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Week 46, 2006

6) AUDIO/Marketplace: Banks want you [Comment font les banques pour attirer de nouveaux clients? Avec une référence à nos amis de l'Umpqua Bank. VOUS POUVEZ ECOUTER CET ENTRETIEN EN LIGNE.]

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A ) The Economist: Outsourcing mortgages [La dernière fonction à être délocalisée en Inde ? Le traitement des dossiers de crédit immobilier.]
http://economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_RDDTGJT

Outsourcing mortgages
Home and away

Oct 5th 2006 | DELHI
India moves in on the West's mortgages

SOMEBODY'S misfortune is often another's big chance. Rising interest rates and shaky property prices have made life harder for homeowners and mortgage lenders in America and elsewhere. Many mortgage providers are responding by outsourcing processing work to specialist firms. According to NelsonHall, a consultancy, the total annual value of such outsourcing contracts around the world is about $10.9 billion, with about a third of that in America alone. As yet, only a small proportion is being sent offshore. But as costs mount, says Sunil Mehta of NASSCOM, the Indian outsourcing industry's lobby, mortgages are “ripe for offshoring”.

It has also, he says, reached an “inflection point”. India in particular is poised to benefit from a huge rise in “mortgage-process outsourcing” in the next few years—worth anything from $100m-150m a year to $3 billion-7 billion. Big lenders are now using their own “captive” operations in India for many mortgage processes, and independent “third-party” business-process outsourcing firms are also on the hunt for work.

One force driving this, as usual, is cost. Higher interest rates eat away at the money-spinning business of refinancing outstanding mortgages, slash business volumes and squeeze margins. So the attractions of a low-cost destination, such as India, increase. Mortgages, moreover, involve a whole range of processes ripe for outsourcing. At “origination”, they might include telemarketing, data entry and document verification. “Servicing” a mortgage can be performed remotely. So, to some extent, can managing defaults and “securitising” mortgages by aggregating them and dicing them into tradable instruments. Victor Martinez-Angles, of Genpact, India's biggest independent outsourcing firm and once an arm of General Electric, estimates that 50-80% of mortgage-related work can be done offshore.

In August Genpact became the latest Indian firm to acquire an American “front office” when it completed the purchase of MoneyLine Lending Services, an American mortgage-service firm. The savings in using Indian firms can be huge. Mr Martinez-Angles reckons Genpact can make savings of 30-40% for each mortgage loan compared with an American bank. But Andy Efstathiou, of NelsonHall, says that the main impulse behind outsourcing in the industry as a whole is not so much cost-cutting as shifting from a fixed cost base to a variable one: the contracts give companies more flexibility to scale up and down as volumes vary.

Like all outsourcing to India, however, mortgage-servicing is vulnerable to protectionism, justified by fears about data security, such as those aired in a British television “sting” operation this week in which Indian call-centre workers were caught extracting confidential information from customers and selling it. NASSCOM remains confident that India's record on this is as good as anywhere's, though Mr Mehta says one attraction of the mortgage business for India is the potential for its firms to diversify away from “voice-based” work—ie, call centres. Expanding operations in the West, through acquisition or otherwise, recognises the limits of “offshoring”. Some mortgage services—such as advising nervous customers on the biggest financial deal of their lives—might actually be better performed at home, or even face-to-face, than down a telephone line from India.

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B) The New York Times: Student's video résumé [Un étudiant crée un CV vidéo qui est à mourir de rire. Pour visionner la vidéo, aller sur www.youtube.com et rechercher "Aleksey Vayner".] 
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/21/business/21bank.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

October 21, 2006
A Student’s Video Résumé Gets Attention (Some of It Unwanted)
By MICHAEL J. de la MERCED

With his name and image on Web sites and his appearance on the “Today” show, Aleksey Vayner may be the most famous investment-banking job applicant in recent memory.

Mr. Vayner’s curious celebrity came after an 11-page cover letter and résumé as well as an elaborate video that he had submitted to the Swiss bank giant UBS showed up on two blogs, and then quickly spread on the Internet. The clip, staged to look like a job interview, is spliced with shots of Mr. Vayner lifting weights and ballroom dancing and has him spouting Zen-like inspirational messages.

The video clip flooded e-mail inboxes across Wall Street and eventually appeared on the video-sharing site YouTube. Blogs brimmed with commentary, much of it mocking, about Mr. Vayner and his feats. Television programs and newspapers then picked up the Web’s latest viral sensation.

Now Mr. Vayner, a student at Yale University, is starting to speak out about his 15 minutes of fame, portraying himself as being victimized by the flash flood of Web interest. “This has been an extremely stressful time,” Mr. Vayner said in an interview.

The job materials that were leaked and posted for public view included detailed information about him that allowed strangers to scrutinize and harass him, he said. His e-mail inbox quickly filled up, with most of the messages deriding him and, in some cases, threatening him.

Mr. Vayner’s experience shows the not-so-friendly side of the social-networking phenomenon. While sites such as YouTube allow aspiring comedians or filmmakers to share their creations with millions of others, they also provide the ideal forum for embarrassing someone on a global scale. Materials can quickly make the rounds on blogs, via e-mail and through online hangouts like MySpace, becoming all but impossible to contain.

