Common ground

There we are! Seems Sverigedemokraterna (SD) and the currect Government have even more in common than we thought. SD too, apparently, want to ban art and culture that can be deemed offensive by some.

So up until now we've got:
1. No respect of basic human rights
2. Less artistic freedom (as mentioned above)
3. Harsher punishment for committing victimless crimes
4. Moving away from the assumption that one is innocent until proven guilty
5. Even more surveillance

Plenty of common grounds to build a new government on. I think this might work out very well in the end.

The aftermath

This year's election was truly a choice between the bubonic plague and cholera. After four years of suffering we already knew how cholera felt, and the public seemed to think suffering from this disease was better than exchanging it for the bubonic plague. Interestingly enough even the right-wing party Sverigedemokraterna (SD) made it into the Riksdag, probably due to public frustration and great PR by the other parties as well as the media.

The election result gives us a situation where the cholera non-socialist Alliance is forced to cooperate with parties from the bubonic plague socialist coalition or indeed SD, out there on the far right of politics, which the Alliance has already denied.

To be honest I'm not sure I understand why the Alliance is so hesitant to cooperate with SD. Sure there are differences, mostly ideological, but if the last four years have showed us anything it's that the Alliance are experts in leaving their ideology at home before going to work. So, in practical politics the Alliance and SD aren't really that far apart. Sure, whereas SD nurture a fear and loathing of non-European immigrants, the Alliance nurture the same fear and loathing of all Swedish citizens. Equality, although a perverted one. Still, there are plenty of areas where I'm sure these two can cooperate: The views on crime, on human rights...

Looking forward to another four years in the dark ages.

You know there's no hope when...

...even a non-socialist government is happy to keep the second heaviest tax burden in the world. So ladies and gentlemen, this years general elections are basically a choice between either high taxes and restriction of your personal freedom, or high taxes and restriction of your personal freedom.

Hmm...this'll be a tough one.

Of course being an immigrant I can't really complain, can I? I could always move along when things get too rough.

We can't prosecute an entire generation (although we'd love to)

We'll let the entertainment industry do the dirty job instead.

Man, those word will come back and haunt that vicious bastard for a long, long time.

Some refreshing political reading

If you're like me, sick and tired of ridiculous election banners and flyers that make absolutely no sense, and instead you want to read some serious politics, let me recommend "Det sovande folket" by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. Apparently not too easy to get hold of in your local book store, but luckily there's always the Great Library in Alexandria The Pirate Bay. You can download the book here.

Staten och kapitalet, revised version

This really says it all. Nevermind the stupid flyers and posters littering your mailbox, this is spot on.

Socialdemokraterna grasping at straws

I swear I thought this was just a joke, until it appeared on the front page of every major newspaper in Sweden. The socialist democratic party, Socialdemokraterna are really grasping at straws when they make it an election promise to introduce butlers/concierge services and at the subway stations in Stockholm, apparently to give people the option of doing something useful while they're down there in that miserable pit on their way to and from work. Like picking up their laundry, returning a book to the library, get your pre-ordered food-basket delivered, and so on. They've even created their own website with this nonsense.

I don't know about you, but I'd prefer not spending my time in that urine-stinking, overcrowded dungeon. And if I have to, I try making my visit as brief as humanly possible. Life is too short to be miserable, so how about Socialdemokraterna made it a bit faster and more enjoyable to get to and from work instead? Yes, I'm talking about proper roads, where you can get to work in the privacy of your own, climate controlled, quiet and comfortable car, whenever you want to. Now that's an election promise I could stand behind.

You want some plague to go with that cholera?

The upcoming general election in Sweden is already turning into quite a bizarre spectacle, with 5 months left of campaigning.

