Did you know ...

...that the Nintendo DS has a little microphone on it? And some games require you to blow into the microphone to get the characters to jump around? It's true! Jube was playing one of those games the other day while I read the platforms of the French presidential candidates to him.

The platforms are interesting to read... the leftist candidates talk about raising minimum wage, reducing the number of weekly hours worked, and legalizing all immigrants (literally those "without papers," les sans-papiers). The more conservative candidates advocate raising the weekly work hours, keeping Turkey out of the EU, and kicking out all illegal immigrants (immigration zero--I'm sure you can understand that one!). Those in the middle prefer a melange, focusing on solidifying the current 35-hour work week and new immigration restrictions (in Sarkozy's words, immigration choisie--the government chooses who to let in, similar to the US).

I was reading Jube the platforms because he had just received an invitation to vote in Norfolk. He is still debating on whether to vote or not, for a couple of reasons: 1) the voting location is relatively far from our house, and we still don't have a car; 2) he can't really decide who to vote for.

As I read some of the platforms, we would laugh trying to imagine how they could implement their ideas. One that I loved was Le Pen's plank that would give women a minimum wage for the rest of their lives if they have children. "Wonderful!" I said, "As soon as I have French citizenship we'll move back and have three kids."

"No, wait," Jube said.

Sure enough, under "immigration," there it was: "Will cancel all rights to French citizenship based on marriage." We started laughing.

"Damn!" said Jube, "Le Pen made me lose my last life!" He had inadvertently laughed into the microphone and jumped right into a little pit. Now he's definitely not voting Le Pen.