Just want to drop you a high 5 for that rant! That's how to do it!

Walking out of the terminal at Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix in June is something you never forget.

I have done it many times.

I remember exactly what it felt like the last time, and it was about 8-9 at night.

Sticking your head in an oven is the only description.

I left France after my father’s last tour there in 1962. I have never met or had to put up with any stupid, incompetent people since.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
Short version: Fuck flying.

Yup.

One hour for a safety check seems like time well spent. Also, getting the right technician from wherever they are, to the plane, then clearing the plane in one hour seems like a rather decent response, union or no union.

Well executed rant, though.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
I left France after my father’s last tour there in 1962. I have never met or had to put up with any stupid, incompetent people since.

It's funny, I know a couple of Frenchmen that have become US citizens. And while they are decidedly "French", they love America and have made it their home. Granted, one is anti gun, but the other has amassed a very impressive collection of firearms.

The best stupidity I just saw was this. I just flew home from Marsh Harbor (bahamas) to Fort Lauderdale on silver airways. Right on the inside of each engine it said "This plane uses 60% less fuel than a 70 passanger jet" It was a Saab. Well guess what, it only sat 36 passangers.......DUHHHHHHH, so it uses 60% less fuel, but also carries 50% less people........

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
At least you aren't in Colorado. Girlfriend just texted me, 5 hour delay. She got there at 5AM for no reason. Damn socialist Coloradoians! Or maybe they are all to stoned to prep the plane.

Deep breaths, relax.

If he was in Colorado, he could get some weed and relax.

They have a lot of Gaul.

quote:

Originally posted by Fredward:
They have a lot of Gaul.

Mike drop!

Vince

GREAT! rant, OP!

I tend to cut the French a lot of slack.

Back in the 18th and 19th centuries the French were truly manly men -- real ass-kicking explorers and first-class warriors.

But things changed a lot in the 20th century.

Consider: Almost all their men, the guys with testosterone, were killed between 1917 and 1919. The few men who were left were killed between 1939 and 1945. Only "fake men" (the ones with cock and balls but no testosterone at all) and immature young males with no good adult male role models to teach them how to be men were left after 1945.

The result: A nation of cheese-eating surrender monkeys.

But it's not their fault.

Really.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
I'm indifferent to the French. Europe is chocked full of stupid people, as is the entire world.

^^ THIS ^^

Labor unions have an insane amount of power in Europe (eg 32 hr work week in Italy, 36 hr work week in Germany, businesses closing for 2 or 3 weeks in August, businesses closing for Christmas to NY). The most egregious recent example is in the Ducati thread - VW might not be able to sell its Ducati shares to HD because 10 of 20 seats on its management committee are held by unions.

My wife was returning from her grandfather's funeral in France when the Air France decided to have a strike, affecting domestic flights. She saw it coming and took an overnight train to gay Paris and managed to keep her flight home.

I don't understand how Europe can keep the lights on with all the regs and rules that thwart capitalism at every turn.

Love their fries.

Yup, that was definitely the rant of the week.

I don't really mind the French. They are no better or worse than the rest of Europe. Maybe someday the bar will get raised.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
Short version: Fuck flying.

Shorter version: FUCK!

Perhaps the OP needs this:

quote:

Originally posted by SapperSteel:
Only "fake men" (the ones with cock and balls but no testosterone at all) and immature young males with no good adult male role models to teach them how to be men were left after 1945.

I'd fundamentally disagree with that statement.

Tens of thousands of young men volunteered or were conscripted into the French military and fought with courage and distinction in Indochina (1947 to 1954) and Algeria (1954 to 1962).

Many of them died or were left with life changing wounds, and as is typical of any military, these were disproportionately the best and bravest because those kind of men go for elite units like the Paras or the Groupement de Commandos Mixtes Aéroportés.

Some led or participated in the failed coup d'état against de Gaulle in 1961. They did this because the felt the military was betrayed by de Gaulle and his decision to grant Algerian independence. That isn't a sight of the lack of balls (though the idea was doomed to failure from the start).

Then you have the French forces that fought alongside the US in Gulf War 1, Afghanistan, Gulf War II, that took on ISIS-related terrorists in north Africa (Mali, mostly) in Operation Serval, and who are helping us kill ISIS right now.

The problem in France is not that there was a lack of male role models, it is they allowed unchecked immigration of people who became wealth-sapping tapeworms sucking the tits offered by socialist politicians, just like we are doing right now.