lundi 30 avril 2007

Traduttore traditore ?

So I read that a poor American translator was fired after he attempted a little humour during Nicolas Sarkozy speech after the 1rst round of the presidential elections.

After working like a dog the whole fecking weekend he typed the subtitles as follows :


"And I invite French people to rally my inflated ego so that we can build that dream..."


Poor guy... he didn't know that French are humourless people...

I think we should raise money for the endearing Traditore.

If someone knows how to get hold of him, please let me know !

jeudi 26 avril 2007

The Zidane bravitude

Yo Kelkians and People of good faith !

Go to :

http://www.royalcoupdeboule.com/

and try to score more than 50 !

Update : as of April 27th, my slave is the best "coupdebouleuse" with 70 hits !

The challenge is open up until the 6th of may at 20h00...

I'll give a trophee to the best scorer !

And for those who want a first lesson of French Frenchitude (or how to speak good French if Sarko the big Mako win the elections) :

mercredi 25 avril 2007

There is a Kelka watching us

Yesterday my old clients were freed.

Why ? I dunno.

Who decided ? I dunno.

But I'm soooooo happy !!!!

Wanted to share it with you Kelkians ! and with all of you good people of the world.

Good vibes really work, let's hope for the best next 6th of May !

Oh and I'm sooo happy that my best friend is in Toulouse !!! Yay !!!

mardi 24 avril 2007

Le bilan de Sarkozy et notre choix

Je suis sincèrement préoccupée. Nous ne pouvons ignorer quel est le bilan de 5 ans de gouvernement Sarkozy (à l'économie, à l'intérieur).

Personnellement, je n'ai jamais autant souffert auparavant dans mon exercice professionnel.

La séparation des pouvoirs est un principe démocratique que l'on ne peut pas attaquer impunément, et ce malgré toute les critiques fondées que nous pouvons avoir vis-à-vis du pouvoir judiciaire. Sarkozy s'est employé à s'immiscer dans l'exercice de la justice depuis qu'il est au pouvoir et il revendique encore plus les "pleins pouvoirs".

Or, sans aucun contrôle, sans aucun contre-pouvoir réel, le pouvoir exécutif devient une dictature qui cache son nom.

Derrière les déclarations tronitruantes du candidat, son "franc parler", quel est le résultat du ministre ?

Une France plus endettée, une France plus pauvre, une France moins sûre, une France plus effrayée.

Je ne nous souhaite pas 5 ans supplémentaires de sinistrose.

Je ne suis pas de ceux qui ont voté pour Ségolène Royal. Mais je crois sincèrement que nous n'avons pas un autre choix.

********************

Une France plus pauvre :

Niveau de vie des Français (INSEE)

--------Moyenne ---- Médiane
2002 *18 043 *****15 806
2003 *18 025 *****15 805
2004 *18 030 *****15 766

Revenu disponible par ménage (INSEE)

2002 *29 071 *****24 931
2003 *29 010 *****24 746
2004 *28 935 *****24 599


Une France plus endettée :

CE QUE NICOLAS SARKOZY A DÉCLARÉ…

« Il n'y a pas de fatalité à la progression de la dette publique.
[Elle] atteint aujourd'hui 1 000 milliards d'euros (…) Il faut d'abord
la stabiliser. (…) C'est mon objectif pour 2006 (…). Je prouverai dans
les mois qui viennent que ces objectifs n'ont rien d'utopique. »

Intervention de Nicolas Sarkozy, ministre d'État, ministre de
l'Économie, des finances et de l'industrie. Conférence de presse à
Bercy - 4 mai 2004

… ET LE RÉSULTAT TROIS ANS PLUS TARD…

« En 2002, la dette publique s'élevait à 901,8 milliards d'euros. Elle
s'élève à 1 151,8 milliards d'euros en septembre 2006, soit une hausse
de 250 milliards en quatre ans. Elle est estimée à 1180 en 2007. »

Source Insee

CE QUE NICOLAS SARKOZY DÉCLARE…

« Il y a 40 ans, on empruntait à 18 % et il y avait une inflation à 24,
le différentiel en vérité, je ne fais pas l'apologie de l'inflation,
mais c'est l'inflation qui remboursait. »

Nicolas Sarkozy sur TF1 - 5 février 2007

ET LA RÉALITÉ…

« En 1967, l'inflation était de 2,7 %. Le record s'établit à 13,7 %, en 1974. »

Paru dans Le Monde - 28 février 2007


Une France moins sûre

Les agressions physiques ont augmenté :

