Sanofi Scientists do a Haka

This is what happened in Toulouse, France when Sanofi planned to close the research facilities.  Not only did the union and their government officials get involved, the R&D staff did a haka.

Check out that last hand movement. It looks like they may have saved their jobs, at least temporarily.

We are such wooses here in the US.  We meekly accepted our fates as we were forced through the doors, like lambs to the slaughter.  We knew there was absolutely no one looking out for us and our severance packages would be revoked if we put up a fight.

There are more videos of their protest.  In a couple of them, they have made signs against some of the top management.  I’ll have to get the kid to translate for me but I don’t think they were saying nice things.  And they got away with it.  Incroyable!

Keep it up, guys!  Bravo Les Sanofi!

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

And here’s the salsa they wrote called Salsa du pognon, which I think means The Money Salsa.

The last part of the song contains these lines:

on lache rien, non on lache rien
tant qu’y a de la lutte
y a de l’espoir
tant qu’y a de la vie
Y a du combat
tant qu’on se bat qu’on est debout
tant qu’on est debout on lachera pas

Which roughly translated mean:

you lose nothing, no nothing is lost
so what was the fight
there is hope
so what has life
There’s the fight
As we fight we are standing
As we are standing on let go

Google translate is not perfect but in this case, nothing is lost in translation

This is my favorite slogan:

Sauvez un chercheur
Mangez les actionnaire

Save a researcher, eat a shareholder.

The Snark is Strong in this One: Part deux

Charles Pierce must be off his meds because he’s in one of those brilliant manic phases right now.  His lastest post on David Brooks and his Irish setter, Moral Hazard is deadly funny.  And today, he posted his assessment of the Republican budget plan and the Democratic side of the aisle’s response. Basically, the Republicans are doing a Haka, demonstrating just how berserked with battle lust they are so that the other side is completely freaked out.  Judging by the reactions I’m reading, it’s working.  But Charles says it so much better:

Consider the new budget proposed by zombie-eyed granny-starver Paul Ryan. We had our say about it yesterday. So did practically everyone else. It is a blueprint for dystopia beyond anything concocted by Dickens. It is a perfectly fine budget, if you’re planning to recreate the golden age of the industrial slum. It should not be taken seriously by any journalist who is conscious and not a hack. Paul Ryan himself should be shuffled off to the back of the call-back lists wherein reside the UFO enthusiasts and the actual liberals. (This, of course, will never happen. Paul Ryan is a serious man of ideas while Bernie Sanders, say, is “extreme.”) However, it looks like the monkeyhouse is preparing to pass this mess. But I call your attention to one passage in the story.

There are people on the Republican side of the House who believe that a budget that would virtually decimate the federal government’s constitutional obligation to promote the general welfare doesn’t go far enough in making the lives of the nation’s poor as miserable as possible, and doesn’t go far enough in eviscerating the middle class, and doesn’t go far enough in permanently fastening onto the political commonwealth an income inequality incompatible with effective self-government. The passage:

Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.), a conservative member of Ryan’s Budget Committee, said he would vote against the plan, saying it broke the GOP’s “Pledge to America” and did not cut spending deeply enough. Huelskamp voted for the Ryan budget in 2011. “It’s not good enough,” he said during an appearance with six other conservatives at an event sponsored by the Heritage Foundation.Huelskamp said he was troubled by a lack of specificity on tax reform and the budget’s failure, in his view, to hold to spending levels that will be lower because of $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts set to take effect next year.The half-dozen other members of the Heritage panel said they were undecided on the budget resolution.Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) criticized the proposal for not cutting spending at the levels promised in the 2010 Pledge to America.“I’m not sure if I’m going to vote for it or not,” Gohmert said. “I appreciate so much the great work of Paul Ryan, but we took a pledge a year and a half ago, and we said we would cut more than is being cut. So that’s my struggle.

These people belong in a cage.

Hypergraphia is my muse but it looks like she has graced Charles with abundance this week.

Got your riot gear ready?

