Time to prohibit the wearing of burkas in public!!!

At last! Burqa : «l'interdiction sera absolue dans les lieux publics»

"Elle va demander, dans une proposition de résolution, que le port du voile intégral soit «prohibé sur le territoire de la République»." ("The report will ask that a resolution be tabled so that the wearing of the burka be prohibited in whole territory of the Republic.")

The Parliamentary Commission that has been tasked with the submission of a report on the legality of imposing a complete ban on the wearing of the burka will be submitting its findings tomorrow:

In an interview with Le Figaro, André Gerin, (Communist Party) Vice Mayor of Vénissieux de Vénissieux who chaired the Parliamentary Commission, said:

"En six mois, j'ai découvert que le problème est encore plus grave que je ne pensais. Dans certaines entreprises du CAC 40 se constituent des syndicats religieux ou communautaristes qui remettent en cause la mixité au travail, ou la tenue vestimentaire des femmes. Dans certains établissements scolaires, 50 % des jeunes filles mineures sont exonérées de gymnastique ou de piscine, et des gamins contestent les cours d'histoire ou de sciences naturelles. Les enseignants nous supplient de les aider. En milieu hospitalier, des médecins hommes sont menacés individuellement par des gourous qui accompagnent des femmes voilées et qui exigent que leurs médecins soient des femmes. Une chose est sûre : dans les lieux ouverts au public, ce sera comme une lame de couteau. L'interdiction du voile intégral sera absolue."

(Translation mine) "In six months, I discovered that the problem is even more serious than what I had thought. In some CAC 40 companies, religious labor unions or communitarists have banded together and put in question the validity of having men and women work together or the dress code of women. In some schools, 50% of young women are exempted from gym classes or swimming, pupils contest their lessons in history or natural sciences. Teachers have begged us to help them. In hospitals, male doctors are threatened individually by gurus who accompany veilled women and demand that female doctors attend to them [veilled women]. One thing is sure: In public places, it will be like the blade of a knife. The interdiction of the wearing of the burka shall be absolute."

Frankly, if I had my way, I would go even further... Why ban the wearing of the burka only in public places? In France, supermarkets and commercial establishments are not legally considered "public places" -- I believe the wearing of burkas should also be prohibited in supermarkets, movie houses malls and in private commercial establishments, e.g., hotels, restaurants, etc. frequented by or open to the public.

In some districts of Brussels, the wearing of the burka is already illegal. And I'm all for it!

I don't see any reason why an entire nation should be held hostage by the dictates of a minority group that predicates their philosphy on a religious dress code for women, or on a concept that's alien to me and my fellow French! If they insist on this archaic practice, they should go back to where they came from where, I'm sure, they'll be happier because they are among their own.

Lifted from hillblogger3

France is number 1 in Quality of Life Index for 5th year in a row

France is the best country to live in for its quality of life, according to American magazine, International Living.

For the 5th year in a row, France tops the list of the best places to live for 2010, with the UK being a distant 25th prompting Francophobic Rod Liddle of The Times to bang his head on the wall as he tries to convince himself that the index is not to be taken seriously. Poor bloke!

Liddle also rubbishes Belgium, which has come 8th, one of the few countries in Europe that's greenest per square mile. I believe that the United States has never been quite able to compete with France and other countries in Europe in terms of quality of life despite the absolutely vast opportunities in terms of space, geography and professional opportunities on offer.

While my family is half British, or English to be more precisce, sadly, the UK is last in my list of places in Western Europe to live for its not-so-endearing quality of life. France is my favourite because tthe quality of life is in abundance.

In fact, I have been resisting all attempts to be repatriated to England, and if push comes to shove (we're on our last year of expatriation), I would rather Darling and I took a cut in salary than go back and experience the dreary, ultra-liberal-faux-multi-cultural lifestyle in Britain....We are lucky in that we are a Franco-British family and have a choice. There is no doubt that we will feel "at home" in one or the other but will be much happier to be living for good in France than anywhere else.