Wall Street workers may be especially quick to hit the send button. Last month, a compromising video of a Merrill Lynch banker and his female companion on a Brazilian beach had much of Brazil’s financial-services industry glued to their computer screens. Over the summer, a persnickety birthday party invitation from a Citigroup intern was e-mailed all over London’s financial district.

Mr. Vayner’s seven-minute clip, entitled “Impossible is nothing,” presents images of him bench-pressing what a caption suggests is 495 pounds and firing off what is purported to be a 140-mile-an-hour tennis serve.

The tone of the video seems too serious to be parody, yet too over-the-top to be credible. After sharing the clip, fellow students at Yale, he said, began telling their own tales about Mr. Vayner on the Web, fabricating stories of bare-handed killings and handling nuclear waste. The Internet scrutiny also raised questions about some of Mr. Vayner’s claims in his résumé, including assertions that he ran his own charity and investment firm.

There have also been questions over whether he copied sections of a self-published book, “Women’s Silent Tears: A Unique Gendered Perspective on the Holocaust,” from Web sites.

Mr. Vayner, 23, contends that both the charity and investment firm are legitimate. And the accusations about his book, he said, were based on an earlier draft that has since been changed.

He says he has been interested in finance since he was 12, when he was creating financial data models. So Mr. Vayner, who is a member of the class of 2008 at Yale, decided a few weeks ago to look for a job at a Wall Street firm. He thought that making a video would help him stand out amid the intense competition for investment-banking positions. By emphasizing his various athletic pursuits, which he said included body sculpting, weightlifting and tai chi, Mr. Vayner said he could show that he had achieved success in physical endeavors that could carry over to the financial world.

“I felt demonstrating competency in athletics is a good way to stand out, because the same characteristics are the same in business,” Mr. Vayner said. “The need to set and achieve goals, to have the dedication and competitive drive that’s required in business success.”

Despite the mockery that the video has inspired, he still speaks proudly of his athleticism. Nearly all the feats in the video are his, he said, and they are real. But he says he is not certain that the skiing segment actually shows him.

In the end, though, Mr. Vayner said he was less concerned about the mockery than about what appeared to have been a leak of his application materials from UBS. Mr. Vayner and his lawyer, Christian P. Stueben, said they were exploring legal options against the investment banks to which he sent the application.

A UBS spokesman said in a statement: “As a firm, UBS obviously respects the privacy of applicants’ correspondences and does not circulate job applications and résumés to the public. To the extent that any policy was breached, it will be dealt with appropriately.”

For now, Mr. Vayner said he was camping out at his mother’s residence in Manhattan, having taken a short leave of absence from Yale when his video hit the Internet. (A Yale spokeswoman declined to comment.)

He said he may have lost his chance to work on Wall Street, and added that he may not succeed in securing a financial job at all. Real estate development is an option, he said, but for now his future is unclear. In the meantime, he plans on taking his midterm examinations next week.

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4 ) Le texte plus abordable de la semaine/Scholastic: Supreme Court [Entretien avec le Président de la Cour suprême des Etats Unis.]
http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=7479

Scholastic News: Why was the Constitution considered such a remarkable revolutionary document when it was written more than 200 years ago? Was there anything like it before in human history?

Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.: The people who wrote our Constitution recognized that those who governed countries—typically kings and queens, up to that time—often abused their power, so that the people suffered. The drafters of our Constitution had themselves been the victims of such abuse of power by King George III. So they took the revolutionary step in the Constitution of dividing power among the different branches of government—legislative, executive, and judicial—so that no one would have unchecked power that they might abuse. Ideas along these lines had been talked about before, but our Constitution was the first to put them into practice by setting out written rules establishing a new government.

SN: What about the Constitution gives it the longevity to remain relevant after 219 years?

Chief Justice Roberts: Our Constitution, adopted almost 220 years ago, on September 17, 1787, is the oldest written constitution of any nation in the world. It is not very long—seven short sections, called “Articles,” plus 27 Amendments—but it lays out the structure, powers, and limitations of our government. One of the reasons it has remained relevant for such a long time is that it can be changed, or amended. For instance, under the original Constitution, slavery was allowed in the United States. After the Civil War, in December 1865, the 13th Amendment was ratified, making slavery illegal everywhere in the United States. Another example is that when our Constitution was adopted, women were not allowed to vote. It was not until 1920, when the 19th Amendment was ratified, that all states were required to allow women to vote.

SN: How does the Constitution work in the lives of ordinary Americans today?

Chief Justice Roberts: By ensuring that no one in government has too much power, the Constitution helps protect ordinary Americans every day against abuse of power by those in authority. The Constitution gives those who serve in public office the authority they need to govern effectively, to protect Americans from the threats we face in the world today, and to promote policies to make our lives better. At the same time, the Constitution limits the power of public officials and safeguards the rights of Americans, to secure the blessings of liberty for us all.

SN: How does the Constitution affect the lives of kids?

Chief Justice Roberts: There is no better gift a society can give children than the opportunity to grow up safe and free—the chance to pursue whatever dreams they may have. Our Constitution guarantees that freedom.

SN: Why do you think it’s important for children to learn about the Constitution? What is the most important thing kids should know about the Constitution?

Chief Justice Roberts: A document written long before the invention of the automobile, the airplane, the computer, and the Internet may seem so old that students might think that they today don’t need to know about it. But our Constitution will only work if people learn about it and actively participate in our democratic form of government. You can’t fight for your rights if you don’t know what they are. And you can’t participate in our democracy if you don’t know how it works. I think the most important thing children should know about our Constitution is that it applies to them, just like school rules apply to them. If children do not understand the Constitution, they cannot understand how our government functions, or what their rights and responsibilities are as citizens of the United States.

