Caricature de JOE HELLER, GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETT
jeudi 28 février 2013
Voting rights act: le souvenir d'une martyre de la cause
Viola Liuzzo a été tué en 1965 par des membres du KKK après avoir supporté la défense des droits civiques à Selma. Aujourd'hui considérée comme une figure positive, elle fut pourtant victime de bien des attaques à l'époque. Ses enfants ont du supporter les injures et les accusations déplacées de racistes. Certain ont affirmé que Mme Liuzzo avait mérité son sort... Alors que la Cour suprême évalue la possibilité d'annuler le voting rights act de 1965, CNN met en lumière l'histoire de Viola Liuzzo et de sa famille. Le débat entourant le voting rights act n'est pas que constitutionnel, il est également symbolique et émotif.
Un extrait:
"She was murdered while giving a ride to a 19-year-old black man, Leroy Moton, one of many civil rights marchers she had driven around Selma. Liuzzo had joined the movement's carpool system soon after arriving in the small Alabama town. Liuzzo's murder became international news. Her photo became a fixture in history books. Her name has been inscribed on civil rights memorials throughout the United States.
But people had far less sympathy for Liuzzo when she was murdered. Hate mail flooded her family's Detroit home, accusing her of being a deranged communist. Crosses were burned in front of the home. Her husband, Anthony Liuzzo Sr., had to hire armed guards to protect his family.
A Ladies' Home Journal magazine survey taken right after Liuzzo's death asked its readers what kind of woman would leave her family for a civil rights demonstration. The magazine suggested that she had brought death on herself by leaving home -- and 55% of its readers agreed.
Le récit au complet:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/28/politics/civil-rights-viola-liuzzo/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
Caricature ceci n'est pas un pape
Caricature de DARYL CAGLE, CAGLECARTOONS.COM
Beau clin d'oeil à l'oeuvre de Magritte...
Mariage gai: plus de soutien républicain
Un nombre croissant de républicains appuient une reconnaissance constitutionnel du mariage entre conjoints de même sexe. On ne parle pas encore d'une vague de fond, mais le mouvement signifie probablement que les positions du G.O.P. sur cette question évoluent. Rappelons que plusieurs républicains souhaitent de nombreux changements au sein de leur organisation qui de plus en en plus ne représente que les blancs âgés de plus de 50 ans.
"The brief comes as the White House is considering whether to weigh in on the same-sex marriage case; at this point, the Republicans who signed the document are taking a more expansive stance than President Obama, who favors same-sex marriage but has said he would leave it to the states, as opposed to making it a constitutional right."
La suite:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/us/politics/gay-marriage-brief-gets-more-republican-support.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130228
Waco, Texas: un autre 28 février (1993)
Triste rappel aujourd'hui du début du siège de 50 jours à Waco au Texas. Les autorités fédérales tentaient de fouiller le Mount Carmel Center, ranch d'une secte de Davidiens. Le leader David Koresh se retouve dans les 66 victimes de ce qu'on appelle régulièrement le "massacre de Waco".
Les autorités fédérales ont été attirées à Waco par des informations faisant état d'abus à l'égard des enfants, de viols systématiques des femmes de la secte et par la présence d'armes illégales sur le site. Après une deuxième tentative des agents fédéraux pour pénétrer dans le centre, c'est le feu qui va éclater et provoquer la mort des membres de la secte.
Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez prochain dirigeant à Cuba?
Sur la photo, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez est à la droite.
L'actuel numéro 2 du régime devra prouver sa valeur et se méfier aussi bien de ceux qui le jalousent à l'interne que de ceux qui exerceront des pressions sur lui à l'externe. Beau défi au moment où "l'ère castriste" tire à sa fin. Assurément les États-Unis étudient attentivement cette transition...
"All the while, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, 52, the top contender to succeed the Castros after more than half a century of their rule, will need to display the authority of a future president while acting as if he does not want the job, maintaining the submissiveness and loyalty that the Castros require.
