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Showing posts from January, 2012

Light festival in Gent, Belgium

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Over the weekend, there was a festival in Gent, a light festival. Now that the nights are long (although they are getting shorter), it was refreshing to see so much light during the night. I went on Saturday, and I read about 200,000 people joined me, even when it was one of the coldest nights yet of this winter (but until now we didn't have a winter). Some streets became one-way for pedestrians, although I have to admit that some streets are very narrow in Gent and often not more than four people can walk next to each other thus streets are quickly blocked. I include some videos and pictures of the things that people could see. I hope you will enjoy it although, of course, it is not the same as seeing it live. The above video shows the old post office. The theme here were fairy tales. First we see a bear in space on the video and then a building that is overgrown with plants and flowers, all very beautiful. There were more "cartoons" and it ended with snow falling.

(03d) The Three-Power system. How I think it should be in politics.

A country should always be rules by three powers and these powers should be equal: Head of State (government), Jurisdiction and Parliament . These three powers should control and balance each other. As long as each power accepts its own strengths and limitations while it also accepts the other powers' equal status, the powers can do their own duty. But each power is necessary to prevent the other powers becoming arrogant and corrupt due to too much power. One of the best examples in history is Emperor Augustus, first emperor of the Roman Empire. I am not sure how dirty he played the game to become the only ruler but ones emperor he tried (mostly) to make decisions with respect for the Senate and in the interest of the people, thus he accepted he had limitations and could not do whatever he wanted  (but he was a also a child of his time with his mistakes) . But by accepting this and wondering what the Senate (and the people) might think about his decision s (without trying t

Ex-PM Berlusconi

Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi is gone, finally. And replaced by an economist, Mr Monti. But, is Mr Berlusconi gone? As an article in The Guardian by Roberto Saviano mentioned, Berlusconi-ism is still present in Italy. Also, as the country has to reform, and this will hurt people, I think Berlusconi might come back by the next election as people might remember that his government was stable and people earned money and had a better time (most people's long-term memory works only for good things while the bad things are forgotten). I think Mr Berlusconi and his party might hope people will hate the present government with its technocrats and remember that each time the Left was in power in recent years, politicians try to reduce the deficit, therefore hurting the people. (But each time Berlusconi was not re-elected, the new government had to correct the bad decisions made by the government of PM Berlusconi as Mr Berlusconi only worked for its own interests.) Still I think his party

National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)

President Obama really becomes a disappointment for everyone who believed in him and his words of believe in changes and I will explain why. He signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and this on New Years eve as he didn't dare to sign it on a normal day when there is more news coverage and people might question his signature. He also washed his hands in innocence as he wrote a letter disapproving what he signed. This act proves it is a bad law. Great Presidents sometimes use their powers (in the US their veto) to stop bad laws. But I think now he might reach an agreement over the budget. What I understand is that this law allows the Indefinite Detention of possible terrorists from all over the world except for US civilians (at this moment, of course one can always change a law). Thus, instead of closing Guantanamo Bay as President Obama promised, this law (and therefore the president) will probably increase the number of people in this kind of camps as the war o