French political expert James Shields' prescient view of Hollande in charge: The Europe & France of 2012 is very different from Mitterand's of '81, less a French President can do within Europe, therefore expect incrementalism not transformational changes, though this may well disappoint France's most-devout Socialists

Sign of The Times this morning, the day after le second tour de l'élection présidentielle: Left-hand turn ahead, prepare to pay increased toll to appease the professional proletariat class and their laundry list of demands & grievances. 

But we'll always have Paris, right? 

Yes, mes amis, but some of it will be moving to London soon to wait out the coming economic  déluge.

France24english video: Debate, Part 1 of 2. President Hollande: Can "Mr. Normal" lead France in times of crisis? May 7, 2012. http://youtu.be/7MpB7IM_b1g

France24 Debate show host François Picard and his guests discuss what important decisions lies ahead for president-elect François Hollande, using clips from his acceptance speech in Tulle: what factors he may weigh in selecting a Prime Minister, what that choice might suggest about Hollande's future priorities or signals to party faithful; concerns about his economic policies, and how he will deal with Angela Merkel's Germany on the Eurozone debt crisis and why German financial institutions won't like what they hear from his govt., et al.

Guests: Steven Erlanger, Paris bureau chief of the N.Y. Times; Ulrike Koltermann, former Paris bureau chief, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA); James Shields, French political expert and Head of French Studies, Aston University http://www1.aston.ac.uk/lss/staff/shieldsjg/

Patrick Vignal, Senior correspondent, Reuters/France.


For me, the best takeaway comment was that of Jim Shields, who says, more or less, the Europe and France of 2012 is very different from the one that Socialist François Mitterand strode onto, chiefly because there is more that is beyond the reasonable human control of the Élysée Palace, therefore expect incrementalism, not the transformational changes that his oldest and youngest supporters long for.





France24english video: Debate, Part 2 of 2. President Hollande: Can "Mr. Normal" lead France in times of crisis? May 7, 2012. http://youtu.be/76ZEBgYxCVE 

Australia 2010 Federal Election: Cliffhanger Down Under! Hung parliament? Both parties have promised no new net spending in the campaign

Because of the time difference between Sydney and Miami, plus 14 hours, one more hour than D.C. to Tokyo, http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/ this nail-biter of an election is even harder to follow than most because you also have to make mental calculations for each report you see and figure out how many hours ago it was actually reported in Miami time.
(Insert your own joke here!)

In case you didn't know, voting there is compulsory for every citizen over 18.

I am very hopeful to be talking to the Hallandale Beach Blog Australia 'expert' in a few days and will of course report her pithy and insightful comments here as soon as possible.

ten News: It's A Cliffhanger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNyebP_UCwo



Latest ten News video is at: http://www.youtube.com/user/ten

http://www.smh.com.au/

SMH Live Election blog: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-election/the-pulse

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Christian Science Monitor
Australian election is set to be closest in decades
Australian election analysts are forecasting the closest contest in decades, and say 'grumpy' voters may produce Australia’s first hung parliament since 1940.
By Kathy Marks, Correspondent
August 20, 2010

Sydney
Six months ago, the Australian Labor Party was basking in popularity and Kevin Rudd’s government seemed headed for an easy election win. Now his successor, Julia Gillard, will count herself lucky to scrape back into power with a tiny majority in Saturday’s federal election.

Most recent opinion polls have Labor and the opposition coalition – the conservative Liberal Party and its rural-based ally, the National Party – neck and neck.

Political analysts are forecasting the closest contest in decades, and say there is a real prospect of Australia’s first hung parliament since 1940.

Read the rest of the article at: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2010/0820/Australian-election-is-set-to-be-closest-in-decades

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Sydney Morning News
Behind the election stoush, the big issues they quietly agreed on
By Peter Hartcher, SMN Political Editor
August 21, 2010

Elections define nations. This one has already redefined Australia even before the first vote is counted. Indeed, the most important changes could well be the ones that aren't actually on the ballot paper but have already been agreed through political osmosis.

The main political parties entered the campaign with four big, freshly agreed points of concurrence, areas of bipartisan consensus for changes that will shape Australia's destiny for years.

For the first time since 1947, Australia has abandoned its bipartisan consensus in favour of a “big Australia.”

Read the rest of the column at: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/behind-the-election-stoush-the-big-issues-they-quietly-agreed-on-20100820-138v9.html


Reuters, August 21, 2010
Australia faces hung parliament



Christian Science Monitor homepage: http://www.csmonitor.com/

Get me a Tesla Roadster, stat! The sexy electric car that turns heads

Pull quote from below:
"And, man, talk about a babe magnet."



See also: http://www.teslamotors.com/
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Advertising Age

Tesla Motors: an America's Hottest Brands Case Study

By Jean Halliday
November 16, 2009

Unusual in the car business, Tesla Motors does no advertising and has no agency of record. Instead, the private, plug-in electric car outfit in Silicon Valley's San Carlos, has relied on the internet, word-of-mouth and CEO-co-founder Elon Musk. The South African-born entrepreneur is the reluctant face of Tesla. He described himself as "basically an engineer" whose "intrinsic nature is to be introverted."

Mr. Musk is regularly out stumping for his electric cars at conferences, with reporters and at the handful of company-owned dealerships in the U.S. and abroad. He made an appearance this year on David Letterman, who invited him after buying a Tesla Roadster. Tesla's Roadster has gotten visibility from appearing for free in 2008's "Iron Man" movie, BlackBerry ads and a coming California Tourism blitz.

Read the rest of the story at:
http://adage.com/article?article_id=140487







Here's an excerpt of the Churchill Club
interview in April where Musk explains
why fully EV trumps plug-in Hybrids
http://gas2.org/2009/05/10/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-explains-why-fully-electric-cars-trump-plug-in-hybrids-video/
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Per the article below, Ener1, Inc., which
owns 31% of Th!nk is also based in the
land of the Hoosiers.

http://www.ener1.com/ http://www.think.no/
----------------------
http://www.reuters.com/article/reuterscomService5/idUSTRE5AG5FE20091117

Norway electric carmaker Th!nk picks Indiana for U.S. factory

By Poornima Gupta

November 17, 2009