Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: watsisname on June 07, 2009, 11:52:49 pm
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http://af.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idAFTRE55623320090607 (http://af.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idAFTRE55623320090607)
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden's Pirate Party, striking a chord with voters who want more free content on the Internet, won a seat in the European Parliament, early results showed on Sunday.
The Pirate Party captured 7.1 percent of votes in Sweden in the Europe-wide ballot, enough to give it a single seat. The party wants to deregulate copyright, abolish the patent system and reduce surveillance on the Internet.
"This is fantastic!" Christian Engstrom, the party's top candidate, told Reuters. "This shows that there are a lot of people who think that personal integrity is important and that it matters that we deal with the Internet and the new information society in the right way."
Previously an obscure group of single-issue activists, the party enjoyed a jump in popularity after the conviction in April of four men behind The Pirate Bay, one of the world's biggest free file-sharing website.
The case cast a spotlight on the issue of internet file-sharing, a technique used to download movies, music and other content. The defendants have called for a retrial.
Despite the similar names, the party and the website are not linked. The party was founded in 2006 and contested a Swedish general election that year, but received less than one percent of the vote.
Engstrom credited the party's appeal to young voters for its success. "We are very strong among those under 30. They are the ones who understand the new world the best. And they have now signalled they don't like how the big parties deal with these issues."
The Pirate Party will take up one of Sweden's 18 seats in the 785-seat parliament. "We will use all of our strength to defend personal integrity and our civil rights," Engstrom said.
Nice to see democracy in action, though I can't say I completely agree with all of their ideals. Anyway, lulz. :lol: :yes:
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Votes will now be 784 - 1, instead of 785 - 0.
Edit: My postcount is an awesome prime number.
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Illegal is illegal but I have to say that I do support their views on copyright, patent, surveillance and rights of individuals. I would have voted finnish pirate party for those same reasons but unfortunately they did not manage to register themselves as official party in time for the EU parliament voting.
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Votes will now be 784 - 1, instead of 785 - 0.
even that is a start.
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Oh noes! Not a party that represents the interests of actual people!
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Illegal is illegal but I have to say that I do support their views on copyright, patent, surveillance and rights of individuals. I would have voted finnish pirate party for those same reasons but unfortunately they did not manage to register themselves as official party in time for the EU parliament voting.
i begin to think their choice of calling themselves "Pirate Party" is a bit shortsighted. Copyright, individual rights, survaillance and software patents (especially) are highly relevant questions and a solid foundation for a politcal argument... but by labelling yourself as "Pirates"... you are sort of throwing your legitimation out of the window. Pirates rob and steal - by definition. The Association that most people will make is pretty much a shot in the foot for the party.
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YARR!
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YARR!
:arrr:
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/me reads the first post.
/me takes it as a cue to drop his jaw.
/me drops his jaw.
:jaw:
YARR!
YARR YARR YARR [size=8]YARR!!![/size]
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Isn't this the same set of elections that voted in a bunch of anti-immigration parties?
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Lightweights. :P The Italian Lega Nord (League <of/for the> North) just took over 9 seats. That party's degree of racism is one of the most impressive, ever. They also claim to help citizens, but they do that in a ridiculous way (no immigration = better world approach and stuff like that).
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BNP FTW!
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Illegal is illegal but I have to say that I do support their views on copyright, patent, surveillance and rights of individuals. I would have voted finnish pirate party for those same reasons but unfortunately they did not manage to register themselves as official party in time for the EU parliament voting.
i begin to think their choice of calling themselves "Pirate Party" is a bit shortsighted. Copyright, individual rights, survaillance and software patents (especially) are highly relevant questions and a solid foundation for a politcal argument... but by labelling yourself as "Pirates"... you are sort of throwing your legitimation out of the window. Pirates rob and steal - by definition. The Association that most people will make is pretty much a shot in the foot for the party.
Are you kidding me? When people think pirates, they don't think blackbeard anymore. They think Jack Sparrow. Well, they do here, anyway. Pirates are even more romantic than rockstars these days.
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This is a great step in the right direction. I think that this world is going to take a large turn for the better once my generation starts voting.
