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Europe
Villepin who is a man causes uproar in parliament
2006-06-21
Even by the unruly standards of France's National Assembly, yesterday's session was exceptional. When François Hollande, the Socialist Party leader, berated the French government for its handling of the crisis at Europe's leading aerospace company, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin lost control and shook his tiny fists and squealed in rage.

In an outburst that was both highly personal and filled with rage, de Villepin accused Hollande of cowardice. "I denounce, Mr. Hollande, your superficiality, and I would even say, looking at you, cowardice! Cowardice!" de Villepin shouted, ``There is in your attitude, I say it again, cowardice!''

Socialist members of parliament tried to drown him out with cries of "Resign! Resign!" Some deputies moved forward toward the prime minister before storming out of the chamber. Henri Emmanuelli, a Socialist deputy and a former president of the National Assembly, shouted, "He's mad!''
Nah, he's just a wuss.
The session — the regularly scheduled Tuesday hearing with de Villepin and other ministers — came to an abrupt end.

De Villepin's outburst was provoked by an accusation by Hollande about the growing scandal involving the newest super-jumbo jet from Airbus and the controversy over alleged insider trading by the French co-chief executive officer of its parent company, EADS. Hollande asked whether the French government, a major stakeholder of EADS, continued to support the executive, Noel Forgeard.

Hollande also charged that de Villepin lacked the trust of the French people and would not regain it by filing a libel suit against journalists who wrote books.
Lack the trust? Is there anyone in French politics who has the trust of the French people?
On Monday, de Villepin took the unusual step of filing libel suits against the authors of two books on a complicated financial scandal known as the "Clearstream" affair. It was considered a politically risky move, in that it could force him for the first time to testify about the affair in court. De Villepin has been accused — he insists wrongly — of ordering an undercover investigation in 2004 of Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, his political rival, in connection with the Clearstream affair. Sarkozy has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Calls for de Villepin's resignation have increased in recent months, even within his own UMP party, following the failure of his disputed initiative to create jobs for young people. An opinion poll in Le Journal du Dimanche last weekend indicated de Villepin's approval rating stands at 23 per cent, compared to 28 per cent a month ago.
Posted by:ryuge

#25  Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin lost control

Menopause is nothing to joke about....

Posted by: Frank G   2006-06-21 19:55  

#24  Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin lost control

May I suggest Depends?
Posted by: Captain America   2006-06-21 17:55  

#23  THEY MEAN TO WIN WIMBLEDON!
Posted by: mojo   2006-06-21 17:23  

#22  I mean the Mirage video.... Chad? Mali?
Posted by: 6   2006-06-21 16:19  

#21  Chad?
Posted by: 6   2006-06-21 16:17  

#20  UPDATE
Villepin apologizes to Hollande. (text in French)



Secret Master,
I think I'm saying the same thing as you: The French suffered horrendous losses in WWI and still haven't recovered. I suspect they need another generation to fully recover. The big question is whether they have a generation before the Muzzies take over.

On the hopeful front, it seems the conservative Catholics are even more fertile than the Muslims, and the next generation of French children will be heavily Latin Rite Catholics.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al   2006-06-21 16:09  

#19  I'd swear the pilot was reading a map while flying at the one foot level or so. What was he doing, checking road signs? (Hate to be in a car on that road.)

Right. Thay are following the road until the objective and the guy is probably chacking which branch of a crossroad to follow. But he is not at one foot level, if you look carefully at the shades and the appant size of the scrubs plus the fact that immediately after that he enters a barrel he must be between 150 and 300 feet high.

But a bit later they go much lower 30 to sixty feet max and then the guy calmy adjusts something in his front panel. There is also the acrobatics over the airfield when the right wing nearly touches the tarmac.

I would have hated to be on the back seat. :-)
Posted by: JFM   2006-06-21 15:32  

#18  JFM.

I'd swear the pilot was reading a map while flying at the one foot level or so. What was he doing, checking road signs? (Hate to be in a car on that road.)
Posted by: SLO Jim   2006-06-21 15:11  

#17  Thank you Master, I'm a bit fed up with it as well. Ring me up if you'd like a recipe for that
lovely creme brule.
Posted by: Julia Childs   2006-06-21 14:14  

#16  Raj, Frozen Al:

Your Francophobe prejudices are quite tiresome. I think highly of for both JFM and anonymous - please do not unfairly insult their nation. The French died in epic numbers during WWI. In some ways they are still recovering from the slaughter. And while France has obviously fallen on some hard times, there is every reason to be optimistic about it recovering in the near future. France is slowly coming to her senses. Many individual Frenchmen already have.

