Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Teder vs Jõks








Reform has given their support to Indrek Teder and it's likely that he'll become the next õiguskantsler (Estonia's version of a constitutional ombudsmen). Teder has supported a recent decision of Jõks where parliament members can't sit on the board of directors of companies (not sure if it's just government firms or all firms?) so it should be interesting to see if Teder gets chosen if he'll push this through against the wishes of Reform and Kesk.

To me it just looks like the main requirement for this job is being bald with think rimmed glasses. :)

Labels: , ,

Friday, January 25, 2008

Australian advisories

There's an amusing article in most of todays Canadian dailies about Australia's official travel advisory website which warns to "exercise caution" when traveling to Canada. The site lists Canada as more of a risk then Chile, South Korea and Latvia to name a few.

Some of the major dangers in Canada include:

- Risk of terrorist attack
- Petty crime such as pick pocketing and street theft occurs at tourist destinations, hotels and on public transport.
- The province of British Columbia in western Canada is in an active earthquake zone
- Alberta and British Columbia are also subject to avalanches. Tornadoes can occur in some areas of Canada between May and September.
- Bush and forest fires can occur any time in Canada. (Fires in the winter?)

I checked Estonia out on their site. Eesti is consider one step safer than Canada, some of the dangers include:
- You should avoid demonstrations and large public gatherings as they may turn violent.
- Driving in Estonia can be dangerous due to local driving practices, poorly maintained roads and vehicles, and inadequate road lighting.
- When you are in Estonia, be aware that local laws and penalties, including ones that appear harsh by Australian standards, do apply to you.

Canada sure sounds like a scary place. :)

Labels: , , ,

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Fox "News"

The post below contained a video clip from a Fox debate, in which Ron Paul ripped the host a new one when asked why he was running since he wasn't electable.

Fox apparently cut this from the debate (not sure if that's 100% true) and now they've gotten it removed from YouTube even though there are thousands of other Fox clips on the site.

A lot of people claim that the mainstream media is purposefully ignoring Ron Paul, I'm starting to believe that may be true.

Labels: , ,

Friday, January 11, 2008

Straight talk

Ron Paul has some pretty kooky ideas but boy is it nice to see an honest politician once and awhile.

Labels: , ,

Thursday, January 10, 2008

You're fired

There's a lot of ink being spent in Estonia on a new employment law that was announced yesterday. I haven't read many specifics about the law, mainly because most of the press is going towards the battle between Reform and the Sotsid who dislike the bill. I gather that the bill makes firing employees easier which is upsetting a lot of people, if anyone has more details on the actual bill I'd love to hear them.

What did strike me as interesting in this bill is that it provides every employee with 15 days a year for an "educational vacation". I think this a great idea, it's a way to ensure that your population continues to upgrade their skills and gives employees a chance to break from the everyday work life and learn something new and interesting. I expect we'll see a proliferation of schools and companies offering 2 week courses in all sorts of topics if this bill passes.

Labels: , , ,

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

An surprise benefit of Shengen

Apparently Nashi activists are pissed at Estonia again (although I don't think they ever stopped). This time it is because as of last month when Eesti joined the Shengen visa free zone which allows for border free travel in the EU they have shared their "banned list" of people denied entry to Estonia with the rest of the EU. Because of this there are a number of Nashi (reportedly around 2000) who are now barred from entering any Shengen country, essentially all of the EU except England and Ireland. Nashi activists have gotten so obsessed with getting to Tallinn that they've resorted to crossing borders illegally on foot.

Labels: , ,

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Orwellian

Has Rudy Guliani resurrected George Orwell and put him in charge of his ads?

Labels: ,

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Something is off

Does this seem normal to you?