The French are now our enemies who will not dare use their military power against us. The virus of socialism has rendered them lazy, cowardly, and deceitful. Their younger adults allowed their own parents to die in non-air conditioned hospital rooms while they enjoyed the seashore. Why should they treat us any better? There are admittedly a minority of French people who retain their dignity, but the majority are worthy only of our contempt. Sadly, my harsh rhetoric is entirely reasonable and not in the least bit exaggerated. Some may be taken aback, but they cannot logically take me to task.

In many respects, we are paying an overwhelming price tag for allowing the French and the Old Europeans to parasite off of us for so many years. The United States mostly fought their battles during the Cold War. Parasites always disrespect the hosts they feed upon. It’s as simple as that.

Dan,

Nice to have you back, but France ain't the point. Forget about the French for a second. It's far more important that an increasing number of countries like Argentina feel that they can dictate terms to the IMF, that Turkey feels that it can exercise foolish foreign policy and do so unscathed and rewarded by Washington - partly because of the blunders of State there, and that what were global movements toward trade rule standardization have broken down in equally at fault rich and poor country negotiations, the increasing pitch of the rows of the EU and the USA on trade, and the tensions between trade related manufacturing and hi-tech job losses between the USA and China and India respectively.

The French are just a maricino cherry on top of this massive whipping topped extra large fudge sunday of Trouble with a capital 'T' as in 'Trade'. If the President don't stop drifting aimlessly on the topic and figure out that slap-dash inconsistent bilateral trade deals aren't gonna cut it, then we *are* going to lose the economic initiative to anti-globalists and Protectionists who would if they won political credibility roll back three decades of economic progress.

And I do lay it at the President's door. If he didn't like WTO/GATT then it's up to him to provide a substitute alternative. This isn't a topic that can be half-assed. Despite my criticisms of free trade theology, the simple fact is that managed capitalism is far better than centrally planned economies. And that is what we may end up getting if we can't get out ahead of this issue with both domestic and foreign constituencies. The funny thing about money is that it only works if people believe in it. If people stop believing in the benchmark commonalities that underline the economic system, it'll contract into a lower sophistication/complexity equilibrium state to the disasterours consequences of us all.

Thomson,

Nice to see you completely miss the real point as usual again in your parochial narrow minded bigotry. It ain't the French I'm worried about. Significant fractions in many countries, including SK and Japan are disaffected by our trade policy. Yes, France may be developing as an opportunist but as you point out they have an overwhelming economic and military disadvantage to the USA. They couldn't touch us, whatever our policies, if we had our ducks in a row. This whole mess is being fed by a sleeping pilot at the wheel of the US economic policy, foreign and domestic. And don't trot out that mangy dog of an excuse of recent economic growth - 3-4 years of retrenchment was standard for the past three recessions under any given President and is shaping up to be the span of this one. I didn't blame Bush for the current slow-down before, and I won't give him unearned credit for the pickup now. We're still a few years away from seeing any significant impact from his tax policies. Nonetheless, US economic policy now in both the domestic and foreign spheres are clearly in shambles even setting aside the deficit - even granting that it's good to run a short term deficit in a recession.

So Oldman, what would you suggest needs to be done?

If I may speak for Oldman:

1. Bush needs to revoke as many tariffs as possible, right now and all at once, so that the squealing dies down by Election Day.

2. Around the same time he ought to make a harshly-worded speech that, jobs are picking up now, yay me for borrowing from the future in order to keep the job market stable, humbug, humbug, it is now time to fix that deficit. Send a quiet message to the Republicans that he's got a veto pen; they'll listen.

3. End the marijuana war; it's a big waste of money, is unconstitutional, and is supporting an untaxable underground economy. Put the thugs out of business!

Soon to be delivered to Congress... by flying pig.

Well, you DID ask what Bush SHOULD do, not what he'll actually do...

It doesn't seem to me that the "anti-liberals" can really do much worse than the free-traders.

Since we all agree that the developed countries are never going to drop their agriculture subsidies and special interests tariffs, does it really make sense to force less-developed countries to unilaterally disarm?

eeds to revoke as many tariffs as possible, right now and all at once, so that the squealing dies down by Election Day.”

Absolutely correct. It makes no sense for President Bush to procrastinate. The situation only worsens by the day. Better sooner than later.

“2. Around the same time he ought to make a harshly-worded speech that, jobs are picking up now, yay me for borrowing from the future in order to keep the job market stable, humbug, humbug, it is now time to fix that deficit. Send a quiet message to the Republicans that he's got a veto pen; they'll listen.”

The deficit is a problem, not a crisis. There is no reason to pursue draconian measures. If nothing else, the investment community doesn't share your fears. We must also be cautious not to cause immediate harm to the economy.

“3. End the marijuana war; it's a big waste of money, is unconstitutional, and is supporting an untaxable underground economy. Put the thugs out of business!”

The drug war is pure unadulterated madness. I am hoping that eventually a Republican president pulls a Nixon going to China on this issue. The Democrats, though, are unlikely ever to challenge the status quo. Al Sharpton, for instance, adamantly opposes drug decriminalization and will employ the race card. The Republicans are probably the lesser of evils.

“Thomson,

Nice to see you completely miss the real point as usual again in your parochial narrow minded bigotry.”

Where am I wrong regarding the French and the other Old Europeans? That is the only thing that matters. The evidence of my position seems so overwhelming that I logically feel similar to a Michael Jordan slam dunking over a child in grade school.

