Political Chatter

[Judah14]

Regarding the poverty issue, a good solution is found in Article XIII, Section 2 of the 1987 Constitution:

The promotion of social justice shall include the commitment to create economic opportunities based on freedom of initiative and self-reliance.

Of course you cannot depend on dole-outs, whether from the government or from non-government organizations. That's why job creation is often part of their anti-poverty agenda of politicians here. People should learn to differentiate social justice from socialism, as socialism doesn't work right pretty much every time.

[moonshadow]

Well, your confusion is entertaining!

Not confused, just asking some unanswerable questions. There are no solutions for anything, mainly because humans refuse to make anything work. Everyone wants it their way and everyone has lost the art of compromise. So personally I say f____ it, let the world come to an end already. I get no TV reception, no longer get a news paper, thanks to my coming out of the "skirt closet" at work, nobody talks politics around me anymore, life is good... Frankly I liked the cafe better when it was non political....

To the problem solvers of the world.... do what you will, vote for who you want, when you're shooting each other in the name of God, kindly point that thing away from me, and carry on. As for me... I don't really give a sh!t what happens. I've got a limited number of years left and I'd like to spend them not worrying about things I can not change.....

[Sinned]

Remember the Serenity Prayer:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

Then there's the humorous version:

Lord, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage, to change the things I can, and wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had to kill because they pissed me off. Help me to be careful of the toes I step on today as they may be connected to the ass that I may have to kiss tomorrow.
Help me to always give 100% at work... 12% on Monday. 23% on Tuesday. 40% on Wednesday. 20% on Thursday. 5% on Friday.
And help me to remember... When I'm having a really bad day, and it seems that people are trying to piss me off, that it takes 42 muscles to frown and only 4... to extend my arm and smack them in the mouth.

[moonshadow]

Remember the Serenity Prayer:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

Then there's the humorous version:

Lord, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage, to change the things I can, and wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had to kill because they pissed me off. Help me to be careful of the toes I step on today as they may be connected to the ass that I may have to kiss tomorrow.
Help me to always give 100% at work... 12% on Monday. 23% on Tuesday. 40% on Wednesday. 20% on Thursday. 5% on Friday.
And help me to remember... When I'm having a really bad day, and it seems that people are trying to piss me off, that it takes 42 muscles to frown and only 4... to extend my arm and smack them in the mouth.

Personally I'm spent by Thursday!

[dillon]

I apologize for comparing Boris Johnson to Donald Trump. After seeing Nigel Farage beating his chest in that tirade at the EU, I now see that he is far more like Trump than Johnson has been.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wor ... arliament/

I always thought of you guys as prim and refined statesmen. I'm reshaping my world view now.

I'm curious as to whether Johnson will ascend to PM since London voted 60-40 to remain? He may lose his next election bid if he doesn't get bumped up to 10 Downing.

[Sinned]

Depends n how you define prim and refined. They are generally upper class, millionaires and completely detached from the proletariat or common man to the extent that they need briefing by a civil servant so they know the price of milk or bread. Farage was right in his speech when he said of his fellow MEPs that they had never had a proper job in their lives and neither have a lot of MPs. Cameron, Osborne and ilk come from privilege and can never understand what the daily problems face the average working man. More like Hooray Henry's really. Google it. Very little respect for them stemming from the way they behave and fiddle their expenses claims, still goes on though probably in even more underhand ways. More image than substance, really.

[Pdxfashionpioneer]

Your milk and bread reference reminds me of how the first Pres. Bush wasn't aware of bar code scanners before he visited a grocery store on a campaign swing. Nor did he know the price of bread or milk. Unlike his son, at least George H.W. was a gentleman and had enough experience in public service that he a grasp of the issues facing the nation. He usually came to the wrong conclusions, IMNSHO, but at least he wasn't as uninformed as his son, who came across as Wikipedia compared to the current Republican candidate.

But I digress, Dennis we have many of the same problems with out of touch politicians as you do, we not only have a billionaire running for President, as far as I know every single member of the US House and Senate are millionaires.

Nonetheless, as functioning Democracies we all owe it to ourselves to get informed on the issues and VOTE. Because public policy does make a difference and public opinion can be effective. Look at gay marriage, in the '90's my fellow Oregonians passed a referendum to forbid it. Now it's the law of the land. If you don't think that change in public policy has made a difference in people's lives get back to the civilized portion of your beautiful state, track down a gay adult and ask. If you don't think it was the change in public opinion that persuaded the Supreme Court that enough was enough, then tell me what DID make the difference.

