We do not make fun of disasters or forces majeures visited on France or her peoples. But French obtuseness is always in season.

FRANCE FACES DROUGHT, LOCUSTS

July 17, 2005 (UPI) - On top of a severe drought, France is fighting a plague of hundreds of thousands of locusts. ... The French environment ministry said drought could be felt across most of France, but it mostly impacted from the Atlantic Ocean to Paris.

"There is nothing we can do for the 700 or 800 farmers affected," said Patrice Lemoux, an agriculture official. "The locust has no known predator and the only insecticides which might make a difference are banned."

Correspondent John Stanmeyer (hat tip for article link) writes:

LOL. Legalize the insecticide, stupid frogs!

Hhmmm. yes. Now that's something a "new impulse" government would to do.

Or one might expect it to do a modicum of research, as we did, before throwing in the towel:

CHINA FIGHTS LOCUSTS WITH DUCKS

China believes it has hit on a way of killing two birds with one stone in its battle against a devastating plague of locusts.

"Ducks are the best way to get rid of locusts because they have such a big appetite," Xiao Hongwei told Reuters news agency.

"After two or three months, they typically weigh around two kilos and can be sold to markets and roast duck restaurants."

* "Boldness, and again boldness, always boldness." Thundered by Georges-Jacques Danton, September 2, 1792, in response to the precarious Republican situation on the rumor of the fall of Verdun. The full quote is: "Pour les vaincre, il nous faut de l'audace, encore de l'audace, toujours de l'audace, et la France est sauvée !"

PFFT (What is this?): Acuity 0 | Ingenuity 0 | Boldness 0 | Capitulation 5 | Rayonnement français 0