Human rights in Burma

"As hold-ups continue in the supply of foreign aid to Myanmar, Asian leaders have been urged to pressure the country's military rulers into taking swift action to address a growing humanitarian catastrophe. Amnesty International believes that by deliberately blocking life-sustaining aid, the government of Myanmar may be violating the right of the population to life, food and health."
(in http://www.amnesty.org/)

Is it the beginning of the end for the London Congestion Charge ?

Boris Johnson, London's new mayor, plans to drop the £25-a-day traffic congestion charge for "urban" SUV (> 225g of CO2 per km), that was due to be introduced in October. Crikey !

"Bring the boys back home !" (with choir)

Labour Day at the "Familistère"

Thanks to TF1, I've spent the last holiday at the Godin "Familistère" (Guise, near St Quentin, Aisne). The "Familistère" or "Social Palace" project was started in 1859 by Jean-Baptiste André Godin, a disciple of Charles Fourier's utopian socialism. Godin, a wealthy industrialist, founder of the famous stove factory that bears his name, transferred his foundries to Guise in 1846 and decided to follow his heart and his dreams of a better society, offering his workers a decent place to live and to raise a family.

"work facilities […] were linked to a communal settlement to form an harmonious society, equipped with all the necessary amenities: residential buildings, a pool, cooperative stores, a garden, a nursery, schools and a theatre (the temple of the Familistère community). This experiment lasted in cooperative form until 1968." (in http://familistere.com/site/english/utopia/prog_utopia.php)

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

Tempelhof referendum

After this weekend’s failed referendum, forced by Berliners wishing to keep it open, Tempelhof, the Berlin Airlift airport, used during the Cold War to support the Western part of the City, landlocked by the Soviets, will be closed in October. It’s reasonable: it’s too close to the City centre, surrounded by residential areas, and the runways are too short for modern jets. The terminal, one of the biggest buildings in Europe, built from 1936 to 1941 by Ernst Sagebiel (according to Albert Speer’s plan for rebuilding Berlin, or "Germania", the new world’s capital), should be preserved.

Full employment in France

Mr Sarkozy said it loud and clear tonight, on TF1: "Plein emploi". Full employment. Looking for something to illustrate this post, I've found this excellent video, and I've also found out that Mr Fillon had already used those two magic words.



Let's recapitulate: we have a president that was elected because of its liberal program. He was going to put France to work. He and his prime minister. Work more to earn more, they say. At the same time, he also tried to convince us that he was the one who could talk Mr Mittal (above all people...) to keep Gandrange open, and this is not very liberal-like, it sounds more like populism. Cheap populism, which is what you get when you try to marry 400 years of Colbertism with freshly found liberalism in a country accused by sacrosanct Liberal England of wasting half of the European budget on its cows. And now they've also discovered Mr. Maynard Keynes. All in one year or, by the Luxembourgish calendar, between 2 Schueberfouers.

Biofuel: filling your tank with hunger

The UN is calling for action to avoid the "silent tsunami of rising food prices which threatens to push more than 100 million people worldwide into hunger" (http://www.un.org/). Protests against rising costs of basic foods already started in Haiti, Mexico, the Philippines, Bangladesh, South Africa.... Sub-Saharan Africans continue their decades-old silent protest, dying slowly, quietly, dryly.
I recall now the bad feeling I had last year when I read about Bush's visit to ethanol-driven Brazil.

Biofuel production is said to be responsible for at least one third of the recent increase in food prices. It was already being called “deforestation fuel”. Now it’s also “hunger fuel”.

But it’s bio. «Quand je dors chez mon copain, on mange tout le temps bio» (Sanseverino, «Cette conne m'ennuie»).

Berlusconi and Mara Carfagna

It looks like the media can now give Mr. Sarkozy a rest. The new Italian prime-minister will surely keep them busy for some time. First move: Mara Carfagna (on the photo), a former model, television presenter and Miss Italy contestant, is thought to be in line to become Minister for the Family.
We already knew that pre-andropausic men tend to burn their last shoots with younger women , but be ware of post-andropausic men that already learned how to get their kicks out of the exercise of personal power. Especially when they can convince people to vote for them.