Notre Dame Restoration

The most famous Roman Catholic cathedral in Europe outside the Vatican, Notre-Dame in Paris, has been restored to its glory five years after a destructive fire that gutted the structure and risked destruction to numerous sacred items and artifacts (many if not most of which were saved).  French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to have it restored completely by the 2024 Paris Olympics or, failing that, by the end of 2024.  The restoration crews got the job done with 24 days to spare.

The cathedral looks as grand and opulent as it did when completed in 1345, and the restoration crews cleaned and unearthed architectural details and cleaned paintings of grim and dust that had long since accumulated before the fire.  Notre-Dame has more than regained its place as a house of worship designed to make you feel like you are in heaven itself, the whole point of the grandiosity of Catholic ecclesiastical architecture.

President Macron has called Notre-Dame the soul of the French nation, and he told Bill Whittaker of CBS News that the restoration project helped unite France, a country that's as bitterly divided these days as much as the United States.  He also told Whittaker that working for a common goal and recognizing what brings a nation together can be a good way to heal the divisions.

Of course, don't expect anything like this to take place in America, where the most important building in the nation, the Capitol, was crapped in during the January 6 insurrection.  What goal could we stupid Americans set to unite the country?  Certainly not restoring a Catholic cathedral, as that would violate the separation of church and state, and besides, progressives would be incensed at any public works project that gives preference toward a faith known for its patriarchy and misogyny . . . even as these same so-called progressives demand that we respect Islam.

Build a national high-speed rail network?  No, conservatives insist that's an effort to intrude on our freedom of mobility - to go where we want, when we want in our cars.  Eradicate the measles?  No, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., as the incoming Health and Human Services Secretary, won't allow the necessary vaccinations.  Get money out of politics?  Don't make me chortle.  We're not likely to get behind a common cause unless the Germans invade us.

But then, the last time the Germans invaded us . . .

. . . we welcomed them with open arms.

The truth of the matter is, for all of the bad breaks France has had economically and politically, the French people know who they are and have known for over a thousand years.  Here in the United States, after nearly a quarter of a millennium,  we still have no idea who we are.  If we have a common identity at all, it's an adherence to the Constitution, which seems quaint as Trump prepares to return to power, or maybe making lots of money.  Other than that, we can't agree on anything.  It should thus come as no surprise that the French would spare no expense to rebuild in five years a masterpiece of medieval architecture dating back to the reign of Philip VI of the House of Valois, a cathedral of stone, wood and lead that has stood for eight centuries, while in United States, took well over a decade to fill the hole in the ground left by the destruction of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, a pair of buildings dating back to the 1970s that were made of steel, aluminum, drywall and spray-on fireproofing held together with spit to cut costs.

Sad.

So it seems somewhat appropriate that Trump has named the money-grubbing and crooked real estate developer and pardoned felon Charles Kushner, father of Jared, as his ambassador to France.

This country needs an enema.

Both Sides of the Channel

Emmanuel Macron was once seen as a wunderkind in French politics who could breathe life into the old Hexagon when he was elected president of France in 2017.  That bloom has long disappeared from the rose.  Last week by-elections that Macron called were held in France to try to shore up his centrist base in the French parliament.  It ended up getting wiped out by extremist factions - mostly right-wing extremists, who were supporters of Popular Front leader Marine Le Pen - due to continuing economic instability in the country.

The elections in France were indicative of the increasing popularity of right-wing politics in continental Europe.  Not the raw American strain - French women don't get fat, and they don't have to worry about losing their reproductive rights either - but still a virulent strain of reactionism that is hostile to immigration, fair trade,  free markets and fearu of the economic realities of the post-COVID fallout.  What's going on in Hungary is only getting more popular in Germany and Italy as well as France.

Meanwhile, the British threw out the Conservatives and their leader, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, sweeping in Labour and their leader Keir Starmer to power with an historic majority in the House of Commons.  Prime Minister Starmer takes office as a technocrat who ran on policy as a message to revive Britain's sluggish economy, suggesting that the Brits are bucking an increasingly global trend and taking a more pragmatic approach to solving problems.

There is one disturbing common trend between Britain and France - in both cases, the incumbents lost.  that trend has dark forebodings for the American elections in November.      

This Is Not France

French President Emmanuel Macron won re-election, largely because while many people were disappointed with him, many of them would have rather eaten raw snails than vote for right-winger Marine Le Pen.  Especially when a Le Pen presidency would have resulted in France's withdrawal from NATO and the coalition against Ukraine.

