Chirac as Jimmy Carter
President Jacques Chirac said yesterday that more than two weeks of violence in the poor suburbs of France is the sign of a "profound malaise" and ordered measures to reach out to the angry rioters.
In defense of former President Carter - trust me this is the first and only time I will defend him - he never actually used the word "malaise."
posted by theCardinal @ 6:20 AM
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US President Carter's speech in 1979 alerted the public to the energy crisis. He appealed to people's patriotism to solve the problem, bringing back memories of recent comments by John Kerry - he condemned US employers for offshoring by calling them 'Benedict Arnold' (treasonous) companies.
JC: "I'm proposing tonight an extra $10 billion over the next decade to strengthen our public transportation systems. And I'm asking you for your good and for your nation's security to take no unnecessary trips, to use carpools or public transportation whenever you can, to park your car one extra day per week, to obey the speed limit, and to set your thermostats to save fuel. Every act of energy conservation like this is more than just common sense -- I tell you it is an act of patriotism."
Television adverts in the US are again asking the public to turn down their thermostats, per The Oil Drum.
The European Union has still to get its act together on energy, therefore a good opportunity for some international consensus at next month's WTO meeting is likely to be missed.
The '70's energy crisis was a creature of politics. Our impending crisis is one driven by increasing demand. Foreign Policy has an interesting "Think Again
" piece on Energy Indepedence. Our (US and EU) best hope is to start working on alternative sources of energy - conservation will help but will not do enough.
Something to stir patriotic feelings? We've been gazumped. Apparently shipments of LNG for the UK have gone instead to the US and Spain.
It is all very serious. How serious? Well the energy crisis is featuring in the West Wing.
"petroleum-based fertilizers [are] now used almost solely to grow the bulk of the world's food in soil that is almost completely sterile."
"The Vinick character talked about how the market will correct the nation’s dependence on oil, citing the use of hybrid vehicles."
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