Finnish presidential elections coming up
What the h*ll is going on in the States that both Wikipedia and LJ are protesting against it? Wikipedia went black when I searched for something there today. I guess that I happened upon there just when the protest was starting. From what I've read about the laws that they're protesting against, those two laws sound like trouble, and they likely wouldn't do much to prevent privacy, like they intend. Internet just works that way. The industry who relies on copyright need to wake up to this time and age and start providing people with legal services where people can download or stream content online. Just last night I searched for a service for streaming movies and shows online, which would be provided in Finland without any luck. I'd have to asquire an American IP address to stream stuff from for example Netflix, and I guess that that would be illegal, even though I'd be paying Netflix.
We've had a piracy law called the Lex Karpela since the year 2006. I haven't noticed it having really any effect on what people do Online.From Facebook. All though moral values aren't tied to religions as such. The world could be filled with only atheists, but people would still have different opinions about gay people, abortion and so on. Probably. I can't say for sure because in the circles where I move even the religious people hold mostly liberal values. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in Finland a person's religious beliefs are largely a private matter. I wouldn't ask about them unless that person was a close friend. Maybe I'm just more sensitive to such topics when it comes to other people because I've gotten so much flak for them myself, especially when I was younger.I've been watching the third season of Babylong 5 with my mother and it's still my favorite scifi show. I'd forgotten how complex the plot actually was. Marcus the ranger (from B5) talked about how he now days finds it comforting that the Universe is unjust and cruel. It's quite horrible to think that you'd done something to deserve all the bad things that have happened to you in your life. That it was your own fault. I'm not sure, if karma is supposed to work like that. I don't understand the concept well enough. But I'd much rather believe that the Universe is unjust and cruel. It feels like believing otherwise would be the road to madness, at least for me.
It just occurred to me that some people would replace the word "Universe" with the word "God" in this context, which makes the whole matter even more complex because God would be considered conscient while I wouldn't say the same about the Universe. This thought process just got a bit too complicated to put into words in the middle of the night.BTW, we have the first round of the presidential election here next Sunday and there's a gay man running for president. There's also a Catholic man running for president, who would probably ban abortion in Finland, if he could. Our current president of 12 years, Tarja Halonen, didn't belong to any church when she got elected. She's from the Finnish Social Democratic party (demarit).
I haven't managed to muster much enthusiasm for this election because I've known whom I'd want to become the next president even before they announced that they were running for the presidency. Mostly I've just been pondering about tactics, of whom I'd want to make it to the second round. I haven't even watched any election debates, which is something that I normally do before elections.
It seems that the next president is going to be from a different party than where they've come from since the 80s. Sauli Niinistö from the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) will most likely make it to the second round of the presidential elections. After that the final outcome depends largely of who he's running against Niinistö in the second round. As we have multiple parties in the Finnish system, the second person elected to the second round could be from just about any of the parties as the presidential election is about the person more than it's about the party. If it's Väyrynen from the Centre party of Finland (Keskusta) or Soini from the True Finns (persut), Niinistö would probably win. If the other person elected to the second round would be Haavisto from the Green League, then Niinistö wouldn't get as much of those "euch, I don't want that person as the next president, so I'll vote for Niinistö" -votes. Arhimäki from the Left-Wing Alliance (vasemmisto) is too young and too radical to be elected as the next president. He wouldn't get the majority of the people behind him. Lipponen from the Finnish Social Democratic Party (demarit) is getting a bit too old. I also think that he lacks the charisma and personality to carry him to presidency. Of the Women, Biaudet and Essayjah from the smaller parties, running for president I'm still left with an impression of "Who is that?". Also, their names are probably working against them as they're neither Finnish nor Swedish names. Stupid things like that have an effect on something like the presidential elections.Last week I watched this movie Salt where the US was nearly manipulated into nuclear war and it made me think that it doesn't really matter so much who's Finland's next president as they're not going to have access to a red "lets start a nuclear war" button. I'd imagine that the responsibility to make a right choice of whom to vote for president would be much greater in the US. I can't really place the same responsibility upon the people of Russia because they can't effect the outcome of their elections as much. You know, it's a bit creepy to write about this onto a site, which is owned by a Russian company. I censor myself a lot more when it comes to writing about stuff that's happening in Russia. But I just wanted to say that the people of Russia have my sympathies for Putin's latest stunt where he's running for president when he shouldn't be able to do that as he's been elected as the president twice already. But who cares about pesky laws prohibiting that, those kinds of laws are made for changing. The last tzar of Russia was killed by his own subjects. It's really much safer to be a president (as opposed to being a "president"), and it's certainly safer than being a dictator. Now that I'm on a roll I also wanted to mention this idea that I had last week while listening to a radio program about embalming bodies. You know how they've got those two mummies (Lenin and Stalin) in Russia. Can you picture a zombie movie starring either one? I wonder, if there's something like that out there. Do they embalm the North-Korean leaders after they die? It could be a communist zombie movie. :pMy choirs have started again after the Christmas vacation. Work is as tedious as I expected.