I noticed that you also mentioned Japan and South Korea. Many of their anti-American demonstrators are nothing more than spoiled affluent youths who prefer to live an easy life. These are the pampered kids who just want to party all of the time. Once again, we are paying the price of permitting people to parasite off of us. This is especially true of the South Koreans who we literally saved from Communism. Our foreign policy should revolve around this basic theme: “We have helped you without expecting anything directly in return. However, don’t you ever dare to give us the middle finger! Some things are unforgivable---and we will make sure that you pay a severe price.”

I'm going to give old Jacques a plug here: historically, the hiring of agents provocateur has been done behind the scenes, but he's bringing it out into the light of day! Bravo Monsieur Chirac! Don't pay these lunatics under the table, give them a government grant. This is BALLSY!

What the rest of the planet needs to do, quite frankly, is not shake an impotent fist at the frogs (fun as that is) but point out in nauseating detail the utter hypocrisy of the French Government's "anti-globalization" rhetoric. For France is plugged in to every global trade outlet there is; they aren't really any different from the US, except that we don't denounce the process that makes us rich. The other difference, of course, is that we have laws here that prevent our companies (at least in theory, but I think usually in practice as well) from bribing foreign officials to grant us priveleges, while the French treasury has proven willing, time and again, to pick up the tab for such transactions.

So let's not tsk tsk Chirac for being anti-American and anti-"globalization." Let's nail him for being the globalizing hypocrite he really is. Now there's red meat for the blogosphere! Allons-y! To the barricades, mes amis!

Sorry, too much coffee this morning.

P.S. Oldman, what's with the Bronx cabdriver-speak?

Their younger adults allowed their own parents to die in non-air conditioned hospital rooms while they enjoyed the seashore.

At least in France, 2003, those dying of heat-related illnesses got to the hospital. In 1995, Americans allowed their own parents to die at home while they enjoyed the beaches.

Sadly, my harsh rhetoric is entirely reasonable and not in the least bit exaggerated. Some may be taken aback, but they cannot logically take me to task.

Except where you make crashing, exaggerated, bigoted errors of judgement - such as criticizing the French for their behavior during an unprecedented heatwave when in fact it's evident that, judged by the single factor you've come up with, Americans behaved no better.

“Driving around a leafy Fairfield County, Conn., town the other day, I came upon a not uncommon sight. A woman sat behind the wheel of a midnight blue BMW so brand new that the gummy residue of the dealer's sticker was still visible on the window; in the back seat, a pile of Howard Dean yard signs spilled onto the floor.”

http://slate.msn.com/id/2091196/

I just found this most interesting article on Slate.com. Daniel Gross is letting the cat out of the bag. We should never forget that Howard Dean’s supporters are mostly nothing more than rich snobs. They have contempt for America and prefer that we become more like the “enlightened” French. Is there anyone willing to challenge my assertion that Dean supporters have more in common with Jacques Chirac than President Bush?

Facilitating anti-globo meetings doesn't mean signing up to their agenda. Why shouldn't they support such a gathering?

“Edmund Donoghue, Cook County's chief medical examiner, used state-of-the-art criteria to report 465 heat-related deaths for the heat wave week and 521 heat deaths for the month of July. But Mayor Richard M. Daley challenged these findings. "It's hot," the mayor told the media. "But let's not blow it out of proportion. . . . Every day people die of natural causes. You cannot claim that everybody who has died in the last eight or nine days dies of heat. Then everybody in the summer that dies will die of heat." Many local journalists shared Daley's skepticism, and before long the city was mired in a callous debate over whether the so-called heat deaths were—to use the term that recurred at the time—"really real."”

The article says nothing about these Chicagoans being abandoned by their children while the latter went to the beach. Also the death total in France was far higher. Lastly, the people in Chicago did everything they could. The same cannot apparently be said of the French. This is what Virgina Postrel had to say about the tragedy:

“THE DOWNSIDE OF SOLIDARITY

I'm a little late to this subject, but isn't it interesting that the fabled solidarity of French socialism leaves old people alone to die from the heat as the whole country goes on vacation at the same time? Yet that seems to be a consensus view of what happened. From the USA Today report:
BRUSSELS — More than 10,000 people, most elderly and living alone, may have died in France during this month's blistering heat wave, French health officials said Thursday. The revised estimate would make it one of the worst such disasters in modern history....

The estimated death toll has risen steadily in the past week, even as the mercury has dropped. On Aug. 14, the number of dead was estimated to be up to 3,000. Three days later, the figure was put at 5,000. On Thursday, the minister for the elderly, Hubert Falco, said "most probably" 10,000 people died from temperatures as high as 104.

The number of heat-related fatalities is 10 times as large as the record 1,021 recorded in the USA in all of 1995. The figure also dwarfs the losses this summer in Italy, where news reports estimate 2,000 died; Portugal, where an estimated 1,316 died; and Spain, where at least 100 died.

Most of the people who succumbed to the heat were elderly and living alone in apartments that typically do not have air conditioning. Critics turned on the French themselves for going on vacation while leaving aged relatives alone.

"These dramas again shed light on the solitude of many of our aged or handicapped citizens," Chirac said.

