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Beating political corruption
Political corruption, abuse of public office, and similar terms are used to distinguish one type of thievery which is associated with a most serious breach of trust from thievery of other types. This type of thievery is a problem which has been faced in many countries over time. Sadly, in some countries politicians engaged in such thievery go unpunished, as the longer the cancer of corruption is allowed to grow, the harder it is to remove.
Even when a politician’s criminal activity becomes too blatant to be swept under the carpet without turning the carpet into something with the topography of the Rocky Mountains, the police, the relevant prosecution services and, when things have gone very far wrong, even the judiciary, may tend to have a hard time finding so much as the corrupt politician’s wrist to give it a slap with a wet noodle. That is the height of injustice, but it tends to be found wherever there is political corruption which is allowed to grow for more than a short period of time.
Corrupt politicians will stop at nothing when looting a country and they tend to be more brazen and to show more contempt for established rules and protocols and even the constitutions of their countries as time goes on. They manipulate legislation and those who are asked to implement it. They work to eliminate the checks and balances which are designed to protect society from tyranny. They eliminate independent honest individuals from oversight positions on public authorities and replace them with those who may at best be compliant, if not complacent, incompetent and equally corrupt. They and their cronies lie about the role of independent boards of public authorities and try to convince the gullible that independent boards serve no purpose other than to do the will of the corrupt politician.
Corrupt politicians often try to ensure that either there are no laws at all, or exceedingly weak laws at most, relating to political corruption. If they are pushed into passing laws against political corruption or find them in place when they are elected, they tend to ensure that any agencies which might be called upon to detect and prosecute corruption are starved of resources or staffed by incompetents, the corrupt or simply party hacks. Corrupt politicians may try to ensure that those appointed to official positions relating to the detection and prosecution of political corruption owe them in some way, or are at risk of being brought down if the corrupt politician is prosecuted.
Corrupt politicians may use the public treasury to create slush funds to which little or no accountability is attached. They tend to try to buy, and to encourage into corruption, those with any kind of moral authority over their potential voters, including church organisations, pastors and other church leaders. They also try to change or stupefy their society by suggesting that patronage and low level corruption, including vote buying, have always been part of society and therefore their own thievery and slush fund bribes are no more than following tradition. They act as magnets for others that are corrupt and looking to get rich quick by any means, and they will sell out the environment of their country for a few pieces of silver or whatever the environment is worth to those willing to devastate it for profit.
Corrupt politicians also do what they can to insulate themselves politically. They may try to remove and sideline honest civil servants who they know will not co-operate with their corruption and may hand-pick the civil servants that are to work close enough to them to see what they are doing. They may also hand-pick enough of their political associates to make sure that their corrupt backsides are covered by other politicians who have the same regard for honesty, morality and the law that they have. They may resort to vote buying on a massive scale in order to ensure that their re-election is not threatened by their thievery. They are likely to try to intimidate the media into silence, whether by the threat of media stifling laws or by threatening to cancel government paid ads for civil service jobs and government contracts, if the media report on anything that mightbring any truth to light that might call the corrupt politician’s activities into question.
Corrupt politicians hate freedom of information and accountability. They are likely to do whatever is necessary to obscure the accounts of their countries, to defer into oblivion any accountability relating to the finances of their country, and to hinder and harass people, including honest politicians, seeking to understand what is going on in government.
Corrupt politicians work hard to distract voters, no matter the consequences of the distraction. They turn what is supposed to be a life of public service into life as an organised crime boss. They are likely to refuse to do anything practical against, and may covertly or overtly encourage other types of crime, as things like bank robberies and street robberies are likely to distract people’s attention from the thievery of their politicians. Similarly, they may encourage incompetent policing and prosecution services and may sponsor soft prisons, “just in case”.
So what ought to happen in a society that sees itself slipping in the direction of control by one or more kleptocrats? There are a number of things that concerned people can do.