[Sinned]

pdx, I had the impression that your politicians were in the same class, after all you would need considerable resources behind one in order to get elected since there is no federal sponsorship for campaign funds. But since I was making assumptions I thought I would leave it to those more knowledgeable to enlighten me. Seems that both countries are governed by a class totally disconnected from the mainstream population. I have always advocated that all politicians should have had a proper job for at least 10 years and that there should be a limit on the number of terms an MP can serve, ideally 2. Yes Minister has proved that the actual Minister ( Head of a Department such as the Foreign Office )makes minimal difference in policy due to the inertia of our Civil Service, more of a figurehead really, and it would eliminate the Career Politician. If you haven't seen Yes Minister and its successor Yes Prime Minister and are interested in British politics and how it works then you do need to preferentially, view it or at least read the books. The acting is of the finest quality and the actors perfectly chosen for their parts. I sincerely hope that they don't do a remake as they have done with some of the classic series, anything else will be second rate. The interplay between Sir Humphrey Appleby and Jim Hacker, Minister of the fictitious Department of Administrative Affairs, is first class scripting and so true to life. Margaret Thatcher was an avid viewer and agreed how true it was. There are many, many one-liners in it such as Jim Hacker saying, Truth, I don't want the truth. I want something that I can tell Parliament."

Or, the classic ....

Sir Humphrey: "Yes, we did cross swords when the Minister gave me a grilling over the estimates in the Public Accounts Committee last year. He asked me all the questions I hoped nobody would ask."
Jim, "Well, Opposition's about asking awkward questions."
Sir Humphrey: "Yes, and government is about not answering them."
Jim: "But you answered all my questions, didn't you?"
Sir Humphrey: "I'm glad you thought so Minister."

Finally, if you want the structure of our Civil Service then the following is most enlightening ( not ):

Sir Humphrey: "Briefly, sir, I am the Permanent Under-Secretary of State, known as the Permanent Secretary. {Bernard} Woolley here is your Principal Private Secretary. I, too, have a Principal Private Secretary, and he is the Principal Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary. Directly responsible to me are ten Deputy Secretaries, eighty-seven Under-Secretaries, and two hundred and nineteen Assistant Secretaries. Directly responsible to the Principal Private Secretaries are plain Private Secretaries. The Prime Minister will be appointing two Parliamentary Under-Secretaries and you will be appointing your own Parliamentary Private Secretary."
Jim: "Can they all type?"
Sir Humphrey: "None of us can type, Minister. Mrs McKay types - she is your Secretary."
Jim: "What a pity. We could have opened an agency."

The point about inertia is a serious one since it is as true today as it was in the early 1980's when it was first broadcast. Classic.

[dillon]

If they aren't rich when they run for office, they are by the time they get out.

I see Boris got bumped. It's an amusement, as I said, but also a relief to see that the US is not alone in counting the carbuncles on our figurative political butt!

[dillon]

HELP WANTED - TWO POSTS: Prime Minister of the UK and Independent Party leader. We had seventeen contenders for the Republican nomination; you Brits can't keep your front-runners. I'm thinking there isn't enough money in UK politics...

[r.m.anderson]

I apologize for comparing Boris Johnson to Donald Trump. After seeing Nigel Farage beating his chest in that tirade at the EU, I now see that he is far more like Trump than Johnson has been.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wor ... arliament/

I always thought of you guys as prim and refined statesmen. I'm reshaping my world view now.

I'm curious as to whether Johnson will ascend to PM since London voted 60-40 to remain? He may lose his next election bid if he doesn't get bumped up to 10 Downing.

I'm curious as to whether Johnson will ascend to PM since London voted 60-40 to remain? He may lose his next election bid if he doesn't get bumped up to 10 Downing.

Something sort of like the Peter Principle ?

[Ray]

Sinned, you mention that Farage was right in his polemic in relation to MEPs having never had a proper job.

That is incorrect. I won't mention the full list of roles carried out by those MEPs around him, but they are extensive and varied.

Farage made an embarrassment of himself and of the U.K in his ugly rant. He really is a nasty little man, full of vituperative anger and malice. Slippery too; witness his immediate climbdown the day after the referendum on NHS promised spend. Dillon, please believe me when I say he does not represent the UK. Most Brits despise him. He represents a particularly narrow-minded and xenophobic sort of person, referred to here as "little Englanders". As a nation, we are better than him. The UK still remains a pretty decent and tolerant nation, despite the rise of ugly incidents since this idiotic referendum took place.

Alyn Smith made a subsequent impassioned speech that illustrated the gulf in class between himself and Farage. He got a standing ovation. He later came out with a quote which could easily apply to Farage: "It's easier to pander to prejudice rather than face it down and inform it out of existence".

[Pdxfashionpioneer]

Mr. Farage sounds like he was cut from the same cloth as Donald Trump and US Sen. Ted Cruz.

Despite our being divided by a common language it's comforting to know we still have plenty in common.