La dramatisation est devenue la dernière cartouche d’un président acculé par la crise. Nicolas Sarkozy en a abondamment joué samedi 31 décembre 2011 lors de ses vœux aux français, qualifiant la crise d’« inouie », « sans doute la plus grave depuis la seconde guerre mondiale ». Desservi par la conjoncture marquée par la récession, la montée du chômage et le risque de perte du  triple A, Nicolas Sarkozy sait que ses réserves de popularité sont faibles.

OSKALOOSA, Iowa – Representative Michele Bachmann took the pulpit at the Jubilee Family Church here during the morning worship service on Sunday and preached from Scripture, weaving her personal story into biblical parables about redemption — a message that seemed tailored to reassure undecided voters about the viability of her embattled campaign.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/bachmann-makes-final-pitch-to-iowa-faithful/?hp

THE Opposition Leader was without doubt the standout performer of the year. Put aside your opinion of his (lack of) policies and his negative tactics. Indeed, put aside his poor personal ratings, too. Abbott can single-handedly take credit for the pressure the government is under. Despite coming heartbreakingly close to winning the 2010 election, he continued to work every day to expose government failings. So good has Abbott been, it's hard to distinguish between opposition spin and how Labor is really travelling. Can he keep it up for another two years? (see critique of this crap below)

INTEREST rates are headed down, the sharemarket will climb, and we'll survive whatever Europe throws at us.

That's the consensus of the 20 economists polled for the BusinessDay end-of-year economic survey.

Our terms of trade will slip in the year ahead, but not by enough to derail the Treasury's and Reserve Bank's pleasing forecast of economic growth close to trend.

Without question, 2011 was a year replete with hyperbole and false prophecy, which, come to think of it, is typical of our time.

JANUARY The new year has barely begun when Bob Ellis, the seer of Palm Beach, declares on the ABC's The Drum: ''I alone, in all of Australia, think Labor will hold government'' in NSW. Shortly before April Fools' Day, Barry O'Farrell leads the Coalition to one of the greatest victories in Australian political history. Earlier in January, reports emerge that environmentalist Tim Flannery predicted that, within this century, a ''strong Gaia will actually become physically manifest''. One person's Gaia is another's full moon.

Real estate mogul and reality TV personality Donald Trump has quit the Republican Party to register as an independent, opening the way for a potential outsider run at the White House.
Trump made the switch on Thursday, his lawyer, Michael Cohen, told The Hill political news website.
Trump did this "in order to preserve his right to run as an independent ... if he is not satisfied with whom the candidate is", Cohen told The Hill.

Animals are more intelligent than we think. For example this morning I witnessed something very cunning...

You'll be chuffed to know our country is doing its bit for 'world peace' this Christmas.

The Australian Army is preparing for longer "campaigns"; we voted against Palestine's admission to the UNESCO and we lobbied to weaken the international ban on cluster bomb munitions.

We also decided to sell uranium to India, a country standing outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a country whose nuclear program is stimulated by its neighbour (Pakistan) having the fastest-growing nuclear weapons program in the world, and a country whose government has been prepared to bribe MPs to secure the votes for a nuclear future, as evidenced by the Indo-US nuclear deal in 2008.

Banks have gobbled up nearly 490 billion euros ($635 billion) in three-year, cut-price loans from the European Central Bank, easing immediate fears of a credit crunch but leaving unresolved how much will flow to needy eurozone economies.

Following a string of failed attempts by eurozone leaders to thwart market attacks on the bloc's weaker members, hopes of crisis relief before year's end had been pinned on a massive uptake of the ECB's ultra-long and ultra-cheap loans.

Gus picture of godot's particle

This is an article posted here earlier (17th December) that seems to have gone walkabout...

But Mark Feldstein, professor of media at the University of Maryland, sees a worrying trend of espionage prosecutions since President Obama took office.

"To everyone's surprise, the Obama administration has escalated the war against whistleblowers and the attacks on information that journalists and the public were depending on to get evidence of wrongdoing by powerful institutions and individuals," Prof Feldstein says.

'Vindictive and malicious'

A LABOR MP has declared the troops are "sick of the soap opera" between Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd and urged their supporters to pull their heads in over the Christmas break.

The Prime Minister's supporters said yesterday she had been through "the gates of hell" this year and had no plans to quit before the next election, reported the Herald Sun.

But Labor MPs maintain the ABK faction - Anyone But Kevin - is preparing Plan C if the Prime Minister's leadership happens to falter: Bill Shorten.

New South Wales Environment Minister Robyn Parker is moving to amend laws which will allow Forests NSW to harm the endangered population of the yellow-bellied glider on the state's far south.

The documents show Ms Parker is planning changes to the Threatened Species Conservation Act which "authorises harm to the endangered population of the yellow-bellied glider of the Bago Plateau".

Opposition environment spokesman Luke Foley says it is disgraceful.

"Robyn Parker said logging protects koalas, she is now moving to allow logging of habitat of endangered yellow-bellied glider," Mr Foley said.

THE fallout from Julia Gillard's ministerial reshuffle has worsened, with the Minister for Manufacturing, Kim Carr, labelling as ''absolute bullshit'' anonymous accusations that he was demoted because of poor performance and attacking colleagues who lacked the ''guts'' to put the assertions to his face.

His angry retaliation came as the Minister for Resources, Martin Ferguson, pointedly refused to directly back the Prime Minister.

Asked whether he had shifted his support from Ms Gillard to Kevin Rudd, Mr Ferguson said: ''I'm loyal to the Labor Party.''