Posted on 04/09/2003 2:26:30 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Shallow pool, gene.
Because they are? This is not just an American view either. I have been to England and Italy. The best I can tell they also hate the French. Why? See above.
Oh the inhumanity!
Laffing...
Can you believe it?
More than a week ago a group of anti-war hoodlums defaced the graves of British soldiers killed during World War I and buried in the northern city of Etaples.
``Dig up your rubbish, it is contaminating our soil,'' read one of the spray-painted messages. ``Saddam will win and he will make you bleed,'' said another. Red swastikas also marred the headstones.
The incident prompted a personal letter of apology from French President Jacques Chirac to Britain's Queen Elizabeth, which said, in part, ``You know that at a time when your soldiers are engaged in combat, the thoughts of the French are naturally with them.''
That is, as the French would so eloquently put it, merde.
Because just days before Chirac sent his heartfelt note of apology, a poll appeared in Le Monde that found 33 percent of the French people hope Britain and the United States lose the war against Iraq.
This has been a week of serial apologizing in France. (It seemed the closer coalition troops got to Baghdad, the more earnest were the apologies.) It began Monday with Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin saying, ``Just because we're against this war doesn't mean we want dictatorship to defeat democracy. We are in the democratic camp. The Americans are not enemies.''
On Tuesday, Raffarin told his nation's parliament, ``It is indispensable to be vigilant against all displays of anti-Americanism, which would be unacceptable.''
On Wednesday, his spokesman added, ``We have no leniency toward the Iraqi regime. Of course, we want to see Saddam Hussein's regime ended.''
Even German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder joined the ``old Europe'' chorus of those singing a slightly different tune this week. In a speech to the German parliament, he called for ``the defeat of the dictatorship'' in Iraq, but never mentioned who might actually be doing the ``defeating.''
Well, Saddam will be defeated and that is what the French and German governments fear most: a free Iraq, grateful to its liberators and its new allies and with no particular need to curry favor with those who made a nice, fat living doing business with Saddam.
This is no longer about freedom fries and boycotts of fine Bordeaux. This is about trade and reconstruction contracts and the future of Saddam's favorite oil company, TotalFinaElf.
So, how do you say ``go pound sand'' in French? [End]
It's hard to defend them. Speaking of dumb.
Mon Apr 7, 2003 - Bottle deposit takes fizz out of German beer sales [Full Text] BONN (AFP) - Environmentally friendly rules imposing a deposit on cans of drink have led to a sharp fall in beer sales, Germany's main brewing organisation said. The German Brewers' Union said the fall in sales of cans and bottles liable to the deposit had not been compensated for by a corresponding upturn in sales of reusable containers.
Its head, Peter Hahn, said brewers reckoned on a drop of up to 10 million hectolitres this year alone, which could endanger thousands of jobs. Germans are already famously obsessive about recycling. Citizens carefully separate waste into as many as four separate containers, and many supermarkets give shoppers a refund at the checkout. The new rules, which took effect at the start of the year, put a deposit of 25 to 50 euro cents on carbonated drinks such as beer, fizzy mineral water and lemonade. The aim is to turn Germans even more off non-reusable containers and encourage them to take their refuse back to the shop where they bought it, provided they have proof of purchase. [End]
Jeez!....I just woke up..That Thought is gonna cast a shadow over the entire day! :^(
but the French are French in much the same way that the Crees are Cree, the Navajos are Navajo, the Danes are Dane and the Japanese are Japanese.
Trying to have it both ways.
We moved to France for a two-year fellowship to study why the French resist globalization.
So we get the idea where this couple is coming from. These authors get paid to be global lefties. A fellowship from whom, I wonder?
This is a stretch. I think we only have one overseas property, Guam, if you don't count Puerto Rico, which is more than a property. It sounds to me that the French government is a lot more imperialistic than the U.S. How come we don't here about that?
It is the world's second biggest exporter of weapons.
Well, now who are they exporting these weapons to? I would bet mostly these terrorist countries. Who are they second to? My guess is Russia, because if it were us then they surely would have mentioned that in this oh so subtle slam piece to America.
For most Americans, France is more puzzling, exasperating, bemusing, and downright inexplicable than any other country on earth. The French beguile, befuddle and infuriate us all at once. And no wonder: to American eyes France looks like one giant paradox. Consider: The French smoke, drink and eat more fat than anyone in the world, yet they live longer and have fewer heart problems than Americans…. In spite of high taxes, a bloated civil service, a huge national debt, snarls of red tape, double-digit unemployment and low incentives for entrepreneurs, France has the world's highest productivity index, is the fourth biggest economic power and has become Europe's economic powerhouse…. Although France ranks as the world's third largest exporter, the French rant against globalization seems hysterical - at least to American ears.
In SIXTY MILLION FRENCHMEN CAN'T BE WRONG: France in the Era of Globalization two bicultural Canadian journalists explore the soul of France, explain what's behind the paradoxes, penetrate the enigma of French culture and reveal how they see globalization. To find the answers, the authors take readers along on a journey through the French psyche, from working-class neighborhoods in Paris to the mosques of Marseille to the MacDonald's trashed by French peasants. The result is a book that traces the source of the misperceptions about France and shows how the country really works. France not only functions differently from the U.S.; the French see the world differently and always have.
Both veteran journalists, the authors came to France with a grant from a New Hampshire-based private foundation to study why the French resist globalization. Jean Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow approached France like anthropologists, making friends, finding an apartment and interrogating all facets of life. Using their skills as cross-cultural analysts, they were able to solve riddles and debunk myths where other observers saw only stupidity, narrow-mindedness or just plain old French orneriness.
E-Mail us at nepa@nepa.com if you are interested in obtaining the rights for this book. Please let us know which rights you are seeking.
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