My sincere condolences to the people of the USA

[Pert_UK]

Not only do you have a chimp for a President, you now have an ape for a Governor of California.....

Your wonderful country is going all to hell and has moved from being the envy of the world to its laughing stock.

You guys really need to instigate some kind of intelligence testing before allowing citizens to vote......and if you could weed out the "evil" gene, maybe that would be a good thing too.

I just CANNOT believe that the situation is so incredibly fucked-up over there.

Please don't despair - keep on working to bring sanity back to US politics.

Seriously, I am sitting here stunned that such fraud, dishonesty and circus-tricks have taken two of the most important seats in the country.

P.

[supernova]

1. Thanks, PertUK

Arhhhnuld, will have a real problem on his hands. I doubt very much that he can think his way out of California's predicament.

All told thought, at least we re-elected the Democratic Mayor of Raleigh locally. That's something.

[JackDragna]

2. I will not give up.

The idea of America means too god damned much to me. I will not surrender this country to the hands of the rich and powerful until they kill me. Although I am disgusted that a musclehead movie actor just became governor of the 9th largest economy in the world, I will not let it keep me from working against the right.

[cprise]

3. And the UK has adopted us as its religion

Your vector is the same... just lagging behind.

See you in airstrip one.

[mr blur]

19. Extreme view from Airstrip 1 - or not?

At an anti-war rally in London earlier this year, playright Harold Pinter said, "The US is a monster out of control. It's a country run by a bunch of criminal lunatics with Tony Blair as a hired Christian thug"

The thing is, whatever our own failings/problems, that's how it seems to us over here on The World's Largest Aircraft Carrier.

[wtmusic]

4. LOL

Thanks for the perspective. I think I need to move to England.

[glarius]

5. I think you need to adopt a law we have here in Canada....no TV network

is allowed to announce winners in elections or suggest who is leading during the day of voting, until the polls have closed...I can't help but think that the outcome was influenced by the fact that CNN and the others (CNBC for one) were saying all day long that Arnold seemed to be winning and then around 3 hours before the polls closed in Cal. they said he had won....Don't you think this would have stopped a lot of people from voting, thinking their votes wouldn't count?

[wtmusic]

6. Absolutely

Why does everyone seem so sensible in every other country of the f*cking world?

Power has gone to our heads. History has proven countless times a country needs a good asskicking once in a while to keep its intellect and its virtues in order.

[Olivier]

7. I agree with glarius

The same law is applied here, in France.

[trigz]

12. Yep, it's the same way in Norway and all other

European countries I know of. Here, the voting stops at 8 o'clock in the evening, and it's strictly forbidden to mention anything about the prognosis or the standings until that time. Which makes sense.

[Interrobang]

25. Shorter campaigns would help, too.

Here in Canada IIRC our campaigns are only allowed to be 60 days, and ALL election signs, propaganda, ads on radio and tv, etc. have to be GONE 48hrs before the election, so people can make up their minds in a (brief) moment of relative quiet. (Actually, I like that 48hrs. It's kind of like everything's holding its breath.)

Also, as I keep saying, people in the US should be *enumerated* to vote and not *registered*. How do you think the Republicans' (or the Democrats', for that matter) strategies would change if they all of a sudden didn't *know* for (almost) sure that they had a "base," and the only information that was coming to them was poll numbers? When I go to vote, I don't have to declare a party allegiance; I just get on the voters' list one of several different ways. (Usually I do it by showing up at the Returning Office with proof of residency, but there's ways around that, even, as the sign I saw up in my neighbourhood <-cough- festooned with hand-drawn maple leaves, I might add> "HOMELESS? OVER 18? WANT TO VOTE? IT'S YOUR RIGHT! VOTE WITH HARRY AT CITY HALL" and listed days and times. I'm so proud! <snif!>)

Check out the "Youth Site" from Elections Canada: http://www.elections.ca/youth/english/welcome.html
The slogan is "Remember when someone else made decisions for you?" :)

Then again, that's not to say that either of our systems are perfect (grumble FPTP multiparty system gripe), but there's room for improvement here!

