Bush Impeachment Hearing Begins Today!

Bush impeachment hearing is beginning today led by the efforts of Dennis Kucinich. He may not be a viable candidate for president but he sure is a tireless crusader. Watch the video, write the letter he talks about, do something. Even if the impeachment hearing goes nowhere, bringing attention to the lies and omissions of the Republicans can only help in the coming months before the elections.

Impeach Bush Now!

Barack Obama in Berlin today

Barack Obama in Germany

Barack Obama is giving a speech today in Germany. The French news has been absolutely in a state of frenzy with this coverage. There seem to be tens of thousands of people gathered in the streets of Berlin. BBC estimates 100,000 people. Why is he so amazingly popular in Europe compared to the US? I have a few French friends, you know who you are, who think he is not viewed as the better candidate compared to Clinton. Well I’m sorry but look at this coverage throughout Europe. All the French I interact with seem to be ecstatic about his candidacy.

Europeans in general, if you believe the news broadcasts, are overwhelmingly in favor of Obama. No one talks about John McCain, if he came here do you think he would receive a similar reception? Does anyone care about McCain here?

Usually we just get to say “He gets it” for some politicians but in the case of Barack Obama, he doesn’t just get it, HE IS IT! Look at all the young people. I remember when Howard Dean was campaigning but he is much more charismatic than that. He is what we have hoped for, not just someone who understands what we want. Of course he’s not perfect but you know he is more connected with the average person than another white millionaire who doesn’t know how to apply for student loans.

His speech is starting. Here are some random quotes as I liveblog this event.

“I know I don’t look like the candidates that have come here before”

“My father was a goat herder in Kenya” followed by African tribal calls

“This city knows the dream of freedom”

“We cannot afford to be divided”

“The burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together”

When he speaks there is little to be embarrassed about. Not like the familiar Bushisms.

He connects the dots of poverty, opportunity, terrorism, and tomorrow,

“The greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another.”

“Partnership and cooperation is the only way.”

Belfast, the Balkans, South Africa he connects all the dots, is there any other way?

“We need a world without nuclear weapons”

“This is the moment for free and fair trade for all”

“Finally bring this war to a close”

“This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet”

“This is the moment we must give back to those who the globalized world left behind”

“Will we give meaning to the words never again in Darfur?”

“Will we reject torture and stand rule of law?”

“I come here not as a candidate but as a global citizen”

I wish he hadn’t said “God bless you Berlin”

In the end, who cares about John McCain?

Complete Obama Speech from Berlin

Complete transcript of Obama speech in Berlin

“A World that Stands as One”
July 24th, 2008
Berlin, Germany

Thank you to the citizens of Berlin and to the people of Germany. Let me thank Chancellor Merkel and Foreign Minister Steinmeier for welcoming me earlier today. Thank you Mayor Wowereit, the Berlin Senate, the police, and most of all thank you for this welcome.

I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before. Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen - a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world.

I know that I don’t look like the Americans who’ve previously spoken in this great city. Continue Reading >>

Save Money This Summer Tip #2

Save money, it’s on everyone’s minds this summer. France Tales is going to share with you some useful tips for saving money. Some will be specific to Toulouse, France but can be applied to wherever you live. Other money saving tips will be universal.

Save Money Now Tip #2

Look for free screenings of movies in your community to save money now. Here in Toulouse we have a great Médiateque, a multimedia lending library. There is a built in auditorium for movie screenings. Each Saturday in summer they show a free movie. See the schedule here. Often local bars show screenings of films during happy hour or a specified time. This is great because it is half way between renting a video and going to the movies. You get the social experience of going to the movies but you get to save money because it is free. Look for movies that are projected using LCD projectors, otherwise they will be on a TV which will seem small unless you can sit right in front of it, and if that were the case you might as well stay home and watch the DVD. The photo below is of the auditorium at the Médiateque in Toulouse, France. It is new and quite nice. Have a happy summer saving money.

July 14th, Bastille Day, in Toulouse

We came home from Figeac on the 14th of July, Bastille Day. We were a little worried about the traffic due to the Tour de France and Bastille Day celebrations. There was no traffic anywhere. We got home and were very tired. We decided not to do anything, not like us. We have a large terrace on the back of our apt and a decent sized balcony on the front. Well the balcony overlooks in the direction of St Cyprien and Prairie des Filtres which is where the fireworks are. Perfect, we stepped out on our balcony at 10:30PM and had a perfect view. These photos were from my phone, but Jean-Jacques has a new fancy camera so maybe I can add those later. The fireworks were better than I expected. I had read about how many cities were cutting costs due to inflation globally. I was expecting less, but they were great.

Save money this summer tip#1

Save money, it’s on everyone’s minds this summer. France Tales is going to share with you some useful tips for saving money. Some will be specific to Toulouse, France but can be applied to wherever you live. Other money saving tips will be universal.

Save Money

Tip #1

Participate in social networks that organize events and activities. Many of these are free to join and the events are free. Some events cost money and others are low cost but a good social network will have lots of all kinds. Meetup.com is pretty universal. Here in France there is a group called Amiez. With Amiez you can sort by department, city, event type, etc. We went bowling the other night and the evening was organized by someone on Amiez. While we had to pay we did save money because it was a group of about 50 people so the bowling alley gave us a discount. Check out the pictures. BTW, if you are over say 35 or so, be careful, our backs and wrists hurt the next day, it is not all about drinking and talking, there is some physical exertion.

Graffiti on snails, not in France!

Graffiti on snail shells, I was intrigued. I was looking for news items on Digg, My profile on Digg, try this hack to get more Diggs on your stories, and I ran across this story about graffiti artists in London who paint the shells of snails in different colors and in graffiti-esque patterns. Graffiti on snails, I would have thought it would have started in France but no in England. I was thinking the other day how ugly the graffiti in Toulouse is. I hope this trend spreads here. The graffiti here could really use some improving. Check out the original article. Digg it here if you like it. What’s next a stage in snail painting graffiti, I’d sign up.