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Mes excuses pour l'absence d'envoi la semaine dernière. J'attire votre attention vers certains textes touchant vos métiers : (5) Le problème du recouvrement de créances en Grande Bretagne.

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Week 18, 2004
THE REGULARS: Summary
A) Song of the week: "The Heart of Every Girl" sung by Elton John
B) Le texte plus abordable de la semaine/Penguin Dossiers: May Days Everywhere [Le 1er mai à travers le monde.]
C) CNN/Global Office: Leader who knows no borders [Profil de Bernard Kouchner, patron modèle.]
D) The New York Times/The Ethicist: 'Fired,' or Just Unavailable? [Conseils sur l'éthique et la déontologie : Mon collègue a dit à notre client qu'un de nos collègues était absent pour cause de maladie, et non pas parce qu'il a été viré. / Alors que je roulais en vélo, j'ai fait tomber une clé qui a fait éclater le pneu d'une voiture qui passait après. Dois-je rembourser le pneu ? / Une de mes patientes voudrait que je lui fasse une attestation d'handicap pour son fils pour qu'elle puisse garer sa camionnette dans l'emplacement handicapé, car elle a du mal à se garer ailleurs.]
E) Slate/Dear Prudence: Looks like teen spirit [Conseils sur la vie sentimentale et la vie tout court : La belle-fille de mon mari s'habille comme une trainée. /Comment savoir si mon fiancé m'a vraiment quittée ? / Depuis qu'elle est veuve, ma mère agit de manière irresponsable. / Mes opinions politiques sont tout le contraire de celles de mon fiancé. Dois-je l'épouser quand même ?
F) Washington Post/Miss Manners: Too Forward [Conseils sur les bonnes manières : Comment faire que mes amis arrêtent de me faire suivre les histoires bêtes qu'ils reçoivent par courriel ? / Est-ce vrai qu'une invitation à la Maison Blanche prime sur une invitation précédente ? / Qui doit écrire les lettres de remerciement, le mari ou la femme ?]
G) WNYC/On the Media: Can't Talk Now [Entretien sur l'omniprésence des moyens de communication et notamment le téléphone portable. Vous pouvez écouter l'entretien en ligne.
H) The Entente Cordiale series: French Television [Une série d'articles publiés dans Libé et The Guardian à l'occasion de la commémoration de l'Entente Cordiale. Ici, une critique de la télé française.]

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A) Song of the week: "The Heart of Every Girl" sung by Elton John

In the heart of every girl
There's a woman waking up
Like sunlight spreads across the world
A smile for us is just enough
But in the heart of every girl
There's a homespun family dream
A light that's filled with so much joy
From a curly-head beauty to a teenage queen

And honeymoons in summer prove
We'll always love a bride
The gift you give us all
Is the one you hold inside
This lucky life, this crazy mixed up world
Is all because we love what lives
In the heart of every girl

In the heart of every girl
There's always room for valentines
And boys to kneel and tip their hands
With words as sweet as summer wine
And in the heart of every girl
There is a rose for every spring
A peach that's fragrant and divine
She shines just like a wedding ring

Eyes can light up any room
The moment she steps in
Intoxicating everyone
A life alone should be a sin

^RETURN TO TOP^

May Days Everywhere

1 May is a holiday in many parts of the world. But May Day means different things to different people. For some it is a time to celebrate spring. For others it is the day to remember the workers of the world.

The May holiday is very old. Thousands of years ago, people in India and Egypt celebrated the start of spring. In Europe, Celtic people celebrated the end of winter and the return of the sun. They built wooden wheels and burnt them. The Romans had a holiday for Flora, the goddess of flowers and plants. The festival lasted from 28 April to 3 May.

Some countries have chosen 1 May as a special day. In Hawaii it is Lei Day. The people of the islands often greet visitors with strings of flowers, or ‘Leis’. On Lei Day the Hawaiians wear the Leis themselves. Since 1928, Lei Day has been an important holiday in the country. Schools have shows and games. There are parades and markets. All sorts of leis can be bought at these markets. Lei Day is like May Day in other ways too – a Lei Day queen is chosen. Sometimes this is a young girl and sometimes it is an old woman. There are dances in special dresses and everybody celebrates.

May Day was popular in Europe for hundreds of years. The traditions were different from place to place. But the main idea was always the same – people celebrated the spring.

· In Sweden, people made ‘Old Man Winter’ out of wood. They threw him on a fire to show the end of winter and the start of spring.

· In English villages young people danced around the ‘maypole’ – a tall pole in the centre of the town. A May Queen was chosen from the young women.

At one time, people believed that these May Day celebrations helped them to grow good crops for the next year. People don’t believe this today, but many of the traditions continue.

In the modern world, May Day is also the day to remember workers around the world. This day was chosen at an international meeting of Socialists in Paris in 1889. They wanted to remember four men who died for workers’ rights in the US in 1886. Later, May Day became an important holiday in Communist countries. This is still true in China. In other countries, people fight on this day for workers’ rights around the world.

So, some people put flowers around their necks on May Day and dance. Others fly a red flag to remember workers who died in the fight for a fair world. How do you celebrate May Day?

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http://edition.cnn.com/2004/BUSINESS/04/17/go.kouchner.leader/index.html
Lleader who knows no borders
By Nick Easen for CNN

(CNN) -- One of the most popular figures in French politics, Bernard Kouchner, is an unlikely role model for top bosses. Yet the man behind Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders), a one-time U.N. administrator and ex-health minister, is highly skilled in the art of global management.

He has played a crucial role in international humanitarian efforts for more than 30 years, supervising people and projects in many of the world's war-ravaged areas from El Salvador to Rwanda. The outspoken physician and Socialist Party member proudly describes himself as "an unguided missile," and says he has never had a career strategy in his life. "To manage a non-governmental organization is certainly worse than managing a firm," Kouchner told CNN.

Firsthand experience of medicine's role in conflict zones came when Kouchner worked as an International Red Cross doctor in Nigeria's civil war in 1968. Frustrated with the charity's strict code of neutrality and reliance on the permission of the host government to give assistance, he and like-minded medics set up Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) three years later. And in 1999 MSF -- an organization that believes in the right to intervene with medical aid in any conflict or disaster -- received the Nobel peace price for its humanitarian work.

"To be alone as a pioneer...like we were, was difficult. My strategy was not only to help the people, or transform the world, but to do both," Kouchner explains.

The first United Nations administrator in postwar Kosovo also puts his success down to teamwork. "All my activities were collective activities -- like setting up MSF and Doctors of the World. I am not able to act alone...I have my style listening to the people," he says.

Contrary to popular French opinion, the 64-year-old strongly approved of regime change in Iraq, after witnessing the plight of the Kurds for decades. "In my country it's not easy at all. If you are a pioneer you are a target and if you are the winner you are more targeted than before," he says.

A basic tenet for the organizations he manages -- and Kouchner's fundamental mantra -- is the significance of intervention. "Businesses are sometimes in a position not to follow ethical guidelines. I am not in favor of that but I am realistic. I know it happens," Kouchner explains. "(We) are all working in China -- what about Tibet? I mean the Americans are, (the English) are, the French are -- is it convenient? Yes for the firms, (but) not for the morality."

CNN's Paula Sailes contributed to this report

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E) Slate/Dear Prudence: Looks like teen spirit [Conseils sur la vie sentimentale et la vie tout court : La belle-fille de mon mari s'habille comme une trainée. /Comment savoir si mon fiancé m'a vraiment quittée ? / Depuis qu'elle est veuve, ma mère agit de manière irresponsable. / Mes opinions politiques sont tout le contraire de celles de mon fiancé. Dois-je l'épouser quand même ?]
http://slate.msn.com/id/2097226/

dear prudence:Looks Like Teen Spirit
Clothes that are tight, day and night.
Posted Thursday, April 1, 2004, at 5:34 AM PT

Dear Miss Prudence,
My husband has a stepdaughter from a previous marriage. She is 15, and let's call her "Stacy." Stacy is welcome in our home whenever she wishes. However, Stacy dresses "over the top," for lack of better words. She will not wear an outfit unless her bust is busting out and over, even in the dead of winter. She parades around our home, in front of my children, thrusting her bust out. Even her PJs are tight. Also, she is rather large for her age. I am not a prude, please pardon the pun, but I do not want my children to be exposed to this. My husband tells me that IF he tells her to change her attire or bring different clothing along, Stacy will not want to come to visit. Excuse me? I have been firm with him and told him that Stacy may visit us anytime, but she must cover up. My husband and I have a continual fight about this. What can I do?

—Not Busting With Laughter

Dear Not,
You can ask your husband to give you one good reason why the exotic-dancer-in-training should be allowed to wear inappropriate outfits, especially with younger children around. The exhibitionist's stepfather is being terrorized by a threatened boycott if a dress code is enforced; Prudie thinks he should call the kid's bluff. That is, lay down the law about revealing clothes ... and should she stop visiting because there are rules, so be it. It is entirely possible the teenager is looking for 1) attention or 2) restrictions. Kids who can do as they please are never really happy about it. (And her old man is doing her no favor by allowing behavior for which there is NO justification.)

—Prudie, suitably

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Dear Prudence,
I'm 23 years old and am (was?) engaged to a wonderful 24-year-old man. He's met my family—they loved him. His family doesn't really like me, but they've adapted. Here's my problem—I came home from class on Monday (I'm in college; he works full time), and he was gone. Left his debit card, cell phone, and keys to the apartment on the table and just left—no note or anything. We hadn't been fighting, haven't had more than the normal amount of stress, nothing unusual. He just left. It's now four days later, and I still haven't heard anything from him. He's still wearing the ring I gave him, so far as I know. He usually refers to me to the guys at work as his wife. This is really breaking my heart. I'm wondering when do I quit waiting for a phone call, take off the engagement ring, and call it quits?

—Tormented

Dear Tor,
Prudie does not like to be an alarmist, but the cell phone and debit card make Prudie think that he intended to return. Perhaps by now you have checked with friends, parents, and perhaps the police. It is one thing to make a cowardly getaway from a relationship, but quite another to leave behind things necessary to one's daily life. I hope things turn out alright and that you'll let Prudie know.

—Prudie, optimistically

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Dear Prudence,
Three years ago my family was shattered by the death of our dad. He was very young, and he and mom had been married over 30 years. Since his death, mom has stopped being involved in our lives and spends all her time with "John" (who just happens to be in his early 30s, one year older than I). My siblings can barely tolerate him, and I try to look beyond the age thing. Mom is 54, and I'm glad she's not alone, but I could live without the Demi Moore situation. My question is this: How can I try to get my mom more involved in the lives of her grandchildren? There are only two of them. She rarely sees any of us, calling only to brag about how much better her life is now. (Our dad was ill for several years, and she was his caretaker.) She tells us that she thinks that she and John are better than she and dad ever were, and this really grates on me. Also, she is fine with things when they are going her way or she needs to borrow something (which she trashes completely or fails to return). As I said, she rarely sees us, and when she does, all she can do is twirl in circles and brag about how great she is and how wonderful she looks. Maybe my question is not how can I get her more involved, but how can we get her back to being Mom and not a 54-year-old adolescent with a big bank account and no responsibilities?

—Crestfallen

Dear Crest,
Everything you write points to the fact that your mother is a case of arrested development. Her conduct suggests that the presence of the boy-toy has somehow inclined her to be selfish, immature, irresponsible, and needlessly disparaging of her late husband. One can sympathize with a woman who was a caretaker for some years, but that in no way excuses her cutting loose in the manner she has. If, as you say, she ignores the grandchildren, shows up only to brag, and twirls—no less—while she recounts her virtues, there is little hope you can involve her with your children. (And maybe it's a good thing. What, after all, do you think they could learn from her?) By the way, get ready for this May-December pairing not to end well. It is likely that the disparity in their ages will come to mean more to the young man than the big bank account.

—Prudie, historically

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Dear Prudence,
My boyfriend and I are serious and very much in love. Most everything is perfect—except for one problem: Our opinions concerning religion and politics are almost polar opposites. Whereas I would describe myself as an atheist, he is a devout Christian. This has never been an issue because he doesn't press his religion on me. I respect his beliefs, and he respects my lack of them. Recently though, with the political climate, I have been learning exactly how conservative he is. A few things have made my liberal blood boil, but nothing I don't think I can push past. My question to the wise woman is: How difficult or how likely is it to have a strong, successful future (and possibly marriage) when the man and woman disagree on such social issues? Does it happen often?

—Anna

Dear An,
Funny that you say the stumbling blocks in your relationship are religion and politics—the two subjects people are advised never to discuss at dinner parties! Maybe the answer for you two is to never eat together. (Only kidding.) While your religious differences will remain static, what may be the dirtiest presidential campaign in many years has, alas, seven months to go. For whatever reason, opposing political views can really grate. To directly answer your inquiry, Prudie has no way of knowing how often a couple with clashing views survives ... save for the oft-cited Mary Matalin and James Carville. It is conceivable that if a couple is committed to the relationship, they will agree to disagree about ... whatever. It is also human nature for fundamentally divergent value systems to shift to annoyance when a few other things are not working well. You would probably be best off just not discussing the political/social arena—if such a thing is possible.

—Prudie, politically

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F) Washington Post/Miss Manners: Too Forward [Conseils sur les bonnes manières : Comment faire que mes amis arrêtent de me faire suivre les histoires bêtes qu'ils reçoivent par courriel ? / Est-ce vrai qu'une invitation à la Maison Blanche prime sur une invitation précédente ? / Qui doit écrire les lettres de remerciement, le mari ou la femme ?]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29211-2004Apr20.html
Too Forward

Wednesday, April 21, 2004; Page C11

Q:
Dear Miss Manners:

What is a tactful way of getting an e-mail correspondent to stop forwarding long, irrelevant e-mail messages?

You probably know what I mean. Sometimes the messages are cutesy, humorous pieces, sometimes religious or moral messages, sometimes medical "advice." Each forwarded message has as many as 40 addressees.

I met the correspondent online in the course of researching my family history when we learned we seem to have a common ancestor or two. We traded what information we had and she added some interesting insights, but in between messages about our common interest -- genealogy -- she peppers me (and her 39 other correspondents) with forwarded e-mail that is totally unrelated to our common interest. Some of the forwarded medical advice proved to be downright wrong.

I don't want to break off our correspondence altogether -- she seems an interesting person -- but four or more utterly irrelevant messages in a single day is too much. What should I do?

P.S. If you don't know what sort of messages I'm referring to, I'll forward you a few.

A:
No, no, please! Anything but that!

Please just let Miss Manners answer your question and get back to work. When she was finally persuaded to trade in her quill for a computer on the argument that it might be faster, she forgot to allow for the hours spent on the Augean chore of cleaning out her e-mailbox of just the sort of thing you describe. And worse.

An offender whose personal correspondence you like should be told that as you don't read mass messages, you are afraid of deleting her real messages along with the numerous other jokes and advice for which you unfortunately do not have time.

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Q:
Dear Miss Manners:

I read that when one is invited to the White House, one must go, even if one must cancel a previous engagement. This seems both rude and un-American. And what if one does not like or approve of the current occupants of the White House, and even questions their right to live there and issue invitations?

A:
The pro-American explanation is that the White House does not belong to any of its occupants, but to the citizens, who retain the power to evict any tenant. Miss Manners would add that, as any of us can grow up to be president, it is a bad idea to suggest that it can be a patriotic duty to show disrespect for the office of the presidency.

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Q:
Dear Miss Manners:

I have been told that, when a (heterosexual) couple is invited to dinner, the written thank-you note must properly come from the woman, not the man. Is this true? How about wedding gifts -- must the thank-you note come from the bride, not the groom?

A:
If you know someone who is willing to assume the task of writing graceful letters of thanks on your behalf, Miss Manners suggests marrying that person immediately, and not quarreling over other attributes.

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G) WNYC/On the Media: Can't Talk Now [Entretien sur l'omniprésence des moyens de communication et notamment le téléphone portable. Vous pouvez écouter l'entretien en ligne.]
http://www.wnyc.org/onthemedia/transcripts/transcripts_041604_cellphone.html
Can't Talk Now

April 16, 2004

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Today, the proliferation of cell phones ensures that everyone can reach out and touch us, whether we like it or not. Including the boss who wants to know why you're late to work, or the spouse who's wondering why you're not at your desk. And don't try lying about your location, because the background noise will betray you. The cell phone can't lie. Or can it? A German cell phone software company is now offering what it calls SounderCover --downloadable sound environments that act as high-tech alibis. Crafty callers can pretend that they're at the dentist, in the park, caught in traffic, stuck in a thunderstorm, near heavy machinery, or even boxed in by a circus parade. Liviu Tofan is the CEO of Simeda, the company that devised the wily technology, and he's on the line from Munich. Liviu, welcome to the show.

LIVIU TOFAN: Thank you very much for inviting me.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Some of these backgrounds are more useful than others. I mean, how often does the circus really come to town?

LIVIU TOFAN: Well, I have a small daughter, so I'm --circus does mean something to me.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: But I mean can you really use it as a good alibi?

LIVIU TOFAN: Maybe the, the more unusual it is, the better the alibi. [LAUGHTER]

BROOKE GLADSTONE: This story is so unlikely, it must be true. So talk to me as if you're standing by a circus parade.

LIVIU TOFAN: [MUSIC, CROWD UNDER] It's very nice indeed, but-- traffic is blocked completely because of it and I, I can't, I can't move on. [LAUGHTER] I, I can't help it.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Now, be honest here, Liviu -- all of this is really to make it easier to lie about where you are.

LIVIU TOFAN: Actually I was just reading about a study done in the USA that most lying is done by people on the phone. [LAUGHTER] We'll only help them stay polite and find a decent excuse.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: So what's the public response been to your product?

LIVIU TOFAN: We never expected such an avalanche of, of reaction. It showed something that is very close to human nature when it comes to, you know, as you say, lying or cheating or finding excuses.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: One of the "alibis," as you call them, that you offer, is a phone ringing 15 seconds into a conversation so you can get rid of an unwanted caller by telling them you have a call waiting on the other line.

LIVIU TOFAN: It's rude to tell somebody I don't want to talk to you right now. I don't feel like it. So you, you get out of this unpleasant situation by saying - look, sorry, I have to answer that call.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: To our producer, Derek, who helped put this together, your invention suggests that perhaps we live in a reality where modern lifestyle dilemmas continually force us to invent new technological solutions. In other words, if we didn't have all these cell phones able to get us anywhere we were, we wouldn't have to invent some kind of technological alibi to keep us, once again, out of reach.

LIVIU TOFAN: That's true. It makes life easier; it makes life more complicated at the same time. But like all inventions, it's just-- [PHONE RINGING] but as, as you, as you can hear-- [LAUGHTER] I, I have, I have my land line calling, and I, I really have to answer that phone. So--thank you-- bye, bye-- we'll talk another time.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Liviu Tofan, CEO of Simeda, based in Munich, Germany. He's the founder of SounderCover Cell Phone Alibi. [PHONE RINGING] He's formerly news editor at Radio Free Europe. Thank you, Liviu... [SOUND OF TRAFFIC, HORNS] Liviu--? Hello--? [THEME MUSIC UP & UNDER]

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H) The Entente Cordiale series: French Television [Une série d'articles publiés dans Libé et The Guardian à l'occasion de la commémoration de l'Entente Cordiale. Ici, une critique de la télé française.]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1185948,00.html

Television: A night in
Le Bigdil, Voyage au Pays de Peaux Blanches

The great French film director François Truffaut once remarked on how badly the words "British" and "cinema" fit together. The same is true of the words "French" and "television", if only because the brightest Gallic sparks are lured into their nation's cinema, leaving French TV as a plodathon of cop and game shows, unspectacular spectacles and endless discussion programmes. There are no gritty contemporary dramas, no poisonously sick sitcoms - nothing to parallel British TV at its best. It's mostly like being gently cuffed with a stuffed toy.

Mind you, there was a pleasingly ugly scene in Le Bigdil (France 1), a game show in which contestants, on this occasion, were required to make fresh mayonnaise. The studio audience was on its feet like a Jerry Springer mob bawling at their culinary ineptitude. Even the host joined in: "This is more like a béarnaise, my friend," he told one shamed woman. Unfair - her British counterparts couldn't have got the lid off a new jar of Hellman's in the same time.

