But does it make your penis bigger?
:dubious:
…Yeah France.
It gives me a hard-on which is significantly better than a limp french weenie anyday. :wally
Who is starting?
Now, whilst I hold no truck with Greenpeace at all, I do remember an act of French terrorism in Auckland (New Zealand) harbour - a bombing to be exact.
http://www.aucklandcitypolice.govt.nz/History/warrior.htm
Personally, I am wondering what it is they have to hide.
A marginally more articulate form of “I know you are, but what am I?” Way to stretch those brain muscles, Latro.
Jeff
God forbid that I ever be accused of defending the French, but I have to give them a virtual pat on the back for that one.
It’s not the French per se, it’s Chirac and his cronies. If France were to elect a less-assholey leader next time around, I think fences will be mended and the bovine-blood clarified merlots will flow once again.
Its a con job. The Bushistas and thier minions are trying to present the pciture that the “world community” is entirely behind them, but the French are “spoilers”, stubbornly refusing to allow the will of the people to be expressed. It is utter rot, of course. Of all the nations in our alleged “coalition of the willing”, in our crusa…program to promote democracy, how many have a majority of thier population in favor of this war? Certainly not Turkey.
Does anyone here wish to suggest that the majority of the French people are eager to rush to war, but the French government is acting contrary to thier wishes? Whereas Turkey is somewhere about 90% opposed, so we have to bribe thier government to ignore democratic principles which we allege we are championing. And the French are hypocrites?
The hope is to piss off the average American with reverse psych: the French won’t let us go to war? Well, screw them, lets go, that’ll show 'em.
Finally, France is the home of all worthy culture. Except for the Impressionists. Monet is the root of all evil.
It was Chirac or Le Pen. I wonder what would happen if Le Pen had won.
Le Pen would barely qualify as a ‘Moderate Democrat’ over here.
Unless there is something about the National Front that I am missing, Le Pen couldn’t have been worse then Chirac.
Few, if any, hate France because the French people are opposed. Germany is even more opposed to war, and you rarely hear any anti-German rhetoric. France is the subject of ridicule and ire because the French government is full of two-faced assholes.
Of course, I’m likely just saying that because the gov’ment has conditioned my poor, fragile mind into believing what it wants me to believe. In Elucidatorland, only the select few (read: liberals) are capable of actually thinking for themselves.
Jeff
Oh? So independent thinking is your strong suit, is it, Jeff?
So when your Fearless Leader stands in front of you and tells you he has proof positive, and later it is revealed that the proof never even existed… You still believe him? When lie after lie plops on the ground like pig flop from the sky, your faith remains unshaken?
As the Sundance Kid said: “You just keep thinking, Butch…that’s what you’re good at.”
Cite? Prior to September, Bush said that we would disarm Saddam if the world didn’t. He got a resolution (that the French agreed to knowing where further noncompliance would lead since Bush made that clear) and has consistently said that resolution or no resolution, the US WILL disarm Saddam Hussein. If the world is with us, great, if the world is against, so be it. By the way, in case you forgot, Congress agreed with him. The idea that the US is trying to paint the world as being supportive is just plain silly. The Bush administration has, against all reason IMHO, continued to call France an “old friend” and an ally. France comes across as spoiler because that is the role they are trying to play.
Cite? We are not bribing the government to ignore the democratic process. Turkey has political and fiscal costs to the war, and it is Turkey who made the request. We have never suggested that they don’t follow the democratic process, and have abided by their current stance. One could argue that Turkey is trying to shake down the US, since they are not being asked to support the war, only to let us stage troops on bases we already have there. Of course, if someone is anti-american, the thought that the US is being shaken down would never occur to them.
And by the way, the French are not so much hypocrites as they are liars.
The average american already supports military intervention. One hardly needs the French acting like…well, the French, to motivate people who understand the danger of people like Saddam. Also, the US has resolutely said that it was going to take action, and if the UN wanted to come along, then fine, but otherwise a coalition of the willing would do it. There was no talk about the French there. The French are irrelevant. Whether they support or don’t support the disarming of Iraq does not matter because Iraq is going to be disarmed. The only issue at present is the political viability of Tony Blair. Unlike the French, the US is willing to sacrifice for the benefit of its allies.
