The Atlas For 10/8/10: Your "Socialist" France

Photo from the AFP

Always used as a beacon of beng an ideal "socialist country" by America's factually challenged right wing, France has acted in truly non-leftist ways over the last few months on two keys issues that reached contentious conclusions today.

The Senate in Paris has decided to raise their pension retirement age from 60 to 62, garnering a victory for President Nicolas Sarkozy at the backs of the proletariat. And the bleeding will likely continue, with the vote on raising the full benefits pension age from 65 to 67 next Friday.

But Sarkozy's troubling wishes becoming actual law didn't stop there with the benefits, as the ban on full-facial veils, a move virtually targeted at the Muslim community in the nation, was officially ruled legal by France's highest court.

The fact that France has somehow one-up America on Islamophobia sure is an extraordinary accomplishment in the most egregious of ways.

So next time, when someone from the US tells their friends from France about how "liberal" their country is, a huge laugh from their French comrades should be the reply they receive.