Ordinary people can support the media and private individuals who publicise and demonstrate against corruption. Publicity, both local and international, hinders corruption. Publicity encourages those responsible for good governance to ensure that that job is done. Corrupt politicians and those corrupt individuals and corporations that they do business with also hate publicity. Pompous corrupt politicians in particular hate it when other people they meet on their “no real purpose” luxury world travel already know that they are crooks and are not to be trusted or taken seriously. After all, it is hard to play the “Big Man” when everybody knows you are just a common criminal.
Ordinary individuals can also assist the media in disclosing corruption by bringing to the anti-corruption media's attention any evidence of corruption that they find. That is not to say that the policing authorities should not also receive such information, particularly if they have a track record of not burying such information.
Ordinary individuals can help counter the lies of the corrupt and their cronies and can educate the truly ignorant within their society that may actually believe that politicians deserve to be above the law. They can take to thestreets demanding action against corruption from police and prosecution services, and they can support those police officers and prosecutors who bravely go after corrupt politicians. They can demand that senior law enforcement officials who do not go after corruption are dismissed. They can demand “whistle-blower” laws to encourage civil servants and others who may see corruption to report it.
Ordinary citizens can demand that every single cent, and every square inch of land, every yacht and every luxury beachfront condo or two which has been in any way touched or paid for to any degree, or in any other way tarnished by any form of political corruption, is frozen by the courts so that upon successful prosecution it can be seized in order to pay off some of the debts that corrupt politicians usually leave when they loot a country’s treasury for their own benefit.
Ordinary people can also demand that laws are changed so that any politician convicted of corruption not only spends at least 20 years in prison, but is also stripped of all publicly paid pensions and other benefits and forced to repay any money earned as a politician while the politician enjoyed so much as anything paid for by even one cent of corrupt profits or earnings. They can demand that any person who does corrupt business with a corrupt politician is also jailed and their assets seized. Foreign persons doing business with corrupt politicians should be identified in the media and to their home governments andtheir names should be placed on public criminal and anti-money laundering watch lists. Ordinary persons can also demand that civil servants, including police officers and prosecutors, who are complicit in or ignore corruption, also go to prison for a long time.
Corruption thrives when citizens are embarrassed by their corrupt politicians and try to sweep the politician’s corruption under the carpet. Sweeping things under the carpet does not protect either the economy or the people of a country burdened by corrupt politicians. It only protects the corrupt politicians and their cronies and allows them to go on looting the country. If anything, whenever corruption is even a remote possibility, the carpet should be taken out to a very public place and beaten with a baseball bat to ensure that every microbe of corruption is exposed to the sunlight which corruption fears. The only solution to political corruption is to cut every atom of it out and destroy it.
To those who fear that the investigation of political corruption will scare away investors, have no fear. Leaving corrupt politicians alone only encourages them to seek out corrupt and corruptible investors, including those who have shown themselves willing to pay bribes to get government contracts in other countries. Corrupt deals discourage and drive away honest investors who are willing to compete honestly. Honest investors in every country want to know that the rule of law and not the rule of corruption prevails in any location they are thinking of investing. What better way of showing that Cayman is a safe place for honest people to invest than by publicly demonstrating the forceful application of a figurative baseball bat to anything and anyone that might participate in or shelter any political corruption?
Firms urged to hire UK jobless not foreign workers
(BBC): UK businesses should recruit more unemployed young Britons rather than relying on labour from abroad, the work and pensions secretary is to say. In a speech in Spain, Iain Duncan Smith will say that if government policy has prepared young people for work, "we need businesses to give them a chance". Otherwise, he will say, they will be lost to dependency and hopelessness. Official figures suggest almost 90% of the 400,000 jobs created in the UK in the past year went to foreign workers.In 2007, then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged to create "British jobs for British workers". But he was widely criticised when it emerged that about 80% of the jobs created in the UK under Labour went to foreign migrants.