At least they have solidarity about when to take vacations--none of that evil American individualism and workaholism.”

http://www.dynamist.com/weblog/archives/000430.html

David Thomson,
I just want to point out that, merely because you don't receive a direct response to your comments, does not mean that people are conceding your points, or admitting that your arguments cannot be rebutted.
In fact, your comments in this thread have been marked by rather hysterical xenophobia, wildly overbroad generalizations, and mean-spirited smears. I have better things to do with my time than respond to such a person, with his ridiculous "Is there anyone willing to challenge me" gauntlet-throwing.
I'll tell you what, though - why don't you provide links which give solid support to your assertions that "The virus of socialism has rendered them lazy, cowardly, and deceitful," and "There are admittedly a minority of French people who retain their dignity, but the majority are worthy only of our contempt," and "We should never forget that Howard Dean’s supporters are mostly nothing more than rich snobs. They have contempt for America and prefer that we become more like the “enlightened” French," then I'll try to give you a response.
Hint: remember, that's SOLID support. Doesn't help you to link to a Slate article saying that some Dean supporters are wealthy. What you need to find is a reputable source that sets out evidence that MOST Dean supporters are "rich snobs" who "have contempt for America." Likewise, I'll need proof that the majority of French citizens are lazy, deceitful, and cowardly, and that socialism has caused them to be so.

The current French government never fails to astound with its unilateratalism and its ideological incoherence. Just as the EU strikes a blow for free trade by winning its WTO suit against the US steel tariffs, there's Chirac and company subsidizing a bunch of folks who support measures like steel tariffs. The typical word for this kind of behavior is "stupid".

One thing I wish the current oh-so-smart critiquers of American policy would realize -- French policy is incredibly counterproductive and could destroy the transnational institutions (the EU and the UN) the French government feels it ought to dominate. In other words, Chirac is the man Dean and Co think Bush is.

This said, Chirac's stupidity does not Bush either a genius or especially right on Iraq, nor does it make the French people "lazy, cowardly, and deceitful". I'm sure, Mr. Thomson, that you did not feel an incredible urge to have a fling with an intern during Clinton's second term, and you did stop drinking an occasional beer when Bush took over.

“I'm sure, Mr. Thomson, that you did not feel an incredible urge to have a fling with an intern during Clinton's second term, and you did stop drinking an occasional beer when Bush took over.”

Alas, Monica Lewinsky did not return my phone calls. I actually am glad that Bush quit drinking. That means there’s more beer left for the rest of us.

“I'll tell you what, though - why don't you provide links which give solid support to your assertions that "The virus of socialism has rendered them lazy, cowardly, and deceitful,"”

OK, how ‘s this? It deals with France and the other Old European nations:

“The EU poll, parts of which were leaked last week, found 59 percent of EU citizens said "yes" when asked if Israel posed "a threat to peace in the world."”

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/356769.html

"“I'll tell you what, though - why don't you provide links which give solid support to your assertions that "The virus of socialism has rendered them lazy, cowardly, and deceitful,"”

Why listen to me? Let a real Frenchman inform you of his own country's moral and intellectual disintegration. I highly recommend that everybody obtain a copy of Jean Francois Revel’s superb “Anti-Americanism”:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1893554856/ref=pd_rhf_p_2/103-9831673-7909449?v=glance&s=books&n=283155&no=*

Revel is outnumbered by the majority of his fellow French citizens. Thankfully, though, a few are trying to save this nation from self inflicted destruction.

David:

Contrast again between America:
Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago: "Yet one kind of weather-related catastrophe -- a deadly wave of heat and humidity -- seems not to get nearly the notice given the others, despite the fact that it kills more than all the other kinds combined. Why heat waves are such a quiet menace and how social conditions contributed to more than 700 deaths during a week-long wave of unprecedented heat and humidity in Chicago in 1995 are the focus of Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago, written by sociologist Eric Klinenberg. The term "social isolation" is usually applied to those living in remote locations, but Klinenberg demonstrates that this unfortunate condition also applies to thousands of people (primarily senior citizens) in our nation's largest cities. And so it was in 1995. Thousands of Chicago's elderly lived alone (many of them in or near poverty), isolated in many ways and by many factors. When the record-breaking heat and humidity arrived and stayed, these men and women started dying, one at a time and quietly, behind closed, locked doors. The immediate reasons were apparent. Many seniors did not have air conditioning in their houses or apartments. Of those who did have air conditioning, many chose not to use it, fearing utility bills that they could not afford to pay. Fear of crime kept others from leaving their homes to use free neighborhood "cooling centers." Still other elderly Chicagoans knew, from a physiological standpoint, that they were hot but were simply unaware that they were in danger. Klinenberg shows in detail how the tragedy was compounded by many factors and interests, including a public health and medical establishment that did not anticipate the magnitude of the looming danger and local news media that treated the severe heat and humidity as little more than a novel topic for lighthearted feature stories. The author also examines key sociological factors relating to the elderly, including the perils of "aging in place" while the surrounding environment changes; the idealization and valuing of personal independence among seniors; and differences between men and women in the establishment of friendships and other interpersonal connections. Heat Wave is a fascinating book, in part because the social conditions that led to Chicago's 1995 tragedy still exist, for the most part, throughout our nation and its aging population. People are still at risk."

and France:

"We really do feel quite desperate," said Katia Guiermet, an emergency services nurse. "We don't feel incompetent, but it's really difficult for people suffering from heat stroke when you don't have any ice.

"It's very difficult to tell people who brought their grandmothers to hospital to tell them they had died, and of course, people couldn't understand because they often feel the hospital can sort all problems out. But that hasn't been the case."

She said the medical team had worked eight days without respite and was exhausted.

French officials blame the high death toll in part on the length of the heat wave and the fact that Parisian buildings typically lack air conditioning.

In France, an unusually long heat wave meant hospitals were overloaded with elderly people dying of heatstroke.

In America, in a heatwave lasting only a week, the elderly people didn't even get to the hospital: they "died quietly behind closed doors".

