nancree wrote:
> Ha! It worked! Our boycott of French products. In today's Drudge
> Report there was a headline "France calls for fresh start in
> relationship with USA."

Actually, the U.S. has been calling for quite some time for a new
start, a rapproachment, with France and Germany. One of the major
goals of Ms. Rice's visit to Europe is to start mending the fences of
those friendships strained by the invasion of Iraq. Haven't you read
that Bush and company now admit that the French and German position was
correct, that there are/were no WMDs in Iraq? One has to read a good
newspaper, not the Drudge Report, if one wants to stay informed about
current affairs.

> I haven't bought French wine, or other products for a year and a
> half.

I hope you've been buying domestic (U.S.) wines from CA, OR, WA.
Terrific wines. But the French wine industry hasn't noticed anyone's
absence from the market; sales have increased, including sales to the
U.S.

I even found a Canadian Brie cheese. And "Rouge & Noir" Brie and
> Camembert cheeses are made in Petaluma, California, (despite their
> French name) and are rated equal to, and even better than French
> cheeses.

I don't know who would have rated Rouge & Noir cheeses better than the
best French brie and camembert cheeses. Rouge & Noir cheeses aren't bad
but don't come close, for example, to Brie de Meaux.

I won't forget the image of the French president hugging the
> German Prime Minister and laughing. (Middle Eastern money planted in
> French banks is said to be one reason.)

Then why is Chirac hugging the *German* PM.? According to your
position, Chirac ought to be hugging and laughing it up with the Saudi
King....oh dear, now there is a nation that probably doesn't buy much
French wine.

> My daughter and I used to spend 2 weeks in France every year. No
> more. And she and her husband are world travelers, and they skip
> France now, too.

Well, the U.S. dollar has tanked against the euro. Actually, while you
and your daughter obviously enjoyed France, perhaps it's good that
you're free now to visit other countries. Travel is supposed to be a
broadening experience. But did you know that it's very difficult to
find a good rental in France? Hotels, pension, country inns, cottages
in the South of France, are booked tightly....not all that many
travelers are staying away, except possibly low-budget travelers whose
dollars have shrunk against the euro.

> NY City restaurants have made pleas to customers to please help
them
> unload French wines that are just sitting on their shelves.

That's not right. Sales of French wine in NYC have increased. Are
those restauranteurs giving away that wine on the shelves? (Besides
good wine isn't stored on *shelves*.) I bet not. I have no doubt that
a waitron or sommelier will encourage the purchase of a bottle of wine,
but *pleading* with a customer to take a forsaken bottle of Chateau
Margaux or Chateau Petrus?

Now they want to be "friends". Hm-m-m!
>
As mentioned above, it's the U.S. which wants to renew the friendship
of France and Germany. I hope Ms. Rice's pilgrimage is successful and
France and Germany overlook the idiocy that has led, so far, to over
1400 pointless deaths of U.S. military, over 100,000 Iraqi civilian
deaths, the destruction of the Iraqi infrastructure, the revitalization
of fanatic terrorists, and cost of hundreds of billions of dollars.

Mac