the 2008 campaign, Edwards, directly or indirectly, approached two of his biggest financial backers, the late trial lawyer Fred Baron and heiress Rachel “Bunny” Mellon, to solicit financial support for Hunter. Baron and Mellon, motivated at least in part by a desire to fuel Edwards’s presidential ambitions, anted up, to the tune of more than $750,000.
Was that a contribution to the Edwards campaign, in which case it would be illegal because it was not reported as such and exceeded the allowable contribution limits? That’s a stretch."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/john-edwards-a-jerk-not-a-felon/2011/05/27/AGtRwyCH_story.html
Obama en avance selon tous les sondages (Real clear politics)
Je vous laisse un lien pour un de mes sites préférés, celui de Real clear politics. Ce lien vous mènera à la section des sondages. On y confronte la performance d'Obama face aux républicains de manière générale, mais également contre chacun (e) des principaux (ales) candidats (e)s. Obama détient l'avance partout pour l'instant... De tous les républicains mentionnés, c'est Romney qui performe le mieux.
Les républicains et la campagne 2012: nowhere to go but up?
C'est l'avis de Steve Huntley dans le Chicago Sun-Times. Il est vrai que les démocrates devaient souhaiter que des candidats comme Trump s'accrochent encore un peu...
"Yet, if these are the worst of times for the GOP, then its fortunes have no place to go but up. In fact, one could argue the rebound has started. The flash-in-the-pan, ego-driven “Saturday Night Live” skit that was Donald Trump’s faux campaign drained the birther nonsense from the public stage. Newt Gingrich did the party a favor by imploding in the first week of his candidacy. Libertarian idol Ron Paul has taken the plunge again but is in danger of becoming the next Harold Stassen.
The spotlight is shifting to former governors with records of coping at the state level with fiscal issues not unlike those threatening the nation’s long-term economic health.
Tim Pawlenty, who declared his candidacy this week, won two terms in blue state Minnesota and earned plaudits for wrestling with a Democratic legislature to cut spending, lower taxes and achieve education and health-care reforms. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney raised a dazzling $10 million in one day, demonstrating that Obama is not the only one with fund-raising prowess. Jon Huntsman, the former governor of Utah, is a fresh face in national politics who impresses many voters with his gravitas in discussing the key issues of the day.
And there’s still time for other candidates to jump in if GOP voters continue to register dissatisfaction with their choices. High on the list is New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a YouTube sensation thanks to his willingness to confront public employee unions demanding a gold credit card from the taxpayers. The conservative commentariat sees U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as a leader on fiscal issues who can explain in plain language the entitlement iceberg facing the nation while Democrats recklessly steer the Titanic ship of state full steam ahead. Christie and Ryan thus far are firmly resisting a draft, but who knows what may happen in this unpredictable political season?"
http://www.suntimes.com/news/huntley/5605272-417/for-gop-nowhere-to-go-but-up.html
Are you in? Chronique à Ça me dit de prendre le temps
Ma chronique d'aujourd'hui:
http://www.radio-canada.ca/audio-video/pop.shtml#urlMedia=http://www.radio-canada.ca/Medianet/2011/CBV/Cameditdeprendreletemps201105280812.asx
Aussi à ne pas manquer sur le site de l'émission: rencontre avec un mnetaliste!
vendredi 27 mai 2011
L'information "weird" de la journée! 17% des américains urinent dans les piscines (c'est encore pire chez les nageurs olympiques!
Je ne pouvais m'empêcher de sourire en lisant cette info un peu étrange au moment ou j'effectue les derniers préparatifs pour l'ouverture de la piscine familiale...
Anyway, now we know that one out of every 5.8 people around you in that nice community pool is peeing in it.
Why would anyone admit to something like this? People lie in surveys all the time. Some voter exit polls are wrong because of this very reason. If people lie about such important things, what would be wrong with lying about whether someone pees in a public pool?
I would answer the question like this: “No, I have never done it, and never will. That is gross. Who would ever do that? Not me, never, ever. I promise. I am not lying. You believe me, right? I swear, I am not lying. Why did you ask me that?”
To plunge deeper into this important subject, I spent some time researching it. OK, I “googled” it. It took a few seconds.
I wish I hadn’t. I could hardly believe my eyes. People on camera actually talk about how they peed in the pool they were still in. The short movie is called “How to pee in the pool without getting caught.”
They just let it all out.
“I’ve been peeing in the pool all day,” one young woman said. “I enjoy the water, so why get out? You are not supposed to swallow the water, anyway.”
I was shocked. And these are adults. We haven’t even talked about children, who probably pee in the pool more than adults.
Yahoo actually gives instructions on how not to be detected during the peeing process. “Just swim away from everyone else first, and swim back as soon as you start peeing so there won’t be a warm pocket of it for someone to swim into.”
This is insane. There has to be some way of testing for pee in a pool.
Snopes.com gave me no hope. “There isn’t any magical chemical that when added to a swimming pool will reveal the presence of urine in the water.”
If there were such a chemical, Snopes quotes a public pool maintenance man, “every municipal pool in Boston would be bright purple.”
Note to self: When in Boston, stay out of public pools.
Maybe we can get some famous people, maybe even an Olympic swimmer, to speak out against such a disgusting act. How about Michael Phelps, the great gold medalist? People would listen to him if he came out against peeing in the pool.
Oh, there is a problem? No, don’t tell me. That’s unbelievable. In 2008 Phelps admitted to peeing in the pool?
There is no hope. According to the great Phelps, American swimmers pee in the pool more than swimmers from any other country."
http://blog.cagle.com/2011/05/before-you-plunge-into-that-ool-inviting-pool-read-this/
50 000 visites pour Les Tours de Laliberté! Et une tendance résolument française
Le carnet franchit ce matin le cap des 50 000 visites et, pour la première fois, une majorité de ces visites proviennent de la France. Une tendance remarquée bien avant "l'affaire DSK". Voici la liste des pays d'origine:
1. France
2. Canada
3. Maroc
4. Tunisie
5. Algérie
6. États-Unis
7. Belgique
8. Suisse
9. Singapour
10. Allemagne
Je me suis autorisé à coiffer ce billet de ma toile préférée de Norman Rockwell "Freedom of speech". Cette toile, tirée d'une série de quatre, fut inspirée par le discours de Franklin D. Roosevelt sur les "Four freedoms" qui justifiaient l'entrée en guerre de États-Unis dans la Deuxième Guerre.
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