Just in case you thought those skits on Saturday Night Live were exaggerated...

I was watching a bit of C-SPAN 2 today (ok, apparently I amthe type of guy who sits around and watches C-SPAN in his spare time). By the way, C-SPAN 2 is a pretty great channel if for no other reason than it allows you to watch the British Government in action. After watching a couple of sessions, I have come to the conclusion that Parliament fucking rocks.

Here's why: there's a bit where they have "Prime Minister's Question Time". This is when Members of Parliament (or MPs, for those in the know) get to stand up and ask the Prime Minister questions. Think about it. The leader of the country is forced to answer any and all questions the MPs can throw at him. Plus, in case they get bored, they are allowed to hiss, boo, heckle, applaud, yell, and otherwise express their approval/pissiness. It's like the Detroit Pistons meets Congress. And it's not a short period of time, either -- the questioning goes on for quite a while. Now, you may not agree with Blair, but that man sure knows how to defend himself ... rhetorically speaking.

Another reason why Parliament rocks: Today, as you may know, the Queen addressed Parliament. She does that, so I'm told, to mark the State Opening of Parliament. She gives a little speech -- kind of like a State of the Union, but it's actually written for her by the majority party in the House of Commons. As you might expect, there's a lot of pageantry surrounding the whole deal: House of Lords gets tarted up, fanfare, crown-wearing, bowing, etc. etc.

Anyway, here's the awesome part. At one point, this dude called the Black Rod, so named because he carries a (you guessed it) black rod, goes from the House of Lords to the House of Commons to let the MPs know that the Queen's about to speak. Part of the ritual is that, as he approaches the door to the House of Commons, it is slammed in his face. I'm not kidding. He then has to knock three times on the door. Then he is asked, "Who's there?" He responds, of course, "Black Rod". Then they let him in, and make fun of him as he walks to the center of the room. Again, not making this up. Then he tells the friendly MPs that it's time to hear the Queen speak. After the ceremonial keg stand, they head on over to the House of Lords and proceed to vomit in the Duke of Worcester's lap one by one.

Ok, that last part I made up. But the rest is totally true. Check out wikipedia (or C-SPAN 2) for verification. To summarize: Parliament fucking rocks. We should totally import that shit.