Lifting up the White Man's Burden?

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Friday July 22, 2005 · 7:08 PM PDT

2005/07/22 · 19:08

Once again being reminded of the horrors of Abu Ghraib, thanks to today's front page story, I couldn't help wondering what sort of conceit makes people think that the West's presence in Iraq is going to make things better. Then, dangerously, I started to think a little more and my mind difted back to 1899.

You see, our countries have a long history of mutually backslapping one another while we go in and take over smaller and weaker countries. Back then, America had just 'purchased' the Philippines from Spain after winning the Spanish-American War. Some Filipinos, who had just declared independence from Spain, weren't too keen on the idea of their country being bought and sold like a commodity, and so a bloody war began.
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London Tonight

EuropeanSurrenderMonkey for Daily Kos

Community

Thursday July 07, 2005 · 6:08 PM PDT

2005/07/07 · 18:08

[From the diaries -- Hunter]

Apologies for the stream of consciousness posting earlier. It was a hell of a commute this morning! It's now about 1 am here and this is sort of how I read the situation.

Central London is very quiet but not empty. A lot of people from the burbs obviously didn't come in to play tonight... even if they could, given that transport is a bit disrupted. It's not empty, though, I took a little scout around on the bike, having repaired my puncture, and there are some people about, I suppose people who live close in like me. On the other hand, the pubs in the area I live in, one of the closest residential districts to the West End, were hiving tonight. Lots of people needed to be with people, I suppose, and a few needed a little nerve settler after a pretty awful day.
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British Election Broadcasts

EuropeanSurrenderMonkey

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Tuesday April 12, 2005 · 6:47 PM PDT

2005/04/12 · 18:47

The first two British election broadcasts have been aired on TV - one each for Labour and the Tories, I think the LibDems get their first shot tomorrow night.

Labour's (Tony and Gordon don't hate each other, honest) is at http://www.labour.org.uk/audiovideo

The Tories' (we're not racist, honest, look even some black and Asian people vote for us and we dig groovy alternative britrock as well) is at http://www.tory.org.uk/tile.do?def=news.story.page&obj_id=121733 Read More

Primer on the British General Election

EuropeanSurrenderMonkey

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Tuesday April 05, 2005 · 3:13 AM PDT

2005/04/05 · 03:13

I've noted the great interest here on Kos on our upcoming election in Britain, and thought I would put together a little briefing on what to look out for those of taking an interest in British politics for the first time.

In this election we will elect 646 Members of Parliament, with the Prime Minister being the leader of the party which commands a majority of them. These members are elected by the first past the post system in individual districts known as constituencies here. Most of the constituencies are considered safe, so the parties will focus their efforts in the 100 or so which will decide the election, generally known as 'marginals'. Below the fold, I've written a bit about which groups and issues will decide the election in the different sorts of marginals we have in our two-and-a-half party system, and listed a small sample of key marginals of each type which might help you if you're following election night coverage on C-Span or BBC World. Read More

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