Vive le France!

Today is Bastille Day, July 14, the French National Holiday. It commemorates Parisians storming the Bastille, which had been turned into a political prison. I think I'll go over to McDonald's and order some FRENCH fries -- not "freedom fries." Today at noon on WUOL Carol honored the French in her noon-hour program and started with the Marsellaise, the French national anthem. I happened to be at the courthouse corner downtown and I turned the radio up nice and loud. (Nobody noticed -- they had their air-conditioners turned up full blast in their SUVs -- but I felt better.) I get teary when they sing the Marsellaise in Rick's Cafe in Casablanca, drowning out the Nazis. Vive le France! I am a Francophile. If the Bushies had heeded their opposition to going to Iraq we wouldn't be in the mess we are in today. Ben Franklin had sense enough to charm the French, our first allies, but we don't have Ben Franklin anymore, do we?