The Political Thread

[JOE SOAP]

Well over 300 million signatories and climbing.

Exaggerating a bit there.

https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/iain-duncan-smith-iain-duncan-smith-to-live-on-53-a-week

[Tjm86]

currently 383,985. 

Or was the exaggeration on the part of IDS?

[Richmond Clements]

currently 383,985. 

Or was the exaggeration on the part of IDS?

You had said 300 million!

[Richmond Clements]

currently 383,985. 

Or was the exaggeration on the part of IDS?

You had said 300 million!

[Ancient Otter]

According to the BBC there are seven social classes in the U.K.

Which one are you a part of?

[MercZ]

According to this Fox News piece, it's all the fault of uppity black union leaders who eat too many burgers.

It's the common theme in media coverage here about Detroit, it has been since the first black mayor was elected (Coleman Young). They had a field day with Kwame Kilpatrick's corruption stuff being exposed, or assessing the impact of Young's 20 year mayor term, during which Detroit began to fall apart. The rhetoric is masked by something like "urban" politicians taxing the crap out of "hard workers" (which refers more specifically to upper middle class and executives, rather than factory workers...) and destroying Detroit that way. Nothing to do with, apparently, the decline of the American auto industry, though they blame that one on the unions too.

[Spikes]

WTF North Korea

^^This.

Bill Hicks's disqualification of the 1991 Gulf war on the grounds that the definition of a war is when two armies are fighting is probably relevant here. A war of annihilation between the world's only superpower and a country which depends on welfare handouts from China just to feed (some of) its people would be over before we all go back to work on Tuesday.

The fat kid's only acting out because he has a new step-Daddy and wants to see how far stamping his feet and shouting will get him (same as a few other dependents). There's an awful lot of newly-mega-rich countries in that region who are doing too well out of the financial collapse of Western capitalism to let the Special Unit kid shit in the pool and spoil the party.

I hope your right, Sauch - and certainly North Korea's traditional allies seem far from impressed.
But incredibley silly, and scary talk coming from that place..

[Frank]

I hope your right, Sauch - and certainly North Korea's traditional allies seem far from impressed. But incredibley silly, and scary talk coming from that place..

Don't take my word for it. The financial sector's normally as skittish as a fawn; the slightest sign of social unrest or political instability in a region and the boys in stripy shirts and red braces have their billions out of there before the morning bell has rung. If the folk who make it their business to cultivate direct access to government agencies and military intelligence thought there was the slightest chance that the US and China were prepared to let this escalate, then shares in Samsung and Hyundai would already be dropping through the floor.

[Zarjazzer]

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2013/04/04/2013040401314.html

Somebody's moving their troops.

[Frank]

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2013/04/04/2013040401314.html

Somebody's moving their troops.

But Chinese state media are playing down the threat.

[Ancient Otter]

Fernandez Called 'Old Hag' By Uruguay President. This president of Uruguay has apparently been shot six times,done fourteen years in jail and donates 90% of his monthly salary to charity so I don't think he'll care much about what the Argentinian president will say.

[Frank]

Fernandez Called 'Old Hag' By Uruguay President. This president of Uruguay has apparently been shot six times,done fourteen years in jail and donates 90% of his monthly salary to charity so I don't think he'll care much about what the Argentinian president will say.

What a character; like Chavez without the ego and showbiz aspirations:

"I don't feel poor. Poor people are those who only work to try to keep an expensive lifestyle, and always want more and more ... This is a matter of freedom. If you don't have many possessions then you don't need to work all your life like a slave to sustain them, and therefore you have more time for yourself ...

(addressing the Rio+20 summit in June last year): Do we want the model of development and consumption of the rich countries? Does this planet have enough resources so seven or eight billion can have the same level of consumption and waste that today is seen in rich societies? It is this level of hyper-consumption that is harming our planet." Mujica accuses most world leaders of having a "blind obsession to achieve growth with consumption, as if the contrary would mean the end of the world".

This year he has also been under fire because of two controversial moves. Uruguay's Congress recently passed a bill which legalised abortions for pregnancies up to 12 weeks. Unlike his predecessor, Mujica did not veto it. He is also supporting a debate on the legalisation of the consumption of cannabis, in a bill that would also give the state the monopoly over its trade. "Consumption of cannabis is not the most worrying thing, drug-dealing is the real problem," he says.

Being a little odd and standing outside society allows you the freedom to challenge orthodoxy, and it's rare to even hear a head of state speak frankly and pragmatically about an issue such as drug laws - or see a latin politician with the cajones to go against The Vatican on the issue of abortion. Having said that, Fernandez es una chica hermosa ; either every female in Uruguay looks like Eva Mendez or Mujica needs his eyes tested :

[CrazyFoxMachine]

I think it's worth pointing out, to those offended by people cheapening the death of a human being in order to make a political statement -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/05/pm-osborne-linking-philpott-welfare

It's fine, even the folk at the top do it.

[Richmond Clements]

Spot the difference.

[Zarjazzer]

Well we didn't use heavy weapons and machine guns that said the dear old gov used five and all its naughty tricks to destroy a trade union, the only time we evr had a national police force so i for one am glad thw wicked witch of the west is no more.