Friday, October 08, 2004

Sour grapes make an awful whine

From Drudge, again:

"French President Jacques Chirac warned Thursday of a "catastrophe" for global diversity if the United States' cultural hegemony goes unchallenged. Speaking at a French cultural center in Hanoi ahead of Friday's opening of a summit of European and Asian leaders, Chirac said France was right to stand up for cultural and linguistic diversity.

"The outspoken French president warned that the world's different cultures could be 'choked' by US values. This, he said, would lead to a 'general world sub-culture' based around the English language, which would be 'a real ecological catastrophe.' Citing Hollywood's stranglehold over the film industry as an example, Chirac stressed that only with government assistance could countries maintain their cultural heritage.

"Vietnam is a former French colony, but only around 375,000 of its 81 million people speak French. English is considered by most people a far more valuable and practical second language, particularly among businessmen."

Translation: We sure miss being a world power. But we're still culturally superior, even if we're a disaster in every other area.

Tell us more about values, you corrupt son of a bitch. For me, the fact that you and other French politicians aren't getting rich off the blood and misery of the Iraqi people any more is a good enough reason to have invaded Iraq. I'm really starting to think France is our most powerful enemy these days. And I think it's time we gave them a wake-up slap.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is up man?
your blogging is not up to par, I go to the greek fest in Houston,
I miss the debate and I come to this - the only reliable site for the lowdown on the debate that I missed looking for the Kerry love and what do I find?
nothing - It's almost 12 and you have nothing!
when will Uncle Mikey's gymnasium rival CNN and PBS with this kind of slackness? I would say flip -flop - but there was neither flip nor flop, merely pure vacuum on the television event of the minute.

On a serious note, I am trying to find a correct Kerry joke answer to the following Bush Joke:
Bush Joke: (I found it passed on via Andrew " I want to Bomb Iran but I'm Gay and all my friends can't get married if I vote Bush" Sullivans blog) :

"A BUSH JOKE: How many Bush officials does it take to change a lightbulb?

None. "There's nothing wrong with that light bulb. It has served us honorably. When you say it's burned out, you're giving encouragement to the forces of darkness. Once we install a light bulb, we never, ever change it. Real men don't need artificial light." - from Steve Chapman, via lotsa people."


I think it is about right - but I am having trouble with the equivalent Kerry joke. It is somehting like:
"How many Kerrys does it take to change a lightbulb?
none - there were no WMDs in the lightbulb and Jacques Chirac was all out of spares anyway"

Kinda like :
How many psycaratristss (sorry for spelling) does it take to change a light bulb?
One, but it's very expensive, takes a lot of sessions and it;'s really got to want to change"

Anyway, I can't get the Kerry joke quite right - probably because the truth is quite far away from the Karl Rove spin - Kerry isn't a flip flopper any more than any other politician in the US - which unfortunately is far too much - except that the Bush record of promises and funding is just as bad. Still I really feel the need for the right Kerry Joke - especially as he is anything but left, a person I feel is about the same amount to the right as the current presidents father - or way too right for me.

Anyway - congrats on having a job, and please send me the appropriate joke - I promise to comment again when I am drunk after the next Greek fest

fringy

Uncle Mikey said...

Now that's what I call a comment! Thanks Fringy!!

Go and do likewise, gents and ladies.