DeLay indicted in campaign finance probe

[Penta]

I' m not getting into this one as I don't know enough about it, but I have to point out that calling Chirac "left leaning", Rupert, is completely off the wall. He may be all the other things, but he's nowhere near the left.

[Renard]

I' m not getting into this one as I don't know enough about it, but I have to point out that calling Chirac "left leaning", Rupert, is completely off the wall. He may be all the other things, but he's nowhere near the left.

Actually, Chirac has done quite a lot of things in recent years to earn him leftist accreditation. The Economist pointed this out a few months back.

He got his environmental Charter included into the French constitution. He's a Western spokesman for anti-Americanism, a doctrine that usually belongs to the left. He has an pro-Arab foreign policy vis-à-vis the middle east.

On the economic level, he has not really championed a liberalizing, right-wing agenda, but rather he's favoured protectionism in the energy market and he's a bit of an interventionist.

In many ways, he's sort of like Tony Blair, but from the Right side of the spectrum.

[Penta]

France, left or right, has always been pro-Arab, at least in comparison to US pro-Israel stance.
Similarly, what Americans see as French anti-Americanism is just French determination not to be colonised (economically, culturally, linguistically ...) and again is common to left and right.
And they've always been protectionist as far as important French industries are concerned. On other econimic measures, I'm not well up on all the details, but is he not trying to roll-back the 35-hour week, for instance?
Nor am I well informed on specifics of his environmental charter, but the impetus for plenty of policies in the environmental field have come from conservatives -- all those landowners, French villagers etc. Not all the right are slavish followers of corporate agenda.

[Sri Lanky]

Politically the French squawk about the evils of globalization but in reality their corporations benefit hugely from it......almost as much as the US. They are hypocrites as usual......from the left or right.

[Renard]

The same "Ricain" rhetoric that Chirac and the French political class use ressembles that used by the left-wing, separatist, Parti Québécois here. Just the other day for example, André Boisclair, the top candidate in the PQ leadership race, denouced what he described as the "imperialist American giant". Why? Well, because in France, Quebec, Canada, Germany (et j'en passe) such irresponsible, leftist rhetoric helps to win votes.

If you really believe that Chirac is firmly on the Right, then you should take a look at his potential successor, Nicolas Sarkozy, a pro-American, probably pro-Israel, free-marketeer who wants to reform the French economy and cure it of its 'sclerotic' growth. Sarkozy used to be Chirac's prodigy. But they've since broken ties.

Chirac has always called the 35-hour work week a disaster. But he has done little besides relax it.

[Sri Lanky]

Sarkozy would be a breath of fresh air but then again so would Hillary Clinton once this asshole has done his two terms.

Hopefully Delay will be put out to pasture as well. I can't think of any other politician in recent history that has been as divisive as these two assholes.

Yeah I know...I'm using the word asshole but for good reason.

[Rupert]

I' m not getting into this one as I don't know enough about it, but I have to point out that calling Chirac "left leaning", Rupert, is completely off the wall. He may be all the other things, but he's nowhere near the left.

I guess that depends on the political center one is using as a reference point. In French politics, he is considered a centrist (right of Jospin and left of Sarkozy.) But as he is stalwart defender of the status quo French economy which has yet to undergo any Thatcherite/Regan reform, he places himself to the left of center in reference of the US and the UK. He is not exactly a champion of labor and is a promoter of French business (for French power), but he is contantly extolling the merits of the socialist (light) model of the French economy (vs the American model.)

[Penta]

he is contantly extolling the merits of the socialist (light) model of the French economy (vs the American model.)

Not the socialist model, it's the French (or Western European) mixed economy model. Just because it's not the US (or Thatcherite) model, doesn't make it socialist. There'd be no point in Europe having any social democratic, labour or socialist parties if the conservative parties were socialist, would there?

[Sri Lanky]

Exactly....anything not conservative in American politics(ie.not off the right side of the table) is deemed as liberal(what an evil word that is in US politics) or socialist.

I believe that people living in nations with mixed economies are overall,happier campers.

[goat balls]

Exactly....anything not conservative in American politics(ie.not off the right side of the table) is deemed as liberal(what an evil word that is in US politics) or socialist.

I believe that people living in nations with mixed economies are overall,happier campers.

Eat me you little turd weasel. You guys have already fucked up Canada...don't try that shit on us. We'll shoot you....right in the balls.

[Renard]

Canada has the most enviable fiscal track record among any of the G7 countries. 7 + straight years of balanced budgets and federal surpluses.

Now beat that.

[sparrow]

Go figure.

Stephen Harper would have had us in Iraq.

And people wonder why the Liberals are still in power.

And he wonders....

funny

[coldharvest]

Bigoted Christian Ass-clown?

or just plain crazy?
The Canadian voters say "Both".

[Renard]

Way to charm the voters out east, Stephen.

I've never before seen a more lame looking cowboy.

[Rupert]

More indicments to come will be proof of what a unique character we're graced with.

Let me gloat on this one for awhile. Didn't realize another indictment would come through so soon. Anyone want to wager that DeLay will get through scot free?


October 3, 2005
Texas Grand Jury Indicts DeLay on New Money Laundering Charge
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 6:38 p.m. ET

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- A Texas grand jury indicted Rep. Tom DeLay on a new charge of money laundering Monday, less than a week after another grand jury leveled a conspiracy charge that forced DeLay to temporarily step down as House majority leader.

Both indictments accuse DeLay and two political associates of conspiring to get around a state ban on corporate campaign contributions by funneling the money through a political action committee to the Republican National Committee in Washington.

The RNC then sent back like amounts to distribute to Texas candidates in 2002, the indictment alleges.

The new indictment came hours after DeLay's attorneys filed a request to dismiss the case. That request argued that the conspiracy charge was based on a law that was not effective until 2003, the year after the alleged money transfers.

The judge who will preside in DeLay's case was out of the country on vacation and could not rule on the request. Other state district judges declined to rule on the request in his place, said Colleen Davis, a law clerk to Austin attorney Bill White, also represents DeLay.