Monica Lewinsky aide Hillary Clinton

Un titre un brin tordu, mais l'analyse n'est pas bête. En effectuant sa sortie maintenant, Lewinsky permettra probablement que le sujet ne vienne hanter la campagne d'Hillary. Si le républicain Rand Paul s'accroche aujourd'hui à cette histoire, il y a fort à parier que les journalistes auront d'autres chats à fouetter dans quelques mois. Et puis les Américains souhaitent-ils vraiment revivre ce drame duquel on n'apprend plus rien?

 "Lewinsky’s account makes clear that her affair with the president was between two consenting adults. “Sure, my boss took advantage of me, but I will always remain firm on this point: it was a consensual relationship,” she writes. “Any ‘abuse’ came in the aftermath, when I was made a scapegoat in order to protect his powerful position.”

 So her piece defuses Paul’s line of attack. And it does so before any Clinton presidential announcement.

 If and when a Clinton presidential announcement comes, Lewinsky will be old news. “It’s time to burn the beret and bury the blue dress,” Lewinsky writes. That would be good news for both women

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ruth-marcus-monica-lewinsky-does-hillary-clinton-a-big-favor/2014/05/06/36657da4-d55f-11e3-8a78-8fe50322a72c_story.html?hpid=z1

Monica Lewinsky de retour

Elle s'est retrouvée autour d'une des histoires les plus tordues de la politique américaine, mais on l'a peu entendue depuis son aventure avec le Président Bill Clinton. Monica Lewinsky n'est plus cette jeune stagiaire de la Maison Blanche et elle entend bien écrire sa propre histoire.

 "Lewinsky has indeed endured a nearly two-decade ordeal, in which she went from the giddy high of her involvement with the president to becoming “possibly the first person whose global humiliation was driven by the Internet.” She has worked as a spokeswoman for Jenny Craig, played host of a reality television program called “Mr. Personality,” designed her own line of handbags, and finally earned a master’s degree in social psychology with a thesis on the effects of pre-trial publicity on jury selection. But her notoriety has also repeatedly cost her job opportunities with nonprofit organizations. Marriage (something she once told a co-worker’s wife she deeply wanted) has eluded her, and even her “blind dates” have been by definition only half-blind."

  http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/lewinskys-perspective-106421.html?hp=f2

Caricature John Kerry le diplomate...

Caricature de NATE BEELER, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Caricature Godzilla

Caricature de JOE HELLER, GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETTE

Caricature fête des mères

Caricature de JOE HELLER, GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETTE

Prière et politique: la Cour suprême se prononce

Un autre jugement très serré. Une décision intéressante si on pense au débat de notre côté de la frontière avec le maire Tremblay de Saguenay.

 "The Supreme Court ruled Monday, 5-4, that sectarian prayers can be presented at official government meetings without running afoul of the Constitution’s prohibition on establishment of religion.

 Acting in a case brought against Greece, N.Y., over its practice of allowing local ministers to deliver prayers at town board meetings containing beliefs specific to particular Christian denominations, the court’s majority said such prayers are legally permissible as long as the government does not discriminate among those seeking to present a prayer.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/scotus-upholds-prayer-at-public-meetings-106343.html?hp=f2

George H.W. Bush reçoit le John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.

Le nom de ce prix s'inspire du titre du livre pour lequel John F. Kennedy s'était mérité le prix Pulitzer. Bush père le reçoit pour une mesure impopulaire mais nécessaire.

 "“We celebrate courage today, in a moment of profound change and challenge, in a world gripped by partisan gridlock and inaction,” he said.

 The budget deal enacted “responsible and desperately needed reforms” at the expense of Bush’s popularity and his chances for re-election, Schlossberg said.

“America’s gain was President Bush’s loss, and his decision to put country above party and political prospects makes him an example of a modern profile in courage that is all too rare,” he said. In a message read by his granddaughter, Bush expressed regret he could not accept the award in person. He blamed his absence on “a nasty rumor” that the evening’s awards dinner would include broccoli - a vegetable the 41st president famously dislikes.

“Candidly speaking, my grandfather didn’t want to raise taxes,” Lauren Bush said as she accepted the award. “But … he felt he owed the American people action and results. Compromise is a dirty word in Washington today. … But once we get back to realizing the importance of actual governance, I suspect this too will pass.”

 http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/george-hw-bush-receives-kennedy-award-106327.html?hp=r11

Jésus et son épouse: des professeurs de Harvard dupés?

Il y a deux ans je soulignais l'histoire de ce papyrus dans mon carnet web. Alors que des chercheurs de Harvard pointent dans la direction d'un document authentique, plusieurs chercheurs de diverses universités n'y croient tout simplement pas. Jésus avait-il une épouse? Il semble qu'on se posera encore la question...

 "The document struck others as strange because its timing seemed too convenient. Whenever an apparently ancient relic emerges that seems to address a modern debate exactly — such as women’s role in the church and whether priests should marry — it’s usually “too good to be true.”

 But then, after King’s fragment and its implications had simmered for two years, she came out with her study. It said the fragment was in fact an ancient document dating between the sixth and ninth centuries A.D., and that its contents had been composed as early as the second to fourth centuries. “None of the testing has produced any evidence that the fragment is a modern fabrication or forgery,” the press release said.

 The media was in love. For several days afterward, headlines touted the findings. Researcher Askeland, however, wasn’t convinced. “The writing was not comparable to any ancient manuscript which I had seen,” said the professor, who also works for Indiana Wesleyan University.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/05/05/how-harvard-scholars-may-have-been-duped-by-a-forged-gospel-of-jesuss-wife/?tid=hp_mm&hpid=z3

Obama White House correpondant's dinner 2014

Caricature Rob Ford frozen

Caricature de RANDY BISH, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW

White House Correspondents Association: une histoire

Samedi soir ce sera le traditionnel White House Correspondent's Dinner à Washington. Cette rencontre est organisée par la White House Correspondents Association qui célèbre cette année son centenaire. Ils sont approximativement 250 journalistes à couvrir les activités de la Maison Blanche. Une fois par année on organise un souper auquel le Président et sa conjointe assistent. Voici l'histoire de cette association qui a bien évolué au fil des ans. Je vous laisse plus bas la dernière "performance" d'Obama lors de ce souper.

"Legend has it that reporters first took up a daily beat inside the White House one frigid day in the early 1900s, after President Theodore Roosevelt noticed a band of correspondents staking out sources in the rain. The president "looked out and took pity," as one chronicle of the period reports it.

But historians have since debunked that simple version of events, offering instead a richer tale about how reporters worked their way into the White House and then slowly expanded their presence over the years.

In fact, the rise of the White House beat is "an evolutionary portrait," says Martha Joynt Kumar, a Towson University political scientist on the presidency and the press. She has charted the way the White House press worked its way up from huddling over one small table in the mansion to occupying a full press room in the West Wing.

A press corps of some 250 people now keeps a daily watch on the administration, relying heavily on their proximity to the president and his staff inside the walls of the historic building."

 La suite: