French roast

"Is it the government that failed or the muslims that have failed? If the government offers and you refuse to accept whose fault is that?"

The government has "offered" to give people handouts like dogs while preventing them from starting businesses themselves and preventing others from creating jobs for them.

Islam is also playing a significant role in the rioting, and rioting isn't the answer to the economic problem of course--these people would be doing a heck of a lot better for themselves and for France to put all this energy and effort into supporting economic-right politicians--but the government (its socialism, in particular) played a significant role in bringing about this situation.

Communism is death. Socialism is half-assed communism. You really think it has no contributing role in causing this mess?

I couldn't have said it any better. This is the drum I have been beating for a very long time.

Paris is just having it's Watts or DC Riot of 1968. Racially motivated and inflamed by Jive A$$ street corner hustlers.

We have the same anti-family policies that France has. Much more Islamic and Latin immigration will be needed for our market, given our trends against domestic labor getting married, staying married and having children.

Give it time.

Is that some sort of politically correct euphemism for appeasement?

The government has failed because asinine laws intended to "protect French jaahbs" have actually caused high unemployment. France has the most inflexible labor laws on the continent and that's saying alot.

The Muslims have failed for a more obvious reason.

There for the grace of God go America. And it will.

'Until the French understand that they will forever be blaming themselves.'

uh, only as long as there are "french"

I think you are wrong.

The Muslims are resolute, but they are backward. They can blow themselves up here and there, taking a few of us and a building of ours, here and there, with them; they can destroy their own cities completely (as in France and Iraq). However, in the big picture, they are doomed - they can't create economies that can support competitive militaries, can't create economies and cultures that can compete or advance technologically, can't even keep their best brains in their own countries most of the time.

France is rolling over, letting this happen, because it is deeply ideologically and socially perverted (Socialism, Multiculturalism, hedonism/nihilism, divorce of sex from reproduction, total reliance on the government for safety/no right to bear arms, etc.).

But we ARE NOT France.

Our police and military are well-funded, well-trained, and bad-ass. Our population is armed and willing to shoot in defense of self, family, community, property. Our military weapons technology is the best and best funded the world has ever known. Our prosperity and way of life recruits the best mind from all over the world to work on our side. I've lived outside of the US, and people in other countries tend to be both aware of and seriously freaked out by our military spending... while still wanting to visit, shop, work, and go to school in the US. I think that counts for something.

This line about how the Islamists' willingness to die and refusal to be reasonable makes them strong is a lie. Actually, such facts reveal that they are weak, because they have to go to such severely self-injurious lengths to sustain their way of life and to make even a tiny dent of impact on the other side (excepting places like France which disarm citizens and hand Islamists Vaseline). We could, if we were bad (just wanting to wipe out the threat at any cost) instead of good (interested in saving the poor folks in the middle east, because we can do so and still survive well ourselves) cause mass destruction in the middle east. We're so strong we don't have to; we can go the nation building route instead. They aren't even strong enough to have that mass destruction option, let alone a position so strong that that option, though available, is not vital to survival.

The idea that their willingness to die makes them strong is cheap posturing on their part to try to make us scared, and by making us scared less confident, and by making us less confident, less resolute. In response to the idea that their willingness to kill themselves makes them strong, remember: "No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his." -- Gen. George S. Patton. We stay armed citizens willing to defend ourselves, they can't win.

You mention Germany as an example that France is not alone in its lack of will. Germany recently had an election where the Right almost won a majority -- And the Right did, at least, get the Chancellorship of the "grand coalition" (the new Chancellor is a former East German who knows the sickness of Socialism from experience). Germany is considering sanity; they chickened out at the last election, but after this, I'd bet seeing what's at stake will help push them toward sanity in the future. They kicked US-hating Schroeder out; I think a little bit hope in them is not unreasonable.

You mention how the schools are teaching our children that they must never expect to be hurt. This is bad, and this is true, and in my opinion it is only a tiny piece of how our schools are perverting our culture. The current k-12 school system was designed by the ideological brethren of those who have perverted and weakened the French, and like in France, their system encourages weakness and brokenness in human beings. (But I think in the US, the influence of conservative parents neuters the school's effect, to some extent.) Solution - homeschool, and fight to radically change the school system, and inundate the kids with sane ideas and their real cultural heritage when they're away from school. Despair isn't a solution and failure not an option. We on the Right are a majority in the US, we know this is a problem, we have a higher birthrate than the French-like Americans, and we're on our guard. So if we put the effort into solving this problem, we can do it, and the US will be that much stronger.

You say that children should be raised to respect authority. The smartest children will always question authority, and rebel against any authority that cannot justify itself upon questioning... if respect for authority is the core value they are exposed to, they are likely to become hedonistic nihilists as a result of such questioning. The dullest children can be more easily raised to respect authority, but then, do you really want them just following whoever gets into power and can therefore pose as an authority? Better to raise them to question authority. Raise children to love good, to know good, to do good, and to think reasonably; respect for just authority (and, rightfully, only authority which is just) will follow.

"And the muslims, driven and hungry, will win."

This and the sports analogy are wrong. I think it is wrong because you misunderstand where Muslims are coming from. These are not people who hunger for life and are competing with us in the game of life. Nations of people of that mindset take the path that Singapore or South Korea or India have taken and are taking. The sports analogy is appropriate for these cases - underdogs building strength and pushing themselves to the limit because they want to win at life.

The case of the extremists in the Middle East is a case of people who have given up on life, who see nothing but force and death and brute, mindless, cruel social power. They can rage and burn, but so long as we keep our wits and arms, they can't come close to the kind of power working with reality (our weapons, our military funding), as opposed to working against reality, can bring. (The case of the moderates in the Middle East is a case of people who have retained much of their humanity (think: moms and dads who really care about their kids and them to become prosperous engineers and scientists and doctors), but who have nonetheless had their minds hijacked, to a partial extent, by the death cult. We will help them by giving them a chance to invest in life - democratic government, business, real education. That investment in life will weaken the grip of the death cult on their minds. Give what we are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan some time.)

Last point you make is about the MSM. In my experience, nobody except those who care nothing for world events think the MSM is anything but a joke. As for those who care nothing for world events, it doesn't matter if they think the MSM is a joke or not... they're putting their energies toward school, work, friends, and family... things which, more likely than not, indirectly help our side overall. People who see the MSM as a joke either agree, on basics, with you and me, or have else gone insane and won't listen to anything unless it panders to their weird conspiracy theories (DU, MoveOn.org, and company).

Main point reiterated: I don't at all think we are doomed, and this for specific reasons; not just wishful thinking.

France is probably doomed, yeah. But we are so totally NOT France.

I don't agree with your comparison. We are like night and day when you discuss our societies, governments and anything else you want to throw in there. We will however need to rescue the slobs once again.

You make some very good points. I don't agree with them all, but it's well thought out.

We agree on the nature of islam. Where we disagree is that I think it's possible for an aggressive, negative force, (islam), to conquer the world. I would agree that they are fragile in that they must be absolute in order to maintain their system. But they are not stupid. They are attempting to over-run the west from within. We now have places in America, (near Detroit, and near Seattle specifically and there are others), that sound the muslim call to prayer 5 times a day. If that were Christian related, it would be disturbing the peace and the ACLU would be all over it. As the islamists immigrate and reproduce, they can capture cities with their vote, then counties, and then states. Our spineless self serving politicians, on both sides of the isle, will pander to whoever they feel they have to, regardless of the impact on America.
I agree, our police and military are armed and trained. We have armed citizens who care and aren't afraid. But, we have a huge number of people on the left who at best are obstructionists, and at worst are traitors. PC laws, misapplication of hate crime laws, worrying about panty parties in a pow prison, siding with terrorists. It does provide a house divided situation. And as I've heard more than once: "we can win 100 times stopping the terrorists, they only have to win once."
Homeschooling is an option, but not for everyone. For the country to flourish as it once did, the public school mess has to be cleaned up. I disagree slightly with your view on authority. Unconditonal respect is wrong, however constant questioning is wrong. I was in the Navy, I use that model. Respect authority, you can question after the fact. If authority is being used in a way you KNOW is wrong, you can challenge it on the spot, but you had better have good reason. Challenging on minor points, on the spot is unacceptable and will lead to consequences. Constant questioning of authority leads to a false sense of superiority for the questioner, and pretty much chaos for the environment in question. School is not a democracy, like the military, it's an authoritarian system within a democracy, (or should be).
I see the sports analogy as valid. I think we both would agree that islam, as currently constituted could never dominate the world long term. It would collapse from it's own weight. People don't grow under islam, they submit. That is a system that's counter to human nature. But, I still think the islamists are hungry and driven, and we are complacent, and distracted. Part of the distraction is our own liberal neighbors.
I would see a muslim rule very similar to what happens in a company that outsources a key department. The people at the top are all happy with what they've done. The people down below bear the brunt of the problems. Many are uprooted, lives disrupted. Eventually it comes clear that the department should be part of the organization, not contracted out. The department is reintegrated at much cost, tangible and intangible, and the problem is solved. Obviously a simple analogy with much less dire consequences. But the core is the same. The islamists could conquer. Heck, almost half the people in this country would welcome them as being superior to Christians. (Notice I never capitalize islam, muslim, etc. It's not an accident). Then, people would find out what muslims are really about. And after much suffering, eventually there would be revolution.
I disagree with your assessment of who listens to the MSM. To be sure there are rabid leftists who get their information almost exclusively that way, (my brother is one of them). He fits the DU/MoveOn.org profile: Conspiracies everywhere, anything anti-Bush must be true. However, you dismiss the more moderate element. I know some of them. They are there. They are reasonable, and follow the model mom and dad used. Come home, watch the evening news. Until I started really reading boards, FR in particular, I wasn't aware of how biased the MSM was, or how easy it is to spin a story. The MSM is losing power, but still a considerable force.
I hope you're right about the Germans. We can use all the help we can get. It seems like the Dutch are getting it.

Bottom line: I think our peril is real. I hope you're right. I hope we are up to the challenge.