Hot Air points to an AP article in Newsday about France’s latest crackdown on illegal immigrants….

The French bring out such emotions with so many in the US – Love, Hate, Admiration, Scorn, perceptions of Honor and then cowardace. It reminds me of a married couple that are deeply in Love, but have been married so many years they have so much history together they hate each other (or do they?).

Love and Hate, two sides of the same coin. Competitors one moment in history and allies the next. Loathing at the mere thought of the other’s national leader one moment in history and overjoyed celebration in the next moment.

All of this reminds me of a girlfriend I once had – same story Love/Hate, “Yes I want you, no I don’t”.

The point is that despite the shortcomings each sees in the other we are deeply ingrained in each others past, present, and future. Perhaps we should keep this in mind when considering the French and give them a shake of the head, a groan, a smile, and remember that they are our brothers and sisters.

What I don’t understand is why RightWinged should think I would think otherwise.

I never implied you’d think anything one way or another… but sense you told us you live in France the other day, I simply said “Where’s The Drifter, I’m sure he’ll have something to say…”

The webmaster’s blog-within-a-blog. Continuously updated, newest items at the top….

French leftists respond with protests — on airplanes.

Frogs on a plane! Where’s Sam Jackson when you need him?

No employment = boredom = bitterness/civil unrest toward the government.

Welfare = boredom = bitterness/civil unrest toward the gov’t = import of illegals to do the jobs the welfare takers would/should do.

So eliminate immigration (illegal or otherwise) while simultaneously eliminating welfare for the able bodied.

Work or starve! Then try to plan your BS against the gov’t after a hard day’s work!

We’re only six years into this century… just give it a wee bit more time.

Oui, oui, all you write, even if from Wikipedia, is true. There was an entire show a while ago on C-Span, by a prominent older American historian (who’s name escapes me now), about all the historical contributions the French made to our country.

All agreed to and I appreciate that you try, in a polite way, to attain some balance on this board. Of course there are the contributions our country made to France, which the older French appreciate too.

In general, however, that was then and now is a dire picture of people to people relations. State to state is still very good, though to placate the French populace the politicians keep the ‘dealings’ and support under wrap.

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, the center-right’s likeliest contender in spring presidential elections, argues that France must select its immigrants more carefully…

A practice Canada has adopted since Trudeau. Immigration based on education, financial means, etc… Of course, refugee law hasn’t (nor should) change.

…and he has vowed to send home at least 25,000 illegals this year, up from about 20,000 in 2005.

A natural course of action in any society based on the rule of law.

What I don’t understand is why RightWinged should think I would think otherwise.

Having said all of this, I would like to point out that the overwhelming majority of the people affected by this policy are African Christians. Islamofobes need not get a hard on.

Is our military going to have to go in there and bail them out again?

American Revolution

Rochambeau

In 1780, Rochambeau was given the rank of Lieutenant General in command of 5,000 French troops and sent to join the American colonists under George Washington fighting the Kingdom of Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War.

He landed at Newport, Rhode Island, on July 10, but was held there inactive for a year, owing to his reluctance to abandon the French fleet blockaded by the British in Narragansett Bay. At last, in July 1781, Rochambeau’s force finally left Rhode Island, marching across Connecticut to join Washington on the Hudson River. There then followed the celebrated march of the combined forces and the siege of Yorktown. On September 22, they combined with the Marquis de la Fayette’s troops and forced Marquess Cornwallis to surrender on October 19.

Rochambeau’s behaviour has been celebrated: he had placed himself entirely under Washington’s command and handled his troops as part of the Continental Army. In recognition of his services, the Congress of the Confederation thanked him and his troops and presented him with two cannons taken from the British. These guns, with which Rochambeau returned to Vendôme, were requisitioned in 1792.

Lafayette

When this lad of 19, with the little English he had been able to pick up on his voyage, presented himself to the Congress with Deane’s authority to demand a commission of the highest rank after the commander-in-chief, his reception was chilly. Deane’s contracts were so numerous, and for officers of such high rank, that it was impossible for Congress to ratify them without injustice to Americans who had become entitled by their service to promotion. La Fayette appreciated the situation as soon as it was explained to him, and immediately expressed his desire to serve in the American army upon two conditions—that he should receive no pay, and that he should act as a volunteer.

General Pershing is said to have declared upon his arrival in France during the First World War, “Lafayette, we are here!” (Lafayette, nous voilà!), suggesting that the United States was repaying its debt for his assistance during the Revolutionary War. However, this attribution is apocryphal, and was actually said by Lieutenant Colonel Charles E. Stanton at the tomb of La Fayette, in the cemetery Picpus in Paris, July 4, 1917.

How’s about a little show of gratitude, like our fathers, which seemed to have been far more courteous than you, could muster.

As for the “the job George Bush should do comment”… Right, with the exception of the line about paying the illegals to go home.

Where’s The Drifter, I’m sure he’ll have something to say…