Sen. Kerry's French Connection (Froggy, he went a-courtin')

St. Briac sur Mer, France – John Kerry's relatives in France bristle at jabs from across the Atlantic that the presidential contender has a French connection.

They say Kerry has no link to France other than the home his grandparents bought here.

"John Kerry is incredibly American," says Brice Lalonde, Kerry's cousin and mayor of this seaside Brittany village. "He has absolutely nothing French about him."

For another cousin, Christopher Curtis: "This is an American story. John is an all-American guy with the benefit of having spent some time overseas."

With the race for the White House turning nasty — and France-U.S. ties not quite mended from the Iraq war — Kerry's Gallic clan, when questioned, talks up his American-ness. Some are keeping a low profile, saying too much talk about France could be political arsenic.

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Brice Lalond was under the Socialist Party and considered "one of the most popular politicians in France".

From the Green Left Weekly Home Page...http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/1992/52/52p10b.htm

French Greens divided

In the March 22 regional elections, France's two green parties polled 14.6% between them in the context of a large protest vote against the main parties of both left and right. The green vote surpassed the 13.9% of the neo-fascist National Front led by Jean-Marie Le Pen.

While the green movement has been slow developing in France, it now appears well established, if fractured. The two green parties, which seem evenly matched, are called the Greens (Les Verts) and Generation Ecologie.

The latter, founded 18 months ago, is led by Brice Lalonde, former leader of Friends of the Earth and now environment minister in the Socialist Party government. Lalonde is one of the most popular politicians in France. Generation Ecologie describes itself as a club, and is a cross-party alliance of green-minded politicians and public servants. It captured a little less than half of the green vote.

Les Verts, led by Antoine Waechter, is a more democratic grouping mainly responsible for current surge in support for green politics. Lalonde dismisses Les Verts as a group of “archaic leftists, unrealistic ecolos and delirious ayatollahs”, while Waechter says Generation Ecologie is an opportunist operation to recapture the votes of disillusioned Socialist Party supporters.

Les Verts say Lalonde cost them representation in the European Parliament in 1984 when the fledgling party failed to win the necessary 5% of the vote, largely due to a competing ticket run by Lalonde.

Froggy went a courtin' was one of my favorite songs as a child. It's one of my favorite song as an adult. Tom and Jerry cartoons introduced the song to me. Jerry's Texas Grandpa mouse was playing it on his little mouse guitar. Every time the guitar string broke, the cat lost a whisker. Funniest scene, Granpa Mouse is on TV, guitar string breaks, Tom points and laughs, Grampa mouse reaches through the tv and plucks a cat whisker, etc, etc.

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