It’s almost funny to see Americans fawn over a British monarch just two days after our celebration of independence from such foolishness.
Sure, it’s fun for some to role play as subjects to Queen Elizabeth. But think about it: Overlook her goofy hats if you like, but the woman — despite her grace and charm — represents everything our nation ought to abhor, the undemocratic worship of blood lineage. Not that we should insult her. It’s just that any monarchy, especially hers, deserves no more than American indifference.
“There never was a throne which did not represent a crime.”
– Mark Twain
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106 Responses to Hold the Royal Worship, Please
Now on The Trail
Woo Hoo?
Oh, Craig, it is excellent theater, and for those of who have memories of the War, the royal family were indeed heroic figures, not just for the British, but for all of us.
From the end of the last thread : republicans of the Senate today seem to be modeling themselves after Cassius, or is it Casca ?
Pogo, I still check in and try my best to keep up with the great discussions here — but you guys usually have all the bases covered and I haven’t had much to add.
Oh wait, a few days ago I came up with a great way for John McCain to triangulate his way to re-election. Let me know if you think this kind of stuff would have been worth posting:
Step 1 — McCain leads a push to repeal the new Arizona immigration law and replace it with a law making gay marriage legal in Arizona. (Okay, so now the righties are REALLY pissed at him but he’s starting to win back some centrists.)
Step 2 — Taking advantage of the new gay marriage law in his home state, McCain immediately divorces his wife Cindy and proposes marriage to General David Petraeus (upon whom we all know he has a huge crush, anyway, right?) They elope, driving every other Republican in Congress (straight or gay) insane with jealousy.
Step 3 — During their blissful honeymoon, McCain gives Petraeus the best nude backrub of his entire life, then convinces him to push for an immediate shutown of all military operations in Afghanistan so that all troops on the ground there can be transferred promptly to the U.S.-Mexico border to secure it. (And now the righties are satisfied and will vote for him, even though he’s married to a man).
Should I be charging for this kind of advice, or what?
Posted by: LardassLiberal | July 6, 2010 4:07 PM
after pit called the new thread, lard responded to pogo so i brought it over to save time….
hope you didn’t mind, lard. good to see you back on the trail.
Craig… don’t be such a hardass….
although, it would be nice to see England replace Queen Elizabeth with Queen Latifah…
Lardass…. of course you should be charging for that advice….
$4 and that advice will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks…. an American corporation, BTW….
Speaking of theatrical, the 2d episode of Doc Martin was a send up of Ibsen’s ‘An Enemy of the People’. In this case, the enemy of “jobs and progress” was not the hero.
lard,
don’t ask don’t tell has to be revamped before step # 3 or gen p won’t be able to support sen m…. (there was most likely a pre-nuptial that kicked in at step #2)
otherwise, good advice. well worth the going tm rate.
unelected monarchs are heroic figures?
But, is Patreus gay, too ? Not that I’m really asking, and he’s not telling.
Craig,
I’d believe that many (most?) Americans would be perfectly happy with a monarch (dictator?) as long as they ruled in a fashion that correlated to their own political beliefs. This representational democracy stuff is too messy and gives too much deference to other points of view that are obviously wrong-headed.
“Craig… don’t be such a hardass….”
renee, the heat is surely getting to fearless leader.
“the undemocratic worship of blood lineage.”
good thing you said “un” democratic.
the adams, the bushes and the kennedys?
The King of Denmark was fairly heroic.
re muckain : he divorced the 1st time in order to marry the beer heiress. I he wants to divorce Cindy so that he can marry Patraeus, the latter must have something even better than a monopoly on beer in the desert.
Bill Maher interviewed Jordan’s Queen Noor not that long ago on his show Real Time on HBO….. he was obviously uncomfortable with calling her “Your Highness” and told her so to her face. She handled it was total graciousness.
patd…. the heat is getting to all of us…. I like to tease Craig….
