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| Joey |
Hello My Stones' Brothers and Sisters .................
Tony Blair ---- Greatest Politician EVER !!!!!!!!! ( Better than Clinton / Reagan / Thatcher / FDR --- The whole BUNCH of them )
" Blair Calls May 5 UK Election as Lead Shrinks "
" LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair confirmed on Tuesday the worst-kept secret in British politics -- that an election will be held on May 5 -- as polls suggested a real contest for the first time since 1992.
With Iraq weighing heavily on his ratings, Blair put his government's economic credentials at the heart of the campaign.
Confirming the date after visiting Queen Elizabeth in traditional pre-election protocol, Blair vowed to build on eight years of growth to entrench future investment in public services -- which he says his Conservative opponents will slash.
"It's a big choice, it's a big decision. The British people are the boss and they are the ones that will make it," he told reporters outside his Downing Street office.
Blair had delayed the long-expected announcement by a day due to the death at the weekend of Pope John Paul.
Public anger over the Iraq war could slash Blair's parliamentary majority -- five new opinion polls showed his party has lost support to the main opposition Conservatives.
Embarrassingly, one of the ruling Labour party's candidates, Stephen Wilkinson, said on Tuesday he was defecting to the Liberal Democrats, the only major British party to oppose the Iraq war.
"Who would have thought a Labour government would become a lap dog to George Bush's right wing Republican administration," Wilkinson said.
Conservative leader Michael Howard focused on Blair's perceived Achilles Heel -- reduced public trust post-Iraq.
"The choice before voters on May 5 is very clear," he told party supporters. "They can either reward Mr. Blair for eight years of broken promises ... or they can vote Conservative.
REAL CONTEST
Surveys in Tuesday's Guardian, Times and Independent newspapers gave Labour a lead of just 2 or 3 percentage points. Separate surveys of voters who said they would definitely vote even gave the Conservatives a lead.
If those figures were replicated on polling day, analysts say, Blair would still win a third term but with a much looser grip on parliament. At the previous two elections in 1997 and 2001, Blair easily won triple-digit majorities.
Britain's electoral map, which concentrates constituencies in Labour's urban strongholds, means the Conservatives must win a larger share of the vote than Labour to take power.
The Financial Times said the 5-point Conservative lead in its poll of definite voters would still return Blair to power but with a parliamentary majority slashed from 161 seats to just 27.
If he wins, Blair would make history by becoming the first Labour premier to clinch a third consecutive term, equaling the record of former Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher.
Blair came to power in 1997 after the 1992 vote, which Labour had been widely expected to win, swung to the Conservatives at the last minute.
If Blair's power is weakened this time, he could quickly become a lame duck as he has already stated he will not seek a fourth term.
The biggest fear of Labour strategists, mirroring the polling evidence, is that their core supporters do not bother to turn out. "
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050405/wl_nm/britain_election_dc
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| glencar |
Clearly he's one of the best & I hope he smashes the oppo. BTW The only one who IS better is in the WH right now. But you knew that dintcha, cupcake? |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Someone should run against the Queen. |
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| glencar |
Elton John shuns opposition! |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
quote:
glencar wrote:
Elton John shuns opposition!
You seem to have misunderstood my statement.
q-u-e-e-n .... not q-u-e-e-r |
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| glencar |
Don't be such a pedant. |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
quote:
glencar wrote:
Don't be such a pedant.
What's a pedant???? I'm sorry if that joke was offensive or insensitive in any way. |
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| glencar |
It just mean someone who gets hooked on niggling lil facts. A pesty person. |
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| keith_tif |
As you talk about politics. IN France, we have a vote with NO or Yes for the European Constitution ( A referendum) on 29th of May 2005. At that time there are more people for the NO and i hope that the NO will win because we don't want an Europe like Blair's Great Britain. If the NO wins, it will be a victory against liberalism, conservatisms and Jacques Chirac "ultrasuperliarman" who thinks be De Gaulle! AH!AH!AH!!!!!
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
You mean like a "nitpicker"? |
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| glencar |
quote:
keith_tif wrote:
As you talk about politics. IN France, we have a vote with NO or Yes for the European Constitution ( A referendum) on 29th of May 2005. At that time there are more people for the NO and i hope that the NO will win because we don't want an Europe like Blair's Great Britain. If the NO wins, it will be a victory against liberalism, conservatisms and Jacques Chirac "ultrasuperliarman" who thinks be De Gaulle! AH!AH!AH!!!!!
