[Bloomberg] Francois Hollande, the winner of the first round of La Belle France's elections, said Europe's austerity drive fueled despair and created conditions for the record-high score for anti-euro National Front leader Marine Le Pen. It couldn't have anything to do with continuous assaults against European culture by large numbers of North African colonists...
Le Pen, the leader of the nationalist, anti-immigrant party, won 17.9 percent, or 6.4 million votes, surpassing poll estimates with the highest tally for the National Front created by her father Jean-Marie Le Pen in 1972. Hollande, the Socialist candidate, got 28.6 percent in the April 22 ballot, leaving him to face President Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... in next month's runoff. Sarkozy won 27.2 percent.
"It's this austerity everywhere that brings desperation to people and leads them to vote for the far-right," Hollande said yesterday in a speech in Quimper, in Brittany, where the National Front almost doubled its score from 2007.
Europe's front against austerity has expanded in recent weeks after Spain struggled to meet European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... -imposed deficit targets, election campaigns in Greece faced anti- austerity rumblings and a revolt against extra spending cuts in the traditionally budget-conscious Netherlands propelled Prime Minister Mark Rutte's coalition toward an early breakup.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Europe is what happens when you try and implement an oxymoron.
You cannot have a viable political system where the (supposedly) sovereign entity, France, Spain, etc., do not have control over their own currency. It just won't work.
So, you either have to cede most sovereignty to the EU to go along with their control of the Euro. or you have to revert to the individual currencies.
No question that the elites want the former, effectively a United States of Europe where the central government has all the power and the regions get a few crumbs; less then our states have. Leaves the UK in an anamolous position cause they'll either have to leave the EU or join the euro.
In anycase all the central bankers of the various "countries" will have to devolve into one. That should provide a few laughs when it becomes apparent.
#2
""It's this austerity everywhere that brings desperation to people and leads them to vote for the far-right," Hollande said yesterday in a speech in Quimper, in Brittany, where the National Front almost doubled its score from 2007."
Ergo, responsible government leads people to vote for more responsible government?
#5
You cannot have a viable political system where the (supposedly) sovereign entity, France, Spain, etc., do not have control over their own currency.
Two solutions to that:
a) return currency controls to individual sovereign nations
or
b) impose a single sovereignty over all those countries
#6
Yep, the whole history of the EU dating back to the '20s was for the continent to be subsumed. Kinda had a little hiccup in the '30s & '40s but that served to accelerate the movement with the first treaty of the Coal & Steel Community circa 1950 rith on up to the present day.
Still may crumble at least around the edges due to trying to take on too much at once with all the countries...fall of USSR...etc.
We will see, but, the EU is not at all a democracy and was never so intended.
#7
Bingo, AlanC. But - the 20s? The EU is the fourth attempt to unite Europe. The first three were Charlemagne, Napoleon, and Hitler. Not sure why they thought this would work out any better.
#8
"Not sure why they thought this would work out any better."
Because of the definition of insanity, Random. :-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/24/2012 17:41 Comments ||
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#9
I said when the Germans abandoned the Deutschemark* that they'd regret it - looks like I was right. :-(
*Didn't much care about the other countries.
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/24/2012 17:43 Comments ||
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#10
Hell, many Germans regretted it at the time! So did the Dutch. Always getting swallowed by grand European projects.
To be fair, I'd say it's situational myopia. Like women who keep winding up with wife-beaters. They recognize the pattern, but not that their own decision-making is the problem. And, well, look at the US. We put Ogabe in charge and getting rid of him is not a given. We've fucked ourselves pretty good too, so I'm disinclined to accuse Europeans of insanity/stupidity these days.
#11
The Germans couldn't actually "regret" it (the people, that is) because they were never asked.
There would never have been a majority for that in Germany.
Eurocrats still try to convince the Germans that they benefitted from the Euro. Cheaper expots and all that.
They seemed to have a point. But Germany managed to export its stuff very well under a strong Deutschmark, and we're finding out now that many Euroland countries bought our stuff but couldn't afford to pay for it. We're paying off their debts they accumulated with buying our products (and corruption, of course).
Won't go on forever.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
04/24/2012 22:10 Comments ||
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#12
Agreed, EC. I make a sharp distinction between Europe's rulers, and the ruled.
Right, so the exports were purchased with a credit card, they now can't pay, and Germans are being handed the bill. On top of solidarity tax (if that is still in effect?); and if I understand correctly, Germany only recently (2009?) completed paying WWI reparations.
No, it won't go on forever - it can't. I'm surprised that Merkel remains so committed to The European Project. Being a physicist from the DDR, I expected her to recognize the folly of a centralized superstate. But I suppose suggesting the alternative - a return to the sovereign nation-state - is just too radical. Similar problem in the US.
#4
Let me give you a thought experiment here, and it is the following: without addressing the Palestine - Israel problem, lets say you were an advisor to the President of the United States, how would you respond to current events there?
Clear all the Arabs out of Gaza and tell them they have just regained their Egyptian citizenship. Then tell the WB Arabs the same fate awaits them if they don't behave.
#5
Let me give you a thought experiment here, and it is the following: without addressing the Palestine - Israel problem, let's say you were an advisor to the President of the United States, how would you respond to current events there?