Have to disagree on this one Craig. Britain has a fully representative government particularly with the elimination of most of the hereditary peerages in the House of Lords.
As Queen, Elizabeth provides a historical link to all of the politicians who have been in office through the whole length of her reign. In many ways she is like Robert Byrd was for the Senate … a reposit of memory, laws and traditions. Almost 60 years on the throne and she has done her duty with grace and dignity.
Considering what we get in our politicians, maybe we should ask her to take us back.
http://tiny.cc/fchrv
Thanks for picking up after my litter on the last thread Pat. I saw Purp’s “new thread” notice, but for some reason couldn’t call it up until just now.
I love the “don’t-ask-don’t-tell” twist on my McCain triangulation scheme. That adds even more texture and complexity. Hell, with just a few more tweaks this plan could actually get him the GOP 2012 nomination.
“he was obviously uncomfortable with calling her “Your Highness”
renee, wonder if maher had/has the same reaction to “reverend” and “your holiness” when interviewing falwell, jackson, the pope or the dalai lama
To be honest, the only queenly figures for whom I feel any reverence are the late Katharine Hepburn playing Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Queen of Country Music, the gracious and recently turned ninety years old Miss Kitty Wells--just sayin’--
and just wait ’til maher goes face to face with “beloved leader”
Fair….
what about the Queen of Soul…. Aretha Franklin….
My Nana would love this post and so do I! Being raised with Irish Rebel songs for lullabies brought about a prejudice against monarchies, particularly hers.
Americans worship at the throne of fame and wealth. We might have the right to get on our high horse about being FREE if we didn’t have hereditary wealth as a criteria for most success in life while a large percentage of our children go to sleep with an empty stomach listening to the sound of gun fire.
now i might be moved to elect sean connery king… considering and reserving first night rights privileges…
fondly remember him and michael caine in “the man who would be king”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNb6SxXcD7g
lard, you’re welcome. we have to watch out for one another when the threads start changing…. it’s sometimes like musical chairs and sometimes like the mad hatter’s tea party.
patd
That droit de seigneur could come in handy if lady rulers had similar privileges
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droit_de_seigneur
OSH….
my Canadian relatives have always thought it was kinda dumb to have the Queen on their money….
patd…. you said tea party…. he he….
the netherlands 3-2 over uruguay. on to the world cup!
if germany wins tomorrow, then the finals will be the dutch vs. deutchland
http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/07/hold-the-royal-worship-please.html#comment-305866
Indeed, I do feel the profoundest reverence for Aretha--
And the Queen of the Blues--the late legendary Bessie Smith--
Craig
It’s like world cup soccer, some people are easily entertained.
All the rest of us can do is look on and wonder.
Jack
Wait, I just realized the final piece of the triangulation puzzle is now right under my nose: Queen McCain, and Royal Consort Petraeus.
http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/07/hold-the-royal-worship-please.html#comment-305854
Not since some of the OLD old timers--the one who comes most readily to my mind is a Saxon king named Athelstan, way back in the day--who was called, across the width and breadth of Europe, “the rooftree of the honor of the western world”. Just sayin’--
And there is also King Arthur, but since he’s been more legend than fact for a millenium and a half, he probably doesn’t count--
btw,
“indifference” would describe my attitude to anything about the British monarchy
Jack
Fair…
yeah….. but…. King Arthur sure makes good flour….
Jack…. I think I’ll borrow your attitude…
Liz’s father, Bertie sure didn’t ask to be king, and Liz’s mum didn’t ask to be queen. Both of them had it shoved upon them.
The hero of the bunch was Liz, who as a teenager, and heir to the throne, drove a truck in London during the blitz. From what I understand, she didn’t see anything remarkable in her service; it was what was expected. And her sons and grandsons have been expected to serve as well. None has shirked combat.
So, these people aren’t sitting back clipping coupons, and they’re no kin to George III, so why not cut them some slack.
