The Swiss Pirate Party Has Its First Mayor

Things to come... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 04:50 · Score: 2

"This is the first mayoral win for the pirates in Switzerland, and hopefully just the begining of things to come."

Could Slashdot at least *pretend* to be non-bias when reporting this kind of stuff?

Re:Things to come... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 04:53 · Score: 2, Insightful

I fail to see how someone promoting a new player in politics is a bad thing...
Re:Things to come... by Mashiki · 2012-09-23 06:03 · Score: 3, Interesting

It's not. Well it is to people who hate ordered society, or dislike people being involved. A lot of people simply hate politics because they don't understand how it works, personally I blame that on the fact that they don't actually teach people about it. Rather, they simply "tell people" what they think they should know.

--
Om, nomnomnom...
Re:Things to come... by Darkness404 · 2012-09-23 06:34 · Score: 1

The root problem with politics is that government, at its very core, is based on actions, based on aggression that when committed by anyone else other than "the government" would be rightfully condemned by everyone. If someone outside of government would implement taxation people would rightfully view it as theft. If someone outside of government introduced conscription people would rightfully view it as slavery. Those who have understood this naturally view politics as repulsive, just as we view working for the mafia as repulsive.

--
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Re:Things to come... by brit74 · 2012-09-23 06:55 · Score: 1

Just because you're a new player doesn't mean I'm going to give you any credit for anything. It all depends on what you're promoting. Remember: All bad political movements started out as "new players" at one time or another.
Re:Things to come... by 91degrees · 2012-09-23 06:56 · Score: 1

I don't think Slashdot has ever really intended to be non biased.
Re:Things to come... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 07:35 · Score: 0

Could Slashdot at least *pretend* to be non-bias when reporting this kind of stuff.
I'm sure it could but I don't see why that would be an improvement.
Re:Things to come... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 07:40 · Score: 0

Logic fail: In writing what you wrote, you were engaging in political discourse. Are you saying that the act of decrying the repulsive nature of government is, in itself, repulsive? Quite the infinite loop you have got yourself into, no?
Also, quit this childish crap. We can organise ourselves into a society based on the idea that (to oversimplify considerably) we are all happy with majority rule, even though that may mean being adult enough to accept decisions that we disagree with. It would be absolutely impossible to have any sort of functioning society at all if we all accepted your extremist crap.
Just fucking quit it.
Re:Things to come... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 08:33 · Score: 1

No. The claim to journalistic objectivity was never something I bought. More and more people are dispensing with it, and IMHO that's a good thing. If you go back in time, there were newspapers like, "The Press Democrat". No bones about it. If you want honesty in reporting, it's probably not a bad idea to start off being honest about your bias. I don't believe there's any such thing as a non-biased journalist. If you claim objectivity, you start off on the wrong foot--that of deceiving yourself and others. I'd rather get news from "The Press Pirate" than from a source that claims to be "fair and balanced" when we all know it isn't.
Re:Things to come... by ppanon · 2012-09-23 10:35 · Score: 1

If someone outside of government would implement taxation people would rightfully view it as theft.
Churches and tithing?

--
Laissez lire, et laissez danser; ces deux amusements ne feront jamais de mal au monde. - Voltaire
Re:Things to come... by aurispector · 2012-09-23 13:20 · Score: 2

Feel free to start your own country where there is no taxation. And good luck with that.
Here in the real world, we recognize that there are essential services that must be paid for, that people are not always rational and ethical and that we must agree on a system to deal with these sad facts.
The pirate party getting a mayor elected might be interesting, but it's not like they can simply impose their entire agenda.
Additionally, if you admit that intellectual property issues are real owing to the fact that real people must do real work producing them, the entire "pirate" thing falls apart. Sure, it's good to have an opposing viewpoint to the draconian IP laws being pushed by big media, but don't expect IP ownership issues to go away. If they did, nobody could ever make a living creating, well, anything.