With all that said: Dominique de Villepin in a brawl with Francois Hollande? Priceless.
Posted by: Secret Master   2006-06-21 14:09  

#15  
SuperSize mine plz!

Posted by: RD   2006-06-21 13:58  

#14  I would tend to say that the French problem starts in kidergarten when children are encouraged to report bullies instead of dealing with them like a normal boy would instictively do. The second problem is that not having guns given habits of not meeting the danger afec to face but call the authoritis or run.

But despite the best efforts of our leftist eductaors and our supposedly right wing politicians there are still French with enough balls for this

Note: I ended finding where the images came from and those people aren't south-africans.
Posted by: JFM   2006-06-21 12:39  

#13  JFM,
The reason French are such pussies now is because every Frenchman with any balls was killed during WWI. Then, just in case any survived, their children got killed in Indochina and Algeria. Masculinity has been selectively bred out of the French people.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al   2006-06-21 12:20  

#12  Wow, they're catching up to the pols in SorK and IL, huh?

Always exciting to watch them come to blows.
Posted by: anonymous2u   2006-06-21 10:53  

#11  Thus, I wouldn't place my money on Dom if he traded punches with that ex-trotskist brawler.

But Cambadelis is not the party leader. He may not trade blows with the other side leader. That privilege is for the fattish and relatively short Hollande who looks like having never done any sport since high school and having never been involved in a fight since day care center.
Posted by: JFM   2006-06-21 10:52  

#10  BTW, I'm adding the flan to the RB photo library, it might come in handy...
Posted by: Seafarious   2006-06-21 10:15  

#9  Did I just see that flan...quiver?

LOL.
Posted by: Seafarious   2006-06-21 10:12  

#8  François Hollande, the very portrait of european manliness.

(kill it if it messes with format)

An another portrait...



Posted by: anonymous5089   2006-06-21 10:07  

#7  Yes, Verdun -- almost a million Frenchman and Germans killed in a very short time. Yes, there were definitely some idiots in charge and some courageous men there. It makes Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, and 9/11 look like minor events.

Nonetheless, the whole exchange in parliament has the flavor of a Monty Python sketch or Scrappleface. "I denounce, Mr. Hollande, your superficiality, and I would even say, looking at you, cowardice! Cowardice!" Bring out the dueling pistols.
Posted by: Darrell   2006-06-21 08:53  

#6  I saw a Frenchman quit his job over a matter of honour. They still get very excited about those sort of words. Somehow they have to have everyone agree with them now instead of letting history sort it out later with calmer minds. Good theater, lousy government.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble   2006-06-21 08:44  

#5  I'm so fed up with thoses dram queens; let the republic die, please, it is rotting more and more with every passing day.

It was so tense that it looked like Villepin and Hollande were about to trade blows (I would place my money on Villepin if that hapenned).

JFM, in my local newspaper, there's a picture of socialist MP Jean-Christophe Cambadeli leaning over Galouzeau "de Villepin", looking aggressive.

The main reason I know Cambadeli's name is because a few years ago, during a socialist meeting heckled by anarchists and assorted leftists, he led a countercharge of militants, sticks and saps in hand (msm was of course silent about that glaring example of direct democracy and nuanced socialist dialog by an elected official in action), who chased the moonbats away, bashing heads in the process.

Thus, I wouldn't place my money on Dom if he traded punches with that ex-trotskist brawler.

Of course, Holland is the most wussified example of a man I could imagine, I wouldn't picture him voctorious in any kind of brawl with almost anyone.
Posted by: anonymous5089   2006-06-21 08:41  

#4  Frenchies calling each other cowards, now that's funny...

But less funny than you calling someone else idiot. Next time think in the people who fell at Verdun.
Posted by: JFM   2006-06-21 08:21  

#3  It was so tense that it looked like Villepin and Hollande were about to trade blows (I would place my money on Villepin if that hapenned). In fact just in case Parliament personel moved placed themselvesd between both politicians.
Posted by: JFM   2006-06-21 08:16  

#2  Frenchies calling each other cowards, now that's funny...
Posted by: Raj   2006-06-21 08:11  

#1  wow, what a sissy.
Posted by: rich   2006-06-21 07:41  

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