Me, I’d have more pride than do what they are forced to do in marketing Great Britain. But, perhaps they see that as part of their expected sacrifice.
I wanna tell her that I love her a lot but I gotta get a belly full of wine…….
--paul mccartney
rode with me little daughter today in her car and she put on some beatles and it was “Honey Pie”………what a delightful little ditty it is……..mac’s a funny guy…….
i’m safe in the knowlege that i will never have to figure out how i’d act if the queen had me in her lamps…….
but i bet she probably could use a hug……..
http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/07/hold-the-royal-worship-please.html#comment-305880
Flatus
The link on my post up above is the blog article I wrote about that “accident” of history. Here it is again if you would like to read it
http://tiny.cc/fchrv
Lindsay got 90 days.
Sturgeone
The You Tube video that someone did is funny as well
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTuOAPE-LOo
Nice job, Jamie!
An old Catskills-style joke that touches on our thread’s subject of monarchy.
A lost traveler, looking for his hotel, stops a passerby to ask for directions: “Dear sir, can you kindly tell me where I might find the Kings Arms?”
The passerby responds: “Yes. They’re around the Queen’s ass.”
http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/07/hold-the-royal-worship-please.html#comment-305880
Oh please, spare me the “she drove a truck” stuff. Plenty of average folk did more, and many died without such honorifics. The point I’m making is that a genuine Democracy, like ours, ought not elevate any humans simply because they were born with “royal” blood. Monarchism is as much an anathema to our way of life as Communism. Why we tolerate one but not the other has always puzzled me.
Craig,
What about King Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt? Are you saying we can’t call him a hero?
Lard, what gave Henry V the right to invade France? Killing thousands of his own people for pure hubris. Sounds like our own George II to me.
Well, hell, Craig, what do you think is appropriate. The Tower or maybe the chair that the Rosenbergs sat in?
Our people have the honorific Citizen, which is pretty spiffy, don’t you think? And it’s subject to no royal approval. My bottom line is, one doesn’t need a drop of royal blood to exercise a bit of noblesse oblige.
Look, I don’t want to come across as bashing Queen Liz. She seems nice enough (tho I suspect she is a right wing Limbaugh type) but I simply despise the institution she represents and wish Americans would stand against it as we did when founding our nation.
Amen, Brother Craig, on today’s post. I can’t for the life of me (no pun or reference to Independence Day on Sunday last) understand how any American could want a Monarchy for the US.
Jamie, the parliamentary system as a democratic system might be better than our presidential system but to have a Monarch, as limited as it might be, that can dissolve parliament? No way!
The Tower for all monarchs worldwide, if the people so choose, is fine with me, Flatus.
I guess I have a little too much white trash in me, but “noblesse oblige” ?
If anyone comes around me “noblesse oblige” ing I’m afraid I would tell them to take it and shove it.
I’m a firm believer in dealing with each other as equals would. even if equality is a myth.
I’m a firm believer in respecting a mans dignity.
Jack
My final word: All I’m saying is that if the Brits want to continue this charade, that’s their choice. But it irritates me no end that Americans give their monarch any respect, especially two days after we’ve blasted fireworks supposedly honoring our independence from such foolishness.
Craig ,
I don’t mind respect , it is the fawning and adulation that irks me.
Jack
Craig, I think I understand what you are saying, although I don’t understand the stridency in charging against an institution which is nothing more than an empty suit kept around because it serves tourism.
My patriot ancestor, Sgt Heli Foote from Connecticut survived the war and lived a long time--I believe the better part of 90-years. During that lifetime, I find it hard to believe that he didn’t moderate his attitude towards the British. But, I may be wrong as I still have trouble changing how I feel against three of our past enemies. But, those hurts are personal.
I expect Grandpa Heli would tell me not to confuse his good manners with kowtowing.