Isn’t it strange that France is actively courting members to vote against the resolution when they know they will veto? If all they care about is that the resolution not pass, why would they care if the US or UK has a majority in the Security Council? They already know they will veto and presumably that Russia will, as well. They need no more. Unless, of course, they want to cause trouble for Tony Blair or to make the US and UK look bad (or they want to look good for Chirac’s personal friend, Saddam Hussein). Reports are that they are offering the undecided African countries all sorts of perks for voting against further resolutions. I guess that is not bribery though, because it would only be bribery if the US were the one doing it.
Your post almost had me thinking you were serious until I saw this. Then I realized you were joking. You had me scared for a minute! The French do have the Louvre, which is filled with a wonderful collection of Italian and Greek masterpieces. The French collection is mostly in the Musee d’Orsay.
As to the OP, I think that part of the current backlash is a realization that France is not truly a friend or ally of the US. If you know anyone in the state department, they will tell you that the French have a sense of superiority about them and that you have to constantly stroke their egos. You have to pay them to agree to things that they already agree to in principle. France is not being disliked because they disagree with the US, they are being despised because their intent is not to prevent a war, but rather to make the US look bad and to cause as much trouble as they can (which is why they are lobbying very hard against another resolution even though they alone can kill it).
They want to increase their power and that of Europe (which is fine), but they want to do it not by raising themselves higher, but by bringing the US and the UK lower. They fear that the US has gotten too powerful, and they know that they can only appear to have relevance if the US doesn’t exercise its military power, because France cannot possibly compete with that. When France wants to exercise its military might, it attacks Greenpeace. Since the times of Benedict Arnold, America has always had a special disdain for traitors.
This is coupled with the fact that France, for all of the trouble they are causing, is nothing more than a flea on the back of humanity. Let’s face it, a war with France would last two days, at most. (Not that I am suggesting we should). It is like a 120 pound kid with bad eyesight who is afraid to fight picking on a 300 pound bodybuilder. It is beneath notice on one hand, but on the other, you just can’t help but want to put an end to it. The situation is more irritating when the 300 pounder has spent a lot of time and energy protecting the weakling from bullies. France is relevant in the world today because the US and UK made them relevant. I think people in the US are questioning that decision.
.
Since you said “Fearless Leader,” we can rule out the French and assume that you are talking about George Bush. Here is the real question: Does Saddam have weapons of mass destruction? If you say “no,” you disagree with every single member of the Security Council, including France. If you say yes, the question becomes, what are we going to do about it? If your answer to that is inspections work, then the question is at what point can the UN say that Iraq has no WMDs? We got lucky in detecting Iraq’s nuclear program, which occurred as the UN was preparing to declare Iraq free of a nuclear program. We might not get lucky twice. The French can live with that, but they won’t be the target, and they don’t really care if the US is.
The US has now gone from bribes to threats, apparently.
The credit rating company in question is just doing the logical thing. Turkey’s economy is really bad right now, on the news that they refused to allow our troops in their stock market took an 11% dive. They have limited prospects of pulling themselves out of recession in the near future without outside aid. If you add in the uncertainty of political events to their south involving the kurds and any credit company would come to the conclusion that lending them money is a risky proposition.
…ummm, so your in support of international terrorism? Or am I misinterpreting your post?
Where did you get this from? He just said that after Chirac, we may be able to build a new relationship with France!
…I take it from his post he gives Chirac a pat on the back for the Rainbow Warrior bombing, an act of international terrorism . At least, that’s how I read it. I was just asking Brutus to clarify his post…
elucidator:
You know, if my support for war had anything to do with what Bush said, you may be onto something. Since it doesn’t, you’re a little off base. You know what happens when you make an assumption, luc… you make an ass out of you and umption. (with apologies to Sam Jackson)
Maybe I’ll join into this game too, though. Since Cynthia McKinney opposes this war, and you oppose this war, you must obviously believe everything she says. Since she further says that Bush and his cronies engineered 9/11 to increase revenue to the military contractors, you must believe that, too. Gosh, luc, you have to be pretty stupid to follow her around so blindly, and believe such asinine things. Oh, wait… is it possible that your opinions represent more than just the talking points of every anti-war pundit out there? Nah, now I’m talking crazy…
Jeff
What bothers me most is that Americans seem to be generalizing the entire population of France by its political leaders. Which is, in my opinion, absolute bullshit. I, for one, would not want to be judged based on anyone’s perception of George W. Bush.