Something to ponder!

[Yoshi]

First off, can i ask the admin not to put this in the jokes and funnies, as i am posting it in here because of the message not how its put across!

Found this on a submariners forum, read it a couple of times and it kinda hit home!  How in gods name can this country be a democracy? 

Read it til the bottom and you will see why i ask!

Gordon Brown flies into Washington , still an unknown quantity to most people in the U.S. despite his bizarre appearance on American Idol recently. In advance of the trip, profiles of the Prime Minister have been appearing in the U.S. This column tuned in by satellite to Eye-Witness News, Palm Beach, for a preview of the visit:


"Good morning America, how are you? This is your favourite son, Chad Hanging, reporting. The President of Englandland, Norman Brown, is arriving in our nation's capital this afternoon to meet with President Bush. But just who is this guy? Let's cross to our special correspondent Brit Limey."


Hey, Chad. As you can see, I'm standing in the world-famous Trafalgar Circus, with the House of Fayed directly behind me.


So what can you tell us about Norman Brown?


Well, Chad, he has been President for some nine months now. He used to be Chancellor.


What, you mean he's, like, German?


No, that's what they call their Treasury Secretary over here.


And is he a Conservative, like President Tony Blair?


No, Chad. He's Labour. President Blair wasn't a Conservative, either. He only pretended to be.


So how did Brown get the job?


He just kept shouting at President Blair until he stood down.


But he won an election, right?


No, Chad, there wasn't an election. He did think about calling one, but decided against it because he was frightened he might lose.


How can you change Presidents without having an election? I mean, it's not like President Blair was assassinated.


That's just the way it works in Englandland. The leader of the party with the most seats in the House of Lords gets to be President.


So Norman Brown was elected leader of the Labour Party?


Negative, again, Chad. He did raise money and have a leadership campaign, but no one stood against him.


What, nobody? No primaries, no general election, nothing?


Affirmative, Chad.


Let me get this straight. His party hasn't elected him, the country hasn't elected him, yet he still gets to be President. Sounds like a tinpot Commie dictatorship to me.


You could say that, Chad. Norman Brown doesn't really like anyone being given the chance to vote on anything.


Someone must have voted for him, some time.


Oh, yes. He was elected to the House of Lords by his constituents in Scotlandland.


He's Scoddish, then?


That's a big Ten-Four, Chad.


So is he President of Scotlandland, too?


No, that's a guy called Alan Salmon.


Hang on, if Brown's from Scotlandland, how can he be President of Englandland?


That's just the way it goes in this crazy country, Chad. Brown can make laws for Englandland, but not for his own people in Scotlandland. Not that it matters much because Brown has signed away most of Englandland's lawmaking powers to unelected European bureaucrats in Brussels, Belgiumland.


That would be like stripping Congress of the power to make laws in America and handing it over to Mexico.


I guess so.


How in the Hell did the people of Englandland vote for that.


They didn't. Brown wouldn't let them, even though it was a solemn promise in his party's manifesto the last time people were allowed to vote.


Couldn't the Supreme Court have stopped him?


Not really. The Supreme Court of Englandland is now in Strasbourg, where the geese come from.


Isn't there any opposition?


There's a guy called Boris.


Sounds Russian.


I wouldn't be surprised, Chad. There are millions of Eastern Europeans living here now, mainly in Peterburl.  Englandland has seen mass immigration over the past ten years, but no one voted for that, either.


What in the name of Ulysses S. Grant is going on over there, Brit? We're talking about the country which gave us Magna Carta, saw off the Armada, stood alone against Hitler and invented parliamentary democracy. How does Norman Brown get away with it? He must be a popular guy.


Far from it, Chad. According to the latest opinion polls, he's the most unpopular President ever. His approval ratings are even worse than George Dubya Bush. There's talk about him having to stand down soon. He's already promised the job to some guy who works for him - name of Balls.


Say again, Brit, you're breaking up.


Balls.


You're damn right there, buddy

[Drift]

 :clap: :clap: :clap: we must look like clowns  :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Sider]

Agree on everything, except a tiny weeny detail:

The English didn't defeat the Armada, the elements did :D

Foul weather is the only reason you heathens are not pledging alliance to Rome  :twisted: :twisted:

P.D. before the abuse barrage begins, I am just taking a playful shot at British pride, not trying to start an argument.

[Boddle]

  :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
I guess they are finding a sense of humour lets face it they needed it after George Bush's original Election fiasco.
 Well I suppose you could look at it Gordon is acting Democratically when more than 2/3 of voters could not be bothered (or didn't think it would make a difference) to vote so therefore the majority of the Population don't want a vote.

