What's the solution I hear you ask... Well here's one for our friends who are under the impression that can beat four wives at once:
(Wow, I haven't had to post that in a while...)
Posted on 11/15/2005 4:34:45 PM PST by NixonsAngryGhost
French minister says polygamy to blame for riots By Martin Arnold in Paris Published: November 15 2005 20:30 | Last updated: November 15 2005 20:30
France’s employment minister on Tuesday fingered polygamy as one reason for the rioting in the country.
Gérard Larcher said multiple marriages among immigrants was one reason for the racial discrimination which ethnic minorities faced in the job market. Overly large polygamous families sometimes led to anti-social behaviour among youths who lacked a father figure, making employers wary of hiring ethnic minorities, he explained.
The minister, speaking to a group of foreign journalists as the government stepped up efforts to improve its image with the foreign media, said: “Since part of society displays this anti-social behaviour, it is not surprising that some of them have difficulties finding work ... Efforts must be made by both sides. If people are not employable, they will not be employed.”
The riots, and the government’s slow reaction to the violence, has led to widespread criticism that France’s ruling class is out of touch with the rest of the country. Mr Larcher’s comments could further fuel the debate and are likely to outrage Muslim and anti-racism groups in France.
They also come as the government considers tightening visa-granting rules and a possible clampdown on polygamous families already living in France.
Although polygamy is illegal in France, visas were granted freely to family members of immigrants until 1993, when visas were banned for more than one spouse. Many wives continued to enter illegally, however and a clampdown, if enforced, could affect families that entered the country before 1993.
Politicians estimate there are 10,000-20,000 polygamous families in France, most from North and sub-Saharan African countries such as Algeria, Mali and Senegal, where the practice is legal.
Polygamy is a taboo subject for most mainstream French politicians. Far-right groups, however, have seized on it to argue that immigrants abuse the French social security system by collecting state benefits for several wives.
The government has also been criticised for refusing to closely analyse demographic patterns in France in order to better integrate minorities. But Mr Larcher said France was so traumatised by the Vichy government’s expulsion of French Jews to German concentration camps during the second world war that it still found it unpalatable to allow information to be collected on people’s ethnic origins.
He acknowledged that the unemployment rate among young people in France was twice the national average, but said other European countries faced similar problems. He also pointed the finger at the US, where he said the unemployment rate among blacks aged 16-19 was twice that of their white counterparts.
His comments came as Dominique de Villepin, prime minister, made his first visit to the poor Paris suburbs since rioting erupted almost three weeks ago.
Although the unrest has abated substantially in recent days, the French parliament on Tuesday approved a law prolonging by three months the life of a controversial 1955 curfew law.
Unlike the French who have traditionally have one wife and at least one mistress. :-P
LOL. I was thinking the same thing. Yeah, all those polygamists in Utah have really turned that state into a hell-hole.
According to Islamic web sites, the Koran says that you must be able to provide for the additional wives -- otherwise, marry only one. Polygamists, who are living on welfare, are in violation of the Koran. The french could start by cutting their benefits.
Pot meet kettle! The French, busy with their own mistresses (cinq à sept), are criticizing polygamous immigrants?
Gay marriage is the answer.
I will NEVER, EVER understand why the french let these monsters in to the country. They have absolutely 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000 in common with the french or anything european.
If the french couldn't see this happening in the future, they are beyond stupid.
Which they are, apparently.
He did say polygamy. Only the Moslems are polygamists, but what a circuitous admission of failure, huh? "We can't/won't enforce laws, therefore we have rampant polygamy, ...."
But what I love in all of this is how it still comes down to the US. Employment rates among young black men is twice what it is among whites. Great. If you hadn't pointed that out to us, our entire economy would've gone down the tubes. What silly punks! Minister of Labor, he is, and is wholly untroubled by the fact that unemployment is 4 times in the infernoes than it is in the not-burning-yet parts of France.
Gotta love those European clowns.
I *love* America.
Vive la France!
I might get flamed here, but I think there is some truth to it. I read in an earlier FR post that some Arab men dump their wives in France so they can go back to the ME & get a 2nd wife. No doubt the Muslim family dynamic is screwed up. (Not to mention the physical abuse contributes.)
This is not the total reason, of course. I think these people were originally the dregs of their own society. Europe, especially France, basically became the dumping ground. Even were these people sent back to their native or ancestral countries, the governments there wouldn't know what to do with them.
ONe notes the the unemployment rate for ALL of France is
double the US's.
If our unemployment rate was at 10% the democrats would
be having a field day.
My guess is they needed cheap labor to do jobs French would not do (when there were jobs!), sound familiar?
Amazing. Just amazing. The French have cashed in their last chip of intelligence.
Non le puttez les damage' pour le backside-ois!
I dunno, this sounds like "profiling" to me, doncha think? I mean, picking only on men who have mor ethan one wife... what kind of discrimination is that in a pluralistic society?
/sarcasm
What's the solution I hear you ask... Well here's one for our friends who are under the impression that can beat four wives at once:
(Wow, I haven't had to post that in a while...)
Polygamy could very well be one of the core problems of islam that results in out of control young men. OBL's father didn't even know Osama's name. No successful society has ever been polygamous.
Well that makes about as much sense as anything Chirac and Villepin have said.
Looks like we have a loophole.
Or, maybe, another religion that starts with 'Mo'.
Or, is that "started by Mo"?
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