I agree with only one thing that Bill wrote about in this column - it is indeed annoying for conservatives to harp on about how France is a hellhole country filled with sex-crazed degenerates.

But what he forgets is that it's equally annoying for liberals to praise France as paradise on Earth without ignoring that country's more glaring flaws. Unemployment hovering in double digits for the past decade. Much slower GDP growth than the US. Far fewer opportunities for younger workers to find good paying, career jobs because French companies don't want to take a chance on inexperienced employees that they legally can't fire for poor performance. And shall we forget the growing social unrest found in France's huge Muslim population? Sure, the US has major immigration problems but LA isn't being torched by Latinos. But just this time last year Paris was burning thanks to hordes of disenfranchised Muslim youth who are learning that the French dream is only available for white men named Pierre.

Finally, Bill completely flubs his history lesson - yes French philosophers did influence America's founding fathers. But if France was so integral to the birth of democracy, why did the French Revolution devolve into bloody anarchy followed by a series of brutal dictatorships?

In other words, I agree we should take a look at what works internationally and see what could work here. But blindly holding up France as the ultimate ideal is as stupid as French bashing.

PS - I used to discount all the Hollywood gossip about Bill Maher being a sex addict, but after reading all his praise of lingerie and menage a trois, I'm not so sure.

One poster blithely blew off my comments about last year's riots in Paris - well sorry but it's a huge sign of social unrest when Muslim youth in your country go on a half-month arson and looting spree in the capital city leaving several people dead. This week's altercation in LA was extremely minor -yes the cops may have overreacted but the whole incident is being overplayed in the media. What the Paris riots also demonstrate to me is that France is not the open and equal country for all it pretends to be, especially when it comes to the immigrant population.

As to the comments about the Watts Riots, those happened 40 years ago. If we're going to dredge up history, should I throw in how thousands of Parisians were killed in the riots of 1849 - cue Les Mis music.

As a said before, I'm not trying to bash French people in general. But it drives me crazy to constantly hear from liberals how there is nothing good about American society. And I also think that those who live in glass houses when it comes to immigration and institutionalized racism shouldn't cast stones.

I'll admit I'm a believer in a higher power, although not exactly a god in flowing robes with a big white beard. I also firmly believe in the power of human spirituality and our ability to have transcendental experiences and to experience altruism, love, togetherness, etc. Despite the many bad things that world religions have sanctioned, religion does perform an important service by giving people a public forum for expressing an important part of their humanity. Religion also gives people a sense of tradition and community in an increasingly fragmented modern society where many people are treated as nothing more than marketing demographics.

Do I think modern religion needs a major overhaul - absolutely. A first good step would be to recognize that all religions are basically different ways of searching for a universal truth and that no one should condemn others for having different beliefs. Another crucial reform would be for religion to reach out to both those with physical and spiritual needs, instead of simply concentrating on "saving souls" while allowing people to die of starvation, easily cureable diseases, etc. Finally, modern religion should stress cultivating personal spirituality and a sense of social justice over enforcing outdated codes of how you should dress, what you should eat, or who you should date. But to call all religions evil with no place in the modern world is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It's the equivalent of condemning the good that comes from organized sports (increased fitness, sense of comraderie, tribal aggression channeled into something positive) because of the actions of a few out-of-control sports hooligans who take things to extreme.

In my mind, this spiritual aspect of human existence is far too important to stamp out and replace with a completely materialist world view of "those who die with the most toys win."