Pharyngula: Advice from overseas

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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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« Yakkety yak | Main | Carnivalia, and an open thread »

Advice from overseas

Category: Humor • Politics
Posted on: November 4, 2006 7:44 PM, by PZ Myers

This is an excellent suggestion that ran in the Sydney Morning Herald. I agree…let's not, OK?

Comments

Posted by: llewelly | November 4, 2006 8:09 PM

I had no idea Uncle Sam spoke with an Austrailian accent ... Maybe he picked it up from Steve Irwin's show?

Posted by: Stogoe | November 4, 2006 8:32 PM

I thought Oi! came from Ireland.

Posted by: Stuart Coleman | November 4, 2006 8:33 PM

It's hard when all you have to choose between is a giant douche and a shit-sandwich.

Posted by: craig | November 4, 2006 8:37 PM

"It's hard when all you have to choose between is a giant douche and a shit-sandwich."

You'd have a problem choosing between those two?

Posted by: JJR | November 4, 2006 8:57 PM

"Don't blame me, I voted for Kronos!" - Homer Simpson

I (early) voted for Kinky Friedman for Texas Govenor, and then for every Dem on the ballot; In GOP vs. Libertarian only races, I held my nose and voted for the party that is at least anti-war and believes in protecting civil liberties (e.g. the Libertarians), since on econ policy both of them are nearly indistinguishable.

I voted for the local Dem to replace Tom De Lay, but looking at his campaign advertisements, he offers up absolutely NOTHING to have deserved my vote; he's running an exclusively right-wing campaign trying to out-Republican the Republican. I'm feeling a kind of buyers remorse already. I don't envision any fundamental policy shift from Nick Lampson (D).

Maybe one shouldn't overestimate the impact of history, but in antebellum Texas, Fort Bend County had the heaviest concentration of slave-owners and slaves, and was one of the loudest choruses for secession circa 1860, despite the wise (but unheeded) counsel of Sam Houston to stay with the Union.

This corner of Texas is pretty hopeless, I'm afraid.

Posted by: Stephen Erickson | November 4, 2006 10:00 PM

Maybe the Aussies should start writing letters to Americans telling them how to vote.

Worked brilliantly when the Brits did it in aught four.

Posted by: Jon H | November 4, 2006 10:42 PM

"It's hard when all you have to choose between is a giant douche and a shit-sandwich."

At least the douche is useful.

Posted by: Joshua | November 4, 2006 10:47 PM

Agreed. I've got that... not-so-fresh feeling about our country of late.

Posted by: Luke | November 4, 2006 10:59 PM

Are you kidding? We say "oi" all the time! Mind you, Australian-English is very much a mixture between a British-cockney accent and the Irish English accent.

I must say, I do agree with the message though....

#10

Posted by: Don Pope | November 4, 2006 11:05 PM

"It's hard when all you have to choose between is a giant douche and a shit-sandwich."

No, no, no. It's a "Turd Sandwich". Big difference. :)

#11

Posted by: raindogzilla | November 4, 2006 11:36 PM

So, Jacko, the Energizer battery dude..."What's the longest lasting battery you can boy?! Shouldn't surprise ya, new Energoyzah!" is the new Uncle Sam?

#12

Posted by: Ontogeny | November 4, 2006 11:51 PM

Can Dawkins stay as an elected official?

#13

Posted by: Randy! | November 5, 2006 12:02 AM

JJR: "I (early) voted for Kinky Friedman for Texas Govenor, and then for every Dem on the ballot;"

Urrggghhh! You do realize that Kinky supports prayer in public schools, don't you? WTF? Why didn't you vote for Chris Bell, the DEMOCRATIC candidate? Why the hell are people voting for Kinky? He's just another damned Republican.

#14

Posted by: Fox1 | November 5, 2006 1:16 AM

Urrggghhh! You do realize that Kinky supports prayer in public schools, don't you? WTF? Why didn't you vote for Chris Bell, the DEMOCRATIC candidate? Why the hell are people voting for Kinky? He's just another damned Republican.

Really? Uninformed on this race as I am, I did a quick wiki lookup of his stances, he seems fairly socially liber-al/tarian; cautiously pro-choice, cautiously anti-death penalty, cautiously anti-prohibition, with enough silly "common sense" (I hate when that term is applied in politics) quips to have indie cred.

Dunno that I'd vote for him, but I didn't see much (easily available) info that looked like what you're saying. I didn't see anything about prayer, which seems a weird stance for a non-practicing Jew.

#15

Posted by: SEF | November 5, 2006 5:02 AM

I thought Oi! came from Ireland.

I've just got back from Spain, where the claim was that "oi" came from Spain. It allegedly being the shortened form of "oiga", which was originally the polite way of getting someone to attend to you.

#16

Posted by: Amph | November 5, 2006 5:05 AM

I thought Oi! came from Ireland.

Are you kidding? We say "oi" all the time!

Isn't Oi! yiddish, then? Or would that be Oy?

#17

Posted by: Azkyroth | November 5, 2006 6:03 AM

I was under the impression that "Oi!" was originally trollish. :P

#18

Posted by: Boo | November 5, 2006 7:56 AM

Any Dem who gets in, even a lousy one, increases the chances of a Dem majority, which is what really counts.

#19

Posted by: Talen Lee | November 5, 2006 7:59 AM

Hardly matters where it came from originally - we've stolen it in true convict style.

#20

Posted by: Scott Simmons | November 5, 2006 10:41 AM

"Q: What is Kinky's position on school prayer?
A: Kinky favors optional, non-denominational prayer in school. He believes there's nothing wrong with children believing in something even if it's a rock or a tree." (http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/issues/faq.html)

(And for the record, I'm a civil libertarian atheist who's planning to vote for Friedman anyway. Ain't nobody perfect, but I think he's overall the best candidate.)

#21

Posted by: Stogoe | November 5, 2006 11:09 AM

Re: Kinky, it's not so much his school prayer as his racism and his suckling of the Chimperor.

#22

Posted by: Coragyps | November 5, 2006 12:10 PM

Kinky at least has a little wit on his side: I have a "My Governor is a Jewish Cowboy" sticker on the car, even though I voted for Bell. Voting for either is discarding a vote, anyway.....

#23

Posted by: No More Mr. Nice Guy! | November 5, 2006 4:50 PM

"Oi" is Australian via Cockney - definitely not Irish.

#24

Posted by: arwstos | November 5, 2006 7:42 PM

oi is a typical illiterate idiot's addressing manner.
hillbillies and other scoucers junkies and punks use it.
nothing personal, but it is making this poor language sound even worse to a non enlish speaker.
"oi guys" stick to your farms and leave the web to other people that can talk and spell properly.

#25

Posted by: PD | November 5, 2006 9:16 PM

You mean people who know to capitalize words at the beginning of sentences?

#26

Posted by: Mark | November 6, 2006 1:27 PM

What's the original URL for this image? I love it!

#27

Posted by: Andrew | November 7, 2006 12:06 AM

The image was scanned from paper - I wasn't able to find it on the newspaper's site (www.smh.com.au).