Author Topic: And now for something completely different  (Read 1346 times)

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Offline Askold

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And now for something completely different
« on: December 19, 2017, 08:49:35 am »
Finnish parliament was recently discussing changing our laws concerning alcoholic drinks.

One of our more "loud" politicians is a Christian Democrat Räsänen who wants very strict laws that limit alcohol sales. She was preparing to make a speech on the dangers of alcohol but had to cancel her speech because members of the Finns had been having their christmas party and one of them got what looked like alcohol poisoning. Since Räsänen is a doctor she was called in to help until the ambulance crew got there.

Point 1 to Räsänen on her crusade against alcohol.

Meanwhile Parliament member Teuvo Hakkairainen (Finns) got wasted drunk, had to be taken away from the ambulance crew because he was getting in the way of treatment of their patient, he then went into the office of another party to pour all their alcohol on the office floor and refused to leave even though ordered to do so by a minister.

It was also discovered that Hakkarainen had previously molested a fellow parliament member who left the Finns and she is pressing charges. Hakkarainen reportedly apologized by saying that it won't happen again "until the next time [he] is drunk."

The Finns are also the party that pushed for tougher laws against sexual assault (when the criminal is a foreigner or immigrant) and among other things, demanded castration of rapists and assaulters.

Now that (yet another) of their members is guilty of sexual assault they think that a "stern warning" is enough of a punishment.

So yeah, that's how we roll in Finland.

(Also unemployed are going to get totally fucked by next month if a certain law passes but I'm too depressed to complain about that.)
No matter what happens, no matter what my last words may end up being, I want everyone to claim that they were:
"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."
Aww, you guys rock. :)  I feel the love... and the pitchforks and torches.  Tingly!

Offline Askold

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No matter what happens, no matter what my last words may end up being, I want everyone to claim that they were:
"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."
Aww, you guys rock. :)  I feel the love... and the pitchforks and torches.  Tingly!

Offline SCarpelan

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Re: And now for something completely different
« Reply #2 on: December 19, 2017, 02:57:31 pm »
Hey, don't forget that our healthcare system is also going to be fucked and as a side effect or the new county system involved in the new system the poorest, rural counties will have to have the highest taxation to pay for the costs. The new system will also screw over the poor and and chronically ill who need a lot of different healthcare and social services, enrich the private health care providers and cement the Center Party's political power on the county level.

Offline Kanzenkankaku

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Re: And now for something completely different
« Reply #3 on: December 24, 2017, 05:22:44 am »
Reading threads like this gives me an odd comfort that it isn't just American politics that's this much of a dismal trainwreck. It's odd because it should make me more worried, but instead I feel more at peace after discovering it.

Have I become too cynical?

Offline SCarpelan

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Re: And now for something completely different
« Reply #4 on: December 28, 2017, 01:39:34 pm »
In the official citizen initiative site there is a new initiative for repealing the new law that screws over the unemployed. It was started 20.12. and just today got over the 50 000 signatures requirement that forces the parliament to process it. The signatures have exploded after the Christmas when the initiative has started spreading in the social media. To give more perspective, the gender neutral marriage initiative that is the most popular one until now got a bit over 150 000 signatures in the online service and ~16 000 elsewhere.

If this gathers enough support (the signature gathering time is six months) it will be interesting to see how the politicians react. The prime minister has already said that he doesn't care if he is re-elected as long as he gets his political initiatives through so there is not much leverage when it comes to him and I doubt the National Coalition Party's politicians and voters will give a shit about poor people whining. The voter backlash will probably concentrate on the prime minister's Center Party and NCP won't get hurt much if at all. My main hope is that this will give more momentum for the opposition in the next parliamentary elections.

Edit: I also appreciate both as an appropriate fuck you and a pressure method the fact that unemployed people have started flooding the parliamentarians who voted for the new law with job applications.

Edit 2: Hm. It seems NCP's support has dropped 2,5 points in the latest gallup. They are still the biggest party and people connected to the party have gone to full attack mode against the new initiative and its supporters. It will be interesting to see if this is a temporary development (as I fear) or if their support keeps falling (as I hope). In the latter case the new law could be too poisonous to support and the initiative to repeal it could pass. There is hope.
« Last Edit: December 30, 2017, 07:41:54 am by SCarpelan »

Offline SCarpelan

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Re: And now for something completely different
« Reply #5 on: December 30, 2017, 08:15:04 am »
Sorry about the double post but I felt silly just editing my previous post since this is a bit of a tangent. Other interesting points in the gallup I mentioned in my last edit:

Center Party has kept its supporters. It seems people have correctly identified NCP as the main driving force behind the new law. Very nice: NCP has previously been skillful in hiding behind the prime minister party of any coalition they are participating and have them take the worst damage. I guess a lot of the folks leaving National Coalition Party have gone to the Swedish Folk Party since they have gained over a point. They are ideologically similar and I guess the Swedish speaking people in the upper middle class can switch between these parties effortlessly.

Social Democratic Party has lost some support. I assume Blue Future (the new party formed by the centrists separated from True Finns) and Left Alliance have gained from this. This is a worrying development on the long term since it points to Blue Future maybe being able to lure away some of SDP's conservative voters (those working class folks who are not too fond of brown people and perverts). When True Finns went openly far right these people went back to SDP and they seem to be jumping ship again. I was hoping Blue Future would just fade into obscurity and while they aren't yet showing a sign to be a real power player they might hang around as a spoiler for SDP and maybe as a minority member even in future government coalitions.

The Green Party has kept its positions. It's a positive sign that Left Alliance has gained from the new situation more than the Greens. This is just a minor development so I'm not reading anything long term to it yet. It would be very healthy for the "left-green" wing of politics if the actual left would gain more ground instead of the socially liberal center so I hope Left Alliance can take advantage of the situation.

Offline Cloud3514

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Re: And now for something completely different
« Reply #6 on: December 30, 2017, 07:17:08 pm »
Reading threads like this gives me an odd comfort that it isn't just American politics that's this much of a dismal trainwreck. It's odd because it should make me more worried, but instead I feel more at peace after discovering it.

Have I become too cynical?

Literally my first thought upon hearing the news about Brexit was "huh. So that's what this feel like." I don't think it's unfair to say us Americans aren't used to watching the far right and other assholes win from the outside.
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