Chirac Goes On TV To Quell Heatwave Anger

The Guardian (UK) ^ | 8-22-2003 | Amelia Gentleman

[dogbyte12]

Can anybody picture what the press would be doing to President Bush if 10,000 people died in a heatwave here, and he said nothing for 3 weeks?

[thoughtomator]

Nice, these people expect their government to control the weather and the government assumes the responsibility.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

What? Weaknesses in socialized medicine. But...but...but that can't be!?

Hillary says that's impossible and she's the smartest woman in the world.

[Paleo Conservative]

That's three times as many as the victims who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks and our armed forces in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

When will the French public be calling for Chirac's head on a pike?

[mtbopfuyn]

to express sympathy with the families of the many people who had "died alone in their homes"

Excuse me?!?

How many degrees would body temperature drop with shaved pits?

[petitfour]

Is Europe living in the Dark Ages or what? And what is it with folks expecting the government to take care of them? Where is the self reliance? As for the heat, do they not have air conditioners? Do they not know how to build houses in order to maximize air flow? I am from the deep South (MS/AL), and even rednecks know how to build an unairconditioned house such that there is cross-ventilation. Plus, trees are useful to shade houses with no air conditioning.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

What I don't get is this: if you go and look at any weather site for a forecast for Paris, the hottest day in the next week is 80 degrees farenheit!? How does this constitute a heat wave in August?

[blam]

Holocaust Of The Elderly: Death Toll In French Heatwave Rises To 10,000

[TheSpottedOwl]

In the course of the two-hour session, the interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, spoke about the forest fires which destroyed thousands of hectares of land in the south of the country, the environment minister reported on the record-breaking pollution levels, the beleaguered health minister, Jean-François Mattei, was forced to explain why hospitals had coped so badly with the aftermath of the heatwave, while the agriculture minister outlined the massive scale of problems facing farmers after months of drought.

Sounds almost Biblical, doesn't it?

On a serious note, French leaders have some serious explaining to do. 10,000 deaths from heat in a developed country is unthinkable.

[blam]

Here in Mobile, the city gave away free airconditioners to the poor and elderly. (...and then later had to pay their electricity bills too.) The next year, they gave away fans.

[Petronski]

[Uncle George]

Maybe he owns a DEODORANT company in France? Sashe la fume.

[blam]

The population of France as of July 2003 = 60,180,529

[Barnacle]

10,000 people. That's three 9-11's!

[Kay Soze]

Had these socialists spent half the energy on helping their elderly as they did in keeping Saddam alive -none of this would be happenning.

[Pro-Bush]

Chirac is a piece of crap.

[boxerblues]

When will the French be calling on the US for help to deal with it?

[blackbart.223]

" Netherlands 500-1,000 deaths since June. Officials say that for every degree above normal summer temperatures there have been 25 extra deaths a week."

Does anyone besides me have a hard time swallowing this sh*t? A one degree temprature change can kill twenty five people. If that were the case most, if not all of the people, living in The West would be dead.

Where I live the daytime and nightime temps can swing as much as sixty degrees. I smell a rat here.