SN: At what age did you first become interested in and realize the importance of the Constitution? What was that experience like?

Chief Justice Roberts: In grade school I learned about how our government was organized – how we had local, state, and federal government offices; how the Constitution divided power among the different branches so that the President, Congress, and the courts shared authority; and how the Constitution protected the liberty of every individual. Learning about that helped me understand what it was we celebrated every year on the Fourth of July – the freedom we as Americans enjoy and have defended over the years.

SN: As an interpreter of the Constitution, where do you go for guidance and information on the document?

Chief Justice Roberts: I have a copy of the Constitution on my desk and the first thing I do when I have a case involving the Constitution is read what it says. I also have a copy of the Federalist Papers – a series of essays by the Founding Fathers that helps explain what the Constitution means. For over two hundred years, the Supreme Court has been interpreting the Constitution by writing papers, called “opinions,” in individual cases. Those opinions say what the Court has decided and explain what particular parts of the Constitution mean. Every one of the Court’s opinions is published in a book. All of those books of opinions together take up almost 100 hundred feet of space. I will go and find previous opinions of the Court that have interpreted the part of the Constitution at issue in a particular case, and I will read those opinions.

SN: Briefly describe how your role as Chief Justice differs from that of an Associate Justice.

Chief Justice Roberts: As Chief Justice I have one vote, just like every Associate Justice. So I really do not have much greater authority than anyone else on the Court. One thing I do get to do is decide who should write the opinion of the Court, explaining why we decided a case the way we did. I get to do that whenever my vote is with a majority of the Justices. I also have the responsibility to make sure the Court runs smooth—that we get the decisions out on time.

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6) AUDIO/Marketplace: Banks want you [Comment font les banques pour attirer de nouveaux clients? Avec une référence à nos amis de l'Umpqua Bank. VOUS POUVEZ ECOUTER CET ENTRETIEN EN LIGNE.]
http://marketplacemoney.publicradio.org/display/web/2006/11/10/banks_want_you/
Banks want you!

Keep your old customers close, but your new customers closer. Banks are rolling out the perks to get you to switch alliances. Lisa Napoli reports.

TEXT OF STORY

KAI RYSSDAL: Wedged all around the political ads we've been hearing this fall was a campaign of a very different sort, and this one's still going on: Banks trying to woo you to bring your money to them. There's nothing new about a financial institution trying to attract new customers, but there's a lot new about banking that makes those institutions eager to get you to do business with them. We asked Marketplace's Lisa Napoli to investigate.

[Bank Atlantic commercial "Over 20,000 people a month are opening bank accounts at Bank Atlantic. Are you ready to switch banks?" ]

LISA NAPOLI: This East Coast bank wants your money, and to get it, they're offering you a variety of gifts:

[Bank Atlantic commercial continues "Don't you want a $77 Master Card gift card for opening a free checking account? Don't you want a portable TV or MP3 player, free?" ]

The answer might be yes, but that's not inspiring most of us to sign up. Fewer of us are switching banks these days, and banks are learning there's more to winning you over than freebies.

RICHARD WESTELMAN: "People aren't chasing the toasters any more."

That's Richard Westelman of Hitachi's Dove Consulting Group, which studies banking trends.

He says banks have done a good job of convincing us to do everything electronically. 70 percent of us now use direct deposit and half of us pay at least one bill online. That means it might just be too much work to leave your bank:

WESTELMAN: "When I go online to pay my bills, there's now probably 30 different payees and if you told me tomorrow you want me to switch banks, my first question is gonna be, what about all that?"

Banks are ready with an answer:

LINDA VERBER: When a customer comes to use we can get them everything they need as it relates to the new account opening process.

That's Linda Verber of Commerce Bank in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Like many banks, they're offering to do the heavy lifting:

VERBER: "We've got a concierge service that helps with the tougher stuff, so the tougher stuff is direct deposit and a lot of those bill pay transfers, but we can do it right there. We can do it for them, we can do it with them."

New technology coming down the pike will make it even easier for banks to make it easy for us to switch, but how do you convince an entrenched customer that a checking account's not just a checking account?

LANI HAYWARD: "You can't really differentiate through product, you cannot really differentiate through rate, and you really can't outspend or outresource the big guys."

Lani Hayward's with Umpqua Bank, which serves the Portland, Oregon area.

HAYWARD: "So we decided we were going to hone in on something that was missing in the financial industry, look at being a retailer of financial products and services."

That's marketing speak for making snazzy branches look like boutiques, not banks -- and function like community centers.

No desks. Cozy chairs. Mood lighting.

Umpqua serves free hot coffee and cold water. It even has a dog dish out front to welcomes pets.

There's free Internet access at computer terminals and a music download station so you can sample local artists, and after every transaction, you get a free chocolate.

HAYWARD: "And it's good chocolate, not just any chocolate."

Hayward figures if perks like chocolate make people happy, then they'll tell their friends.

HAYWARD: "The best marketing is word of mouth-if you want anyone to switch banks or doctors or whatever, it's who tells you about it and that's what this is really all about, is that it's something that's so different and so good that you go tell other people about it. It really is the small things like that just make you feel welcome. Simple."