“It’s going to be a challenge,” said Brian Latell, a former C.I.A. agent who monitored Fidel Castro’s speeches for years and continues to track Raúl Castro as an outside analyst. “The record of the Cuban revolution is littered with the names of people who were thought to be No. 3 or 2 and all of them fell by the wayside, going back to Che Guevara.”
Though a stranger to many Cubans, Mr. Díaz-Canel suddenly became the chosen one when he was promoted to first vice president on Sunday as Raúl Castro, 81, announced he would retire after his current five-year term ended in 2018.
Mr. Díaz-Canel replaced José Ramón Machado Ventura, 82, and became one of the youngest members of Cuba’s political hierarchy. His elevation raised the curtain on an epic drama that had been envisioned dozens of times over the decades. Leader after leader has been mentioned as the next president of Cuba but now, with the Castro era drifting to a close, all the attention is focused on Mr. Díaz-Canel, who has been thrust into what experts describe as the most scrutinized leadership role in the country since Fidel Castro took power in 1959."
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/world/americas/as-castro-era-drifts-to-close-a-new-face-steps-in-at-no-2.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130228&_r=0
Après le "sequester", le "government shutdown": une histoire sans fin...
Les ramifications des conflits entre la Maison blanche et le Congrès semblent être sans fin... Les deux parties doivent s'entendre avant demain pour éviter le "sequester" (série de coupures dans tous les programmes sans égard aux priorités), mais tous savent que qu'on pourrait paralyser le gouvernement américain à la fin mars si certains budgets sont affectés. Les deux dossiers, financer correctement le gouvernement et gérer les coupures du "sequester" sont donc intimement liés. C'est peut-être la menace d'une éventuelle paralysie du gouvernement qui pourrait accentuer la pression de s'entendre d'abord sur les coupures. Complexe tout ça? Oui, et le climat de négociations actuelles rend les choses encore plus difficiles.
"These issues might seem wholly distinct. After all, sequestration emerged as a tool to force Congress into an agreement on taxes and entitlement spending, whereas a government shutdown would be the consequence of Congress failing to pass federal appropriations — a different category of spending altogether.
But because sequestration largely targets the same category of spending, it stands to reason that Democrats and Republicans will use the imperative of funding the government to press their distinct visions of how to replace sequestration.
Thus events of the next several days — particularly the public’s early reaction to sequestration — will determine whether the two issues blend into one, and whether the synthesis redounds to the benefit of one party or the other.
At a glance, everything is lined up for Democrats to capitalize if and when the fight over funding the government subsumes sequestration. They’ve already won the public opinion battle over how to replace sequestration before it hits. And if voters respond angrily once sequestration comes into effect at the end of the week, their call for action to replace it with a balanced mix of tax increases and spending cuts will intensify.
The logical vehicle for addressing the public outcry would be legislation to fund the government. Congress could effectively override sequestration in a government funding bill and pair it with legislation to replace its automatic spending cuts either temporarily or permanently.
For that reason, some Democrats want the White House and Democratic congressional leaders to drive a hard line in the appropriations fight. But they’re not convinced an aggressive fight will pay off just yet.
“Anything the Speaker has regarding a CR [continuing resolution] or an omnibus I’m anxious to see it,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in response to a question from TPM at his weekly Capitol briefing on Tuesday. “I met with him a day or two before we had our break, we had a nice conversation, he hadn’t made up his mind yet what he was going to do. I told him whatever you do give me a little advanced notice I’ll see if I can work with our — we can see what they come up with.”
Reid’s congeniality is rooted in a belief, shared by the White House, that the consequences of sequestration will snowball gradually, and might not be severe enough by mid-March to justify a fight that could trigger a government shutdown.