The attack on the English baggage train
The only French success was an attack on the lightly protected English baggage train, with Ysembart d’Azincourt (leading a small number of men-at-arms and varlets plus about 600 peasants) seizing some of Henry’s personal treasures, including a crown. Whether this was part of a deliberate French plan or an act of local brigandage is unclear from the sources.
above, wiki
http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/07/hold-the-royal-worship-please.html#comment-305894
Land, sugar. Land. Land that he thought belonged to him, not to the French king. Land he didn’t live long enough to inherit.
Please don’t get me started on the Plantagenets--
In a recent discovery about the American Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, apparently, reversed himself when at first he said the American people were subjects and crossed it out to say we are citizens (beholding to no Monarch). Brother Thomas was so correct in the use of semantics and referring to Americans as citizens. Nice job, citizen Craig!
Craig,
Don’t hold back, tell us how you really feel.LOL
All you mixers, it looks like a target rich environment out there today. Fire at will. It has been a great read today.
Time to check out Maddow.
I have the greatest respect for Queen Elizabeth. She has served her country with dignity for almost 60 years.
I’m very pleased she has visited the United States again and I wish her well.
The only royalty us Americans have is Oprah.
Didn’t Reggie Jackson try to kill the Queen one time when she visited Los Angeles and Frank Drebin saved her life?
I guess next time there is a royal visit, the American president will simply give the British queen a double titty twister as soon as she steps off the plane. Then the pundits will all be happy.
Hey all,very good comments today,fun reading! Lard so glad to see commenting and feeling good…
Bedtime music--after nearly a weeklong Eagles binge I’m back to Hampson. This one’s Mahler.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfQDZdLW1FI
Nite all--
http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/07/hold-the-royal-worship-please.html#comment-305892
Craig,
Probably because a rather large percentage of our so called “representatives” have way more dedication to their own self interest and way less interest in serving the people than Elizabeth.
You can disagree with a hereditary monarchy and still admire this woman who has served her country well.
Fair,
I just bought that Eagles album so you have passed on the obsession.
http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/07/hold-the-royal-worship-please.html#comment-305915
LOL--you’re the third person who’s told me they bought LONG ROAD OUT OF EDEN on my recommendation. If this keeps up, I’m gonna hit them up for a commission for moving units for them--
http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/07/hold-the-royal-worship-please.html#comment-305896
Craig,
Elizabeth is no Limbaugh type. She was on a dance floor being partnered by an African dignitary more than a decade before Petula Clark caused a scandal by touching Harry Belafonte’s arm during a song here in the U.S. Now Philip may be a different matter … He’s pretty stiff and prickly
http://tiny.cc/big1y
hmmm…
Damn, did I miss you Lard?
Maybe next time. I lean towards Craig on this one, but Joe might be right.
Yep Jamie. the dollar is King….or Queen
Bad Ju -- Ju -
I am up to my eyeballs in bad ju-ju …… screw the queen .
I wouldn’t screw the queen with Fritiz’s dick. Or any of the other right wing pecker heads that fallowed him here.
Goals -
We all have goals , when we are young they span decades. But when we are old, they dry-up to mere months. My entire online life has been just these months, Glued together, like those paper chains we all made way back when. With all the strength of those paper links, I have glued one to the next.
But now, I am out of paper, and I am out of glue,
other right wing pecker heads that fallowed him here.
Except for Max ……. Somehow I like Max .
But JaxTrader ……… You’er a jive-ass , taking government money tonight.
Tell us about your tax burden. We wait with baited pixels.
fallow -
barren , devoid of growth
Cbob- don’t know what your troubles are but don’t run out of paper and glue. We all need you around. Your online life has had great positive impact even though you might not believe it today.
Jace- guess am out of the news loop- to what are you referring?
It’s so @#$%@&@$%^ hot here my chocolate won’t temper- kitchen is still 73 with the AC cranked.,
Lindsay got 90 days.
————--
Best thing ever that ever happened to that poor soul. Disney never helped her , now the judge steps in.
