TV gamble to head off further riots blows up in Chirac's face

Scotland on Sunday ^ | April 2, 2006 | SUSAN BELL

[MadIvan]

I'm trying not to snicker too much.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Ping!

[goldstategop]

I do agree with France's young people. They want the same things their parents and grandparents have and now they're being told NO. And their response is their government can't change the rules in the middle of the game. Chirac is so deeply detested it brings to mind the old adage, "never trust any one over 30." That's what's being played out right now in France. I call it schadenfreude.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[Dr. Thorne]

Socialists just LOVE to protest. If you breed socialism, you will breed a generation of crybabies who are totally dependent on government for everything. What do helpless babies do when they want something? WAAAAAAHH!!!

[DUMBGRUNT]

have considerable impact on how he is portrayed in the history books

Any so called leader that takes the time to consider future history books, ain't worth spit.

[Always Right]

I do agree with France's young people. They want the same things their parents and grandparents have and now they're being told NO. And their response is their government can't change the rules in the middle of the game.

Are you kidding me? France has ridiculously high unemployment and for good reason, their obscene labor laws. Would you hire anyone you know you can not fire? In oder to fire someone in France it takes months and months of warnings, then you must pay three years of serverence pay even if they only worked a week, then you must go to court to prove the firing was justifiable which many times the court rules it is not. Their laws are whack.

[goldstategop]

They are all valid points and in a rational world, they should be reformed. But the sleazy Chirac and his government is seen as having broken the French social contract and it will pay the price. The way he and Villepin did it was to impose changes on the country by fiat and they still think they know better than ordinary French what's best for them. Its the elite's arrogant hateur that is suffocating even modest steps to open up France to a market economy.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[Tijeras_Slim]

A young person who hasn't learned to work by the age of 25 is worthless.

[Always Right]

They are all valid points and in a rational world, they should be reformed. But the sleazy Chirac and his government is seen as having broken the French social contract and it will pay the price.

Employment contracts are not 'social contracts', they are contracts between a private employer and its workers. These laws have no place in a free society, they only have place in a extremely communistic socieity.

[MichiganMan]

No, I can enjoy (shame on me) watching Chirac squirm, but he's dfinetily doing the right thing for his countries economic quagmire.

[goldstategop]

I'll take bets he'll find a way to wave the white flag before the week's over.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[AD from SpringBay]

Perhaps Mssr. Chirac should try the seldom used option of le big stick upside the sides of le swarthy protestors' heads.

[AntiScumbag]

he decided to tow the government line

LOL.

Pitiful reporter and proofreader. Not to mention the blatant bias throughout the entire article.

The poor Frogs are totally owned.

[LibKill]

This is what happens when a nation is addicted to socialism.

They would be better off on drugs than on socialism.

[hershey]

Any compromise would still leave Muslim immigrants scrambling for the lowest paying jobs, and you know what they say about the devil and idle hands. France is in big trouble.

[demkicker]

Just a matter of time....

[hershey]

France's angry, protesting white youth don't give a fig about Muslim job prospects. It's all about their right to a featherbed existence. Socialism is tricky, you need workers at the bottom to support everybody else. It's a pyramid scheme.

[loveitor..]

reap what you sow