Non-display of the EU flag

[couyalair]

""As dippy as a two minute egg"

It took me a moment or two to understand that you were not referring to undersized eggs.

I wonder how many others got confused about pronunciation and meaning here.

Martin

[skirtyscot]

I always thought "barking mad" was a common idiom. No idea it has not crossed the Atlantic.

Although here in the UK we regularly come across Americanisms, we forget that other words are British only. On holiday in the USA, I used the word "daft" in conversation with a native and got a rather quizzical look. That took me completely by surprise.

Martin, you need to spend more time with the Brits who go to Torremolinos for some sunshine, or you will be in danger of forgetting your native language! Keep your hand in with phrases such as "this dessert is a trifle tart"!

Keep on skirting,

Alastair

[dillon]

Carl, don't get me started on the Tea Party. What a gaggle of economic ignorami, religious bigots, and thinly-veiled racists! Worst is that the leadrship of the GOP lacks the balls to stand up to the know-nothing extremists in their own ranks. It never ceases to astound me at how many minds can be manipulated by the Koch's money and Murdoch's media.

[crfriend]

Carl, don't get me started on the Tea Party.

'Twas not my intent to start a firestorm, or to inflame sensibilities anywhere. I was just, to use the baseball term, "calling it like I saw it".

What a gaggle of economic ignorami, religious bigots, and thinly-veiled racists! Worst is that the leadrship of the GOP lacks the balls to stand up to the know-nothing extremists in their own ranks.

Well, if we back off a level or two and start to look at the meta-issues in play here, the behavior of the T-Party (as I sarcastically call them) is entirely explainable if one looks at who their ultimate paymasters are -- and since, as has been recognized, many if not most of them are suckers, it all falls into place as part of an organized campaign to impoverish (to "claw back the wealth from") the middle class by the elite. Unfortunately, these folks don't seem to be able to grasp that they're working against their own best interests in this regard.

It never ceases to astound me at how many minds can be manipulated by the Koch's money and Murdoch's media.

Don't be. Vastly wiser folks than I have observed that, "Nobody has ever lost by betting against the intelligence of the electorate."

[Mod Hat on]

So long as this thread can remain civil, I am willing to let it continue. I admit my own violation of the "No Politics" rule in this regard, but tried to be polite about it. If it turns out that civil discourse cannot be maintained then I'll step on it and take a hard-line approach on the "Politics" rule. Let's approach this as a "science experiment".

I've not had to put this basted hat on in ages, and it's precisely as itchy as I recall -- and it still talks to me.
[Mod hat off]

The Voices! Please make them stop!!!

[Grok]

Alternatives conceived for the UK include a revitalized Commonwealth, and Britain's entry into NAFTA.

[Big and Bashful]

Grok, Both are alternatives I would love to see (One or the other or maybe both!), rather than the EU option which our political "masters" seem to be intent on continuing with.

[crfriend]

Alternatives conceived for the UK include a revitalized Commonwealth, and Britain's entry into NAFTA.

Both might be useful, but it's worth nothing that NAFTA is largely viewed here as a bit of a disaster for the working class. True, the rich did get much richer because of it, and that's because a lot of working-class jobs got shipped south moments after the thing was signed.

Free trade agreements are a fantastic idea when all the parties involved are more or less at economic parity with one another; where they break -- and break horribly -- is when the parties are very far apart in terms of economic wealth. When the latter is the case, what happens is a net reduction of wealth for the wage-earning class and a net increase for the elite in that country and precious little change at all in the poorer country. So, overall, pretty much everybody loses except a handful of elite families in the richer country.

[Grok]

I believe that the European Free Trade Association has also been mentioned.

[Sinned]

I believe that the unelected bureaucrats is eminently worse than politicians simply because you can't get rid of them. At least totally incompetent politicians can be voted out or promoted to the House of Lords or to Directorships. The phrase inmates running the asylum seems to pertain to a lot of situations at the moment from government, law and health services. Perhaps the whole world is going insane. I seem to recall that's the theme of several old SF novels. Perhaps it's time to resurrect that theme in a story also involving the main character wearing a skirt. Now there's a thought.

[kiltedBob]

Well Sinned.... We tried that here in the "colonies"... Took a street man from Chicago, they elected him as a Senator, and now he is a free wheeling El Presidente !!! Look how our country is doing!!! Up in another post, someone used the word "daft" and got strange looks from the younger set.... We were all DAFT... for letting our present El Presidente get elected and installed in Government housing i.e. White House...Spring is coming... shorter skirts are getting prepped for "work". Cheers and a good bottle of dark Ale from kiltedBob.

[crfriend]

We were all DAFT... for letting our present El Presidente get elected and installed in Government housing i.e. White House...

As near as I can tell, we're in the middle of Dubya's fourth term in office. So similar are the high-level policies that I can detect no difference.

We've still got Gitmo, we still have the FISA and other "secret courts", the NSA is engaged in internal spying, the elite class still pays practically no tax and the tax they do pay is declining, and more and more folks who used to be comfortably middle-class are now impoverished. Yes, Dubya is still in the White House or at the very least there's somebody who is working for the same paymaster working there at the moment.

Didn't the Rolling Stones make some commentary about this situation a number of years ago in, We won't get fooled again?

Spring is coming... shorter skirts are getting prepped for "work". Cheers and a good bottle of dark Ale from kiltedBob.

Hear, hear!

At least I'd like to think that spring's coming. It's bloomin' cold right now, and with a 30 MPH southwest wind my study/computer-room which is usually in the upper 70s is in the low- to mid- 60s at the moment -- and it's only going to get worse tonight. I wonder if the kitchen sink tap will work properly in the morning...

[alexthebird]

Didn't the Rolling Stones make some commentary about this situation a number of years ago in, We won't get fooled again?

Actually, that was The Who.

[skirtyscot]

I'm glad it's not just me that gets their songs mixed up!

[crfriend]

Actually, that was The Who.

Thank you, Alex.

Welcome to the real world, SkirtyScot, you are not alone!

[Sinned]

Well, here's a question. If the big corporations - google et al aren't paying big taxes in the USA and it appears that they aren't paying more than the widow's mite in England then where are they paying taxes in? Maybe we should all move there and establish a little colony of skirt wearers.

As for the lyrics "won't get fooled again" they appear in the intro music for CSI and it's definitely The Who. I have been a fan of theirs since the Sixties.