And people wonder why we say the French are weird! |
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| glencar |
quote:
Ten Thousand Motels wrote:
You mean like a "nitpicker"?
That too, Motels! |
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| Scot Rocks |
Please this time lets get rid of him, although looking athe opposition Catch 22 springs to mind. In the end Im probably going to vote SNP, as they came withing 500 votes of getting the rid of the Labour joke who has been the current incumbent here for ages at the last election. Would maybe vote for the liberals but I dont like how they want to give away more power to europe.
I wonder if John Prescott will be involved in any fights this time! |
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| Starbuck |
Hannibal's army approached the Alps either by the Col de Grimone or the Col de Cabre, then through the basin of the Durance, or else by the Genèvre or Mont Cenis passes into the upper Po Valley, descending into the territory of the hostile Taurini, where Hannibal stormed their chief town (modern Turin).
Some details of Hannibal's crossing of the Alps have been preserved. At first danger came from the Allobroges, who attacked the rear of Hannibal's column (probably along the gorges of the Drac). Along the middle stages of the route, other Celtic groups attacked the baggage animals and rolled heavy stones down from the heights on the enfilade below, thus causing both men and animals to panic and lose their footings on the precipitous paths. (Probably the valley of Durance at the defile at Argentierre-la-Bessee.) Hannibal took countermeasures, but these involved him in heavy losses in men.)
On the third day he captured a Gallic town and provided the army from its stores with rations for two or three days. Harassed by the daytime attentions of the Gauls from the heights and mistrusting the loyalty of his Gallic guides, Hannibal bivouacked on a large bare rock to cover the passage by night of his horses and pack animals in the gorge below. Snow was falling on the summit of the pass, making the descent even more treacherous. Upon the hardened ice of the previous year's fall, the soldiers and animals alike slid and foundered in the fresh snow. A landslide blocked the narrow track, and the army was held up for one day while it was cleared. Finally on the 15th day, after a journey of five months from Cartagena, with 20,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry, and only a few of the original 38 elephants, Hannibal descended into Italy, having surmounted the difficulties of climate and terrain, the guerrilla tactics of inaccessible tribes, and the major difficulty of commanding a body of men diverse in race and language under conditions to which they were ill fitted. Hannibal was subsequently able to increase the size of his army to about 30,000 by recruiting Gauls.
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| glencar |
The Gauls promptly surrendered & collaborated for the next millenium... |
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| Monkey Woman |
quote:
glencar wrote:
And people wonder why we say the French are weird!
Ah, well... One thing the French love to do: fighting, arguing and bickering among themselves...  I'm not saying we are just like Gauls, but basically it's a good idea to read one or two Asterix books to undertstand the French -- if you want to!   |
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| glencar |
I read a hyperlinked article about this Sarzoky (sp?) guy. He sounds like my kind of candidate. You guys have to get stand-up people in your politics. Chirac turned out to be a real dud. |
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| Monkey Woman |
quote:
glencar wrote:
The Gauls promptly surrendered & collaborated for the next millenium...
Sheesh, glencar, you political parrot, you don't know your ancient history! Helping Hannibal to defeat the Romans didn't serve the Gauls well, because of course Hannibal lost the next war to Rome. As for the Gauls, they went on fighting with the Romans, but not all of them and not all the time. At some time, one Gaul chieftain named Brennus even put Rome to the sack. Much later, and more famously, Julius Caesar took advantage of the feuds between the different Gallic tribes to invade Gaul and unite it under the shield of "pax romana".
Which should tell us something about the dangers of being divided in the presence of superior, foreign, expansionnist force. Apply to the political situation of your choice. |
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| glencar |
LOL I was making an allusion to recent political histoire. Truth bites sometimes but life goes on. |
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| Monkey Woman |
quote:
glencar wrote:
I read a hyperlinked article about this Sarzoky (sp?) guy. He sounds like my kind of candidate. You guys have to get stand-up people in your politics. Chirac turned out to be a real dud.
Yeah, you read an article and suddenly you're an expert on French internal politics? Not to mention your usual boorish mention of "you guys". As if we needed lecturing by someone who knows diddly about the issue.
I'm no friend of Chirac, but Sarkozy (yes, that's his name) is no prize. If you want someone who talks big and achieves little, who throws his weight around and cooks the figures to look good in the media, who has no real opinion but would embrace any cause if it's popular, you can have him. Please, take him to the States, he's a fan of all things American, anyway! (*)
(*) And don't get me wrong, it's not that which gets up my nose. It's just that the man is a disgrace. |
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| glencar |
LOL he sounds like the best man for you people! I hope he wins. I wish I could donate. And don't even go on about me assuming I'm an expert because I read one article about Frenchi poltics. First, I've read much more than that. Second, you people have never held back on pontificating about what America should do in our politics. Every goddam Frenchmen I meet has to tell me how Americans per se aren't bad but we really need to get rid of George Bush. We gave you people a big "Fuck off!" on Nov. 2nd. I hope you heard it.