We've had a piracy law called the Lex Karpela since the year 2006. I haven't noticed it having really any effect on what people do Online.From Facebook. All though moral values aren't tied to religions as such. The world could be filled with only atheists, but people would still have different opinions about gay people, abortion and so on. Probably. I can't say for sure because in the circles where I move even the religious people hold mostly liberal values. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in Finland a person's religious beliefs are largely a private matter. I wouldn't ask about them unless that person was a close friend. Maybe I'm just more sensitive to such topics when it comes to other people because I've gotten so much flak for them myself, especially when I was younger.I've been watching the third season of Babylong 5 with my mother and it's still my favorite scifi show. I'd forgotten how complex the plot actually was. Marcus the ranger (from B5) talked about how he now days finds it comforting that the Universe is unjust and cruel. It's quite horrible to think that you'd done something to deserve all the bad things that have happened to you in your life. That it was your own fault. I'm not sure, if karma is supposed to work like that. I don't understand the concept well enough. But I'd much rather believe that the Universe is unjust and cruel. It feels like believing otherwise would be the road to madness, at least for me.
It just occurred to me that some people would replace the word "Universe" with the word "God" in this context, which makes the whole matter even more complex because God would be considered conscient while I wouldn't say the same about the Universe. This thought process just got a bit too complicated to put into words in the middle of the night.BTW, we have the first round of the presidential election here next Sunday and there's a gay man running for president. There's also a Catholic man running for president, who would probably ban abortion in Finland, if he could. Our current president of 12 years, Tarja Halonen, didn't belong to any church when she got elected. She's from the Finnish Social Democratic party (demarit).
I haven't managed to muster much enthusiasm for this election because I've known whom I'd want to become the next president even before they announced that they were running for the presidency. Mostly I've just been pondering about tactics, of whom I'd want to make it to the second round. I haven't even watched any election debates, which is something that I normally do before elections.
It seems that the next president is going to be from a different party than where they've come from since the 80s. Sauli Niinistö from the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) will most likely make it to the second round of the presidential elections. After that the final outcome depends largely of who he's running against Niinistö in the second round. As we have multiple parties in the Finnish system, the second person elected to the second round could be from just about any of the parties as the presidential election is about the person more than it's about the party. If it's Väyrynen from the Centre party of Finland (Keskusta) or Soini from the True Finns (persut), Niinistö would probably win. If the other person elected to the second round would be Haavisto from the Green League, then Niinistö wouldn't get as much of those "euch, I don't want that person as the next president, so I'll vote for Niinistö" -votes. Arhimäki from the Left-Wing Alliance (vasemmisto) is too young and too radical to be elected as the next president. He wouldn't get the majority of the people behind him. Lipponen from the Finnish Social Democratic Party (demarit) is getting a bit too old. I also think that he lacks the charisma and personality to carry him to presidency. Of the Women, Biaudet and Essayjah from the smaller parties, running for president I'm still left with an impression of "Who is that?". Also, their names are probably working against them as they're neither Finnish nor Swedish names. Stupid things like that have an effect on something like the presidential elections.Last week I watched this movie Salt where the US was nearly manipulated into nuclear war and it made me think that it doesn't really matter so much who's Finland's next president as they're not going to have access to a red "lets start a nuclear war" button. I'd imagine that the responsibility to make a right choice of whom to vote for president would be much greater in the US. I can't really place the same responsibility upon the people of Russia because they can't effect the outcome of their elections as much. You know, it's a bit creepy to write about this onto a site, which is owned by a Russian company. I censor myself a lot more when it comes to writing about stuff that's happening in Russia. But I just wanted to say that the people of Russia have my sympathies for Putin's latest stunt where he's running for president when he shouldn't be able to do that as he's been elected as the president twice already. But who cares about pesky laws prohibiting that, those kinds of laws are made for changing. The last tzar of Russia was killed by his own subjects. It's really much safer to be a president (as opposed to being a "president"), and it's certainly safer than being a dictator. Now that I'm on a roll I also wanted to mention this idea that I had last week while listening to a radio program about embalming bodies. You know how they've got those two mummies (Lenin and Stalin) in Russia. Can you picture a zombie movie starring either one? I wonder, if there's something like that out there. Do they embalm the North-Korean leaders after they die? It could be a communist zombie movie. :pMy choirs have started again after the Christmas vacation. Work is as tedious as I expected.