Mark Steyn: Iraq may be on the edge but France has hit rock bottom abyss

The Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | 08/23/03 | Mark Steyn

[Imal]

Careful, he may stick his tongue out at you.

Or even worse, he may start flinging feces at you from his cage.

Make sure your immunizations are up to date.

[faithincowboys]

Steyn is peerless. Absolutely brilliant. Why doesn't he appear on the Times editorial page? He could single-handedly redeem it.

[faithincowboys]

We think alike. They do have Vichy in them. Kill the old, they are no use to the Chirac worm machine.

[GOPJ]

Hey liberals, read up:

That would make George's brutal Iraqi summer about one five-thousandth as lethal as the brutal Gallic summer, which has killed more people than the brutal Afghan winter (now 23 months behind schedule), the brutal Iraqi summer and the searing heat of the Guantanamo torture camps combined and multiplied by a thousand.

[sarasmom]

LOL!
Hard to "fear" people who have no actual blood or intentions of actually ever shedding some,
on their theroetically pure, informed hands.
Much less fear their pure, and humanity loving "minds", when they weigh in on international politics.
It is a good thing ,sometimes, to hear from them.
It serves to remind us that the "populist" vote is hampered by rules, for a very good reason.

[McGavin999]

"Some, he said, informed of the death of relatives, postponed funerals, not to interrupt the August 15 holiday weekend, and left the bodies in the refrigerated hall."

Good God! What kind of people are these?

[lorrainer]

...couldn't you sit in a tub of water or something?

But the French have such a fear of baths....

[Imal]

Good God! What kind of people are these?

That is a question France's neighbors have been asking for centuries.

The answer remains elusive, but is probably not flattering.

[lainde]

Wonderful!

[lainde]

bttt

[Meem the Scream]

Scathing!
Steyn wields la plume à l’épée.

[friendly]

I am having a hard time believing that 10,000 people have died from the heat. Some one explain that to me, please.

I just got back from southern France (relgious visit to Lourdes) There are very few air conditioners in the France and the entire population in on vacation in August (including apparantly the complete hospital system). No one cares for Grandma in her airless oven/apartment.

By a new law, no one works more than 35 hours a week, more than 44 weeks per year. The hospitals (like every this else in France) are essentially de facto closed.

[maica]

And our fifth-column media will not utter a word of this information. Sounds like every August could be a culling season, if everyone leaves home except the elderly. I wonder what the official life span is for France?

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Perhaps we should start lecturing them on the proper care of the elderly during heat waves.

Here in lovely Michigan (where it is currently 57 degrees and I have use my air conditioner exactly twice this summer) every time it gets into the upper 80's the local stations advise us to go check on our loved ones. There are several charities that will provide you with fans and small a/c units if you are in need.

Perhaps france would care to send a team of experts over to study how we do it?

[friendly]

Life span isn't too shabby in France.

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 78.9 years male: 75.01 years female: 83.01 years (2001 est.)

The longest lived people on earth by far are in Andorra, a tiny country in the mountains to the south of France which I just visited:

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 83.47 years male: 80.57 years female: 86.57 years (2001 est.)

[anglian]

Officials said 85 per cent of all public and private retirement homes in France were permanently understaffed. At holiday times, staffing levels fall even further.
Hospitals were short 50,000 staff a couple of months ago before this heatwave as this was in the news. Many of the victims are believed to have died in old people's homes operating with fewer staff during the August holidays. Many hospitals had closed complete wards for the month and were unable to offer sophisticated, or sometimes even basic, treatment to victims. In a bid to reduce the country’s astonishing spending on medication.In mid-July, Jean-François Mattei announced that 84 drugs would no longer be subsidised by the state. Though the move provoked predictable outrage in the country’s thriving pharmaceutical industry.Last year, the health service overspent its budget by almost E6bn.the drive to cut costs in the French health service, which consumes 9.5% of total French GDP, is certain to continue and just as certain to spark more protests and strikes. The government was especially anxious to limit the numbers of medicines prescribed to those over 70, who take more than 25% of all medicines prescribed in France.Hmmmmm.

[friendly]

The government was especially anxious to limit the numbers of medicines prescribed to those over 70, who take more than 25% of all medicines prescribed in France.

Looks like the bureaucrats' plan worked like a charm: the use of meds will drop in that age group as planned.

[boxerblues]

The only thing I can figure is that no matter how they died it is being counted as due to the heat.

[Kozak]

Over 300 elderly died of heat related causes in the city of Chicago a few years ago. This is not hard to believe at all. The combination of age+ illness+ medication ( many make it tough for your body to adjust to heat stress)+ lack of AC+ lack of acclimitization equals lots of dead seniors.