One thing French TV does do well is the understated documentary. Journey to the Country of the White Skins (Voyage au Pays des Peaux Blanches; Arte) traced the first visit of a young Guinean car mechanic to bizarre-o-world, aka France. Baba Camara had, as a 13-year-old, played a young Guinean in a French film called L'Enfant Noir (The Black Boy), an adaptation of his uncle's book about an adolescent's rites of passage. Now Baba was touring France with the film's director, showing his acting debut to schoolchildren and finding out for the first time what a European country was like.

France was a bafflement for Baba: why didn't the trains wait for passengers running down the platform as they did back home? How could there be begging on the streets of fabulously rich Paris? Why were oysters so nauseating? Baba encountering Alpine snow for the first time was a lovely little scene.

Schoolkids asked Baba good questions. What did he think about female circumcision in Guinea? Clearly embarrassed at addressing a question that dealt with sexuality, Baba coyly affected not to know what "clitoris" meant. He was on firmer ground with another question: "Did you think white people were devils before?" asked one boy. "How do you think of them now?" Baba replied: "As friends. The difference between us is skin. Otherwise we're the same."

This was a sentimental view tested later in Paris where Baba met 15 Guinean sans papiers (illegal immigrants) sharing the same room, terrified the police might burst in at any moment to evict them. One pleaded with Baba not to disclose how badly they were living to their families back home, to spare their mutual shame.

This was a gentle and quietly uplifting film that rightly trusted the disarming charm of Baba. In that sense, it was a documentary with principles undreamt of in British television's current clamorous philosophy.

--Stuart Jeffries

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Among other things, the story of the Nimrods provides one answer to an often asked question: Does television advertising really work? It was through a series of TV spots that the Nimrod brand broke -- albeit a series of ads for something else. ESPN, the sports megabrand whose properties include cable channels and a popular magazine, featured the Watersmeet Nimrods in a campaign built around the theme ''Without sports . . . ,'' which aims to underscore how much athletic competition and fandom mean in American life. Three ads, which were broadcast starting in late January, introduced viewers to the scrappy Michigan basketball squad and its supporters and asked, ''Without sports, who would cheer for the Nimrods?''

Funny. Nimrod appears in the book of Genesis and is identified as a mighty hunter, but of course the term has a more widespread colloquial meaning as a slang insult, along the lines of nerd, loser or dork. The ESPN ads did not suggest that maybe you would like to cheer for the Nimrods, or load up on team paraphernalia to broadcast your support -- there was no 800 number or Web address. But enterprising consumers tracked down the school's address, phone number and Web site and started buying from the surprisingly wide selection of gear marked Watersmeet Nimrods or, more impressively, Nimrod Nation. The ads also drew attention from human-interest hunters of the infotainment complex, and members of the team appeared with their coach (and school principal), George Peterson, on CBS's ''Early Show'' and then ''The Tonight Show.'' Sales increased, and Watersmeet's business manager, Sandy Robinson, says that it finally got so overwhelming that the school decided to work out a deal with a nearby college, Michigan Tech, to handle the orders and the proposals from two sportswear companies, Eastbay and Champ Sports. (ESPN is also selling Nimrod gear on its Web site.)

This still leaves the question of why someone would actually want to wear an article of clothing labeled Nimrod Nation. The gear happens to have come along during an interesting stretch in the history of slogan-wear. On the one hand, the ''throwback'' craze seems fueled in equal parts by nostalgia and by people buying hats and jerseys for strictly aesthetic reasons, whether they're interested in the team or not. On the other hand, Urban Outfitters and other stores have been pushing a style that might be called High Idiocy: shirts with slogans that are stupid to the point of absurdity but are meant as something approaching camp -- ''Who's Your Daddy?'' in a hokey 1970's font, ''Gettin' Lucky in Kentucky,'' ''Jesus Is My Homeboy,'' that sort of thing. If nothing else, they might be cheap conversation starters.

Peterson has a different theory, based on what he says has been an avalanche of cards, letters and e-mail messages, ''telling us what a great job we're doing and how proud they are of us, how the boys look so great. That's what small-town America is all about: clean-cut boys, very respectful.'' Perhaps. Certainly the appeal of Nimrod Nation would be nonexistent if some snarky marketer had coined the phrase. (Peterson says that he's had to assure a dozen or so doubters that the team and the school are real, not an ad agency invention.) ''In the beginning,'' Robinson says, ''we were very skeptical'' about how the ESPN ads would come out. After all, ''with a nickname like the Nimrods, you just never know.'' Good point. But everyone seems pretty happy with how it has all worked out. Peterson says he hopes the shirts are put up for sale in the Mall of America. Now what will it take to get America cheering for the Lady Hippos?

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4) Reuters: Madonna sparks Irish ire with Sunday concert [Les Cathos Irlandais furieux que Madonna ait choisi le dimanche pour faire son concert, obligeant ainsi les prêtres fans de violer le jour du Seigneur.]
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040409/325/eqpdd.html

Madonna sparks Irish ire with Sunday concert

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Pop diva Madonna has come under fire from Christians in Ireland after it was confirmed she would play her first ever Irish concert on a Sunday. Madonna is due to play Slane Castle, 30 miles (50 km) north of Dublin, on Sunday, August 29, the castle's owner Lord Henry Mount Charles confirmed. He denied that Madonna, who has developed an interest in Jewish mysticism recently, had refused to play on Saturday because it is the Jewish Sabbath. "It is the only date and day feasible," he said on Friday.

