(What I believe to be) wise words from the former president of the Dassault Group (Aviation/Systemes), Serge Dassault, from his interview in the May 2003 issue of Aerospace America:

“But what is political life?  What is the good of political life?  The purpose of it should be to make economic activity easier, to provide what is needed for work.  And there’s something else:  In France, people who practice politics but who know nothing about business are blinded by false ideas, socialist ideologies, ideologies of this or that, which lead them to make totally stupid decisions about economic realities.  That’s why it doesn’t work.

“When people say that they intend to increase the constraints on companies so that they can’t shed jobs, that’s stupid. The purpose of a company is not to continually lose employees, of course it isn’t. Its purpose is to recruit. If it does make people redundant, that’s becuase there is no trade. And if laws are created, laws to prevent companies from making employees redundant, and if people think this will protect jobs, that shows they understand nothing. And in my humble opinion, politicians in France seem to understand nothing.

“And so that is why I, who understand something about economic matters, am convinced that if you really want to facilitate economic activity and make the job situation easier for everyone—and it’s not a question of favoring shareholders, employees, office workers, one side or the other, it’s everyone—then it is essential for everyone to be able to live, work, and be motivated together.

“It’s no good saying that everyone has to earn the same, or that everyone has to retire at the same age, or that you have to have a 35-hr week, or that you must do this or that. There are companies who say no—we can’t accept this. That is when everything locks up.”

I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue is back! No Mornington Crescent this week, but Humph’s Ring is great.

Must return to blogging…must say something profound soon so I don’t lose interest…

I believe the reason I haven’t been blogging is that MozBlog has been acting up and still hasn’t been ported to Mozilla Firebird, which is annoying. If I had easy access to a blogging interface, I think I’d do it more. But I hate having to keep a Moz window open just for MozBlog.

This site is going to be converted to the new “Dano” architecture soon, hopefully that will be easy, and make it so I don’t have to port forward through my computer anymore through the power of SFTP.

Reminder to self and others:  There will be a total lunar eclipse on the evening of the 15th.

Whoo-hoo!  I’m back to school.  After the hell drive…

So, the hell drive.  I leave home and get on the highway at I-75 Exit 27 in Kentucky.  I continue driving until just past Exit 15, when traffic comes to a complete stop.  An hour and a half later, I finally get to Exit 11, where most everyone is getting off the highway (the troopers reported a tractor-trailer accident at mile marker 2) and getting onto US 25W south.  This is just as slow or slower than the I-75 was.  I take a detour at KY 3804 (if I remember correctly) which buys me a couple of miles down 25.  I eventually make it to Jellico, TN, which is just across the border at something like 5:30, and get back on 75, which is moving but there’s so much traffic that it’s not particularly quick.

In an attempt to get away from that traffic, I took the bypass route around Knoxville that my parents have found.  This works fine until I get to the onramp to TN 168/I-140.  Someone wrecked at the point where the onramp meets the road, holding up both the people on the road and those getting on.  The police were letting a few people on, then a few past, then a few on…eventually, I got through that (though by now I’m really pissed and should have been near Atlanta already!)  West of Knoxville, on I-40/75, traffic went down by a lane.  Luckily, the holdup wasn’t long as traffic reorganized.  I stopped for a break right after 75 and 40 split.

I get back on the highway, and the van that I was behind for 30 minutes on 25 back in Kentucky (before I took the side road) is right in front of me again.  Weird.  Construction north of Chattanooga wasn’t bad, but there was a slowdown in north Georgia for a half mile or so, with a lane closed for construction.

I wouldn’t wish this trip on my worst enemy.