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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The Street who wrote (129500)	2/27/2001 5:46:03 PM
From: Neocon	Respond to of 769667

Apart from a disagreement on the War on Drugs (though not on aspects of it), I would say you have a good list. I think the immigrant aspect is very important. These were enterprising people, eager for opportunity, and proud to be Americans. About 20 years ago, I escorted some acquaintances from France around Washington DC. They kept commenting on how free the atmosphere of everything was, and when we ran into a French immigrant with a boutique, she also confirmed the feeling, after a half a dozen years here. It wasn't until I went to Paris that I had some sense of it. Paris is strangely monotonous: most everything looks much the same, stylistically, and it is hard to distinguish even the various quarters, with a few exceptions. Almost everything is beige or gray, except at street level. There is a strange sense of conformity. It may seem minor, but it is almost impossible to get more than a token amount of ice in a drink, even though there is plenty for a wine bucket. Drinks near parks are lukewarm. Service in restaurants is generally like molasses. And no one complains, it is all normal! (By the way, all of the movies I saw advertised were American). Prices at markets in the city are absurd, because they have all sorts of protectionist laws, and very few "hypermarts" are allowed in the city. Although they bottle their own Coke, and it is a popular drink in France, it costs several times as much as in the states. Even in August, even in the museums, there is almost no air conditioning. It is true that summer is comparatively cool, but in the week I was there, a couple of days hit the mid- 80s, and during a crowded second visit to the Louvre, with numerous tourists crowding the rooms, the humidity was dangerously high. I had some trouble breathing, and it is bad for the paintings. I am just trying to give a few details which might give the flavor of France, and why my friends might have raved about how free the atmosphere of America was.........