Report by International Living:

To produce this annual Index we consider nine categories: Cost of Living, Culture and Leisure, Economy, Environment, Freedom, Health, Infrastructure, Safety and Risk, and Climate. This involves a lot of number crunching from "official" sources, including government websites, the World Health Organization, and The Economist, to name but a few. We also take into account what our editors from all over the world have to say about our findings.

Here's what International Living says of the top 10 countries in this year's Quality of Life Index:

1. France

For the fifth year running, France takes first in our annual Quality of Life Index. No surprise. Its tiresome bureaucracy and high taxes are outweighed by an unsurpassable quality of life, including the world's best health care.

France always nets high scores in most categories. But you don't need number-crunchers to tell you its bon vivant lifestyle is special. Step off a plane and you'll experience it first-hand.

2. Australia

Across the continent, Aussies and those who've chosen to emigrate there have access to an active and healthy lifestyle. But urban dwellers will find plenty of great culture and excellent food in Sydney and Melbourne, and a cost of living below that of some of the world's other great cities.

3. Switzerland

Switzerland is an award-winning country because it turned all its natural disadvantages to its own advantage, ending up as a super-efficient, high-tech society while still managing to play Alpine inn-keeper to the world. Moreover the cuckoo clock comes from the Black Forest in Germany.

4. Germany

Will your medical insurance fund a health spa stay? Probably not, but it happens here with a doctor's recommendation. Despite the global downturn, Germans have it pretty good. Along with 30 days paid annual holiday, the average employee earns €41,509 ($61,433).

5. New Zealand

From Auckland's waterfront to the Southern Alps, English-speaking New Zealand boasts some of the most pristine landscapes on earth. Much of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy was filmed here. For younger migrants with the right skills, it's a wonderful place to relocate and raise a family. There's huge emphasis on sports, beach-life, and healthy lifestyles.

6. Luxembourg

If we judged quality of life by a nation's Michelin-starred restaurants per square mile, the winner would be the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. A founder member of the EU, its national motto is Mir wëlle bleiwe wat mir sin (we want to remain what we are).

Only 51 miles long and 35 miles wide, landlocked Luxembourg is relatively unknown to Americans. Yet with per capita GDP of $88,000, it's among the world's richest countries. Most apartments in its postcard-pretty capital—also called Luxembourg—cost at least $7,400 per square meter. But they come with an operetta scene of medieval turrets, bridges, and flower-filled squares.

7. United States

From Florida's palm-lined coasts to Alaska's snow-covered crags…from the dazzle of New York to the big skies of Montana…the U.S. has, arguably, something to offer everyone.

And no question: It is the land of convenience. No place else on Earth is it easier to get what you want, when you want it.

8. Belgium

Ringed with parks, it's Europe's greenest capital. Along with many international schools, it delivers all an expat could desire: theater, English-language cinema, sports centers, great public transport, Trappist-brewed beers, numerous gourmet and ethnic restaurants, and fast trains to London, Paris, and Amsterdam. As they rarely plan to stay, most expats rent. In central Brussels, one-bedroom apartments start at $740 monthly.

9. Canada

Health care and living standards are among the highest in the world. Canada's economy is based on vast natural resources, a robust financial industry, and innovative manufacturing including the renewable energy sector. Canada has remained resilient through the global financial crises. The banks are considered "more Swiss than the Swiss banks," and property markets are "on fire."

10. Italy

...trains are often in ritardo (late), workers frequently strike, corruption isn't unknown, and red tape comes in slow-moving triplicate. But balance that against Rome, Venice, and Florence...against mountains reflected in sapphire lakes...against golden beaches and hill towns cobbled with secrets.

Then throw in 60% of the world's art treasures. A national health care system rated second in the world by the WHO. Sunflowers, vineyards, and opera. And the best espresso, pizza, and ice cream you'll ever taste.

