Start here:
MP SHEDS LIGHT ON CHIRAC'S MYSTERIOUS MILLIONS
PARIS October 6, 2005 (Guardian) - A dogged French Socialist MP [René Dosière] yesterday revealed that Jacques Chirac, already the most expensive president the French have had, was costing the taxpayer more than three times the official figure.Mr Dosière revealed that the Elysée employs about 1,000 staff, "the equivalent of the municipal workforce of a town of 50,000 people". ... Mr Chirac, who is immune from prosecution but was wanted for questioning in corruption scandals dating back to his time as mayor of Paris, has also presided over a staggering increase in the Elysée's official annual income, which has soared from €4.5m in 1995, the year he was first elected, to €31.9m 10 years later.
Then connect this dot, and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one. Voilà ! Here is the pretty picture that results:
THREE QUARTERS OF FRENCH DON'T TRUST POLITICIANS
PARIS October 10, 2005 (AFP) - Three quarters of French people do not trust politicians, and nine out of 10 want more women in parliament, according to a new poll published on Monday.The CSA poll published in the Parisien daily newspaper revealed that 39 percent were lukewarm when asked if they "quite" trusted their politicians, while 37 percent did not trust them "at all".
Less than a quarter, or 22 percent said they "quite" trusted their elected representatives, while only one percent trusted them totally.
Earlier this summer John Vinocur at IHT wrote:
The issue is not the people, at home in a country that truly remains exceptional in its beauty, style and ingenuity. Rather, the issue is large parts of a leadership caste, so tuned only to itself, so played out, so fearful of saying we've got to change our act, that it approaches autism.
PFFT (What is this?): Connectivity 0 | Rayonnement français 0
Mr Chirac, who is immune from prosecution but was wanted for questioning - there's your problem.
How in the hell can he be immune from prosecution? That's insane, you can't run a Government that way.
