For the Brits.
By request.
Also, Thurston, the little shit, came up to me earlier, stole the slipper off my foot and took off with it and ran out into the back yard (the back door is open because the weather is lovely) and dumped it. Ornery bastard.
La Caterina (Mrs. Johannes)
Don’t you mean “took a dump on it”?
Brachiator
Meanwhile, around the world. Netanyahu forms his coalition government. His partners oppose a Palestinian state. Canada and France are voting on laws to expand spying (it ain’t just fear in the USA).
The UK looks to be headed for another hung parliament. The only good thing about this is that the dumbass Lib Dems are headed for the dustbin of history. Dopes.
Aristocrats and plutocrats are having more sex, hoping ultimately to pop out more daughters to eventually provide play mates and ladies in waiting for Princess Charlotte.
It will be mildly interesting to see how hard the GOP hopefuls kiss up to Israel.
Renie
pictures or it didn’t happen
Mike J
Labour will form a government, Tories will say it’s illegitimate, UKIP will call for reëstablishing the special relationship by changing the name of the princess to Sarah Palin Windsor.
Mandalay
Reporters have been digging in to the background of Brian Rice, one of the six cops charged in the death of Freddie Gray.
If all of that is true then Rice is dangerous and unstable. It’s astounding that he was allowed to continue being a cop and dealing with the public in stressful situations while his personal life was in turmoil. Even if he is completely innocent in the death of Freddie Gray he is a ticking time bomb.
Yet another reason why the police departments should not be trusted to handle matters internally when things go wrong.
Suzanne
I have been slammed with work for the last week, and haven’t had much time to read or comment, but I wanted to tell Mnem, raven, and efgoldman that I am thinking about them and sending them love and light.
Aleta
My cousin has a miniature pug. When he was a puppy, smaller than my shoe, he would fight the fiercest battles with my shoelace. Intense sound effects. Threw his whole body and soul into it. The fights were dicey, but he was very brave and after a struggle almost always emerged the victor.
Brachiator
@Mike J: Doesn’t matter what the Tories say. At some point, one party will be invited to form a government, and the losing party will become back benchers. UKIP is probably irrelevant, but the Scottish party may have some power.
Depending on the results, even if there is a hung parliament, Cameron will be able to appeal to the Commons to have the Conservatives stay in power. But it is going to be interesting.
And yet, despite this craziness in the UK and Israel, with Frankenstein coalitions, some in the US want parliamentary systems, too.
Fair Economist
@Brachiator:
If I see parliamentary systems repeatedly come within hours of defaulting on their national debt because of systemic problems I’ll start worrying about them being inferior to a president/balance of power one.
Kropadope
@Fair Economist:
Better?
PurpleGirl
“Ornery bastard” or scamp. Sounds more like something a scamp would do. He’s a puppeh, what else do puppehs do but scampy things.
Mandalay
@Fair Economist:
Yes, that is not an issue there, but a different and significant problem with the system in the UK is that the political parties are not fairly represented in parliament.
Here there are only two parties and they are generally pretty fairly represented in Congress based on the votes they receive, give or take a gerrymander or two. But there are gross inequities in the United Kingdom. For example, UKIP are expected to have ~1 seat with ~12% of all votes, but the Scottish National Party are expected to have ~48 seats with ~5% of all votes. I wish UKIP nothing but failure, but that situation still sucks, and there is an odd form of democracy being carried out in today’s election.
Brachiator
@Fair Economist: Greece? Italy? In 2010, Belgium went 589 days without a government, and had to do a nimble dance to keep the government operating. But no official decisions regarding the budget or the national debt could be decided. Imagine the Tea Party as an independent party under a US parliamentary system, preventing a government from being formed for 589 days.
scav
I think the sanest thing I learned today is that ladybugs have STDs and do rather better after a spot of cannibalism. I mean, people.
Villago Delenda Est
Right now it looks like the SNP is going to get 52 or so of the 59 Scottish seats.
Which means they’re going to be a playa in any coalition government that might be formed if no one can win an outright majority.
There are poeple in England asking how they can vote SNP because SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon had the sharpest performance in the recent debates.
srv
That’s Sir Thurston to you – he’s a good Tory.
Morzer
@Mandalay:
It’s hardly as if the US system fairly represents the populations of the different states in the Senate. Nor is it a very accurate representation in the House of such minor concerns as the popular vote.
nfh
@Mandalay: Uh, how is the US system any fairer ? The US has never had only two parties, any more than the UK has had only three. The media tends to ignore the lesser parties (such as the SNP, UKIP, and the Greens) as irrelevant, until suddenly they’re not. The smaller parties can expose the injustices of the electoral model, but the relatively more successful suppression of third parties in the US is in no way indictative of a fairer electoral system. Not that the British system isn’t in need of reform, but of all the other countries with which to compare it…
PurpleGirl
@Morzer: OT. I left a reply to you at the thread below this one. (Agree that there are many flavors of Judaism and I detail a friend’s situation.)
SarahT
@Aleta: I love your cousin’s pug SO much. Long may the royal pug reign over the evil shoelace dominion.
