Them elections in another world; Welsh wank a-educating

[misscam]

Democrats win House of Representatives; Senate still too close to call.

This will so displease Bush.

And therefore pleases me. Though I don't really care that much about the Democrats. The whole of the US is pretty much more conservative than me, so I tend to just stare at their political statements a lot, then go have a drink. (As someone in a Norwegian forum put it: "The US only have two parties - Giant-Right and Wee-Less-Giant-Right." And pointed out the parties in Norway that visit the Democratic party congresses and have a certain contact are centre parties. Hah.)

Worlds apart, truly. Watching Fox News is like getting broadcasts from Alt!verse across the Void. Bill O'Reilly is a particulary ranty Cyberman.

Also things I noted in this election:
South Dakota rejects ban on (almost) all abortions
Five states have voted to outright ban same sex marriages, three more still counting
Five states passed minimum wage increase
First ever muslim gets elected into Congress
First ever woman will now be Speaker of the House

Hmmm-hmmm. So now what, US?

The Torchwood Welsh wank makes it to fandom_wank

I've learned so much about the Welsh in the last few days. Educational wankery for the win. I did know that calling someone from Wales or Scotland "English" is akin to asking for murder-by-hostile-staring. Just don't. It's even worse than calling a Norwegian Swedish or vice versa.

Meanwhile, Norway's having political blah-blah over spying - or just good guessing?

Anyone else still having blah with LJ comment notifications? I seem to - so if I don't reply to something, I quite simply might not have seen.

Comments

[lotus79.livejournal.com]

Anyone else still having blah with LJ comment notifications? I seem to - so if I don't reply to something, I quite simply might not have seen.

I noticed them being a bit delayed after LJ went down the other day, but they are working fine for me now. I just got one from you, for example.

Also, yay democrats! *holds a celebration for the lesser of two evils*

Also...

[lotus79.livejournal.com]

pssst! Your aftenposten link is not working. At least not for me. I think it's an error message, but since you selfishly haven't taught me Norwegian yet, I'm not sure. :P :P

Re: Also...

[misscam.livejournal.com]

BLAH.

I have fixed it. Works now.

LJ seems to be sending me some notifications and some not. Double BLAH.

'Lesser of two evils' seems to sum up a lot of the non-US recations so far, really.

Re: Also...

[sciencewizard.livejournal.com]

Pretty much. It's like, "Yay, we just elected a corrupt bunch of slimy yes-men with their hands in the cookie jar, but at least they're not Republicans!" The Democrats in this town are notoriously corrupt, which is why I voted Green this year in shear protest. And even the Green Party supports nasty things like concealed weapons. It's something about having Puritan roots. The US has this thing about sex and politics that makes a little nookie a worse crime than lying to start a war and happy monogamous marriages a worse threat to our society than assault weapons.

It's definitely a punch in the arm for Bush, the question is whether he'll get the message and tread carefully or whether he'll call for jihad against the Liberal Defeatocrats that are threatening the world. I'm sorry, did I say "jihad"? I meant "crusade." I use highly charged words without knowing what they mean! ;-)

Re: Also...

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I don't trust Bush to get any message, but that's another matter.

The US thing about sex has always baffled me. You got a vibrant porno industry and manage at the same time to be so backwards about the act itself I wonder what century it is. Huh.

[evilstorm.livejournal.com]

The whole of the US is pretty much more conservative than me

...*headtilt* Wow.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I grew up in social democratic Norway, where conservatives have deputy leaders that are married to the same sex, where the welfare state is agreed upon by practically all parties, where state involvement in certain businesses is a-okay, where all political parties think it wise to save up oil profits for pensions of the future, where you get a year's paid maternity leave and paid paternity leave too, where the state church is banned from firing priests who marry the same sex and most people don't bat an eyelid at children watching an exibit on homosexuality in the animal kingdom. Norway is leftish. Heck, eve our conservatives are less conservative than the US Democrats.

[evilstorm.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm pretty impressed. Wow.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I have no doubt the Nordic countries would be pretty Bizarro!world to a lot of Americans - or others.

[wendymr.livejournal.com]

Not just the Nordic countries; most European countries, in fact. If you think about things such as (mostly) free medical care, a minimum wage you can more or less live on, a decent floor of social welfare, paid maternity leave (and even paternity leave in some cases) and a whole plethora of other things taken for granted in the vast majority of European countries, we're all way more to the left of any political party in the US.

And a muted yay for the election results :)

[misscam.livejournal.com]

This is true. But Scandinavia is quite left even in European scale.

Really, given the political devolpments of the past decades, it's no wonder the US and Europe have slided apart some.

[siraj.livejournal.com]

I'm getting the urge to move to Norway again... not that that's a bad thing... I'd freeze my mikta off, but I'd at least be in good Bush and Phelps-mocking company.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Everyone mocks Bush here. 90% of the population finds him offensive; the rest are too busy watching sports to care.

[siraj.livejournal.com]

I'd love to watch sports. All the good World Cup matches (read, anything involving European countries) were on while I was at work.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_tallian_/]

*drools*

I think the only thing I'd argue with is the whaling. The rest of it sounds like a huge breath of fresh air.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

No country's perfect, alas. I have a few things in here I'd like to correct myself, but as places to live go, I find Norway pretty damn good.

[bluerosefairy.livejournal.com]

Can I get an amen for that paragraph? Because really, that would be like a trip to FANTASTICALLY AWESOME-WORLD for those of us who live in the U.S. I mean, I'm from Philly. Our Democratic headquarters is at a gay bar. But even I can't imagine a country in which I'm guaranteed a year's PAID maternity leave.

I think I need to move to Norway.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Guaranteed by law, my dear. And the dad gets six weeks paid paternity leave, if I recall correctly.

