EU concealed deal with US to allow 'rendition' flights

The European Union secretly allowed the United States to use transit facilities on European soil to transport "criminals" in 2003, according to a previously unpublished document. The revelation contradicts repeated EU denials that it knew of "rendition" flights by the CIA.

The EU agreed to give America access to facilities - presumably airports - in confidential talks in Athens during which the war on terror was discussed, the original minutes show. But all references to the agreement were deleted from the record before it was published.

The issue of "rendition" flights - in which terror suspects are flown to secret bases and third countries for interrogation - overshadowed last week's fence-mending visit to Europe by Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State.

Asked in Parliament last week about reports of 400 suspect flights passing through British airports, Tony Blair said: "In respect of airports, I don't know what you are referring to."

The minutes of the Athens meeting on January 22, 2003, were written by the then Greek presidency of the EU after the talks with a US delegation headed by a justice department official. EU officials confirmed that a full account was circulated to all member governments, and would have been sent to the Home Office.

The document, entitled New Transatlantic Agenda, EU-US meeting on Justice and Home Affairs, details the subjects discussed by the 31 people present. The agenda included the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and extradition agreements.

According to the full version, "Both sides agreed on areas where co-operation could be improved [inter alia] the exchange of data between border management services, increased use of European transit facilities to support the return of criminal/ inadmissible aliens, co-ordination with regard to false documents training and improving the co-operation in removals."

But this section, and others referring to US policy, were deleted - as a "courtesy" to Washington, according to a spokesman for the EU Council of Ministers.

Tony Bunyan, of the Statewatch civil liberties group which obtained the original document, said: "What kind of facilities are these and how many people work there? That phrase suggests the US is being allowed to use airports in Europe to transport criminals from third countries."

Washington has been angered by EU protests about the movement and alleged abuse of terror suspects. Yesterday, John Bellinger, senior legal adviser to the US State Department, said the convention against torture, which the US has signed, "would generally apply" to prisoners held by the US.

He said on BBC radio: "Some of the allegations more broadly about all sorts of things are ludicrous. These allegations that we have these activities going on in the hundreds over Europe, and that we are going to take people off to be mistreated, are simply untrue."

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Torture in China: U.N. Findings Oppose Official Accounts

A mere eight months ago at a the United Nations Commission on Human Rights meetings, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials declared that China's human rights record under their rule was the best it's ever been. On December 2, the Commission's Special Rapporteur on torture, Manfred Nowak, concluded a two week fact-finding visit to China to determine if this was correct. Instead, as he highlighted in a press release just prior to leaving Beijing, he found the truth: evidence of "widespread" torture and a penal system "incompatible with the core values of a society based upon a culture of human rights."

Where Rule of Law is Hard to Find

In his press statement, Nowak made a series of harsh observations about the lack of conformity of the People's Republic of China (PRC) with the U.N. Convention against Torture, which the PRC was one of the first nations to sign back in 1988. Nowak's findings, considering the magnitude of his mission and the short amount of time he had to complete it, are remarkable. They speak to the heart of what's wrong with China's judicial system—a scant window dressing that passes for the rule of law.

Some of the primary deficiencies noted by Nowak include:

• An absence of procedural safeguards to make the prohibition of torture effective.
• The lack of independent monitoring of places of detention or a functional complaints mechanism.
• No independent judiciary.
• A judiciary that demands confessions and places emphasis on prisoner punishment and 're-education.'

Nowak also offered a lot of advice about reforming legal and judicial procedures. However, considering that the CCP already has an array of impressive-sounding regulations on the books—including prohibitions on torture itself—advice alone is unlikely to effect much change. Whether or not they're heeded, looking at Nowak's more pointed recommendations reveals how bad the situation truly is. They include:

• Abolish laws used to prosecute lawyers who help clients renounce forced confessions.
• Raise the status and independence of judges.
• Establish an independent mechanism to hear complaints of torture and ill-treatment.
• Abolish imprecise and sweeping definitions of crimes that can be applied with great discretion, such as "subverting public order," etc.
• Abolish "Re-Education through Labor" and forced re-education in prisons, pre-trial detention centers and psychiatric hospitals.
• Eliminate the death penalty for economic and non-violent crimes.

Chinese Government Response

The burning question: does the Chinese government care about Nowak's report?" After all, in the end, the UN Commission on Human Rights has no power to implement such recommendations. The issuing of reports with no authority to impose sanctions can be best described as, "naming and shaming."

Even this has value, however, since in the propaganda war, the CCP cares deeply about the U.N. visit. China's legitimacy on the world stage is based upon the image it manufactures, and this includes the validity of its assertion about a positive human rights record, despite obvious evidence to the contrary.

Accordingly, at a Dec. 6 press conference, a foreign ministry spokesperson, Qin Gang, categorically denied Nowak's findings. "China cannot accept the so-called conclusion that torture is widespread," said Qin, going on to criticize Nowak for hasty assumptions based on a two week visit to only three cities. Never mind that successive U.N. Special Rapporteurs have collectively waited nearly a decade for such a visit to even take place.

We can imagine that if the report had been favorable, the length of stay wouldn't have been an issue. Perhaps it indeed surprised Qin that Nowak could draw such damning conclusions after the CCP's attempts to hamper Nowak's work. According to Nowak, his team faced a variety of obstructions including being put under surveillance and witnesses being aggressively prevented from meeting with him.

"As far as we know, no police prevented family members of people who are detained from meeting the Rapporteur," countered Qin. "Nobody followed Nowak or his activities."

Business as Usual during Visit

Qin's story is hard to swallow considering that textbook examples of Nowak's charges occurred during the U.N.'s visit. First, an award-winning human rights lawyer, Gao Zhisheng, who met with Nowak on his China visit, had his practice permanently closed by authorities the same day of Nowak's Beijing press conference. Gao had sent an open letter to China's president and vice president condemning, in particular, the state-sanctioned torture of Falun Gong practitioners. Second, a policeman raped two women as an apparent part of their "re-education" process.