But Joe Deegan, Slane's parish priest, said the decision was insensitive in a country where 90 percent of the population is Roman Catholic. "The Lord's Day for a lot of people around this part of the world is Sunday and it seems a bit inconsiderate and insensitive that our religious beliefs are not taken into account," he told RTE state radio on Friday.

The last time Slane Castle hosted a major concert on a Sunday -- in 1984 when Bob Dylan played -- it sparked riots. "I knew people would stir up memories of 1984," Lord Mount Charles said. "This year Bob Dylan is playing in Galway on Sunday, June 27. So if he can play there on a Sunday, I am puzzled why there is opposition to Madonna playing Slane on a Sunday."

Deegan said he was also concerned about the content of Madonna's notoriously raunchy stage show. "It's very sexually provocative," he said, adding, however, that he would probably go to concert, whenever it was staged, because he enjoyed Madonna's music.

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AS BRITAIN'S debt mountain swells, so does the uncollected part of it. Last year debt-collection agencies handled 20m individual cases, together worth over £5 billion ($8.4 billion), of a total of £140 billion unsecured. Recovering credit-card debt is the fastest growing; other unpaid bills, from bank loans to book clubs, are piling up too.

But the pickings are thin, chiefly because the legal system is slow, inefficient, costly and toothless. A survey from Leeds University shows that big lenders like credit-card companies typically recover just 2-3% of outstanding balances through litigation. For debts below £1,000, going to law is often simply not worth the trouble.

Even if a creditor wins a court judgment that orders the debtor to pay up and licenses bailiffs to repossess property, the debt remains unpaid in most cases. Debtors may flit, hide, or simply turn out to have nothing worth seizing.

If litigation is mostly an empty threat, that leaves the second option: a debt-collection agency. The process starts with an intimidating letter. If that goes unanswered, the phone calls start. If the agency knows, or can find, your e-mail address and mobile phone number, they can pester you at work or in the pub. There are threats of litigation, and—worse—someone comes round to “discuss” the debt face to face.

But if the debtor weathers this, there is little more the collectors can do. Although often mistaken for bailiffs, they lack their powers. With a court order, bailiffs may enter private premises through open windows or unlocked doors; when collecting the state's debts, they are even allowed to force an entry.

So the debt collectors have had to adopt different, softer tactics. The larger agencies offer advice to debtors about how to pay off the money they owe. That is clever: if different collection agencies are pursuing different debts, there is a race to be paid first. In an industry that once featured bulky men with bad haircuts and no necks, over half the workforce is now female.

What that fails to collect is then sold on to agencies, at 8-17 pence in the pound, depending on its age. “Distressed” debt, which is really delinquent, can sell for 1 or 2p. These agencies can keep a debt alive as long as five years, sending reminders now and then in the hope that the debtor's circumstances will change.

Nick Wilson, author of the Leeds University report, says that, in the current system, the rational thing to do with debt-collectors is to “ignore them completely”. Though many debtors do undoubtedly want to pay off their loans, there is a strong incentive simply to unplug the telephones and ignore the doorbell. In practice, the main penalty for non-payment is a bad credit rating and no more loans. That is not too terrible a deterrent for a debtor who has borrowed irresponsibly.

So long as the legal system works equally badly for everyone, the lenders who lose out from the fly and feckless simply shift the cost elsewhere. A sorry state of affairs, but likely to last.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2067499/
history lesson
The Pledge of Allegiance: Why we're not one nation "under God."
By David Greenberg
Updated Friday, June 28, 2002, at 1:39 PM PT

Poor Alfred Goodwin! So torrential was the flood of condemnation that followed his opinion—which held that it's unconstitutional for public schools to require students to recite "under God" as part of the Pledge of Allegiance—that the beleaguered appellate-court judge suspended his own ruling until the whole 9th Circuit Court has a chance to review the case.

Not one major political figure summoned the courage to rebut the spurious claims that America's founders wished to make God a part of public life. It's an old shibboleth of those who want to inject religion into public life that they're honoring the spirit of the nation's founders. In fact, the founders opposed the institutionalization of religion. They kept the Constitution free of references to God. The document mentions religion only to guarantee that godly belief would never be used as a qualification for holding office—a departure from many existing state constitutions. That the founders made erecting a church-state wall their first priority when they added the Bill of Rights to the Constitution reveals the importance they placed on maintaining what Isaac Kramnick and R. Laurence Moore have called a "godless Constitution." When Benjamin Franklin proposed during the Constitutional Convention that the founders begin each day of their labors with a prayer to God for guidance, his suggestion was defeated.