--
I have mod points. The reign of terror begins now.
Re:Things to come... by Zeroko · 2012-09-23 14:26 · Score: 2

On the one hand, churches do not force their members to tithe at gunpoint (at least, none in America of which I know). On the other hand, many seem to be doing just fine with their funding being completely from voluntary sources, even when some people make use of their resources without paying tithes. Makes you wonder whether the IRS is needed at all.
Re:Things to come... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 17:02 · Score: 0

It's not just about piracy : it's also about stopping censorship, and mainly about providing saner IP laws ( which would also benefit creators, who have to deal with it too ) .
It's a debate that needs to be happen, and that's what political parties are good at. The more clashes, the more honesty, and as a result, a better system.
Re:Things to come... by Mashiki · 2012-09-23 20:14 · Score: 1

Beh. Government is the objective standard of society working as the whole. When one person can't do it, it's the group doing it for everyone else with the express consent of what they're agreeing to(by election/vote/consent/etc). A person can give up on government if they want, there's nothing stopping any person in a western country from going off the grid and going to live off in a hermitage, or the wilds or anything else. This is the whole basis of the social contract, and there's a far better works written on that then what I could even cram into /. text box.

--
Om, nomnomnom...
Re:Things to come... by tehcyder · 2012-09-24 01:15 · Score: 1

I fail to see how someone promoting a new player in politics is a bad thing...
How about if they were promoting a new neo-Nazi party?

You believe that the Pirate party are a good thing and so are using false logic.

--
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Re:Things to come... by mcgrew · 2012-09-24 01:59 · Score: 1

On the one hand, churches do not force their members to tithe at gunpoint
Indeed they don't, tithing is entirely voluntary. As to the IRS, most people love their God but don't feel too kindly toward the government. It would take a massive ad campaign to get people to voluntarily fund government. And church only asks for ten percent, the feds get way more than that and my state, Illinois, gets at least that much (6% income tax, 7% sales tax plus road taxes on gasoline, beer taxes, cigarettes taxes, etc).

--
Free Martian Whores!
Re:Things to come... by mcgrew · 2012-09-24 02:04 · Score: 1

Additionally, if you admit that intellectual property issues are real owing to the fact that real people must do real work producing them, the entire "pirate" thing falls apart. Sure, it's good to have an opposing viewpoint to the draconian IP laws being pushed by big media, but don't expect IP ownership issues to go away.
"My" intellectual property does NOT belong to me; I merely have a "limited" time monopoly on its use. I no more own The Paxil Diaries than I own the house I'm renting.
Studies show that pirates spend more on media than non-pirates. If your "piracy is killing authors" were true, the public libraries would have killed authorship a long time ago, but on the contrary, I would not have those dozen Asimov titles on my shelf if I hadn't read hundreds of other Asimov books I'd checked out from the library -- and the internet is the 21st century library.
Nobody's going to buy your record if they've never heard your songs. Only an idiot buys a pig in a poke.
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY! Today, that's the internet.

--
Free Martian Whores!
Re:Things to come... by tehcyder · 2012-09-24 02:50 · Score: 1

The root problem with politics is that government, at its very core, is based on actions, based on aggression that when committed by anyone else other than "the government" would be rightfully condemned by everyone. If someone outside of government would implement taxation people would rightfully view it as theft. If someone outside of government introduced conscription people would rightfully view it as slavery. Those who have understood this naturally view politics as repulsive, just as we view working for the mafia as repulsive.
I think this is the point at which someone says "fuck off and live in Somalia then" isn't it?

--
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Re:Things to come... by tehcyder · 2012-09-24 02:54 · Score: 1

On the one hand, churches do not force their members to tithe at gunpoint (at least, none in America of which I know). On the other hand, many seem to be doing just fine with their funding being completely from voluntary sources, even when some people make use of their resources without paying tithes. Makes you wonder whether the IRS is needed at all.
If you only had church tithes instead of government taxes (assuming such a hellish conception could even remotely be workable in a population that was not composed entirely of braindead slaves), then do you really think they would be voluntary? At the very least there would have to be very strong social pressure to contribute, and presumably if you didn't you would be ostracized.