The first case points to the tight-fisted control exerted by the CCP over the "justice" system. For example, "show trials" are the norm, according to Canadian lawyer Clive Ansley, the first foreigner to open a law practice in Shanghai. He tried more than 300 cases over 14 years and described how proceedings appeared real, but the verdict was never decided by the presiding judges. They were rendered by a backroom panel of CCP members who knew virtually nothing about the cases.

Lawyers are also routinely silenced, and ordered not to defend certain prisoners, including Falun Gong practitioners and other religious or political dissidents. When Lizhi He was arrested for mailing letters to friends explaining that Falun Gong was being unjustly defamed by the CCP, the first lawyer his wife found for him had his license revoked, and the second was intimidated, with his family placed under surveillance.

For the throngs sent to forced-labor camps, called Laogai, there aren't trials at all, says Han Guansheng, a former governor of two prisons and four hard labor camps. "Those who were detained in the labor camp had not been through any legal process. Their detention was based on the national detention rules and determined solely by the police. That made it possible for labor camps to abuse human rights," Han told Australia's Dateline in an Oct. 5 expose of abuses in the Laogai system.

Han recently defected to Canada to escape a system that forced him, as he explained in his resignation letter to the CCP, "to keep on struggling between [his] duties and [his] conscience."

The appalling rape cases typify the consistent and systemic nature of torture and abuse in China, and how it is used to "break" people. Both women in question are Falun Gong practitioners. Falun Gong cases are unique in that detainees can achieve immediate respite from their torment by signing a standard "3 Statements" document, officially renouncing their beliefs. Further rewards can be obtained by converting other detainees to toe the party line.

In the case that occurred during the U.N. envoy's visit, Zhuozhou City police abducted the two victims, Ms. Liu Jizhi, 51, and Ms. Han Yuzhi, 42, from their respective homes. Both women had experienced repeated harassment and detention at the hands of the authorities, as well as had money extorted from them, simply for practicing Falun Gong. In this instance, prior to the rape, police reportedly threatened one of the women with financial bankruptcy should she continue to practice Falun Gong. Clearly, they meant to "convert" her.

Perhaps the rapist, policeman He Xuejian, had been told that he must be particularly effective at re-educating people that day. Perhaps he had been told that he would receive a cut in pay if he wasn't successful. Perhaps he had not been meeting his quotas for "transforming" detainees, and was angry. Perhaps he was personally feeling particularly libidinous or power hungry. Irrespective, he was able to rape two women in succession with another policeman in the room, and to do so with impunity.

The women were left physically violated and psychologically traumatized, and police further degraded them afterwards by making them clean the police station and wash police vehicles.

This perfectly illustrates Nowak's findings documented in his press release, about how the PRC's practices of re-education at labor camps, pre-trial detention centers and prisons "go well beyond legitimate rehabilitation measures and aim at breaking the will of detainees and altering their personality. Such measures strike at the very core of the human right to personal integrity, dignity and humanity…"

Unfortunately, as Nowak demonstrates, such cases cannot be dismissed as isolated incidents or the sick whim of local police being given much rope in the handling prisoners. These practices are far too consistent and pervasive for that. They come from the top in a sanctioned, systematic fashion, as could only be the case in a system as rigidly hierarchical as communist China.

Mr. Zhang Mengye, a former classmate of Chinese President Hu Jintao's who recently escaped from China, had been a professor until he was arrested for practicing Falun Gong. Zhang explained how his high-profile arrest warrant came from the very top.

"In February 2002, former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin criticized Guangdong province for being inefficient in persecuting Falun Gong. He went to Guangdong to supervise in person. Under high pressure from Jiang Zemin and [Politburo Member] Luo Gan, Guangdong began to send Falun Gong practitioners to labor camps, and I was among the first group of Falun Gong practitioners dispatched."

Can the system be reformed? How could it be if it depends upon the good will of the very architects of abuse? Rule of law and human rights may be enshrined in the PRC constitution, but that's only on paper, not in reality. Countless victims can attest to that—given the chance.

Kudos to the UN for calling it like it is.

This article was developed with material from Reuters.

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إصدار خاص- حرية التعبير

أصدقائي الأعزا
ء

لقد وجهت لي دعوة للوقوف أمام إحدى المحاكم الإسرائيلية يومه 15 يناير 2006. والتهمة ليست سوى الإدلاء بارائي أو الإلتقاء بشخصيات أجنبية في 21 مناسبة. وهو أمر لاتستبيحه إسرائيل على ما يبدو، اذ يعد واحدا من القيود التي فرضت علي بتاريخ 21 أبريل 2004 إبان إخلاء سبيلي بعد 18 سنة من العزلة وراء القضبان.

إني لأدعو كافة أصدقائي و مناصري في العالم إلى مساندتي في هذا الموقف الحاسم. كما أريد أن أثير الإنتباه إلى أن الدعوة المرفوعة ضدي محورها حرية التعبير. أنا في حاجة إليكم حتى أتمكن من الحصول على معلومات تخص التجربة التاريخية لبلدكم في الشأن هذا، وكيف يتم تناول موضوع حرية التعبير في المحاكم هناك. مما سيمكن من وضع مقاربة أو ربما إعطاء العبر والأمثلة التي يجب أن يحتدي بها النظام الديمقراطي الإسرائيلي.

كما أود الإستناد إلى ما عرفته الأمم السباقة إلى الديموقراطية، أي اليونان و الجمهورية الرومانية. أي مقام حجزنا لخطابات الفلاسفة اليونانيين من أمثال أفلاطون وسقراط وأرسطو؟ إن كنتم سمعتم بالإضطهاد و قمع حرية التعبير في المجتمعات المعاصرة، فتفضلوا بإيفادي عناصر دفاع الضحايا وحججهم و القصائد الشعرية أيضا إن توفرت. هذه العناصر كلها سيتم البعث بها إلى محامي والإستناد إليها خلال المرافعة.