Given this tradition, it's not surprising that the original Pledge of Allegiance—meant as an expression of patriotism, not religious faith—also made no mention of God. The pledge was written in 1892 by the socialist Francis Bellamy, a cousin of the famous radical writer Edward Bellamy. He devised it for the popular magazine Youth's Companion on the occasion of the nation's first celebration of Columbus Day. Its wording omitted reference not only to God but also, interestingly, to the United States:

"I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

The key words for Bellamy were "indivisible," which recalled the Civil War and the triumph of federal union over states' rights, and "liberty and justice for all," which was supposed to strike a balance between equality and individual freedom. By the 1920s, reciting the pledge had become a ritual in many public schools.

Since the founding, critics of America's secularism have repeatedly sought to break down the church-state wall. After the Civil War, for example, some clergymen argued that the war's carnage was divine retribution for the founders' refusal to declare the United States a Christian nation, and tried to amend the Constitution to do so.

The efforts to bring God into the state reached their peak during the so-called "religious revival" of the 1950s. It was a time when Norman Vincent Peale grafted religion onto the era's feel-good consumerism in his best-selling The Power of Positive Thinking; when Billy Graham rose to fame as a Red-baiter who warned that Americans would perish in a nuclear holocaust unless they embraced Jesus Christ; when Secretary of State John Foster Dulles believed that the United States should oppose communism not because the Soviet Union was a totalitarian regime but because its leaders were atheists.

Hand in hand with the Red Scare, to which it was inextricably linked, the new religiosity overran Washington. Politicians outbid one another to prove their piety. President Eisenhower inaugurated that Washington staple: the prayer breakfast. Congress created a prayer room in the Capitol. In 1955, with Ike's support, Congress added the words "In God We Trust" on all paper money. In 1956 it made the same four words the nation's official motto, replacing "E Pluribus Unum." Legislators introduced Constitutional amendments to state that Americans obeyed "the authority and law of Jesus Christ."

The campaign to add "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance was part of this movement. It's unclear precisely where the idea originated, but one driving force was the Catholic fraternal society the Knights of Columbus. In the early '50s the Knights themselves adopted the God-infused pledge for use in their own meetings, and members bombarded Congress with calls for the United States to do the same. Other fraternal, religious, and veterans clubs backed the idea. In April 1953, Rep. Louis Rabaut, D-Mich., formally proposed the alteration of the pledge in a bill he introduced to Congress.

The "under God" movement didn't take off, however, until the next year, when it was endorsed by the Rev. George M. Docherty, the pastor of the Presbyterian church in Washington that Eisenhower attended. In February 1954, Docherty gave a sermon—with the president in the pew before him—arguing that apart from "the United States of America," the pledge "could be the pledge of any country." He added, "I could hear little Moscovites [sic] repeat a similar pledge to their hammer-and-sickle flag with equal solemnity." Perhaps forgetting that "liberty and justice for all" was not the norm in Moscow, Docherty urged the inclusion of "under God" in the pledge to denote what he felt was special about the United States.

The ensuing congressional speechifying—debate would be a misnomer, given the near-unanimity of opinion—offered more proof that the point of the bill was to promote religion. The legislative history of the 1954 act stated that the hope was to "acknowledge the dependence of our people and our Government upon … the Creator … [and] deny the atheistic and materialistic concept of communism." In signing the bill on June 14, 1954, Flag Day, Eisenhower delighted in the fact that from then on, "millions of our schoolchildren will daily proclaim in every city and town … the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty." That the nation, constitutionally speaking, was in fact dedicated to the opposite proposition seemed to escape the president.

In recent times, controversies over the pledge have centered on the wisdom of enforcing patriotism more than on its corruption from a secular oath into a religious one. In the 1988 presidential race, as many readers will recall, George Bush bludgeoned Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis for vetoing a mandatory-pledge bill when he was governor of Massachusetts, even though the state Supreme Court had ruled the bill unconstitutional. Surely one reason for the current cravenness of Democratic leaders is a fear of undergoing Dukakis' fate in 2002 or 2004 at the hands of another Bush.

The history of the pledge supports Goodwin's decision. The record of the 1954 act shows that, far from a "de minimis" reference or a mere "backdrop" devoid of meaning, the words "under God" were inserted in the pledge for the express purpose of endorsing religion—which the U.S. Supreme Court itself ruled in 1971 was unconstitutional. Also according to the Supreme Court's own rulings, it doesn't matter that students are allowed to refrain from saying the pledge; a 2000 high court opinion held that voluntary, student-led prayers at school football games are unconstitutionally "coercive," because they force students into an unacceptable position of either proclaiming religious beliefs they don't share or publicly protesting.

The appeals court decision came almost 40 years to the day after the Supreme Court decision in Engel v. Vitale. In that case, the court ruled it unconstitutional for public schools to allow prayer, even though the prayer was non-denominational and students were allowed abstain from the exercise. When asked about the unpopular decision, President John F. Kennedy replied coolly that he knew many people were angry, but that the decisions of the court had to be respected. He added that there was "a very easy remedy"—not a constitutional amendment but a renewed commitment by Americans to pray at home, in their churches, and with their families.

In 1923, a group of self-declared flag enthusiasts, led by members of the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution, formed a body called the National Flag Conference and, afraid that the millions of new immigrants to the United States might construe the pledge as allowing them to remain loyal to their native lands, took it upon themselves to change the pledge's wording. "My flag" became "the flag of the United States." ("Of America" was added the next year.)

