This feed contains the 10 most recent pages in the "politics" category.

I've been amazed for a while that swine flue has been given such an important status, but couldn't quite put my finger on it, until I saw this today:

It's worth noting during current hysteria that according to the WHO, about 1,700 people have died from swine flue in the world, while the usual flue is said to kill between 250,000 and 500,000 each year. translated from Swedish

And then, I find this in a friend's status on facebook (translated from french):

90 people catch the H1N1 flue and everyone wants to wear a mask. 5 million people have AIDS and noone wants to wear a condom!! 1000 people die from flue A in a rich country, it's a pandemic. Millions die from malaria, it's their problem.

Posted Dec 3, 2009 4:20:27 PM +0100 | Tags: politics

(found on another blog)

Leave it to kids... the kid who sings this also wrote it, says the text on YouTube...

In my dream,
Children sing
A song of love for every boy and girl
The sky is blue,
The fields are green
And laughter is the language of the world

Then I wake and all I see
Is a world full of people in need

Chorus:
Tell me why (why)
Does it have to be like this
Tell me why (why)
Is there something I have missed
Tell me why (why)
Because I don't understand
When somebody needs somebody
We don't give a helping hand

Tell me why

Every day
I ask myself
What will I have to do to be a man
Do I have
To stand and fight
To prove to everybody who I am

Is that what my life is for
To waste in a world full of war

Repeat chorus

Tell me why (tell my why)
Tell me why (tell my why)
Tell me why (tell my why)
Just tell me why (just tell me why)

Repeat chorus

Tell me why (why why do the tigers run)
Tell me why (why why do we shoot the gun)
Tell me why (why why do we never learn)
Can someone tell us why we let the forest burn
(Why why do we say we care) Tell me why
(Why why do we stand and stare) Tell me why
(Why why do the doplhins cry)
Can someone tell us why we let the ocean die
(Why why if we're all the same) Tell me why
(Why why do we pass the blame) Tell me why
(Why why does it never end)
Can someone tell us why we cannot just be friends
Why why

Posted Nov 28, 2009 3:43:54 AM +0100 | Tags: politics

Any society, any nation, can be judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members ; the last, the least, the littlest.

I saw this quote, again, on facebook this time. I hold this as true, I have for a long time, and I believe I always will. This is probably a main reason why I always end up around the same spot when I try the political compass.

Posted Nov 7, 2009 12:06:06 PM +0100 | Tags: politics

This is Malcolm Harbour's comment on the Telecom Package:

What we can do at European level is to make a general requirement for consumers to have information about sites that are restricted, so you as a consumer are entitled to know if a provider is limiting access to certain sites and for what reasons.

You might choose to have a service-limited package; nobody has ever suggested that we have a general rule that if you buy an electronic communications service package you will have access to everything. That's like saying that if you have a bookshop you are legally obliged to stock every book.

(Ref)

I really am speechless... An Internet operator, compared to a book store? A store with actual books, that you need to order and have in stock? What does this man think an operator does, takes copies of all the sites and serves them locally (and we're only talking about web stuff then...)?

This shows, yet again, the politicians really need to figure out how things really work before they start opening their mouthes, or there will always to this kind of bizarre comparison.

And to think that people such as this one are in charge of legislating our future access to the 'net...

Posted May 6, 2009 7:19:59 PM +0200 | Tags: politics

I've taken this test twice already, but prompted by the fact that the test site has moved (to this spot), I thought I might check where I stand today... and it's a little like last time, I'm just moving further left/down...

Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: -6.62
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.87

Posted Jan 25, 2009 9:22:40 AM +0100 | Tags: politics

Never before have I felt more excited, more hopeful about the election of a president of the USA.
Never before have I cared (at all or so much).
Never before have I felt that there was one I could strongly support.
Never before have I wanted to be able to vote in that election as much as now!

I've followed the campain of this particular man, almost all the way since he started, through friends over in Boston who have spent almost all their free time to work as volunteers for that campain!

Last night, while watching the results slowly make their way to the news channels on Swedish TV, reporters were repeatedly talking about the way Barack Obama had done his campain, how it was different because it started as a grass roots movement. That's what I've been watching at a distance for almost two years, that's what I have seen as the most hopeful for the USA, that's the grounds for change.

