Category Archives: Politics

General, Politics

Representative Democracy

I was just browsing around the CIA Factbook and came up with some interesting numbers. lets see how this comes out:

Representative Democracy
Country Population Xcameral #of Rep in commons K Pop/Rep
Ireland 4,015,676 Bi 166 24
Isreal 6,276,883 Uni 120 52
Italy 58,103,033 Bi 630 92
UK 60,441,457 Bi 646 94
France 60,656,178 Bi 577 105
Canada 32,805,041 Bi 308 107
South Africa 44,344,136 Bi 400 111
Australia 20,090,437 Bi 150 134
Germany 82,431,390 Bi 613 134
Mexico 106,202,903 Bi 500 212
Japan 127,417,244 Bi 480 265
Russia 143,420,309 Bi 450 319
Brazil 186,112,794 Bi 513 363
Euro Union 456,953,258 Bi 732 624
United States 295,734,134 Bi 435 680
India 1,080,264,388 Bi 545 1982

The Population Numbers are July 2005 estimates. X Cameral refers to how many legislative bodies there are. And I used the number of seats in the lower house for the overall representative number. and the final column notes how many citizens each representative represents, in thousands.

Interesting to note that Russia, that hotbed of democracy, has fewer citizens per representive than the US. Indeed, all but India have a more representative democracy than the US. And with India pushing 2 million citizens per representative, I don’t know if they will last much longer, as a democracy.

I threw the European Union in just to see what their numbers look like. The CIA reports that the Euro Parliament doesn’t make the major decisions; that’s for the Council and it is something different.

Once again, I call to make the US a more representative democracy, and bring us the the point where we have at least 1 representative for every 100,000 citizens.

Geek Stuff, General, Politics

Blog Attack on Steele Decried

Blog Attack on Steele Decried

A part of this article grabbed my attention:

Other liberal bloggers defended Gilliard and took after Kaine for pulling his ad. Markos Moulitsas, editor of the blog Daily Kos, said that advertisers should expect edgy content and that Kaine’s actions could threaten their editorial independence.

“I don’t want bloggers to be afraid to say things because they don’t want to offend an advertisers,” Moulitsas said.

If bloggers accept advertisers then their content should always be suspect. Not only for what they don’t say to avoid offending their financial base but, also, for what they do say to impress their financial base.

Will the fierce, independent blogger moderate their comments to keep their audience sending them money? who knows? Who cares? It is just appearances.

General, Politics

An open letter to my Senator. (one of them)

Dear Senator Allard,

I understand that you were one of nine senators that voted against an amendment to a Defense Appropriation bill (HR2863). This amendment (1977) was submitted by Senator McCain and called for the humane treatment of prisoners by our Defense Forces.

Frankly, Senator, I am ashamed that you would vote against the humane treatment of prisoners.

It is the duty of Congress to provide guidelines on the “Rules of War” to our military. It is not only the duty of Congress to declare war, but it is the duty of Congress to provide oversight on how the executive branch is managing our defense forces, especially in times of hostility. Since Congress has not declared war recently, I am hesitant to call the activities in Iraq and Afghanistan ‘war’, although it sure looks like it from here.

I understand that some of the President’s staff have opposed this amendment because it might restrict the President’s pursuit of war. The President’s pursuit of war should be restricted, especially if that pursuit leads to the inhumane treatment of prisoners. Congress should take the Executive Branch to task for their continuing mistreatment of prisoners during our current overseas military adventures.

You represent the State of Colorado in the US Senate, and, by extension, me, as a citizen of the State of Colorado. I believe you have failed in your duties. I have not run into a fellow Colorado citizen that supports the inhumane treatment of prisoners by our military. Most have been thoroughly disgusted by the pictures and reports that have come out of Abu Ghraib and other detention facilities.

This is not a Republican issue nor a Democrat issue. This is an American Issue and you have not only failed your state but your country.

Sincerely,

General, Politics, Preparing for the worst

Rebuilding N’awlins

What a waste. Spend your $10 billion now or your $200 billion later. We can’t tell you how much later, maybe next week, maybe next year, maybe next decade, but it will be spent, in your lifetime.

I think they ought fill in the below sea-level part of the city with the rubble of the world trade center and any other rubbish that can be gathered and bring the entire city up to sea level, at least. Then cover the rubble with a layer of good silt and, voila, instant city. I don’t know how long you have to wait for everything to settle to provide a stable foundation. I think a decade or two should suffice. Basically, if you owned the land at the bottom of the rubble, you would own what is directly above it.

I heard someone suggest that the New New Orleans should build houses on stilts, like the beach front houses. Then you don’t have to fill anything in. Of course, the house would be a bit more expensive.

I would also suggest that every house be built with a trap door in the roof to provide easy egress from the attic.

I imagine that if all the houses were built on stilts, that the builders wouldn’t make sure the stilts were properly anchored and that all the houses would fall down after the ground got soaked by a heavy rain. I wonder if that counts as flood damage?

I also heard that some states are planning to go to court against the insurance companies, saying that the companies need to pay for damaged houses even if the damage was all flood and the homeowners didn’t have flood insurance. What a crock. If you want ensure that all your citizens have flood insurance then mandate it. Make it part of the property tax.

Don’t go crying that you didn’t think you needed flood insurance but now your house is gone and you want another one, but you aren’t willing to put up any money to buy the insurance. That’s what insurance is all about, everyone pays to cover against the possibility that a natural disaster will happen to some of them. It’s like a collective helping individual members. It’s socialism.

Personally, I wouldn’t let people build within a 100 year flood plain without their paying a hefty amount of insurance, annually. But it is up to them. IF they build, or buy, where history says floods will come, and they don’t want to contribute to a disaster contingency fund, then they can live with the results.

I remember when we bought a place in Texas, our lot had a creek at one end and the part of the property bordering the creek was in the 100-year flood plain, (it’s marked on the plat). Our mortgage company wanted us to get flood insurance before they would give us the mortgage. We were able to convince them that the actual structure, (house), was 100 yards from the flood plain marking and on a slight rise so we were 2-3 feet higher. (Plano Texas is very, very flat) We looked over the situation and decided not to go for the insurance. We took a chance. I don’t think that house will be flooded until the 1,000 year flood comes along, and that will wipe out most of Dallas-Fort Worth and our house would be the least of our worries.

I also don’t think anyone should be allowed to build within a mile of sea level. (Horizontally, on the map, not vertically. It would get too crowded in Colorado.) Although I realize that that isn’t too realistic. Fisherman, and others who live off the sea, will want to be nearby. But that’s it. No ocean-front beach houses for people working inland. No sea-breeze tourist traps. Let them walk a mile to the beach.