So Joe Biden, or another Democrat to be determined if Biden does not run for another term, could still win the 2024 presidential election over Donald Trump or a pro-Trump Republican, right?

Wrong.  Why? Because this is not France.

The French people voted with their heads to keep a dangerous chick like Marine Le Pen out of office.  Americans vote with their guts, which is how right-wingers get elected.  Also, because she's French, Le Pen is not a sore loser who would claim that the election was stolen - and there is no such thing as a French electoral college that awards electoral votes from each of the country's 94 departments and can circumvent the will of the people.  And you know that "liberty, equality, fraternity" thing?  The French may not always live up to that standard, but they do take seriously the right to vote.  For one thing, they don't pass laws to restrict the vote.

Another thing is, they vote on Sundays.  Not Tuesdays.    

The Ukraine war is more of a factor in the French presidential election than it is likely to be here in the 2022 midterms and the 2024 presidential election because, well, Kiev is about 1,470 miles from Paris, which is shorter than the distance between New York and Denver, and there's no ocean between the two countries either.  If a Republican administration that takes office in 2025, should the war in Ukraine still be going on by then, pulls out of NATO, that move will be met by the American people with more by a shrug than a shudder.  That's what my gut tells me.  (My head? No, I'm an American.)   

Also, the French have a lot of amenities and programs that we Americans lack.  Despite inflation ravaging the French economy, it's not ravaging it as much as it's ravaging our own, and the French of course have guaranteed health care.  Not to mention more nice things to cushion an inflationary economy.   

Remember, once again - this is not France.

Okay, is there any other business? 

We All Live With Yellow Vests

Is Paris burning?

Protests in Paris and elsewhere in France have been going on for over a month to protest President  Emmanuel Macron's economic reforms, including a higher tax on gasoline and diesel fuel meant to cut down on carbon emissions from automobiles by having people use them less.  The protesters have been wearing the yellow vests required to be kept in the cars of all French motorists because . . . well, I don't know why, but they have to have them.

Anyway, when I first heard about these protests, I couldn't understand why people in a country blessed with a sound, smart transportation policy that offers lots of mass-transit alternatives would get in a snit over taxes on fuels for their cars - cars that are fuel-efficient by necessity, because the French don't encourage the mass production of gas guzzlers like America does.  But it turns out that many French people rely more on their Renaults than on their metro systems - a curious condition, given the legendary unreliability of Renaults - and they can't bear more taxes.  In fact, the French already have to deal with a high cost of living, and even though their minimum wage is higher than ours (€9.53 an hour, or US$12.10, which works out to €1,498.47 a month, or US$1,700.30), they can't get very far on that, either. 

After the center of Paris started bearing an eerie resemblance to the downtown area of Detroit - a city founded by the French - Macron backed down on the fuel taxes, canceling them and promising a €100 (US$113.09) per month increase in the minimum wage in 2019 and the cancellation of charges and taxes on overtime hours in 2019, but he refuses to raise taxes on the rich.

And Americans thought Macron was a progressive because he speaks two languages and wants to do something about climate change?  

Anyway, the French people say that's not enough, and so they keep pressing for more demands.  Because that's the difference between France and the United States.  There, the people protest in the streets and get results.  Here, we protest and get arrested for loitering.  In France, the government is afraid of the people, but in the U.S., the people are afraid of the government.

In France right now, though, the government could completely collapse, as Macron's concessions haven't satisfied anyone because he still takes a neo-liberal, pro-business approach to managing the French economy.  And at this point, a period of instability could be strong enough and severe enough to topple the French government like a thunderstorm topples an oak tree.  And there could be a Sixth Republic as a result.

I feel sorry for all of the American tourists who went to Paris for the holidays.  No, not really . . . because if you can afford to even go to Paris in the first place, why should I feel sorry for you?  

Vive La France!

France . . . World Cup champions.

Croatia . . . Better luck next time.

But hey, you got farther than people thought you would be beating England, and that second goal you scored in the final was amazing.

And to the American team, which never even made the 2018 tournament . . .

Yo, could I see you clowns in my office??? >:-( 

Sacre Bleu!

