What part of LOCKBOX don't you understand?

After yesterday's Grenelle de l'environment (French envoironmental summit) where headlining invitee was Al Gore -- go figure -- the French media is going public with more designs to combat global warming.

Let me get this off my chest before I go any further. Al Gore, Nobel prize winner, should NOT BE INVOLVED WITH ALL OF THIS. Other than putting his name and voice over a movie, what has he done to help us counter the effects of global warming? What are his new designs and inventions? All he's doing is giving us really vague over-used sayings, such as "If you want to go quickly, go alone, if you want to go far, go together. Our challenge is to go far quickly." And how would he suggest we do that?

"We need a 'Grenelle mondial' so that we can all go far quickly." You mean like the one at which you're already the guest speaker?!?

Really Al Gore? You just happened to be in the right place at the right time. All the attention he's getting is ridiculous. Kind of like back when he claimed to have invented the Internet.

Ok, sorry for the little rant. But supposedly he was only at the grenelle because they wanted to send a message to George Bush. As in, "We're inviting your presidential opponent because we support him more than you and your cabinet." And oh yeah, after Gore spoke, many French reporters made fun of his one minor attempt to speak French. I think they just wanted a humorous guest to keep the entertained.

Anways, supposedly lots of major French cities are either doing so already, or planning on building light-rail trams in the center of every town to block car traffic. The thinking behind that is people NEED to go downtown, so they'll have to use public transit and cut down the gaseous emissions that cars produce.

That's all nice and well -- BUT FRANCE, YOU'RE ALWAYS STRIKING!!!

And it continues today. Air France is starting to strike now for hundreds of domestic flights. The SNCF national train society still is not back to running 100 percent of its trains, and the buses in my city alone are still striking every Thursday and in the middle of the day. Apparently hotels are going to start doing the same now that a two-week national holiday begins for all of the schools.

Whatever. At least I get two weeks off. Hopefully the trains and hotels I reserved to go to Tours next week will still be valid. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!

I leave you now with one of my FAVORITE SNL skits mocking Al Gore during the 2000 presidential bash:

There are some of you would like to spend our money on some made-up war. To you I say, "What part of lockbox don't you understand?" What if there's a hurricane or a tornado? Unlikely I know, because of the anti-hurricane and tornado machine I was instrumental in helping to develop…but what if? What if the scientists are right and one of those giant glaciers hits Boston? That's why we have the lockbox.