They Said You Was Hung

Returns are in from Britain's parliamentary election, and the net result? No party has a clear majority, but the Conservatives have a 306-seat plurality. Labour has 258 and the Liberal Democrats have 57. So how will the horse-trading play out?

There are three main mathematical possibilities:

1. The Tories and Lib Dems could form a government.
2. The Lib Dems could ally with Labour instead, but at least two other parties would also have to join in.
3. The Conservatives could theoretically form a government without the Lib Dems, but would need at least four other parties to do so.

Would these miscellaneous other parties side with the Tories or with Labour? I'm not sure. The largest other parties are regional parties like the Scottish National Party (6 seats), Plaid Cymru (3) of Wales, and Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (8; traditionally Tory) and Sinn Fein (5).

But by far the biggest playmaker is Nick Clegg and his Liberal Democrats. Clegg, a proponent of proportional representation, had indicated that the party with the most votes (i.e. the Tories) should get to occupy 10 Downing Street. But the Lib Dems seem the more natural ally of Labour.

What will happen? My prediction (and chance to look silly) is that the Tories will form a coalition with the Lib Dems after promising electoral reform. We shall see.

If It's Broke, Don't Fix it

In a very confusing editorial in Saturday's New York Times, A.A. Gill argues that change is needed in Britain, but "the worst possible way to start changing it would be precipitously, after an inconclusive election, on the heels of a global financial calamity when the markets are looking for stability and firm direction." Gill echoes the paranoid, Tory line: "OH NOES! A hung Parliament will make Britain look weak and indecisive!"

Indeed, Gill's Tory bias is hardly concealed throughout the piece: Gordon Brown is friendless and ill-tempered. Nick Clegg is traitorously European. (He speaks five languages! His kids have Spanish names!) But Tory David Cameron is "personable" and "fresh-faced" "with emotionally winning oratory." "Your mother would like him." Indeed, Gill's biggest fear seems to be that a hung Parliament will lead to electoral reform, which will lead to "1000 years" of center-left government.

This last claim is laughable. Gill acknowledges that parliamentary districts are so hopelessly gerrymandered in favor of Labour that they could finish third in the popular vote but win a plurality of seats. The status quo already sounds like 1000 years of center-left government. Furthermore, the reforms advocated by the Lib Dems would base seats in Parliament on the popular vote. If post-reform Britain has a center-left government, it will be because a majority of Britons want a center-left government.

The point is this, Mr. Gill: If the broken system is not fixed now, when will it?

The Peculiarity of American Conservatives

Gordon Brown's recent "interaction" with Gillian Duffy got me thinking about how different American democracy is from others around the world. (Not that Americans wouldn't let their inflammatory comments get accidentally caught by a live mic: See Jesse Jackson's desire to neuter Barack Obama and Joe Biden calling health care reform a "big fucking deal.") A sitting head of state is talking one-on-one with a regular Jill for a few minutes straight. Now maybe this sort of thing only gets press when the candidate shoots themselves in the foot right afterward, but when I think of a presidential campaign in the U.S., I picture giant rallies, not candidates taking time for individual voters.

A further difference, as Joseph Romm points out, is that all three major British parties--Labour, Conservative, and Lib Dem--favor taking action on climate change, while Republicans in the U.S. remain defiantly anti-science. Even the military cannot sway right-wing minds on global warming. The opposition (on this and other issues) is so extreme that commentators are wondering if Republicans have insulated themselves from constructive criticism.

Julian Sanchez argues that this right-wing insularity comes from some combination of:

1. reactions to progressive viewpoints invading traditionally conservative areas via the Internet, and
2. conservative institutions (like Fox News) striving to counter a perceived liberal bias in institutions (like the New York Times) that are really striving for objectivity.

While this may be true, it begs the question, "Why isn't conservative opposition in Great Britain so insulated and belligerent?" Part of it may be that there are established conservative institutions in Britain that also strive for objectivity. Part of it may also be that British conservatives are insulated and belligerent by British standards.

But I contend that there is another reason for American peculiarity, and it stems from our differences in democracy. The United States is almost unique among OECD countries in having a presidential republic. (Mexico and South Korea are the only others, excluding the so-called "semi-presidential" republics like France and Russia, where both a president and prime minister wield executive power.) The GOP can accomplish their political goals by gumming up the Senate and ensuring that Democrats achieve as little as possible before the Republicans retake Congress. Almost every European nation has a parliamentary system, where consensus- and coalition-building is integral. There it doesn't make sense, for instance, for the Tories to make the Lib Dems their bitter enemies when the Lib Dems will likely decide who Britain's next prime minister will be.

The Sinkable Gordon Brown

As if public discontent with Britain's burgeoning national debt did not spell enough problems for Gordon Brown and his Labour Party, Brown was caught calling a voter "bigoted" after a short exchange earlier today. His comments were caught as Brown talked to an aide in his motorcade, not realizing that his mic attached to his lapel was still on. The woman did not even say anything that bigoted besides a short aside on Eastern European immigrants. Judge for yourself:

Brown apologized, but, well, look at what's dominating BBC News's election coverage:

The crazy thing is that, according to most polls, Labour will win a plurality of seats in the House of Commons, even though polls are placing Labour third in the popular vote. (British MPs, unlike in other parliamentary systems, are elected by district, like the U.S. Congress.) It is likely that neither Labour nor the Conservatives will win an outright majority of seats, leaving a hung Parliament.

One of the parties must then form a governing coalition with the third-party Liberal Democrats. Although the Lib Dems' ideology would fit better with Labour than the Tories, the Lib Dems' platform includes instituting a proportional voting system. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has even said, "It is just preposterous the idea that if a party comes third in the number of votes, it still has somehow the right to carry on squatting in No 10." Either way, it should be an interesting election come May 6.