--
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Re:Things to come... by Zeroko · 2012-09-24 03:01 · Score: 1

I was not suggesting paying the church for everything. I was rather suggesting having contributions to the government be voluntary also. Of course, as has been pointed out, people tend to like their church but not their government, but one might also hope it would lead to the government having to be nice/unobtrusive/manifestly helpful enough to convince people to pay them. It says something that governments feel the need to threaten force to get enough funding.
Re:Things to come... by ILongForDarkness · 2012-09-24 04:24 · Score: 1

How about them being yet another one issue party? Other than free schooling and healthcare (at least the Swedish one) their only issue is: free media, no copyright, no patents. How about national defense, financial regulations, taxation, public services etc? Just like the cannabis party or the green party who essentially believe all problems can be solved by a bong or an organic compost heap respectively.;
Re:Things to come... by ILongForDarkness · 2012-09-24 04:25 · Score: 1

Crap I must code too much I terminated my statement with a semi-colon :)
Re:Things to come... by ppanon · 2012-09-25 17:35 · Score: 1

That may be true now, but wasn't always the case when the church and state were more closely allied. See the wikipedia entries for tithing in Judaism, Islam, and 17th century France.

--
Laissez lire, et laissez danser; ces deux amusements ne feront jamais de mal au monde. - Voltaire
Re:Things to come... by icebraining · 2012-09-28 20:44 · Score: 1

You are criticizing GP based on an unsupported assumption that he would find that bad. Personally, I don't: more parties are good, even if they are neo-Nazi, since they force the discussion around "unpleasant" topics like racism. That said, I wouldn't see neo-Nazis getting elected as a good thing, but any stretch of the imagination.

--
Dilbert RSS feed
Re:Things to come... by icebraining · 2012-09-28 20:47 · Score: 1

Pretty sure they also fight for more government transparency and more citizen privacy.
That said, the value of a one issue party is that they influence other parties for capturing their vote.

--
Dilbert RSS feed
Re:Things to come... by ILongForDarkness · 2012-09-29 04:43 · Score: 1

True but it can be unbalanced. Having a party that really pushes IP reform for example to the extreme that the pirate party does ignores the fact that patents and copyrights exist for a reason: it is expensive and likely some of the most important things that a person or a company will do during its existence. Without protections for the exceptional everyone ends up being just another grunt in the cogs of an assembly line, or no better off than them even though they can't do your job but you can do theirs, ie market value of skills can't be respected since there is no security for the investor to get their money back..
Re:Things to come... by icebraining · 2012-09-29 10:30 · Score: 1

It doesn't really ignore that, since the Pirate Parties don't propose the elimination of copyright (source).
That said, and as someone who is employed to write Free Software, I'm skeptical of the existence of a real need for copyright; the system was created a long time ago when the conditions were massively different, and it exists because it already existed, regardless of the existence or not of a valid reason for it nowadays.
I'm sure copyright has many benefits for most copyright holders, but that's not really its supposed purpose, which is to encourage the creation of new works and inventions, and I believe that these would appear any way. We might even get a reduction in quantity but improvement in average quality.
That said, "copyright and patents" as a whole is impossible to speak about, since the differences between markets (e.g. B2B software and Pop music) are so great that what applies to one may be completely wrong for the other.

--
Dilbert RSS feed

Arrr! by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2012-09-23 04:53 · Score: 4, Funny

For some reason, the mayor insists on the town hall employees calling him "cap'n".

--
Ezekiel 23:20

Re:Arrr! by slartibartfastatp · 2012-09-23 06:57 · Score: 2

How pirates ended up in a country with no sea? How did they commute?

--
-- --
Re:Arrr! by Kjella · 2012-09-23 07:55 · Score: 4, Funny

How pirates ended up in a country with no sea? How did they commute?
They airlift them in with a swarm of talking parrots, you can often see the foreman sitting on the captain's shoulder negotiating for more crackers or threatening to blabber about the treasure. The colors are actually for navigation, red parrots on the left, green parrots on the right and white parrots on the tail. One crazy captain called the Flying Dutchman even airlifted his whole ship this way, but he got lost in the Swiss alps somewhere and the parrots froze to death in the winter. Who knows, maybe the descendants of the crew still live up there continuing their pirating ways...

