olivier in france

We help you fight the war on terror Wacka, 10 french soldiers died two weeks ago in Afghanistan... Now if you're dumb enough to think that's what you do in Irak....

For me the Bush Doctrine is pre-emptive strikes. And i think this is the only thing that falls under that term.

well it's true a lot of frenchmen likes him because he's not the warhawk Bush has been....

Stripes?

Does that mean i'm one in a million?!! Thanks for the compliment GG!

The more i read about Palin the more i wish Mc Cain has really really a solid health....

"Charlie: Do you agree with the Bush Doctrine? Palin: In what respect, Charlie? Charlie: What do you interpret it to be? Palin: His worldview? Charlie: No, No, the Bush Doctrine. He enunciated it in September 2002, before the Iraq War Palin: I believe that what President Bush has attempted to do is to rid this world of Islamic extremism, terrorists who are hellbent on destroying our nation. There have been blunders along the way, though. There have been mistakes made. And with new leadership--and that's the beauty of American elections and democracy--with new leadership comes the opportunity to do things better. Charlie: The Bush Doctrine, as I understand it, is that we have the right of anticipatory defense. We have the right to preemptively strike any other country that we believe is going to attack us" (the first link of this thread does not work here...) Is that really how the interview went?!! A VP candidate being educated by a journalist on the preemptive strike policy?!! I can not believe it!!

Sad but probably true...

Francis????

well he was a lord of war as the chief of a tribe... something like a small town major while Jesus was more like a community organizer!! That does not mean they can not share a beer! (even if Mahomet should have an untasty alcohool-free one!)

you know why i'm upset? Because yesterday like all americans and their friends i have thought about 9/11 once again. I've thought about the state of our World and i have hoped that it may change. And it has not. It has not and after 7 years i still see lot of people who have not understood a single thing, people who have been wrong for 7 years in a row and are still spitting the same b...s... . People who are using religions of love for works of hatred. May all those people be damned by Jesus and Mahomet! All i know is that those two are probably sharing the same beer upstairs and gave up on any chance to change those little stupid worms downstairs!

Ain't you all (american conservatives) tired of the demonization of islam? After 7 years of it are you really happy with the results?!!! I'm fed up with your constant mix of religion and politics, bigotry and economics, race and demography. I'm fed up with your intolerance that is just feeding the intolerance of your islamic "ennemies". You're about as stupid as them!!! If not more because you have not the excuse of poverty and lack of education! Sometimes i am myself becoming Intolerant, there's days i'd like to organize massive burns of Corans and Bibles! With a couple of you guys and your barbed counterparts in the middle of the fire!

what reality are you talking about? that "Europe doesn't have a future and all projections fiscally and demographically show it" ? Believe it or not i agree with that! But i don't know what is the link between that and the xenophobic scary blabla of that belgian!! (by the way if Belgium , Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and most northern European countries want to have a demographic future they need to welcome MORE immigrants)

When he dies that's what they should write on GW tombstone!!

Cool they interviewed a belgian (well flemish in fact) racist... don't know what it is supposed to "teach" the US... that we have stupid ignorant xenophobic racists here too? Nothing new.

heu.... as i have started this topic may i remind you i am not an american democrat but a frenchman ... so this thread does not highlight "democratic worldview" but just mine! But otherwise i agree with most of your post (and knowing a little about Latin America can tell you they are very pro Obama).

it's true your opinion is much more interesting, full of wisedom, culture and experience!!!