أظن أن قضيتي هذه ستكون حاسمة اذ ستمكننا من وضع الديمقراطية الإسرائيلية أمام تحد يلزمها إتباث أن هذه القيود تنسجم مع الأسس الديموقراطية الجاري بها العمل في الدول الاخرى. من حق كل إنسان أن ينعم بحرية التعبير بدون قيد ولاشرط.

شكرا لكم مسبقا على مساعدتكم. وكلنا أمل في الفوز في مقاومتنا هذه ضد هذا النظام الهمجي.

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Iraq gets to learn democracy tricks

BAGDAD, DECEMBER 11: After putting up 100,000 posters across Iraq to promote his political party, Hamid Kifai discovered this week that they had all been torn down, even the ones on the front of his own campaign headquarters .

They have made it impossible for us to compete,” said Kifai, a talkative Shi’te candidate who spent his entire $50,000 war chest on the posters and has nothing left.
This is not democracy.” It is democracy, but in a distinctly Iraqi style. This country is in the final days of a campaign that is at once more ruthless and more sophisticated than anything yet seen here.

Candidates have been killed, even as slick television spots run throughout the day, showing office-seekers who soberly promise to defeat terrorism and revive the economy. Thousands of posters decorate the capital’s gray blast walls, including one that shows a split face—half Saddam Hussein, half Ayad Allawi— in a blunt effort to smear Allawi, a former PM, and his secular coalition. “Who does this man remind you of?” the poster asks.

In a sense, it is the first full-scale political contest here since Saddam’s fall. The Sunni Arabs, who largely boycotted the January election, are now campaigning fiercely, and voter turnout is expected to be considerably higher. All told, 226 political groups will compete in the elections, representing over 7,000 candidates.

The winners will form Iraq’s first full-term government since the war began, and face the task of unifying an increasingly fractious and violent nation. Any US plan to reduce troops will depend on the effort’s success.

The campaign has been as turbulent as any endeavor in Iraq. In the past two weeks alone, 11 people associated with Allawi's group have been killed. On Tuesday, gunmen stormed five northern offices belonging to the Kurdistan Islamic Union, killing two party members and wounding 10. It is often hard to distinguish political killings from the terrorism that has become a part of daily life here, but in both cases, the parties have accused rivals of carrying out the attacks.

Azzam Alwash, a civil engineer is co-director of the campaign for Allawi’s coalition. Like most of his counterparts in these elections, has no prior experience in the field, though he oversees 80 campaign workers with a budget of $2.5 m.

“Our posters got pulled down too, so we decided the best way was with TV, radios and newspapers,” Alwash said. Like many other groups, Allawi’s has its own newspaper and enough money to pay for plenty of television and radio time. Six of the nearly 20 Iraqi TV stations and about half of the 200 Iraqi newspapers are owned by parties. Rates for political spots on the larger Baghdad stations run as high as $3,000 per minute.

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Russia calls for abandoning double standards of human rights

MOSCOW, Dec. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Yakovenko said on Saturday that the United Nations'(UN) commission for human rights should drop double standards in human rights, urging reforms to raise its efficiency.

"The UN commission for human rights must be reformed to raise its efficiency and prestige and to eliminate double standards existing in that area," Yakovenko said in connection with the International Human Rights Day.

A detailed discussion on ways to reform the commission is underway at the UN General Assembly, the Itar-Tass news agency quoted Yakovenko as saying.

Yakovenko indicated that Russia is concerned about massive encroachments on the rights of Russian-speaking communities, including in some countries of the European Union.

He mentioned "the hundreds of thousands of native speakers of Russia in Estonia and Latvia, who are deprived of citizenship there."

"Here we have a glaring instance of violation of universal international standards and we can't put up with it," Yakovenko said.

The Russian official reiterated the significance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the UN endorsed on Dec. 10 in 1948.

"The principles the document is based on first laid the foundation for various multilateral agreements and then for national laws in the UN member-nations and methods of implementing them," Yakovenko stressed. Enditem

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Vous avez fait une allergie au DOD

Comment ne pas parler de cette grosse organisation gouvernementale qui depense chaque annee des centaines de milliards de dollars en armement pour faire leur "guerre propre"un peu partout dans le monde et epargner - selon les medias - la population civile, bien que ce sont plus de 200,000 personnes innocentes en Irak qui ont ete victimes des bombes de la liberte.

Cette semaine j'ai rencontre la visite diplomatique du DOD a mon travail. C'etait dez nazis super-sympas, des Nazis qui croient en leur travail, et puis ils etaient tellement contents de travailler avec mon entreprise qui se dit "globale" qu'ils m'ont meme avoue qu'ils etaient aussi une entreprise globale avant d'etre une entreprise americaine. Oui oui je suis serieux, je ne deconne pas, le DOD c'est une entreprise globale avant tout, qui se fait de l'argent en investissant dans la guerre, un peu partout dans le monde. Si le pays est d'accord avec les USA et bien le pays en question achetera de l'armement americain, par contre si le pays n'est pas d'accord avec les USA, alors il y aura un changement de pouvoir pour que le pays puisse acheter de l'armement americain. Et puis ils leur racontent a chaque fois: "c'est pour votre propre bien", achetez notre armement americain, pour que l'on puisse vous defendre des mechants et oubliez que l'on vous a casse la gueule parce-que c'etait pour votre propre bien.