I assume that you won't comprehend it, but I assure you other regular readers of this blog will: my point is not to "prove" that America is worse than France, but to have fun with you trying to whip up xenophobia over the effects of a heatwave, when all the evidence is that France, with its health system that ranks first in the world, coped far better than the US's greatly inferior medical system, where hundreds of people in a single city died at home, alone.

I looked at the Amazon review of the book by Mr. Revel. Assuming they're all correct and well-founded, it appears that Revel has serious grounds for concern. It seems certain people in France - mostly political elites - have been saying things that are more or less along the lines of "The virus of capitalism has rendered Americans lazy, cowardly, and deceitful," and "There are admittedly a minority of American people who retain their dignity, but the majority are worthy only of our contempt." Quite rightly, Revel's book is an attack on perverse, ideologically based mischaracterizations of that nature. I'm confident Revel would agree with me that anyone who would make such sweeping, unfounded, blanket dismissals of an entire country is very badly misguided.

Calling France out on this is easy because they enjoy throwing it in our face, or at least it appears the current leadership there does. They make a living as the un-Cola, and god bless em for it.

That's "reviews", plural.

Jesugislac, if those people died at home, then none bothered to go to the hospital. In other words, they didn't interact with the health care system. Sorry. You can't blame it on the US health care system.

You know, it is possible to criticize a government without libeling a whole nation, Mr Thomson. See

http://www.nationalreview.com/dreher/dreher031103.asp

And by the way, are you saying the average Frenchman/woman is cowardly and deceitful? How do you know? Have you been swindled in business by a Pierre? Did a Marie two-time you, then leave you weeping at the altar? Give us an example of your average confrontation with the average frenchman, so we can discover how your "harsh rhetoric is entirely reasonable and not in the least bit exaggerated". (If you can get that far, maybe you can show how it is that Socialism -- rather than too much red wine and good sauces -- got them that way.)

I am going to let "lazy" slide, since that is a marginally less insulting charge, and I don't feel like a debate over the French 35 hour week.

Jesugislac, if those people died at home, then none bothered to go to the hospital. In other words, they didn't interact with the health care system. Sorry. You can't blame it on the US health care system.

Actually, I can - if the reason they didn't go into hospital is because they couldn't afford to go, or there was no hospital near enough. Some who called for help ended up getting shuttled around on ambulances, and dying there and then. But I advise you to read the book: it will give you a far better picture of what went horrifically wrong in America 8 years ago than one-off quotes could possibly do.

If they're elderly, they can afford to go to the hospital because it's covered by Medicare. If they're in a city, then there most probably is a hospital nearby. The elderly tend to have to go the doctor often. What did they usually do?

Perhaps the meeting is going to focus on an "'anti-liberal' development model" because the current model has failed to fulfill the liberal project?

Others have pointed out the hypocrisy of agriculture subsidies, etc.

What about liberal freedom of movement? The EU states have embraced this within their limited sphere, but the US (especially post-9/11) has been far more concerned with tightened borders.

How can liberals desire mobile capital without mobile labor?

There's also the question of global governance, which the anti-globalization forces have long sought. Liberalism isn't libertarian and the protesters make solid points about environmental standards, labor rights, etc.

I would argue that we should worry about "anti-liberal" forces once the state members of the WTO take liberalism much more seriously.

Allowing mobile capital and goods is NOT especially liberal when it merely takes advantage of limited labor mobility and weak goverance.

"I'm confident Revel would agree with me that anyone who would make such sweeping, unfounded, blanket dismissals of an entire country is very badly misguided."

Excuse me, when did I ever condemn "an entire nation?" It is fair, however, to accuse me of blasting the majority of the French and the Old Europeans. I will readily accept responsibility for that assertion. Why the silence about the poll showing that "..found 59 percent of EU citizens said "yes" when asked if Israel posed "a threat to peace in the world? I contend that this poll alone proves my point. Also, why did the French government play Colin Powell for a sucker? Is anybody truly attempting to argue that France is not an enemy of the United States? Me thinks that some folks are engaging in knee jerk political correctness because France is supposedly an “enlightened” country. A more perceived conservative nation wouldn’t be cut such slack.

And yes, the thirty five hour work week amply proves the laziness of the French. That’s just common sense. Are you going to blame that on the tooth fairy? Did somebody hold a gun to their heads? I don’t think so.

“What about liberal freedom of movement? The EU states have embraced this within their limited sphere, but the US (especially post-9/11) has been far more concerned with tightened borders.”

This analogy leaves something to be desired. Instead, one must concede that the United States allows total movement of its citizens between the fifty states!

I should also add another point regarding my previous post: the United States is unofficially engaging in a bloodless war with the French and the other Old Europeans. It's time that some people cease deluding themselves. We are at a crossroads with our former allies.

David, at November 14, 2003 03:46 PM, you asked: Excuse me, when did I ever condemn "an entire nation?"

I have to tell you this: someone else has been posting on this thread using your name.

David Thomson posted at November 13, 2003 06:39 PM: The French are now our enemies who will not dare use their military power against us. The virus of socialism has rendered them lazy, cowardly, and deceitful. Their younger adults allowed their own parents to die in non-air conditioned hospital rooms while they enjoyed the seashore. Why should they treat us any better?

Since you claim you never "blasted an entire nation" there is obviously another David Thomson posting on this thread. I think the two of you should get together and decide what usernames you're going to use: it's too confusing for the rest of us.

Mr Thomson:

When you call "the French" parasites and "cowardly and deceitful", you seem to be condemning an entire nation. Substitute the term "black people" or "mexican" for french, and you get the full flavor of what you are doing.

Does a belief that Israel is a threat to world peace make you a parasite and a coward and deceitful? Not even Sharon would agree with that statement. I fear you conflate "mistaken" with "rotten SOB, spawn of Satan, parasite, etc".