You do get some stuff after that year as well, but I forget exactly how that is. (You do get child support until your child/children are 18, regardless.) You're also supposed to be guaranteed a place in kindergarten, but there are some gaps there. Thing is, our government wants women to work because they contribute massively to our fairly good economy and also, 40% of Parliament are women and that just puts more political will behind these issues, you know?

[natterfly.livejournal.com]

Especially don't call someone from Scotland, English. Violence will only ensue.

Generally, the English like everyone else, but everyone hates the English. Which may have something to do with marching over and forcing union, but, minor details. Feel sorry for us poor oppressed and unloved English! :(

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I like you?

Yes. Gets their kilts in a twist, it does. And anyway, they have mingled with the Vikings, so they're extra special awesome.

[mahala.livejournal.com]

It's like we're riding a bicycle as fast as we can down a hill...pedaling backwards.

But at least the pendulum has started to swing back to the Slightly Less Manic Right.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Every improvement helps. And it'll take the smirk of Rumsfeld's face. Huzzah.

[siraj.livejournal.com]

good news if you hadn't heard yet, Rumsfeld resigned. Apparently the Republican party came in and said "You're done" so he had to quit to save face from getting kicked out for being the warmongering arse he is.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I saw on the news, yes. And smirked.

[siraj.livejournal.com]

I did more than smirk.. ^_^

[cadiliniel.livejournal.com]

If someone calls me English they're likely to get murder-by-far-more-than-a-bit-of-a-stare. Lots of people like to think of this as racist, but it's not. They could call me Scottish or Irish or Italian or whatever the hell they wanted and they'd get the same reaction.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

What about Norwegian?

I meet some from Isle of Man who didn't mind being called Viking, since after all, they half were. But being called English was reason to murder.

[dawning-star.livejournal.com]

I've been having problems with comment notifications for the past couple of days. Didn't receive any yesterday, and woke up with 45 in my email this morning. Better late than never, I suppose.

I voted yesterday, and Oklahoma's a blue state again, at least as far as some representation and the govenor are concerned. It's....oddly satisfying, to actually see change.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Heh. I had a flood yesterday of about 30 within an hour - some days old. Wheee LJ.

Yay you.

[jenbachand.livejournal.com]

As I was telling one person last night, the U.S. political environment that people my age (Xers for want of a better term) have grown up in has so severely warped us. I want fiscal responsibility, but also my own choice over what I do in or out of my bedroom & with my body.

And Texas politics just suck. No one had a majority for governor, but the democrat candidate conceded with only 6% of votes in. WTF? How about a runoff?

At least with the less manic right controlling some of the process we might not lose so many of our rights so fast.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

After 6% counted? WTF? Talk about being sure you'd lose in advance!

Oh, and got your card. Thank you. It smelled very nice.

[ladykoori.livejournal.com]

Watching Fox News is like getting broadcasts from Alt!verse across the Void. Bill O'Reilly is a particulary ranty Cyberman.

HAHA! Love the analogy! Cyber-O'Reilly!

[misscam.livejournal.com]

If he did get cybernised, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't notice too much difference.

[ladykoori.livejournal.com]

Well, his rants would be in that annoying modulated cybervoice. Other then that, no difference.

[marcasite.livejournal.com]

Here in Massachusetts (notoriously liberal state) the campaign was getting so ugly and nasty between the canidates you just wanted it to be OVER. I enjoy politics (partly for the amusement, partly for the sheer joy of arguing) but this campaign left a bitter taste in my mouth.

I feel lucky to be living in such a liberal state (the only one that allows gay marriages out right) and I will be interested to see what the next two years of Bush's presidency will bring with such a Democratic hold on House/possible Senate. Shouldn't be to easy for him.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Yeah. We have much stricter rules on political advertising and I think it's helped it from turning so nasty. I've seen some of those American adverts. Holy shit. Makes it less about the politics and more about the politicians.

Yay you for allowing gay marriage. More should.

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

And calling Irish people English is likely to get you tarred and feathered. Rly.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I would think you could tell Irish and English apart on the accent fairly easily...?

[wintergreen126.livejournal.com]

Hmmm-hmmm. So now what, US?

donald rumsfeld steps down, that's what. and it's way past time, too.

in the meantime, have a great day :o)

[misscam.livejournal.com]

It's too eeeeeearly to be a great day. *whines*

[calapine.livejournal.com]

I did know that calling someone from Wales or Scotland "English" is akin to asking for murder-by-hostile-staring.

Ah, that happened to me at a con a few months ago and everyone else at the table went very quiet, presumably thinking I would attempt murder or something.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

They probably would've covered for you.

[sinneahtes.livejournal.com]

So now what, US?

This wannabe-moderate-but-probably-actually-liberal-compared-to-lots-of-Americans Connecticut resident is just keeping her eyes open, her fingers crossed, and hoping things improve... and was woken up tonight by her mother smiling and dancing over the fact that Rumsfeld is resigning. Hee!

[misscam.livejournal.com]

It pleased quite a few, it seems.

[fried-flamingo.livejournal.com]

I did know that calling someone from Wales or Scotland "English" is akin to asking for murder-by-hostile-staring. Just don't.

Yeah it ain't on. I don't mind getting mistaken for Irish so much (united in celticness, that sort of thing ) but calling me the 'E' word will bring down a world of pain upon the speaker.

I blame Culloden ;)

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Snort.

Yeah, I do tend to think of Wales, Scotland and Ireland a bit like Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Different countries, but with a lot in common.

[cethlenn.livejournal.com]

It looks like the Democrats have the house, possibly the senate, and a majority of the state governorships.

Rumsfeld has resigned.

Things are getting more and more interesting.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

When people want change, they really want change, I guess.