“Island Watch”
On behalf of a friend of mine I am trying to drum up some interest in an imaginative new crime-fighting idea. He believes the concept of “Neighbourhood Watch” could be extended to an Island-wide community-alert initiative that he calls “Island Watch”.
The plan is to take advantage of the fact that almost everybody in Cayman has a mobile phone of some sort, which they carry with them at all times (especially while dealing with supermarket cashiers and bank tellers, unfortunately, but never mind…) Those phones could be the means of mobilising the carriers to help deter or catch criminals – robbers and muggers in particular.
Victims or eye-witnesses of robberies and muggings can’t do much besides call 9-1-1. The people at the other end authenticate each call as best they can, and then pass the caller on to the police. End of story, pretty much. The police react as best they can, using their own resources. An “Island Watch” program would, on receipt of a similar report, immediately send a text message to every cellphone in Cayman with a description of the suspects and their getaway vehicle and the direction they took off in.
With luck, and ideally, the suspects and their car would be tracked wherever they went. Follow-up reports would keep the communications base informed, and the base would pass the news on to all the cellphones. Allowing for authentication delays, feedback would be very, very quick.
Nobody would be urged to be a hero and chase after the bad guys shouting “Not today, bo-bo!” They would let their cellphones do the chasing. The Watchers would do what the police don’t have the manpower to do. You get the picture, I hope.
There are three major problems that I can see standing between the vision and the achievement. Those are authentication, anonymity and defamation. I invite readers now to suggest how each might be dealt with.
Authentication: How could Island Watch’s communications base (HQ) quickly ensure that all reports it receives and sends (by text, not by voice) were reliable?
Defamation: How could Island Watch best protect innocent parties from defamation either deliberate or accidental? And, protect itself from lawsuits, of course!
Anonymity: All Watchers might be interested in receiving crime-alerts, but if only a couple of brave souls ever texted in reports to HQ the whole Island Watch program would be futile. Cellphones are famously easy to trace – at least according to all the TV shows. Portable computers might be more difficult, though not impossible; and anyway not everybody carries them.
The general public regularly expresses its dissatisfaction of existing crime-prevention procedures and programs; an “Island Watch” might succeed in filling a gap. I hope everyone reading this will help turn the idea into reality.
Next step independence
"Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.” Even our recent recallable past counts as history. Here’s a quick refresher. Back in McKeeva’s first term (before the word Premier was introduced) CIG was suffering a severe financial crisis, so much so that the police force was trimmed back considerably and it was announced by Mr Bush that he did not know where the money was going to come from to meet the next Civil Service payroll.
CIG was on the verge of shutting down for lack of money. People were scared and concerned. This financial catastrophe was the talk of the day. Then suddenly, out of the blue, huge roads projects began happening. Roundabouts were springing up everywhere almost overnight. It was even joked that Cayman would soon look like lots of bulls-eyes on a dart board (no pun intended) from outerspace due to all of the roundabouts. No one explained where the sudden windfall of money came from. CS got their paychecks and everything seemed normal except for the obvious and extravagant spending on public infrastructure projects by CIG.
The source of the funds and the amount supplied to CIG is know by a few insiders but has never been publicly disclosed. Neither has the terms (if any) of repayment or compensation for the money. We will probably never know.
Now CIG has “partnered” with Dart, a private company in order to save the day and our future. Most people are happy and feel fortunate to have such a generous person living here and supporting our economy. A deeper look at the deal raises questions. This partnering has been in the works for some time. Many issues were placed before us as distractions while all of this was going on. The Premier announced often that he was traveling the globe to bring investment here, all the while knowing that he had closed this partnering deal with Dart and did not have the honesty to announce it beforehand. Yes, politics as usual.
