Paris is burning, yet again.

[Jeff Dutton]

There has GOT to be a way to blame W for this!

[OperaTenor]

Originally posted by barfle:
Haggis, have you noticed that you never hear of French whisky? How famous is French ice cream?

Just as famous as Iraqi whiskey and ice cream.

[piqaboo]

Yummmmmmm French Vanilla!
(and those delicious freedom fries).

[shostakovich]

"There has GOT to be a way to blame W for this!"
----------------------------------------------------------

Jeff, you took the words out of my keyboard.

Shos

[Haggis@wk]

...and I STILL won't eat french toast!!

Iraqi whiskey....ack! there's an image! Almost as bad as Suntory whiskey

[DavidS]

Do you eat french fries?
And do you mind listening to the french horn?

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

We usually just call them "fries". And my daughters insist that it's a "horn". My younger daughter has a "concert horn" and a "marching horn". The concert horn is the curly one that you think of when you hear "french horn", and the marching horn looks like an overgrown trumpet.

French toast still works for me. First you drown it, then you frizzle it, then you stab it and munch it up.

The French are odd. I haven't got them figured out. Flashes of genius, swirls of competence, nearly lost in a great morass of arrogant self-indulgence.

Edited to adjust spelling. Hope I found all the disasters

<small>[ 04-07-2006, 11:49 AM: Message edited by: Selma in Sandy Eggo ]</small>

[Marye]

Ah... it is because they are odd, as you say Selma, that I like the French. I like Americans and you can bet they look odd and arrogant to me from where I sit.

I adore Paris for its art, museums, wine, cheese, perfumes, style and glorious food. I don't despise its people. I will go back for its art again in my lifetime.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Italians do art, wine, cheese, style, and food better than the French. I'll grant the French primacy on perfume and museums. Possibly architecture. They're decent at medicine and the sciences, in general. They do have their flashes of genius.

Every time I get to thinking the French are OK, though, they set something on fire. And then I remember that they like Jerry Lewis's idea of comedy, and I again reflect that I do not understand the French.

<small>[ 04-07-2006, 02:05 PM: Message edited by: Selma in Sandy Eggo ]</small>

[OperaTenor]

Originally posted by Marye:
I like Americans and you can bet they look odd and arrogant to me from where I sit.

Yes, we Americans shouldn't throw stones, especially these days. I'd say it's pretty arrongant to invade another sovereign nation that's never attacked us, and was never going to be in a position to.

I've not yet been to France. I very much would like to see the art and drink the wine, but it's not near the top of my list.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Originally posted by OperaTenor:
I very much would like to see the art and drink the wine, but it's not near the top of my list.

Of course not. There's no gelato.

It looks like lighting fires works as a political ploy. The "new job" law seems to have been scuttled. We'll have to see what's next.

[DavidS]

Yes, Selma, it's sad to see that it took bloody riots to make the French government back down.
I shudder to think of this catching on and becoming a popular tool in other supposedly democratic countries.

[Shapley]

David,

The French have a history of surrendering in the face of violence. Nothing new. At least the students seem to have learned something in their History classes.

V/R
Shapley

[trombonepirate]

Originally posted by Selma in Sandy Eggo:

Every time I get to thinking the French are OK, though, they set something on fire. And then I remember that they like Jerry Lewis's idea of comedy, and I again reflect that I do not understand the French.

I'd have to agree that I do not understand the French at all. Why couldn't they be this insistent about important things like, oh I don't know, the Nazis leaving their country? But if I did understand the French maybe I wouldn't find Weird Al's "Genius in France" song so funny.
TBP

[Shapley]

As long as they've got the government on the ropes...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,191312,00.html

Looks like appeasement as policy fails once again.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Students now want the government to scrap the entire law — not just the article that would have created the youth jobs contract.

"We want to see how we can take advantage of this power struggle that is now in our favor to garner new victories," Bruno Julliard, head of the UNEF student association, told AP Television News.

That boy, God help the French, is already into politics and has learned that violence and insurrection work.

[Shapley]

France Moves To Stop Bus Attacks

It appears their recognizing the anniversary of last year's riots... by rioting. Perhaps next year they'll find a different way of marking the day, or perhaps France could just set aside one day each year for burning and looting....

[GreatCarouser]

The long term problem with this mess as I see it will be the resurrection of Xenophobic Racism in much of Europe. Right wing extremist parties are gaining ground in Scandinavia, Germany, Britain, and France. It won't surprise me to see it happen here either.

[Haggis@wk]

Brussels Journal

” Most popular name for newborn boys in Brussels, the “capital of Europe,” in 2005: Mohamed, followed by Adam, Ayoub, Rayan and Mehdi.”

[Shapley]

The more things change...

Rioting continues to be the national sport of France. I suppose it will be an Olympic event given enough time.