Not too long ago we had ongoing coverage about the housing shortage in France with people squatting in empty buildings hoping they wouldn’t get tossed into the street in the middle of winter. Some were not so lucky and got tossed anyway because the buildings they were in weren’t safe. Of course, the street is safer and much warmer.

It is impossible to rent here in France without a permanent job contract unless you have contacts and someone is willing to fiddle around with the paperwork. Mr. Villepin’s new contract may help some get jobs from which there will be no guarantee they will keep but it will also insure they will not find a place to live. Mr. Villepin’s job contract puts the cart before the horse. The creation of jobs and housing before changing laws that will make the acquisition of these necessities even more difficult would get a more positive response from the people.

As fools rush in with the unorthodox reasoning that says if an employer knows he can toss you out for whatever reason he chooses and at any time you will stand a better chance of getting hired I begin to believe that politicking cannot be that hard, in fact, any fool could do it.

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Go to House Report 109-333 -USA PATRIOT IMPROVEMENT AND REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2005 and check it out for yourself. Sec. 605 reads:

"There is hereby created and established a permanent police force, to be known as the 'United States Secret Service Uniformed Division'."

The new police are empowered to "make arrests without warrant for any offense against the United States committed in their presence, or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such felony."

The new police are assigned a variety of jurisdictions, including "an event designated under section 3056(e) of title 18 as a special event of national significance" (SENS).

Unfathomed Dangers in Patriot Act Reauthorization

“A special event of national significance” is not defined but most assuredly a Presidential State of the Union address such as Cindy Sheehan attended recently and was arrested I might add would come under this heading. Read more at Pourquoi Pas

In the new allegations, former detainees claimed they were beaten with plastic cables, given electric shocks and made to stand in a flooded room as an electrical current was passed through the water, London-based Amnesty said. Its report said the interviews were conducted last year and this year.

"Some of the detainees have been held for over two years without any effective remedy or recourse," it said. "Others have been released without explanation or apology or reparation after months in detention, victims of a system that is arbitrary and a recipe for abuse." Rights Group says Iraq Torture Continues

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