This partnering plan calls for a billion dollars to be invested over 20 years. Since our GDP is about $1 billion per year, this amounts to about a 5% contribution to our economy per year or 50 million dollars per year. On top of this CIG is granting Dart a duty waiver of 45 million dollars. With the current rate of duty at 22%, this waiver represents 205 million dollars worth of imported goods. Dart has businesses that are in direct competition with local businesses. Do we know that he won’t use this duty exemption as an advantage to be able to sell his goods for less and destroy the competition? This playing field is tilted in Darts’ favour and is in contradiction of free market economics. As our partner, what is to keep Dart from dredging the North Sound to suit his needs? After all, he bought the right to do what is best for all of us. The deal so far has not been transparent, so why would we trust or expect transparency going forward?
It was declared by Deloitte in their Economic Impact Study performed for Joe Imparato on the EE Seaport that for every 1 million dollars invested here a single job is created. Using this as a yard stick, Darts’ 50 million per year contribution will create 50 jobs per year. Not all of these jobs will be filled by Caymanians. It will fall far short of putting a dent in our 6.7% unemployment rate.
As a partner in our lives, I would think it should be required by law that Mr Dart be forced to disclose his personal and corporate finances publicly for the last 15 years. Our own CIG is attempting to throw its past accounts out the window. Why do accounting at all if you are not going to be accountable? CIG should be forced to reveal the past accounts, no matter how badly they were kept and no matter what the results show. Let the public see the numbers. We have the right since its our money after all. The only reasonable explanation for not disclosing them is the political and possible legal backlash that would take place. Showing the accounts could shed a bad light on those in charge but not showing them sheds the worst light possible because it leaves us in the dark. Perhaps the powers that be are afraid of looking like they are not capable of performing their duties or worse. Either way, the confidence in this government is gone and cannot be regained.
The big question now is whether the UK will want us as a territory with our new found partner in Mr Dart. I don’t believe this is standard practice among British territories. Without full public financial disclosure, the UK is taking on a partner they know little about. They could be opening themselves up for unforeseen liabilities, as can we. This may just be a “backdoor” way of ushering in independence from UK by having them get rid of us rather than us leaving them. It sure seems that the Premier’s actions are leading up to this.
A really good politician is able the stick a knife in your back while making you think he just gave you a gift.
Cayman youth rugby enjoys success in the Bahamas
(CNS): The Cayman Under 12 (U12) and Under 10 (U10) rugby squads returned from the Bahamas on Monday, after a very successful weekend tour in Freeport, Bahamas. The format involved a round robin tournament on Saturday and an international game for each level on Sunday. At the U10 level, the Saturday tournament involved one Cayman select side, a Bahamas side and a Freeport Barbarians side (mixed Cayman and Bahamas team) playing 7-a-side. After a number of fast paced and exciting matches the Cayman select side came out on top with the Freeport Barbarians taking second.
The U12 10-a-side tournament involved 4 teams. Cayman was represented by the Cayman Iguanas and Cayman Sharks, alongside the Bahamas' Freeport Warriors and Freeport Cheetahs. Once again, Cayman took the top spot, this time with both Cayman sides sharing the spoils, having drawn 15-15 after a hard fought and nail biting match- each team having beaten both Bahamas sides. The Bahamas, to their credit, seemed to improve with every game and, with no game having greater than a 10 point margin, it was a very good, even competition.
Under 10 International
Sunday saw the Under 10 age group step up to 9-a-side for the international fixture between Cayman and the Bahamas, with the Cayman side captained by the experienced Finn Galway. Under the experienced eye of Cayman’s own NACRA referee, Alasdair Robertson, the Cayman youngsters flew at their opposite numbers from the first whistle and were rewarded with an early try from Hunter Wilkom, following powerful running by Captain Galway and fellow forward, Alfie Parker.
The Cayman side showed their experience and technical ability by controlling possession before moving the ball quickly through their halfbacks to the talented runners in the back line. Midway through the first half, Cayman produced a move of real quality when Joe Ribbins forced a turnover and, following excellent rucked ball, quick hands and vision from Doug Rowland and Tommy Kehoe, an opening was created for Trey Milgate, Mason ‘The Bull’ Duval and Justin ‘Jinky’ Derrick to run into. Derrick then cut back inside and unselfishly released Milgate to score, unopposed.