More heartbreak from the Mickey Mouse corporate world.
But she made them a few bucks. and hey ain’t that what’s America is all about ?
Old Sea -
Don Callwell is fighting for his life tonight …….. Peggy Chapman’s Garden is planted on his ground, today I saw my closest friends, none of them told me.
My time with the tornadoes is over.
I love humanity ………. But I can’t stand people.
Craig…try and engage Imus to talk about his horrible experience with Citation Air a few days ago.
While Dagen McDowell was stuck in an airport and forced to spend many uncomfortable hours in discomfort on the airport floor, Imus was experiencing his own personal horror: his DaSani water was NOT at room temperature on his aircraft.
Get this everyone -
It just rained 15 inches above where this happened -
Heavy rains burst oil line upstream of future Lubbock water supply (updated)
http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2010-07-06/heavy-rains-burst-oil-line-upstream-future-lubbock-water-supply-updated
————--
That’s right an oil spill in Texas has screwed the future drinking water supply , that our city has spent tens of millions developing.
5 bucks sez ” everything is OK “.
My Mayor -
” Mayor Tom Martin said he was comfortable with the response Lubbock had in place.
“It’s not gigantic by any stretch of the imagination,” Martin said. “You always have the possibility of spills that may run into the lake, and that’s why we have the emergency procedures at the lake.”
—————
This guy makes Haley Barbour look like a card carrying member of the enlightenment.
That lake was built middle of an oil field , there are oil wells in the bottom of it. They have been there for decades.
The $267 million project would provide another surface water alternative as Lake Meredith, once Lubbock’s main drinking water supply, drained to record lows.
—————--
Lake Meredith, has flowing spring of salt water running into the Canadian River , it source.
5 bucks sez ” everything is OK “.
Here’s an lesson for everyone here -
Find out what 1 tablespoon of gasoline does to how many gallons of water. If you guess it ruins 1,000 gallons of water, you’re off by a factor of ten.
Think it’s hot is DC ?
Check out Siberia …….
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/map/images/fnl/sfctmpmer_01b.fnl.html
NSIDC: In June, Arctic sea ice saw lowest extent and fastest rate of decline in the satellite record
http://climateprogress.org/2010/07/06/nsidc-arctic-sea-ice-extent-volume/
Craig, I agree with you so completely that my heart is dancing, but I can feel my blood boiling as well. This is a part of my soul.
The thought that anyone here could not start up a conversation with Ms Windsor or any of her relatives, but would have to wait for her to speak first….way beyond blasphemy. Remember the scandal when Michelle Obama touched her? She has been a model for her subjects to enjoy, and that is the work she has done. She has made a mess of her family and was disgusted when her hated daughter-in-law
was so mourned by people all over the world -- she didn’t think they had the right to care. Her speech after Diana’s death was grotesque. She has lived well and bountifully and privately for the most part. She mourned losing her yacht more than she mourned the
slums in her kingdom.
Her ancestor, little Vicki, refused to stop the sale of opium in China when a Chinese diplomat made the voyage to England especially to beg her to do so -- it was illegal to sell it in England but not for the English to plunder the treasury of China selling it there. What hypocrisy, what nerve, what damge to billions of people over the years. The people of England are paying the price for that now.
If the people of Britain love her and derive pleasure from her, I’m happy for them. But I think monarchies are toxic to the very idea of democracy and to the value of the individual. I think there was a time when they did as good a job as any other government would have done, but that time is long long past.
Well lucky for you and me I had to stop to watch
Criminal Intent, and got over my snit. I will simply add one of my favorite sayings from the horn book, When
Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman>
Flatus, If you’re still there, I don’t know how any of those people tried to get in touch with the Corps. What they said on tv is that no one could make contact -- it seems to me there was some kind of failure to communicate. I myself think it’s kinda funny.
Warn’t that lake made by Big Gummintcommies ?
