My truck has a French transmission!

[Anita]

First time I quickly glanced at this thread's (abbreviated) subject title of "My truck has a French tra" I imagined a VX with something akin to a lovely red lace demi cup. Perhaps I have spent too much time shopping at Victoria Secret's.

[Pete]

I must say Anita, I thought the exact same thing! LOL

[Heraclid]

Kind of a long those lines, check out this paint job....

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/da...463fp-609a.jpg

:-) Warning - political crap ahead...


I'm first and foremost an American, but some of my Prussian and Welsh forefathers were very distinguished French butt-kickers. :-) Anyway, my opinion of France right now is that they are a nation struggling desperately to remain relevant and they know they aren't. It angers me that the French government so opposed the toppling of Saddam Hussein (because they had secret deals with the regime and they wanted to collect) and now they're all bent out of shape that we're excluding them from lucrative contracts to rebuild Iraq. Now that we've succeeded they want a piece of the pie, and what the heck makes them think they deserve it?! No, they should have to earn it, and they did not - other nations did help and will rightfully reap the benefits.

[WyrreJ]

It is easy to simplify and thus misrepresent politics, as your admiral anecdote clearly showed. You've got about one-tenth the picture on this topic, pretty much the more popular of the two "versions" of the "truth" that the mainstream press is carrying (the standard false dichotomy of conservative vs liberal). I don't claim to have the whole picture myself, I think very few people do -- including the ones making the decisions that matter.

Myself? I'm first and foremost a member of the human species, so I tend to view arguments with jingoistic underpinnings as suspect. For example - the French deals with Iraq were not secret, for the most part they were conducted through the oil-for-food program set up by the USA and administered by the UN. Legal, US-sanctioned debts that the USA did not want to make good on, despite Wolfowitz's comments before the war that because of the oil supplies, Iraq's reconstruction could pay for itself. So, on one hand the US administration was saying, "Iraq has plenty of oil/money to pay for stuff" (unlike afghanistan) and on the other hand they were saying,"all legitimate foreign debts wil be canceled." That hardly seems just or equitable, and if the situtation were reversed, I doubt the USA would have been any more keen on the idea than the French were. That's not to say there weren't other factors in France's opposition, far from it, but that isn't the point of the example.

Of course, now the current truth is that Iraq has a long way to go before it will have the infrastructure to pump the oil to pay the debts of reconstruction. So, the Feds want to cancel the loans and replace them with outright gifts from the US taxpayer. It is no surprise that the USA would want most of that money to go to US interests, it makes forgiving the "loans" a lot less painful for the US economy than if that free money were to go to overseas coffers.

Of course next week, even more of the story will emerge, but not necessarily in the mainstream press.

[dutchie]

Hey guys let's not forget the most importing things, the French people have as much influence on what they're government does, as you have on your own government. The only difference is that they couldn't care less what Bush does or says, nowhere in France you''ll find a monsieur Donalds or a paris de chicken.
They don't hate you more or less and the mass media hasn't started an anti USA campaign.....what's the point of getting upset over having a French transmission, the government didn't build them..
Politicians have their own agenda's and they wrap them up in a nice layer of bullsh1t ando present them to the public.
Actually believing them is like believing in Santa Claus.
The line between a patriot, a parrot and and a puppet is a thin one...

[Pete]

JINGOISTIC, thats a good one! Had to look it up........ fanatically patriotic........hmmmmmm........... what were we talking about, oh ya, transmissions. As far as the GM 4L30E goes I can't say I am impressed as I am in the process of replacing mine!!

[Tone]

Specs and applications: http://www.gm.com/automotive/gmpower.../4l30_main.htm

[Pete]

Thanks Tone! Very informative as usual!

[Heraclid]

Actually I don't care all that much if the tranny is built in France. It may irk me some, but no big deal really - mostly it was in jest. Although given the French work ethic, it does seem like a bad idea. Actually, that's not a fair statement - a great deal of French businesses opposed the French work system, which is socialism in action - you can only work 35 hours a week because that means you need more people to get the work done, hence jobs for everyone. Despite this, French unemployment still hovers around 10-12 percent.

There are McDonald's in France, or at least there were in the mid 80's, and I doubt it has changed. My parents were in Paris and found one. Not a lot of them - they tried to find one and I think it was the last day that they finally did - but they're around.

WyrreJ, I know a lot more on the topic than you assume I do, and conservatism versus liberalism is not a false dichotomy. While no one is perfect, there is clear right and wrong. Part of my problem with the leftist movement is their attempt to blur those distinctions and absolve people of accountability. I am heartened by your skepticism of the mainstream media, as it is of a liberal bias.

On to the UN-administrated Oil-for-Food Program... wow, where to begin? Well, not long ago when the US proposed to end sanctions against Iraq, the UN was opposed to it because the lifting of sanctions would end the Oil-for-Food program. Why would they want it to continue? Wouldn't lifting the sanctions be right up their alley because it would help the Iraqi people as they professed they wanted to do? Hmmm...

The program was under UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's direct personal supervision, and the books were kept by - ta da! - the French. The UN has refused to open the books on the program because it has been learned that the program funded Iraqi propaganda machine, armored vehicles, airplanes, Uday Hussein's hobbies via "athletics funding", etc. - all things definitely not oriented toward alleviating the suffering of the Iraqi people. The whole thing was a complete and utter joke.

The UN wanted to maintain the program in order to protect contracts Russia, Germany, and France had with Saddam Hussein, including the supply of arms and other military equipment to Iraq. The UN collected a 2.2 percent commission on every barrel sold (over 1 billion dollars to date), and these commissions were supposed to cover administrative costs. However, they won't open the books and show what was really going on. So, of course these deals were secretive! They won't open the books of the program and these nations were in collusion with Saddam in violation of sanctions and were even supplying arms like the French rockets being used by insurgents against our troops and innocents! Thankfully, most have been duds.

Now why do you think Kofi Annan, Russia, France, and Germany opposed regime change? The Oil-for-Food program was a cash cow for them and there was no accountability! Also, the UN agreed to deal with a list of Iraq's (read Saddam's) preferred trading partners (a rogue's gallery including Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Algeria, Yemen and Sudan), and all parties were enriched instead of the Iraqi people being helped as was supposed to happen. Iraqis employed in the program who were supposed to monitor regime meddling actually had to be approved by the regime. All of this under the watchful eye of the wonderful UN that some people actually think the US should bow before.

A US that thinks and acts for itself runs counter to UN dreams of one world government. The truth is that the UN is anti-American. Members like Russia have been given 3 votes to the US' 1 vote. Nations like Iran and Iraq get to head up their human rights committee. It's one big joke, but it's too serious to be all that funny.

Actually, Iraq's oil production already exceeds pre-war levels and has for some time now. Care was taken not to ruin the Iraqi infrastructure in as much as that was possible, and Iraq is in much better shape than is often reported. Any soldier on the ground could tell you so.

The reason the US has pressed France and Germany into forgiving Iraqi debts is because they dealt with the devil so to speak, acted blatantly against US interests, and got caught. Obviously the US is in a position to deny them any reward for that, and has, as we rightfully should. On the other hand, nations that were with us are being offered a chance to reap the benefits of it.

The governments of nations like France resent the US because we are the world's lone superpower and they have long since ceased to be highly relevant. Same with the UN, which talks and talks and talks but that's about it. If the US didn't do something about the situation in Iraq and with regard to the war on terrorism, nobody would have.

May God continue to bless the United States, and here's wishing a very merry Christmas to you all, each and every one.