L' Election Présidentielle 2007 / French Presidential Election [R]

[ilv2]

haha i knew you guys love your BD but damn...
beaux-arts is well and truly dead ;)
the second picture is really brilliant though.

I think it is safe to say that Nicholas Sarkozy will be the new president of France.I also believe that we will see Bayrou and Sarkozy in the 2nd round.

and actually to touch on this point again, the recent past has demonstrated that the leader in February sometimes does not reach the 2nd tour. The obvious example of this is Jospin in 2002, but also Balladur in 1995. Each election had its own particularities, sure, but these elections can be qualified as equally particular.
The french know their system the best and a recent study has shown that over 70% of citizens do not believe that the elections are 'finished.'


I mean, my university can't afford soap and toilet tissue (no joke here), but the two candidates are promising us BILLIONS. This makes no sense, no sense at all. France is broke. Period.

Sego's biggest promise was on education "reform" though no? What kind of reforms are she proposing (assuming that the funds are available). If they are anything like her brilliant parent-teacher get-together days then wow, one can really feel the ambition just teeming there...

[Douai]

The french know their system the best and a recent study has shown that over 70% of citizens do not believe that the elections are 'finished.'

In that case,my dad is in the 30% of French citizens that believe it's over.He is convinced that Royal has no chance after her recent mistakes and plunge in the opinion polls.

[Pierre-Henri]

Royal has no real program, just "more funds for everyone !", "more teachers !", "more classrooms !", " a poney for every school student !"... ah no, she didn't promise the poney.

---------------
22 : Organiser des Etats généraux des enseignants pour améliorer leurs conditions de travail, assurer la pleine reconnaissance de leurs missions et préparer un plan pluriannuel de recrutement et de formation.

Do you have any idea of the number of "commissions", "conseils", "assemblées" and "observatoires" that already exist within the ministery of education ? Thousands and thousands and thousands. So many that nobody knows their exact number. Royal says : MORE !

-------------
24. Organiser le soutien scolaire gratuit pour tous les élèves grâce à des répétiteurs.

Fine. But who will pay ? Ah, but maybe "gratuit" means "bénévole" and that these assistants will not be paid.

--------------
25. Limiter à 17 le nombre d'élèves par classe en CP et en CE1 dans les ZEP.

More teachers ! Fine, but who will pay ?

-------------
26. Réviser la carte scolaire pour supprimer les ghettos scolaires et assurer la mixité sociale.

This is an incredibly smart idea ! I mean : suppress the ghettoes ! Woaw, and to think that nobody had this idea before ! As easy as 1, 2, 3.

--------------
27. Renforcer la présence adulte dans les établissements y compris [...] par la présence d'un deuxième adulte dans les classes.

The ministery of education currently has 1 300 000 employees. That's a lot already, but who cares ? 500 000 or 600 000 more won't hurt. Our model for education : the chinese army. Why employ 1 person when you can employ 15 instead ? And then again, who will pay their wages ? Unlike the chinese army, we don't have yuans. We have to pay them in euros.

Plus, even if Royal could find the money, it is not possible for matters of human ressources. Too few people actually want to be teachers. Even today, the ministery can't find enough qualified volunteers. What's the point in creating jobs if no one actually want to occupy them ? (or we accept underqualified persons, meaning you could become teacher without any diploma).

---------------
30. Adopter une loi de programmation pour redonner à nos universités les moyens de l'excellence. [...] Associer les régions à la remise à niveau des universités (bâtiments, logements étudiants...).

Here again : MORE ! We already have approximatively 10264078224 different educational laws in this country. Who cares ? More, more, MORE !

The 2nd point (ask the region) isn't bad in itself, but in reality it is very complicated. Recently, for example, the university of Mulhouse built a school of chemistry. The bill was paid by :
- the ministery of research.
- the city of Mulhouse.
- the Alsace region.
- the Haut-Rhin department.
(not 1/4 each, but endless negotiations to know exactly who does what. The university itself has almost no decision power).

---------
31. Créer un service public d'orientation pour que les jeunes soient informés pleinement des débouchés offerts par chaque filière.

Massive bulls**t. Utter, complete, irremediable bulls**t. Counselling was never a problem : students perfectly know that "prépas" and "grandes écoles" are better than university. They perfectly know that everything is better than university .... but they go there because they have no other choice. Plus, counselling doesn't influence the student's level : an illiterate freshman will make a poor student, whatever kind of counsel you give to him. The "bac" sucks, no counselling will be able to change that.

-------
32. Créer une allocation autonomie pour les jeunes sous condition de ressources.

This already exists ! For God's sake ! Doesn't Ségolène Royal exactly know her stuff ? As a whole, France is ALREADY SPENDING more than 4 BILLIONS a year in student's help (tuitions, housing rents, tax cuts, access to cultural events, and so far ...).

----------
34. Soutenir la création et l'emploi culturels.

Here again, France is ALREADY the country in the world with the greatest number of bureaucrats working in all the cultural fields. The result ? A disaster. Taxpayers spending millions for conmen like Christo, Christine Angot or Buren, people watching actors defecate on stage at the Avignon Festival, and the cultural influence of the country is falling lower year after year. The Loire Châteaux, for example, survive only with the help of US private fundations (thanks, BTW).

----------

I stop here before I get really angry :mad:. The education, research & culture program of Segolène Royal is clear as day : we'll do everything that didn't work so far, but on a larger scale. This is madness.