The socialist coalition are working incredibly hard on ruining people's economy, making what kan only be defined as threats to increase taxed across the board should they be elected:

• Increased income tax (as if 56,7 percent isn't enough...)
• Increase fuel taxes (because clearly, in an effort to make it less profitable to work only raising the income tax isn't enough, the actual travel to work should also be punished!)
• Increase the payroll tax (you didn't think only the employee should be punished for working, did you?)
• Increase alcohol and tobacco taxes (God forbid you should be allowed to enjoy a drink after a hard day's labour)
• Restore the hopelessly outdated wealth tax (making sure companies as well as people move their wealth abroad - we don't want those rich bastards living in socialist Sweden!)
• Restore the arbitary and unfair housing tax (also known as the "Stockholm tax", because obviously it should be considered a crime to live in or near such an expensive city and spend all your money on that several million kronor mortgage)
• Introduce a new "energy" tax on the horribly polluting hydropower (well, actually the reasoning seems to be that the energy companies have a healthy profit, and the socialist coalition feels its only natural to introduce special taxes to get a bigger share of that profit - I guess a phone company tax, a lawyer tax or a property broker tax is next, and we all know who will get the bill in the end - the consumers)

Meanwhile the non-socialist coalition, "Alliansen", are hell-bent on finding new ways to strip the public of the last shreds of personal integrity and freedom:

• Random drug tests in school (clearly giving the police mandate to perform drug tests on kids without parent's permission wasn't enough)
• Publishing pictures of suspected criminals (because apparently the stigmata of sending purple letters to the families of suspected sex buyers wasn't enough...)

Not to mention all the disgusting laws that have been passed already during the last 4 years.

Of course, the socialists aren't friends of freedom and integrity either, supporting the new and oppressive laws that have been passed during the non-socialist government, the FRA-law, the data retention directive and the Ipred-law. They've even suggested every kid in school should get a "personal police officer" watching over them, making sure they don't do any mistakes (you know, being out partying on a Saturday night), and accepting any incriminating information they might have on other kids, in effect creating a society based on fear and squealing.

So the question is really, would you like some plague to go with that cholera, or is cholera enough? I'd like neither, thank you so much.

I noticed blogger Ravenna shares my views on some of this insanity. A post well worth reading.

Another rigged referendum coming up...

The huge and desperately needed infrastructure project Förbifart Stockholm is being questioned by the socialist opposition in Stockholm, contrary to previous promises, and they promise to let the people decide through a referendum provided they win the upcoming elections.

We all know how well that went the last time Stockholmers were asked for their honest opinion: The question on the voting slip was tendentious to say the least ("Miljöavgifter/trängselskatt innebär att avgifter tas ut i biltrafiken i syfte att minska köer och förbättra miljön. Intäkterna återförs till Stockholmsregionen för investeringar i kollektivtrafik och vägar.") and interestingly enough only the votes of those living in or in the immediate vicinity of the city center were counted. You know, those who are within walking distance or a short ride on the subway from everything. Those who see the car only as an annoyance.

So given this great track record in referendums I'm guessing we'll see yet another rigged referendum coming up after the elections. How about the following alternatives on the voting slip:

• "I believe in preserving the nature and not to destroy the future for my children _ " or
• "I am a selfish bastard who wants to build nasty, polluting roads and contribute to the destruction of the planet _"

Furthermore, I'm assuming only the votes of those living in the center of Stockholm, and particularly of those who do not own a car themselves, will be counted. Anyone wanna guess the outcome?

Socialdemokraterna - a success story

The Social democratic party, Socialdemokraterna, are not gaining any popularity in Stockholm, quite the contrary. Why, you might wonder? I think Socialdemokraterna's election manifesto speaks for itself:

We're gonna tax you Stockholmers to death.

Way to go. This strategy has left them with what is still a surprisingly high support in Stockholm, with roughly 20% of the voters claiming they would give their vote to these buffoons in the upcoming elections. Half of these are obviously the unemployed, who plan to stay unemployed for an extended period of time and would like their unemployment benefit to increase. The other half are just idiots.

