Election of a conservative in France is a revolution for strong economic policies and signals the continuing decline of socialist thought.
Sources are reporting that center-right French Presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy has won the election by about ten points in France. The results mark the latest European government to make a rightward lurch in political orientation in the last several years.…
Article comments
76 - STM
Lol. My, aren't we having fun!
Clav, don't pay no mind to Doc Dread ... an 'at is a titfer here too, as we also have inherited the poms' use of rhyming slang, but I must correct you on the Cobber bit. While my father in law still uses it sometimes (shortened to cob), it's an archaic term used only by 80-year-old WWII veterans when they're ordering schooners at the front bar of the RSL club. I hope you've noticed that the 'at badge also has a Crown on it? Yes, THAT crown.
BTW Doc, what are you doing in the US and how did you end up in a place outside England that sadly has no Union Jack in the corner of its flag?
77 - Dr Dreadful
Doc, what are you doing in the US and how did you end up in a place outside England that sadly has no Union Jack in the corner of its flag?
I'm here for lurrve. Met my American wife when she came to work in England and followed her back! Normally, of course, the Union Jack criterion is paramount when determining which nationality to fall in love with but unfortunately, while I was in the process of courtship, I slipped through a wormhole in the space/time continuum into an alternate universe in which Britain won the War of 1812 and, as a condition of the surrender, forced the USA to replace the stars with a mini Union Jack in the corner of their flag. By the time I had found my way back to my own universe, it was too late.
Still, I'm working on it. All job vacancies in Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji etc. are perused with great interest in our house; and strenuous efforts are made to "lose" return plane tickets when visiting those places.
78 - Clavos
Stan,
Speakin' of cobbers, mate...
79 - STM
Actually Doc, contrary to the oft-touted US view on this, Britain actually DID win the War of 1812. It lost the peace, though. It did LOSE the War of Independence, which was probably the key one and (only partly, in view) explains what happened to the flag. I believe there's also a case to answer for the foundings fathers' poor idea of what constitutes good design. Still.
You could easily get your wife to love Oz, as it's not that different to America except that the Yanks speak with funny accents and drive on the wrong side of the road - and let's not forget that aforementioned mistake with their flag.
You could do it, Doc. Imagine being able to roll out of the pub and eat kebabs again at 2am, going to the cricket Tests, watching six Super 14 games (no fun watching the bye) live any Friday or Saturday night, pommy soccer on ESPN live, and being partially understood. The more the merrier, I say ... you too Clav - you should bloody move here as well. This is boat city.
Heaven on a stick, really. Just don't tell any other bastards.
80 - STM
Clav. Lol. That's the best clip i've seen on You Tube. Geez, I hope I still won't be listening to The Clash or The Smiths, et al, when I'm 90.
The good thing would be, if you turned it up loud at the old folks' home, none of the deaf buggers would hear it. You could just go for your life.
81 - Dave Nalle
No, Stan. The War of 1812 was a draw. No territory was exchanged and no reparations were made. No one gained or lost anything.
It's perceived as a victory by Americans because of the overwhelming, even humiliating victory at New Orleans at the end of the War, even though that battle actually took place 5 days after the peace treaty was signed. Because of travel times news of New Orleans reached the major cities on the east coast a week before news of the peace treaty, creating the erroneous impression that the treaty was the result of the victory, making it look like we won the war.
From the British perspective, they were looking at Sir Isaac Brock's devastating defeats of the Americans at Detroit and Queenstown Heights and his remarkable success in defending Canada with almost no troops, and they didn't hear about New Orleans until more than a month after the treaty was signed, so it seemed irrelevant. To them the war also looked like a victory.
This mutual misunderstanding of the outcome of the war is what made it possible for England and the US to become trading partners again so quickly after the war, because we both felt like we had the upper hand.
Dave
82 - STM
Wrong Dave. The US invaded Canada and got punted. It copped an absolute pounding and achieved none of its war aims, paramount among those being the expulsion of the British once and for all from North America. It also sued for peace with the British, rather than the other way around. The big victory of note (New Orleans) occurred after the Treaty of Ghent had been signed but before anyone in America knew, and was not the last battle of the war. That was the Battle of Mobile Bay, which was a resounding victory to the Poms and a humiliating defeat for the US garrison.