Get your pitchforks and torches ready, and a list of the stores you plan to loot, cuz according to Obamanation all hell breaks loose on November 4th and 5th.  That is, of course, assuming that the racists in the country steal the election that Teh Precious has already won.

Seriously, that is the message we are hearing.  It’s an amped up version of what Donna Brazile and other Obama supporters said would happen in Denver if Hillary “stole” the nomination from Teleprompter Jesus.  Obamanation’s rebels without a clue don’t really plan to riot, it’s just part of the pre-election haka, designed to convince us that Obama is the inevitable winner.

But over at Corrente, Chicago Dyke poses this question:

For the sake of argument, let’s say Obama wins, very clearly and obviously in your own mind. And let’s say that somehow, insert your own 2000 redux here, “they” (try to) take it away from him, via Brooks Brothers riots and SCOTUS foolishness and other sundry undemocratic methods. What is your response, if any? And why? How would it be different than if HRC had had it stolen from her? Or the candidate of Your Choice?

I don’t think McSpain has the ground game to steal it this time; I also don’t think Wall St/Telco Ave money wants Obama to lose. So honestly I’m not so worried about it. I think we’ll get a “democratic” prezint next Jan. But let’s say the paranoid, insane racist members of the Franchise refuse to give up power, and pull out all the tricks, and declare at 3am Nov 5 that “McCain Wins!” What do you do?

Although she slides in the mention of Hillary and “candidate of Your Choice” along with some other qualifiers and disclaimers, the framing of the question is premised on the idea that if the election is stolen, it will be stolen by McCain and the GOP.  Now I’m not trying to pick on CD or anyone at Corrente, but I think a very important question needs to be asked:

Assuming for the sake of argument that you are convinced the election was stolen from the rightful winner, does your reaction depend on which side did the stealing?

Things we hope are true

Sarah P. confesses her sins at Hillbuzz:

October 27, 2008 at 5:04 am

Ok, I want to clear my conscious a little. Hopefully you could make a blog post to help some fellow clinton supporters out.

I work for a campaign and can’t wait for this week to be over.

I was doing it for a job. I was not a fan of any candidate but over time grew to love HRC.

The internal campaign idea is to twist, distort, humiliate and finally dispirit you.

We pay people and organize people to go to all the online sites and “play the part of a clinton or mccain supporter who just switched our support for obama”

We do this to stifle your motivation and to destroy your confidence.

We did this the whole primary and it worked.

Sprinkle in mass vote confusion and it becomes bewildering. Most people lose patience and just give up on their support of a candidate and decide to just block out tv, news, websites, etc.

This surprisingly has had a huge suppressing movement and vote turnout issues.

Next, we infiltrate all the blogs and all the youtube videos and overwhelm the voting, the comments, etc. All to continue this appearance of overwhelming world support.

People makes posts to the effect that the world has “gone mad”

Thats the intention. To make you feel stressed and crazy and feel like the world is ending.

We have also had quite a hand in skewing many many polls, some we couldn’t control as much as we would have liked. But many we have spoiled over. Just enough to make real clear politics look scarey to a mccain supporter. Its worked, alough the goal was to appear 13-15 points ahead.

see, the results have been working. People tend to support a winner, go with the flow, become “sheeple”

The polls are roughly 3-5 points in favor of Barack. Thats due to our inflation of the polls and pulling in the sheeple.

Our donors, are the same people who finance the MSM. Their interests are tied, Barack then tends to come across as teflon. Nothing sticks. And trust, there were meetings with Fox news. The goal was to blunt them as much as possible. Watch Bill Oreilly he has become much more diplomatic and “fair and balanced” and soft. Its because he wants to retain the #1 spot on cable news and to do that he has to have access to the Obama campaign and we worked hard at stringing him a long and keeping him soft for an interview swap. It worked and now he is anticipating more access. So he is playing it still soft.

This is why nothing sticks.

The operation is massive, the goal is to paint a picture that is that of a winner, regardless of the results.

There is no true inauguration draft or true grant park construction going on. There will be a party, but we are boasting beyond the truth to make it seem like the election is wrapped up.