So they’re eying a softer approach.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/02/sequestration-government-shutdown.php?ref=fpb
mercredi 27 février 2013
Des républicains extrêmes et déconnectés (PEW research center)
Intéressant sondage du Pew Research Center sur ce que les citoyens américains pensent des deux grands partis. Il s'agit de perceptions, mais les résultats seront assurément considérés par les démocrates et les républicains.
"At a time when the Republican Party’s image is at a historic low, 62% of the public says the GOP is out of touch with the American people, 56% think it is not open to change and 52% say the party is too extreme.
Opinions about the Democratic Party are mixed, but the party is viewed more positively than the GOP in every dimension tested except one. Somewhat more say the Republican Party than the Democratic Party has strong principles (63% vs. 57%).
The national survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted Feb. 13-18 among 1,504 adults, comes at a time when Republican leaders are debating the party’s future in the wake of Barack Obama’s reelection. The Republican Party’s image has been hit hard over the past decade. In January, just 33% said they viewed the party favorably, among the lowest marks of the last 20 years. The GOP’s favorable rating has not been above 50% since shortly after George W. Bush’s reelection in 2004."
Tous les résultats:
http://www.people-press.org/2013/02/26/gop-seen-as-principled-but-out-of-touch-and-too-extreme/
Mission vers Mars: couple marié recherché
On cherche un couple pour une mission vers mars de 501 jours. Intéressés?
"MacCallum and millionaire Dennis Tito announced their plans Wednesday to send a couple of earthlings on a 501-day trip in a spacecraft that would fly by the red planet. The proposal was unveiled at the National Press Club in Washington.
The mission would lift off in 2018, they said. It would not involve landing on Mars, making the proposed journey infinitely easier than putting people on the planet's surface, which NASA wants to do later this century. But the spacecraft would pass within 100 miles of the planet.
Tito has founded the Inspiration Mars Foundation, a nonprofit organization spearheading this effort. No stranger to space, the one-time NASA engineer became in 2001 the first space tourist flying on a Russian rocket to the International Space Station. The public-private initiative could, according to MacCallum, use an existing rocket and capsule.
http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/27/group-aims-to-send-2-humans-on-mars-mission-in-2018/?hpt=hp_t1
Rosa Parks a maintenant une statue au Capitole
L'héroïne de la lutte pour les droits civiques est maintenant représentée au Capitole.
"President Barack Obama and congressional leaders unveiled a full-length statue of civil rights icon Rosa Parks in the Capitol Wednesday, paying tribute to a figure whose name became synonymous with courage in the face of injustice.
Parks becomes the first black woman to be honored with a full-length statue in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall. A bust of another black woman, abolitionist Sojourner Truth, sits in the Capitol Visitors Center.
Obama said that with the installation of the statue, Parks, who died in 2005, has taken her rightful place among those who have shaped the course of U.S. history. He said her presence in Capitol would serve to “remind us no matter how humble or lofty our positions, just what it is that leadership requires.”
Obama and House Speaker John Boehner jointly led the unveiling, standing with the statue between them as they grasped and pulled in opposite directions on the braided cord that held the covering. Congressional leaders in the House and Senate joined Parks’ niece in tugging on the cord.
“We do well by placing a statue of her here,” Obama said, “but we can do no greater honor to her memory than to carry forward the power of her principle and a courage born of conviction.”
Parks is famous for her 1955 refusal to give up her seat on a city bus in Alabama to a white man, but there’s plenty about the rest of her experiences that she deliberately withheld from her family.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/rosa-parks-statue-unveiled-at-capitol.php?ref=fpb
Le voting rights act de 1965 maintenu par la peur?
Les propos du juge conservateur Antonin Scalia (Cour suprême)ont le mérite d'être francs et directs. Ils ne laissent planer aucun doute sur la position du juge, on peut croire qu'il se prononcera pour le caractère inconstitutionnel de la loi de 1965.
"In expressing his deep skepticism Wednesday for the constitutionality of a centerpiece of the Voting Rights Act, Justice Antonin Scalia questioned the motivations of Congress for repeatedly reauthorizing it since it was initially passed in 1965.
