Wednesday, January 17, 2007

The French can now impeach!


This is the back of the French Parliament (l'Assemblée Nationale, see here a part of the front) where, today, the French version of an Impeachment law was voted (impeachment is a specific process for a legislative body to remove a government official without the agreement of that official). At this occasion I learnt that only Kyrgyzstan, the United States, India, Brazil, Russia, the Philippines, and the Republic of Ireland have such a law.

PS: In case you haven't voted for PDP in the Festival de Romans yet, please do so by Saturday, by clicking here. Merci beaucoup!

32 comments:

  1. Finally granting the Power to the People!
    (now you see why France is on their 5th Republic, while USA is still on our first;-))))

    I get your symbolism behind the tilting of the govenmental seat!

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  2. Wow... but who can apply this law? really french people...? if that's the point, goverment has to be very careful because you french people are so compromissed with your thoughs... I mean, you made MAY 68! :)
    Hope I catched it..

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  3. It's a little more complicated than that... Bill Clinton was impeached (sanctioned), but not removed from office.

    When it has perhaps been appropriate to begin impeachment proceedings to remove someone from office (Nixon, G.W. Bush), our Congress has wimped out.

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  4. Impeach, impeach... now where have I heard this word before? Hmmm...

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  5. Nice angle! Are they planning on impeaching anyone in particular? Also curious to know whether the statue is representative of anyone.

    P.S. Eric: I just tried to vote for you, but I am embarrassed to say that I am apparently too lame to navigate the site en Francais. Any tips? Would love to give you my vote!

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  6. oh, mon dieu, what a positively REVOLUTIONARY idea!!!

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  7. It's a very interesting law. As I read, the legislative body needs a supermajority (2/3 of votes) to impeach a government official, so, the possibility of a bad use of the law is not very possible.

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  8. We, the French People have always been very keen on reproducing whatever Kyrgyzstan do ;-)

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  9. Ric, with due respect, the US adopted the idea of impeachment from the British where it existed at least as far back as the XVIIth century, when several of Charles I's ministers were impeached.

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  10. Oops, it's my typing! Of course, I meant ERIC, not RIC!

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  11. I love the tilt on this photo, it can often be quite boring shooting buildings in the norm and this just brings it alive!

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  12. Impeachment has been possible for years but it doesn't seem to happen. The politicians are afraid to use it in case the idea might catch on and, in turn, revoke them.
    It should have been used several times recently and in the past. Great photo of this cockeyed world, Eric. Liberty and justice for all, especially the rich. LOL

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  13. In Brasil, not only we have this law, we have actually "impeached" a presidente in 1992. Ex-president Collor was impeached because of all the corruption in his government and was forbiden to run again for any position in politics for 8 years. Sadly enough, it seems the brazilian people is very "forgiving" for now that the 8 year period is over, the ex-president is back in business. In last year elections, the people has voted for him again and he is now a senator in the northeast of Brasil. It´s a big paradox, but as we say in here, the brazilian people has no memory...

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  14. Yes, Merci Chichi for keeping his promise few weeks before quiting the job !!!

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  15. ...it's good for people but it's so difficult when corruption is everywhere of the government :S

    nice angle of the pic :)
    and... I voted for you ^^

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  16. A les Estats Unis, impeachment does not originate with nor is it decided on by "the people". The legislative body initiates and conducts the impeachment process. (If you think about it, if the legislature removes an official elected by the people, is that 'power to the people'?)

    Impeachment does not mean somebody is removed from office: it means the legislature conducts hearings to determine if this should occur, then votes yes or no. Correction, Buzzgirl, Congress did vote to impeach Nixon, but he resigned before the process got underway because he know he was a dead duck. Congress impeached Clinton, but voted not to remove him from office.

    Presidential impeachment proceedings pretty much lock up the government because nobody can deal with anything else, nor can the press. While some officials, elected or otherwise, should be removed, we always need to consider if it worth shutting down government for...months.

    Doesn't it look like the seated figure in the photo is wearing white gloves? Whose quote is this: there are two things the general public should never see--sausage making and lawmaking.

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  17. Giuce : beware before voting for somebody you might want to empeach afterwards, ah ah ah !!!

