They'd Prefer that we would all be Unequal Under the Law

PARIS, Sept 27 (Reuters) - France's political elite rallied to the defence of Roman Polanski on Sunday, calling on Switzerland to free the 76-year-old film director rather than extradite him to the United States. Artists and film makers also urged the release of Polanski, who faces charges of having sex with a girl of 13 in 1977, accusing Switzerland of being overzealous in pursuing the case.

True to form, European cultural lites come the the defense of a pedophile.

French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand said he was "stunned" by the news, adding that both he and French President Nicolas Sarkozy wanted to see the acclaimed director returned swiftly to his family.

Let's set aside the fact that if your culture needs a government minister, it is rather likely to be in orbital decay, especially given the narrow way in which culture is being drawn.

Culture used to also mean something about civilization. Civilized cultures don't permit precedents like these to become normative in a culture.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner also issued a statement, saying he had spoken to his Swiss counterpart to demand that Polanski's rights were fully respected and that a "favourable" solution be rapidly found.

Sure. Is their culture reduced to a Kennedy-esque "fixing" of violations of an elite? May great moral lessons that sustains cultures without "ministries" be lost on that morally repugmant elite?

Born in Paris, Polanski moved to Poland with his Jewish family when still a toddler shortly before World War Two. His mother died in a Nazi concentration camp, but Polanski avoided capture and spent his youth in Poland before moving to the West.