In other words, toasters may be out, but service is back in style. That's got to be good news for anyone with a bank account, even if you plan to keep your money where you've got it.

I'm Lisa Napoli for Marketplace Money.

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7) The Economist: Maine's water wars [Le puisage des nappes pour la commercialisation d'eau en bouteille pose des problèmes dans le Maine.]
http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_RDJTPNJ

Maine's water wars
Source of trouble

Oct 26th 2006 | FRYEBURG
From The Economist print edition
Is bottled water hurting aquifers?

HOWARD DEARBORN, an 88-year-old inventor, is worried about the pond beside his house. In the past few years, he says, a sandy bottom has given way to green gunk and his visitors refuse to swim in it anymore. That is not his only water worry. Recently, “the water table has dropped down so much that my pump was sucking air.”

Mr Dearborn believes, though he admits he cannot prove it, that his problems stem from the arrival in Fryeburg of Poland Spring, a Maine bottled-water company owned by Nestlé. Fryeburg, in south-west Maine near the New Hampshire border, sits on an enormous aquifer. It has caught the eye of the $10 billion bottled-water industry, which enjoyed 9.6% growth in per-capita consumption in America last year. Poland Spring, the top-selling spring-water brand in America, will this year pump about 110m gallons (420m litres) out of Fryeburg.

Locals have raised a fuss. So many people crowded into a recent town meeting on water that the discussion had to be postponed to find a larger venue. As well as the long-term effects on the aquifer, people worry about the traffic, which will get worse if the state superior court allows Poland Spring to build a bottling plant in Fryeburg. Emotions crystallised two years ago, when the town's water ran dry because of a pump failure, but Poland Spring's operations carried on.

Managers at Poland Spring fire back that their factories are good for a state whose manufacturing sector is languishing. Maine gets plenty of rain—up to 48 inches (122cm) on average in Fryeburg. “We take only what the aquifer can afford,” according to Tom Brennan of Poland Spring—which says it accounts for just 0.2% of Maine's groundwater use. As for the noise, Mr Brennan says that “our incremental addition to truck traffic is insignificant in the long run” since Fryeburg already sits on a big route from Portland to Canada.

The leaders of the Maine towns are keener. Last week officials in Kingfield, a small town in central Maine, unanimously approved construction of a water-bottling plant there (Poland Spring's third in the state). A few hundred million gallons of water will also be pumped out of the local aquifer each year.

But the battle will continue. Jim Wilfong, a former state legislator from the Fryeburg area, failed in his effort to get a punishing 20-cents-a-gallon tax on big water extractors (read: Poland Spring) onto the Maine ballot in November. But he is calling for a review of Maine's groundwater laws, which in effect allow landowners at the moment to pump as much as they wish. These are troubled waters indeed.

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8) New York Times/Travel: Sofia Coppola's Paris [Faisons du shopping avec la réalisatrice.]
http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/travel/tmagazine/24coppola.html?ref=tmagazine

Sofia Coppola’s Paris
By LYNN HIRSCHBERG
Published: September 24, 2006

This city can change your mood completely,” said the director Sofia Coppola as we walked down Rue Madame in the Sixth Arrondissement of Paris. During the filming of “Marie Antoinette,” which will arrive in theaters on Oct. 20, she lived in a rented apartment on the Boulevard Saint-Germain, two doors from the famous Café de Flore. “We would have production meetings there,” said Sofia, who was wearing jeans, a navy V-neck sweater and ballet flats. “I’ve always loved this part of Paris. My parents have an apartment close by. Even though my family is Italian, we came here a lot when I was really little. And then I came to Paris as a teenager: I spent two summers interning at Chanel. You naturally feel a connection to certain places, and, for me, Paris is one of them. I would look at my parents’ French friends and think, That’s what you’re supposed to be like when you grow up.”

Sofia stopped at Odorantes, a tiny flower shop that specializes in bouquets that are organized by scent rather than by color. Bouquets in Paris, unlike floral arrangements in America, usually consist of one flower or one hue. “I found this shop by wandering through the neighborhood,” she said, while waiting outside for the flowers to be arranged. “When I shop, it’s not so much about buying. Whether you get something or not, when you go in a store, you see what Paris is like.”

For a few days last May, I accompanied Sofia through several Paris neighborhoods: the Marais, the Rue du Faubourg St.-Honoré, the Palais Royale. We visited the restored Museé de l’Orangerie to see the Monet waterlilies in their original home, and we gazed into the Seine from the Pont Neuf, but, mostly, we shopped as if we were engaged in a kind of sociological study of French customs and style.

Near the Place Vendôme, Sofia stopped at the custom shirtmaker Charvet, where she was having some of her mother’s Yves St. Laurent shirts from the 1970’s recreated as silk dresses. We went to the luggage store Goyard and admired the classic trunks that once belonged to the Duchess of Windsor. At Dary’s, a jewelry shop that specializes in antique pieces, Sofia tried on an aquamarine ring from the 20’s, and at Hermès, we watched the other customers in the large, crowded store compete for the privilege of buying their coveted handbags. At Benneton Graveur, she studied the engraved stationery, particularly a notecard topped by a French and an American flag. Sofia is expecting her first baby in December with her boyfriend, Thomas Mars, the singer in the band Phoenix. Mars is from Versailles, and Sofia plans to have the baby in Paris, where the couple have just purchased an apartment. “This card will be perfect,” she said, admiringly.