Cette bande de Nazis etait tellement sympa que mon boss a cru que c'etait une femme Japonaise au lieu d'une Chinoise (genre Vietnamienne plutot): vive la culture americaine... Apres avoir echange quelques mots, plus ou moins discrets avec ces personnes du DOD, ils m'ont tellement degoute, que le jour meme je me suis casse de mon lieu de travail, pretextant que j'avais une sorte de grippe.... en fait j'avais fait une sorte d'allergie gouvernementale au DOD, car leur culture d'entreprise est tellement ecoeurante, que je ne peux pas rester en contact avec des gens comme eux.

…With liberty and healthcare for all

By: Yonit Shames

Issue date: 12/7/05

One of the most memorable campaign ads from the last presidential election was one run by the Bush campaign on the subject of healthcare. The chilling female voiceover warned viewers of ominous healthcare reform plans advocated by the liberals: "Big government in charge. Not you, not your doctor."

Some lawmakers have indeed proposed some major- and government-mandated- reforms of U.S. healthcare, but the current reality is far more terrifying.

There are 45.5 million uninsured Americans. That means two out of every 10 Americans have no insurance at all. An additional two have insurance that does not cover their medical needs. It has been estimated that 18,000 Americans die annually because they lack coverage.

Want to blame this on laziness or unemployment, as many have done? Think again. Seventy-five percent of the uninsured are either employed full time or the dependents of a full-time worker. Most lack insurance because they simply cannot afford the exorbitant cost.

This trend can't be blamed on inflation. Medical costs in the U.S. are rising at four or five times that rate. And despite the fact that we pay more than double per capita on healthcare than any other nation, our system is inferior. Bush's sunny remarks, "Our healthcare system is the envy of the world," is an ignorant appraisal of a system renowned for its incompetence.

The World Health Organization gave the U.S. healthcare system dismal marks. It is ranked last of all affluent democratic countries and is even behind some developing countries. Furthermore, Americans placed a grim 72nd in overall health, and some experts say that this is due to a lack of preventative care, which is promoted by nationalized health systems.

No one has ever said that there aren't disadvantages to nationalized healthcare. But the bottom line is that people in countries that provide basic insurance can go to the doctor when they're sick- a luxury many Americans can't afford. When they fall ill with terminal diseases, their families don't have to go into bankruptcy in order to provide them with reasonable care. And the overwhelming majority of people covered by nationalized insurance choose their doctors, specialists and treatment exactly as we do here.

Government-ordered reform is not always the solution to social problems. But free market isn't either. We've tried the free market approach, and the situation has continuously deteriorated.

In fact, it is arguable that the healthcare cost crisis in the U.S. is a direct result of that approach. When a quarter of the money we spend on healthcare goes to administrative costs (the result of hundreds of competing insurance companies) and countless millions go to advertising and executive funds, it is not surprising that healthcare costs are rising at an exorbitant rate.

The U.S., the most affluent nation in the world, lets its citizens be devoured by healthcare costs when they fall victim to illness. In a bitter twist of irony, a nation that spent years arguing the merits of keeping Terry Schiavo alive on machines does not give a damn about the thousands of people who die each year because they simply cannot afford care.

Our healthcare system's wretched ineptitude will only continue to get worse until it undergoes some major reforms.

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War on terror

Between 1957 and 1997 the USA realized 5,780 terrorist acts against Cuba. Don't even count right now the terrorist acts done in Iraq by the Bush administration, but be aware of it at least.

link in french here

US asks Iran to help quell Iraq unrest

NEW YORK: Notwithstanding its opposition on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, the US plans to seek Iran’s help, first of its kind in decades, to control the unrest in Iraq as Washington unveiled a plan to withdraw from there.

President George Bush has given the country’s ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalizad “explicit” permission to start a diplomatic dialogue with Iran on the issue.

“I’ve been authorised by the President to engage the Iranians, as I engaged them in Afghanistan directly,” Khalizad told Newsweek.

The White House for the first time came out with its own version of an Iraq withdrawal plan, saying that the US troops will leave Iraq in larger numbers in ‘06 and a “significant number” of the remaining the following year.

About the dangers of a “panicky pullout”, the envoy said, “People need to be clear what the stakes are here. If we were to do a premature withdrawal, there could be a Shia-Sunni war here that could spread beyond Iraq.”

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Scrapper sa vie sous l'acide viarge

Humour quebecois entendu a la radio:

Annonceur: Voici une publicité que vous n'entendrez jamais à la radio.
Gaëtan: Salut Gérard!
Gérard: Salut Gaëtan...
Gaëtan: Bin qu'est-ce qu'il y a, t'as pas d'l'air à aller?
Gérard: Argh, je suis un peu déprimé ce temps-ci, on dirait qu'il y a rien de nouveau dans ma vie là, c'est plate.
Gaëtan: Bin, j'ai peut-être une solution pour toi!
Gérard: Ah oui? C'est quoi?
Gaëtan: Fais de l'acide!!
Gérard: De l'acide? Mais qu'est-ce que c'est?
Gaëtan: C'est des petites capsules qui te font avoir du palisir, sans que t'aille à bouger!
Gérard: Mon Dieu, ça a l'air intéressant!
Gaëtan: Intéressant, tu dis? Avec seulement un acide, tu peux voir les sons et entendre les images!
Gérard: Je me suis toujours demandé à quoi ça ressemblait un fa dièse!
Gaëtan: Mais ce n'est pas tout! Le pico, un autre mot pour l'acide, vient de toutes les couleurs de l'arc-en-ciel. Et si tu commences dès aujourd'hui, on te donne gratuitement un calendrier de désintégration de ta vie! Avec les quatre grandes étapes: commencer de la drogue, en essayer des plus fortes, rester dépendant, et entrer dans le crime organisé!
Gérard: Mais comment je fais pour commencer?
Gaëtan: Tu vois le gars là-bas avec les grosses bottes mauves?
Gérard: Non?
Gaëtan: Ahh excuse-moi! C'est une hallucination que j'ai! Un autre bienfait de l'acide! Parce que depuis que je consomme, le gars aux bottes mauves est mon seul ami! Surtout depuis que ma femme m'a quitté!
Gérard: Super, j'en prends cinquante!

