Do you think there's any country where the politicians are actually nice people and not corrupt gobshites/bugfuck crazy?
Norway?
I know I'm a bad poet, but I'm a good man. All I ask is that... is that you try to see me—
William ,'Conversations with Dead People'
Natter 55: It's the 55th Natter
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
tommyrot - Nov 07, 2007 10:48:37 am PST #985 of 10001
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Gudanov - Nov 07, 2007 10:49:52 am PST #986 of 10001
Coding and Sleeping
Do you think there's any country where the politicians are actually nice people and not corrupt gobshites/bugfuck crazy?
Liechtenstein?
Connie Neil - Nov 07, 2007 10:51:20 am PST #987 of 10001
brillig
Regarding Ron Paul and capital punishment, he's come to oppose the federal death penalty, but thinks it's just ducky if the states want to do it.
I did not know that. And here I was thinking, "My god, a Texan who doesn't think the execution chamber should have a popcorn vendor!"
At least the cognitive dissonance is fading.
tommyrot - Nov 07, 2007 10:53:19 am PST #988 of 10001
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Do you think there's any country where the politicians are actually nice people and not corrupt gobshites/bugfuck crazy?
Ooh. I know.
Freedonia!
Jars - Nov 07, 2007 10:56:49 am PST #989 of 10001
Lets all move to Freedonia!
If it makes you feel better about your head of state, our Taoiseach was recently giving evidence in a tribunal investigating his finances a few years ago. His excuse for the discrepancies in his finances? He deposited a briefcase full of foreign currencies at one point.
Who uses that as an EXCUSE? What world would you have to be living in to think that carrying around a briefcase full of cash is the lesser of two evils?
Gudanov - Nov 07, 2007 11:01:46 am PST #990 of 10001
Coding and Sleeping
What world would you have to be living in to think that carrying around a briefcase full of cash is the lesser of two evils?
Louisiana?
-t - Nov 07, 2007 11:03:59 am PST #991 of 10001
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
No, no you keep your cash in the freezer.
Rick - Nov 07, 2007 11:05:30 am PST #992 of 10001
Norway?
Yes, I would say that the closest thing would be Norway and Finland. Small, open societies with strong cultures of communal responsibility.
It's difficult to study whole societies, but there was a fun study done a couple of years ago, looking at the parking tickets received by UN staff from different countries. It's a good variable because no one ever demands payment of tickets from foreign diplomats. You can get tickets forever without any consequences, so the usual sanctions have no influence over the behavior. It's kind of a measure of what people would do if they couldn't be caught. If you don't park illegally, it has to be due to something other than tickets.
Diplomats from most developing countries and those from eastern Europe got tickets almost every day. Diplomats from most western European countries got occasional tickets. Diplomats from the Scandiavian countries and Finland never got tickets. Don't they understand? They have a free pass!
No, they never learned. They just plodded along doing the right thing.
Jesse - Nov 07, 2007 11:13:10 am PST #993 of 10001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
Someone just suggested to me that I should "get" Anita Roddick for an event. Anita Roddick who founded the Body Shop.
Anita Roddick who died in September.
Yeah, maybe not...
Theodosia - Nov 07, 2007 11:15:09 am PST #994 of 10001
'we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn't end any time soon"
I really like Bill Richardson, who is reasonable, experienced, personable, and doesn't seem to have a chance in hell.