With the game plan being executed to perfection, coach Rowland was able to use the depth of his squad, bringing on Wilson for Rowland at scrum half and mixing-up the back line further, with Milgate moving to fly-half for Kehoe. Rolling substitutions and the sensible refereeing of Robertson allowed the game to flow, and although Cayman continued to dominate possession and field position, the Bahamas youngsters began to put more pressure on the Cayman runners and produced some exceptional tackling, clearly determined to stem the tide in the second half of the game. However, coach Kehoe was in no mood to let the opposition get back into the game and he continued to bark instructions from the side line as Cayman went on to score 10 tries and win the game comfortably, 50-0. Try scorers also included Jake ‘Wheels’ Bailey (2), Duval (1), Derrick (3), in addition to further tries for Wilkom (2) and Milgate (2). Honourable mentions go to John-Ross Clough who played on through the pain of an injured hand, and to Finn Lovegrove for his hard work and powerful running up front.
The performance by the Under 10 group of players throughout the weekend was exceptional, as was their behavior and the way they represented Cayman rugby and the Cayman Islands in general. It is also a testament to the youth development program in Cayman with 8 of the 13 player squad having been in involved in the program for over 5 years and all of the squad having played together for the past two years.
Under 12 International
With the closeness of the Saturday games at the U12 level and in particular with the knowledge that Bahamas possessed a number of very quick players, the U12 side faced a much sterner test for the Sunday international. They were however able to rely on a very strong bench, and the ability to rotate players in and out provedcrucial with Cayman ending up victorious 20-5, with most of the points occurring in the second half.
Cayman kicked off and were able to put Bahamas under pressure from the start, but Bahamas were able to withstand the hard tackling from the Cayman side and moved the ball well when they had the opportunity. After 10 minutes, the Cayman team made their first breakthrough. The pack were able to apply some serious pressure on the Bahamas 5 meter line and, having gone close on several occasions, were then able to release the ball out wide to the right where outside centre and captain Lleyton James was able to find the space and go in for Cayman's first try. The half ended with Cayman 5-0 up.
The second half began with Cayman's rucking much improved and this led to more ball being sent out wide through fly-halves Jared Duval and Drew Milgate. Cayman's next try, however, came from a series of pick and drives by the pack (following a penalty by Bahamas for being offside at the ruck) with Number 8 Devin Mourao charging forward, James Priaulx and Matteo Polloni clearing out and then tight-head prop Duncan Petrie, with assistance from other members of the pack, driving over the line to make it 10-0.
The next try was the best of the day with the pack stealing possession in a ruck and then quickly recycling the ball out to Lleyton James who was able to take the outside and beat several defenders before scoring, to give Cayman a good cushion with a quarter of the match remaining. Disaster struck at the subsequent kick-off, however, with confusion in the Cayman back line resulting in a kick and chase being scored by the Bahamas to make it 15-5.
The Cayman side were not about to let this one slip away and, following a fantastic take by Lee Lewis from the kick-off and his drive into Bahamas territory, continued to apply pressure on the Bahamas, resulting in a number of penalties in favor of Cayman. From this pressure, the final score emerged. With the back line all lined up on the left and Bahamas drifting to cover that threat, Danny Link cleverly fed Iain Robertson, who running back at an angle was able to score almost unimpeded. Final score 20-5.
It really was a team performance with the whole squad participating in the game. This proved key over the course of a 40 min match in the midday sun. The Bahamas, however, had plenty to be proud of and, considering their youth programme is somewhat younger than that of Cayman, showed plenty of promise. It is hoped that the competition can be an annual event now that the first Conch Cup has been established and Cayman has secured its place in history as its inaugural winner.