Our goal is to continue to make you lose your moral. We worked hard at persuasion and paying off and timing and playing the right political numbers to get key republican endorsements to make it seem even more like it was over and the world was coming to an end for you all.

There is a huge staff of people working around the clock, watching every site, blogs, etc. We flood these sites. We have had a goal to overwhelm.

The truth is here. I could go on and on, but you get the picture.

I am saying this because I know HRC was better for the country, and now realize this. I was too late by the time I connected to her. To me Barack was just a cool young dude that seemed like a star. I didn’t know him or his policies, but now I understand more than I care to and I realize his interests are more for him, and the DNC and all working like puppets with dean. I always thought a president wanted the better good for the country. The end result I see is everyone dependent on the government, this means more and more people voting for the DNC. This means the future is forever altered. I don’t see this as america, so I am now supporting John Mccain.

Sarah Palin is a huge threat, and our campaign has feared her like you can’t imagine. If it seems unfair how she has been treated, well its because she has had a team working round the clock to make her look like a fool.

this is a big conspiracy and I am so shocked that its not realized.

We released a little blurb the other day that the Obama campaign was already working on reelection and now putting our efforts towards 2012. This was to make it seem like it was above us to continue caring about 2008. Trust me, its a lie. David is very smart, but its a sticky ugly not very truthful kind of intelligence.

Its not over yet, but I think the machine is working. And its a hill to climb.

I will be quitting my post on nov 5th and my vote will be for John Mccain. Fortunately, my position has been a marketing position and I don’t feel I had any part of anything I would feel guilty for. But I look forward to getting out of this as the negativity and environment upsets me.

I wish you all well, and goodluck.

PS my name is not really sarah. but I am a female and I understand your plight.

We have no confirmation that Sarah P. is what she says she is but her story sure sounds right. It’s what we have independently observed since the beginning of the primary season.  Sarah’s testimony is very plausible.  It is one big game of psychological warfare perpetrated on us by Obama and his sneaky campaign.

And to all of you Republican readers out there, I just have one question:  what are you doing here?!  I mean, seriously, we are Democrats.  Some of us are Liberals.  We believe in the common good and progressive taxation and supporting unions and that kind of stuff.  (Stop flinching)  I think it’s fascinating that we are suddenly cool to you guys, like some kind of exotic species.  Maybe you like to run with a dangerous crowd.  Take a walk on the wild side.  But let’s be honest, we’re just not into being Republican.  If some of us vote for McCain, it’s only because he’s more honorable than Obama and didn’t screw half of his party out of their votes.

It’s weird.  I almost think that you guys like pain.  Or are you finally waking up to what was done to the country in 2000 and 2004 and don’t particularly like the prospect of it happening to you?  Well, if you don’t want to see Obama the Unready Fraud become the next president Bush, the best thing you can do is clip and save Sarah P’s confession and pass it around to all your Republican buddies.  Obama’s trick to winning has been to suppress the votes of his opponent by making them feel helpless.  It’s called a Haka.  And there is a very easy way to stop him from being successful.  All you need to do is Go Vote Against Him.  That’s all it takes.  No special skills or powers are required.  All it takes is committment from you and your neighbors to vote come hell or high haka.

Now, go forth, round up your posse and tell them to do it.

One more thing for the Obama operatives out there reading:  The post PUMA Power at the top of the page?  It’s been viewed more than 100,000 times since I wrote it.  Maybe more if it’s been passed around in email.

Monday: Hey, Republicans, wanna know a secret?

We know why you’re angry.  You probably haven’t figured it out yet.  To be honest, we’ve always felt you were a little clueless about what was going on.  We’re not being elite.

Oh, Hell, yes we were.  We thought we were smarter than you.  Actually, some of us *are* smarter than you.  Some of us are smarter than our Democratic brether, er, siblings.  Well, maybe smarter isn’t exactly the word.  Let’s just say we know when people are trying to sell us something.  We’re not impluse buyers.  We listen to the pitch and can actually be quite entertained by it but at the end, we recognize the script and the elements and decide we really don’t need the combination dessert topping/floor wax after all.

