Sarko Big Spender!

Posted in France, Sarko Big Spender, Things we don't need, Whacked-out stuff - 4 February 2010 - 1 comment

Combien? Hey, this is ridiculous. How much can the president of France, Monsieur Nico (aka Mon Chouchou), spend? Evidently, mucho. The inimitable Canard Enchaîné relates of late how Sarkozy & Co. spent like there was no tomorrow (or yesterday, or present time, for that matter) for his 24-hour “escapade” to Réunion in mid-January. The team “descended” at the four-star Palm Hotel & Spa, in a suite of 55 rooms, for a bill at the front desk of … 55,000 euros. As for the hall where he went to give a speech and spent less than one hour, count another 50,000 euros for the air-conditioning unit installed to keep le president from sweating. In fact, the Journal de l’Ile de la Réunion detailed to whole shebang thus: 10,000 euros to rent the hall, 17,000 euros in stamps for the invitations, 23,000 euros for the snacks (OK, that’s reasonable, petit fours are good). According to this excellent local paper, the sum total of the trip, also including les avions, tag-along doctors and those pesky journalists: 1.6 million euros. Quoi? Are you kidding me? It is my firm opinion that if the French people in general knew how much this guy was wasting day after day after day, they’d “descend” into the streets, revolution style. Wait. No, they wouldn’t. No one gives a hoot — on s’en fout! Not me. Watch this space for more exciting, well-calculated episodes of … Sarko Big Spender!

One Response - Add Yours+

footagehead says:

February 4, 2010 at 12:56

this is the same guy from Davos who said the bankers had to be regulated ?

Regulate what ….his a/c temperature !

Garden of Demise

"Garden of Demise" is my latest stab at poetry -- some wouldn't even call it that, to be polite -- which tries to get "out there" about France and offer a different view, a sort of "other side" to the place. The collection, at the link below, is set up so you can click through the pages just like a book (making it all realer than real?). So, enjoy, and/or load me up with invective after you've read. What is poetry but a calling out in the dark? Are you out there with me?

Open publication - Free publishing - More poetry

I wrote "Cognac: The Seductive Saga of the World's Most Coveted Spirit" because no one had ever put together a readable, independent history of this marvelous spirit. My connections to Cognac country inspired me to dig deep into an incredible story that ranges from a

n exploration of the ancient bedrock, to the long and tortured development of wine growing in this region of southwest France, to the phylloxera epidemic that nearly wiped out the industry, to the fantastic machinery of modern, foreign-owned Cognac giants spreading their eau-de-vie all around the world. Frank Prial, former wine critic for The New York Times, called "Cognac" an "enthralling volume ... a compelling story, not just about the world's best known eau-de-vie, but about the people who make it and the often violent history of the remarkable but little-known region of France from which it comes."

"Cognac, la saga d'un esprit" est la captivante histoire du cognac qui retrace le développement de la viticulture dans la région depuis le temps des Romains, puis l'avènement de l’eau-de-vie au XVIe siècle, l’expansion de la distillation au cours des années 1600, ainsi que l’âge d’or du cognac au milieu du XIXe siècle. Tout au long du chemin, Kyle Jarrard révèle comment les distillateurs charentais ont surmonté l’agonie du vignoble après la crise du phylloxéra, il dévoile les facettes parfois curieuses de l’occupation allemande et parcourt tous les défis qui ont secoué la région de production, en particulier celui de l’excellente forme de l’après-guerre quand le marché s’est étendu aux quatre coins du monde.

Kyle Jarrard