Pictures I took on Christmas Day in the northwestern coast of France: Cotes-d-Armor, Brittany

(1) Gites de France: sign of cottages to let; A cottage owner may put up the sign 'Gites de France' after fulfilling stringent standards imposed by a region's official tourism bureau.

(2) Kiddies right in front of the Bay of Paimpol across the Ile de Brehat in the background.

(3) Open air Coquilles Saint Jacques pond by Ploubazlanec in Cotes-d-Armor, Brittany

(4 & 5) View of a rainbow from my bedroom window on Christmas Day 2009.

Lifted from Hllblogger3

A glimpse into the difference between Europe and USA

The Difference Between European and American Woman

Et c'est à peu près vrai! Tee-hee!

H/T Blogs Warwick: (UK)

New Michelin France "Le Guide Rouge" chief is a German woman

The title of this post should have been: News that Michelin France "Le Guide Rouge" is German draws a mocking appraisal of a purported French reaction from The Independent.

British 'tabloid' The Independent reports that French find German's role hard to swallow.

The world of Teutonic gastronomy is in shock following the surprise announcement by the board of Guide Michelin France that a 38-year-old German woman has been chosen to run the male-dominated culinary bible for the first time in its 108-year history.

Read the full story here.

We say, "Bullocks!"

The Independent is speaking from their backside. This blog and its French members are happy to learn that a woman, a German, who The Independent themselves say, "In German culinary circles, Ms Caspar has been criticised by some for being too rooted in the traditions classical French cuisine. For others, she is the Michelin editor who has gone out of her way to award stars to young chefs who are not afraid to experiment" has been selected for the job.

[...] Julianne Caspar is the first woman and - it goes almost without saying - the first German to run Michelin's legendary "Guide Rouge". She was previously responsible for Michelin guides on Germany, Switzerland and Austria but will take over the French Guide from January next year.

Michelin France yesterday described the deliberately publicity shy Ms Caspar, who hails from the German industrial city of Bochum, as a "polyglot who speaks four languages fluently." The publication added: "She is the first foreigner to run Guide Michelin France". [...]

So, why should the appointment of Ms Julianne Caspar, someone who is clearly a hugely qualified traditional French cuisine proponent to the most influential restaurant guide in the world, shock the French? The Independent is treading in dangerous French bashing waters by unecessarily misleading their readers with their sensationalism driven treatment of this news.

Welcome aboard Ms Caspar!

Gluttony is ugly

I wouldn't have been interested in obesity had I not ran into a report on CNN-AC 360° tonight announcing that Oprah Winfrey, US talk show host, is obese and that she was embarassed because she weighed 200 pounds. (Whew! That's a lot of weight to carry around for someone who doesn't seem to be tall.)

The commentator followed up the report with a shocking revelation: 7 out of 10 Americans are obese. My goodness me. That's a lot of fat. No wonder, they say Americans are too fat for x-rays!

The CNN report that I heard seems to jibe with what I've just read in a Medical News report:

[...] An estimated two-thirds of the entire U.S. adult population is overweight or obese, and an estimated 23 million children fall into one of the two categories. [...]

Two thirds? Yuck! So, Is the Average American really becoming like this?

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According to a Down to Earth report, "the average [American] child sees more than 10,000 food ads on TV each year, most for high-calorie, high-fat, and high-sugar meals. Not only does the fast food industry spend billions per year on marketing, but they have also infiltrated our schools, signing contracts with them. Our children are bombarded from every angle with these toxic foods making it virtually impossible for them to eat anything else. It is no wonder that we have an increasingly obese population of children (who in time will become an obese population of adults)."

(I don't really know if this McDonald advert is for real but by gum, if it is, McDonald's is virtually committing a crime for inciting children to eat themselves to death!)

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And with a poor national health care system, I wonder how these obese people will cared for when their health degenerates on account of excessive, unecessary, ugly body fat.

