A Word about the French

I may have said this before, but Marius' comments below, along with the unbelievable half-life of this stupid cultural wanking have prompted me to reiterate it: Americans can justifiably begin making fun of the French (and anyone else we owe money to--like the UN, for instance) just as soon as we, as a nation, get together and pay France for the use of its navy during the Revolutionary War. Does even the dumbest flathead Texan believe that the United States could have won without this crucial and very expensive assistance? Do we really have the conceitedness to believe that the French just lent us their navy, or that perhaps France had nothing better to do than jaunt across the ocean to help some dipshit rebels on a lark?

I think not. France supported and gambled on us as a people, a nation, and an idea. Sure, they expected to get something back for it, but not necessarily filthy lucre. But, seeing as how we have become a nation that places all questions in terms of monetary debt--and seeing as how Jefferson obsessed over his debts, I think, if I'm reading the "original intent" right, even or perhaps especially he would want us to pay the French back. It's been long enough that we've been dependents and, as TJ would remind us, we have for 229 years not been true "men" due to our indebtedness.

So that's what? Like 300 trillion dollars we owe them, or something? Who wants to chip in first? After this, we'll take up a collection for the 5 billion we owe the United Nations.

Yeah, that's what I thought. Pay up or shut the fuck up. There it is.