--
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings

FPV FTW :) by tibit · 2012-09-23 04:56 · Score: 3, Interesting

Switzerland: the country where doing this is legal, now gets a pirate party major. When kids go to college, I'm moving there ;)

--
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.

Re:FPV FTW :) by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 05:05 · Score: 0

Is flying an RC aircraft over the mountains illegal somewhere?
Re:FPV FTW :) by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 05:16 · Score: 0

I was a bit confused as well about that, but it looks like it's an RC aircraft with mounted cameras with a range of 10km from the person controlling it. I don't know where, but some strict countries maybe would classify that as spying?
Re:FPV FTW :) by Fast+Thick+Pants · 2012-09-23 05:18 · Score: 1

I wouldn't try it around Cheyenne Mountain...
Re:FPV FTW :) by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2012-09-23 05:58 · Score: 2

That would be "idiotic countries", right? People do this here in Europe all the time. Why not? It's quite a logical extension of the idea of flying an RC model in the first place (i.e., better orientation and experience when flying it).

--
Ezekiel 23:20
Re:FPV FTW :) by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 06:04 · Score: 0

This is not a reply to the parent, just me adding information to the parents post, and telling anyone they may actually have a problem with this activity my 2 cents.
If you look at the channel, they have plenty of videos of them doing this in here in America as well.
As for spying, not my problem. My country does shitloads of spying on its own people and the entire planet, I could careless about some guy flying a small plane anywhere.
If I owned a ranch out in the middle of no where and was sunbathing nude for some odd reason, and then I saw one of these above head, I would probably just put clothes back on. If it stayed around, and was clearly in my space above my property, I would shoot it down.
Because who owns a ranch and doesn't own a gun?
And if I couldn't shoot it down, I would then call the authorities and claim harassment, not spying. And then go back to my daily life without being stressed at all throughout the whole process.
Stuff like this is stuff only pussys complain about. Go back to nodding to your wife and letting her make the decisions.
Re:FPV FTW :) by JaredOfEuropa · 2012-09-23 07:07 · Score: 3, Interesting

It is not allowed in quite a few non-idiotic countries as well. Not because of fears of spies or terrorists, but for safety reasons. Here in the Netherlands, you can mount all the cameras you want to your RC plane, but you have to maintain line-of-sight when flying it. Mostly because in msot places here you can't fly 1km without ending up over residential areas or in controlled airspace.

--
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Re:FPV FTW :) by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 07:25 · Score: 0

Or maybe SHOULD do it and watch lasers shoot it down.
Re:FPV FTW :) by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2012-09-23 08:42 · Score: 1

Well, when you're hurling a few kilograms of mass through the air even at a modest speed, you had better be sure it won't fall on someone's head. That's completely understandable. If I were controlling an RC model, I'd treat it like an airshow. One area would be the one over which the model would fly, another area would be the one with houses and people, and never the twain would meet. Well, the Netherlands. Quite a lot of people there, and quite a lot of them below the sea level to boot. Me, I have a lot of large fields and forests around me.

--
Ezekiel 23:20
Re:FPV FTW :) by tibit · 2012-09-23 12:52 · Score: 1

It's not legal in many places even in Europe. You can't legally fly that way in Czech Republic IIRC.

--
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
Re:FPV FTW :) by GameboyRMH · 2012-09-24 01:57 · Score: 1

RC aircraft are illegal to fly outside of certain designated airspaces in most places. Flying RCs out of visual range, which is basically part of FPV flying, is categorically illegal almost everywhere. That what a lot of the new laws about UAVs are addressing.

