[kj] o/t the french are rioting again.

[B. Oliver Sheppard]

Oh, regarding my previous post in this thread, I mentioned this:


"The French have what I think's an admirable working class sense of 
organization and, unlike American workers, don't just sit there, hunker 
down, and hope it doesn't hurt too much when bosses or the business 
class try to impose austerity measures on them. They actually think they 
deserve some vacation every year, should have rights on the job, decent 
employment practices, etc."

-- because in the recent GOP debate, GOP Pres. candidate Tommy Thompson, 
when asked if employers should have the right to fire someone because 
s/he is gay, replied:

“I think that is left up to the individual business…yes.” 
(http://suicidegirls.com/news/politics/21201/)


This is typical of the mentality of most US rulers -- bosses should be 
little despots if they damn well want to. There was a poll in 2002 or so 
that asked the US public if they thought it was illegal for a boss to 
fire someone because s/he voted a certain way, or had certain political 
views. Overwhelmingly, many Americans thought that would be illegal. 
They were wrong; in fact it's perfectly legal to fire someone int he US 
because of their political views. The French have a workforce that 
doesn't put up as much with this sort of thing -- a good example for us 
in the US, actually. Sarkozy wants to do undo this kind of social 
contract with France's workers.

-Oliver