‘Head Scarf Isn’t Haute Couture?’: Nice editorial in the Boston-based CSM on France’s new laws banning students from wearing Muslim head scarves, Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses at school. The French are simply wrong. As a Bush administration official gently put it in this NYT article: Such displays are “a basic right that should be protected.” ... But, before we engage in my favorite sport of French bashing, one should remember France’s very rocky relationship with religion, i.e. the Catholic Church. One of the more surprising things about French history is how long it took them to establish a free public education system. The church used to be the primary provider of schooling in France, well into the 20th Century. It took pitched battles to pry this cultural and political power perk away from clerics. So the French are quite sensitive to any religious group taking over schools, by storm or by stealth. The new laws are clearly aimed at radical Muslims. But, as the CSM editorial notes, the restrictions are likely to boomerang on the French. They’re addressing the wrong problems. ... And that’s Hub Blog's haute couture post of the week. ...

FYI -- Oh, what the hell. After being nice to the French, might as well skip over to Merde in France to cleanse myself of any misplaced sympathy. ...

... Via Merde in France, I found this magnificant blog on France by Roger Simon, who's just back from a visit there. If even a fraction of what he says is true, well, ...  ¶ 7:49 AM