Drop the passive aggressive tone. It's not intellectual dishonesty to recognise that not all situations are the same.

Texas doesn't have a right to secede. There is no legal framework for it to do so under US law. That has nothing to do with my opinion, that is reality.

Scotland, OTOH, did have a right to secede based on the Edinburgh Agreement.

Whether they should secede is a different argument, and one of sufficient complexity that I don't feel a blanket yes or no could cover all cases.

I see no reason for Texas to secede, so I don't believe it's warranted.

I sorta wanted Scotland to secede, partly out of interest, partly because of my aforementioned dislike for monarchy, but even then I wasn't sure it was in Scotlands best interests. Since I don't live there, my interest really didn't go much beyond Groundskeeper Willie and John Oliver.


As for whether the US can learn lessons from monarchical governments, of course it can. Just because you shouldn't adopt their system of a head of state, doesn't mean there aren't aspects of their government/society that aren't vastly superior to your own (arguably broken) democracy.

To claim otherwise would be hubris.

Sure. But it makes it hard to take you seriously when you cite monarchical governments as examples of ways to do things better in the States, is all. And further sillier to claim somehow Scotland has a right to secession while, say, Texas does not.

Just making sure we shine a light on intellectual dishonesty, is all.

Voting for this poll ended with the majority of users voting YEA, Scotland should be a sovereign nation.

Id love to know the positives and negatives of Scotland's independence for Scotland, but from the gut think independence is a better choice almost always.

Yay, all the way.

But better prepare the strategic popcorn reserve. If they truly pull it off, the British establishment will go into full-blown scorched earth mode, the Belgian and Spanish establishments will shit themselves -- and the average schmuck will get it up the ass.

Whatever the majority vote for, it's going to get ugly.

Right now, yes. But if Scotland left, it would be theirs.

See John Olivers video on the subject for more info.
*related=http://videosift.com/video/gggg-a

I'm an American recently expatriated to the UK to travel Scotland with my English girlfriend, so I find it particularly ironic that this is *blocked.

*bugs

I hope it wasn't an ant.

Article: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-28770764

Karen is from Inverness not Glasgow.
People from Texas don't sound like New Yorkers... Scotland is the same, there's a pretty wide variety of accents there.

Was just in Scotland last month... heard a lot of stuff like this far too thick to wade through.

Agree with Bryce. She got the name wrong, but the book is about a school in Scotland. Get over it.

I'm asking this out of curiosity, not to be snide -- I really don't follow the HP stories closely at all -- don't children come from all over the world to attend this wizard school and thus the demographics of its students should have very little to do with the demographics of Scotland? I remember them taking a fairly long journey to get there in the first movie...

Really? I understand racial insensitivity, but is this a fair expectation of diversity in a fictional place that takes place in Scotland? Sure, the name is completely off, but it feels like the rest of this anger is misplaced on an author who is not trying to tell a story on themes of racial diversity.
To top it off, crowds react strongly and positively to enthusiastic and impassioned anger, further building the bravado of this poetic "slam" piece.
If Rowling is trying to tell and cast a story reflective of the local demographics, it doesn't appear inaccurate.
Scotland isn't the same type of "melting pot" America has come to be. Again, perhaps the expectation has been created that all cultures must have the demographic diversity that America has established. Remember, the character she is referring to is actually Scottish.

Scottish population by ethnic group (Scotland 2011 Census)

Percentage of total
White Scottish - 84.0%
White Other British - 7.9%
White Irish - 1.0%
White Gypsy/Traveller - 0.1%
White Polish - 1.2%
Other White ethnic group - 1.9%
White Total - 96.0%

Pakistani - 0.9%
Indian - 0.6%
Bangladeshi - 0.1%
Chinese - 0.6%
Other - 0.4%
Asian Total - 2.7%

Caribbean - 0.1%
Black - 0.0%
Caribbean or Black Other - 0.0%
Caribbean or Black - 0.1%
African - 0.6%
African Other - 0.0%
African Total - 0.6%

Mixed or multiple ethnic groups - 0.4%
Arab - 0.2%
Other - 0.1%
Other ethnic group Total - 0.3%

Your video, Scotland's Loudest Water Tap, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

The guy is an idiot, but in his defence he was trying to allow the nominees an opportunity to admit their own mistakes rather than bitching about them. Ramsay could have just accepted that and asked the nominees themselves, but he obviously saw an opportunity to drum up some manufactured drama.

Of course, the idiot loses all credibility once he starts talking about how he "ain't no bitch".

edit: Oh and Ramsay was born in Scotland, is handy with a knife and tips the scales at a bit over 200lbs. He'd have killed him.