Reportons-nous aux chiffres du ministère de l’Intérieur. En mai
2002, quelques jours après l’arrivée de Nicolas Sarkozy Place-Beauvau,
selon la définition de l’OND (Observatoire national de la Délinquance),
on compte 372 263 atteintes à l’intégrité physique. A la fin de l’année
2006, on en dénombre 432 441. Cela représente 60 178 faits de violence
supplémentaires, soit une hausse de 16% (voir encadré 4)

Une France plus effrayée :

même les Policiers craquent...

http://videobaseproject.net/video81.html

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1lu73_letat-de-la-police-apres-sarkozy

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xngro_des-policiers-matraquent-nicolas-sa


Le projet de loi sur la prévention de la délinquance adopté hier à l'Assemblée nationale est le dixième texte relatif à l'insécurité voté par la droite depuis 2002. Sans compter les deux lois sur l'immigration. Ce dernier texte important de la législature de Nicolas Sarkozy, sur un thème pilier de sa campagne présidentielle, accroît les pouvoirs des maires et durcit les sanctions contre les mineurs délinquants et les multirécidivistes. Il prévoit également des sanctions dès l'âge de 10 ans et de la détention provisoire dès 13 ans. Cette loi n'a mobilisé qu'une poignée de députés dans l'hémicycle,comme si les élus, même UMP, s'étaient lassés de cette avalanche législative. Et pourtant, dès aujourd'hui, la commission des lois se
penche sur une nouvelle réforme de la justice.

Libération, mercredi 6 décembre 2006


Sur la séparation des pouvoirs

CE QUE NICOLAS SARKOZY DÉCLARE…

« Je veux dire aux juges que je veux une justice respectée. (…) Je veux
leur dire que je serai toujours à leurs côtés pour défendre
l'indépendance de la justice et l'accroissement de ses moyens. »

Déclaration de Nicolas Sarkozy à Périgueux - 12 octobre 2006, publiée sur www.u-m-p.org

… ET CE QUE NICOLAS SARKOZY PRATIQUE AVEC LES MAGISTRATS…

« L'intervention de Sarkozy constitue une atteinte scandaleuse au
principe de la séparation des pouvoirs exécutif et judiciaire, à
l'indépendance de l'autorité judiciaire et aux fondements même de notre
démocratie », a pour sa part estimé le Syndicat de la Magistrature [à
propos du juge Alain Hahn au sujet duquel Nicolas Sarkozy avait déclaré
qu'il « devait payer » pour l'affaire Nelly Crémel]. »

Paru dans le Nouvel Observateur - 23 juin 2005


Sur ses rapports avec l'extrême droite

CE QUE NICOLAS SARKOZY DÉCLARE…

« Quand des gens osent dire que je défends des idées de Le Pen, je suis
profondément blessé. Je mets au défi qui que ce soit de trouver une
seule idée que j'ai défendue qui soit conforme à ce que pense monsieur
Le Pen, y compris sur l'immigration choisie. »

Nicolas Sarkozy dans Le Parisien - 20 octobre 2006


… ET CE QUE NICOLAS SARKOZY PRATIQUE.

« Chacun crie au plagiat. Invité, dimanche 21 mai, de Radio J, Philippe
de Villiers, président du Mouvement pour la France (MPF), a accusé le
président de l'UMP, Nicolas Sarkozy, de le copier. Le 22 avril, devant
des nouveaux adhérents de l'UMP à Paris, le ministre de l'Intérieur
avait déclaré : « S'il y en a que cela gêne d'être en France, qu'ils ne
se gênent pas pour quitter un pays qu'ils n'aiment pas. » Une formule
qui ressemble au slogan répété par M. de Villiers depuis quelques mois
: « La France, tu l'aimes ou tu la quittes. » A son tour Jean-Marie Le
Pen réclame des droits d'auteur. »

Paru dans Le Monde - 24 Mai 2006


Patrick Devedjian, proche du numéro 2 du gouvernement [déclare à propos
de la sécurité]: « Les électeurs du FN seront obligés de reconnaître
que leurs préoccupations ont été prises en compte. On ne peut plus nous
faire le reproche du laxisme. »

Publié dans Libération - 6 décembre 2006

dimanche 22 avril 2007

Fuck the TV ! Fuck the polls ! I vote Ségolène !



Well women, Kelkian vibes helped Ms. Royal to get to the second round.

Keep the good vibes coming for the next 15 days !

We're gonna need them, need them bad !