SarahT
Maybe OT for an election/doggie open thread so sorry, please forgive:Just back from a friend’s memorial service/gathering, & though it was great to see so many I’d not seen for so many years, such a crap reason to get together. Sigh… Wish there was a puppy here to cheer us up.
Amir Khalid
@SarahT:
It’s an open thread, so by definition no topic is actually off-limits. You got to see old friends, although it does hurt that there’s one of them you’ll never see again. Isn’t life like that, though? Maybe geg6 has sent some new pictures of Koda and Lovey for John Cole to run. There’s always that to look forward to.
Sloane Ranger
We did have the opportunity to change our first past the post system quite recently but it was massively voted down in a referendum. A case of voting against its chief proponent rather than on the merit of the idea. Also people like the idea of voting for a local MP.
As for representation in Scotland. Having more MP’s per head of the population was one of the prices of getting Scotland to agree the Act of Union.
SarahT
@Amir Khalid: Thank you. You are right, and your words are much appreciated.
raven
@Suzanne: Thanks
raven
never mind
PaulW
@Brachiator:
the only thing likable about some parliamentary systems is the proportional districting, which if we applied to the US House would end gerrymandering and make elections matter again.
PaulW
Just have to note that with the epic Alberta election, today’s British election, and the upcoming national elections for Canada and the US, we need to note what does matter about elections: http://noticeatrend.blogspot.com/2015/05/elections-matter-past-present-future.html
PaulW
@Brachiator:
…that’s almost TWO YEARS. The f-ck? Damn, I was so busy looking for work I didn’t even notice that…
beltane
My mother’s family in the UK have assured her that if Labour forms the next government, their very valuable real estate will be confiscated and the proceeds redistributed to the blahs and the mooslims. If only..
Another Holocene Human
@PaulW: There were some hysterical murmurs about it on the intertubes but I doubt it was on the US teevee news because Belgium Doesn’t Exist.
I visited Belgium once in the 1990s and just had a hard time imagining that country in political crisis … but it was.
Another Holocene Human
@beltane: I snorted.
beltane
@Another Holocene Human: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I almost prefer the trashy, over-the-top, unhousebroken craziness of our own wingnuts to the uptight, outwardly civilized demeanor of their Tories.
NorthLeft12
@Mandalay: YIKES!! And the judge terminated the restraining order after a week because there was no basis in law for it to continue?
How about in common sense. This guy is dangerous, primarily to his ex-wife, her husband and his kids. But also to any members of the public too.
beltane
I will be following the Guradian’s liveblog today: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2015/may/07/election-polling-day-live-tories-and-labour-neck-and-neck-uk-votes
They are showing a London polling place located in a pub. This is why there will always be an England.
rlrr
UK Election Coverage
rk
@beltane:
No way!! Their wingnuts are the same as our wingnuts. How cute!
From Both Sides of the Pond
A friend of mine from my graduate school days is standing as the Green candidate in Hexham. The district is strongly Tory, so he likely hasn’t a prayer, but I’m wishing him the best. If nothing else, the way the system functions in the UK can allow local ‘minor’ party candidates to really throw a spanner (wrench for the US types) into the works. Other than the “The Rent is too Damn High!” guy in New York and the infamous Ralph Nader, how often does that happen anymore in the US?
beltane
@From Both Sides of the Pond: Bernie Sanders got his political start as a 3rd party candidate. His move towards the Democrats has been a gradual process.
grishaxxx
PurpleGirl – very appropriately – used “scamp” to describe Thurston’s slipper-theft, or at least his behavior (I’ll bet he came back, wagging, with that “OK, now you fetch it back! Let’s play again!” look…). But it rang my Peggy Lee bell, anyway, so this:
We already know how much he likes to pose! Don’t let him near the ladies too soon…
Craig
So does Nick Clegg just always get to be Deputy Prime Minister now? When did they make it a life peerage?
NorthLeft12
@Another Holocene Human: Yes, we in Canada know that feeling well.
Unfortunately, our right wing federal government is falling all over itself to be noticed and patted on the head by the US.
They are fighting against the decision to grant bail to Omar Khadr [the then fifteen year old Guantanamo Bay prisoner….now twenty-eight] because they believe it will cause irreparable harm to US/Canada relations.
Keith
@Craig: Not if the results end up with the Tories unable to form a coalition, which currently seems the likeliest outcome.
Nick Clegg ends up keeping his seat and wondering what happened to over half his party’s elected members. (Answer, sold out, just as he did the soul of the Lib-Dem party, which ended up neither liberal, nor Democratic in a US sense and certainly absent the Deputy of anything as a consolation prize).
Chris
@rk:
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from years of watching the austerity fairy making the rounds while middle and working class whites scream in terror at all the immigrants, it’s that wingnuts are the same all over. Let’s not overestimate differences between Europe and ‘merica.
