Independence Day (Niger)
The date of the formal, complete independence from France was 3 August 1960, while 18 December 1958 marks the founding of the Republic and creation of the Presidency of the Republic of Niger, following the constitutional changes of the French Fifth Republic, and the elections of 4 December 1958 held across The French Colonial possessions. Nigeriens consider that date to be the founding of their national institutions. Between 18 December 1958 and 3 August 1960, Niger remained a semi-autonomous Republic within the French Community. At the beginning of 1960 a revision of the French Community allowed membership of independent states, and on 28 July the Nigerien Legislative Assembly became the Nigerien National Assembly: Independence was declared on 3 August 1960.
Freedom fries
In the March 15, 2003 episode of "Saturday Night Live", Tina Fey reported this on the satirical "Weekend Update": "In a related story, in France, American cheese is now referred to as 'idiot cheese'." The 2006 documentary "Freedom Fries: And Other Stupidity We'll Have to Explain to Our Grandchildren" directed by Carl Christman took a comedic viewpoint on American consumerism and patriotism. In the episode "Stan Knows Best" of "American Dad!", after being asked how his French toast is, the main character Stan remarks: "Smelly and ungrateful! But this American toast is delicious." In the comic strip "Doonesbury", the characters Mark Slackmeyer and Zonker Harris criticized the name change in French. Slackmeyer said that, translated, the U.S. liberated France in World War II; and that many French newspaper headlines after 9/11 were "We are all American". At the end, he states that the anti-French were "jingoistic, self-regarding conquer-monkeys!" The French American indie band Freedom Fry chose their name based on the Freedom Fries phenomenon. In 2005, Robert Plant and his band Strange Sensation released the album "Mighty ReArranger", which contains the track '"Freedom Fries", an anti-war song whose lyrics contains the words "Freedom fries and burns and scars, the liberator goes too far".