[Blue72]

Agree on everything, except a tiny weeny detail:

The English didn't defeat the Armada, the elements did :D

Foul weather is the only reason you heathens are not pledging alliance to Rome  :twisted: :twisted:

P.D. before the abuse barrage begins, I am just taking a playful shot at British pride, not trying to start an argument.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm and heres me thinking it was the fact that as we KNEW our waters and the condition that they offered that of ...DANGEROUS, , our navy let forced them to take a particular route around the needles and towards Portland wehre its pretty trecharous not to mention abd weather??

Id say that was foreward thinking!!! Victory withou too much effort.
im sure I read about it in the Nothe Fort Museum in Weymouth!!


as for evrything else, you gotta agree. It would be intersting to see what wuld happen if the public WHERE allowed to vote on things.mmmmmm lots of changes me thinks adn quite a few greedy bankers out on their ear too!! LOL

[Range Rover Blues]

Hang on, the Yanks wouldn't admit that we defeated Hitler would they? I thought they'd done it, single handed :-k despite not having been in the war for the first 2 years :lol:

[waveydavey]

Hang on, the Yanks wouldn't admit that we defeated Hitler would they? I thought they'd done it, single handed :-k despite not having been in the war for the first 2 years :lol:

It wasn't even the Yanks in general - it was Tom Hanks all on his own!

[Boddle]

Hang on, the Yanks wouldn't admit that we defeated Hitler would they? I thought they'd done it, single handed :-k despite not having been in the war for the first 2 years :lol:

It wasn't even the Yanks in general - it was Tom Hanks all on his own!

 Let all Vote Tom For President of englandland!!!.

[Yoshi]

Yeah but hang on, wasnt Churchill an american soldier??  I thought it was him who defeated hitler single handed?????

[Range Rover Blues]

Hang on, the Yanks wouldn't admit that we defeated Hitler would they? I thought they'd done it, single handed :-k despite not having been in the war for the first 2 years :lol:

It wasn't even the Yanks in general - it was Tom Hanks all on his own!

 Let all Vote Tom For President of englandland!!!.

He'd have to find it first :lol:

[Lord Shagg-Pyle]

I did some training a few years ago in what the current Politically Correct lobby call 'Urban Pacification' (riot control, in other words), and we had a lot of young service personnel from the USAF base at Lakenheath, acting as our crowd.
They were a great bunch of people, very willing to help and keen to know about their host country, but very unwise in the ways of the World.
I was approached by one chap who very sincerely said that it was a great honour to be in the UK, fighting a common enemy, namely 'Terrorism', as he felt he was doing much the same as his grandfather had done in the USAAF, during Dubya Dubya the Second, and one day we in the UK would suffer at the hands of terrorists, much the same as the US of A had done with 9/11.
I thanked him for his sentiments, and after pondering if he was really that niave told him about about 'The Troubles' in Northern Ireland, and how long Britain had been fighting terrorism on home ground, and how PIRA would fund raise in New York and Boston, via Noraid, to get dollars to buy weapons and munitions to kill Forces personnel, Police officers and innocent civillians.
He genuinley didn't know that that went on, saying that they didn't get told stuff like that.
I wasn't that surprised.

[Dave Rogers]

oddly enough, the general perception of the american public with regard to the terrorist threat in both america and the uk, differs greatly to our own. the recent shooting of the illegal immigrant in london would not have been treated in the same way in the USA, primarily because the common loyalty to America is different, the concept of communal identity is much discussed and adopted, because the American history is relatively short. Our own identity in the uk is watered down although I may be wrong. Do we have a unified sense of pride in being British?
The irish 'problem' such as it used to be known, was compounded because of the historical refugees who fled from the emerald isle,because of this thread, money has been raised because of that misguided sense of historical connection.
Americans on the whole, don't get this, only recently, when Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness were snubbed by the whitehouse when two women took the murder of their broe ther to George Bush, did the whole issue of the irish fundraising scenario become news in the states, even though it's been happening for many many years.

Where is all this leading?

Well, don't be surprised if we're subjected to some american concepts and ideas with regard to rights of way if a few of our own organisations and government departments get their way. Rightly or wrongly, it's how this concept is sold which could make the difference to whether rights of way remain open or are eventually closed over a number of years. It's all about information, perception, publicity, concepts and understanding.
Be watchful and be alert,

we need 'Lerts :)