Metal Reviews

NY Times is a respectable news source...a great one, even.

Also, I tend to agree with you on some things. US Government has done some fucked up shit and covered it up. I don't believe anything from the Warren Commission. Just an interesting piece about the dynamics of conspiracy theories and the fact that people often don't let them go when they're proven incorrect.

That's respectable.

There is only one conspiracy theory: A Cabal of Bankers, Corporate Interests, Military Interests, Religious figures, Politicians and Royalty together own the media and control the government. Every single time a "conspiracy theory" is discussed it is part of the million-part machine.

I'm tired. That's all I wanna type for now.

Via an ALEC workshop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiHuiDD_oTk

I seriously do not see how anyone can still seriously support FPTP.

How cute!

I like this AV system. Here, in order to try to compensate FPTP drawbacks, there are 2 rounds. Generally, the two parties/candidates with the higher share of votes qualify for a second round taking place one or two weeks later.

I like this AV system better though. 1) it is more cost effective, 2) it allows a clear and indisputable instant picture of what the population fucking wants. Only downside : it would confuse some people (namely, old and stupid people).

What are the tendencies right now ? Does AV stand a chance ?

I'm so jealous of European voting systems. We're stuck in a two party system with really no talk whatsoever of getting out of it. Paul and Nader need to join forces and start this action.

It's nice how the AV system gets it all done in one day. Bruce, is the turnout for the two elections usually the same or does it drop off on the second election or do people not care about the first?

Here's a graph (at the bottom of the page) of turnouts of every Presidential elections of French 5th Republic : http://www.france-politique.fr/election ... ielles.htm
You can see turnouts are pretty much the same from a round to another. The second one is a tad superior, because hey, it's money time.

It's good to have several candidates (i.e. different distinct projects for the country), but in France this is going way too far. For example, in 2002 and 2007, there were THREE trotskist candidates + a "regular" communist candidate. Utter silliness, whether you're a commie or not. Join forces, dummies !

wtf at Canada giving Stephen Harper a majority. Not cool, dudes.

I guess they did a great job of making Michael Ignatieff's academic positions at Cambridge, Oxford, and Harvard look like a bad thing.

What else would you expect from an ideology with so many internal inconsistencies.

To me, all party democracies are an evil. Doesn't matter much if you have two large ones as in the US, or more, as in most European countries.

Interesting, what system do you wish to have instead ? (honest question)

A system of many small parties forming broader coalitions where needed, with seats awarded on a vote percentage basis to these same coalitions, per coalition.

At least, that would tackle some of Belgium's democratic problems: big, unwieldy parties where faceless goons get perhaps a few hundred preferred votes and end up being placeholders to people high-up, the latter not taking up their governmental seat anyway because of the several governmental organs overlapping one another in this monstrosity of a country.

Also, trade unions tied to the big political parties = political immobilism for the win.

Oh alright, I misunderstood what you said above about democracies, I thought you were against the very concept of democracy. My bad.
Anyway yes, I agree on proportional-constituted parliaments. I loathe this "winner-takes-all" spirit Presidential system (such as here) and false Parliamentary systems have. You hardly can call them democracies. It's a handy tool to confiscate power, and shit all over what voters, THE PEOPLE FFS, want.

Oh and get rid of Belgium already. How many years without government will it take to eventually split, seriously ? It's only a matter of time, and the sooner, the better IMHO.

Take a look at the location in my profile here.

Oh I did a long time ago, the first time it even made me laugh. I was just poking you a bit.

Talk about meme potential...

Ignatieff was clearly not born to be a politician. Every time he talked, I felt like I was in a University class I regretted taking.

Layton ran a very upbeat positive campaign, he excited a lot of people.

Harper just sat back and watched the center and left divide and conquer themselves. His share of the popular vote barely budged.

Of course, this is what you get from a FPTP system. I suppose it's quite depressing for those on the losing side, but in all honesty I'd rather have a four year rotation than the near endless campaigning that goes on in the US. It's really quite annoying at times (both the politicians and those who bicker over them).

Speaking of memes ... here's the deposed leader of the separatist Bloc Quebecois. Clearly a master of the photo op.

Poor old Iggy. Can't help but mourn the collapse of the Liberals, considering we're starting from a less strong position over here... oh well, roll on tomorrow.

The SNP has an almost guaranteed win on the cards tomorrow, even looking to gain enough seats to push a referendum on Scottish Independence. Olé!