Congratulation, pirates

Piratpartiet, the Pirate Party, was last nights sensation with 7,1 percent of the votes in the EU parliament election, giving them one seat in the parliament and giving the more established parties a well deserved slap in the face for not doing their homework (or, rather, doing the entertainment industry's homework - to the letter!) when it comes to issues on privacy, integrity, human- and citizens rights. To be honest I'm surprised that only 7,1 percent of the 43% that actually voted found that these basic rights are more important than employment and welfare issues, subsidies for EU-farmers, the size of a cucumber or anything else for that matter. After all, who bloody cares if they've got a job or not as long as basic human and citizens rights have been taken away from them, one by one?

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Shockingly, the Pirate Party is the only political party in Sweden who want to uphold this article of the UN human rights declaration.

Unfortunately, CNN have - as usual - left a lot to desire in their research, and claim that the Pirate Party are all about legalizing sharing of copyrighted material. I can imagine the election result is quite a surprise for CNN if they really believe a political party could get 7,1 percent of the votes based only on the fact that people want to continue sharing music...

Swedish prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt also seems to have problems grasping what this is all about, but agrees to listen to some of his (many) critics:

-Jag ska lyssna på vad Niklas Wykman säger för vi vill vara ett parti som tar frågan om integritet på allvar.

Riiiight, something about not criminalizing an entire generation now, wasn't it? That turned out pretty well. But, of course, you won't hear any real self-criticism from the prime minister:

-Vi ska komma ihåg att Moderaterna är ett regeringsparti. Vi kommer inte att gå till väljarna med enfrågeresonemang och populistiska utgångspunkter, säger Reinfeldt.

You know you're a hardcore politician, and completely out of touch with reality, when you turn questions of important human and citizens rights into "silly, populist reasoning that has no place in a government party". What a pompous ass.

Garbage

I'm sick and tired of various political parties polluting my community with posters showing the ugly mugs of their candidates to the EU parliament, surprisingly enough posing with other party members who are not at all running for the EU parliament, as the example picture of two Socialist Democrats show (Mona Sahlin, for instance, is not a candidate to the EU parliament, and God only knows what she's doing in the picture).

Their ugly mugs are accompanied by stupid slogans that mean absolutely nothing: "Injustice is not the way" (obviously not, but I don't see your party trying to do anything about that), "We prioritize work" (well, yeah, there are very few political parties out there who prioritize unemployment benefits...) and so on. They obviously think the voters are complete morons.

I've got the following question: Why do the political parties feel the need to invade our community with garbage like this? Will they come and remove this garbage after the election? And doesn't Mona Sahlin look remarkably like Beavis?

No democracy for you

I've written about the fact that I'm not allowed to vote in the EU elections in a blog post called "No democracy for me". Turns out the question of democracy is just as relevant for EU citizens who are entitled to vote, following what appears to be a large scale election fraud in Sweden, where election tickets for The Pirate Party have been hidden or thrown away by the officials at the polling stations!

How this grave attack on the democracy has not caused more attention in the media is beyond me. In fact none of the larger newspapers in Sweden seem to have written about it. I can only imagine the commotion if the Socialist Democratic Party was the victim, and not The Pirate Party.

No democracy for me

I just found out that I will not be able to exercise my democratic right to vote in the elections to the EU parliament. That's what you get for being a non-EU citizen living in the EU...

Equally frustrating is the fact that I won't be able to vote in the Riksdagsval (election for the Swedish parliament, the "Riksdag") in 2010, so even though I live in Sweden, work in Sweden and pay tax in Sweden (and have been doing so for three years now), I'm not allowed to vote for politics I believe in and feel will make my living, work and tax-paying in Sweden a bit more enjoyable.

Damnit! Time to change some rules here, and adapt them to the phenomenon of globalization. Yes, people do travel and live and work abroad these days, and to insist they change citizenship every time they move, just to be able to parttake in decisions that affect themselves, is just ridiculous.