French Fries

Way back in 1969 I visited France for the first time and really looked forward to it. I drove to Paris from my little place in Varnhalt, a small town next to the Black Forest, not too far from Baden Baden. The trip was an eye opener and the opening line of Dickens Tale of Two Cities sums it all up. “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times." The worst part being, having to deal with Frenchmen. I have no idea why but the French have this collective chip (about the size of a Douglas fir) on their shoulder. Try to imagine being yelled at because I couldn't speak French because I was Canadian and was deliberately not speaking French. Others thought I was an American and proceeded to try to rip me off and the insults; well times haven't changed and I doubt they ever will.
Gregory Djerejian over at Belgravia Dispatch handles the latest Le Monde gutter piece. The accusations of the US helping the Tsunami Disaster as an excuse to gain nefarious interests are lower than low. The cartoon is particularly repugnant. A couple of lines I liked:

" Get over yourselves. You are a middle power, lucky to have a U.N. Security Council seat still......Such sad fare isn't just wrong, tasteless, petty and rancidly provincial. It speaks of a society, like contemporary Germany, that's ails and needs scapegoats..............loves to beat up that favorite bogeyman--the U.S.--out of a mixture of incomprehension, envy, fascination, stupidity and crude stereotyping. It's sad really..........this kind of myopic, obnoxiously self-interested news treatment of this massive tragedy speaks volumes, doesn't it?"

It sure does brother! Remember what General Omar Bradly said back in 1944. "The French let no good turn go unpunished."
Read it all here.

I nods to Instapundit