For starters, the French government at the time and Chirac in particular were never popular. (One of the funny recuring episodes pre-Iraq war was an American telling a Frenchman that Chirac is corrupt! Really...) Based on what little I know of French political history, it seems to me that French governments in general are unpopular. And it was complete different kind of catastrophe than Katrina. One was about failing to evacuate people and provide relief, the other about failing to check up on the elderly. Dodging responsibility is a common theme though. Yours, Teemu Helsinki, Finland __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html