Chanson:
Gaëtan: Si tu prends de l'acide, tu vas scrapper ta vie, mais tu t'en rendras pas compte! Acide!!

Annonceur: En vente chez tous les bons pushers dans une ruelle près de chez vous!

4 jours de vacances? Wow c'est deja trop long.

Le jour de la thanksgiving c'est sacre: dans ma societe 2 personnes nous avaient averti la veille de leur absence, vu que leur famille habite dans d'autres Etats, a savoir la Californie pour l'un (c'est a 4 heures de route de Las Vegas, faut pas exagerer quand meme) et a + de 24 heures d'avion pour l'autre (qui est originaire de la Pologne). Ce matin, habituellement j'essaie de me pointer avant 8 heures du matin (7 heures du matin en general) et puis vu que c'etait le dernier jour de travail de la semaine, j'ai decide de me pointer a 8 heures 20 (j'ai eu la bonne idee de prendre un bain avant de partir au boulot, ce qui est tres francais d'apres les Americains). Arrive a 8 heures 20 du matin, il n'y avait personne au boulot! Si si il y avait mon CIO qui pour une fois avait decide de se pointer en costard-cravate bien rase en plus, au lieu de sa tenue de casquette et sa gueule mal-rasee. 10 minutes plus tard mon collegue de travail est arrive, suivi par mon directeur, encore 10 minutes apres. Personne n'a bronche. Mon directeur me demande a quelle heure je fus arrive et je lui dis 10 minutes avant mon collegue de travail. La raison pour laquelle j'ai du lui dire cela, c'est que mon directeur ne communique pas assez avec ses employes, alors il a du poser une question a mon collegue pour savoir a quelle heure ce collegue etait arrive, de ce fait, mon boss a reussi a calculer l'heure exacte a laquelle je fus arrive ... qui fut bien avant lui. On n'a pas les memes horaires dans la societe de toute facon. De plus c'est tout a fait inhabituel de voir notre CIO arrive avant ses employes, car il se presente generalement a midi a peu pres pour manger sur son bureau et se vautrer dans son canape apres son repas et fumer sa cigarette. Mais bon il est notre CIO et bien sympa avec nous, si on ne fait pas d'erreur au travail.
Anecdote: un jour je traversais les couloirs de l'entreprise et je fis signe a mon CIO avant qu'il rentre dans son bureau et il se pris le cadre de la porte en pleine gueule. Ca ne m'etonne pas de lui de toute facon, quand je lui demande quelque-chose, il me dit de lui donner un delai de 2 jours avant d'apporter son avis sur une solution. Bref on l'a elimine de l'entreprise entre les salaries, il fait aspect de figurant, et c'est tout.

Donc, aujourd'hui, une fois sur le lieu de travail, et bien j'avais pas trop envie de bosser en fait, car nos methodes, du moins leurs methodes de travail ne nous autorisent pas du tout a donner un avis sans avoir ete approuve par quelqu'un d'autre en tant qu'ingenieur car on travaille en binome ici. Et justement le probleme c'est que justement l'autre salarie n'etait pas la aujourd'hui, donc c'etait au CIO de donner son avis et il ne l'a pas fait. Qu'a cela ne tienne, j'ai fait d'autres choses, allume le msn, ai jete un coup d'oeil sur les blogs, et quelques heures plus tard j'ai vu les salaries 1 par 1 partir de la societe car ils ne voulaient pas etre en retard pour la dinde (turkey, pas le pays, mais l'animal a 2 pattes!!).

Vu que tout le monde etait parti, je pensais sortir avant 16 heures, mais non, je devais faire des tests a la production, puis a 16 heures 30, changement d'avis: les tests de production furent ramenes a Lundi; puis mon CIO a 16 heures 58, alors que tout le monde etait deja parti, me dit: "hey you can leave now". J'ai eu l'impression d'avoir perdu 7 heures dans ma journee car je n'ai pas du tout complete mon projet, car on est en avance.

En France on dit souvent que c'est super plat pendant 2 semaines entre le 1er et le 15 Aout. Aux USA c'est super plat entre la thanksgiving et le jour de l'an.
Ici aux USA, lorsque l'on fait de la production, on est frais le Lundi, et le samedi on a de la barbe.
On comprend mieux pourquoi notre CIO a de la barbe durant le milieu de la semaine :-)

*yawn*

As-tu achete ta X-Box 360?

Il y a pas mal de gens qui ont pense a s'acheter le petit bijou de Microsoft: la toute derniere X-Box (doit encore faire ses preuves). Et bien si dans la tradition walmartienne de la thanksgiving, ils devraient theoriquement se lever a 3 heures du matin pour avoir leur petit bijou avant les autres, par contre ils vont avoir de droles de surprises: les stocks de la tres convoitee X-Box ont ete ecoules, pire, certaines personnes ont achete des lots de X-Box pour les revendre le double sur E-Bay ou en Europe au marche noire. Pstttt j'ai de la X-Box 360 a 800 dollars au lieu des 400 dollars sur le marche.
Chez Wal-mart, ils ont eu une bonne journee hier au soir (mardi 22 Novembre 2005): ils ont ecoule leur stock de X-Box en 10 minutes seulement, dans certaines regions. Les gens et meme les personnes du 3ieme age se sont ruees dessus comme des gamins dans chez un marchand de bonbons. Au Texas, dans une ville non denommee on pouvait meme entendre ceci: "get out of my way, you illegal aliens!". Traduction: une personne blanche parlant americain a l'autorite de croquer l'or noire de Microsoft avant les gens de couleur de peau.