In the Marais, we went to K. Jacques, a tiny shop that specializes in all types of classic leather sandals. The simplicity of the shoes immediately conjured up images of sunning in St.-Tropez. We stopped at a vintage magazine and bookstore called Les Archives de la Presse, which Sofia discovered while she was filming Marie Antoinette’s birthday party at the National Archives nearby. “We could never have shot this movie anywhere else,” she said. “Everything about France influenced the film: the light here is different, the way the French hold themselves is different. In America, we’re all in such a rush. Here, they have lifestyle priorities. For instance, the French crew insisted on a proper lunch break. They set the table, and they had wine, and no matter what was happening, you could not cut their lunch short. In America, it would be a quick sandwich and back to work. Here, everyone takes their time.”

Sofia first considered making a film about Marie Antoinette during a dinner at Chez Omar, one of her favorite restaurants in the Marais. Dean Tavoularis, the Oscar-winning production designer, who has worked extensively with her father, had researched that period for a movie he didn’t end up doing, she explained. “And he started telling me things about Marie Antoinette, like how young she was and her weird relationship with her husband, Louis. I’ve always been interested in the 18th century, and the story behind her persona intrigued me.”

In many ways, the finished film is an homage to all things Français, from the perfection of the period costumes and wigs to the clashing modernity of the post-punk 80’s soundtrack. Just as “Lost in Translation,” Sofia’s previous film, captured the beautiful strangeness of Japan, “Marie Antoinette” is a glimpse into the sense of refinement that still exists in Paris. “I have always been influenced by French films,” said Sofia, as she paid for the extraordinarily fragrant purple-pink roses that took 20 minutes to arrange. “I remember seeing ‘Breathless’ as a teenager and liking that not everything was explained. In American movies, you have to explain everything. The French leave things a little mysterious.”

Sofia walked toward the river and peered into the windows of various antiques shops, looking for a chandelier for her new apartment. She went past a vintage shop on a tiny street, but it was closed. In the window was a slinky black jersey Jean Muir dress displayed on a mannequin. The Cannes Film Festival was in a few days, and Sofia was looking for gowns. “I like that in Paris, you have to get it together,” she said. “It’s nice to see people dress up for dinner. After I interned at Chanel in the 80’s, I went back home to my little town in the Napa Valley, but I was changed forever. Everyone thought I was strange because I was getting French Vogue.”

After writing down the peculiar hours of the vintage shop, Sofia headed to the Jardin du Luxembourg. “My father was so taken with this place that he built a little fountain in Napa based on the fountain here,” she said, as she walked down the wide gravel path that leads to the heart of the garden. She motioned to a bench. “This place has always been emotional for me.” Right before she was about to get married to Spike Jonze (now her ex-husband), and before her first movie, “The Virgin Suicides,” was shown in Cannes, the stress had got to her: “I just sat here and cried.” She would come here while filming “Marie Antoinette” when she had serious things on her mind. “The beauty of this garden would always reassure me,” she said. “Paris has a way of restoring your faith.”

SOFIA'S ADDRESS BOOK

Shops

Azzedine Alaïa Boutique and shoe store. 4 Rue de Moussy; 011-33-1-42-72-19-19.
Benneton Graveur Stationery. 75 Boulevard Malesherbes; 011-33-1-43-87-57-39.
Bois de Rose Classic smock dresses for girls. 30 Rue Dauphine; 011-33-1-40-46-04-24.
Bonpoint Children’s clothes. 320 Rue St.-Honoré; 011-33-1-49-27-94-82. Go to www.bonpoint.com for more locations.
Galerie 213 Sofia especially likes the photo books. 58 Rue Charlot; 011-33-1-43-22-83-23.
Charvet Custom shirts and more. 28 Place Vendôme; 011-33-1-42-60-30-70.
Clignancourt Flea Market Sofia shops here for furniture. Porte de Clignancourt (Sat.-Mon.).
Dary’s Antique jewelry. 362 rue St.-Honoré; 011-33-1-42-60-95-23.
Deyrolle Taxidermy in a beautiful space. 46 Rue du Bac; 011-33-1-42-22-30-07.
Didier Ludot Vintage couture. 20-24 Galerie de Montpensier; 011-33-1-42-96-06-56.
Pharmacie Homeopatique Weber For beauty products not available at home. 8 Rue de Capucines; 011-33-1-42-61-03-07.
Free “P” Star Vintage clothing. 8 Rue Ste.-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie; 011-33-1-42-76-03-72.
Goyard Classic luggage. 233 Rue St.-Honoré; 011-33-1-42-60-57-04.
Hermès Sofia shops here for notebooks and bags. 24 Faubourg St-Honoré; 011-33-1-40-17-47-17.
Jöelle Ciocco Skin care. 8 Place de la Madeleine; 011-33-1-42-60-58-80.
K. Jacques Leather sandals. 16 Rue Pavee; 011-33-1-40-27-03-57.
Lanvin Albert Elbaz’s take on French tradition. 22 Rue du Faubourg St.-Honoré; 011-33-1-44-71-31-73.
Les Archives De La Presse Vintage magazines. 15 Rue des Archives; 011-33-1-42-72-63-93.
Marc Jacobs Palais Royal, 34 Rue de Montpensier; 011-33-1-55-35-02-60.
Odorantes Flowers. 9 Rue Madame; 011-33-1-42-84-03-00.
Pierre Hardy One-of-a-kind shoes. Jardins du Palais Royal, 156 Galerie de Valois; 011-33-1-42-60-59-75.
Sabbia Rosa Lingerie. 73 Rue des Sts.-Pères; 011-33-1-45-48-88-37.
Serge Lutens Perfume. Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido, Jardins du Palais Royal, 142 Galerie de Valois; 011-33-1-49-27-09-09.

