The faces on this pic may not be familiar to everybody, yet on the right is Sarko in his 20s I guess and on the left is one of his close friends, also of Hungarian origin, Patrick Balkany (in English).
Said Balkany was a founding member of the RPR, the party Chirac set up in 1976 in order to eventually become Président de la République in 1995 and is now a senior member of the UMP, the rightist party Sarko was heading before he was elected President 5 years ago.
Just, Balkany has been convicted several times by the French courts as is detailed here (in French).
You'd think that would be enough for anybody to be ousted from any political responsibility. Not so in France and particularly on the right side of the spectrum. Last week, Balkany has been re-elected for the fourth time (if not more) député à l'Assemblée Nationale.
Yes, it is possible in France to be convicted by the courts and still hold important political offices.
Does the UMP (Sarko's party) mind having a convicted crook in its ranks? Nope sir. Does the electorate of said crook know about his judiciary pedigree? Yes sir and they could'nt care less. But why is that? Balkany's fief is located in the La Défense zone in western Paris which is the largest business district in Europe. Need I say more? Money is the number one value, morality and decency are next to non existent among these people. Balkany could have been convicted for robbery, he still would be elected. Isn't robbery about money?
- So you want to be a politician?
- Yes sir!
- Are you a crook?
- Yes sir and I can prove it.
- Ok, join the party pal!
And those people are the very same who demand the utmost severity against petty offenders and their like (not that I have any sympathy for them anyway but yet...)
For what I know, Richard Nixon is considered the epitome of dishonesty and moral corruption in the US. Yet, on these sole grounds (notwithstanding Viet) he may not be a saint but he certainly is an innocent choirboy when compared to some French politicians, particularly those closely associated with Sarkozy.
11 commentaires:
Flocon,
C'est bizzare, je le sais, mais tu lui resemble un peu (physiquement)
eeeeekk! C'est vrai dis-donc! I've had that unspoken sensation for decades and now that someone else makes the connexion between the miror and the image in the miror the dots are now connected.
The ressemblance is so eery that I, too, am a saint! (ô_ô)
Milhous, despite being a war criminal, instituted environmental programs and government agencies, as well as social programs. None of these are in favor with the current insane Republican Party.
Declaration of Independence. There are so many things that conservatives, especially Republican candidates don't know. Some complaints against the King:
"He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the laws of Naturalisation of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands."
"For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury."
Guess who did those things in very recent history.
BTW, there is a racist part in the Declaration that I wasn't aware of:
"the merciless Indian Savages, whose know rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions."
It kind of takes the shine off.
To see how the Republican Party and the Bushes have moved over the edge, you can see on Wiki the bio of George W's grandfather, Prescott.
"Bush was politically active on social issues. He was involved with the American Birth Control League as early as 1942, and served as the treasurer of the first national capital campaign of Planned Parenthood in 1947. Bush was also an early supporter of the United Negro College Fund, serving as chairman of the Connecticut branch in 1951.
From 1947 to 1950, he served as Connecticut Republican finance chairman, and was the Republican candidate for the United States Senate in 1950. A columnist in Boston said that Bush "is coming on to be known as President Truman's Harry Hopkins. Nobody knows Mr. Bush and he hasn't a Chinaman's chance."[8] Bush's ties with Planned Parenthood also hurt him in heavily Catholic Connecticut, and were the basis of a last-minute campaign in churches by Bush's opponents; the family vigorously denied the connection, but Bush lost to Benton by only 1,000 votes."
So the churches went from crucifying Prescott to adoring George W.
//Milhous, despite being a war criminal//
Ned:
I am unclear about this.
Do you mean that Nixon violated the international law of war?
Or do you mean that because he was the Head of State during a war, he was, ipso facto, a criminal?
I suspect you mean the latter, but please help me by explaining.
SemperFidelis
Nixon secretly bombed and invaded Cambodia. Estimates are that more bomb tonnage was dropped on Cambodia than during all of WWII. This was not authorized by Congress.
Officially we were not at war as Congress never formally voted a declaration but only the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which was based on false premises and used by Johnson as an excuse to enormously expand the non-war. Alaska Senator Gruening, one of two Senators to vote against it, objected to "sending our American boys into combat in a war in which we have no business, which is not our war, into which we have been misguidedly drawn, which is steadily being escalated".
Well, that is not unusual for the U.S. government. It has engaged in more non-war combat interventions than declared war engagements.
Anyway, Congress repealed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1971 and voted the War Powers Act in 1973, which hasn't changed Presidential behavior much.
Flocon, thank you for ruining my day by not only mentioning Balkany, but showing a picture of him. Are you really trying to drive people away?
As to La Defense, several months ago French citizens inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement tried to set up camp there and were more than rudely beaten out by the CRS before they could even get all their tents set up.
"thank you for ruining my day by not only mentioning Balkany, but showing a picture of him."
In case of emergency I always have a picture at the ready...
Pour ce qui est du mouvement des indignés, ce serait peut-être la seule façon directement démocratique de faire un peu évoluer les choses. It would require perhaps a minimum of 5 million people in the streets all over the country.
C'était à La Défense, head temple de la finance et des Hauts-de-Seine. C'est bien pour cela qu'ils y étaient allés et que les CRS n'ont pas fait trainer les choses.
Ça me rappelle the people of the abyss, hardly one century ago. Si ça ne tenait qu'aux Golden boys, on y retournerait vite fait et c'est d'ailleurs déjà en marche.
In case of emergency I always have a picture at the ready...
Your selections are improving. ;)
And you know your Jack London don't you?
Alain "Je suis droit dans mes bottes et je crois en la France" Juppé was convicted of corruption to 14 months of prison with suspended sentence. He also had one year of ineligibility, which he spent teaching in the ENA of Canada.
A simple thief of a scooter risks more than that.
Je suis droit dans mes bottes et je crois en la France
C'est pavlovien ce réflexe chez les politiques d'invoquer leur pays; Juppé ou un autre, ils s'approprient l'argument nationaliste pour faire passer ceux d'en face pour de mauvais patriotes. Suffit de constater comment ils instrumentalisent et le drapeau et la Marseillaise.
En se drapant de vertu nationaliste, cela sert surtout à faire passer ce qui leur est reproché pour d'insignifiantes bêtises sans fondement, l'essentiel est qu'ils sont de bons Français eux! Même discours que dans les années 30 et 40, la droite toujours assise sur les mêmes fondamentaux.
Je ne sais quelle est l'origine de la non interdiction à vie d'exercer des mandats politiques après condamnation. Est-ce lié au concept chrétien de rédemption, ce qui serait après tout historiquement fondé après 15 siècles d'imprégnation religieuse en France?
Toujours est-il que comme il est accoutumé cela sert bien les intérêts privés des politiques de droite. La religion au service des forces conservatrices? You don't say.
Pour ce qui concerne le maire de Bordeau que le monde entier nous envie, notre homme est celui qui en déc. 95, alors premier ministre, voulait allonger le temps de cotisation et faire porter l'âge de la retraite à 60 ans je crois, alor que lui-même, en tant que haut-fonctionnaire (Inspection des finances) l'avait prise à 57 ans!!!
Pour le scooter, j'imagine que tu fais allusion au fils Sarko?
Et les media de nous dire qu'en Ukraine les politiques sont corrompus, aux ordres du chef etc. ce qui heureusement n'est pas le cas chez nous
Thank you for ruining my day by not only mentioning Juppé, but showing a picture of him! Are you really trying to drive me away? {@-ô}
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