Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[mainiac]

The politicians themselves are starting to snap.

Not much longer until glorious revolution, comrades!

We've been watching this movie for 20 years or more.  What makes you think it's moving to a climax?

[Newbunkle]

The politicians themselves are starting to snap.

Hilarious. "Total power in one person's hands" from a guy supporting the idea that the planet's resources can be acquired and controlled by a minority, and that the ability of equal human beings to freely share their planet's natural wealth can be removed (enforced with violence and fear of other forms of punishment). I guess some authoritarians don't think it counts when it's economic tyranny instead of political tyranny.

[SalmonGod]

The politicians themselves are starting to snap.

Not much longer until glorious revolution, comrades!

My favorite part is how disinterested everyone around him appears to be.

[Dutchling]

The politicians themselves are starting to snap.

Not much longer until glorious revolution, comrades!

Is that sort of normal?

I mean, the British parliament is a lot more chaotic than the Dutch one so I really have no idea 'weird' this is.

[RedKing]

Sadly, the "When You Ride Alone, You Ride With Bin Laden" message didn't do much to convince Americans to support fuel-efficiency or carpooling.

Sounds better as "Ride Together, Save Together!" although that is more communitarian than patriotic. Maybe "Save Gas, Save the Nation".

Bill Maher coined that after an old WWII propaganda poster that said the same thing, only replace Bin Laden with Hitler. The government did a LOT of Godwinning during WWII.

Don't buy war bonds? YOU'RE WITH HITLER!
Complain about rationing? HITLER!

Spoiler: Couple of great examples. (click to show/hide)

Is it just me, or is Office Supply Hitler pretty much the greatest thing you've ever seen?

[Leafsnail]

Is that sort of normal?

I mean, the British parliament is a lot more chaotic than the Dutch one so I really have no idea 'weird' this is.

In British parliament there'd be jeering, laughing and taunting during that speech.  What strikes me as odd is how everyone around him just seems to be bored as if he goes off on a rant like that every day.  Even the woman laughing at him seems more like "Heh, he's doing it AGAIN" than surprised.

[RedKing]

Question Time in the House of Lords is pretty much the best thing ever. I remember being in college, half-drunk one evening and flipping around channels, and we stumbled across a live feed of John Major being absolutely reamed by the opposition, and we were enthralled (and jealous...we so badly need that in our Congress).

Only slightly better was finding some kind of international news channel that just rebroadcast bits of other state television channels, and then the audio feed on the stereo receivers wound up on a home shopping channel. Hilarity ensued -- video of some imam giving a fiery sermon and gesticulating emphatically, while the voice said "How much would YOU PAY for this entire set? $200?! $150?! NO! If you act now, we're giving you this entire 23-piece knife set for just $19.99!!" 

[palsch]

Question Time in the House of Lords is pretty much the best thing ever.

British politics nitpicking time.

Question time is a weekly BBC debate show every Thursday night. It's a major fixture of the political week, with guaranteed representatives of the three major parties, usually one of the smaller ones, and various other celebs and individuals who are of various levels of relevant. Questions come from members of the public, usually directly from the audience, and the show tours the country visiting a different city each week.

Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) take place in the House of Commons, the elected chamber of Parliament. This takes place every Wednesday lunchtime and is the only point in the week when the Commons are likely to be full. It's heavily ritualised and usually analysed as a form of sporting debate rather than for political ramifications (although those do exist). There is a solid archive on the UK Parliament Youtube channel. Watch absolutely any and you will quickly notice the formal structure of the thing, even if the jeering and whoops make it seem chaotic. You always get a softball from the backbenches (usually written by a party whip), then the leader of the opposition hits with his first question (usually on a major current event or government policy). The PM states government policy. The leader of the opposition then says the PM hasn't answered the question and states his parties position (or rather, says something opposed to government policy). The PM then says the leader of the opposition wasn't listening and states government policy in a different way. Etc. A 'win' is breaking from the pattern in an effective manner (which doesn't ever happen) or having the other party leader run out of responses in that form first.

Still good fun with some politically minded mates, especially when anything weird is happening to one of the major parties. A bit like tennis in the form of political debate. And sometimes a backbencher goes a little off script and you get unintentional comedy.

For reference, this is the busiest and most lively Lords debate I can find.

[Sheb]

You should also know that the British actually went to extra miles toward making politics easy to follow by colour-coding their parliament. Lords is red, Commons in green.

[Mr. Palau]

The politicians themselves are starting to snap.

Not much longer until glorious revolution, comrades!

Is that sort of normal?

I mean, the British parliament is a lot more chaotic than the Dutch one so I really have no idea 'weird' this is.

This was in the state house of Illinois, not in Britian. (just making sure you knew that)

[Jervill]

Let's see if I can keep this zombie thread going.

So, tomorrow, there is actual voting: The recall elections in Wisconsin, and the primaries in California.  Texas had them last week, IIRC.

For the Wisconsin Governor's recall, most pollsters show a lead of about 2-5% for Scott Walker, the incumbent Republican over former Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett, but it will be close.  There are a couple of state senate recall elections in Wisconsin, too, but those haven't been polled.

As for California, other than noting that it is top two primaries (the first and second place winners go to the November ballot, regardless of party) I don't have anything to say.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Let's see if I can keep this zombie thread going.

Speaking of that, the election no longer matters, as all candidates will most likely be zombies by November. Well, maybe not Obama, but that all depends on how well secret government fortresses can defend against zombies.

[Aqizzar]

Doesn't look like anybody's mentioned it (recently?) so for anyone curious, tomorrow is the Wisconsin governor's recall election.  The race has attracted more money on both sides of the line than the any Presidential election in the state ever did, even though both sides of the operation although heavily aligned with the national parties were basically campaigns built from scratch.  And it's supposed to be razor close.

[Descan]

The guy who bumped up the thread mentioned it, Aqqy.

[Aqizzar]

The guy who bumped up the thread mentioned it, Aqqy.

Do I look like a guy who reads this shit?  Yeah, that's right.