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Thus making Americans officially the fattest humans on the planet, writes Healthy 360° .Must say this is the ugliest picture I've ever seen. It seems so gross and just downright vulgar to parade such ugliness that's primaritly been caused by gluttony. Think of how much prettier these fat women could have been had they put in some of the money they spent on food in a fund that would buy food for these starving children in Africa.

But let's face it. The trend towards putting on more weight that one can do without seems to be everywhere, even in France, home to the chic and slim. (Although I must say, I still have to see 7 out of 10 French that's obese.) Fortunately, the government has stepped up its campaign against obesity.

In fact, France is the leader in Europe in the introduction of public health measures aimed at reducing childhood obesity and have banned vending machines in schools since 2005. Read IHT report here.
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A piece of advice to Ms Winfrey and to all those folks in America who say they can't lose weight: The secret to losing weight is to just stop eating or at least eat much, much less. Everytime, you want to eat an extra slice of bread, think of the starving children in Africa.

France overtakes British economy

Britain on the brink of recession? I think the UK is already in recession. The days of wild spending are over. Who would think that the free-wheeling and dealing Brits who had it good for the last decade are on the verge of falling behind the poorer Italians?

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Thirty years ago, France was also host to thousands and thousands of jobless Brits when Britain was at its wits' ends trying to make ends meet, and I'm afraid that today's younger Brits -- even those who are anti-Europe or are Euro haters but who now find themselves in dire economic situation, will start trooping back here looking for jobs. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they might soon compete for jobs that were usually reserved for the Poles and the Latvians or other Eastern Europeans.

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Frankly, that's fine by me on the condition that they learn to speak French! I've met many Brits who have lived years and years in France but do not even try to learn or to speak French. They continue to live in a world of their own, among themselves, refusing to integrate. Most of them have expatriated to France but don't necessarily like the French. They simply want to avail of the French quality of life and the nation's first class health care system, things that are not readily available to them in cold, wet, dreary UK. Quite appalling behaviour actually!

According to The Times' in-country French basher Charles Bremner, many Brits who have come to France thinking that they would live la belle vie with their British pensions in Sterling are flying back home because the British currency has dwindled in value compared to the hated Euro.

Speaking of Bremner, I doubt however that he would be one of them. His bread and butter is in France. He lives la belle vie and gets to criticise France and the French and gets paid for doing it. So, why should he? Why would he want to live a potentially impoverished life in London?

Here's a report by The Daily Telegraph...

Britain's economy has been overtaken by France and could fall behind Italy's next year, according to leading economists.

By Ben Leach
Last Updated: 5:12PM GMT 07 Dec 2008

The UK is now the sixth largest economy in the world Photo: GETTY

New figures show that the economic crisis has pushed Britain well down the international league table.

The UK is now the sixth largest economy in the world, behind America, Japan, China, Germany and France.

Economists said the fall reflected the pound's slump to record lows against the euro.

A year ago the UK economy was 8 per cent bigger than that of France, measured by gross domestic product (GDP).

Now it is 14 per cent smaller, according to figures from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR). More here.

Believe it or not: America owes Thanksgiving Day to France!

Thanksgiving Day in June? (H/T to Mark over at SuperFrenchie's)

Kenneth C. Davis, author of “America’s Hidden History: Untold Tales of the First Pilgrims, Fighting Women and Forgotten Founders Who Shaped a Nation”, wrote an amazing Op-Ed piece in the NY Times, suggesting that a June date would be far more appropriate to commemorate the arrival of the first pilgrims to America’s shores, “After all the first European arrivals seeking religious freedom in the “New World” were French. And they beat their English counterparts by 50 years.” °

A French Connection
By KENNETH C. DAVIS
Published: November 25, 2008

[...] That French settlers bested the Mayflower Pilgrims may surprise Americans raised on our foundational myth, but the record is clear.

Long before the Pilgrims sailed in 1620, another group of dissident Christians sought a haven in which to worship freely. These French Calvinists, or Huguenots, hoped to escape the sectarian fighting between Catholics and Protestants that had bloodied France since 1560.