“I don’t think there is anything to be gained by any Senator to vote against continuation of this act,” Scalia said during oral arguments in Shelby County v. Holder. “They are going to lose votes if they do not reenact the Voting Rights Act. Even the name of it is wonderful — the Voting Rights Act. Who is going to vote against that in the future?”
At issue was the constitutionality of Section 5 of the 1965 law, which requires state and local governments with a history of racial discrimination to pre-clear any changes to their voting laws with the Justice Department prior to enacting them.
Congress has renewed the law four times, most recently in 2006 for a period of 25 years. The margin of victory was 99-0 in the Senate and 390-33 in the House.
Scalia attributed the repeated renewal of Section 5 to a “perpetuation of racial entitlement.” He said, “Whenever a society adopts racial entitlements, it is very difficult to get out of them through the normal political processes.”
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/02/scalia-attacks-congress-for-renewing-voting-rights-act.php?ref=fpa
John Kerry: Secrétaire d'État bilingue
Intéressant d'entendre John Kerry s'exprimer très clairement en français tout en rappelant l'histoire des relations historiques entre la France et les États-Unis. En anglais ils soulignent à quel point Benjamin Franklin et Thomas Jefferson ont aimé Paris.
La folie d'Obama (Bob Woodward, Washington Post)
Les conservateurs se réjouissent des commentaires du célèbre journaliste...
"The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward attacked President Barack Obama on Wednesday, saying the commander-in-chief’s decision not to deploy an aircraft carrier because of budget cuts is “a kind of madness.”
“Can you imagine Ronald Reagan sitting there and saying ‘Oh, by the way, I can’t do this because of some budget document?’” Woodward said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“Or George W. Bush saying, ‘You know, I’m not going to invade Iraq because I can’t get the aircraft carriers I need’ or even Bill Clinton saying, ‘You know, I’m not going to attack Saddam Hussein’s intelligence headquarters,’ as he did when Clinton was president because of some budget document?” Woodward added. “Under the Constitution, the president is commander-in-chief and employs the force. And so we now have the president going out because of this piece of paper and this agreement, I can’t do what I need to do to protect the country. That’s a kind of madness that I haven’t seen in a long time.”
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/bob-woodward-blasts-obama-madness-88160.html?hp=f1
mardi 26 février 2013
Chuck Hagel enfin Secrétaire à la défense
Après une longue période de jeux partisans et de mesquinerie politique, le Sénat (58 contre 41) approuve finalement la nomination de Chuck Hagel. Nous sommes bien loin d'un épisode glorieux de grandeur politique...
Du burlesque à la hauteur des performances du Congrès depuis deux ou trois ans. "They beat him up for months — in TV ads, in op-ed pages and in Congress, with delay after delay before his confirmation on Tuesday.
But now that Chuck Hagel is set to take the top job at the Pentagon on Wednesday, many of his Senate opponents seemed ready to mend fences just hours after trying to derail him. As Hagel’s confirmation cleared the Senate floor 58 to 41, key Republican opponents who tried to wreck his nomination were already engaged in the Washington ritual of trying to make nice with their opponent after spending weeks opposing him.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/hagel-survives-opponents-make-nice-88136.html?hp=t2_3
World Trade Center et l'explosion de 1993: un autre 26 février
Depuis les incidents du 11 septembre 2001, on mentionne peu cette première attaque de 1993. Le 26 février un camion chargé d'une bombe fonçait vers la tour nord. L'explosion provoquera la mort de 6 personnes, en blessant 1042 autres. Les noms des six personnes décédées se retrouvent maintenant sur une plaque au nord du me
mémorial construit pour les incidents du 11 septembre 2001.
lundi 25 février 2013
Caricature Argo et la contribution canadienne: une tendance?
Caricature de CARDOW, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN
Caricature oscar du plus mauvais acteur de soutien...