Marine Le Pen survived the first round of the French presidential election, finishing second in a field of eleven candidates just behind Emmanuel Macron, who has promised to keep France in the European Union, keep France in NATO, and keep France sane.   Le Poison Pen would ask France to withdraw from both groups and go off on its own, and proceed to regain the greatness of its imperial age.  Ah yes, the one that ended with the Germans at the gates of Paris, Louis Napoleon surrendering Alsace, Lorraine and his throne, a group of Communists controlling the capital, and the country on such an edge of desperation that it could only be saved by . . . an Irishman!

Be that as it may, Macron's narrow lead in the first round of the election has given observers some hope that the French will not make the same sort of mistake that British made when they voted to get out of the European Union or a mistake like the one the Americans made when, despite Hillary Clinton's popular-vote win, they elected Donald Trump President (which could have been avoided had the Democrats nominated someone else - an Irishman!).

Maybe Macron's call for patriotism over nationalism and his confidence and youth (he's 39)  will win out over Le Pen in the end.  I hope so.  Because, after seeing Great Britain and the United States screw up, it would be pretty scary to see the land of fine wines, Truffaut, Pierre Renoir, Jean Renoir, the City of Light, the Riviera, croissants, Berlioz, the Enlightenment, Henri-Pierre Roche, Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Adjani, Sophie Marceau, a whole slew of other great actresses with supermodel looks, Balzac, Impressionism, Cezanne, Charles Aznavour, Jacques Cousteau, and all sorts of other groovy contributions to Western civilization go . . . completely off its rocker.

Oh yeah, speaking of rockers, France gave us Johnny Hallyday too. 

Come on, frogs - do the right thing and put Emanuel Macron in the Elysian Palace!     

Social Insecurity

The debate in France over raising the retirement age from 60 to 62 has heated up. Protests across the country have sprouted up, and some have gotten downright unruly, with windows being smashed in some cities. Mostly, though, demonstrations in cities like Paris have largely been peaceful. However, the demonstrations have been complemented by general strikes and a walkout of truck drivers, causing fuel shortages throughout the country. As I watch this unfold on my television screen, I can only ask myself one question.

Why can't we be more like the French?

I used to think it would help for Americans to adopt French assumptions when it comes to art and culture, philosophy, and how relevant it is if the president keeps a mistress. But now I wish we'd be more like the French when it comes to preserving, protecting, and defending our hard-won government programs, like Social Security. Republicans don't just want to raise the retirement age from 65 - three years higher than it is in France - to 70. They want to privatize it and maybe even get rid it altogether. Where's the outage? And will there be any if the Tea Party takes over?

Good grief, when the French go on general strikes, that sometimes means a new prime minister in a week. In America, we've been conditioned to believe that even threatening a strike can cost us our jobs. Where's the joie de vivre, the esprit de corps, and all those other French-named fighting moods of the American worker? Why can't we do what our grandparents did during the Depression - stop the assembly lines and stage sit-ins? Come on, my fellow Americans - show those frogs we have their same fighting spirit!

French Kissoffs

France is currently struggling with how to adapt to the twenty-first century, a century of greater diversity and diminishing returns. As I opined on this blog in 2005, American liberals have long regarded France as an earthly paradise for both its cultural and intellectual life, as evidenced by the many Americans (not me, alas) who have traveled to Paris for inspiration. Jim Morrison was one, of course, as were Ernest Hemingway and many of his contemporaries. How far back do I have to go? Thomas Jefferson absorbed France's cultural influence as the American minister to that country. But two other qualities many American liberals have longingly admired about France are its commitment to liberty, equality and fraternity and its generous social services. And the commitment in France to both have taken rather interesting turns of late.

Yesterday the French Senate overwhelmingly voted to ban Islamic women from wearing burqas, clothes that completely cover their features, in public. Many liberals in the United States have assailed the vote as being bigoted toward followers of a specific religion - in this case, Islam - and that this should be seen as unacceptable in France as burning Korans is here. Some feminists have even opposed the new French law, suggesting that a religion having women cover themselves is really no worse than a consumer culture bombarding them with images of idealized beauty to dictate to them what they should look like.

One can sympathize with the French as they strive to create a society that values secular public life even as it protects private religious freedom. After all, the French government isn't asking Muslim women to start dolling themselves up to look like Emmanuelle Béart or anything like that. But it seems contradictory to tell them they have freedom of religion and then tell them to go against it by adopting government-approved dress code. Some French Muslim women who hate the burqa will no doubt rejoice over this law, while many of them will regard it as an attack on their identity.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly, the lower house of the French Parliament, took to attacking the retirement pension issue, voting to raise the retirement age in France from 60 to 62. Most pensioners are against the proposal, but the government deems it necessary to raise the retirement age - which would still be lower than it is in the United States - to keep the pension fund from going under. President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to preserve it for future generations.

