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CNN Live At Daybreak
'What I Don't Get': Parisians Asked to Pick Up After Own Pups
Aired November 08, 2001 - 08:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Our man Jack is standing by right here, Jack Cafferty, for today's edition of "Here's What I Don't Get."
Good morning. How are you?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. I'm good. How are you doing?
ZAHN: Good.
Before you get started, I want you to know that I do view you a manly man.
CAFFERTY: Well, good.
That is not synonymous with old is it, an old man.
ZAHN: No, absolutely not. It has nothing to do with that. Certain things accrue to you with age, including a receding airline and some sort of, you know, whatever.
CAFFERTY: Yesterday, we were talking about the French, and I've got a clip that I want to play.
Before we do that, there is a kind of a delicious irony in the collapse of oil prices -- if we have the chart, put it up -- oil prices were around 40 bucks a barrel, remember. OPEC, many of these countries whom are supportive of the kind of stuff that Osama bin Laden and those mutants and pulled off on September 11th depend on a large part of their GDP on the price of this oil, which is now, as of yesterday, was under $20 a barrel. Isn't it ironic that Iraq, Iran, Algeria, Indonesia, Libya and even Saudi Arabia, to a degree, are suffering economically because of what this guy did to our economy on September 11th? The economy was weak before the attacks. That put it into a recession. Europe is in recession. Japan is in recession. There is no demand for oil.
And even they cut production, the analysts I talked to on the witness protection network downstairs.
ZAHN: That would be CNNfn for people who aren't familiar with that program.
CAFFERTY: Yes. We reached all the way to the other side of the room. They say that even if they cut production, prices will spike, but it won't hold, and that there is no demand, and until the United States economy recovers, the global economy will remain weak, so it's kind of been hoisted to a degree on their own petard (ph), ain't that a shame.
ZAHN: Ain't that a shame.
CAFFERTY: Now, Jacques Chirac, president of France, was at the White House the other day, and here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SPEAKING IN FRENCH)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAFFERTY: Now if you or I go to France and get off the plane, they get their knickers in a bunch if you're not -- not only do they want you to speak French, they want you to be fluent in French. He was at the White House. How tough is it to say "thank you" in English or "Mr. President" in English? I mean, come on.
Remember Kennedy, Ich bin ein Berliner (ph)? President Bush, meeting with Vicente Fox spoke in Spanish to the assembled new -- come on, the French get very upset. They take it personally you do not speak their language, and he comes over and I happen to know that he can speak English.
ZAHN: He speaks English beautifully, fluently.
CAFFERTY: So this is a little bit pretentiousness. The other part of the story of France, and it has to do with Jacques Chirac, is the city of lights is rapidly turning into the city of used Alpo. They have these little motorized scooters in Paris that pick up dog droppings, but because of budgetary constraints, these little guys go around, they have a vacuum hose on it.
ZAHN: And there are many tons a day that are dropped in the lovely city.
CAFFERTY: Yes, it's a huge amount. They've got a lot of dogs over there, but because of the budgetary constraints, the Parisians are going to be asked to pick up after their own dogs. Can you imagine the outrage? I mean, what is this world coming to?
(SPEAKING IN FRENCH)
CAFFERTY: And they have done surveys over there saying that they are ashamed to pick up after their own dogs, but they are going to have to do it, or they are going to have to face fines.
And the way this all relates to Jacques Chirac...
ZAHN: I was waiting for this loop.
CAFFERTY: We are going to get back there. It's a long way to go. He was the mayor of Paris when they let the contract of the company that builds these little automated pooper scoopers. So he was running the city when they decided this would be a good idea. Now they are going the way of (UNINTELLIGIBLE), just like New York has been doing for years and years, you are going to have pick up after your own Fido situations.
ZAHN: Somehow I can't imagine you are going to have a giant reception when you land in Paris the next time, nor will the president of France call you "Jack the Rock," like he called "Rudy The Rock," in English.
CAFFERTY: He did. He called him "The Rock." He said it in English.
ZAHN: He did. Well, good. So there is hope. We'll see, all right.
See you tomorrow, for "What I Don't Get?"
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