Restaurants and Bars

Café de Flore Centuries-old artiste hangout. 172 Boulevard Saint-Germain; 011-33-1-45-48-55-26.
Le Castiglione Known for its cheeseburgers. 235 Rue St.-Honoré; 011-33-1-42-60-68-22.
Chez Allard Famed old bistro noted for poulet de bresse. 41 Rue St.-André des Arts; 011-33-1-43-26-48-23.
Chez Omar Excellent couscous, exceptionally popular. 47 Rue de Bretagne; 011-33-1-42-72-36-26.
Gerard Mulot Pastries and chocolate. 76 Rue de Seine; 011-33-1-43-26-85-77.
Bar Hemingway Classic bar with great cocktails. Hotel Ritz Paris; 15 Place Vendôme; 011-33-1-43-16-33-65.
Ladurée Historic tea salon beloved for its macaroons. 16 Rue Royale; 011-33-1-42-60-21-79. Go to www.laduree.fr for more locations.
Le Voltaire Chic bistro on the river. 27 Quai Voltaire; 011-33-1-42-61-17-49.
Mathis Supertrendy bar. 33 Rue de Ponthieu; 011-33-1-53-76-39-55.

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9 ) The Economist: Flags [Les Anglais découvrent le régionalisme à travers des drapeaux tradionnels ou nouveaux.]
http://economist.com/world/britain/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_SJRPVQP

Flags: County pride

Sep 28th 2006 | DAWLISH, DEVON
From The Economist print edition
Patriotism in the shires

UNLESS their footballers are engaged overseas, the English are not a flag-waving people. Unlike in America, say, or Norway—both of which have proud flag-flying traditions—native reserve and lingering associations with the far right have tended to keep the Union and St George's flags off the nation's lawns.

But things are changing among the hedgerows and villages of Devon, a county in south-west England. Here the green, white and black flag of St Petroc flutters from windows and rooftops, and even from the flagpole at County Hall, all in cheery defiance of rules that make it illegal to fly most non-national flags without planning permission.

This is not the revival of some ancient symbol. Although the flag's colours have some historical significance (they were flown by the first Viscount Exmouth, a local noble, at the bombardment of Algiers in 1816), the design itself dates back only to 2002, when the idea of a county flag was mooted on a local BBC website. After much debate a dozen designs were short-listed and residents were invited to vote for their favourite.

The winner was chosen in 2003, and since then sales have been breezy. One website offers cufflinks, fridge magnets and window stickers alongside flags, and sightings have been confirmed as far away as Canada and Australia. Local patriots have created a list of flag days that includes July 30th, the anniversary of the 1588 battle against the Spanish Armada (Sir Francis Drake, a local hero, was second in command), and December 8th (in honour of the slightly less well-known St Budoc of Plymouth).

One reason for this outbreak of Devonian patriotism, says Mark Stoyle, a Southampton University historian, is rivalry with Cornwall, a neighbouring county with a rather older flag of its own and a proud tradition of waving it. “Devonians have been thinking, ‘the Cornish have a flag, why shouldn't we have one too?'” And he points out that a strong local brand can attract visitors—handy for an area that depends on tourism for its livelihood.

That combines with rebellion against a uniform national culture (the high street in Exeter, Devon's county town, has the lowest proportion of independent shops in Britain) and resentment at the migration of moneyed Londoners to the country. “As we become more homogenised, people cling to things that set them apart,” says Professor Stoyle.

Flag mania is creeping beyond the south-west. Lincolnshire adopted a democratically chosen flag last October. Derbyshire hoisted its own last week, and there is a campaign for a Dorset flag as well. Michael Faul, editor of Flagmaster, a vexillological journal, believes that Scottish and Welsh devolution may be one reason for the trend. Now that two British nations have been encouraged to assert their own identities, lesser patriotisms have been unleashed, too.

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10 ) PC World: Congress sets Alcatel-Lucent hearings [Une date est fixée à la surprise générale pour l'audience de la commission de la défense de la Chambre des Représentants US sur la fusion Alcatel-Lucent.]
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,127844-c,mergersacquisitions/article.html

Congress Sets Alcatel-Lucent Hearings
The merger, announced in April, has been waylaid by the House Armed Services Committee.
Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service
Friday, November 10, 2006 03:00 PM PST

Another hurdle has cropped up for the merger of Alcatel and Lucent Technologies as the U.S. House Armed Services Committee has set a hearing on the national security implications of the deal.

The hearing will take place next Tuesday in Washington, according to the committee's Web site. The list of witnesses has not yet been announced. Both companies said Friday they have heard from the committee and are reviewing the requests.

Deal Mostly Approved

The planned merger, announced in April, would bring together two of the world's largest telecommunications equipment vendors in a company based in Paris but straddling the Atlantic. Lucent is based in Murray Hill, New Jersey, and grew out of the former AT&T's Bell Labs.

