Paris riots: and American editorial roundup

From the Chicago Tribune:

The French government has reacted with spectacular ineptness, losing control of the streets. French President Jacques Chirac remained above the fray and out of touch until he finally spoke Sunday and told the country: "The law must have the last word."

The breakdown in law and order may have appeared days in the making. It wasn't. More like years.

Resentment has long seethed among some on the outskirts of French cities, especially among young men, the offspring of immigrants, desperate for jobs and respect in a society that has offered too little of either. France has grappled with issues of poverty and housing, made real efforts to improve the lives of its poorest people. But it has failed to successfully integrate immigrants from African and Arab countries, leading to disillusionment.

This appear to be the evolving standard MSM meme: the French Government is responsible for the riots; that the rioters couldn't help themselves becuase they were so oppressed and unassimilated.

Nah. This is just intellectual laziness on the part of editorial writers. What may have started out as unrehearsed anger is now something bigger. And the longer the French Government and the MSM lie to themselves, the uglier this is going to get.