So, here’s the thing.  You know something’s wrong with the election this year but you can’t quite put your finger on what it is.  We wish you had been this skeptical back in 2000 and 2004 but no use crying over spilled milk now.  What’s done is done.  George Bush was your president for eight of the longest years of our lives.  Many of us have been marking down the days in anticipation of his leaving the White House to be replaced with one of our guys.  That was before the primary season heated up and Barack Obama turned out to be one of the most corrupt politicians since Richard Nixon and George Bush.

And we sense that you guys are really angry.  But you’re angry for the wrong reasons.  You’re angry at some lower income people getting in over their heads with bad mortgages.  You’re angry because they weren’t responsible.  You’re angry because you think Barack Obama cares for “those people”.  Jeez, this has been the problem all along.  You’re always looking in the wrong direction.  While your propaganda unit was getting you all stirred up over resentment towards the people who were worse off than you, the rich bad boys were stealing your wallet.  We knew you were easy marks and tried to warn you but did you listen?  {{sigh}}

So, anyway, where was I?  Oh, yeah.  We just wanted you to know that even if Obama had any intention of helping “those people”, which he doesn’t, there’s no money in the Treasury.  So, you can stop worrying about it.  No, no, don’t let it trouble your beautiful minds.  We’ll take care of it like we always do.  Obama is not really one of us bleeding heart liberal types.  He’s a political opportunist.  Obama does what is good for Obama.  There’s no *there* there where his conscience should be.  That is what makes corruption so easy for him.  He might look tired but I guarantee you that he doesn’t stay awake nights worrying about your well being.  Hillary does that.  Obama thinks Hillary types are suckers.

Anyway, here’s the secret.  The real enemy is not Obama.  No, if you didn’t want Obama, all you would have to do is not vote for him.  Poof!  He would go back to being one of the most ineffectual senators in the Senate, right after Liddy Dole.  The REAL enemy is relentless media fueled peer pressure.  Yep, that media who brought us 8 years of George Bush and the Iraq War.  See, if you had listened to us back then, we would have told you to avoid Bush like the plague and it was obvious that there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction.  (45 minutes from Iraq to North American with a missile?  Are you kidding me?  And don’t even go there with “WMD’s were trucked off to Syria” stuff.  The Army would have made a newsreel out of the satellite images if that were true.  Have you been to Google maps lately?)

Look, if you don’t want Obama as your president, and believe me, we are right there with you, you’ve got to listen to us for a change.  It’s time to put aside the fact that we are from the opposite side of the aisle and that you guys are wrong on just about everything.  Yeah, I know my elite slip is showing but I’m telling you that we’re not like the Obamaphile Democrats.  We’re the FDR type.  Oh, nevermind, we know you don’t like him either.  Well, we never cared for Reagan, so there, we’re even.

Here’s the thing: the media is engaging in a haka against you.  A haka is the word for a Maori war dance.  It is big, brash, ugly, noisy and aggressive.  It is intended to make the enemy feel like they have lost the battle before the first spear is thrown.  It’s like Muhammad Ali trash talking Joe Frasier.  It’s designed to make you despair and give up.  And that’s what’s making you mad.  You think that Obama is going to win and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Bullhockeys.

All you have to do is turn the damn TV off.  Watch the last debate on C-Span.  Read only the sports sections and the stuff about the economy in the paper.  I’m pretty sure that if a haka happens in a forest and no one is around to hear it, it doesn’t bloody well work.  Just put the media on mute and go about your business.  They’ll try to get louder of course.  And we know that the Obama campaign is about to launch a new initiative to get people to vote for him.  It will be based on the same nasty techniques that were used in high school to make you vote for that girl for the Homecoming Queen that you didn’t really like but for some reason everyone around you did.  Take it from us, the geeky Clintonistas who have been sitting this out since August, we’ve seen it all before.  We’re happy sitting together at our own lunchtable.  There’s plenty of room here.  And if we all stick together, we can bring that popular clique in the media down.

‘Cos, I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of the media picking my president.