The deal has been approved by the shareholders of both companies, as well as by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the European Commission. The only body that hasn't signed off on it is the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., an inter-agency panel led by the Secretary of the Treasury.
Security Issues

To dispel national security worries, Lucent has already agreed to form a subsidiary run by U.S. citizens to perform sensitive research and development work for the government. Meanwhile, Alcatel has agreed to sell its satellite business to allay similar concerns in France.

Earlier this year, the proposed acquisition of operations at several U.S. ports by London-based Dubai Ports World created a political firestorm fueled by concerns over national security

-*-*-*-

Suivre l'audience en ligne (audio + transcriptions):

http://www.house.gov/hasc/schedules/.

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And it's not just Republicans beating up on Pelosi. Although no Democrat has yet to concur with the assertion of a Washington Times columnist that she is a Manchurian Candidate for Socialist International, there's not a lot of joy in Moderateville. The New Republic's Peter Beinart worries that Pelosi will lead the Democrats into a "40-60 nation." Newsweek's Jonathan Alter says Pelosi's leadership "makes the Democratic caucus look more dovish than even the French." In Slate, Joe Klein dubbed Pelosi "the very sort of political anachronism the party should studiously avoid."

Why hasn't Pelosi received the glowing coverage you would expect to be bestowed upon a woman who's about to become the most powerful female politician in American history? For the most part, her problem is one of image (the "San Francisco liberal") rather than substance, as Brooks implied when he called her "caricaturable." There are even issues on which the Weekly Standard crowd and Pelosi agree, after all, such as human rights in China. Six years ago, the magazine approvingly quoted Human Rights Watch's assessment of her as "the conscience of the Congress" on that subject.

In fact, Pelosi isn't any more liberal than the average House Democrat, which is why the average House Democrat is going to vote for her. Critics cite Pelosi's 100 percent voting rating by Americans for Democratic Action, but Dick Gephardt had a 95 percent rating. House Democrats are liberal, and why shouldn't they be? Most Democrats think the party should support gay rights, higher CAFE standards, and spending on social programs. Are Pelosi's positions on welfare reform (against), trade (against fast-track), and war in Iraq (against) worrisome? Perhaps, but so are her caucus's—a large majority of House Democrats voted against the Iraq war resolution. As political scientist Ross K. Baker wrote in the Los Angeles Times yesterday, "if Pelosi were not a liberal when she first aspired to the job, she would quickly have had to become one," as Gephardt did by moving leftward during his climb to the top. While it's true that Pelosi's views, particularly on war and foreign policy, are out of step with much of the American public's, they're right in the mainstream of what House Democrats believe.

What's made Pelosi notable in the Democratic Party is less her voting record than her outspokenness—she called the first President Bush a "jerk"—and her fund-raising prowess. She honed her money-raising skills during her time as an unelected party activist, heading the California state Democratic Party and working as finance chair for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. After she won her first House race in 1987, her ability to rake in the dough helped her rise quickly through the party ranks. Her preposterously safe district—she routinely receives 85 percent of the vote—allows her to spend most of her time campaigning for other candidates (90 congressional districts in 30 states this election) and to give away much of the money she raises for herself. During the 2002 election cycle, Pelosi was the only member of Congress, Democrat or Republican, to distribute more than $1 million to her fellow candidates, nearly doubling the total of the next-closest Democrat, and she led the pack during the 2000 cycle as well. She also has a reputation as an effective party strategist and a good whip, getting credit for the Democrats adding five seats to their House totals in California in 2000 and for corralling enough votes to pass the Shays-Meehan campaign finance reform bill after only a month on the job.

But despite her formidable political skills—even the Wall Street Journal acknowledged that she's smart and telegenic and hard-working—her tenure as House Democratic leader, which hasn't even begun yet, has been a complete disaster from a PR standpoint. Perhaps the Democrats would be best advised to once again take a page from the Republicans: The GOP has an effective leader and party strategist who fires up the party base. His name is Tom DeLay, and he's not the No. 1 House Republican. Pelosi needs a puppet. Too bad Denny Hastert is already spoken for.

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* Listen to the people behind the voices

With political radio and TV ads, the ends justify the meanness. That's what the voice-over artists who work to sound nasty, or disappointed, or weary on those ubiquitous ads will tell you. "Negative ads are what people most remember," said Sally Mercer, a voice-over artist who lives just south of Pottstown and records out of her home. "Those are the ones that succeed."

As Election Day approaches, political consultants count on the voices of a handful of reliable announcers and actors to slime their opponents and sing the praises of their candidates. Throughout the country, perhaps a hundred people make a steady living doing such ads, with 25 of them actually pulling in hundreds of thousands of dollars each between August and November, according to Neil Oxman, president of The Campaign Group, Philadelphia media consultants who work for candidates around the country. Several of the big voices, including acknowledged voice-over king Scott Sanders, happen to live in this area, Oxman added. Some voice-over types can make as much as $3,000 per 15-minute session.

For a variety of reasons - including the fact that many media consultants make their homes around here - a great number of the political ads that air nationwide this time of year are produced in Philadelphia. Maybe it's not a coincidence that a city known for its negativity has become a mecca of the knock-your-opponent ad campaign.