Sé Sé Sé Ségolène !
Sé Sé Sé Ségolène !

vendredi 20 avril 2007

Afraid ? me ? oooh yeah !!!

Dominez votre peur.
Une femme ne vous fait pas peur ? votez Royal.
Un homme ne vous fait pas peur ? votez Bayrou.
Rien ne vous fait peur ? votez Sarkozy.

Copyright : Hervé Le Tellier
Le Monde

Control your fear.
A woman does not scare you ? vote Royal
A man does not scare you ? vote Bayrou
Nothing scares you ? vote Sarkozy

Another interesting data :

5 543 people died from a car accident in 2005, and
4.703 in 2006 in France
858 people died in a plane accident in 2006, 1 035 in 2005, all over the world.
4 people died because of a shark attack out of 62 attacks, in 2006, the same in 2005 out of 63, all over the world.

Okey, the chances that I take a plane are higher than to meet a shark... granted...

Still, the conclusion of all this ranting is that :

1) I'm definitely gonna prefer the plane over the car and I'll stop worrying during landing or if there are turbulences
2) I'm happy to ride a bicycle
3) I'll continue diving no matter if there are sharks in the water.

Who said I was afraid ?

Okey, I'm just afraid that Sarko is gonna be president...


PS (oh ! I just love that initials !) : here are some pics taken when I dived with sharks in Cape Town Aquarium, I wanted to meet my colleagues...



jeudi 19 avril 2007

Tired to be a lawyer ? Try to sing !

or "the origin of the expression "Maitre Chanteur"

To Persona's request, here goes my new post.

There is a blog in French that you lawyers and non lawyers should know and read if you understand French. It's Maître Eola's "Journal d'un avocat".

In his post "La Rage" he describes pretty well how a lawyer feels when he knows his/her client has suffered an unfair trial.

I totally felt like that when I "went to hell".

First the rage against the judges, because not only they lacked the basic compassion towards another human being, but above all because they just didn't apply the law and they know that we cannot go to a higher court to make their unlawful decisions be overruled, so they do what they damn please and it's outrageous. I fought so hard not to insult them when the decisions were given because I knew that it could only hurt my clients.

Then, the rage came back at me : what if deciding to go to plead in the retention center was a bad thing for my clients, what if the judges decided to let them rot in retention to send a message to the other lawyers : "even if you come, we are still gonna do what we damn please", what did I do that was wrong ? Do I totally suck?

Eolas has still the faith in what he does. I'm kinda loosing it right now. I know that our clients need us to be strong and full of hope and good ideas and energy to fight back again and again. But when you battle alone, it's so damn tiring. I'm so tired. And I don't see any sign of hope. Not yet. My colleagues, some support me but don't fight with me, some others criticize me, but not in front of me. So I'm kinda always getting to the same conclusion that unless I become a cold hearted person, I have to stop defending foreigners in retention because it just crushes me.

But then sometimes hope is there, just waiting to lift you up again. And it has always happened to me. At least, up until now. But to tell you the truth, this week has been a very shitty week for my clients. I need to relax, and take it easy. And that's exactly what I'm gonna do !

Or, become à Maître Chanteur...



samedi 14 avril 2007

Eurokelkian musicology

We have been exchanging tastes in music these past weeks and I noticed that it says a lot about the personality of Eurokelkians.

Paradroid : mellow and posh basher gives us Bluegrass, Gipsy, Rock and kind of weird music that pops you out of a boat

Persona : sweet frenchy litterary naugthy "nerd" : Carla Bruni and Elles

Matilda : also sweet hippy happy child : very 60'sish kinda music : Elliot Smith, Lou Reed, The (awesome and best band of the whole world and history) Beatles, Cat Stevens, Simon and Garfunkel for Kelka's sake !!!

Magnolia31 : ??? what does Big Stuff say about me ?

:-)

jeudi 12 avril 2007

I've been to Hell today

In Toulouse, the habeas corpus and freedom rights for foreigners who are deported, are judged inside the retention center which is just besides the airport, the judge being brought to the retention center by a police van and some translations being made by the very policemen that hold the foreigners. There is absolutely no road sign that tells you where the retention center is. For hearing purposes, the meeting room of policemen is transformed for a couple of hours into a court. When the jugde leaves, the sign that says "Judge of Freedom and Detention of Toulouse" is taken off, and everything returns to its former state, until a new hearing is held. And this has been going on since june 2006.

At first, the lawyers refused to go and appealed all the decisions. But the Court of Appeal decided to do the same. So lawyers stopped defending their clients waiting for an hypothetical injunction by the Administrative Justice to decide if this was the right way to deliver justice.

