WTC resurrection

NEW YORK - OUT OF THE ASHES 
New Yorkers, and I feel a bit like one in exile, can rejoice: 1, World Trade Center will top today a height of 1,271 feet, and reclaim the status of Manhattan's tallest structure, 21 feet higher than the Empire State Building. And once its outer shell is finished next year it will majestically stand at 1,776ft, just 400 feet taller than the WTC destroyed in 2001.

It must be a gratifying feeling for an ever increasing number of people around
Manhattan as the tower rises; a gaping wound ready to heal.

Ukraine Flag

Paying tribute to a return to distinctly fascist traditions and methods, the old Hitler-ally Ukraine has resurrected a flag more appropriate, ahead of the European Soccer Championship in the summer.

Decent people are challenged to shun the Games in a country that constitutes the last fiefdom of Nazi rule in Europe.

The road to victory for Hollande

After the dubious support from the communists, François Hollande could quickly offset any unease over left-leaning experiments that might threaten the French after his election. His strategy to go into the May 6th vote should include to remind the National Front that their overwhelming support came from voters deeply disgruntled by Sarkozy, and that this attempt to rid France of the buffoon in the Elysée Palace can only mean to vote twice against that man.

 Also, Mr Hollande would benefit greatly from making Centrist François Bayrou his candidate for prime minister. Election arithmetic would mean that Hollande receives a share of 39% from the Left, 9% from the Centre and around 10% from the NP voters... making Hollande the winner by a margin of 58:42 - a landslide win. That easy...

Wicked-pedia: "Sarkozysm"

SARKOZYSM

 >> noun, - The pompous exclamation of a hollow sound-bite, screamed from the top of the lungs, usually in contradiction of an earlier made claim. See also "Panic U-Turn"

Sarkozy beaten, Le Pen surges in poll

FIRST RESULTS FROM MAJOR POLLING AREAS
HOLLANDE, LE PEN BIG WINNERS,

SARKOZY BADLY BEATEN
The results based on 5.5% of the electorate:
Sarkozy: 25.5%
Hollande: 28.4%
M. LePen: 20.0%
Mélenchon: 11.7%
Bayrou: 8.5%

First comments praise the election outcome as good news for Europe, bad news for the EU and its unelected commission.

UPDATE 23:45
FINAL RESULT OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 1ST ROUND:
Hollande 28.6%, Sarkozy 27.2%, Le Pen 17.9%, Mélenchon 11.1%, Bayrou 9.1%; Greens 2.1%

A whisker away from power: President-elect François Hollande

New Poll gives Hollande a solid lead [19:32]

The Socialist candidate currently stands at 27.8%, while incumbent president Sarkozy's support remains around 25.6%. Marine LePen improves slightly to 16.9%, Leftist Mélenchon down to 12.5% and Centrist Bayrou at 10.0%

Final 14 days of Sarkozy presidency

Nicolas Sarkozy is the first incumbent president of the 5th Republic to lose in the 1st round of the election. Trailing François Hollande currently with 2.2% in the exit polls, and more than 12% in the runoff vote on May 6, he will be retired by voters at the age of 57.

What was Sarkozy's undoing were mainly his miserable character in his personal life, a pro-German foreign policy to the point of being ridiculed, incompetence to first recognize severe economic perils and once they emerged, unable to tackle them, as well as his style in office, trying hard to compensate for diminutive body size with grand theatrical gestures and abbrasive diplomatic gaffes.

Exit polls from 7pm show Hollande at 27.4%, Sarkozy at 25.3%, LePen at 16.2%, Mélenchon at 13.7% and François Bayrou at 10.6%

Representative Exit Poll:

HOLLANDE WINS FIRST ROUND BY 2.5 - 3.0 PER CENT MARGIN, EXIT POLLS SHOW.

Hollande stands between 27-28% while Sarkozy received between 24.5-25.5 per cent;

Marine LePen polls at 16.5%, followed by Mélenchon and Bayrou, both between 12-13%

HOLLANDE ROUTS SARKOZY IN OVERSEAS TERRITORIES
In Guadeloupe, Hollande scores an outright victory with 57%, in Martinique with 51%. Sarkozy cashed from 33 to 26%. In St. Pierre and Miquelon Hollande received 33.7%, Sarkozy fell there from 24.5 to 18.75%.

ADIEU, MONSIEUR!