Destroy Mecca from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
#10
Remember : Liberty Ship : Never Again , Israel ! June 24 , 1967 Thus It's 2012 : Obama , Obama , Allah O Akbar : Obama : Arabiya : Arabia : Allah O Akbar
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/24/2012 17:50 Comments ||
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#14
Mrs. Cass Sunstein strikes me as having the potential to be a dangerous woman. Hopefully, she will be spayed and Obama will be neutered in November. Maybe that could be a campaign bumper sticker: "Neutered in November--For the good of the country." Both Power and Bammer are radicals who don't give a fig about Israel. They are hard leftists who are antisemitic.
Is Samantha Power the czar of the Atrocities Prevention Board? Is her job to prevent or promote holocausts?
Any excuse, any excuse, to run this photo of Cindy...
That photo is labeled "The Mad Chipmunk" in my head, for some reason.
is preparing to run for her old 4th Congressional district seat on the Green Party ticket.
McKinney was defeated by 4th district incumbent Hank Johnson
...who is no prize himself...
in 2006 after serving six terms in Congress and has kept a low profile since returning to Atlanta from the San Francisco area where she moved in 2007.
Except for running for president, making trips to Tehran, and being her usual crazy self, she's kept a low profile. Just the MFM plowing the road there...
Since February she has made a few public appearances in her old district but stayed low key with her plans. She filed paperwork April 2 with the Federal Elections Commission declaring her intention to run.
Tracked down at her mother's home Thursday by a reporter from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, McKinney declined to comment and ordered the reporter off the property.
"Git off'n my land, ya varmint!" [SNIC-SNAC]
Last week she was recruiting volunteers to collect the 18,860 signatures of registered voters she'll need by August 6 to get on the newly redrawn 4th district ballot, according the Georgia Secretary of State's office.
A lightning-rod political figure,
As in, holding up a two-iron in a thunderstorm...
McKinney, 55, was defeated in 2006 by Johnson after a much-publicized run-in with a U.S. Capitol police officer and her accusations that the Bush administration may have known beforehand about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
In 2008 she won the Green Party nomination and ran for president. McKinney and running mate Rosa Clemente were on the ballot in 31 states, but not Georgia. The party had hoped with McKinney's name recognition to get at least 5% of the vote so the party would automatically be on the 2012 ballot in all 50 states. She got less than 1 percent of the vote.
Even the Progressives knew she was crazy...
In the summer of 2009, McKinney made international news for her involvement in the Free Gaza Movement, during which she was detained after a ship she was aboard carrying humanitarian supplies was stopped by the Israeli Navy for allegedly running a blockade.
Back in Atlanta, McKinney's associates in the Green Party -- which she joined in 2007 after quitting the Democratic Party -- have closed ranks in support.
They're stuck, you see...
Her former Green Party campaign manager, Hugh Esco, said Wednesday he could not confirm McKinney plans to run, as first reported by the Atlanta Progressive News. "I would call that report a wild rumor," said Esco.
Everything about our gal Cindy is a wild rumor...
Frank Redding, a friend of McKinney's late father, former state legislator Billy McKinney, who has known Cynthia since childhood, said Thursday he's not surprised to hear she's back in her old district and making the rounds for a political rebirth.
"She's been around and been more visible and I believe she's going to make a run, though I've not had a personal conversation with her," said Redding. "But anywhere she runs in South Dekalb County she's going to be viable."
Because the voters there are as crazy as she is...
The new District 4 contains about two-thirds of DeKalb County including the cities of Stone Mountain and Scottdale, and portions of Gwinnett, Newton, and Rockdale counties.
Other former supporters question whether McKinney has the resources or enough remaining clout and presence in the district she left six years ago to get the signatures needed to get on the ballot.
"That's going to be the real challenge for her," said John Evans, who handled McKinney's last congressional campaign, in 2006.
Jan Selman, a Decatur political consultant and former McKinney supporter who backed Hank Johnson in 2006, said she still supports Johnson, and doubts most voters will "get off the rail" and vote Green Party, no matter the candidate.
She said she would never underestimate McKinney. "She's a very determined person," said Selman. "But we need someone in the 4th district with tenure. Hank's been in there three terms. I can't see that changing right now."
There's crazy and there's crazy, you see...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/24/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Even the Progressives knew she was crazy...
There's a rule that you can't be too overt about it, anyway.
#2
...now Chuck Schumer, he be sayin", She be, and she always has been fully-ready fo public positions. Cynthia be "RED-I" fo Pharaoh's call, whenever it comes. She be chillin' willin' and waiting to be tapped for ANY Cabinet appointment available. McKinney is, and always has been certifiably crazy.
The Recovery Act has committed $84.2 million to GA-04 (as of May 30, 2009). These investments include tax cuts for families and critical funds for new roads and improved highways, improved schools, safer communities, and modernized energy systems. Key funds include:
~~ Transportation and infrastructure: $30.9 million
~~ Education: $9.7 million
~~ Social Security: $18.1 million
~~ Small Business Administration: $6.2 million
Nope, it's a well-known running joke. The two were wingmen if I remember right, and it was a skit they came up with years before in the Navy. They played it beautifully.
#22
He's too dumb to be clever enough to it that deadpan, Gorb. You will never convince me unless you had pre-quote "here's how we'll play it" youtube. He has enough stupid on the tubes to back me up. The question is what do you do about a district that sends these assholes, idiots, and morons to Congress. I'm thinking a high wall and cut off communications, food, and energy. Offer flights out
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/24/2012 21:13 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney 