--
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Re:FPV FTW :) by GameboyRMH · 2012-09-24 01:59 · Score: 1

If I was rich I'd park in a supercar somewhere near Area 51 and launch an FPV RC at it and fly around the buildings until it gets shot down. If the spooks show up then I'd tell the driver to gun it :D

--
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Re:FPV FTW :) by GameboyRMH · 2012-09-24 02:05 · Score: 1

Before anyone yells about it I should mention that in many countries that "designated airspace" includes all airspace below a low ceiling.

--
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Re:FPV FTW :) by tehcyder · 2012-09-24 03:14 · Score: 1

Switzerland: the country where doing this is legal, now gets a pirate party major. When kids go to college, I'm moving there ;)
Why are you so impressed with a radio controlled plane taking video footage? Wouldn't that be legal in most places in the world, except near military installations? What am I missing?

--
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Re:FPV FTW :) by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-24 03:26 · Score: 0

Yes, you should definitely move to Switzerland where this is also legal:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8385069.stm
Enjoy your kiddos growing up in the most xenophobic society I have encountered thus far :-) (also I hope your family is white, Christian, and has a non-Slavic name)
Re:FPV FTW :) by tibit · 2012-09-24 06:17 · Score: 1

You're missing that it's not legal in most places in the world, unfortunately.

--
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
Re:FPV FTW :) by tibit · 2012-09-24 06:18 · Score: 1

Say what you want, their apparent xenophobia served them well thus far. YMMV.

--
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.

Re:HOSTS file could have prevented this by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 05:02 · Score: 2, Insightful

What I'm about to say I say as a concerned human being:
Seek help.

overheard: Better "Piggy" than "Fatty" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 05:04 · Score: 0

as the town's street signs were quickly claimed by collectors.

Time for a navy by Teun · 2012-09-23 05:11 · Score: 4, Funny

Poor Swiss, now they have pirates but no navy...

--
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."

Re:Time for a navy by TheP4st · 2012-09-23 05:26 · Score: 4, Interesting

They actually do have a navy which patrols 4-5 of their lakes.

--
"I have downloaded hundreds and hundreds of records, why would I care if somebody downloads ours?" Robin Pecknold
Re:Time for a navy by dinfinity · 2012-09-23 05:28 · Score: 1

I don't think the Sea Scouts count..
Re:Time for a navy by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 06:00 · Score: 0

Well well America has the world biggest navy, with no admiral in control at the helm, it's people are dismayed disenchanted disbelieve their dishonest two party politicians
Re:Time for a navy by fm6 · 2012-09-23 06:35 · Score: 1

Just having armed watercraft doesn't make you a Navy. You need a separate military command structure. The Swiss have that for their Air Force and Army, but not for their patrol boats, which are a small unit within the Army.
One can only hope these pirates don't get too uppity!
Re:Time for a navy by ark1 · 2012-09-23 08:43 · Score: 1

Outsourcing is popular these days.
Re:Time for a navy by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 09:41 · Score: 0

And the US has a Secretary of Treasure............

Re:Where? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 05:15 · Score: 0

In Switzerland, this is an average town, not "an inconsequential rural area" or "rednecksville". But I'm sure your fellow countrymen are grateful for your propagation of the stereotype of the wilfully ignorant American.

Re:Where? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 05:20 · Score: 0

We get it, everything is bigger and better in the US, the only country that matters. Snore.

As for how much 1481 votes (probably less discounting children), please get a clue about direct democracy. Yeah, that's right motherfucker. None of that two-party representative bullshit that some baby countries have settled for.

Re:remind me never to buy any music from the swiss by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 05:20 · Score: 2, Interesting

> remind me never to buy any music from the swiss... or respect any other intellectual property from Switzerland.

All of a sudden, all Swiss products became a lot more interesting to me.

Re:HOSTS file could have prevented this by Teun · 2012-09-23 05:22 · Score: 1

ROFL! :)

(Now the sick bastard will follow me again)

--
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."

Re:Where? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 05:28 · Score: 1

"Eichberg has a population (as of 31 December 2011) of 1,481." You know what we call these in America? Hick towns. Flyover territory. Rednecksville"

Errm.. we're talking about Switzerland here. The whole country is - literally - "Flyover territory". The place is tiny. Even Zuerich is only something like 3-400000 populationwise..