Today, I decided that I could not stand this situation anymore, so I decided to defend a couple of clients, who are old and ill. Their son is married to a French lady and they have a newborn daughter. Two days ago the Police came to their house and took Grandpa and Grandma and put them in the retention center at the request of the Prefect who represents the French governement in our department (equivalent of state in US, province in Canada, etc...).

Although I sent a letter to the Judge saying that I would defend this old couple, I was not notified of the hearing. I learned that a hearing was gonna be held because the family and the social workers told me so.

So I went this morning to the retention center and asked to have a look at my clients file so that I could check if the procedure was legal, but the Police told me that only the Judge could give the authorization for that. I had to wait for the Judge... When the Judge arrived, I asked for a little time to look at my clients files, but he told me that as soon as all the interpreters would arrive, he would start the hearing no matter what.

A few minutes after that, all the interpreters were there. The Judge proceeded to explain what he was supposed to do and what were his limits (basically saying "I can do nothing for you, because I don't have to judge if the grounds for your deportation are solid"). The intepreters (one in Portuguese, one in Bangla and one in Arab) proceeded to explain all this in the same time to six people waiting to be judged... Babel could not have been worse.

Then the Judge called my files and asked me to plead for the three of them (I had another client) in a single pleading.

After I finished (after some 30m), he asked to the other foreigners if someone had something to add. Only three people added something. The rest (who could not speak French) remained silent.

The Judge then left to render his verdict and came back 30 minutes later saying to all of the people there that he had decided to put them into retention for 15 days more. Everyone signed to have the copy of their decision and it was over.

I've been to Hell today.

Le message pour Sparkie

A la fin de la journée, quand tes neurones ont été soumises à forte pression, quoi de plus agréable que de retrouver tes cops sur MSN, ça te change immédiatement les idées !

Je crois qu'on peut se connecter à n'importe quelle heure de la journée ou de la nuit et il y en aura toujours une pour délirer avec toi (bien que j'ai constaté une certaine baisse de fréquentation entre 7h et 10h du matin CET...)

Aujourd'hui, comme tous les jours depuis ... deux mois maintenant, je remercie les Kelkiennes d'avoir été là à déconner, à flirter, à se conseiller, à se concerter pour aider, à se confier, à écouter... Je ressens vraiment de l'affection (et le mot est faible, peut être même amour, mais là c'est peut être trop... il faut que j'utilise un mot en espagnol dont j'ai jamais trouvé de traduction : cariño) pour vous toutes !

mardi 10 avril 2007

Accross cultures, English is the word

Very interesting article on the International Herald Tribune of yesterday :

Accross cultures, English is the word

No wonder why I've been publishing my messages in English... I didn't know in the beginning, so I started this blog in French, thinking that I would write in French, Spanish or English depending on my mood.

Apparently my mood is set on English, since I want to communicate with friends that don't speak French nor Spanish, and since all of my friends speak in English...

Now the question is : are we gonna speak and write like the Queen of England, or r we ttyl 4ever in text messaging mode ? Some of the answer you can read in this article (IHT too) :

Texting shorthand annoys purists, but it has its charm

I could not believe that Scottish and New Zealanders have accepted shorthand for exams !

This article reminded me of a very interesting lesson on how French has evolved over the ages that was delivered to me by Persona : the modern French is the result of the "langue d'Oil" (the language of Francks from the north of France) overlapping the "langue d'Oc" (the south language) in a mix of Latin. But as the language was used by people from different origins, it started to simplify, firts in its spoken version (French used to speak their language like the Quebecois from Canada do today, in a way), and then in orthograph. Okey, this maybe a very rough summary of all that Persona said, but the medula is there.

I love to speak, to communicate, so I have no trouble accepting English to be the most common language used in the world. But if there is one day this awesome machine used in Startreck and other Sci-Fi movies (Dune comes to mind) to translate everything I say in French or Spanish to any language of the world, maybe I'll dump English... although... I kinda like it now ! ;-)

************
PS : After reading this, Persona was concerned that she would be considered a total nerd... (she wishes ! ha ! ) so to please her (how could one not please her!) let me just tell you that she delivered the best French translation for "quiero lamerte hasta que te vengas mil veces en mi boca" just last night... while on a MSN orgy... to clear that up too... ;-) 11/4/07

La phrase du jour

Hervé Le Tellier works for "Le Monde".

Today his quote made me laugh :

59% des sondés (par téléphone fixe) pensent que Nicolas Sarkozy sera président. 58% des détenteurs de portables répondent : "c ségo ki sra élu lol."