Landing in balmy Florida in June of 1564, at what a French explorer had earlier named the River of May (now the St. Johns River near Jacksonville), the French émigrés promptly held a service of “thanksgiving.” Carrying the seeds of a new colony, they also brought cannons to fortify the small, wooden enclosure they named Fort Caroline, in honor of their king, Charles IX. [...]

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Full NY Times article here.

Now, let me tell you that this was a surprising discovery for me just as I think it will surprise many Europeans and Americans alike to learn that America has a lot to thank the French for, eg., not only when they helped Gen George Washington boot King George's colonial armies but also for Thanksgiving Day! (I can't wait to hear what my English side of the family will say about that!)

So, with history for a backdrop, what better way than to wish all our friends in America a Happy Thanksgiving Feast in French: Joyeux Fêtes de Remerciements a tous nos amis en Amerique!

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Cross-posted from Hillblogger3: Thanksgiving Day: The first European arrivals seeking religious freedom in the “New World” were French

Mettons dehors ces individus lâches qui insultent la France! (Kick out those cowards who insult France!)

A disturbing phenomenon is happening right here in France and I don't like it...

Le Figaro reports: «La Marseillaise» sous surveillance La Marseillaise under surveillance

Crédits photo : AFP

Le secrétaire d'Etat aux Sports, Bernard Laporte, a annoncé qu'il quitterait le stade si l'hymne français venait à être sifflé lors du match contre l'Uruguay. The Secretary of State for Sports, Bernard Laporte, announced that he will walk out of the stadium if the French national anthem is hissed, whisteled over, etc. during the match with Uruguay.

Les sifflets qui ont couvert La Marseillaise lors du France-Tunisie du 14 octobre résonnent encore. Un sujet sensible. Le lendemain du match, le gouvernement avait préconisé la suspension des matchs en cas d'incidents de ce genre. L'hymne national sera-t-il encore sifflé ce soir ? Si La Marseillaise devait être à nouveau conspuée, ce ne serait pas le fait des supporteurs uruguayens, ils ne seront pas nombreux, mais plutôt de provocateurs profitant du contexte. The hissing and the whistling that drowned La Marseillaise during the France-Tunisia match on 14th October still resonates and continues to be a delicate subject. The day after the match, the government suggested the suspension of matches in case of another incident of the type occurs. Will the national hymn be hissed and whisteled over again tonight? If La Marseillaise is whistle-mobbed again, it won't come from supporters of the Uruguay team because they are not likely to be that many, but it will certainly be by provocateurs who will take advantage of the sporting context.

(Translation by France Blog. More on the story here.)

Commentaires de France Blog: Je suis complètement interloquée ! Comment peut-on tolérer ce genre d'agissements de la part de gens qui sont visiblement hostiles à la France. Le fait de siffler La Marseillaise dans un stade public lors d'une rencontre sportive qui se déroule en France ou ailleurs est une insulte à la France et au peuple français. Ces individus font preuve de la plus grand hostilité envers la France qui les accueille. Ils n'ont aucune raison de se trouver et de rester en France.

Il est du devoir de tout français qui se respecte de mettre un terme à ce genre d'agissements ignobles -- ces individus lâches doivent être montrés du doigt en public et, s'il se trouve qu'ils sont étrangers, il faut les expulser illico!

France Blog comments: I'm completely gobsmacked! How can we tolerate this type of act by people who are clearly hostile to France. Hissing, whistling, booing while La Marseillaise is being played in public during a sporting event, whether it's taking place right in France or somewhere else, is an insult to France and to the French people. It's a proof that those individuals are hostile to France that's welcomed them. They have no reason to find themselves nor to stay in France.

It is the duty of every French worthy of the name to put a stop to these ignoble actions -- these cowards should be pointed out in public and if they are foreigners, they must be kicked out without a moment's hesitation.

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Commentaire paru/comments posted in Le Figaro: ces individus lâches doivent être montrés du doigt en public et, FRANCE BLOG