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All for starting a rivaling Ninja Party say Aye. :D
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賛成.
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my generation ... voting.
:doubt:
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:arrr::yes:
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Illegal is illegal but I have to say that I do support their views on copyright, patent, surveillance and rights of individuals. I would have voted finnish pirate party for those same reasons but unfortunately they did not manage to register themselves as official party in time for the EU parliament voting.
i begin to think their choice of calling themselves "Pirate Party" is a bit shortsighted. Copyright, individual rights, survaillance and software patents (especially) are highly relevant questions and a solid foundation for a politcal argument... but by labelling yourself as "Pirates"... you are sort of throwing your legitimation out of the window. Pirates rob and steal - by definition. The Association that most people will make is pretty much a shot in the foot for the party.
Are you kidding me? When people think pirates, they don't think blackbeard anymore. They think Jack Sparrow. Well, they do here, anyway. Pirates are even more romantic than rockstars these days.
"They ?" You would be talking about a segment of the overall population here, but hardly the population as a whole.
And let's not forget that we have actual real Somali Pirates attacking international shipping making the news every couple of weeks still LOL.
That's neither Blackbeart nor Jack Sparrow, that's people with masks in speedboats with guns and rocket launchers, yet they are definitely Pirates with the same motives as all Pirates: Robbing and Plundering.
(And even heavily romanticised versions like Jack Sparrow don't really escape that trapping. Otherwise they wouldn't be Pirates, geddit ?;) It's a Disney movie so of course the fact isn't emphasized, but if you look its actually still there under all the swashbucklery and even if it wasn't in Jack Sparrow you'd still have a whole ship of Pirates plundering a city while women and children scream... in the SAME movie! LOL Pirates robb and steal. Period. If Pirates stop robbing and plundering they stop being Pirates by definition ; ex-Pirates then i guess ;) )
So yeah, ... i could imagine better images to hold up the flag of individual rights ;)
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:arrr::yes:
:yes2::arrr::yes:
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my generation ... voting.
:doubt:
I'm actually taking that comment back after I heard some of my classmates today.
"If evolution causes an organism to adapt to their surroundings, why am I cold?" (in 10o weather in a t-shirt)
"I believe that everyone has the right to do what they want, but if I don't like it damn right I'm gonna fight it."
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:rolleyes: :lol:
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"Who came first? Chicken or egg?"
"God created them both at the same time." (my science teacher)
"Stem cell research is bad because less diseases means more population." While I do agree, it's kind of an inane comment.
"How can 2 billion Christians be wrong?"
Me: "How can 1.2 billion Muslims be wrong? Or millions of scientists?"
"That's different, they're Muslims."
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"Stem cell research is bad because less diseases means more population." While I do agree, it's kind of an inane comment.
Hate to nitpick, but most Western countries have lower disease rates than 3rd World nations, while simultaneously maintaining lower birthrates.
Disease provides an incentive to have large families.
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"Who came first? Chicken or egg?"
"God created them both at the same time." (my science teacher)
That's what the FSM is for :)
"If evolution causes an organism to adapt to their surroundings, why am I cold?" (in 10o weather in a t-shirt)
The solution to the problem can be found here: http://www.queenofwands.net/d/20031208.html :)
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"Stem cell research is bad because less diseases means more population." While I do agree, it's kind of an inane comment.
Hate to nitpick, but most Western countries have lower disease rates than 3rd World nations, while simultaneously maintaining lower birthrates.
Disease provides an incentive to have large families.
Stupid, but true. The idea is to have more kids to help out. What they never seem to realize is that the kids are going to starve to death just like the parents, and if we give the kids food, they'll just end up having more kids.
[cynic]For every one we 'save' now that doesn't have the sense not to have more kids than they can support, we get even more miserable kids, and no increase in how many we can 'save'.[/cynic]
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http://www.queenofwands.net/d/20031208.html
Epic.
"Stem cell research is bad because less diseases means more population." While I do agree, it's kind of an inane comment.
Hate to nitpick, but most Western countries have lower disease rates than 3rd World nations, while simultaneously maintaining lower birthrates.
Disease provides an incentive to have large families.
