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international / politics / elections Monday July 03, 2006 - 20:18 by iosaf
 17 comments (last - thursday july 13, 2006 - 12:18)  4 images
Voters went to the polls in Mexico, a federation of 31 states and one district yesterday the 2nd of July to directly elect their new President. There are roughly 106.5 million Mexican citizens and their state ranks 12th in the World GDP and 4th for "per capita income" in Latin America. The "not voting" thing was very simple for Mexico, 2005 saw Chiapas agree to send Sub Comandant Marcus out on a nation-wide "other campaign". Officially 99.4% of ballot offices were opened without incident, and 58.91% of the electorate voted. That means an abstention of roughly 41%. The "voting" thing has produced a result so narrow that the Federal Electoral Institute can't call the election yet. The mechanism used dictates that the candidate with "plurality of votes" shall win, even if that candidate hasn't got more than 50%. If the IFE can't call the results, it means there is less than 0.3% difference in the results. there is no mechanism for a "run-off" election which readers will remember occured in the recent Peruvian presidential elections. ... read full story / add a comment
dublin / anti-capitalism Sunday July 02, 2006 - 21:21 by Chris Murray
29 comments (last - tuesday march 13, 2007 - 11:55)
Archives dating from the period 1922-1939 are to be opened by Pope Benedict on the 18th of September 2006. "Giving new insight into what the Catholic Church knew and did as Europe saw the rise of Nazism in Germany and the Spainish Civil War" The files are known as the Secret Archives and files of its Secretariat of State for the Pontificate of Pius X1. Reuters/ Irish Times :- (1-07-06). www.ireland.com Googled the Holy See, (as one does) to see if more info can be had on Benedict's criteria for choosing this specific time-frame, such as- have the archives up until 1922 been opened before and this is part of a synthesis of release, or why the abrupt stop at 1939? Reading history in a linear fashion rather than as something which often involves mass-movement or community consciousness would tend to point to this era being crucial. The period preceeding 1922 would hold an unlimited fascination in terms of labour movement and the assasination of such figures as Rosa luxemburg (Jan 1919). The Spainish Civil war is mentioned also in the hopeful analysis of that specific time encapsulation, the assasination of Lorca comes to mind. The 17 year period of file and archive release necessarily reduces the reading of the archive within a specific narrow framework which does not account for the build-up to facism which would definitely preceed the watermark indicated. The archives would contain some fascinating documentation of that period in world history but are they part of an ongoing cycle of release or are they an isolated example of a criteria of choice with regard to the Shoah? informations on the secret archives are to be had on the Vatican website www.vatican.ca http://asv.vatican.va/home_en.htm http://asv.vaticanva/en/studi_stud,htm In terms of bureaucracy and official secrets, many governments wd have a specific period of time during which state papers are sealed and released. The opening of the secret archive in an Independent State such as Vatican city would probably have a different criteria for selecting and approving the dates for release of such documentations. ... read full story / add a comment 
national / arts and media Sunday July 02, 2006 - 17:33 by James R
15 comments (last - friday june 26, 2009 - 18:19) 1 image
Just after returning from watching Ken Loach's Palm D'or reaping drama The Wind That Shakes The Barley and like most feel slightly compelled to add one or two words to the flurry of type and hype that has accompanied the movies release on these shores. The Wind That Shakes The Barley is a typical Loach movie betraying many of the core techniques of his previous outtings. Again he relies on plunging a shallowly crafted personal relationship, this time between two brothers, into a set of tragic circumstances. These circumstances provide an emotional cover for his overly didactic political approach to popularising alternative historical mythologies that challenge the authors of a victors' history. This time the contested historicity is the rabid nationalism of the Irish text book, that sweeps aside socialist and labour based movements in the process of consolidation of the free state. ... read full story / add a comment 
national / consumer issues Saturday July 01, 2006 - 16:05 by Sean Crudden
3 comments (last - tuesday july 04, 2006 - 18:57) 1 image
Is the curriculum at second level largely dated and irrelevant? Does the Leaving Certificate Exam serve any worthy educational purpose any longer? Has it, even, any practical benefit worth the considerable cost? ... read full story / add a comment |
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