Sunday news: red edition

It's Sunday again!  There's a nice fall breeze in the air, and you know what that means:  a surge of evil left wingers are plotting the disastrous overthrow of life, liberty, and capitalism.  At least that's how the story goes.  Join us as we explore the downfall of humanity, subtly disguised as being nice to poor people.

• In Britain, the out-of-power Labour Party has a new leader, Red Ed Miliband, aka Miliband the Not-As-Cute.  He says that if in government, his party wouldn't dramatically slash the national budget deficit in one fell swoop, as the ORLY coalition is doing now, and thus would attempt to avoid wide-scale economic upheaval.  Clearly Ed is a commie, and should be vilified by the Daily Mail immediately.  Oh, wait.
• Yesterday in Washington, a rally endorsed by over 400 organizations called for more jobs, real justice, and genuine improvements in education.  Your humble blogger was in the midst of the fray, and can confirm that no marginalized groups were demonized even once during the festivities.  Obscenely wealthy corporate overlords didn't fair so well though.  Clearly these people are commies, and should be vilified by Glenn Beck immediately.  Oh, wait.
• Also here in Washington, our recent primary election has led to the likely downfall of our very own Tyrant Education Queen, Michelle Rhee.  This reality has made affluent, largely white, "concerned citizens" who in many cases don't actually have kids in DC schools piss their pants with fear.  This reality may also diminish the chance that the largely poor parents of children in DC schools will be talked to as though they were the peers of their children.  Clearly these parents are commies, and should be vilified by the Washington Post editorial board immediately.  Oh, wait.
• This Supreme Court opens its new term this week, and it's full of girls.  They'll probably want to rule on things.  They may even want their faces in a museum.  Clearly these lady justices are commies, and the ever-oppressed man should vilify them immediately.  Oh, wait.

So there you have it.  Go out and be a-feared, or something.  Oh, wait...

Sunday news: motherly love edition

Last Sunday happened to also be my mother's birthday, and, of course, today is a special Hallmark Holiday aimed at making mothers feel special.  I see it more as a plot by a one person to get two cards in a week.  So, here you go:  a motherload of Sunday tales to keep us all reproducing (ya know, if you want... totally cool if you don't).  

• Greece:  we created western civilization, and maybe we'll destroy it. 
• Britain (Britain, Britain):  here lies the last vestiges of actually being able to govern one's nation.
• Would you believe that people are constantly trying to manage their public persona, even the one they put on teh internets?
• "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military bureaucratic complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."
• Do you ever get the impression that DC schools chancellor Michelle Rhee doesn't understand money?  And wasn't she supposed to cut bureaucracy?
• This happens every day.

Sunday news: pesky kids edition

Every now and again there's a month of Sundays (or two) wherein I don't read the news religiously, because other things are going on that require my attention.  Sometimes that's my bunny, sometimes my garden, sometimes some sort of community event/thingy, and sometimes it's just my bed.  In any event, here are some of the stories that benefited from my attention this morning.

• Texas politics:  still weirdly entertaining.
• Burma:  We're not tyrants anymore cuz we totally changed our clothes!
• Annoying little twits who make less money than me party at bougie places I can't afford.  Oh, and they work at the White House, so they'll be powerful annoying little twits their whole lives (and they probably went to fancy schools and are bankrolled by their daddies).  Oh, and they wear pleated pants.
• A friend tells me there's lots of space for a wind farm in central Illinois, and the white noise might help him sleep better.  But why do that when overconsuming fossil fuels is so much more fun?
• Somebody please glue me to the BBC on Thursday.

And that's that.

Check out that basket! A hung parliament?

Yeah, yeah, sorry for the title, but I can't help myself.  It's just too good.  

As many of you know, I'm a total dork for British politics, and it's election time there, and for the first time, one of the two dominant parties may not get a clear majority, thus creating a hot hung parliament.  This is causing all sorts of nerds everywhere to nerd out over the possibilities.  

Frankly, I think David Cameron of the Tories is a blooming idiot, so another Gordon Brown premiership is probably the best option.  I'm also rooting for my old boss Jeremy Corbyn (Twitter | Facebook) in London's Islington North constituency, who is decidedly Old Labour and definitely deserving of being returned to his seat.  Jeremy taught me boatloads about politics, human rights advocacy, and just being an all around principled person, so if you live in Islington, return him to his seat, please.  :)

In any event, this is going to be a fun election to watch.  This year even featured the first ever televised debate among the party leaders.  May 6th is going to be a very fun day.

Let's make David Miliband feel better

So here I sit, reading the news o' the world, and suddenly I learn that David Miliband is sad.  And perhaps a little angry.  And that's bad.

Why?  Well, of course it sucks that Israel went and forged British passports.  That's all sorts of illegal, especially when said passports were used to ferry around assassins.  Then again, this is the government of Benjamin Netanyahu we're talking about here, so being belligerent and nasty little trolls is basically all they know how to do.  Anyway, why is sad David Miliband a bad thing?

Because he's the world's cutest foreign minister, obviously.  I mean, just look at the sad face picture.  Don't you just want to hug him?  And he's grown that little sprig of gray since taking the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs gig.  So let's all fly to London and give David Miliband a hug.  I mean, he's got to deal with mean Israelis and and upcoming election that could have some pretty big implications for his future career.  He clearly needs a hug or three.  :)

Happy Independence Day! Please leave your explosives at the door

So it's the anniversary of when we declared the independence of the nation we stole from other people. To mark this splendid occasion, Her Majesty's Government of the country that used to lord over us till we made their last Prime Minister a poodle has announced that it will maybe begin the process of developing a bill of rights, if people sort of want one.

See, America's not all bad.

Fun with quotes: totally out of context edition

Picture this in a remote podunk down somewhere in the back-ass of the U.S.

Bob said of beating the fags ban: "I have a legal team looking into the legalities at the moment but I am confident."

Go ahead, ponder it.

...

Better?

Real article here. Thanks to DCist for the tip.

The Time Out Chair of British Politics

He's done it again, folks. Tony Blair is punishing people. This time, it's Jack Straw that gets the "chair."

You see, Tony Blair has a curious way of dispensing with unruly Cabinet secretaries, and it forms a neat little pattern. Sure, various people have been shuffled around over the years, most recently last week. But there's one demotion in particular that means you are no longer in favour.

Congratulations, you've just been named Leader of the House of Commons. You will lose all substantive responsibilities, and simply be a paper-pusher/scheduler.

Let's look at previous demotions:

The late Robin Cook was the unruly foreign secretary (and Straw's predecessor), who began to chafe under Tony's cronyism with one George W. Bush. Thus, Cook became Leader of the House, where he could do little damage. Ultimately though, Cook resigned that position in opposition to the Iraq war, and gave a damn long speech about it too. Turns out people can ruffle your feathers even from politically weak positions.

Then there John Reid, now Defence Secretary, and Peter Hain, who was concurrently Secretary of State for Wales. They were really more warm bodies to fill the job, and Hain has since been made Secretary of State for Northern Ireland as well.

Then came Geoff Hoon, the bumbling idiot who served Secretary of State for Defence, yet who couldn't defend himself on the Commons floor. He became a liability, and was forced to push paper.

Now Jack Straw gets the chair (and Geoff Hoon got demoted again, probably just for kicks). Straw's problem (I guess) is that he was starting to steal the spotlight. He recently did a UK tour with Condi Rice where they apparently had great success, even though the country loathes the Iraq war that they both pushed. Word on the street is that Straw is too close with Gordon Brown (aka Heir Apparent), and thus got shoved away. Don't worry, he'll be back.

Honestly, I think that next up for Leader of the House is none other than TB himself.