Watery tarts and swords: "Win or lose on Tuesday, a Democratic battle looms."

King Arthur: Please, please, good people, I am in haste. Who lives in that castle?

Peasant Woman: No one lives there.

King Arthur: Then who is your lord?

Peasant Woman: We don't have a lord.

Dennis: I told you, we're an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to be a sort of executive officer for the week...

King Arthur: Yes...

Dennis: ...but all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special bi-weekly meeting...

King Arthur: Yes I see...

Dennis: ...by a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs...

King Arthur: Be quiet!

Dennis: ...but by a two thirds majority in the case of...

King Arthur: Be quiet! I order you to be quiet!

Peasant Woman: Order, eh? Who does he think he is?

King Arthur: I am your king.

Peasant Woman: Well, I didn't vote for you.

King Arthur: You don't vote for kings.

Peasant Woman: Well, how'd you become king, then?

[Angelic music plays... ]

King Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. That is why I am your king.

Dennis: Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

Arthur: Be quiet!

Dennis: You can't expect to wield supreme power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!

Arthur: Shut up

Dennis: I mean, if I went around saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

Arthur: [grabs Dennis] Shut up! Will you shut up?!

Dennis: Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system!

Arthur: [shakes Dennis] Shut up!

Dennis: Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help, help, I'm being repressed!

Arthur: Bloody Peasant!

Dennis: Ooh, what a giveaway! Did you hear that? Did you hear that, eh? That's what I'm on about! Did you see him repressing me? You saw him, didn't you?

Almost forgot ... here's the article.

Analysis: Win or lose on Tuesday, a Democratic battle looms, by Cathleen Decker (LA Times)

The roaring crowds and displays of Democratic unity around Hillary Clinton as the campaign ends have obscured a bumpier reality: Whatever happens Tuesday, Democrats face a struggle to define themselves.

The divisions in the party may be less dramatic than the parallel fight among Republicans, but Democrats have schisms both ideological and generational.

That suggests a dour potential for Clinton even as she moves closer toward victory in Tuesday’s election: Her presidency could be caught between Republicans who will have less reason than ever to cooperate and a corps of Democrats reluctant to compromise, both sides playing to opposite bases.

To win the party’s nomination, Clinton had to move to the left to placate Democrats attracted to her challenger, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Their differences have been papered over in the general election, and most of his supporters have fallen in line, but Clinton’s intentions remain suspect to many on the party’s left.

How to say "My hovercraft is full of eels" in many languages.

This may be the most important link you've ever seen at NA Confidential, so use it sparingly.

My hovercraft is full of eels in many languages

You're welcome. A few examples ...

French:
Mon aéroglisseur est plein d'anguilles

Japanese:
私のホバークラフトは鰻でいっぱいです
(Watashi no hobākurafuto wa unagi de ippai desu.)

Lakota Sioux:
Iyéčhiŋkiŋyaŋka čha kiŋyáŋ mitȟáwa kiŋ hoká ožúla!

Michael Palin: "The world is an absurd and silly place."

To me, Palin's travelogues are among his finest achievements.

Michael Palin: ‘The world is an absurd and silly place’ ... This summer’s Monty Python reunion was joyous, says Michael Palin. But that doesn’t mean he wishes he had stuck to comedy – or Hollywood, by Stephen Moss (The Guardian)

... “My view of the world, really,” Palin says, “is that if you screw your eyes up and look at the world, it is an absurd and extraordinarily silly place, with everyone taking themselves very seriously.” That may be the clue to the Palin screen persona: the little man bullied by self-appointed autocrats who fights back. By all accounts, his engineer father could be something of a martinet; his relationship with John Cleese (who calls him “Mickey”) appears to be that of headmaster and errant pupil; and several of the characters he has played, notably Jim Nelson in Alan Bleasdale’s TV drama GBH, have been seemingly insignificant men who respond heroically when faced with a crisis.

In Python, he was often the put-upon fellow towered over, physically and sometimes intellectually, by Cleese. But in the end, he gives as good as he gets.

Finland.

"The Fenni live in astonishing barbarism and disgusting misery: no arms, no horses, no household; wild plants for their food, skins for their clothing, the ground for their beds."
Tacitus (c. 55-120) Germania

Society: The only way is Finland, by Tim Walker (The Independent)

America may once have been the Land of Opportunity, but thanks to its rising levels of inequality – not to mention the nightmarish visa restrictions – our political class now has another destination in mind. "If you want the American Dream," Ed Miliband says, "go to Finland." This week, the Labour leader told a conference on social mobility that "if you are born poor in a more equal society like Finland, Norway or Denmark, then you have a better chance of moving into a good job than if you are born poor in the United States".

Monty Python's Flying Circus - Election Night Special.

Thanks to Bluegill for reminding me of this.

Now showing in the Red Room.

Good riddance. Next!

To paraphrase Ignatius J. Reilly:

I dust a bit. In addition, I am at the moment writing a lengthy indictment against our century. When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional Slovak-style sauerkraut soup to celebrate the New Year.

We'll be pairing the soup with beer later tonight in the company of friends. Another pop culture reference occurred to me, and so with apologies to Monty Python:

This year is no more! It has ceased to be! 2010’s expired and gone to meet its maker! It’s stiff! Bereft of life! Pushing up the daisies! Metabolic processes now history! It’s off the twig! Kicked the bucket, shuffled off the mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleeding choir invisible! THIS IS AN EX-YEAR!

On virtually every front save the confines of our house, 2010 was the most stressful, demanding and unyielding ever. If not for the loving accompaniment of my bride, the past year would have been completely unbearable. I recognized long ago that she completes me. I only hope to periodically return the favor.

Better times and best wishes to readers as 2011 dawns!