The first round of the French presidential election is the prelude to a severe drabbing of incumbent Sarkozy. Exit polls indicate that he trails by 4% to Socialist candidate Hollande. More importantly, a poll conducted today shows that Sarkozy is up to 12% behind Hollande in the direct run-off vote on May 6th.

UPDATE
EXIT POLL from 16:45 shows the margin between Hollande and Sarkozy

narrowing (29.5 : 27.0 per cent);
A late surge of voters results in decent voter participation: 3 hours before the last polling stations close, more than 72% have already cast their vote, much more than expected.

In yet another blow for Sarkozy's re-election bid,  the leader of the National Front, Marine Le Pen, is quoted as saying minutes ago that "Voters have clearly shown today that Sarkozy is not the right man in the Elysée Palace, and I will not endorse him in the

[THIS SITE DEFIES THE BAN ON PUBLISHING POLLS AND RESULTS BEFORE 8PM]

First exit polls in French vote

EXIT POLLS IN PARIS INDICATE CLOSE RACE FOR VICTORY BETWEEN HOLLANDE (30.5%) AND SARKOZY (26.3%), WITH LE PEN RUNNING DISTANT THIRD (16.0%)

The margin of error is 4.5% due to the small sample of voters questioned (200); a very low turnout is expected, 45-55% of the electorate. Only 29% of the 44 million eligible voters have gone to the polls by 12:30; all candidates have already voted.

At 12:49 Dominique Strauss-Kahn, until a year ago absolute favourite to beat Sarkozy, voted. What were his thoughts? Former president (and predecessor of Sarkozy) Jacques Chirac said: "I will vote for Hollande."

First poll from French Polynesia, which closed polling three hours ago, not indicative for outcome of presidential election. But it needs to be published to undermine French laws prohibiting publication of polls and results before 8pm Paris time, under the threat of $100,000 in fines. I defy that pathetic directive, posting from the 5th Arr. in Paris.

The overseas French dominion historically favors... incumbents, so the support for Sarkozy comes as no surprise. None of the candidates campaigned in New Caledonia.

Sarkozy: 36.7%
Hollande: 28.2%
Bayrou: 13.2%
Le Pen: 9.1%
Mèlenchon: 8.2%

More representative is a poll taken yesterday at 5PM in selective French cities:
Hollande: 31.1%
Sarkozy: 24.2%
LePen: 17.6%
Mèlenchon: 13.8%
Bayrou: 10.2%See More

Muslims ought to assimilate

I always find it most curious when Muslims demand and advocate an open society of multi-culturism, free speech and free press, while there is not a single Arab country where these ideals are established in their respective constitution, let alone upheld by competent courts and political parties. Therefore, I frequently tell such individuals to shut up already, and either adapt to their host nation or get the hell out of it.

Labour's links with terrorism

THE CONFUSION AND CHAOS SURROUNDING THE ABU QUATADA CASE IS CAUSED EXCLUSIVELY BY THE IMMORAL POLICIES OF THE LABOUR GOVERNMENT THAT GAVE SANCTUARY TO A KNOWN MUSLIM TERRORIST IN THE FIRST PLACE.



It is the kind of moral ground that Labour stand on, which drove former PM Gordon Brown to eagerly commute the life sentence, and arrange the transfer to a Libyan beach ressort, of a convicted mass murderer, who had caused the bombing of PANAM flight 103, in which 278 people died.

UK vs European Court of 'Justice'

Conference to clip

European Court of Justice

Ministers from 47 countries will meet in Brighton to discuss the UK's determination to limit the powers of the European Court of Human Rights.

The UK has criticized numerously the court's judgements, including giving prisoners the vote and deciding against the deportation of convicted Muslim terrorist Abu Qatada. The court's mingling with British law as infuriated Britain and has heaped ridicule on the ECJ from all over the world.

Terrorist and Muslim thug Abu Quataba

Prime Minister David Cameron wants the countries which use the court to limit its ability to overrule cases already determined by national courts. He wants to enshrine the principle of "subsidiarity" in the Brighton Declaration, which it is hoped ministers will agree at the end of the two-day conference.

Agreement is unlikely as Germany and Belgium strongly support the idea of absolute powers to the Strasbourg based court. The case of the Arab hoodlum, now in a high-security prison in England, will test the court's limitations. Britain is ready to hand over the terrorist to Jordanian authorities where he faces renewed charges of terrorism, murder and kidnapping, and faces the death penalty. The ECJ tries to argue that the Arab can appeal the extradition decision by the Home Office, a contention the British Government vehemently denies.