So. Consider yourself logically taken to task.

"Does a belief that Israel is a threat to world peace make you a parasite and a coward and deceitful?"

Yup, it most certainly does! Do you really disagree?

“Since you claim you never "blasted an entire nation" there is obviously another David Thomson posting on this thread. I think the two of you should get together and decide what usernames you're going to use: it's too confusing for the rest of us.”

How much more petty can you get? One is allowed to refer to a nation or group in a general sense. And yes, I adamantly believe that I’m honestly describing the majority of the French. This is especially true for those in political power. They are now our unofficial enemies. Also, I don’t think very much of my German ancestors. Do you want to hear my opinion of them and their eagerness to start two world wars? I’m not at all kind to the land of my great grandparents. To be blunt, we Americans should be glad that we left the old nations behind.

How much more petty can you get?

I don't know: I'm watching you to find out.

One is allowed to refer to a nation or group in a general sense.

Except that you claimed you didn't. ;-) Just noting where you lie and contradict yourself.

And yes, I adamantly believe that I’m honestly describing the majority of the French. This is especially true for those in political power. They are now our unofficial enemies.

Right, so I just imagined that they sent French troops to join the international peacekeeping force in Kabul? God, you xenophobes have to keep yourself so deliberately ignorant of the world about you! Listen and learn: the French have over two centuries of alliance with the US. At the moment, the US is suffering under a petty-minded, ignorant, xenophobic neocon administration that thinks it can do without all former allies, but they won't last long.

Now I think you're way off now, Jesurgislac. What were you just lecturing about generalizing? On Bush's 'unilateralism'.

Why the silence about the poll showing that "..found 59 percent of EU citizens said "yes" when asked if Israel posed "a threat to peace in the world? I contend that this poll alone proves my point.
So by your own logic the following poll results (from memory) "prove" my point Americans (thus including you) are idiots? WMD found (70%), Saddam involved in 9-11 (60%).

Thanks for providing another data point in establishing that the correlation between incoherence, ignorance and xenophobia is not spurious.

On Saddam and 911...

You know, the Bush administration could have dealt anti-globalization protesters a body blow by lining up with the group of farm exporting nations seeking cuts in the farm subsidies developed nations use to subsidize their rural areas. There aren't many international undertakings more politically significant to a French government than the Common Agricultural Policy, and for many reasons one would think that an American administration would be seeking to undermine the CAP at every opportunity.

One would be wrong. The Bush administration and its defenders are preoccupied with one thing above all others, winning reelection. They think ladling out billions to already wealthy farmers and keeping the trade issue quiet makes reelection more likely. And so the one thing that could give us some bargaining chips with the French -- threatening to campaign against the subsidies and trade protections that keep French farmers happy and off the streets, even at the cost of reducing American farm subsidies -- is something the administration absolutely will not do. We get no credit for this in Paris, and are left to fume impotently about Chirac authorizing subsidies to anti-globalization protesters.

But Florida sugar growers and Texas cotton farmers will vote for Bush which makes it OK!

Mr. Linden,

Sorry, had some things come up - family, friends, and a Dean rally.

Let's face it. No nation on earth will unilaterally or even multilaterally reduce all trade barriers to zero. Every nation has a collection of various industries which for cultural and security reasons it will want to protect.

Having accepted that, let us then proceed to openly negotiate so that we can protect a certain critical fraction of various domestic markets, while opening up a significant fraction of foreign markets while guarateeing them a certain critical threshold of their own markets.

Let us move away from the theology of free-trade absolutism or nationlist protectionism. Let us instead openly come to agreements about how much it is important for us to keep sourced domestically in each market, and then horse trade for what we want in other markets.

Among the things on the table could be realistic caps on farm subsidies so that they really help - and only help - the small farmer. We could create a market-participation credit-trading system, where people who wanted to sell extra-large amounts of commodities could do so, with the money going to a development pool for the domestic industry. Everything should be on the table in a multi-lateral enviroment.

Mr. Ross,

Some interesting suggestions. As far as the oldman is concerned, he's never really bought into the theory of marijuana as a gateway-drug to harder drugs. So by all means, quietly decriminalize marijuana. However, having had friends fall to the ravages of hard drugs - most of them highly processed or lab creations - the oldman can tell you that the legalization of hard drugs ala certain European states is an intolerable scourge. The drug issue as a social problem will solve itself when Americans reinvent their own culture and take it back from Madison-Ave pop culture mavens. When people feel their lives have meaning, and they have rich relationships with other people, there will be no real need for large scale anti-drug wars.

Ms. Kelli,

The oldman isn't from the Bronx, but he is a poly-accent and a auto-linguist - one who learns languages rapidly from immersion without lessons. Having a few friends from the Bronx, a few hours in their company is sufficient for the oldman to revert unconsciously to Cabbie-speak. The same thing will happen to me if a bunch of WASP east-coast elite friends drop by too for an evening at the orchestra. A wide social acquaintanceship is part of the spice of life.

Mr. Thomson,

Your remarks are uncalled for. You don't like the Germany of the past, and you have no more taste for the present one. You write off France wholesale - but this misses the point. You also condemn the Japanese and South Koreans for being 'parasites'.

If your single measure of moral outrage is anti-semiticism then indeed you might be correct in assailing Europe. As Time reports in Italy, there is a disturbing anti-semetic cultural sentiment. However this hardly applies to all French, or somehow negates the worthiness of their criticisms, or somehow makes them particularly morally objectionable as compared to the Eurasian republics that the US is clearly in bed with despite their corruption, anti-democratic moves, and human rights violations.