Qu'ils continuent a pratiquer le conditionnement d'achat, ca a l'air de marcher. En ce qui concerne l'or noire, je predis que tout le monde sera en faveur de Bush lorsque le prix de l'essence descendra au dessous des 1 dollars 25, ce qui ne sera jamais le cas ;)

Les debats democrates sur Fox News

Adam Green

I’m generally anti-tirade, but I detest that millions of people watch wimps and incompetent debaters represent Democratic / progressive positions on FOX.

When will the progressive movement object in earnest to the likes of Alan Colmes – who Robert Greenwald’s film Outfoxed rightly points out is a weak, “squirrelly” faux-Democrat? FOX leaves the hapless Colmes out to whither against a polished, in-the-loop, smoothly-deceptive right-winger, Sean Hannity.

Friday night’s Hannity & Colmes introduced America to yet another weak, incompetent debater: Rep. Bob Filner, a Democrat I never heard of from California and hope never to hear from again.
FRIDAY NIGHT’S OUTRAGE:

HANNITY: When George Bush said to America that Saddam's WMDs and nuclear capability are a threat to the United States, are you saying the president lied?

FILNER: He knew that was not the case. The CIA knew it was not the case. And they just kept pressuring the CIA to say that.

HANNITY: Well, I didn't just quote George Bush. I just quoted John Kerry in the election. That was John Kerry who said that.

FILNER: Well, John Kerry was...

HANNITY: Did John Kerry mislead America, sir, or did you vote for John Kerry?

FREEZE

Did Hannity really just prove Democrats are hypocrites?

Or did he just bolster the exact point that Democratic leaders are making – that John Kerry, other Democrat and Republican Members of Congress, and the American people all were deceived by the cherry-picked evidence presented by the Bush Administration?

What did the Democratic “Representative” say in response? Did he stand up strongly, make this point, and go on the offensive?

UNFREEZE

FILNER: Yes, and that's why he lost the election too.

HANNITY: Did you vote for him?

FILNER: That's why he lost the election. He was not clear about his choice.

HANNITY: Did you vote for him?

FILNER: Listen. Listen. We have lost 2000 troops to misstatements and to lies. And we should get out, as John Murtha said. We should redeploy our troops immediately consistent with their safety.

HANNITY: That's not what he said. He said it's time to bring the troops home is what he said.

FILNER: Consistent with their safety. No, he said consistent with their safety.

HANNITY: J.D., here is the problem. Here's the problem. Mr. Filner is the typical of the average Democrat today. If I say to him, George Bush said this, "That was a lie. That person misled." When I point out it was actually John Kerry who said it, he doesn't have the same intellectual honesty to say the same thing about the man that he voted for, which proves our point. That Democrats have politicized the war.

AND THERE THE DEMOCRATS ARE

Depicted on national TV as weak, mealy-mouthed hypocrites who can’t be trusted because they are politicizing the war.

Where’s the outrage?

No, really, where’s the outrage? Alan Colmes? You out there? You’re co-host, are you going to do justice to this argument?

Oh, wait, I forgot, Colmes already got his turn in the beginning of the segment.

“This is a FOX News alert,” announced Colmes as he led off the Iraq war discussion by giving an update on a wildfire in Southern California.

Colmes then got to announce that “House Republicans stunned their Democratic colleagues” with Friday’s House vote on Iraq, dutifully introduced a video clip of Republican Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) calling double purple-heart recipient Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) and other Democrats “cowards,” and then sat out for Hannity’s entire excoriation of “Democratic Representative” Filner.

To his credit, Colmes followed good debate tactics by getting the last word in – with a “We thank you both.”

Colmes then got the honor of telling viewers that after the commercial break, former Dukakis campaign manager Susan Estrich would be debating for the Democrats. The cavalry has arrived…


click here

Pourquoi la vente des laser pointers est regulee

On les appelle les laser pointers ou bien les laser beams en jargon technico-anglais, tout depend de la puissance. Ce sont des petits gadgets qui diffusent une lumiere sur plusieurs metres pour les laser pointers et sur plusieurs centaines de metres pour les lasers beams. La raison pour laquelle ces petits gadgets sont interdits a la vente des mineurs est que la plupart de ces personnes abusaient de ces gadgets dans le domaine civil et les utilisaient sur des personnes pour les effrayer. L'histoire de la regulation de ces petits gadgets a commence dans les annees 1993 a Las Vegas lorsqu'un mineur avait essaye d'apeurer ses voisins sur un toit avec son laser et des bruits d'armes a feu provenant de son equipement stereo.
En fait ici a Las Vegas si l'on voit un pointeur laser sur notre corps on a le droit dorenavant au pretexte de la self-defense. Pour les lasers un peu plus solides, tout est regule par la FDA dorenavant, il y a meme des mesures d'angles pour prouver que les pointeurs laser sont dangereux a la retine si on essaie de les utiliser contre les pilotes d'avion, en revanche on n'a pas encore prouve que la lasik surgery etait inoffensive a ne pas produire des glaucomes.

Bravo! Je sais pas mais quand meme pour aveugler 3 fois un pilote d'avion a plus de 3000 pieds volant a plus de 300 km/h avec un laser beam, il faut quand meme etre un champion de la connerie.

Si vous aimez les maths, vous pouvez facilement calculer avec le type de puissance selon les normes de la FDA l'angle d'emission nocif d'un laser beam sur la retine au travers d'un cockpit avec la vitesse d'atterissage d'un avion. Par contre si vous appliquez les mathematiques aux codes de loi, il n'y a plus de rationnalite d'autant plus que le cas de cette personne dans le New Jersey a ete etouffe sous le Patriot Act. Le mec (du moins ses enfants) qui a fait cela en fait, ne peut pas defendre son cas car il est interdit de denoncer les pratiques du FBI qui assimile ce type d'incident a des pratiques de terrorisme dans leur cadre d'intervention.