As France tries to redefine itself for the present and beyond, it has taken one step ahead of America and one step behind it. It may be bad enough that Americans have fewer social programs than the French, but we can't even figure out how to preserve the entitlements we have, such as Social Security and Medicare - even as the Tea Partiers suggest abolishing them altogether. The French are at least looking to do the right thing, no matter how unpopular it may be, to keep their social welfare system going in perpetuity. Paradoxically, French distrust of Islam - based on a fear of religion bred from the days of an official alliance of church and state from the days of the monarchy - reveals the discomfort the French feel in deciding what religious expression should be allowed. We Americans, who have never had an official religion, have allowed religious freedom to flourish, the result being that Americans enjoy more religious liberty than anyone else. We would never pass laws banning burqas in public. Not even Koran-burning can change that.

High Speed Hijinks

More on the latest high-speed rail initiative. . . .

The Obama administration recently announced eight billion dollars in grants to build high-speed passenger rail lines in the Northeast, Florida, Texas, the Midwest, and California. Many passenger rail advocates who have been waiting for a moment like this are pleased. I was, too . . . until I saw how fast these "high-speed" trains would be going.

Some of you might think we already have a high-speed train - Amtrak's Acela, which travels the route between Boston and Washington. Right. I've ridden that train before. It's certainly very sleek, it's stylish, and it's faster than the old Metroliner it replaced. But high-speed? No way. A TGV in France can take you from Paris to Lyon - approximately the same distance between Boston and Washington - in two hours; the Acela covers that distance in five hours. Though the Acela can go as fast as 150 mph, it doesn't always go that fast.

Nor am I impressed with the planned 110-mph train from Chicago to St. Louis. It's worth noting that Germany's InterCity Express has trains that go up to 200 mph or more. Theoretically, you cover the the 298-mile distance from Chicago to St. Louis in a little over an hour and a half, while a 110-mph train out of Chicago would take even longer to reach Springfield. The high-speed train sets Obama is touting are faster than conventional U.S. trains, and some would say they'll be "pretty fast," but "pretty fast" isn't going to be fast enough.

It's quite embarrassing to many Americans our intercity passenger trains aren't as fast as trains elsewhere, but even more embarrassing is the fact that our current intercity rail system is so hopelessly antiquated, thanks to decades of shoestring-budget investments and deferred maintenance, that anyone who wants to ride the rails might be better off using a handcar. Japan began running bullet trains in 1964 - 1964! - and our passenger trains have seemingly been traveling at speeds last considered world-class in 1864.

The jobs these new high-speed rail projects will create will likely include openings for conductors, engineers, waitstaff, and cleaning staff - but the dirty little secret is that it won't necessarily create a lot of high-tech engineering jobs, as opposed to the kind of engineers who just drive the damn things. That's because much of the expertise to build high-speed trains is . . . overseas. President Obama wants the new "high-speed" trains in America to use American high-speed rail technology. One observer compared that to Bangladesh using Bangladeshi technology to start its own space program.

Meanwhile, the latest federal budget is projecting a huge deficit. Speaking of Bangladesh - this country is so damn broke, it's too bad George Harrison isn't around to stage a benefit concert for the United States.

Obama Abroad

So how can you call Barack Obama's first trip to Europe as President of the United States a success when he didn't accomplish much?

Well, for one thing, he actually made it to Europe. And he impressed the British, the French, and the Germans alike with his charm, his self-deprecation, his articulate manner, and his willingness to listen. Obama wanted the Europeans to spend more to stimulate their economies. They don't want to do that so much. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel wanted more international banking regulations. President Obama wanted more regulations, but not on a global framework. But at the G-20 summit, Obama did set a tone for ongoing negotiations and good-faith efforts at reviving the global economy that should bear more fruit later, just not now. So, as the President himself insisted, he did okay.

And thanks to him, the Queen of England has a new IPod!

Probably a lot of Sir Edward Elgar on it . . .

(The best sideshow involving First Lady Michelle Obama was not her meeting with Her Majesty, both rather her meeting with her French counterpart, Carla Bruni Sarkozy. A picture of the meeting shows that they were clearly sizing each other up! :-D)