Gratitude goes to the Freeport Club, in particular Rob Speller and Pete Beirne, for organizing and hosting the event and to Cayman Coaches/Chaperones, Roger Priaulx, Chris Rowland. Alasdair Robertson, Mick Kehoe, Brett Hill, Tim Derrick, Steve James, Greg Link, Alan Milgate, Garry Southway, Stephen Duval, Shawn Mourao, Dave Bailey, Neil Galway, Bill Edwards and Neil Purton.
U10 Squad: Finn Galway (Captain), Trey Milgate (Vice-Captain), Hunter Wilkom, Alfie Parker, Joe Ribbins, Doug Rowland, Tommy Kehoe, Mason Duval, Justin Derrick, Jake Bailey, Ewan Wilson, John-Ross Clough, Finn Lovegrove.
U12 Squad: Lleyton James (Captain), Devin Mourao (Pack Leader), Duncan Petrie, Seth Wacker, James Priaulx, Iain Robertson, Matteo Polloni, Keegan O’Connor, Matthew Elphinstone, Joe Purton, Aiden Clements, Danny Link, Drew Milgate, Jared Duval, Josh Boland, Becky Southway, Graeme Hill, Leo Bode, Lee Lewis, Hugo Tyson, Will Edwards.
‘Killa’ and Palfrey to be awarded by premier
(CNS): Premier McKeeva Bush announced in the Legislative Assembly yesterday that he planned to give an award to local boxer Charles “Killa” Whittaker following his win in a match against American boxer Keenan Collins. The 37-year-old reigned victorious over Collins in a 12-round match Saturday night the Arts and Recreation Centre at Camana Bay, winning the United States Boxing Association (USBA) middleweight title belt. In Whittaker's 51st professional fight, he aimed hefty punches at Collins, some of which nearly closed the 34-year-old's right eye, and won after registering a unanimous decision victory. "This guy [Collins] was focused, ready and committed," Whittaker told Cayman27 after the match. (Photo courtesy Cayman27)
"For those who say I'm too old, you saw me tonight, I was better," he added.
Whittaker remained unbeaten in a total of thirteen fights dating back to 2004, but was only in a mere two fights in 2009 and one in 2010.
Amongst the crowd were Premier McKeeva Bush, MLA Cline Glidden Jr, Minister of Sports Mark Scotland and other dignitaries, along with Sports Director Collin Anglin and the boxer's mother Buleah McField.
Bush also announced that an award was also being given to Penny Palfrey for her "superhuman" effort of swimming between Little Cayman and Grand Cayman and commended both the international swimmer and her supporting team.
Bush wished Whittaker continued success in his boxing career and hoped that he could inspire Cayman's young men to find disciplined ways and means to handle themselves. He noted that both boxing and swimming are solo sports that require a lot of courage and stamina in combination with both training and experience to not just keep going but to also overcome.
The Premier said that consideration was being given to the conferral of "suitable" awards for the respective athletes and that the LA would be further advised on the awards given to the respective athletes "in due course".
See the Cayman27 video report.
Joshua Dilbert is a Year 11 student at the Layman E. Scott Sr. High School who is working with CNS as part of the school's Worklink programme.
The Truth about GDP and CUC
Premier Bush said in his budget address that he plans to cut fuel taxes for fuel used by CUC in order to allow a reduction in residential electric bills. This is a move in the right direction but too little to do the big job that government is seeking with respect to increasing revenues through increased public spending. A simple Google search on "electricity costs and GDP" is a real eye-opener.
Study after study reveals clearly that electricity costs are inversely proportional to GDP. As the price of electricity is decreased to the consumer, GDP goes up in all cases. Therefore, with such a large amount of data available to substantiate this, why doesn't the premier extent the reduced electricity rates to business an commercial users as well?
Cayman has 11 public holidays in 2011 along with 52 Sundays. This means that the local supermarkets will be close for about 18% of the year and they have to keep the freezers and air conditioners on even though they are closed and cannot sell the food to earn revenue to pay the electricity used. Therefore, they have to charge more for food to make up for the expense of keeping cold when they are closed, which as I said is about 18% of the possible shopping days in the year.
Cayman observes Sunday closings and we are willing to pay the extra high prices for this observance. So would it not make sense to likewise extend electrical rate cuts to the supermarkets in order to further increase our spending power? The entire content of the budget speech was in reference to GDP and our expected shortfall of 147 million dollars this year. Why not wake up and get with the program and start reducing the cost of living here across the board so that we can begin growing again?
Another consideration to support removing taxes and duties on CUC fuel is that this plant is 100% dependent on oil. Unlike other major economic jurisdictions which have many other forms of energy such as nuclear, wind, solar and ocean, we have failed to prepare for the future in our energy needs and will be held hostage to the price of oil when supplies begin decreasing and prices escalate. Oil experts agree that the current large oil wells in the Middle East have past the halfway mark in oil remaining in the ground. Eventually, the world will suffer oil shortages which will drive the price of oil to levels that even we cannot afford. And then our GDP will be down the drain.
NOW is the time to kick start growth by removing all fees on CUC and getting the cheapest electricity possible. Another side to electricity cost in Cayman is how efficiently the finances of CUC itself are being managed. I'm all for supporting local charities but I don't think we should rely on our electric company to spend a portion of our electric bills on banners, TV advertising and the like. It is a utility and a monopoly as well. No advertising needed. By trimming their excesses and lowering cost to the consumer, the economy will thrive which will allow for the normal support of charities by the public.
Insanity is when you repeat the same mistake over and over and expect a different outcome. So far, the policy of ever higher duties, fees and taxes is making things worse. It is time to remove the noose and let the economy breathe.
High-fat diet during pregnancy programs child for future diabetes, study suggests
(ScienceDaily): A high-fat diet during pregnancy may program a woman's baby for future diabetes, even if she herself is not obese or diabetic, says a new University of Illinois study published in the Journal of Physiology. "We found that exposure to a high-fat diet before birth modifies gene expression in the livers of offspring so they are more likely to overproduce glucose, which can cause early insulin resistance and diabetes," said Yuan-Xiang Pan, a professor of nutrition. The high-fat diet that caused these changes was a typical Western diet that contained 45% fat, which is not at all unusual, he said.
Many US state legislators lack college degrees
(New York Times): About one in four of the nearly 7,400 elected representatives across the country do not possess a four-year college degree, according to a report released Sunday evening by The Chronicle of Higher Education in Washington. That compares with 6 percent of members of Congress, and 72 percent of adults nationwide, said the report, which is based primarily on the officials’ self-reported biographical information. Arkansas has the least formally educated Statehouse, with 25 percent of its 135 legislators not having any college experience at all, compared with 8.7 percent of lawmakers nationwide.
It was followed by state legislatures in Montana (20 percent), Kansas (16 percent), South Dakota (16 percent) and Arizona (16 percent).
“I don’t think it’s imperative that you have a college degree to be effective,” said Mike Fletcher, a retired state trooper elected to the Arkansas Senate last year. “I think the most important thing is to have common sense.”
Iceland uses social media to write its constitution
(The Guardian): It is not the way the scribes of yore would have done it but Iceland is tearing up the rulebook by drawing up its new constitution through crowdsourcing. As the country recovers from the financial crisis that saw the collapse of its banks and government, it is using social media to get its citizens to share their ideas as to what the new document should contain. "I believe this is the first time a constitution is being drafted basically on the internet," said Thorvaldur Gylfason, member of Iceland's constitutional council. "The public sees the constitution come into being before their eyes … This is very different from old times where constitution makers sometimes found it better to find themselves a remote spot out of sight, out of touch."
Iceland's existing constitution dates back to when it gained independence from Denmark in 1944. It simply took the Danish constitution and made a few minor adjustments, such as substituting the word "president" for "king".
In creating the new document, the council has been posting draft clauses on its website every week since the project launched in April. The public can comment underneath or join a discussion on the council's Facebook page.