[guignol]

well at least marie-ségo made good her promise to get us an NSR forum! :rolleyes:

[Breakwood]

And I though we had no real choice for a leader in Canada. I figure if I was in France I'd go for Bayrou, but it doesn't looke like he has much of a chance.

[AllezParisAllezPSG]

i always figured, if you had an infinite amount of money, being a socialist would be the optimal party... the perfect socialist government needs INCREDIBLY financing where the gov't probably takes 2/3 of gdp (as compared to about 50% today)... even then who knows...

since that's not the case and we do not have an infinite amount of money to finance all these projects, socialism has never worked... sarkozy is the only guy i think who can turn this country around... but who knows, the fight has just started...

too bad, i was looking forward to the pony :) ...

[TheOrator]

Mixed views on Royal's TV outing

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6378851.stm


French socialists probably breathed a sigh of relief as the credits rolled on TF1at the end of Segolene Royal's marathon appearance before a panel of voters.

[ilv2]

9 million viewers, the largest amount in 15 years.

After the emission Sego has risen in the polls
nfin une bonne nouvelle pour Ségolène Royal. Après une série de sondages négatifs, la candidate socialiste repasserait en tête des intentions de vote pour le premier tour, avec 29 % des voix, devant Nicolas Sarkozy, selon un sondage CSA publié, mercredi 21 février, dans Le Parisien. Son concurrent de l'UMP est crédité de 28 % d'intentions de vote : il perd 5 % par rapport aux chiffres CSA du 15 février.
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-823448,36-869720@51-841384,0.html

Sego: 29%
Sarko: 28%
Bayrou: 17%
Le Pen: 14%

[Breakwood]

That Le Pen number is scary high!

[ilv2]

eh the FN usually gets around 15 % if I remember correctly.

But yea, 15% is still a little frightening, but imagine if we had multiple parties in the US (can't speak for Canada, sorry I have absolutely no knowledge of your political system :(). Perhaps we'd see the same here except we have on the behemoth-like conglomeration that is the two-party system.

[guignol]

hey, guys like schwarzy get elected in the states saying things that even le pen would consider scary!

[Gnafron]

Vive la VIème République ! :rolleyes:

[guignol]

vive le général alcazar et les pommes de terre frites!

[Breakwood]

eh the FN usually gets around 15 % if I remember correctly.

But yea, 15% is still a little frightening, but imagine if we had multiple parties in the US (can't speak for Canada, sorry I have absolutely no knowledge of your political system :(). Perhaps we'd see the same here except we have on the behemoth-like conglomeration that is the two-party system.

The Canadian system is quite complicated. We like to say we have more choice than the Americans, but really, there are only two political parties that are able to get elected as prime-minister (Conservatives and Liberals). The New Democrats get elected in some ridings, along with the Bloc Quebecois, who only run in Quebec, and usually take about 3/4 of the province.

[Douai]

eh the FN usually gets around 15 % if I remember correctly.

But yea, 15% is still a little frightening, but imagine if we had multiple parties in the US (can't speak for Canada, sorry I have absolutely no knowledge of your political system :(). Perhaps we'd see the same here except we have on the behemoth-like conglomeration that is the two-party system.

Yeah, you would probably see the same thing in the U.S.

[ilv2]

the "Best-of" of the Guignol de l'Infos's sketches on the three main candidates...

Sarkozy (mms://vipmms.canalplus.fr/canalplus/guignols_070226_a.wmv)

Royal (mms://vipmms.canalplus.fr/canalplus/guignols_070227_a.wmv)

Bayrou (mms://vipmms.canalplus.fr/canalplus/guignols_070228_a.wmv)


--------------------------------------

More pertinent to an international audience, Sarko outlined his foreign policy.

Point by Point from Lemonde:
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/articleinteractif/0,41-0@2-823448,49-877410,0.html?xtor=RSS-3208

Summary from Yahoo France:
http://fr.news.yahoo.com/01032007/202/nicolas-sarkozy-souhaite-des-changements-en-politique-etrangere.html

NY Times - interesting that they label him center-right...
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/01/world/europe/01france.html




I stop here before I get really angry :mad:. The education, research & culture program of Segolène Royal is clear as day : we'll do everything that didn't work so far, but on a larger scale. This is madness.

heh you know USC's french department could use some more high quality professors ;) of course then there's George Bouche

[Pierre-Henri]

I didn't want to start a new thread for this, but since it's related to politics :

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20070216/CPINSOLITE/70216075/5406/CPINSOLITE

in english :

http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=25&story_id=36626

It's good to see our canadian friends feel the sheer stupidity of french politicians. We have culture, and not you ! That's French Culture for you, canucks !

Oh boy, are we ridiculous ? Sometimes I'm ashamed to be french :( .

[Breakwood]

We can only hope! (http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/02/news/france.php)

[guignol]

jmlp does this every election!

"oh look, the politics-as-usual-establishment is playing dirty to keep me off the ballot! i'm the honest little guy being harassed by a bunch of bullies!" ... and he gets his extra 15 mnutes of fame even though he knows full well he's got all his signatures...

[Nanbawan]

jmlp does this every election!


And it works every time ! 5 years are already enough for the media to fall in the trap...

Anyway, if he does not run, let's not forget that there are legislative elections after the presidentials !