Which means "59 of people polled (by normal telephone) think that NS is gonna be president. 58% of cell phone holders answer : "no sego is gonna be elected lol""

Within two weeks we are gonna vote for the 1rst round on presidential elections and polls are going crazy.

So the last one said something like that : 59% of the people think that Nicolas Sarkozy is gonna be elected...

1) What "people" ?
2) "Think" does not equal "Vote" !

Even I think that he's gonna be elected and I hate the guy's gut (he's like a smarter Bush if you wanna get an idea of how bad the guy is) !

Democracy is definitely not working these days...

Das Leben der Anderen

I just came back from the movies. I went to see "The Lives of Others". Awesome movie !

(WARNING ! The following link contains spoiling material )

Das Leben der Anderen in Wikipedia

Favorite quote :

"What's the name of your... ball...mhh?"


If in the middle of putrefaction and political terror, the best of human beings can surface, then there is still hope.

The principal actor, Ulrich Mühe, is excellent. He looks a little like Anthony Hopkins in "Silence of the Lambs".




Get ready to cry a little, or a lot if your are a sissy like me, but it's nice and clean crying, good for the health.

lundi 9 avril 2007

Reggaeton

It was intended to be a short answer to a Kelkian question on the Mothership, but then, as usual with me, it got out of my hands. So here's my list of favorite latin musicians :

Reggaeton is a matter of controversy for women all over Latin America.

Usually its lyrics are about how women are a bunch of whores that just want to get laid (by men is understood), but from time to time, you find some reggaeton that maybe is not that obvious...

For example : "Atrevete-te" from Calle 13 a group from Puerto Rico

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLHuDDdo-90

The lyrics say something like :

Atrevete-te-te-te (Come on, dare !)
salte del closet (come out of the closet)
destapate (take your clothes off)
sacate el esmalte (take the polish off)
dejarte de taparte (stop hiding)
que nadie va a retratarte (no one is gonna take a pic)
levantate ponte hyper (get up, get hyper)
prendete (get on fire)
sacale chispas al estarter (make the starter sparkle)
prendete en fuego (get on fire on fire :P)
como un arte (i'm not sure of this line)
sacudete el cinturon como si fuera un whiper (shake the belt like it was a whiper)
que tu eres callejera streetfighter ('coz you are a street girl streetfighter)

so... it's ambiguous no ?

As for me, I say, if it's good dancing music, the kind that makes you just wanna get on the dance floor and shake your ass, I don't give a damn about the lyrics.

For example :

Gasolina from Daddy Yankee, Puerto Rico too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCUO_ApQccs

The songs basically says "A ella le gusta la Gasolina, Dame mas Gasolina, Como le encanta la Gasolina, Dame mas Gasolina" (She likes Fuel, give me more Fuel, how she loves Fuel, give more Fuel), and of course, fuel is... :P

I just LOOOOVE that song to dance !

As for my favorite latin artists :

Juan Luis Guerra
from Republica Dominicana

El costo de la vida
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zLpacr1DlU

La bilirrubina
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cosT3X-owzk

La cosquillita
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX7IkZ5IMqg

Ojala que llueva café
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJimpth-yNs

El Niagara en bicicleta
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4i7tbqKWp4

Bachata rosa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9UIl8I6WBQ

etc...

Joe Arroyo
from Colombia

La Rebelion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhtn3HROvgA

Echau pa'lante
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz77RC8qDok


Shakira of course
from Colombia

La Tortura (awesome video !!! this girls moves her boobs, her ass, her every particule !)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piFr31cWpEo

Hips don't Lie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htJuGVrhKWc

Ojos Asi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqeuSWTgtQo

Ciega Sordomuda
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOeaxkMbGO8

Beautiful Liar (feat. Beyonce or the other way around)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtIHBRsy1lI

Rubén Blades
from Panama

These are songs to hear and read. Look up the lyrics if you want to know what they mean.

Pedro Navaja
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbi2HunKux8

El Padre Antonio y su monaguillo Andrés
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvL_CQFuZdg

Decisiones
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzCPT8wQMM0

Mana
from Mexico

El Muelle de San Blas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4TGbW0_6mw

Rayando el Sol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLUcqW2Z3_E



Enjoy !

A beautiful day in Toulouse

So trying to control my addiction, I decided to take advantage of a beautiful day in Toulouse and this is the result :



Okey... the video is not so good, but you can get an idea of how beautiful my Pink City is !