What you are proposing is like arguing that America won the Vietnam War. It doesn't wash with me old boy, and respectfully, because not all Yanks are the same, is just another example of some Americans not being able to admit that sometimes their country loses (unlike the Poms, who have had to admit it quite a bit).
I will say too, Dave, that if you want to get a really good and accurate picture, Pierre Burton's books The Invasion of Canada, and Flames Across The Border. I have heard some Americans describe The War of 1812 as the Second War of Independence, but the truth is, it's a misnomer.
It could be better described as The Canadaian War of Indepedence, because in concert with the British they defeated America's first war of aggression and gave rise to the nationalism required to make Canada a nation.
:)
83 - Dr Dreadful
I concur with Dave in that it was a tie. Even if the British had won, there's no way we would have been able to keep the Americans subdued and defeat Napoleon back home in Europe.
84 - Dr Dreadful
You could easily get your wife to love Oz
She already does love the place, Stan. First time we came over, she cried when it was time to go home. The only consolation was that due to a combination of factors including a night departure, the International Date Line and a six-hour layover in Honolulu, we were able to walk on arguably the world's two most famous beaches - Bondi and Waikiki - on the same day!
Only problem with the place, from what I've been reading, is that you ain't got no water left.
85 - STM
I will also add to this, that the magnanimous negotiationg positions of both parties at Ghent is what forged the peace from that point on, and set the stage for one of the greatest trade/military alliances the world has ever seen, so some good obviously did come out of it. 200 years down the track, it endures.
I understand Americans being nationalistic, and why not, I say, they have much to be proud of, but on this one, they are actually wrong if they claim it as a victory or a draw. By any standards, it was a defeat, particularly as the US opened the hostilities. Interestingly, and it's something you might have discovered during your time in the UK, this war is hardly remembered at all, probably because at the time Britian was engaged in a life-or-death struggle with Napoleon. Very few poms have even heard of the War of 1812.
86 - STM
"Only problem with the place, from what I've been reading, is that you ain't got no water left"
I don't agree on the 1812 thing doc, and I have no axe to grind either as I don't care one way or another. Here, it's been raining old chap. No problem with rain on the coast, mainly, except in south-east Queensland. Problem is, it's not falling in the cathment areas. So while you get enough to fill Sydney Harbour, if it's not falling in the dams, it's near useless unless you've got rainwater tanks.
I love telling our American friends that I am from the future. That I can leave Sydney, travel backwards in time, and arrive in LA before I left home.
87 - Dr Dreadful
I love telling our American friends that I am from the future. That I can leave Sydney, travel backwards in time, and arrive in LA before I left home.
LOL. Wonder what that says about the American education system if they actually believe you.
Like the college-level course Algebra 101, which in its opening weeks covers such mind-wrenchingly complex mathematical concepts as addition, long division and fractions. This course is always full. So if the students don't know stuff like that... what - exactly - are they teaching them in high school?!?
88 - STM
Ah, the Yanks, eh? Still, they are good folks. I've often wondered about the education system too, since America manages to churn out some of the best minds on the planet. It's a little mystery to me. I suspect that those who do make it to university and go on to do well do very well, and there are lots of them.
I just wish it wasn't such an isolationist place. Guys like Dave and Clav, even if we are at opposite ends of the political spectrum (I can't convince Clav this is true!) know a lot of things about a lot of things and fill me with hope in our discussions here that Americans are perfectly capable of seeing beyond the boundaries of small-town America and looking at the big picture.
It's absolutely vital for our collective wellbeing that this happens, particularly in regard to American foreign policy.
Until recently, the only issue among the majority of the American public has been how US foreign policy impacts on America, which is really at the heart of the problem.
I must say though, I do love the place and much of what it represents and hope beyond hope that America will ride out its current storm for the greater good of everyone.
89 - Dr Dreadful
Amen to that, Stan.
I'm reminded of a TV sci-fi movie I once saw called "Harrison Bergeron" (I think it starred Sean Astin). It depicted a future America controlled by a ruling elite, where the mass of the population wear mind-control headsets which sustain them in the illusion of a sort of 1950s utopia. There's a sequence where the President (an average Joe randomly selected by the elite) responds to a somewhat mild international incident by copiously exercising the F word while threatening to nuke the bad guys back to the Stone Age (or whatever the cliché of the time was) if they didn't back off.
Reading some of the comments on this and other blogs, that approach is actually what a lot of people think American foreign policy should be.
90 - bliffle
Somebody sez:
"...France's GDP per capita is significantly lower than the US GDP per capita, being in fact comparable to the GDP per capita ..."
GDP and GNP are on shaky ground as measurements of economy (probably a correlative relationship rather than a causative relationship). Different societies and economies have different ways of accounting for the cascading effects of changes as they ripple through the systems and the cascading itself is affected by tax policies, subsidies, etc.
So, my conclusion, many years ago, is that while GDP changes WITHIN an economy are monotonic with the "general economic health", if you will, they are not commensurate with the "GEH". And GDP changes BETWEEN economies are pretty bogus.
Thus, comparing GDPs between different economies is pretty bogus because the economies do not have the same rules AND the measurements do not have the same credibility.
One might be better off comparing rates of change of GDP, but even that is subject to some doubt.
YMMV.
91 - Dr Dreadful
Stan, Dave: Shall we compromise by agreeing that the War of 1812 was indeed a draw, but that Britain won after a penalty shoot-out?
92 - STM
No, Doc actually Britain was in front but America scored a controversial try to draw level after the hooter, which was allowed despite a foot in touch and without going upstairs to the TMO. They converted from the sideline to draw level, but with seconds to go in injury time and the ref busily consulting his watch, Britain kicked a penalty to go three points up and then miraculously seemed to pull ahead with a try under the posts that would have put the result beyond doubt.
But it was disallowed by the ref, who claimed time was up.
At the post-match press conference, the Americans, despite the scoreline, claimed a moral victory even though they'd been belted from pillar to post thanks to Britain's superb pick-and-drive game, which set the platform and opened up space for their backs out wide.
The British, with the scoreline leaving the real result in no doubt, made no such rash claims as they were distracted thanks to another world cup clash with France. All those who'd been watching the game, however, knew the truth: outclassed America scored a lucky one one at the death, and in very controversial circumstances, and most certainly against the general run of play.
:)
93 - Dr Dreadful
This is starting to remind me of an old Paul Hogan skit called 'World Series War', which involved footage of opposing armies blowing each other to bits, accompanied by the kind of breathless commentary usually encountered during the climactic stages of a rugger international or an Ashes series.
94 - STM
The Paul Hogan Show. Marvellous, that ...
Just waiting for that to re-run here on pay TV, sooner rather than later. Hogan is very clever, and very Australian. His mate Strop (remember him, in the stupid-looking lifesaver's hat - John Cornell) married Delvene Delaney, the extremely good sort who was also on the show, and they had a hotel at Byron Bay and are very successful (and wealthy) in their own right.
Didn't know Hoges had a following in the Old Dart. Fascinating. He went from Harbour Bridge rigger to TV star here in one quick step, after appearing nightly on a current affairs show in the early 70s, if I remember rightly - offering his hilarious warped view on Aussie life.
95 - Dr Dreadful
We used to get the Paul Hogan Show on late-night TV back in the early 80s. This was long before Neighbours and Home and Away and our exposure to Australian culture had up until then been limited to Rolf Harris (whom Hogan, I recall, ribbed mercilessly on the show) and Dame Edna. Even though there were a lot of Aussie-specific references ('Hoges' constantly wearing full footie kit, impersonations of TV personalities etc) which were largely lost on me, I still thought the show was hilarious, especially such creations as 'Leo Wanker' and the anti-Mastermind TV quiz show Thick Head.
Great stuff. I wonder if I can get it on DVD anywhere? (Or a snippet or two on YouTube even?)