Busta Rhymes Busts His Brain

Busta Rhymes bust a few too many this time with his video "Arab Money." While BET has been playing the video, Busta Rhymes pulled it from play after controversy surrounding it.

The video is here:


Muslims and Arabs in the USA and the UK called for the video to be pulled due to the song's wrong (and racist) characterization of the Middle East, Arab culture, and using Islamic verses from the Quoran in a derogatory manner.

So, Dubai-based rapper The Narcicyst put out a song, "Real Arab Money," in reply to Busta Rhymes' video.

Check it out here:


Although this article reports that after Narcicyst released his song, Busta Rhymes contacted him apologizing for the video and stating that he would take the necessary steps to correct the action.

As Billy Johnson, Jr. of Hip-Hop Media Training writes,

So what prompted the re-release?

Has Busta done enough damage control and effectively communicated to the Arab and Muslim communities the message that there was no disrespect intended with the track and has since received their blessing to fully distribute the video?

Did Busta just let the controversy calm enough so that he could take full advantage of an otherwise great, graphics-enhanced video with arguably more A-list cameos than any other video of the past year? Are the multiple remixes with Diddy, Bow Wow, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana, Akon, T-Pan, Swizz Beatz, Ron Browz, Lil' Wayne, etc. too good to toss, controversy or not?

Or has Busta just received enough support from fans who understand that he meant no ill will and was merely doing the ultimate hip-hop metaphor, bragging and boasting about experiencing all things lavish?

While I agree with Narcicyst about Busta's video, I guess it's nice that at least some segment of the American culture is for some portion of the Middle East, calling it "cool" and glorifying it, however terribly it's being done.

But that just leads us to what is "Cool"...

"The Cool" from Lupe Fiasco's album...

"The Cool is the physical manifestation of History's debt to humanity. Payback for every user abused and every family torn apart by History, The Cool walks amongst the living as a zombie. “He” – that term used lightly, considering The Cool isn't human – reeks of death, an ironic contrast to his polished three-piece-suit appearance. Searching for his purpose, The Cool haunts The Streets."

First Pictures of Okapi in 50 Years

Today the Agence France-Presse reported that a British zoological team captured the first pictures of Okapi, an African animal whose closest relative is the giraffe, in the wild in over 50 years, proving that the animal did not go extinct as was previously believed. The elusive animals were photographed using camera traps in the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

For more, please read the article below.

British team capture first pictures of

Africa's 'unicorn'

LONDON (AFP) - The okapi, an African animal so elusive that it was once believed to be a mythical unicorn, has been photographed in the wild for the first time, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) said Thursday.

Camera traps set by the ZSL and the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN) captured pictures of the okapi in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The pictures have dispelled fears that the species had died out in more than a decade of civil war.

Dr Noelle Kumpel, ZSL's Bushmeat and Forests Conservation Programme Manager, said: "To have captured the first-ever photographs of such a charismatic creature is amazing, and particularly special for ZSL given that the species was originally described here over a century ago.

"Okapi are very shy and rare animals, which is why conventional surveys only tend to record droppings and other signs of their presence."

The okapi, which have a black, giraffe-like tongue and zebra-like stripes on their behind, were last spotted in the Virunga National Park nearly 50 years ago on the west bank of the Semliki River.

The new ZSL survey revealed a previously unknown okapi population on the east side of the river.

Thierry Lusenge, a member of ZSL's Democratic Republic of Congo survey team, said: "The photographs clearly show the stripes on their rear, which act like unique fingerprints.

"We have already identified three individuals, and further survey work will enable us to estimate population numbers and distribution in and around the park, which is a critical first step in targeting conservation efforts."

The exact status of the okapi is unknown as civil conflict and poor infrastructure makes access to the forests of DRC difficult.

But ZSL warned that even the newly-discovered okapi population was under threat from poachers.

Okapi meat, reportedly from the Virunga park, is now on sale in the nearby town of Beni and ZSL warned that if hunting continues at the current rate, okapi could become extinct in the park within a few years.

Headlines: 1 August 2008

• Source: British Territory Used for US Terrorism Interrogation: Extraordinary rendition through Diego Garcia, a British territory in the Indian Ocean.
• To Provoke War, Cheney Considered Proposal To Dress Up Navy Seals As Iranians And Shoot At Them: Luckily, there was one voice of reason at that meeting. But probably only one.
• Top Fatah officials held in Gaza: Six die in a bomb blast in Gaza, Fatah detains Hamas officials in the West Bank, Hamas detains Fatah officials in the Gaza Strip.
• US anthrax 'suspect' found dead: Dr. Bruce Ivins apparently committed suicide before he could be indicted for the 2001 anthrax attacks.
• Economic models predict clear Obama win in November: As the economy worsens, an Obama victory becomes more certain.

Headlines: 27 April 2008

• Oil refinery strikers hold rally
  

  A strike forces BP to close a pipeline that supplies Britain with 30% of its oil. Gas shortages have started to affect Scotland, ironically not because there isn't enough oil, but because people fearing a gas shortage are stocking up.
  

• Clinton Challenges Obama to Debate
  

  Clinton wants a moderator-less, Lincoln-Douglas-style debate. Nobody's told her that Douglas was the experience candidate.
  

• Bush pokes fun at his successors
  

  I'd tell him not to quit his day job, but he hasn't done so well at that either.
  

• Karzai unhurt after parade attack
  

  At least four dead and nine injured after Taliban militants fire into the grandstand.