Hey Eryn! I have corrected your link as it looks like the original writer of it had not checked a couple of things... If anyone needed proof of France's love for Barack Obama, le Figaro offered it today with an opinion poll. This finds that 80 percent of the French want the Democrat candidate to win the US presidency while only eight percent favour John McCain. The poll was carried out by TNS Sofres on September 2 and 3, before McCain benefited from the Sarah Palin bounce (and that will have without any doubt no effect on what the frenchmen may think) but it gives an idea of the overwhelming wish in France to see a President Obama take office. Eighty-six percent have a good opinion of him compared with only 35 percent for McCain. The strong support cuts across social class and the political spectrum. The most senior French politicians at the Democratic convention came from President Sarkozy's rightwing UMP party, not the leftwing opposition. The BBC found pro-Obama feeling to be strong worldwide in a poll this week, but the passion seems to run higher in France than anywhere. There are reasons for this. France has an idealised and schizophrenic view of the United States that dates back to 1776 when King Louis XVI helped the colonial insurgents fight Britain's peace-keeping force. France feels that it has a founding share in the nation which bestowed jazz, Hemingway, JFK and Clint Eastwood on Europe. It dislikes what it sees as the more primary, messianic and intolerant America that is represented by Republicans and personified by George W Bush. Given the demonisation of Bush, it is surprising that the Figaro poll found that as many as 18 percent of the French hold a favourable opinion of him. French misunderstanding of the USA has been glaring in the coverage of Sarah Palin. TV reporters have been at a loss to explain hockey moms (well they should try to explain hockey first...) and the excitement over a woman whose pitch is patriotism, religion (well France basically invented the concept of the secular state) and family values. France prefers American frontier heroes of the fictional kind, courtesy of John Ford or Sergio Leone. Few have noticed that Palin invented a (ridiculous) French name for the company which she registered earlier in her career -- Rouge Cou. "It's a classy way of saying redneck," she told The Anchorage Daily. "It's a French word, rouge is red, cou is neck. It's for marketing and consulting, in case I wanted to go that route" (No doubt she has been told that it should be Cou Rouge). French readiness to take a dark, even irrational, view of America was on display again this week when Jean-Marie Bigard, a un-popular un-comic and non-actor, proclaimed his belief in the conspiracy version of September 11 2001. "It is absolutely sure and certain now that the two planes that crashed on the (Pennsylvania) forest and the Pentagon never existed. There was never a plane... It is a vast lie", he said on Europe 1, a popular national radio station. After a dressing down by his managers, Bigard apologised today but he did not retract the view, which is shared by two persons in France as we have seen on Faux News before . You can dismiss Bigard's ideas as provocation by a loud-mouthed stupid ignorant celebrity except that his brother in law takes him seriously. President Sarkozy is a friend and even invited him along on a recent trip to the Vatican and presented him to Pope Benedict XVI. (political anlaysts still wondering if that was a huge joke or not...) To take the argument full circle, Sarkozy is a good example of the French Americophile. He loves the ideal United States to the point of excess, as he showed in his rapturous speech to Congress last autumn. He admires the power, the can-do outlook and the style (His Hungarian-born father has even said that he would have preferred his boy to be president of the USA.) But Sarko has trouble understanding the real America. He has never learnt its language (doing at least as the americans do with foreign languages) . Carla Bruni, his supermodel wife, a one-time New York City resident, has been briefing him. She offered a telling glimpse the other day in a Europe 1 interview. She said that Sarko did not listen much to "Anglo-Saxon" music. He prefers French pop and rock artists because he understands the words, she said. (while it has to be noted GW Bush knows perfectly all Edith Piaf songs) One of his favourites is Johnny Halliday, the evergreen rock idol. Known in 1961 as the "French Elvis", Halliday has of course spent nearly 50 years perfecting his act as France's idea of an old out of fashion rockabilly singer. Johnny even customized one of his great hits in Sarkozy's honour. Its title, Quelque chose de Tennessee became Quelque chose de Sarkozy.

Where did you find that? It looks so "Faux News"!!! What's incredible is that it's the first time i ever hear about that Bigard story (the guy is the most vulgar, stupid guy you can find on Earth... well a real "cou rouge"!!) that "rouge cou" stuff is really funny!

In yesterday's "les Echos" (the main economic french newspaper, something like the french "wall street journal"), there was an interesting editorial on the US presidential race. I made this translation, hoping it is understandable... "Fire on the Elite" The cheers of the republican convention for S Palin have surprised the europeans. How is it possible that the big party of the right and the center-right has been able to chose as possible VP such a far right person? How an active pro guns and pro life activist can represent such a big part of the USA? The answer is that foreign observers are not looking at the right thing. It is true that the new partner of J Mc Cain is a typical product of the religious neo-con side of the GOP , a group influent among conservatives and that has played a big role in the Bush Administration with the dramatic consequences it has had for the US foreign policy. But it is not for this that S Palin has been acclaimed. She has been because she has presented herself as an ordinary housewife whose political and social ascension in isolated Alaska has nothing to do with the DC and NYC establishment. Her 5 kids, one handicapped, the other minor and pregnant, have helped to convince that she has the daily life and struggles of any common american citizen. Her first speech at the convention has used and abused of the argument that Obama on the other side is a product of that establishment. From Europe it is hard to believe that the son of a Kenyan immigrant, from a blue collar district of Chicago, can be a part of any aristocracy. But this is an other optical mistake. Obama with his Harvard diploma, his brilliant speeches and Hollywood stars at his feet looks as a perfect elitist to Alaskan or Iowan eyes. Those anti-establishment attacks are nothing new. During the last election GW Bush has been reelected while heavily portraying his democrat competitor J Kerry as an East Coast Catholic Upper classman, or in a shorter way as an aristocrat. That kind of argument is not even new in Europe. Berlusconi in Italy has succeded using even more vulgar and demagogical words and during last year presidential race in France the two main candidates have used the same plan. Sarkozy calling himself the candidate of the "early birds" (as opposed to the "lazy" technocrats that have the power) and S Royal using ad nauseam compationate words toward the blue collar "real France". Everything goes as if the world and "real people" were the victims of the results of the work of an untouchable elite, those few privileged being so the root of all their economical and social struggles. In the Middle Ages, when things were going bad, they burned witches. Today it's fire on the Elite. It is not sure this is a great cultural progress.

it's the same in all global companies... Sparkling Headquarters for the Public relations /communications/ marketing stuff and dirty crumbling local outlets for the backoffice guys....

I've seen some stuff on TV here too.... One scientist was saying they hoped to discover what and where is the "94% of matter that we don't know anything about". I don't know how they get to that 94% figure but that's fascinating...

Indy-Minn is the basic "national" game, most people outside NFL markets will have. That's the game we'll have here in Europe on NASN followed by Jets-Pats.

Man you should visit the Vatican one day, just to checK....

are you sure this is the right lyrics? I always thought it was "in Jesus and the Saints, and all the profits"! Which is a lot different but add a welcome critic of the "god-business" loving catholic church...