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Les élus américains ont tendance à se faire joyeusement financer à quelques jours des votes importants.

Lawmakers seek cash during key votes
►http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/25/AR2010122502236.html

Numerous times this year, members of Congress have held fundraisers and collected big checks while they are taking critical steps to write new laws, despite warnings that such actions could create ethics problems. The campaign donations often came from contributors with major stakes riding on the lawmakers’ actions.

For three weeks in June, for instance, the members of a joint House and Senate committee worked to draft final rules for regulating the financial industry in the wake of its 2008 meltdown. During that time, the 35 members of the drafting committee collected $440,000 in donations from that same industry, which was then lobbying heavily for looser rules.

La Poste suisse ferme le compte d’Assange :
►http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/06/AR2010120601131_2.html

But the Swiss Post’s financial arm, Postfinance, immediately shut down the bank account set up by Assange after it determined the “Australian citizen provided false information regarding his place of residence during the account opening process.” Postfinance spokesman Alex Josty told the AP the account was closed Monday afternoon and an undetermined amount of money would be returned to Assange, who faced no further consequences after claiming he lived in Geneva but offering no proof.

“One of the most fascinating aspects of the #Cablegate exposure is how it is throwing into relief the power dynamics between supposedly independent states like Switzerland, Sweden and Australia,” his law firm said. “The technicality used to seize the defense fund was that Mr. Assange, as a homeless refugee attempting to gain residency in Switzerland, had used his lawyer’s address in Geneva for the bank’s correspondence.”