La loi americaine s'arrete de plus en plus aux actes et n'a rien a foutre des expertises ballistiques ou des calculs mathematiques. Ce sont des milliers de lois qui autrefois defendables se retrouvent completement figees avec le Patriot Act.

Bravo pour les droits civils.

Al Zarqawi a ete tue pour la troisieme fois

Bienvenu dans le monde d'Hollywood ou les super-heros font la chasse aux super-vilains en dehors de leur frontiere. Aux USA de toute facon, il y a pas mal de gens qui pensent qu'ils defendent leur pays en allant attaquer d'autres pays ou des trucs genre "si tu veux la paix alors prepare la guerre". A chaque fois qu'un pays doit envahir un autre pays, on essaye d'opposer nos valeurs face a d'autres valeurs, et apparemment ca marche, puisque l'on vit dans un pays tellement grand que la plupart des gens n'ont jamais voyage a travers le monde pour decouvrir les valeurs des autres pays. C'est facile a demoniser d'autres peuples ici, on a une ignorance tellement grande dans un pays qui se dit cosmopolitain parce-qu'ils ont reussi a convaincre les Americains que les gens ne veulent plus partager leur credo. Ce qui est faux.


Le mythe Al Zarqawi fut construit en fait par un strategiste travaillant pour Fox News qui s'appelle Charles Krauthammer. C'est fulgurant le nombre de conneries que l'on peut nous raconter sur cette chaine cablee, et la plupart du temps on utilise le mythe d'Al Zarqawi pour cacher les pertes civiles en Irak faites par les troupes americaines ou bien les attentats terroristes commis par les escadrons de la mort (Death Squad). Ce qui me fait vraiment chier c'est toutes ces troupes americaines qui s'appellent les "guardes du corps" (bodyguards) et qui travaillent pour le gouvernement pour extraire le petrole d'Irak sous Halliburton. Bref, aussi longtemps que les puits de petrole seront massacres en Irak, et aussi longtemps durera l'occupation illegale de l'Irak.

Ce qui ne me plait pas du tout dans les principaux medias americains (MSM) c'est que l'on attribue des actes sous l'identite d'une seule personne, alors qu'il s'agit d'un reseau de personnes qui n'ont aucune coordination avec l'Irak. Enfin bon, Al Zarqawi a ete tue pour la troisieme fois. La premiere fois fut a Baghdad puis a Mossul et maintenant a Amman. A chaque fois il renait de ses cendres.

US Nuclear Warplans Fly Around The Internet

'"Even in an unclassified world this is not the kind of thing you want flying around the Internet," says Pentagon spokesman Lawrence DiRita. He was talking about a document, yanked from a Pentagon website on September 19th, which outlines US nuclear warfighting plans, including the pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons and the use of nukes in conventional war.

'Comments to the document by the various military branches reveal squabbling about who gets to run a nuclear war, a disagreement about the legality of pre-emptive warfighting strategies, and a discussion of the etiquette of alerting allied troops that a nuclear attack is coming their way.

'This is exactly the kind of information which we believe ought to be flying around the internet; these guys really shouldn't be left alone to talk about this stuff behind closed doors.' (Greenpeace article & Pentagon document).

click here

White House attempts to reverse declining support over

AM - Friday, 18 November , 2005 08:08:00 Reporter: Leigh Sales TONY EASTLEY: In the United States, the Bush administration has begun a campaign to reverse public opinion about the Iraq war and the President's leadership, which is now at an all-time low. In a speech, Vice President Dick Cheney has labelled as opportunists those people who accuse the White House of misleading Americans about the war. He says they're trying to rewrite history and are peddling 'cynical and pernicious falsehoods'. Democrats passionately deny the claims and are calling for US forces to be withdrawn from Iraq. From Washington, North America Correspondent, Leigh Sales. LEIGH SALES: There’s a concerted campaign going on to convince Americans that the Bush administration didn’t mislead them going into war in Iraq. Vice President Dick Cheney is leading the attack. DICK CHENEY: Suggestion that's been made by some US Senators that the President of the United States, or any member of this administration purposely misled the American people on pre-war intelligence is one of the most dishonest and reprehensible charges ever aired in this city. (sound of applause) LEIGH SALES: President George W Bush is on the same message. GEORGE BUSH: When Democrats say that I deliberately misled the Congress and the people, that's irresponsible. LEIGH SALES: So is the National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley. STEPHEN HADLEY: Some of the critics today believed themselves that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. LEIGH SALES: The administration’s argument is that many Democrats saw the same intelligence as the White House, accepted it as credible, and voted for the war. Dick Cheney’s living up to his attack-dog reputation, taking the criticism of Democrats further than it’s gone before. DICK CHENEY: The saddest part is that our people in uniform have been subjected to these cynical and pernicious falsehoods day in and day out. The President and I cannot prevent certain politicians from losing their memory or their backbone, but we're not going to sit by and let them re-write history. LEIGH SALES: What history shows is that the administration argued for war in Iraq on the grounds that Saddam Hussein possessed a deadly cache of weapons of mass destruction. It never materialized. A commission appointed by the President found there no was evidence that political pressure was applied to skew the WMD intelligence so the war would be more marketable to Americans. But what Democrats want is a look at how the Administration used that intelligence to make its case and whether the data was manipulated or exaggerated. They also want an exit strategy from Iraq. Democrat Congressman John Murtha has been in office for three decades and has won bipartisan respect for his grasp of military issues. He’s a decorated Vietnam War veteran and one of the most hawkish Democrats around. He voted for the Iraq War, but today he was close to tears as he called for a complete withdrawal of American troops. JOHN MURTHA: We're charged, Congress is charged, with sending our sons and daughters into battle. And it's our responsibility, our obligation, to speak out for them. That's why I'm speaking out. Our military's done everything that has been asked of them. The US cannot accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily, it's time to bring the troops home. LEIGH SALES: Mr Murtha is furious about the way President Bush has managed the war and dealt with the mounting criticism of his policy. JOHN MURTHA: I'd like guys who'd never been there to criticise us who've been there. I like that. I like guys who've got five deferments and never been there and send people to war and then don't like to hear suggestions about what needs to be done. This is a flawed policy, wrapped in an illusion. The American public knows it and lashing out at critics doesn't help a bit. LEIGH SALES: It’s true that Americans are losing faith with Iraq. A CNN USA Today Gallup Poll this week had 60 per cent of people saying it was not worth going to war. The President’s personal approval rating is at an all time low of 37 per cent and this is why the administration has had no option but to start an offensive to turn public opinion around. This is Leigh Sales in Washington for AM. click here Conclusion: 50% of Americans have been abandonned by their government