Oh, and one other thing.  Sarah Palin isn’t stupid.  They just make her look that way on TV.

Other observations from my fevered (literally) imagination:

• Don Draper on Mad Men is Peer Gynt.  Sorry, Matt Weiner.  I’ve given it all away.  “A man is whatever room he’s in.”?  Ayn Rand?  Pretty Clever.  I hope I’m right because Peer Gynt is one of the only Ibsen plays I never actually read.  Discuss.
• For the BFF, the name of the song you thought you heard at the Buddhist wedding was After the Gold Rush.  There are two well known versions.  One was by Neil Young with his high twangy falsetto and one by a group called Prelude.  Here’s a video I found of Prelude’s acapella version.  It’s too early in the morning for Young.  The pictures in the video are a just as fantastical and a bit Arthur C. Clarke.

Ok, I’m going to take some cold medicine and make some hot tea.

Free Minutes? Free Time? Call West Virginia for Hillary

Hillary needs our help in W. Virginia

Have you heard this story (from a Yahoo Group list)?

I’ve been talking with some people already on the ground in WV and the Obama camp is calling voters, NOT to get out the vote, but to ask for money – campaign donations. The gist of the call is that its not important that they vote, because the election is over, and then they ask for money to help put this primary campaign to an end and move on to the general election. Basically, they are telling voters its over. Then they ask for $400 donations. What the dollar amount is about, I don’t know. Perhaps they are just getting greedy.

Is the Obama campaign targeting voters in West Virginia with misleading telephone calls? If so, this is a very serious problem. It’s commonly acknowledged that Hillary will do very well in West Virginia. But a huge win combined with a huge turnout would sweeten the victory by adding significantly to Hillary’s national popular vote total. And that is what the Obama volunteers are trying to achieve with this cheap trick.

Confluencians Fight Voter Suppression

Let’s do what we can to counter this bizarre campaign scheme.

If you’re like me, you’ve got a lot of plans for the weekend (especially this mother’s day weekend) but, if you find yourself with a free minute or two, consider donating them to Hillary. Even if you can’t fit a full hour in, please try to make 5 or 10 calls sometime today.

I actually hate making out of state campaign telephone calls. But this threat has energized me past that fear. I think.

Hillary Clinton Call Center Tool

Wednesday: Showdown

Mornin’ all, I have a presentation I need to prepare for so posting for me will be light today.

As you may know, there’s a debate tonight. It will be televised nationally on ABC starting at 8pm EST (5pm PST). Post debate coverage will be on C-SPAN2 at 10:00pm with caller reactions. If you want the most accurate reactions to the debates, your best bet is to follow up on C-SPAN2. Otherwise, the media has decided that Obama has already won it handily. Tweety and friends have already written up their notes praising him. He was brilliant. He was eloquent. He was fresh and new.

But I digress. Maya at the H-burg HQ tells me that before the debate, they re planning a haka of sorts. Yep, supporters for each side assemble near the debate site during the day and psych each other out with cheers or has the news media always describes protests in other countries, “the protestors held signs and chanted slogans”. Of course this is not a protest (unless you don’t like the fact that the media has already crowned Obama the winner without him having to utter a single word).

If you’d like to join the fun, and this is supposed to be *fun*, not confrontational, get thee hence to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia sometime this afternoon. Here’s the address and map:

National Constitution Center
Independence Mall
525 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 409-6600

Give the Philly HQ a buzz before you go to see if there is a particular plan for this haka (eg, where to stand, what to wear, slogans to chant) and while you’re at it, volunteer your time for this weekend’s GOTV.

Pennsylvania for Hillary Headquarters

520 North Delaware Avenue
Suite 202
Philadelphia, PA 19123
Phone: 215.625.0329
Fax: 215.625.0379
philly@hillaryclinton.com
Directions

Back off, Boyz!

