The French Step Up

The French are sending 1600 additional troops to act as UN Peacekeepers in southern Lebanon. Just let me say Merci beaucoup to the French people and their government, and especially the French troops.

I am neither a francophobe nor a francophile. But I get a little tired of French-bashing. They are not the "Cheese Eating Surender Monkeys" that too many Americans try to cast them as. Ever heard of the French Resistence? The French people never surrendered, and Paris never burned. (Did Hitler call those resisters insurgents, I wonder?)

Anyone who thinks the French are ingrates and diletants needs to run down the ranks of the military. Sargeant is from the French. Corporal is from the French. Lieutenant is from the French. Captain is from the French. Colonel is from the French. General is from the French. If they are so weak and ineffectual, why are our military ranks derived from their language? Oh that's right - they only saved the young upstart America a couple of times. The colonies would have remained colonies without the help of the French in the War for Independence. And without the help of the French in the War if 1812, the US would have lost and most likely the Brits would have returned the upstart young country to British rule and we might still be subjects of the crown.

I realize that jingoism plays better., but that's just too bad. I'm part of that "reality-based community" that this administration used to like to deride and belittle. Now that I think of it, I haven't heard that term in a while...Maybe because reality has taken it's toll?