Everyone talks about it

The weather and politics! Right now, that's pretty much all that anyone in the Possum Kingdom is thinking about.

As we are a Socialist hot bed (Mme. Royal roundly beat M. Sarkozy here), folks are not pleased about the predictions that Sarko will take the Elysee Palace on 6 May. One of our locals pronounced that if he DOES win, he's moving to Spain. I don't really think that will be lots better, but what do I know? I left the U.S. because of Bush.

Reader Ralph posted about the article in the Economist, saying Sarko was a good thing for France. But, I don't know. He's very anti-immigrant and people are very worried about the social consequences.

Of course, I say "people," but clearly at least half the population must NOT be worried, or they wouldn't be voting for him! There's a televised debate next week, which I would imagine the whole country will be watching. It will be interesting to see how the two candidates come off, because Mme Royal is supposedly an excellent debater, although she seems to be a lousy public speaker.

As to the weather, it has been unbelievable. Today has cooled off a bit, but earlier this week it felt like the middle of July. Strangely, after the raging rivers of last week, the Hers, in particular, is looking quite "peaked," and is so low that poor Shmoo even has trouble finding a place deep enough for him to be able to swim. When I mentioned it to several of our local gardeners, I was told it is because all the water is being taken out upstream to fill Lac Montbel!

Well, that's very nice for Lac Montbel, but not especially good for us! We want our river back!

Ciao for now,

Randy

85%

That was the voter turnout yesterday in the first round of the French presidential elections. Imagine that. 85% of the registered voters in France cared enough to have their voices heard to get out of bed on a Sunday morning, interrupt lunch with the family, stop watching television or whatever else they were doing and go to their local Mairie to cas their vote.

I don't know when the U.S. had a turnout that high, but I don't think it has been in my lifetime.

Now, that doesn't mean we're going to get the president I want. But it does mean that whoever we DO get, it will be the one that the majority wants, and that's saying something important. No one will be able to say that the will of the people didn't count.

We won't know who our new president is until May 6th, although given the percentages of each of the top two candidates received, it is likely that it will be Nicholas Sarkozy, the center right candidate. The Socialist candidate, Segolene Royal, is far behind him, and the feeling is that Sarkozy will pick up more of the votes from the other right wing candidates than Royal will get from the left wing ones.

It's odd, in my opinion, because Sarkozy has been part of the current government and most people have been complaining about the way things are going. So, if they're not happy, why do they want to give him a chance?

Policies aside, my big problem with him is that he has been cozying up to the Shrub, not something I really want to see. I hope that he's just being nice for effect and isn't going to fall headlong into American war policies.

Only time will tell I suppose.

Ciao for now.

Randy