Ray’s Weblog: My Lost Marbles Ray Mikell respon…

Ray’s Weblog: My Lost Marbles

Ray Mikell responds that he’s going to start running his posts in the usual order — that is, upside-down, newest on top. I don’t know why we do it that way, actually; I guess it’s because on a frequently-updated site you can immediately see if there’s anything new. I know that when I was accidently re-inventing the weblog format four years ago for my baseball site, I instinctively did it newest-on-top. But I’ve always thought I was weird, so that doesn’t say much.

France and Jean-Marie Le Pen Why he has his admi…

France and Jean-Marie Le Pen

Why he has his admirers

Well, a lot of it is that a lot of Frenchpeople (like a lot of people everywhere) are bigots and morons. In the US, these people are mostly channelled into the extremes of the two parties, and rarely cause serious trouble. But in a multi-party system, the bigot and/or moron vote can cause trouble. Le Pen, as has been noted, didn’t actually do any better in the election than he usually does, but the Socialists underestimated their own weakness and let Le Pen slip in.

To be fair, Le Pen reflects a lot of real concerns — crime, unemployment — that the French political mainstream was ignoring. The beauty of the American political system is that when the mainstream parties get out of touch and third parties spring one of the big boys will usually absorb it and its policies. The Republican ascendancy (in Presidential politics) of the seventies and eighties, and its current Southern dominance was built on George Wallace’s supporters. Clinton took over Ross Perot’s deficit-hawkism, and then Gingrich took over most of the rest of that agenda.

But as long as France’s two major parties could continue to draw relatively small numbers in general elections and still know one or the other would win in the end, they didn’t really have to address that. (I just want to point out that you could reject the two big parties without voting for Le Pen — and a lot of Frenchmen did.)

Endangered Artillery System Under Review (washingt…

Endangered Artillery System Under Review (washingtonpost.com)

Oh, sure, environmentalists will come out to support endangered animals and plants. But who supports the poor endangered weapon system? Only United Defense Industries, Inc., of Oklahoma, and the entire Oklahoma Congressional delegation.

Can anyone parse this sentence for me?

“I have a minimum of high regard for that kind of behavior,” Rumsfeld said.

That’s not actually English, is it?

Another reason to hate Auburn. As if I needed a…

Another reason to hate Auburn.

As if I needed any more… The evil librarians at Auburn don’t allow for export of cataloging records. They have to have chosen to do this; we use the same system here and I know that the default is to allow it. They won’t let you because they are mean, hateful, spiteful people who secretly wish they worked at Alabama, which does allow for export, as does UAB.

A writer, a weblog, her opinions: Yourish.com H…

A writer, a weblog, her opinions: Yourish.com

HULK SMASH!!

washingtonpost.com: The Seriously Funny Jon Stewar…

washingtonpost.com: The Seriously Funny Jon Stewart

Everyone should be watching “The Daily Show”… Jon Stewart’s take on “The Bachelor”:

“He’s a blackhearted sociopath.”

Bush Hosts European Union Summit at White House …

Bush Hosts European Union Summit at White House

Whoopty-doo! Dozens of Euro leaders here to look down on us and make veiled anti-Semitic comments!

The main topic is trade. The Euros are all upset about steel tariffs. I wasn’t in favor of them, either, but it’s amazingly hypocritical for them to complain about protectionism. The EU is basically based on French practices, and has taken on France’s overprotective farm subsidies.

Clinton Said to Want TV Talk Show He wants $50 …

Clinton Said to Want TV Talk Show

He wants $50 million a year. And he has aspirations of being the next Oprah. I’m not looking forward to the book club.

Using Robotics, Researchers Give Upgrade to Lowly …

Using Robotics, Researchers Give Upgrade to Lowly Rats

New from Microsoft! Rat, Version 2.0! Climbs trees, plugs into your laptop!

Space work may take off in Huntsville NASA narro…

Space work may take off in Huntsville

NASA narrows field for next spacecraft, which could be developed here

Huntsville’s space flight center is hoping to get the X-37, the space plane that is supposed to eventually replace the shuttle. I know that eventually, space flight is going to have to pay for itself — and that the government will have to move to a regulatory role rather than actually running a space program. But I don’t think we’re close to that yet.