Indeed, it is *you* who are coming off as an isolationist nutcase whose only significant difference between yourself and Lindburgh seems to be that you are against anti-semeticism and that you aren't an apologist for Hitler. Is there anybody whom you won't tar with the broad brush of your ignorant bigotry?

I'm sorry but the idea that no European countries are "in bed with" any of the Middle Eastern dictators is laughable. The one thing that stymies me about criticism I hear from Europeans is the idea that only the US government is friends with tyrants, never their governments.

Actually, I can - if the reason they didn't go into hospital is because they couldn't afford to go, or there was no hospital near enough. Some who called for help ended up getting shuttled around on ambulances, and dying there and then.

What a load of unsupported drivel. It is illegal for any hospital to turn away an emergency patient in the US. Nobody dies while being shuttled around in ambulances because they are poor. Every single person in the US is entitled to emergency treatment without even being asked if they can pay. The poor elderly are covered by at least two government programs - Medicare and Medicaid - and so don't need to worry about ER bills.

"In 1995, Americans allowed their own parents to die at home while they enjoyed the beaches."

This is such a load of crap, but typical of Jesurgislac's rhetoric - he does the same on Tacitus's blog.

The elderly people who died in Chicago mostly did not have relatives, and if they did, they weren't at the beach - it costs a lot of money to get from Chicago to a beach, and that's not where Chicagoans go. Most of these old people who died were poor, had poor children, and they would not be able to afford a week in a beach resort.
In the States, you have to be really poor to not afford an A/C or to pay the electric bill. In France, they just don't believe in A/C. And many of the children of those who died were at the beach.

Jesurgislac is just blowing it out his nose and hoping no one calls him on it.

First Post, although I feel intellectualy inferior I will give my argument a shot.

First, as a Chicagoan I can attest to the heatwave of 1995. I was not as lucky as those having resources affording them time to beach their summer days. Doing my daily "defend capitalism" routine I was packing produce at the good ole boy white male owned local grocer learning north african customs from my Morrocan co-worker. Blessed with a cooler loaded with open strawberry boxes we fought over duties to stock the cooler with a good old game of broomstick hockey.

What struck me about my Morrocan friend was how little he knew of the legal recourse afforded to him as an American Citizen. He was not aware that emergency medical practice is awarded to all who seek walk in to the ER. Upon explaining what my 16 year old mind understood about ER coverage he immediately took his son in for treatment of a common cold that grew to be uncommonly unshakeable.

Chicago itself is city of United Nations. We have everything from a Bali district to little Italy to eastern European bakeries. What's obvious is the signifigant number of people that live and work in Chicago that lack legal residence. Now I have not read Mr. Klineberg's book, but if transportation was a problem for some deaths it doesn't surprise me at all.

Chicago is like many big cities that has a polarizing political culture that influences everything from medicare to education to when police actually crackdown on gangs. As home to the Grand Imperial Lizard, Jesse Jackson, just about every issue here is classified by race and most often separated as far as possible from practical, affordable means. Installing something as simple as a stop sign requires a task force to make sure an Irish contractor, hires a Polish worker, to be supervised by a Black manager and coordinated by a Hispanic woman. It would be frankly benign of me to say that Chicago solutions to common problems actually work.

700+ heatwave deaths is a terrible loss for any city, but another loss in the city is between 300 to 400 lives every year as a result of murders against a population disarmed by the gun lobby. My favorite reaction is using my FOID(Firearms Ownership ID) to enter city municipal buildings. Sneers and off color comments really make my heart warm at the sights and sounds of the Socialist establishment that runs this city. I feel their pain.

Really, what these comments look like to me is more one-up-manship. "France sucks. Bush sucks. You suck. No you. ". Both arguments can be summarized in terms of denial of reason. Surely for a study to take place one must have accurate data to analyze. Perhaps a few media reports is considered data to Joe, but not to Jacques.

Dean sucks.
35 hour work week sucks.
Jacques Chirac is an honest man only in the company of oil captains.
Anti-liberal movements are clearly termed incorrectly, just as declaring the Bush Doctrine Neo-Conservative.

Feel free to whisk me into making this my one and only post.

Cheers.

Has anyone considered the possibility that French didn't have air conditioning because they didn't need it until this summer?

I'm from Canada, and highs generally tend to be in the low 80s. When, last year, I visited the United States, I was astounded by the heat, regularly in the 100s. If I hadn't been staying with friends who were accustomed to the climate, I could easily have miscalculated and suffered heatstroke--I'd planned to go biking for 30 kilometers with maybe a bottle of water strapped to my bike, for example. Fortunately, Tom decided that it wasn't a good idea to risk killing the visiting Canadian.

The heat wave in France was of unprecedented scope in French--and, indeed, European--history. The French--like other Europeans--were completely unprepared for the heat wave and its implications. If Europe is anything like Canada, air conditioning is rarely installed in homes simply because there's rarely (unlike in much of the United States) a need for it in summer.

Naturally, because of this unpreparedness they suffered horribly. They know better now.

If, Mr. Thomson, you continue to find it a sign of moral weakness that the French were completely unprepared for an unexpected heat wave and its implications because they never had to deal with the like before, fine. Just don't expect anyone to take you and your opinions seriously.

Randy McDonald: While air conditioning in the Canadian home is evidently a rarity, equipment within a hospital is most likely to require air conditioning to maintain a fixed temperature. I'm going to guess that any modern hospital has not only a need but probably mandated ordinances on public health facilities installing temperature controls that would obviously include air conditioning.

I'm not going to state this as fact for reasons that the Euro-Centric thinking may tend to defer to the combination of natural air temperatures and how to use them to control the temperatures inside various health facilities. Perhaps there is some sort of airflow designed to draw in the cool air from outside in, but even then I would have to ignore the "brilliance" of European design to factor all variables to lead to the utmost in design perfection.

Do the Germans build the French health facilities?

The French helping to bankroll a anti-globo gathering could be seen as simply offering an incentive to locate the meeting in Paris, as opposed to Amsterdam, or elsewhere. I'm sure 50,000 people provide a little boost to the city's industries, and with those famous French taxes on hotel, transportation and food/drink, I'm sure the govt. recouped a bit in tax revenues.

I do agree it strikes as a little odd that the govt. would put up cash for such an event. But, do we know that the French govt. doesn't regularly do that for, say, international dog shows or the Assoc. of Applied Hairdressing, or even the annual Greedy Capitalist Conspiracy Cabal and Jamboree?

If, Chirac gave statements endorsing the anti-globo policies that would be different. And, actually, it wouldn't surprise me since I have heard protectionist and populist pandering from politicians everywhere. And the EU are pretty bad about it - their agricultural subsides are higher than ours by percentage, but less in total amount. So, if Chirac endorsed their platform, he'd sound a little like some of the Democratic candidates, or look like the actions of our Republican heroes.

But really, this was a $600,000(US) outlay by the French govt. Small potatoes. It really seems like more of an excuse to sneer at the French, and the commentors here obliged. One thing that blogs have done, for me, is erode the high esteem that I held for academics. On the left and the right, they're just as silly and petty as the rest of us, me included.

While air conditioning in the Canadian home is evidently a rarity, equipment within a hospital is most likely to require air conditioning to maintain a fixed temperature. I'm going to guess that any modern hospital has not only a need but probably mandated ordinances on public health facilities installing temperature controls that would obviously include air conditioning.

Four points:

1. Do you know that for certain? It's conceivable, in climates where cold is more of a presence than hot, then heating nor cooling could be seen as the major problem by shortsighted designers.

2. How many French died in hospitals, as opposed to the numbers who didn't die in hospitals?

3. How many people elsewhere in Europe--in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Britain, et cetera--died in the heat wave?

4. Have, or have not, comparable numbers died in the United States in similar heat waves?

To quote Iberian Notes, "[h]undred-degree heat in Paris is something they are not prepared for, for good reason, whether they're Socialist or not. One spends one's insurance money (=natural disaster budget) on the disasters that are likely to happen, not on the ones that are unlikely. Like a six-week ninety-five F heat wave at forty-nine degrees north latitude."

How sad that they felt it was fine to spend $600,00 on anti-globos when this money could have gone to hire more nurses to care for the elderly as well as air conditioners to cool them.

Also, isn't France incredibly hot in August? Isn't this why everyone goes to the beach?

I love France.

Dear all,

This is attempting to rationalize or condemn the French actions during the heat wave is so much rearranging the deck chairs while the Titanic takes on water. While we argue whether or not France is very odious or merely slightly fishy, events transpire which endanger the national security of the USA.

Even now, leaks are coming out that Bush will announce that there will be a handover to international forces with the US accepting internation control of US troops. Even though I argued for attempting to get help from allies, it was always in the frame of mind that a US Supreme Commander would be in charge. This is too much, too far, and the naivete of those who would cut and run or naive internationalists will endanger us all.

If true, combined with the speeded-up handover and a troop draw-down it will represent a defacto US abandonment of Iraq and the greatest US military defeat since Vietnam. Beirut was a day in the park compared to this. This is a complete disaster, and motivated by transparently political electoral agendas.

If true, it will mean that not only did we not mean it about WMD proliferation, and not only did we not mean it about Iraqi democracy, but it will mean that all those apologists for the Bush admin's actions will be betrayed - for they got us into this mess, and now they mean to save their own asses even if it burns us all. No American should accept this. 75% of the people according to the polls are ready to stick this one out. This time it is not domestic public opinion or our soldiers that cannot sustain lossess, but the wilting lillies and wimpy bullies of those in power. If we walk away from this fight with our tail tucked between our legs like this, Osama Bin Ladin will become a living nightmare for a generation. At least. We have to stop this!!! We all need to pull together, liberal, neocon, or classic conservative. This is something that no American should accept! What happened to these colors don't run?

What is wrong with the 35-hour work week? If 'family-values' conservatives would look beyond the socialist connotation, they would see it as an excellent opportunity to have families spend more time with their kids. Could spell the end for the latchkey menace...

"3. How many people elsewhere in Europe--in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Britain, et cetera--died in the heat wave?"

Far fewer than in France.

4. Have, or have not, comparable numbers died in the United States in similar heat waves?"

The URL you quote from was dated from the middle of the heat wave. The final count of French deaths was 15,000. not 3000. I have more links here from a month later.

Also, the guy you quote from wants to bolster his claim by saying that it was over 100 F. in Dallas for over a month. I lived in Dallas 18 yrs and Austin 10 yrs. That's normal for July and August in Central Texas - usually heat waves kill in big cities which aren't used to temp spikes, among elderly people who are afraid to open a window or leave their stuffy apartments because of crime, and who are afraid to turn on the AC because they can't pay the electric bill.

As for the US losing 10k people in a heat wave - I'd like to see some corroboration.

Jumping Jehosophat!

This focusing on France misses the point. If you want to start bashing foreigners who turn on the US because of our policies - let's start with some closer to the vest: Such as pro-Blairite Britons.