Caricature de JOHN DARKOW, COLUMBIA DAILY TRIBUNE, MISSOURI
Caricature armes de destruction massives: avec ou sans permis
Caricature de BILL DAY, CAGLE CARTOONS
vendredi 22 février 2013
LAnce Armstrong poursuivit par le gouvernement américain
Nouvelle tuile pour Armstrong. Financé à hauteur de 31 millions par l'US Postal Service de 2001 à 2004, l'ancien champion devra probablement rembourser. On précise cependant que le commanditaire a également bénéficié des retombées du succès d'Armstrong.
"The civil lawsuit alleges that Armstrong and former team managers submitted false claims for government funds to the sponsoring Postal Service by their "regularly employing banned substances and method to enhance their performance" in violation of the sponsorship agreement, the federal announcement said.
"Today's action demonstrates the Department of Justice's steadfast commitment to safeguarding federal funds and making sure that contractors live up to their promises," Stuart F. Delery, principal deputy assistant attorney general for the civil division, said in a statement.
Between 2001 and 2004, the Postal Service paid $31 million in sponsorship fees, but that affiliation has now been "unfairly associated with what has been described as 'the most sophisticated, professionalized, and successful doping program that sport has ever seen,' " said Ronald C. Machen Jr., U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
"In today's economic climate, the U.S. Postal Service is simply not in a position to allow Lance Armstrong or any of the other defendants to walk away with the tens of millions of dollars they illegitimately procured," Machen said.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/22/us/doj-armstrong-lawsuit/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Caricature Tiger Woods et Obama jouent au golf...
Caricature de JOHN DARKOW, COLUMBIA DAILY TRIBUNE, MISSOURI
Caricature iGun et autres utilisations des armes à feu: 100% constitutionnel!
Caricature de TIM EAGAN, DEEP COVER
Argo: un bon film mais... Les Canadiens ont fait le travail. (Jimmy Carter)
Le sauvetage des otages raconté dans Argo procure une bonne matière pour un film, mais l'ancien Président Jimmy Carter, au pouvoir au moment des incidents, considère que le film n'est pas une reconstitution fidèle de l'histoire. Il attribue 90% du succès de l'opération au gouvernement canadien et pas à la C.I.A..
"Former President Jimmy Carter wants “Argo” to win an Oscar — despite one big inaccuracy he saw in the film.
“Well, let me say first of all, it's a great drama,” Carter told CNN’s Piers Morgan in an interview that aired Thursday. “And I hope it gets the Academy Award for best film because I think it deserves it. The other thing that I would say was that 90 percent of the contributions to the ideas and the consummation of the plan was Canadian. And the movie gives almost full credit to the American CIA. And with that exception, the movie is very good.”
In “Argo,” a team led by CIA agent Tony Mendez (played by Ben Affleck) save six diplomats during the Iran Hostage Crisis, which took place during Carter’s presidency.
“But Ben Affleck's character in the film was only … in Tehran a day and a half,” Carter said. “And the main hero, in my opinion, was Ken Taylor, who was the Canadian ambassador who orchestrated the entire process.”
http://www.politico.com/blogs/click/2013/02/jimmy-carter-argo-great-but-inaccurate-157592.html?hp=l12
Sequester: quelles sont les retombées?
On parle de ce "mur fiscal" depuis longtemps et on a reporté le problème à quelques reprises. Si l'exécutif et le législatif ne parviennent pas à s'entendre bientôt, une vaste série de coupures frappera bientôt dans tous les services gouvernementaux. Est-inquiétant? Une partie de la réponse ici:
"If, as many suspect, no deal is reached to avoid it and President Obama orders the sequester next week, the reliability of government services and the broader economic outlook will grow very uncertain. Unlike the targeted federal spending cuts we’ve seen in recent years, the sequester isn’t designed to reshape federal priorities in democratic ways. Instead, when the sequester order goes out, it will effectively start a countdown clock, which ends at the close of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
Between March 1 and then, scores of federal agencies will be required to cut a total of $85 billion in total spending by reducing their remaining budgets by up to 13 percent, according to OMB Federal Controller Danny Werfel. Not only that, but agency heads will have their hands tied when it comes to choosing where to cut.
