28 April, 2011

Preferential Voting 2

...or, A Picture's Worth 933 Words

About a year ago, I wrote about why preferential voting is a much fairer system.  I'm encouraged that Britain is considering the system now and bewildered by some of the lies being told by the anti campaign.

This evening, a picture was posted on twitter that probably explains the need for preferential or alternative voting far better than I did.  The link was only to the picture so I have no idea where it comes from, but full credit to those who created it.

BREAKING NEWS... BREAKING NEWS...

Donald Trump Holds Breath, Turns Blue

Colourful businessman, reality TV star and part-time political candidate Donald Trump this morning tried to contribute to the US health system debate by holding his breath until he turned blue and challenging the president to do something before he suffocated.

After he passed out, Mr Trump's autonomic nervous system took over, restarting his breathing. Upon regaining consciousness, Mr Trump said he was honoured to have his breathing restored. He took credit for forcing the issue that all Americans should be allowed to breathe and said that now, finally, we can move on to more important things like curing cancer and eliminating AIDS.

Sarah Palin tweeted that the automatic restoration of Mr Trump's breating proved there is nothing wrong with the US health system. Some Tea-Party affiliated Republicans and commentators are still demanding to see proof of oxygen in the air.

27 April, 2011

The Rules: Privacy



If you want your special day to be free of churlish comments from the hoi polloi, then close the doors and turn the cameras off.

I'm no particular fan of The Chaser. I find their brand of satire to be hit-and-miss at best. But I must defend the right of anyone to take some footage of an event that's just a bit silly and say, "That's just a bit silly."

Some have suggested that if it were us, we wouldn't want our special day being mocked. That's right. Of course we wouldn't. I certainly wouldn't want The Chaser taking the piss out of my wedding. That's why we didn't broadcast it to the whole frigging world! Hell, even our guests didn't know we were going to get married until an hour beforehand. And if Will and Kate wanted to do it that way too, then they should be able to. Since they, (or the Firm) have decided to spread it all over the world's media, they ought to expect a few pot shots.

I'm sure Will and Kate are nice people, but it's the height of conceit to have a thousand or so people, all with their entourages, parading around London in silly hats, transmit the whole thing live, and not expect at least someone along the line to say, "Look at all the toffs in their silly hats."
It's just common sense, really.

25 April, 2011

22 April, 2011

The Rules: Religious Festivals

I have no specific argument with any particular belief system - or non-belief system if that’s your bag - but you know what?  If you don’t like Easter, then go to work.

If you don’t believe in the Christian and/or pagan festival of Easter, that’s fine. If you choose to just think of it as chocolate-day, then that’s your prerogative. No-one is telling you what to believe. But if you have a problem with what others believe and how they express it, then put your money where your mouth is and go to work.

In multicultural societies like New York, this happens all the time.  Jews and Muslims cover for Christians at Easter and Christmas.  Christians and Jews cover for Muslims during Ramadan.  Muslims and Christians cover for Jews during Passover.  That's cool!  Nothing wrong with that at all.

It’s one thing if you choose not to partake in a particular festival.  It’s quite another thing to act like others’ celebration of that festival is some kind of brutal infringement of your freedom.  Don’t act like a four or five day weekend is some kind of religious persecution.  That just shows what little experience of real oppression you’ve had. But if you seriously think that's what it is, then be real about it.  Put the chocolate down and go to work