"En saigner l'onglet" aux francais

FRANCAIS	FRANGLAIS	ANGLAIS
Parlez-vous anglais ?	Douille housse pic n'glisse ?	Do you speak english ?
Etes-vous prêt ?	Ail ou radis ?	Are you ready
L'addition	Débile	The bill
Félicitations !	Qu'on gratte tous les jeunes !	Congratulations
Passer un coup de fil personnel	Ma queue perd son alcool	Make a personal call
Plus d'argent	Mords mon nez	More money
Joyeux noël	Marie qui se masse	Merry Christmas
Nous sommes en retard	Oui Arlette	We are late
Attirance sexuelle	C'est qu'ça pèle	Sex appeal
Le dîner est prêt	Dix nourrices raidies	Diner is ready
Fabriqué en France	Mais dîne Frantz	Made in France
J'ai fait un bon voyage	Ahmed a l'goût d'tripes	I made a good trip
Le boucher	Deux bouts d'chair	The butcher
Il parle Allemand	Il se pique Germaine	He speaks german
Tu as sauvé toute ma famille !	Youssef vole ma femme au lit !	You saved all my family !
Asseyez-vous sur la chaise	Six tonnes de chair	Sit on the chair
le sel et le poivre	Sâle teint d'pépère	salt and pepper
Né pour perdre	Beaune-Toulouse	Born to loose
Je cuisine	Âme coquine	I'm cooking
Epicerie fine	Délicate et saine	Delicatessen
Où est l'épicier ?	Varices de grosseur	Where is the grocer ?
Donne-moi de l'argent !	Guy vomit sous mon nez !	Give me some money !
Prendre le train	Toute ta queue traîne	To take a train

Trouve chez Legnoch

Online Censorship Persists in North Africa And Middle East - Report

A report released by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) has revealed the prevalence of online censorship in several Middle East and North African countries.

The 140 page report titled "False Freedom: Online censorship in the Middle East and North Africa" was presented at a press conference at the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society, in Tunis. It is based on in-depth research in selected countries where censorship of electronic content is widespread.

Over 50 Heads of State and governments are expected to attend the Summit, which will examine challenges facing the development of the Information Society and bridging of the digital divide between countries. Several civil society and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are also attending the Summit. The report includes case studies of Egypt, Iran, Syria and Tunisia. Tunisia is host of the second phase of the World Summit on Information Society, currently underway at the PalExpo Kram, Tunis.

Over the past years, stringent measures relating information and communication technologies have been imposed on the country's citizens. The report cited a portrait of Tunisian President, Zein El Abidine Ben Ali located in western Tunis, with the caption: "Opening disk drives is strictly forbidden. It is forbidden to access prohibited sites. Thank you."

Eric Goldstein, director for the Middle East and North Africa division of HRW pointed out that whilst there had been improvements in the access to information in Tunisia "there is still surveillance and certain internet sites are still prohibited or blocked."

"This year, online journalist and father of three, Mohamed Abou, was sentenced to three years in prison for publishing an article on a banned website comparing President Zein El Abidine Ben Ali to Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon," said Goldstein. HRW are currently lobbying for support at the Summit, encouraging an end to such censorship.

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US refuses unconditional access of UN personnel to Guantanamo

Washington, Nov. 16 (PTI); The US has refused to allow unconditional visits by United Nations personnel to Guantanamo Bay, saying that the access given to International Committee of the Red Cross to the detention centre holding terror suspects "is sufficient."

"We believe that our openness and transparency with the ICRC and the countries ... to whom these detainees are citizens is sufficient," the acting Spokesman of the State Department Adam Ereli said yesterday.

"The ICRC gets access to prisoners. The nationals -- the governments of those countries have access to those prisoners... but that's not necessarily the case with UN special rapporteurs," he pointed out.

His remarks came after UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak, warned the US that UN inspectors would not visit the base in December as scheduled unless Washington agreed unrestricted and unconditional access. Amid widespread criticism over suspected torture of prisoners in the facility, Ereli said, "the way to deal with us is not by ultimatum. That's not real helpful and that's not real cooperative."

He said suspicions on the goings on in Guantanamo "should be belied by the fact that ICRC ... is able to visit detainees on a 24/7 basis and that is the appropriate body to have that access, to perform that function and...that kind of access should adequately address those suspicions."

In Guantanamo, he said, "we are guided by international obligations, our own laws and the fact that we are dealing with enemy combatants who remain a danger to the United States and to others."

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Why Western governments fall apart

Americans are obstreperously anti-intellectual, and chose a president with whom they can identify. The British always have been hypocrites, and elected the most hypocritical of prime ministers. The average Frenchman is no less arrogant than the president of the republic, while the Germans, at least since 1945, have devoted their storied thoroughness to becoming as nondescript as possible. Almost every Italian is on the fiddle, and it is fitting for their prime minister to be fiddler-in-chief.

Link here