Radical unions in France are continuing their attempt to cripple the French economy in the hopes of forcing President Sarkozy to back off his EXTREMELY modest retirement reforms. As I told you last week, Sarkozy is determined to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62.

French oil workers on Monday defied the government’s demand to get back to work and end scattered fuel shortages, stepping up their fight against President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to raise the retirement age to 62.

Striking workers piled up tires and set them ablaze in front of a refinery at Grandpuits, east of Paris, after authorities issued a legal order insisting that some strikers reopen the facility. Workers said Monday they would refuse, as curls of heavy black smoke wafted into the air.

Other employees and residents formed a "human chain" to prevent the refinery workers from entering the plant, and union leaders said they expected an imminent police intervention.

Strikers have blockaded a dozen French refineries and numerous oil depots in the last week as part of widespread protests against the government’s plan to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62.

It’s not only oil workers either. Airline workers and truckers have also joined in. Roads are blocked, airplanes are grounded, fuel is in short supply.

What you see in France is the end result of decades of Socialist policies and an out of control labor movement. The so-called “Card Check” legislation that Democrats want to pass so bad is precisely to create this kind of situation here in America.

Once big labor can unionize without a secret ballot it will open the flood gates to unionize everything. In France, every major sector of the economy is controlled by unions. As a result, they can bring the country to its knees to fight reforms. Sarkozy needs to do what Reagan did and bust unions. They can either return to work in 48 hrs. or be fired and get ZERO pension.

It’s beyond disgraceful that radical unions would rather France go bankrupt than have their workers retire at 62 instead of 60. It’s selfish and it’s outrageous. Most Americans would feel privileged to retire at 62.

President Sarkozy should never surrender. Never!

One only has to look at France to see what an entitlement society run by radical labor unions does to a country:

Striking French oil refinery workers shut down a fuel pipeline supplying Paris and its airports on Friday and airport workers grounded some flights as protests mounted to derail an unpopular pension reform.

France’s airport operator played down worries of fuel shortages, but strikes at all of France’s 12 refineries and fuel depot blockades have prompted motorists to stock up on petrol.

What draconian measures could prompt such a reaction? President Sarkozy is pushing through pension reforms that would raise the retirement from 60 to 62, and the age to retire with full pension from 65 to 67. Whoa! What a monster.

I really hope Sarkozy doesn’t cave. Moreover, he should not allow radical unions to bring France’s economy to its knees. President Reagan busted the air traffic controller’s union back in 1981 when they tried to pull a similar stunt. He told the workers they had 48 hours to return to work or they would be terminated — period.

President Sarkozy should stand firm on his extremely modest pension reforms no matter what. He must take France back from the lazy Socialists.

Remember when Obama campaigned around the country on the phony premise that president Bush alienated our allies and wrecked our relationships overseas? Anybody with a brain knows that was total bullshit and a weak liberal talking point, but assuming it was true let’s look at president Barry’s track record so far.

It has been revealed today that president Obama bizarrely sent a letter to former French president Jacques Chirac. You know, the prick who caused us to rename French fries “Freedom” fries. He was our worst ally after 9/11 and went out of his way to stick his finger in America’s eye.

But for some reason Obama sent him a letter saying he looked forward to working with him in the future.

“I am certain that we will be able to work together, in the coming four years, in a spirit of peace and friendship to build a safer world.”

To put it in perspective so that even a liberal can understand it, that would be like a newly elected European president sending a letter to Bush saying he looked forward to working with him in the coming years.

Suffice it to say, French president Nicolas Sarkozy is none to pleased.

Now let’s look back and see what kind of “repairs” Obama has made to Bush’s foreign policy that was allegedly in such tatters.

1. Insulted UK PM Gordon Brown during official White House visit and gave him a DVD box set that doesn’t even play on European dvd players.

2. Hillary Clinton gave Russia a red button with the word “reset” in Russian on it meant to signify a fresh start for relations. Unfortunately, the wrong Russian word was on the button.

3. Banned Mexican trucks from U.S. highways which is a clear violation of NAFTA and has sparked a trade war with Mexico.

4. Publicly waffling on commitment to Poland and other former Soviet Block allies on missile shield.

5. Insulted French president Sarkozy by sending letter to previous president whom he hates and we hate pledging cooperation (on what I don’t know).

This must be that “change we can believe in” I’ve been hearing about for two years.

Kudos to French president Nicolas Sarkozy for continuing to keep the pressure on Iran. Sarko has really been a great ally on the Iranian issue and never misses an opportunity to blast Ahmadinejad.

Earlier in the week Sarko said this in a speech:

“it is impossible for me to shake hands with someone who dared to say that Israel should be wiped off the map.”

and this:

“We can not solve this crisis without talking to Iranian leaders,” he said, but added: “I know perfectly well that the Iranian president does not represent Iran, much less the Iranian people.”

“The Iranian people are one of the greatest people of the world, one of the oldest civilizations in the world, cultured and open, but they have the misfortune to be represented today by some of their leaders.”

Both statements have allegedly outraged the Iranian government. Iran’s deputy foreign minister summoned his French counterpart to express anger of the comments. He warned that Sarko’s comments could damage the two countries’ bilateral relations.

The French president’s comments while controversial in wimpy Europe were certainly accurate and very well said. The french president along with British PM Brown deserve a lot of credit for not going all wobbly — to borrow a phrase from Lady Thatcher.

-Chris Jones

(hat tip Weasel Zippers)