If I read another Conflucian giving up in despair over the seemingly insurmountable delegate count, I am going to reach right through the ether and dope slap you. Don’t make me come through your monitor. 😐

The Boyz at the Big Blog Stores are doing a haka and trying make themselves and Obama seem so fierce that you will just surrender. But there is absolutely no reason for Hillary to concede and she won’t. She is going to win this thing and here’s why:

• Neither candidate has enough delegates to win without the SDs. Sorry Math Whiz’s. Creative math doesn’t help you here. The SD’s were created for just this eventuality.
• If The Gang of Four (Dean, Brazile, Pelosi and Kennedy) think that they can write off FL and MI and by extension, NY, NJ, CA, MA, AZ, OH and coming down the pike, PA, WV and KY, they are out of their fricking minds. No SD in their right mind is going to give the racial south and the mountain west precedence over millions and millions of base Democratic voters in high electoral college states and swing states. Anyone who thinks otherwise is delusional. At some point, Obama is going to have to take a hit on the FL and MI delegations if the party has any prayer of winning them back by November. You know it, I know it, Donna f%^&ing Brazile knows it. He can only hold out for so long before the Bennies and Shoobies descend on Denver in August to make his life a living hell.
• Hillary is going to cream Obama in PA. It ain’t even going to be close. Wright is going to be a factor, fair or not. The ending is more important than the beginning, in this case. She will end very well.
• Hillary is picking up some nice endorsements. John Murtha endorsed her today. That’s going to be good for her anti-war creds. Congressman Maroney in WV also endorsed her. There have been hints and allegations that Edwards would endorse Hillary before NC. We’ll see. The timing would be right and would score Edwards big points.
• She’s the best qualified candidate on either side to handle what’s coming down the pike on the economy, the war, energy policy and a whole host of other issues. Instead of caving to the big boyz, why aren’t we asking them why they are so insistent about shoving a complete neophyte down our throats and into the Oval Office when they *know* he’s going to be in over his head? Who is behind Obama’s meteoric rise and why are they willing to let the game be rigged on his behalf? Kos and the others haven’t explained themselves to my satisfaction. How about you?

As long as she is not getting out of the race, and there is no reason why she should, there is no reason why we should throw in the towel either. I see this as very winnable for her. I’m not giving up yet and neither should any of you. So, stop the hand wringing. The big boyz are full of sound and fury but will ultimately signify nothing.

Hillary needs a Haka in Texas

So, the Texas primary system is screwed up and stupid because of the idiotic caucus system. And it is true that Hillary loses caucuses. Before we tackle the issue of how we can never let this happen again and how Howard Dean needs to be strapped down and have his armpit hairs pulled out with tweezers (I’m not into torture but Dean can’t go unpunished for this), we have to figure out how Clinton can win the Texas caucus.

Now, what is the Obama camp has been doing to win their caucuses? Well, from what I’ve read, they flood the damn things with thousands of rowdy, intimidating Obamaphiles while the Clintonistas watch in stunned disbelief. What we have here is a Haka. A Haka is a Maori wardance, usually performed by men (figures) to scare and intimidate the enemy. The dancers do a lot of chest pounding and screaming and making truly scary faces complete with bulging eyes and sticking out their tongues. But just like the online world, they aren’t going to hurt you. It’s just to make you feel like they are the most dangerous people on the planet. So what if they scream at you, jostle you or make nasty faces?

So, what Hillary needs is a haka. Someone, I HOPE someone, is coordinating efforts to turn out the caucus haka for Clinton. If Obama can do it, Clinton can do it. Some suggestions:

• Create Clinton Haka parties for the caucus using the DFA-Link tools.
• Make T-shirts. Nothing says solidarity better than warrior colors.
• Create a chant. Learn some polynesian and some chest pounding, spear shaking hand movements.
• Use the blogosphere to whip up a frenzy.
• Comb the universities and other places for women to learn the haka and go up against the Obamaphiles.

I’m perfectly serious about this. Most of this caucus crap has been a psychological game. Now it’s down to “Obama is going to win the causcuses, woe is me, Clinton will lose Texas” This is bull. The maoris didn’t train their warriors in the haka for nothing. It’s a mindset and anyone can be taught to be fierce. Make it an event that people will remember for years to come.

Let’s turn *this*:

into *this*: