masklinn, first off (and i mean this as an honest question), aside from cheese and wine, one could ask the same question of france... exactly what GOOD has your nation done recently?

second, i've not seen anything special in bowling for columbine, he'd have to perform a hell of alot better at this one to get the award. bottom line: it was ENTIRELY political. i almost guaruntee if his "documentary" had been about the history of potato farming that he probably wouldnt have won. Its kinda like if i gave a thumbs up to changing the name to "freedom fries" but its not about being against france, just because i like the name. its a line of BS and we all know it.

Totally uncalled for! Rude, arrogant and ignorant.

Masklinn ignore this bigoted and hopefully bannable remark. France and the French are admirable and wonderful.

Lol, thank you Donut and Yorick. Don't worry though, you know I'm used to that kind of stuff around here. ;)

And hello Promethius, nice to meet you.
If I had to tell you 1 good thing France did recently for the world (among plenty of others), I'd remind you how France, politely and like a close friend, told the US that going to Iraq this way was a huge mistake.

Here is an honest answer to your honest question.

Oooooh! A hit, a very palpable hit!

[ 05-25-2004, 12:02 PM: Message edited by: Donut ]

It also gave Britain the metric system...the best thing to come out of Europe

Tell that to my dearly departed grandmother ;) - she never got over the change....

Let me recast this. France, because it was engaged in numerous lucrative deals with Iraq and had a close economic relationship with Iraq, on both legal and potentially-illegal endeavors, sought to protect its interest by choosing to oppose the US in its effort to build a coalition supporting war in Iraq.

That's the way I see it. No name calling, none of that crap. But, to be honest, I see France doing what every nation does -- acting in pure self-interest.

And, as for President Bush, I oppose him where I see the need to. I don't just "roll over" because he is for something. While I may have slightly disagreed with going into Iraq when he chose to (though I will admit I was equally frustrated at the UN for its lame-assedness), I think that all the SUBSEQUENT decisions regarding Iraq have been ones I support or genereally agree with. How Iraq was won militarily, how we are trying to rebuild the nation, how insurgents have been dealt with, how he condemned the occurrences at Abu Ghraib (and chose to shut down the prison), how he insists on turning over sovereignty in 5 weeks -- all have been more or less acceptable to me. I disagree with him on some things, to be sure (he spends like a Valley Girl, for one), but all in all I'm not rallying against my President because in my mind the job he's done isn't all that bad. It may look bad to you, but he answers to me and my countrymen -- not you.

And a lot of me and my countrymen are simple down-to-earth folks who want to see action and not words, and don't mind a good scrap every now and then when someone needs an ass-whuppin.

[ 05-25-2004, 03:48 PM: Message edited by: Timber Loftis ]

thank you timber loftis, for pointing out some key issues.

second, to everyone else, almost everyone here trash talks america and/or its government ALL the time... so if an honest question about what Masklinn thinks is good on france's part is bannable, most of you should already be LONG gone, masklinn included for insinuating that the american government has done nothing of merit to deserve support from its people.

MY POINT, which you failed to have any patience to see, is that i dont think that advising us not to go to war was very helpful to anyone other than france... as timber pointed out by noting the lucrative oil deal that chirac had with one of the worlds predominant tyrants. ITS ALL JUST PERSPECTIVE. and your (i mean this collectively) perspectives are a bit skewed. If the actions of america on the part of iraq are dubious, so are the acts of france... and if america is going to be said to have done nothing of merit recently, then to say that france has done nothing noteworthy either is no more atrocious... regardless of the fact that i dont feel either fact is true at all (keeping in mind i merely asked what france has done recently, not flat out stated that it has done nothing like masklinn said of the US).

maybe if you all would stop being so hateful to america you would see how stupid it sounds when you trash on america left and right and then cry if someone even asks the slightest thing about why another country is "better than us." Timber, I'm starting to see your point, maybe this 'current events' forum should be renamed "I HATE AMERICA"

[ 05-25-2004, 04:53 PM: Message edited by: promethius9594 ]

It's the way you asked, not the question itself that was bannable.

Now on the economic deals...lets go (again) : deals that France had with Iraq were really really small. Iraq had deals especially with the UN anyway, you know, the embargo and all. And then we could talk about deals that the US made or still have with many world tyrants. Anyway.

I think our denial of the war was more about pure common sense, our important muslim population, friendship with many muslim countries like Algeria, Morrocco, Tunisia, and remember as well that we were once an occupied country ,we know the feeling, and it is NOT a good one.

When I got down on the street to say NO to the war like a good part of european folks, it was NOT because I had a deal with Saddam. So pleaaaase stop that crap.

Stop it already. Economic deal my ass. Pure common sense yeah !

How did you guys dare think that this war was a good idea and that it would solve anything ?