Satire Alert !
An’ ain’t it a public lake -- like a buncha commies’d whine about losin’ ? Like a buncha dam’ lake-huggers?
Warn’t that there watta pipeline a goldam Big Gummuintcommie deal ?
If the answer to these deep and meany-full questions is yes, then it was the Oil Company’s Sacred Patriotic Duty to fogcup the hole shitteree.
End Satire Alert ! You may now resume your nocturnalisms.
Nobody can out-level me. And yet, I respect Craig as one, who through hard thought crunching, idea stretching, and strenuous training in emotional control, has reached the rarified air at the pinnacle of World Class Levelers. He is my equal. When it comes to leveling, he may even be more equal than I am.
That sycophantasy out of the way, the Queen, an earnest and nice old lady, who was once a very earnest and nice teenager -- during The War when her country wanted a nice and earnest teen-ager to look up to and adore -- is more of a national toy than a mover and shaker, inventor, or maker. She and Phil are both octogenarian toys, a sort of living Barbie and Ken gone all wrinkly and and in need of prunes to get their jobs done.
In 1940, Winston Churchill talked young Elizabeth into thinking, against all evidence to the contrary, that her country, her people, needed her. Ever since that day, Elizabeth has been a steady and nearly tireless worker, fulfilling the silly daydreams of British children of all ages, especially those descending into senile dementia. The very sight of Liz tottering across the tellie screen to lay a wreath helps the dentured class to sleep better at night, the way that a teddy beside the pillow, or a furry creature at the foot of the bed does for normal people.
Above all, Elizabeth serves a truly priceless function in British society. No matter how strikingly, stinkingly rich a Brit or ‘Imperial’ financier or industrialist may become, he is still a commoner, several levels below Liz, Defender of the Faith, and By the Grace of God Queen of this and that, and Empress Emeritus of Heathen India. In my beloved USA, even the most middling piddling of financial swindlers and industrial polluters now consider themselves to be bigger than God. In this matter, we may have reason to envy Merrie Olde Englonde.
Craig / Boo -
I had forgotten why we revolted , thanks for that refresher course ……… Let’s all kick the queen.
6 degrees of separation from her , and you get BP Tony. They are a bit like our AKC dogs, pretty, but they all have hip problems.
6 degrees of separation from her , and you get BP Tony.
No Bacon in between , just Tony Baloney at the end.
Baloney Phony Tony …. BP Tony
They did give us this rich rich language, I will give them that.
Plantagenets produced some champion mass murderers. These folks could gut adversaries with the sangfroid of the Vikings and Franks, but on a scale that Vikings and Franks could only dream of.
It wasn’t until 100 years later that a Western European Monarch of a different crime family showed himself to be in a class with richard couer d’lion (Dick the Man-eater).
philip le bel (Pretty Boy Phil), like dick, slew entire cities, and many of them, just to ‘inherit’ their wealth. dick was only able to do that sort of mass murder on Acre. But, Acre was bigger than anything phil killed, so let’s call it a draw.
took that current bunch of brit royals a good number of years to learn english…….
not these actual current ones but their fambly…..
tornados come and tornados go
ain’t nothing but more windy blow
I don’t remember any royals bequeathing their rich language to me. I must have dozed through that.
1. I am falling asleep at the keyboard.
2. I hafta pee.
3. The best solution for my solution would be to get up immediately, waddle to the boys room, reveal, and relieve.
4. While I’m up, I may as well lie down. And, if I do that, I’ll prolly sleep. It is to be hoped that I’ll lie down and sleep only after my pee break. I shall do so very soon, and in the proper order.
5. So, with all this rudeness successfully wrotten up, I’ll now write, “G’night”.
6. G’night.
i hope them arizonrians don’t go and bomb Fort Sumner……..
the fault, dear bruno, lies not in our stairs but in our shelves, that we are underwear…..
Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.
--Effscot