Ma Rentrée

I am back from a short vacation, but in a larger sense I feel as though I took most of the month of August off. I had various work obligations, and there wasn't a great deal of French politics to write about: one gets tired of saying again and again that it is wrong as well as ineffective to punish crime by withdrawing nationality; to imply that the French will feel secure if only they can rid their soil of some unwanted interlopers; and to overlook, or even reward, the crimes of the wealthy who grease the wheels of the political machine.

But it's time to get serious again. On Sept. 7 retirement reform will be tested by massive opposition. It is impossible to keep expelling the Roma forever. And Eric Woerth can't both pretend to be a victim of "lapidation by the media" and confess to having solicited a Légion d'honneur for Patrice de Maistre, a fact that he had previously denied:

Affaire Bettencourt : Woerth reconnaît avoir demandé la Légion d'honneur pour Patrice de Maistre
	Le ministre du travail a reconnu jeudi devant des journalistes, avoir initié la demande de décoration pour le gestionnaire de fortune de Liliane Bettencourt. "Le Monde" révèle également ce que François-Marie Banier a dit aux enquêteurs.