Stupid, but true. The idea is to have more kids to help out. What they never seem to realize is that the kids are going to starve to death just like the parents, and if we give the kids food, they'll just end up having more kids.
[cynic]For every one we 'save' now that doesn't have the sense not to have more kids than they can support, we get even more miserable kids, and no increase in how many we can 'save'.[/cynic]
I think that a limit of two children (or even one, but that's bound to cause worker shortages) for every couple is a good thing, sure some people will disobey but they could work out a credit system for people who wanted more/less kids.
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But...Western nations have those kind of fertility figures without any restrictive laws.
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True. The real answer I guess would be in better sex-ed in developping countries. Help solve VDs and overpopulation.
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Smart couples owe it to society to have at least 3 children, to offset all the dumb having tons of kids. :p
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Smart couples owe it to society to have at least 3 children, to offset all the dumb having tons of kids. :p
Eduction really is a much bigger issue than the purely biologically determined aspect of IQ variance in society.
I.e. If we had a way to magically endow every person on this planet with the benefits of a university class education scientific and technological advancement would skyrocket.
Course such a project sadly does remain in the realm of magics at this time, as current technology+global resources is already stretched thin as is and more importantly our society's structure is built uppon maximizing individual benefits and not altruism, or even caring all that much about the society or ecology we live in.
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Smart couples owe it to society to have at least 3 children, to offset all the dumb having tons of kids. :p
Eduction really is a much bigger issue than the purely biologically determined aspect of IQ variance in society.
It's linked. Smart people go in for more education for their kids. :P
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Shades of the UK's Monster Raving Loony Party. Its about time... :D
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They might want to try to have a platform that includes stuff beyond anti-copyright and internet surveillance. Maybe toss out a full libertarian platform to go along with it. That might win a lot of votes.
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Illegal is illegal but I have to say that I do support their views on copyright, patent, surveillance and rights of individuals. I would have voted finnish pirate party for those same reasons but unfortunately they did not manage to register themselves as official party in time for the EU parliament voting.
Very true,
but dont forget, a lot of people are pissed off with the EU right now.
Im from Ireland and we are going to be made to VOTE AGAIN!!! on the Lisbon Treaty. Its as if our democracy does not count! You would be sure that if the
Germans, French or English held a vote and it was rejected, they wouldnt have to vote again.
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Im from Ireland and we are going to be made to VOTE AGAIN!!! on the Lisbon Treaty. Its as if our democracy does not count! You would be sure that if the
Germans, French or English held a vote and it was rejected, they wouldnt have to vote again.
If Mr. Brown gets his way like he currently is then we English aren't gonna even get the chance to vote on the 'Treaty'.
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It's linked. Smart people go in for more education for their kids. :P
If they can. Unless you want make some kind of argument about racial supremacy here, you kind of have to agree that there are Millions of people out there who have all the same biological potential to be just as smart as anyone else, but do not have a snowballs chance in hell to get a proper education in their lifetime EVER.
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If Mr. Brown gets his way like he currently is then we English aren't gonna even get the chance to vote on the 'Treaty'.
Good. We give idiots too much of a say as it is without letting them make stupid, reactionary decisions about matters that affect the whole of Europe which they don't understand.
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but dont forget, a lot of people are pissed off with the EU right now.
Im from Ireland and we are going to be made to VOTE AGAIN!!! on the Lisbon Treaty. Its as if our democracy does not count! You would be sure that if the
Germans, French or English held a vote and it was rejected, they wouldnt have to vote again.
At least you can vote again and show them what you think of the Beta Aquilae Convention Lisboa Treaty. My government passed the treaty without asking the citizens first and all members of the parliament accepted the treaty without any traces of opposition. I mean, is it normal that several hundred people all agree in approving a treaty? There should have been at least one person willing to complain by making his opinions public. When the Yea to Nay ratio is 100+:1 (or vice versa) there's a problem.
I wish we were like the Irish, really.
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And people say American politicians don't care about what their constituents think.
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We may generalize and claim that politicians (no matter of their nationality) don't care about the people they're supposed to represent.... and when they care, they do it with a do ut des approach.