David Greenberg writes the "History Lesson" column and teaches history and political science at Yale. He is the author of Nixon's Shadow: The History of an Image.

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7) Savannah (Georgia) Morning News: School board rejects restaurant as site for work-study students [Un lycée refuse de laisser travailler une élève dans un restaurant sexy dans le cadre de sa formation en alternance.]

http://savannahnow.com/stories/020604/LOC_eoehooters.shtml

School board rejects restaurant as site for work-study students
By Don Lowery
Savannah Morning News

Effingham County school officials said no to Hooters [Hooter est une chaîne de restos connue non pas pour la qualité de ses mets, mais pour ses serveuses, toutes de jeunes femmes sexy qui portent l'uniforme de la maison, à savoir un short moulant et un haut de bikini] on Thursday, ruling that the chain restaurant is not an appropriate environment for high school work-study students.

The day after an hour-long debate with the Board of Education, Larry Williams of Guyton said his daughter is out of the work-study program at Effingham High School but will keep her job at the restaurant in west Chatham County.

"Savannah is moving to Effingham County and changes are coming,'' Williams said, referring to the rapid growth the bedroom community has seen in the last 20 years. "Their decision infuriates me.''

Superintendent Michael Moore declined to talk specifically about student Laura Williams' appeal but said school board members decided that students involved in the work-study programs at the county's two high schools cannot work at Hooters. He said policies governing the three work-study programs are being reviewed and may be modified to prevent similar situations.

"As far as I am concerned, (Laura) is an outstanding young lady and she can work anywhere she wants,'' Moore said. "We are not judging anyone. But it was the board's decision that Hooters is not an acceptable extension of the classroom.''

Larry Williams and school officials on Wednesday debated whether being a Hooters hostess is appropriate for work-study.

School officials raised questions about the potential sexual exploitation of young women at a business whose logo is based on women's breast and where most female employees are dressed in tight shorts and T-shirts.

Effingham High students enrolled in any of three vocational classes attend school in the morning and then go to jobs at local businesses to get work experience, as well as course credits.

Laura Williams worked for her mother, Becky Williams of Springfield, at her cleaning service during the first half of the school year. In early January, the 17-year-old senior landed a job as a Hooters hostess and attempted to switch to a separate work-study course related to marketing.

When Laura's adviser learned she was working at Hooters, the teacher protested to school administrators and Laura was told that she could not be in the work-study program as a Hooters employee.

She was placed in an elective class for the last hour of the day, but has been allowed to leave early during the last month while her appeal was pending. Williams said his daughter does not need the course credits to graduate on schedule this fall, but she would lose her parking privileges at the high school if she regularly leaves school early.

The Williamses and Aaron Sharp, general manager of the restaurant, argued there is nothing inappropriate about Hooters. As a hostess, Laura does not wear provocative attire, said her father, who showed school officials photographs of families visiting the restaurant at Interstate 95 and Ga. 204.

Williams said he is considering legal action. His daughter will continue working at the restaurant after school. Williams said he talked to officials at the Hooters corporate office Thursday and they were supportive.

Rodney Masri, an assistant manager at Hooters, said he was surprised by the national news coverage generated by Laura's situation, but would like to see her continue working there. "She is a good worker,'' he said.

Moore said he also was surprised, and irritated, by the media interest. "I think it is ridiculous to be covering something like this when our school system is facing $2 million in budget cuts in the state legislature,'' Moore said. "I think the reporters should be in Atlanta covering that.''

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8) The Economist: Investment banks and outsourcing [Les banques d'investissement américaines doivent maintenir des locaux et équipements en réserve en cas de dysfonctionnement des salles de marché. Pour occuper ces locaux et éviter de délocaliser des emplois, ils embauchent des étudiants à bas prix.]

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2177691

Investment banks and outsourcing: Young, cheap and American
Oct 30th 2003

Why hire Indian programmers when Americans cost less?

MANY are the investment banks that have expanded their back-office operations to countries such as India. It's a lot cheaper to hire someone in Bangalore than in Boston, and the state of the markets has meant that banks have been desperate to screw down costs. This has been especially true of their information-technology departments. Indian programmers come at a small fraction of the price of their rich-world counterparts, and are often better qualified and more competent. Now the investment-banking arm of Citigroup has hit on a novel way of reversing the trend: hiring American college undergraduates instead and sitting them at unused desks.

Such seats are in plentiful supply, and not just because business is not too brisk and there are fewer bankers than there were. It is also because regulators force investment banks to maintain “continuity of business” arrangements, in which certain desks and whole areas must be set aside in case there is a power cut on the trading floor, or a building is blown up. These must be fully operational.

So why not fill them with techy college students? For a start, they are cheap. Citigroup pays them $17 an hour, which works out at about half what the bank would have to pay programmers in India. It makes use of expensive space that it has to have anyway. Moreover, the bank avoids having to shovel off jobs to India (good in the current climate, when there is so much hand-wringing about America's jobless recovery). It gets first crack at talented students when they leave college. And it develops better relationships with some of America's top universities.

So far the bank has hired about 100 college students, many from MIT, and wants to take more. “It's a win-win,” says one insider. Hard to quibble with that—unless, of course, you happen to work in Bangalore.

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