Tag: values
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What Paradise?
The immigrants are rioting. The Maltese comment boards are rife with spiteful messages of the “send them back home” kind. Forget blaming the police or the government. It’s the whole damn country that’s in a mess at the worst possible time. I’m not speaking of hysterical bloggers switching attention from the real issues to a…
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I accuse : a writ of summons
Over the past few weeks the intelligent Maltese voter has had the opportunity to witness at first hand the abdication of its politicians from their duty as effective representatives. Two of the three branches of an effective democracy have been all but neutered and hijacked in the name of political opportunism. This opportunism is a…
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Humpty Dumpty Politics
What makes or breaks a modern political party? Can we still talk of the terms “christian-democrat” and “socialist” (or the masacara “progressive”) when it comes to the nitty-gritty of politics in Malta? Is it just Malta that has entered a Bermuda Triangle of party values? The nationalist party might hold the “Fehmiet Bazici” (Basic Beliefs)…
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J'accuse: The (rising) values of salaries
With a title like that, you’d think I’m about to kick off a whole song and dance about the “living wage” and “cost of living” and whatever other index the latest fad is in that ever so exciting corner of the universe where popular (and populist) politics crosses with economics. Nae wurries, I ain’t. The…
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Faith No More
The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church is experiencing a veritable hemorrhage of members since Christian Democrat leader Päivi Räsänen presented what has been described as an “uncompromising, fundamentalist view” on the issue of homosexuality. Appearing on a TV programme, Päivi Räsänen described homosexual relations as “bad” and this provoked a flood of resignations from the church…
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New York's Catholic Paladino
You know you’re growing old when you remember Governor Cuomo Snr. His son, Andrew M. Cuomo is running for Governor of New York on the democrat ticket. In an all-Italian (origin) showdown, Cuomo’s republican opponent is Carl P. Paladino – conservative to the bone and very proud of his Italian and catholic origins. The gubernatorial…