Irate French workers kidnapping bosses

In the past month there have been four separate incidents of workers taking their bosses hostage for up to 24 hours. Also, a billionaire boss was blocked in his taxi by employees for an hour on March 31. It even has its own word: Bossnapping – which sounds a lot more like what workers always assume the boss is doing.

Public opinion is pretty much split on this one. A poll released Tuesday had 50 percent against & 45 percent in favor. The other 5 percent were probably out buying cheese. As a result the government is dithering. (Actually this is SOP for the French government.)

French President Nicholas Sarkozy is trying to figure out whether he should enforce the law on this one. (Why do I think only the French and maybe the Italians would have to debate this?) In addition to the fact that M. Sarkozy is already deeply unpopular among the workers

The risk of sending in the riot police when the next hostage-taking occurs is that, far from discouraging such acts, it could cause them to proliferate. Turning a blind eye carries risks as well. All four plants where bossnappings have occurred are foreign-owned, and the head of the CGPME employers’ group, which represents small and medium businesses, said foreign investors could be put off France.

Really I just think he’s in a bit of a tizzy because Michelle O. has totally eclipsed his pinup model wife for coolest first lady on the planet.

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U.S. Army lowers its standards to make recruitment numbers. Terrorists unlikely to follow suit.

In the wake of the news that the Army is keeping the George W. Bush Desert Classic fully staffed by taking people it otherwise wouldn’t have, comes this AP story about how the Army is forcing drill instructors to tone it down and not flunk so many of the recruits.

“Part of it is changing the nature of how it treats people in basic training,” David S. Chu, undersecretary for personnel and readiness, said Tuesday. That means “less shouting at everyone, in essence, which some of you may remember from an earlier generation as being the modus operandi,” he said. (And, for those of you keeping track at home, The Wall Street Journal had this story about a year ago.)

One can only hope that the Army has arranged for combat to be kinder and gentler, too.

Although this relaxing of standards will mean more dead and injured soldiers almost immediately, it will take a year or two for us to start to reap the full benefits of this particular piece of idiocy. If I remember correctly Lt. William Calley of My Lai massacre fame, was something like 30th out of an OCS class of 33 and would never have graduated but for the incredibly lax standards being used at the time.

Remember, be all that you can be and if you can’t … well gosh darn at least you tried.

Where have you gone Sgt. Hulka? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you…