Chirac Refuses to Attend Reagan's Funeral

Perhaps too busy still mourning the loss of his business partner Saddam Hussein, chief French quisling Jacques Chirac is not only refusing to attend former President Ronald Reagan's funeral on Friday, his government doesn't even list a representative who will go.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder are the only G-8 leaders who have confirmed plans to attend. British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected as well, along with former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Prince Charles.

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin says he will not attend and is sending Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson. Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney is expected.

Others on the list for the ceremony include former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Irish President Mary McAleese, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, South African President Thabo Mbeki, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, Romanian President Ion Iliescu, Acting Lithuanian President Arturas Paulauskas, former Polish President Lech Walesa, former Finnish President Mauno Koivisto, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Australian Governor General Maj. Gen. Michael Jeffrey, former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, Slovakian President Rudolf Schuster, Grenadan Governor General Sir Daniel Williams, former Danish Prime Minister Poul Schlueter, Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Lars Engqvist and Indian External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh.

Update: Was it something we said? Wire services on Thursday announced that France was sending two emissaries: Foreign Minister Michel Barnier and former President Valery Giscard d'Estaing.

Editor's note: