"'Tis easier to prevent bad habits than to break them." - Benjamin Franklin
site content: Brian Gongol
logo: Jason Beane
(4.25.2005)
Britain Starts Investigation of Postal-Vote Fraud Cat's out of the bag, though, with 15% of the population holding mail ballots for the upcoming general election 
(4.25.2005)
New Pope Praises "Progress in Dialogue Between Muslims and Christians" 
(4.25.2005)
Putin: Breakup of USSR was "Greatest Geopolitical Catastrophe" of 20th Century But also says he thinks Russia today needs more freedom and more democracy 
(4.25.2005)
Slovakia Thinks of Itself as More Western than Western Europe Especially in the markets
(4.25.2005)
Airbus Plans First Test Flight of Mega-Jumbo A380 for Wednesday 
(4.25.2005)
Bangladesh's Central Bank Trying to Figure Out How to Regulate Islamic Banking A challenge shared with US regulators
(4.25.2005)
China Offering Loans to Philippines for Infrastructure Development Students of international capital flows ought to be interested: American dollars flow to China in return for consumer goods; those dollars turn around and get invested in a former US colony by China's Communist government 
(4.25.2005)
Newspaper Reports Derailed Japanese Train Had to Have Been Going 70 MPH to Jump Tracks At least 50 people killed. Train was speeding to make up for lost time due to previous delay.
(4.25.2005)
Egypt Tells Israel No Help With Middle East Peace Until a Palestinian State Shows Up
(4.25.2005)
Peculiar Treatment of Opposition Leader by Iran's State-Run Propaganda/News Agency
(4.25.2005)
North Korea Celebrates Army Anniversary With Threat to "Reunify" Korean Peninsula
(4.25.2005)
World Press Response to Japan/China Spat 
(4.25.2005)
Supermajority Rules: Usually a Bad Choice The problem with supermajority votes (like what's tying up the Senate over judicial nominations) is that they give disproportionate weight to the will -- not the rights, but the will -- of the minority. When a majority vote is required, votes have parity -- every "aye" is equal in weight to every "nay." But when a supermajority is required, every "nay" is worth up to 1.5 "ayes." If 100 votes are to be cast (as in the Senate), the "nays" can impose their will on the majority with anything over 40 votes, against anything under 60 in favor. Thus, at the margin, every "nay" is worth 60/40ths of an "aye," or 1.5 "ayes." That's not "one man, one vote." Unfortunately, the whole judicial nomination thing is going off the deep end into politics; Senator Frist should remember the No Religious Test clause of the Constitution (Article VI). |
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