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  18. Here it is:

    Laws are like sausages. It's better not to see them being made.
    Otto von Bismarck
    German Prussian politician
    (1815 - 1898)

    Here's another fun one, and appropriate:

    Politics is the art of the possible.
    Otto Von Bismarck,
    remark, Aug. 11, 1867

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  19. Great! The French can try it out on Sarkozy (if he is elected to the presidency).

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  20. Good for France! I know politics everywhere are corrupt, but I hope France is more responsible with it then e are. I agree with johnny. Our politicians don't want to impeach unless they absolutely have no other route to take because they don't want someone to tun around and impeach them, or cut fundings, or vote against the next law they propose, or something else the politicians deem "more important" than the welfare of the country they "serve." What boggles my mind is why Clinton abusing his power with some hanky panky is impeachable, but Bush abusing his power by...well, practically everything he's done, is apparently not impeachable!!!

    And that's the end of my little political rant. Thank you for understanding that my opinions are my opinions and nothng more!!! :o)

    Anyway, Eric I do love this shot. The angle, the importance of the shot to current events, and it appeals to my love of architecture!

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  21. And as to the Festival de Romans...well, Je ne parle pas des Francais tres bien. I can't figure out how to vote. The website confused the heck out of this Americain. Can anyone point out the "vote here" link?

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  22. Soosha: I share your outrage that philandering merits impeachment but violating habeus corpus requirements and numerous other violations of the U.S. Constitution, unilaterally terminating treaties, revealing an espionage agent as politcal revenge against her spouse, etc. etc. are not considered important. Now, technically, it was Clinton's lying to the grand jury or Congress about the philandering that they impeached him on. But, really,...

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  23. Impeachment sounds like a "last resort" step when there has been corruption or abuse of power by an individual in the executive branch of government, but the reality is that of the 2 US Pesidents who have been impeached in the over 200 years of US history, both were acquitted (Nixon was never even impeached since he resigned and was pardoned). Each country that has an impeachment law has a different "spin" on what impeachment means, so it will be interesting to see how it is utilized in France. Eric has already implied it may be viewed in a different "angle" from how he framed his photo!

    What is unimpeachable is our view of PDP. I voted.

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  24. Merci, Haxo. I just successfully voted - hooray.

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  25. Haxo, I have been to that site multiple times and there is absolutely no grey square or anything else on my screen that says vote or votez. Mystified.

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  26. bv....that was very funny...errrr, drole...we have it in the USA but it doesn't seem to frighten anyone..[enough!!!]so, we muddle on. It's a long, unpleasant process and it isn't good for the nation[economically or intellectually]in the long run.

    bv said...

    We, the French People have always been very keen on reproducing whatever Kyrgyzstan do ;-)

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  27. LOL bv... You crack me up!

    Thanks everyone for voting for me and a special thanks to haxo who even, provided a special "how to" ((well except for Jeff who has not figured it out!!).

    Interesting story Monica, I did not know about Brazil having impeached a President (as for the short memory of Brazilians, well isn't the same everywhere... ?)

    Also one precision: impeachement canNOT be used to through out a President out of his functions just because you don't like him (anymore)! It has to do with corruption, treason, murder, etc. Needless to say that I doubt we will ever use this new law in France...

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  28. Jeff: Thanks to Haxo, it's the little golden/orangish rectangle in the lower left portion of the site after you've clicked onto the link. It says "voter." You click on the rectangle and then it tells you that your vote has been recorded (en Francais). This only works if you click on Eric's link for today's photo, where it says, "click here." If you try to go in to the main website, the home page is a little different. Hope that made sense. It works - I just voted again from my home computer. Bon Chance!

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  29. Brilliant shot. I love the framing and gthe angle

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  30. this shot looked really nice, the colours are special;)

    www.singaporedailyphoto.com
    www.budapestdailyphoto.com

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  31. Well, if you want to see how silly the impeachment process really is, click here. In the meantime, if anyone is willing to give Bush a B.J., I'll gladly pay.

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  32. Just doing a spot of backlogging, popped in here and saw your surprising challenge Michael! Was going to scroll up to see why you want Bush to benefit in this er special way, but decided maybe it's safer not ! lol.

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