Hi, Isaac, and welcome. 300 jumps? Hmm... puts you well ahead of me, with my 30-odd static line ones. Maybe I should try and brag about the rest of the training I got in Saint-Cyr (that's the French equivalent of West Point)? Nah! Any position has it's counter, and here is not the place! Don't you agree? ;-)
Don't worry. Nobody intends to turn the KR List into a political forum. But whenever one list member happens to be in a place that makes the news (like New Orleans recently), well, news and enlightened opinions tend to be welcome. Heated debates would be promptly censored by our zealous moderator anyway, so they happen off list. Around the world, the news media have grossly exagerated the extent of this rioting, and misinterpreted the causes, too. So, I just tried to explain what really happens here, from an insider's point of view. Funny, for as long as I can emember, you're the first builder to introduce himself by ethnicity (Incidentally, I just realized made the mistake of revealing my 25% of Moroccan blood myself in that post, which will probably attract a lot of prejudice, since brown is not exactly a color in fashion!) OK, case closed my side. Back to business. What are you building? How far are you? Serge Vidal KR2 "Kilimanjaro Cloud" Paris, France isaac milton <[email protected]> Envoyé par : [email protected] 2005-11-15 04:37 Veuillez répondre à rousedabout; Veuillez répondre à KRnet Remis le : 2005-11-15 04:37 Pour : KRnet <[email protected]> cc : (ccc : Serge VIDAL/DNSA/SAGEM) Objet : Re: KR> Civil unrest in France Hi guys, I'm building in Boise Idaho, am African American by ethniticy, and was Army Special Forces for nearly 10 years... wounded in Panama in 89, relatively new pilot, but have taken off 300 more times than I've landed, so I feel comfortable with you guys. I enjoy the threads, it's helped me a lot, and I spend most of my evenings soaking it up. I'd appreciate, respectfully, if you leave the political opinions elsewhere, as any position has it's counter, and here is not the place. Don't you agree? Isaac Milton KR-2 ROUSEDABOUT Boise Idaho, USA --- Serge VIDAL <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi, Phil, and all. > > Yep, I'm OK, the "civil unrest" is definitely not in > my street. Pity, > though, 'cause it would be a rare opportunity at > taking potshots at the > rioters! ;-) > > More seriously, the situation in France is quite > simple: around all large > cities, we have suburbs full of young Arabs and > Africans, whose fathers > came to France long ago when jobs were aplenty. > There are also lots of > illegal immigrants there, too. These guys probably > represent more than 10% > of the population now, although nobody knows for > sure, because the law > forbids to make statistics on an ethnic basis. > > In general, these populations failed to succeed, > despite the faboulous > help you get from the state (education is free, and > of good quality; > parents get monthly child education grants; > unemployed people get generous > pensions, and when these dry out, you get a "minimum > income" grant which > is about two thirds of minimum wages; public > transports are heavily > subsidised; and so on; the list is endless, as is > the list of taxes to > finance all that). > > These guys are simply not interested in becoming > "normal" citizens, and > blame everybody else for their failure. You don't > let them do whatever > they want? You're a racist, period! > > When France went under attack by Algerian > terrorists, each time the police > arrested or killed one, these guys would riot, in > support. For the past > ten years or so, they have celebrated on New Year's > Eve by burning cars > (about 500 a year). This time, the unrest has been > triggered by the fact > that two robbers ran away the police, hid inside an > electrical converter > post, and killed themselves. > > Make no mistake. France is not an ethnically based > nation. We believe in > equal citizenship and common values, and our model > puts the state well > above communities. Religion and race are considered > private matters, and > don't get special statuses. We have always had lots > of migrants here. Just > look at me: father was half Spanish, half Moroccan; > mother is Swiss. The > guy sitting in front of me at the office is from > Italian origin. My > assistant is from South East Asia. > > But smooth integration does not seem to work with > these guys. > > In short, France now houses a large hostile and > useless population, and no > government will have the balls to deal with the > issue, for fear of being > branded racists, or insensitive, or whatever. They > will simply dump more > money into these suburbs, and raise more taxes to > pay for it. Their > subsidized housing will probably be repainted and > overhauled for the > umptenth time, so that they can vandalize it again. > > I'm afraid this country is doomed, because we seem > not to know the > difference between being human and being stupid. > > Serge Vidal > KR2 "Kilimanjaro Cloud" > Paris, France > _______________________________________ > Search the KRnet Archives at > http://www.maddyhome.com/krsrch/index.jsp > to UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to > [email protected] > please see other KRnet info at > http://www.krnet.org/info.html > __________________________________ Yahoo! FareChase: Search multiple travel sites in one click. http://farechase.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Search the KRnet Archives at http://www.maddyhome.com/krsrch/index.jsp to UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to [email protected] please see other KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html
