Maureen Dowd’s op-ed denunciation of Newt Gingrich in the Sept. 14, 2010, issue of The New York Times contains the following line:

“Gingrich, who ditched two wives (the first when she was battling cancer; the second after an affair with the third — a House staffer — while he was impeaching Bill Clinton), now professes to be a good Catholic. Evidently the first two wives don’t count because he hadn’t converted to Catholicism.”

That Gingrich’s personal bio contains more than a few references under the heading “hypocrite and cad” isn’t news, but it was so central to Dowd’s argument that it got me thinking what would happen if a journalist for a major newspaper in Paris wrote that about a politician in France.

The answer: she and the paper would be sued big time for invasion of privacy or at least widely accused unethical journalism for attempting to make his marriages and religion a part of his CV.

The other day I posted on France Revisited’s Guest Blog an open letter from an association of a certain standing calling for the preservation of 100-year-old industrial site on the edge of Paris. I got to wondering what would happen if a major preservationist society in New York took the fight to saving a similar site.

The answer: the developer would pay big money to place a full-page ad in their defense in The New York Times—and promise riches for all.

Two cultures, two approaches to the common good—rather, four approaches if you count both sides of each example.

News from the Consulate General of France in Atlanta

The French and German cultural centers in Atlanta, the Alliance Française and the Goethe Zentrum, now work at the same location to promote Francophone and Germanic cultures. Language classes and events will take place in a completely renovated facility at Colony Square, 1197 Peachtree Street, NE, in Atlanta.

An official grand opening ceremony will take place on January 28, 2010, at 6:00 pm to present this new synergy, the first of its kind in the United States, to the Atlantan community. This initiative is a modern symbol of the Franco-German friendship.

Since the January, 22 1963 Treaty on Franco-German cooperation (also known as the treaty of the Elysée), signed by General de Gaulle and Chancellor Adenauer, France and Germany have been involved in an unprecedented economic, political and cultural cooperation at the European level and worldwide.

The Franco-German friendship was particularly on display last November when the President of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, attended the 20th anniversary celebration of the fall of the Berlin wall. German chancellor Angela Merkel represented Germany November, 11 at the 91st anniversary’s celebration of 1918 Armistice in France.

Who: Alliance française d’Atlanta and Goethe Zentrum

What: Official Grand Opening Ceremony with the presence of the Ambassadors of France and Germany to the United States, H.E. Mr. Pierre Vimont, and H.E. Mr. Klaus Scharioth respectively.

Where: Colony Colony Square Plaza level 1197 Peachtree St. N.E. Atlanta GA 30361

When: January 28, 2010, at 6:00 pm Event will begin with the flag raising ceremony in front of the colony square building thereafter, the ambassadors will make speeches inside the building’s lobby level followed by a ribbon cutting ceremony. This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

For further Information, please contact: Obse Ababiya
Phone: 404 898 1223 Email : Obse@afatl.com
Websites: http://www.afatl.com/
http://www.goethe.de/INS/us/atl/enindex.htm