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| Monkey Woman |
quote:
glencar wrote:
LOL I was making an allusion to recent political histoire. Truth bites sometimes but life goes on.
Oh, like I hadn't noticed... As I said, you're still parroting the anti-French propaganda.
You don't even know your recent history either. "Collaborating forever", indeed! Go find a book about WWII and find about the other things the French did in the war. At least the part of them that didn't mistake a lost battle for a lost war...
But you know what? You are now a bit late on the current Euro-American relationships, if you go on with the anti-French gospel. Your own commander-in-chief, G.W. Bush, has kissed and made up last year with Chirac. Guess what, he needed European (including French) support on the Iraqi elections and other related matters. Of course, maybe Bush hadn't expected his own supporters to be so deep in their hole that they couldn't dig themselves out of it... |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
I wouldn't worry about the French much. Their either in my pocket or your pocket. They'll do what their told. (Most if not, all governments do fo that matter.)
[Edited by Ten Thousand Motels] |
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| glencar |
You're a bit slow on the reply button. Lil Jacques acquiesced to Dubya's program. The Volcker Report on French malfeasance during the Oil For Food program probably helped in that. Get this straight: we don't need YOU. Ever. You've not been there for decades. Decades. We can count on the Brits, the Italians, the Germans (usually in their case) and others but the French? No fucking way. Look up the lyrics to Kow Tow for a clue. Good day, madame! |
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| glencar |
LOL @ TTM. Totally spot on. Wherever the money is, they're there. Perfidy is their name. |
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| Monkey Woman |
quote:
glencar wrote:
LOL he sounds like the best man for you people! I hope he wins. I wish I could donate.
You can. By all means! This way his ennemies are going to be able to libel him the Trojan horse of the Americans.
quote:
And don't even go on about me assuming I'm an expert because I read one article about Frenchi poltics. First, I've read much more than that.
Oh, yes, you read two articles! And maybe watched a few Fox News reports!
quote:
Second, you people have never held back on pontificating about what America should do in our politics. Every goddam Frenchmen I meet has to tell me how Americans per se aren't bad but we really need to get rid of George Bush.
Blah, blah, blah. So, you, the very civilized and polite Mr. Glencar, don't like it when foreigners lecture you about the politics of your country, but you love doing the same to them? Yeah, right. Some people find pleasure where they could.
Notice that I have talked this far about my own country, about Europe and ancient history which is common knowledge. You brought Bush into this.
quote:
We gave you people a big "Fuck off!" on Nov. 2nd. I hope you heard it.
Ah, so you thought the 2004 election was for the sake of a tiny foreign country, not for the American people? Talk about biting off your own nose to spit it to someone's face. |
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| glencar |
The big "Fuck Off!" was also to the American Media & Hollywood types. You people were just a small fish in that dank pond. But then, that's your lot. |
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| Monkey Woman |
quote:
glencar wrote:
Lil Jacques acquiesced to Dubya's program.
After a charm offensive by said Dubya worthy of a courtesan...
quote:
The Volcker Report on French malfeasance during the Oil For Food program probably helped in that.
Good old propaganda. How useful to wield a stick in one hand and a olive branch in the other.
quote:
Get this straight: we don't need YOU. Ever. You've not been there for decades. Decades. We can count on the Brits, the Italians, the Germans (usually in their case) and others but the French? No fucking way. Look up the lyrics to Kow Tow for a clue.
Kow Tow? You're not thinking straight. Hate often has that blinding effect. Very inconsistent, that, when the reason why the French were singled up for calumny was that they wouldn't follow the lead of the self-proclaimed Leader Of The Free World...
quote:
Good day, madame!
In your dreams! If your buttons are so easily pushed, it would be a crime not to make you dance. |
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| Monkey Woman |
quote:
glencar wrote:
The big "Fuck Off!" was also to the American Media & Hollywood types. You people were just a small fish in that dank pond. But then, that's your lot.
It must be fascinating to live with so much anger and hate inside. Maybe you should donate your brain to science, preferably while it's still alive. |
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| glencar |
Uh, yeah. Gotta go. You people will learn someday. |
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