Some announcers, however, refuse to adopt that ripping-a-rival-candidate's-throat tone in their ads. Unwilling to go all-the-way-obnoxious in her spots, the 54-year-old Mercer - best known for voicing ads for Republicans, including President Bush in the last two presidential elections - tries to sound supremely disappointed, as though the guy we were all rooting for was flubbing it one more time. "Joe Blow - he's at it again," Mercer tut-tutted, in an example of what her tone and approach would be in an anti-Joe Blow ad.

Cultivated by years in the theater, Mercer's voice sounds borderline upset when she does ads for gubernatorial candidates in Florida, Alabama, Michigan and other states.

Sanders, meanwhile, never sounds borderline anything. "When I have to go negative, I want the audience's hair to stand on end," said Sanders, 58, who lives in Philadelphia's Fairmount section and has been doing political voice-overs for 35 years. "I can get very nasty if I have to. In 1994, the New Yorker magazine called me 'The Voice of Negativity.' " This year, Sanders said, "I've been doing really nasty stuff for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee."

Sanders has been voicing Democratic gubernatorial and congressional ads that air around the country. Locally, he's been saying negative things about Republican Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann: "Lynn Swann either has no ideas or bad ideas," Sanders says with high-and-mighty disgust in one ad. He's also been "taking a good shot at Curt Weldon," the Republican congressman representing Pennsylvania's Seventh District.

Sanders said he makes 80 percent of his yearly income in 21/2 months. "I book my time in 15-minute increments," he said. "I've done 200 spots in October, for 80 candidates."

While most voice-over artists will work for any candidate regardless of party affiliation, many become known for their work with one party, and continue to get jobs from those campaigns. A few have ethical stipulations. Sanders will never do an ad for a candidate who supports the National Rifle Association, because he is anti-gun. Tom Richards, 54, a Wilmington voice man, refuses to work for Republican Sen. Rick Santorum because he disagrees with the senator's stance on several issues.

Dennis Steele will take either side, and much of his work is negative. "I'm really good at the soft-negative," said Steele, 50, of Villanova. "I don't have a deep, authoritative voice, so I'm not doing the voice-of-doom spots." Steele, who is also the voice on the Phillies' TV and radio commercials, said he's been doing some positive spots for Gov. Rendell this year, as well as negatives in other parts of the country along the lines of, "Hey, get a load of this guy. Can you believe he's doing that?"

By and large, voice-over people say they simply auditioned for and got spots early in their careers. Candidates and consultants liked their sound, for one reason or another, and kept calling. Unlike other commercials, political ads are immediate, with some produced in as little as four hours. Consultants are constantly responding to negative ads from other candidates, and need their voices on standby to get out their side of the story. "I have not been more than 30 minutes from my house since August," Mercer said.

There is no such thing as a Republican voice or a Democratic voice, the experts say. People just have to sound professional. "It's more how you say it than what you say," said Joanne Joella, a vocal coach from Melrose Park. "What we do is based on the science of manipulation. Your voice is a powerful, powerful tool."

It's not the ideal way to conduct American political campaigns, Oxman acknowledged. "I wish the dialogue was happening in newspapers, but not as many people are reading newspapers these days," he said. "TV ads work."

That's without a doubt, said Richards. But like everyone else, he added, "My teeth start to ache when I have to listen to these ads."

Listen to Sally Mercer demonstrate the art of the negative voice-over, and a political spoof ad at

http://go.philly.com/politicalads

[Un entretien radio avec quelques unes de ces personnes, et des exemples de publicités négatives ici:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6450663 ]

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Jun 29th 2006 | WASHINGTON, DC 
From The Economist print edition 
Not the proudest of weeks for the Senate 

BURNING the American flag, the Supreme Court ruled in 1989, and again in 1990, is a variety of freedom of speech that enjoys constitutional protection under the First Amendment. So that's that? Not at all. This week the Senate spent two long days discussing whether the constitution should be amended to make flag desecration illegal. The House has already approved such an amendment by 286-130; but to be ratified it needs to pass the Senate by a two-thirds majority, and then to win the support of 38 state legislatures. 

The most striking thing about the debate was the disproportion between the problem and the proposed remedy. On an average day you can see hundreds of American flags but the chance of seeing one of them in flames is pretty small. The Citizens Flag Alliance, which has been pushing for the amendment, could report only four incidents of flag desecration this year. 

The debate was an exercise in the purest cynicism: draping political self-interest in the Stars and Stripes. The Republicans face a difficult election in November. What better way to whip up the base than by refocusing the debate on highly charged issues? This week's attempt follows hard on the heels of another Republican-inspired debate to amend the constitution to ban gay marriage. How splendid to discombobulate the Democrats by waving Old Glory in their faces. And the Democrats were indeed discombobulated, several of their leading lights dutifully voting for the amendment. Hillary Clinton, true to her strategy of trying to straddle her party's liberal and centrist wings, opposed the amendment but called for federal legislation to ban flag desecration. 

After two days of heady rhetoric the amendment failed to make it across the two-thirds hurdle. But the vote came closer to passing than it ever has before—falling just one vote short compared with the four votes last time. No fewer than 60 senators signed up as sponsors. 

But in the longer term, the Republicans are playing with fire. Most Americans revere the constitution even more than they revere the flag. The Republicans' willingness to tinker with the document may backfire. After all, two proposed constitutional amendments in a month is rather excessive, given that there have been only 26 amendments to the document in 219 years.

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