When it was finally clear that this man was a winner, his opponent, John McCain, delivered a wonderful and respectful concession speech, I was moved. Charlie thought he looked releaved.

And then, Baracka Obama's victory speech! What a speech!

Yes they can, and there's hope for the world because of this!

Posted Nov 5, 2008 1:10:07 PM +0100 | Tags: politics

Some people really get it right, don't they. If those starting wars also went out on the field and faught it, I bet there wouldn't be so much of them in this day and age.

Posted Sep 4, 2008 10:30:24 PM +0200 | Tags: politics

The wiretapping law has gone through, it is now a reality.

I'm very disappointed.

I'm disappointed because of the whole circus around it. It's obvious that some wanted this to go through no matter what. In spite of massive protests from all sides of the political spectrum (I can't recall when I last saw people from the left, right and center unite as I have seen a couple of days ago). The law was rushed through.

I'm disappointed with the politicians who were clearly against but let the party line decide. I feel betrayed, even though I haven't voted for them.
Only one stands out, (Camilla Lindberg (fp))[http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/artikel_1387439.svd]. That's one who seems to have a spine. No matter what I might think of her opinions otherwise, she's a hero today and has my respect.

Added:
I just read a (blog entry)[http://minamoderatakarameller.blogspot.com/2008/06/sluta-mobba-enskilda-personer-nu.html] that reminds me not to kick on people that couldn't stand against the pressure, and that the real problem is with the establishment that will try to force people to go against their own opinion. Xe's right, and it's true, I've an issue with that. It's disrespectful.

Posted Jun 20, 2008 9:48:02 AM +0200 | Tags: politics

After weeks of small articles in the middle of the newspapers, the major media in Sweden has finally started reacting to what's happening in Sweden right now.

In short, the National Defence Radio Establishment (Försvarets Radioanstalt - FRA) has proposed a modernisation of the Swedish laws on tapping communication to include e-mail, fax and SMS. The word is that they will only controll communication that passes the Swedish border.

That sounds all sweet and dandy but as all computer nerds know, just because you're e-mailing to another Swedish address doesn't mean the message stays within the country, it's very likely it will make a trip through servers standing in another country (there are cases when e-mail has made a trip around the globe before reaching destination). And then we have all swedes with an e-mail account at Google (gmail), Microsoft (hotmail) and other foreign e-mail services, they will automatically be part of the flow that gets filtered.

A lot of people have reacted and there are a number of sites and lists where this is discussed, protest signature are collected and so on. Some polititians are hard pressed to follow party lines (and vote for the law) on one hand and their voters (who have protested the law) on the other. I feel for them, mostly with pity, and I hope they will have the courage to make the right choice!

In the mean time, should this law come through and get implemented, I'm making myself ready to make FRA's job as hard as possible, by strongly encrypting my e-mail if possible (hey, you, if you're a known recipient, get yourself a PGP or X.509 key and cert and gimme the public part, mmm'kay?), include random words or randomly encrypted strings to trigger their machinery, and generally be as much a pain in the nether regions as possible. As far as I know, I won't be alone doing this.

Links to articles and discussions:

http://www.stoppafralagen.nu/
http://www.thelocal.se/12428/20080613/ (for english speakers) http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=2502&a=794124
http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article2692498.ab
http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/1.1200063/080616-stoppa-fra-lagen
http://www.expressen.se/debatt/1.1200067/fra-lagen-hindrar-fria-forskningen (shows how the proposed law can inhibit research)
http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/artikel_1369317.svd

Let's just hope this law doesn't come through...

Posted Jun 16, 2008 5:31:07 PM +0200 | Tags: politics

Just for kicks, I took the same test as I've done already, just for kicks. It's fun to see how things change:

The Political Compass
Economic Left/Right: -5.63
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.36

Authoritarian
Left





















Right
Libertarian

Seems like I am moving more and more to the left and libertarian.

Posted Sep 25, 2006 10:05:59 PM +0200 | Tags: politics

To see all of them, check the archive-politics.

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