Main Menu
Menu

Show posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Show posts Menu

Messages - Generally Contrary

#751
General / Re: A sudden outbreak of democracy...
11 June, 2004, 05:24:59 PM
"when the Zombified Corpses of the McWhirters and Huey Greene seize power your first against the wall son"

Despite my political affiliations, I hope I live to see this.  How can I help?  Can I sign a petition?  
#752
General / Re: A sudden outbreak of democracy...
09 June, 2004, 06:31:00 PM
The Beast of Northampton?
#753
Off Topic / Re: Time to go to Mexico, feign in...
09 June, 2004, 04:27:26 PM
Well, the draft might not come in, but soldiers coming to the end of their service are not being allowed to leave the Army.  They joined of their own free will, fulfilled their agreement with the Government and are now being forced to stay beyond what has been agreed.  That is a de-facto draft.  Pity the poor Americans who joined up to get a college education.
#754
Off Topic / Re: Your true self
09 June, 2004, 04:29:52 PM
Noring old Ryuki
#755
General / Re: Mini-Bolt has a question for y...
09 June, 2004, 06:08:46 AM
I like it.  A bit blood thirsty, I wonder what the rest of the collage will consist of?

(I wish I could draw)
#756
General / Re: Vote
09 June, 2004, 06:50:49 PM
I'll understand if you don't want to tell us, but what policies and principles do you want to see proposed, Dribbles?

And who is the one politician that you could vote for?
#757
General / Re: Vote
09 June, 2004, 06:29:15 PM
The end to the secret ballot is what concerns me about postal voting, not so much the potential for fraud.  If you are being intimidated to vote, let's say Green, with a polling booth you can say, 'yes, of course I'll vote Green, absolutely'.  And then vote for someone else entirely.  With a postal vote I could ask you to vote in front of me, I could ask to see your ballot paper, I can, and this is perfectly legal, come round and collect the form.  I can also, and this is legal too, check that you have returned your vote and go round and doorstep you if you haven't (I can't see who you have voted for).  I know that you could refuse to disclose your vote, but the simple mechanism that ensures that no one will ever see how you DID vote is gone: the voting booth.

If democracy is the highest form of government, worth fighting, killing and dying for, then why can't we spend a bit of money on it.  Take over the TV in the run up to elections, fund debates, soapboxes and other platforms for speech.  And open the polling stations for every hour of a week, ensuring that almost everybody who wants to vote can find the time to.
#758
General / Re: Vote
09 June, 2004, 06:06:58 AM
++Presumeably you slept through the anti-war demo attended by MILLIONS of people, myself included, who were promptly ignored in favour of a prearranged invasion. Or the GM crops debate which returned an overwhelmingly negative response to the idea, only to be ignored by the government in favour of pushing trials ahead regardless.++

I did neither, attending the major London anti-war march and being a geneticist, now studying the sociology of genomics.  What I was trying to say is that millions turn out, and all they can articulate in 'No War', beacuse without a platform to properly express your beliefs and opinions we have to jump into inadequate slogans.  I was anti-war, but possibly for different reasons for the majority of the marchers, and I am anti-GM crops, but again, probably for different reasons to a substantial body of the people grouped under that banner.  It is this absence of  platform for true public debate that leaves many protest movements grounded and exploited, easy meat for caricaturing and discrediting by allowing those with the space and influence to articulate their opinions to disect the worst of those grouped under the banner we have to share.

If I was Monsanto, I would ensure the 'it's not natural' crowd were fed the oxygen of publicity, for, as they breathe it denies more reasonable positions of the fuel of exposure.

If I was a hawk, I would hope my allies on FOX News find people supporting suicide bombers to speak out against the war.  I will give prominence to dirty-handed opportunists.  There is only so much space, and if I hold my large portion and give the 'balance' to the unbalanced, I will surely win the wider debate.  
#759
General / Re: Vote
09 June, 2004, 01:54:28 AM
How can asking people not to vote BNP be undemocratic?  Democracy is not encapsulated by the vote, but by the open debate that precedes it.  The biggest concern I have is the lack of connection that members of the general public can make with the debate - they must participate in it, not merely passively receive the arguments.  As passive spectators, we allow those with the powerful voices to decide not only the outcome of the debate, but what is on the agenda for debate.
#760
General / Re: Vote
09 June, 2004, 01:51:17 AM
Well, this 'anything but' strategy demonstrates the essentially undemocratic nature of our General Election system, which shapes our entire view of politics.

Now, I'm more left-wing than Labour, and disagree with so much that they are doing I cannot, in all conscience, give them my vote.  However, in a General Election, a vote for, say, Respect or the Greens would diminish my local Labour MPs majority, or increase the Conservative majority.  In no way could it be said to be moving the polical atmosphere of my area to the left, expressing my opinion.

We need to have single-transferable voting.  Then, every MP would have a majority mandate and people could vote on their conscience with tactical considerations taking second place.  This would also force the established parties to move their campaigning away from the concerns of the few hundred thousand swing voters in a handful of key constituencies - the cause of much of the two parties similarity.

The European Elections at least use proportional representation, which prevents the entirely possible situation that a party (in a hypothetical two party system) could win 49% of the vote in every constituency and not get a single seat.  However, proportional representation effectively rules out independents, forcing political representation to begin, ready, funded and raring to go at the stage where they can put up a region-wide list and accompanying campaign.
#761
Other Reviews / Re: Day After Tomorrow
08 June, 2004, 06:22:52 AM
Oh, and in surround THX sound too.
#762
Other Reviews / Re: Day After Tomorrow
08 June, 2004, 06:22:22 AM
Well, you see, destruction is always better on the big screen... but I just can't recommend you paying a fiver to go and see it.  I'd tell you the best bits, but that would a spoil too far.
#763
Other Reviews / Re: Day After Tomorrow
08 June, 2004, 06:15:07 AM
Not really a spoiler but:
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Well, there is some impressive destruction in the first third of the film, but after that...
#764
General / Re: what other boards do you use?...
08 June, 2004, 06:20:51 AM
None.  I went to the Andy Diggle Forum (ADF) for a week or so after it opened, but it seemed like everybody knew each other from down the pub so...

I'm a member of scriptdroids and stuff like that too, though.
#765
General / Re: ant wars extreem edition.........
08 June, 2004, 06:24:34 AM
No, i thought it might be a Gibson pen-name too.