Calouste
@Another Holocene Human: Belgium is a special case. It has the usual spectrum of European political parties (Christian-democrat, labor, conservative, socialist, green, neo-fascist, etc.), but it has them in both Flemish and Walloon flavors. Trying to form a coalition with 4 or 5 parties tends to be hard, and even though economical and social issues can be compromised on, issues related to the language question tend to be far harder.
From Both Sides of the Pond
@beltane: Ah, Vermont, a world unto its own – lived there for a bit a few years ago. Happily marching to the beat of their own drum, and thank goodness for that.
skyweaver
I think the ornery bastard is you. Winston’s just being cute.
Fair Economist
Unfortunately there’s a very good chance that if Labour forms a government it will need LibDem votes (current polls have Labour+SNP short of a majority, aside from the fact that Labour has insisted it will have nothing to do with the SNP). So Clegg might end up Deputy Prime Minister that way. I’m hoping he loses his seat, so a more palatable LibDem will get the job.
Paul in KY
@beltane: I prefer the Tories. Think they can be reasoned with.
gelfling545
@Aleta: My pug puppy is a smaller pug as well. I jut finished chasing her around the house after she stole the parking pass for my dental appointment. As I start physical therapy next week I was in no shape or mood for a game of chase but the pass was rescued with only a few fang marks. I pay a fortune for premium dog food & she wants to eat paper.
PaulW
@Another Holocene Human:
Well, Belgium that.
PaulW
@rk:
The British media is dominated by the Faux Not-News equivalents owned by Rupert Murdoch. He’s globalized the Far Right Noise Machine fear-mongering. They’re making Labour out to be the next Kenyan Mooselum Commie threat to the known universe.
PaulW
If we know any Brits, get them to report in here how things are going. When do the polls close EST time?
Freemark
@PaulW: I think they close 5 p.m. EST.
Brachiator
It’s weird. I guess the BBC cannot do extensive coverage of the UK elections until the polls close.
@Fair Economist:
Clegg remaining Deputy PM even with a change of government would be such a crazy and ironic outcome that Big Ben might start running backwards. I don’t think either would ever happen, but damn it would be amazing to see.
Seonachan
@Mandalay: “but the Scottish National Party are expected to have ~48 seats with ~5% of all votes.”
Well that’s highly misleading, since they’re only running in 59 of the 650 constituencies. In the other 591, they’ll get 0% of the vote and no seats.
It’s true that multi-party democracies can give big majorities to parties that get a minority of the vote, but that’s because of the First Past the Post system, not parliamentary government. Of course, when you have a form of proportional representation that more fairly represents the parties, then you often get even more fractured coalitions.
mdblanche
@Paul in KY: No, they can’t. That’s just the outwardly civilized demeanor fooling you. It’s eerie how the austerians in Europe have the ability to look and sound like they should know better while acting at least as rigidly as the worst Tea Partier.
@Chris: If anything, Europe is worse when it comes to immigration since left of center parties there are more willing to pander to nativists than Democrats are here. In Greece, Syriza’s junior partner is an anti-immigrant populist party.
I’ve stopped believing the grass is greener on the other side.
Paul in KY
@mdblanche: I don’t think the toffs think the world was created 8,000 years ago or a myriad of other mouth-breathing nonsense. In that way, at least, I think they are a tad better.
Barney
@Sloane Ranger: Scotland no longer has an over-representation of MPs (apart from an allowance for the Outer Hebrides and Orkney & Shetland to have separate MPs, even though their population is low, because they’re in special situations, and it’s hard enough for an MP to get all around them as it is; and the 2 north-west-most constituencies are slightly short on population, because they’re so geographically big).
In return for getting the Scottish Parliament, they had to agree to getting all the rest of their constituencies set to the same population as the English ones.
Wales still has less people per constituency than England and Scotland, though.
@beltane: Bernie’s brother Larry (yes, really) is standing today for the Greens in Oxford – he was on the county council for them for several years. His Green candidate predecessor has endorsed the Lib Dem candidate, to his annoyance (the seat was Lib Dem until 2010, held by Evan Harris, a very good Lib Dem; a rare case of Christian right wingers campaigning in the UK unseated him, because he had supported assisted suicide, and was active in the humanist movement; they hope the Lib Dems can take it back from the Tories).
Barney
@Brachiator: Yes, there are rules about no TV or radio coverage that could affect the outcome, while the polls are open. So all they can say is “the leaders went and voted”, tell people how they can vote (eg if you had a postal vote but forgot to post it, you take it to a polling station – it’s no good saying you posted it today), and say they’ll be doing it all at 10pm our time (yes, 5pm EDT).
Keith
Yikes – very bad exit poll projection for Labour. Revises my earlier assessment of Clegg’s participation trophy if true
Cameron’s crew 316 seats
Lib-Dems 10(!) seats
which is all you would need for a barely passable majority of all seats.
There was much talk of how exit polling in the current electoral atmosphere might be erroneous – but this seems, at first glance, to be immune from such error.
Though, British exit polls have been massively wrong before.
Lowest Labour performance since 1987, if this holds true, Miliband vies with Kinnock for wrong kind of fame. 239 seats (1987 was 220).