“What happens is, OMB, we take this amount, this $85 billion that we have to cut and apply it to every account in government,” Werfel told reporters earlier this month at a White House briefing for reporters. “Every account has to be cut by a certain percentage. It’s not like the agencies can move money amongst accounts. But it’s even worse than that; even at the sub-account, there’s something called Program Project and Activity which exists within each account. And the way the sequester law is written is that even underneath the account — even at the Program Project and Activity — they all need to be cut at that same percentage.”
In other words, bloated programs must be cut as much as lean ones; crucial functions as much as ancillary ones.
L'article au complet:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/02/navigating-the-sequester-what-exactly-will-it-do.php?ref=fpnewsfeed
Miracle on ice: un autre 22 février (1980)
Un des matchs les plus mémorables de l'histoire sportive américaine s'est déroulé le 22 février. L'équipe américaine de hockey, regroupant des amateurs et des universitaires, s'imposait face à l'équipe de L'URSS. Largement négligée au début du tournoi, l'équipe américaine dirigée par Herb Brooks allait continuer sur sa lancée et vaincre la Finlande pour remporter la médaille d'or. L'affrontement entre les Américains et les Soviétiques est considéré par beaucoup d'observateurs (dont la Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace) comme le "match du siècle".
Je vous laisse un extrait vidéo des derniers instants de la partie.
Sheryl Sandberg de Facebook: la nouvelle Betty Friedan?
Le livre de Mme Sandberg n'a pas encore été officiellement lancé et déjà on se demande si son effet pourrait être comparable à celui de Betty Friedan, la célèbre féministe et auteure de The feminine mystique (1963).
"Despite decades of efforts, and some visible exceptions, the number of top women leaders in many fields remains stubbornly low: for example, 21 of the current Fortune 500 chief executives are women. In her book, to be published by Knopf, Ms. Sandberg argues that is because women face invisible, even subconscious, barriers in the workplace, and not just from bosses. In her view, women are also sabotaging themselves. “We hold ourselves back in ways both big and small, by lacking self-confidence, by not raising our hands, and by pulling back when we should be leaning in,” she writes, and the result is that “men still run the world.”
Ms. Sandberg wants to take women through a collective self-awareness exercise. In her book, she urges them to absorb the social science showing they are judged more harshly and paid less than men; resist slowing down in mere anticipation of having children; insist that their husbands split housework equally; draft short- and long-term career plans; and join a “Lean In Circle,” which is half business school and half book club.
L'article au complet:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/22/us/sheryl-sandberg-lean-in-author-hopes-to-spur-movement.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130222&_r=0
jeudi 21 février 2013
Chine et cyber espions: le tout Washington aurait été "hacké"
Inquiétant...
"“The dark secret is there is no such thing as a secure unclassified network,” said James A. Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which has been hacked in the past. “Law firms, think tanks, newspapers — if there’s something of interest, you should assume you’ve been penetrated.”
The rising wave of cyber-espionage has produced diplomatic backlash and talk of action against the Chinese, who have steadfastly denied involvement in hacking campaigns. A strategy paper released by the Obama administration Wednesday outlined new efforts to fight the theft of trade secrets.
Cyberspying against what could be called the “information industry” differs from hacks against traditional economic targets such as Lockheed Martin, Coca-Cola and Apple, whose computer systems contain valuable intellectual property that could assist Chinese industrial or military capabilities."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/chinese-cyberspies-have-hacked-most-washington-institutions-experts-say/2013/02/20/ae4d5120-7615-11e2-95e4-6148e45d7adb_story.html?hpid=z1
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Les Tours de Laliberté migrent: rejoignez-moi sur le site du Journal de Québec et du Journal de Montréal
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