How I would have loved during other times

aversion of his conservative predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy to replace scandal-plagued members of his Cabinets. Even those who refrained from calling for Cahuzac’s ouster couldn’t help using the scandal to jab Hollande. “How I would have loved during other times — when we were in power — if the left hadn’t taken to hounding [us] as it did,” conservative leader Jean-François Copé told radio RTL on Wednesday. “I’ve always maintained that presumption of innocence must maxiscan ms300 be respected.” But such restraint in pouring fuel on the Cahuzac fire is probably a sign conservatives view the flames of controversy as sufficiently hot for Hollande and his government as is. For nearly a month now, French and international media have had a field day with http://www.obdii.co.uk/heavy-duty-diagnostic/launch-x431-master-scanner Depardieu’s decision to flee the rising taxes of his homeland for residency — and request citizenship — in Belgium. That tumult grew as clashing politicians and celebrities piled on the press with traded accusations about excessive and counterproductive leftist taxation, and the speed with which France s rich and famous place their money before their patriotic and fiscal duty. This month, Depardieu accepted Russian nationality offered by President Vladimir Putin. For good measure, the larger-than-life actor then snubbed a Jan. 8 court date in Paris for a November drunk-driving offense. (MORE: Gérard Depardieu Skips DUI Trial in France. Next Stop, Russia?) What makes escalation of the Depardieu controversy more agonizing for France’s government is that it came just days after the fiscal measure responsible for the actor’s ire was overturned. On Dec. 30, France’s Constitutional Council struck down the law that would have raised tax rates on incomes exceeding $1.3 million to 75% — a soak-the-rich hike amid France’s public-finance crisis that conservatives, business leaders and the wealthy had hotly denounced. Despite Hollande’s pledge to tweak the constitutional flaws of the legislation and repass it later this year, it was a blow to the