France On Fire: It Burns When I Oui

Apparently not even the French like the French. But after two straight weeks of violent public rioting by hundreds of angry arsonists, the city of Paris may finally be prepared enough to sleep peacefully through the night, though undoubtedly many with one eye wide open.

As text messages and Internet postings calling for further "violent action" in the country's capital began to surface this weekend, President Jacques Chirac and the Parisian police force declared a state of emergency for many of the large cities, invoking curfews and banning all public gatherings feared to insight further upheaval.

News of these preemptive strikes put quite a damper on the demonstration planned to protest famed French actor Gerard Depardieu's sudden decision to retire from the movie 'biz later this year. All twelve fans disbanded with little incident, though rumors of police being pelted with copies of his 1990 flick Green Card have yet to be confirmed.

Back in the U.S., when asked for her opinion on the civil unrest fueled by the racial and socio-economic inequalities which have left both the streets and automobiles of numerous French suburbs charred beyond repair, our nations own prided Paris -- Hilton, that is -- responded to the frequent fires by saying, "That's Hot."