Things are bad, diplomatically and militarily, to such an extent as has not been seen in many a year.

We haven't just lost France, we've lost Britain. Canada may not be too far behind. Let's wake up to reality, this is brutal stuff here. Things can't go on this way going on and on, or else everything is gonna fall apart. That may be further down the road, but let's remember that we never thought we've have gotten this far in the first place!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1086792,00.html

"On the eve of Mr Bush's state visit to Britain, Mr Byers, an arch-Blairite, will set out proposals to help Democrats in key swing states if the White House refuses to abandon punitive trade sanctions against the UK.

Acting with the tacit approval of Blair supporters, who were enraged when Mr Bush imposed tariffs on imports of British steel to shore up his vote, the former trade and industry secretary will call for sanctions to be imposed on four key marginal states which the president will need to win.

The states - and the exports to be targeted - are:

· Florida and its citrus products. The state was the scene of the "hanging chad" saga in the 2000 presidential election, after Mr Bush and Al Gore virtually tied there;
· Wisconsin and its apples and paper. Mr Gore won this state by a tiny margin;
· Tennessee and its chemicals. Mr Bush scored a narrow victory in Mr Gore's home state;
· Iowa and its agricultural equipment. This state will play a key role when the nominations battle starts in January."

What is wrong with the 35-hour work week?

Nothing at all, if both parties agree to it voluntarily. Having it jammed down your throat by government fiat is like attaching a giant iron ball to the ankle of the economy, not to mention to the ankly of any enterprising individuals who might want to work harder, earn more, etc.

Lots of things that are perfectly fine on a voluntary basis are abominations when mandated by the state. Why is that so hard to understand?

Lots of things that are perfectly fine on a voluntary basis are abominations when mandated by the state. Why is that so hard to understand?

As soon as you have an employers' market (like now), where is the incentive to pay a living wage, provide healthcare, pension options, family leeway? It's a race to the bottom for employees.

As for the 35-hour work week, let's institute it! Think of the boon for families, retailers (who should be more frugal with their open hours anyway), lazy French immigrants, etc. But how do we make it the norm without any legal support?

As a french,I can say you , death rates are normal on 12 months.
Death rates in September and October are much lower than 2002 making 2003 +/-the same as 2002

Vichy.

The answer is the same now as it was then. Remove the totolitarians from the scene and Vichy will die. It is not self supporting.

Once the totolitarians are gone every Frenchman will have been an anti-fascist.

Chris,

You are so correct. It is impossible to have utopia without putting a (government) gun to people's heads.

Which is why the left never was liberal.

Hayek in 1944 showed why the left must be fascist. It's program will not be adopted voluntarily.

The left must love government. Otherwise it's grand vision of how men ought to live cannot come to pass.

Scratch a lefty and you uncover the hidden fascist.

Thank you Chris for the confirmation.

Liberty or wage and price controls. Which has more value?

Like Tom Paine I choose Liberty.

Yehudit:

"3. How many people elsewhere in Europe--in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Britain, et cetera--died in the heat wave?"

Far fewer than in France.

Note that the Mediterranean countries are places which have, traditionally, much warmer climates that France. They were able to cope.

4. Have, or have not, comparable numbers died in the United States in similar heat waves?"

The URL you quote from was dated from the middle of the heat wave. The final count of French deaths was 15,000. not 3000. I have more links here from a month later.

Right. I linked to that in order to demonstrate the large numbers of people who died in the United States, presumably when it was equally unprepared for things of this like.

Also, the guy you quote from wants to bolster his claim by saying that it was over 100 F. in Dallas for over a month. I lived in Dallas 18 yrs and Austin 10 yrs. That's normal for July and August in Central Texas - usually heat waves kill in big cities which aren't used to temp spikes, among elderly people who are afraid to open a window or leave their stuffy apartments because of crime, and who are afraid to turn on the AC because they can't pay the electric bill.

Right. In central Texas, you're accustomed to that degree of heat, you have coping strategies, and you have reasons why people wouldn't act on these coping strategies.

Is it so unbelievable that people who aren't accustomed to that degree of heat might have no idea about these coping strategies?

When I visited Virginia last year, I knew that it was hot, yes, but I had no idea how Virginians coped with the heat. Had I decided to go on a nice long biking trek, I easily could have injured myself.

And I'm a reasonably fit guy in my early 20s. Imagine what senior citizens might think?

As for the US losing 10k people in a heat wave - I'd like to see some corroboration.

I provided one link to that effect. You want another?

Oldman,

Of course anti-semitism did not include the whole polpulation of Germany in the 30s & 40s. Just enough for the murder of millions.

How much support is required to repeat the exercise? Not much if the vast majority is indifferent or believes like many Germans did: "it can't happen here".

M. Simon, I'll ignore the irony of current conservatives preaching liberty when the government they have long craved institutes such wonders as the Patriot Act and panders to groups that want to dictate how we live and who we live with. Not sure that was part of Paine's vision.

But I stand by my question (which you for some reason took as an attack or an excuse to discredit left-wing thought)--how would we make a 35-hour work week, assuming the benefits, part of our culture?

M. Simon, and yes, I've heard fascism as a label for Roosevelt's New Deal (state intervention in the economy), just as I have for George W. Bush (control by corporation with a touch of xenophobic jingoism). In both cases, I'd point out that those 'regimes' have existed within the bounds of democratic institutions, however prone to corruption. But I'd warn that you can't label everything 'Fascist' that may come under the broad definition of fascism with the purpose of smearing it with the narrow connotation, unless your motivation is propaganda.

In this day and age, calling people fascists and anti-semites is a common resort of fascists and anti-semites.