M. Mayeau,
Felicitations from the Pave diaspora.
A point I meant to drive a little harder above -- France, bellwether of the policy delectations du grand Eurocracy, celebrates the abolition of capital punishment as a watershed of civilization: There are simply no crimes heinous enough, no guilt certain enough, no cry for justice loud enough to warrant the death penalty in a civilized nation.
But this yahoo American wonders what are we to make of rayonnant France prior to 1981?
In voting out the death penalty she did not embrace the difficult Christian injunction to forgive, she promoted the trendy notion of the criminal as victim of the state. The truth is that France did not so much abolish the death penalty as add one more pretension to her flagging hauteur.
When the pope speaks out against the death penalty I respectfully disagree while compelled to reexamine my position. But when France calls on Iraqis to give their erstwhile murderers a pass, well, je fais le bras d'honneur.
DGB