Poly ticks

[spudtater]

90% Chris Dodd
89% Mike Gravel
89% Dennis Kucinich
86% Barack Obama
85% Hillary Clinton
84% John Edwards
82% Joe Biden
75% Bill Richardson
40% Rudy Giuliani
25% John McCain
22% Ron Paul
19% Tom Tancredo
17% Mike Huckabee
16% Mitt Romney
7% Fred Thompson

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

Seems pretty accurate to me; high scores on civil liberties and pro-choiceyness in particular seems to be the reason behind the matching. I is somewhat old-school liberal that way.

I might actually vote for Barack Obama, if I were an American, merely because he seems to have a good chance, and projects a mood of optimism the best. It is about time that the Democrats were seen to stand for something again, rather than just being Not The Republicans.

And yes, because he's black. Mumble excuse mumble

As expected, Rudy Guiliani comes out way ahead as the best of a bad bunch on the Republican side, probably because (AFAIK) he's the only pro-choice one out of the lot of them. Horribly fascist, though.

---

"[...] Some people don't see it this way. When my fellow columnist Hardeep Singh Kohli, a Glasgow-born Sikh, wrote recently of his pride in his Scottishness, some contributors to our website posted comments along the lines that "if a dog is born in a stable it doesn't make it a horse". The idea of Hardeep being Scottish is offensive to some people. How dare he love the place of his birth, the place where he grew up, the place where he bought his first garish fuchsia-coloured corduroy suit?

Glorious diversity of our mongrel nation — Kenny Farquharson, Scotland on Sunday

Hehe, I like Hardeep's dress sense, personally.
On a more personal note, I like to see an undoubted Scot standing up agains the old "you're not Scottish unless you were born in Scotland" stupidity. If I'm not Scottish, what am I? If you call me English you'll get a nasty scowl at best, which is in itself a sign that I've been here quite a while...   8^)

I've heard the "you're not Scottish unless you were born in Scotland" line from plenty of otherwise very liberal and open-minded Scots, usually with a wry grin and a shrug, as if to say "we're xenophobic that way, but what are you going to do?". But I don't think this is true; Scots tend to be very aware of their fellow Scots' xenophobia, but that's a good thing. Not like England, with it's deplorable "I'm not a racist but..." attitude. Or France, or Germany, or the US, or...

Comments

[feorag.livejournal.com]

I like to see an undoubted Scot standing up agains the old "you're not Scottish unless you were born in Scotland" stupidity.

Andrew J. Wilson WINOLJ, but who I think you've met in the pub, absolutely insists that autopope is a Scottish writer. Claims the nation has adopted him, and also that Scottishness is about a lot more than where you or your ancestors were born.

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

> [...] absolutely insists that autopope is a Scottish writer.

Despite being vaguely aware that his accent isn't quite right for it, it took me a few moments to realise why that fact was even in contention.   8^)

[zotz]

A well-known Englishman, on being described as Irish due to having been born there, is said to have replied "Being born in a stable does not make one a horse." He was probably indulging dislike of the Irish there, but he was nevertheless right - birthplace is overrated when it comes to nationality. Salman Rushdie was born in Mumbai, Robert Maxwell in Slatinske Doly, Andrew Bonar Law in Canada and my brother in Mandeville, Jamaica - I'd like to see anyone not find him Scottish as a result.

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

That's usually attributed to the Duke of Wellington, although it's very dubious as to whether he actually said it.

Guess what book I got for Christmas

[zotz]

Hence "said to have replied".

[original-aj.livejournal.com]

When I saw the subject line I thought you were announcing a change of lifestyle!

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

I shudder to think what the ticks have to do with that, though!

Politics, n: from "poly ticks", short for "many small bloodsucking insects". — Dave Barry

[original-aj.livejournal.com]

I was thinking in terms of "positive things about Poly" when I read it. But I'm thinking that a lot at the moment!

google map quiz time

[figg.livejournal.com]

Clue: http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/6159/picture17wj0.png

Re: google map quiz time

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, was going to say the Antarctic sinking until I saw the zoomed-out picture. Can't think of any other recent sinkings, so I'll guess that this could be something stranded by Katrina? Mouth of the Mississippi river?

Re: google map quiz time

[figg.livejournal.com]

It's not recent, and it's in europe.

Re: google map quiz time

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

Can't think of any sunk/stranded ships in Europe.

Re: google map quiz time

[figg.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captayannis

Re: google map quiz time

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

Nope, never heard of it.