[Pert_UK]

8. Worth a try for a while...at least our elections are fair and we rarely...

vote for film stars (Glenda Jackson being the only one I can think of, and at least she has a brain).

Having said that, I'm living in Australia at the moment, and the weather is certainly better!

P.

[Kellanved]

9. What Pert wrote

I couldn't formulate it better.

The result ruined my breakfast and I've not come to terms with it yet (I appreciate Californians voting for an immigrant. But this immigrant?).

[dbt]

10. Remember how Americans used to think

that British politics were f*cked up? We sure showed them, didn't we?

Thank you for your kind words, Pert. I need a pint and a dash right about now!

:evilgrin:
dbt

[trigz]

11. Seconded.

(BTW Pert_UK, where are you from?)

Like I say I'm disgusted to my guts about the development toward an all-out police state governed by the most unimpressive load of tosspots I can ever recall in politics; a country where the vulgar idiots are in charge, without even winning the elections.

Although California is lost, you now need to focus your attention on the upcoming Presidental elections. Arnold will make his complete incompetence painfully clear without the help of anyone else, but I fear that another four years with Monkeyboy in the White house could do more damage to your country, your relations with the rest of the world and even global stability than any of us can imagine.

Stand up and fight, friends, and don't let that army of hillbilly retards win!

[Paragon]

13. I was just watching BBC World's coverage of the recall....

...and thinking, "God, what the Brits must think of us NOW."

America is a bunch of "Total Retards", it's true.

[pretzel4gore]

14. the entire country!

the entire American people, despite the bs from the bushmedia, must be horrified that someone like Arnie can become most powerful official in a major trend setting state like Ca ...it's the bush phenomena written in language even freepers like coulter can see must end very badly; the instinct of self preservation is our last hope, i think.

[prolesunited]

15. Completely off-topic

But let me guess, Paragon. Are you rooting for the Cubs? LOL!

[Pert_UK]

22. "Total Retards" - ROFL!!!!

:evilgrin:

Reminds me of the sick joke I heard a while back...

"Running for Governor of California is like entering the Special Olympics.....even if you win, you're still retarded".

With apologies to anyone who finds that offensive...

P.

[Dork]

16. Predator

The US now has the distinctly dubious honor of being able to say that not one but two "actors" in the movie Predator have been governor. If Retarnold could take California, I can't even imagine what kind of drooling muscebound molestor could take some of these other states, provided they were sporting the requisite "Republican" sticker.

[Hubert Flottz]

17. It's just that the Blitz took a long time to get here!

You had yours in your country in the 40s! Now the Huns are here!

[Norbert]

18. Perk, what do you mean

the state with the sixth largest economy in the world is about to be led by a movie action hero without any applicable experience for the job.

Oh boy! This is embarrasing.

[cosmicdot]

20. the morphification of the American Republic to Tabloid Nation

... Corporate America ... where our pseudo-leaders don't care about the Founding Principles ... they're so 18th century and don't play well on Return on Investment ... money rules ...

thank you for your condolences

the nightly news can be found on Entertainment Tonight

[scarletlib]

21. Thanks

I'm feeling pretty sad and hopeless tonight. Not just about the U S of Abut about the whole human race. We seem to be unlearning all the painful lessons of the last 100 yrs and moving backwards towards barbarity. We appear intent on destroying this beautiful earth if we don't do ourselves in first. I am sad for my grown daughter. I hope she never has children. I worry for my two grandsons already here. What kind of country and world are they going to be living in?

[Pert_UK]

23. Eloquent and accurate.....

A second Dark Age seems to be upon us, where learning is shunned in favour of blind trust in a narrow interpretation of religion.

P.

[Darth_Kitten]

24. Remember, the rest of the world KNOWS.....

what is going on......we don't blame the majority of americans, but we are really losing patience with the same fools who keep voting in the Bush Repugs and their friends. :grouphug:

[Booberdawg]

26. Thanks Pert

gawd, I don't think I could feel any worse right now than I do. This is a fucking travesty.

[AquariDem]

27. Tony Blair should read this

since he seems determined to go right along with us. Canada and the UK are looking better and better.