UPDATE 12:36
The Home Secretary reiterated this morning that Muslim extremist Abu Qatada's deportation case has "absolutely no right whatsoever" to be referred to the European Court of Human Rights.

Mike Wallace +

Mike Wallace   V

When you live in America it is hard to come by a competent, non-trivializing news program. One shining example of brilliant journalism and captivating no-nonsense investigative reporting is CBS' "60 Minutes" however, making easily up for the trashy, gossipy boulevard infantilism disseminated in daily newscasts from all TV stations. I have watched 60 Minutes for many years, and the champion from the regular and already highly competent team has been Mike Wallace. He died yesterday at age 93.

His style of witty, unrelenting and intrusive, often subtly aggressive (if that is possible) interviewing, supplemented with diligent and responsible research which had enabled him to never have to retract a story, was a surely winning combination. Two of his segments remain edged in my memory: sparring of wits with genius pianist Vladimir Horowitz, and his proper direct question to Ayatollah Khomeini, "Sir, aren't you insane?"

TWO (FRENCH) EASTER BUNNIES, it's "Spinach Day"

HAPPY EASTER, it's "Spinach Day"

Getting the show on the road, pulling out of the garage in a few minutes to hit the E15 Southbound, eventually arriving at Vivienne's place at around 5pm. With the help of the TomTom GPS it will be smooth cruising clear to Villefranche-sur-Mer.

We plan on fishy lunch at around 1:30 in Avignon (already booked, "hold the wine"), while dinner will be at our favourite Italian eatery BOCCACCIO on Rue Masséna in Nice's pedestrian zone at 8.

Good Friday will be spent on a pebbled beach with a hamper full of light goodies (it is a day of fasting on the Christian calendar, so - no meat!). Better Saturday is planned to meet up with the sisters' friends in Sanremo, some 30 minutes drive from our Côte d'Azur lair. Sunday's egghunt will be an event at Pascal's hidden treasure home in St Paul, with weather expected to be nice enough to dip into the pool there too. Monday is a day of lazying around, belly up, succulent fruit dangling over my mouth. One can dream, eh?

Back on the road to Paris on Tuesday, when it's time to pull the plug on redundant FB in favour of Google's blogspot. Happy Easter e'eryone!

Germany, Europe's Bully

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY:

Switzerland, Germany & Austria

Ever since Switzerland refused to be lured into the European Union, jealousy, fury and resentment have gripped EU members. While the Swiss have rewarded hard work, responsible budgeting and disciplined saving with low interests, moderate taxation and courting of foreign investors, the opposite is true for the morose EU.

Home Front

Sunday breakfast is usually my travail, unless we eat out for brunch. This morning I served toasted New York bagels, Philadelphia cheese and smoked salmon, sprinkled with dill. Two soft-boiled eggs in a glass, spiked with drops of Tabasco to make for these Flaming Lips, and Elgar's coffee (out of the cafetiere, add a shot of Kahlua, into stylish coffee glasses, topped with vanilla-laced whipped cream) make the feast nearly complete. But today I even left a single red rose on the serving tray. Only to collect the reward thirty minutes later.

Great (Palm)Sunday everyone!

Holy Week in Europe

EURO CRISIS:

 

THE POPE TO THE RESCUE, MMXII A.D.

 A sensational breakthrough to end the euro crisis has been reported this morning by the Holy See. In a Reuters news story dated April 1st, Pope Benedict XVI has reportedly concluded negotiations with the EU Commission to deliver resources and management for the ailing eurozone, and provide the Vatican as the eurozone's new center as of July 1st, 2015....

The pope agreed to issue bonds worth $750 billion, backed up by the Vatican's wealth estimated now in excess of $TN. In a surprise move the Vatican also pledges $350bn for Portugal, Spain, Italy and Ireland - Europe's most staunchly Catholic countries and also economies that share one thing: they are bankrupt.

The pope's demands that the bi-annual Papal address "Urbi et Orbi" should be changed into "Urbi et Orbi et Terra Euri" [To the city (Rome), the world and the Euroland] and affixed to the new European flag, as well as making the Pope a figure head leader of the Eurozone, were eagerly agreed to by EU Commission President Barroso on behalf of the full commission in Brussels: "I am so excited! I am Catholic, go to church more often than to Berlin, and I really like to live in Vatican City. This pope puts all of Europe on a shining path to glory, and us in a position to surpass China and the US as global economic power."

 

How appropriate in a week when the Church commemorates the crucifixion of Christ, and the Euro faced its own brutal demise.