The copilot of a Titanic Airlines flight: by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 05:36 · Score: 1

Eichberg! Dead ahead!

iCanfixit by seb100c · 2012-09-23 05:39 · Score: 0

I bet that Eichberg is part of the iOS6 map fail of iOS6. Citizens wanted a pirate to fix it before Apple take care about it?

Re:remind me never to buy any music from the swiss by Fast+Thick+Pants · 2012-09-23 05:43 · Score: 2

Is that you, Steve?

A bit premature. by DerekLyons · 2012-09-23 05:45 · Score: 4, Interesting

"To win a majority vote shows that our members are not just a marginal phenomenon; but are in the midst of society.'"

Without knowing the politics of the town, that's a bit of a premature boast. Dark horse and odd ball candidates routinely win against major candidates in local elections when the major candidates have pissed off the electorate or run a seriously lackluster campaigns. The real test of entering the mainstream is either the candidate or party getting re-elected or gaining additional offices or municipalities.

After all, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

Another key question, what is the demographics of the town? If they skew young and lower income (not poor, but cube monkeys) or have a major geek influence (like say, Silicon Valley), that's another potential indicator that the boast is hollow and premature.

Re:A bit premature. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 06:20 · Score: 0

you are right. It's a tiny village.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eichberg,_Switzerland
he was elected because he was backed up by different parties, having grown up in that village and working for the administration his whole career.
Re:A bit premature. by ryzvonusef · 2012-09-23 07:11 · Score: 1

After all, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
They are Swiss, I am sure their watches are both ever running and ever correct :p

--
I am an ACCA student. Got a query on Accountancy/Finance? Maybe I can help!
Re:A bit premature. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 07:16 · Score: 0

you are right. It's a tiny village.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eichberg,_Switzerland
1,481 inhabitants. That's a pretty major city, by Swiss standards.
Re:A bit premature. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 07:42 · Score: 0

It aint. Not even by swiss standards.
Re:A bit premature. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 08:26 · Score: 1

Back in 2002 the mayoral election for Hartlepool ( population 92000) was won by the local football club's mascot, H'angus the monkey. H'angus, who was previously best known for bein ejected from rival team Scunthorpe United's ground for simulating sex with a female steward, stood on a platform of ' a banana for every child' and narrowly beat the Labour Party candidate into second place.
There were some who believed that electing an man in a monkey suit to a £50000 a year public office position was asking for trouble. These people were unfortunately disappointed in 2005 when H'angus was re- elected with an increased majority. He duely won a third term in 2009 and is still the borougj's mayor.
Re:A bit premature. by Kirth · 2012-09-23 23:32 · Score: 1

Nope. It's a village. I've never heard of it before, and I'm member of the Swiss Pirate Party (different municipality tough). There are indeed towns this size in Switzerland, since "town" being defined as either a) has more than 10'000 inhabitants or b) has an inherited medieval town privilege.
So this is a village: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langnau_im_Emmental -- 9'000 inhabitants
But this is a town: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werdenberg_(Ort) -- about 60 inhabitants

--
"The more prohibitions there are, The poorer the people will be" -- Lao Tse

Re:Where? by JakeBurn · 2012-09-23 05:47 · Score: 1

America doesn't call these hick towns. Ignorant,self-righteous elitists do. Its always nice when people save us the investigative troubles of finding out how deep their stupidity and hate run and just come right out and tell us.

Re:Where? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 06:10 · Score: 0

The flaw in your logic is that the USA has 312M inhabitants, while Switzerland has a mere 8M divided over 2740 communes. The majority of which, have fewer than 1000 inhabitants. Only 30 have a population of over 20k inhabitants. This may not be a huge milestone, but an important one nonetheless.

Or in other words || my big question by RobertLTux · 2012-09-23 06:16 · Score: 1

Also can be said PUT THE BONG DOWN AND WALK AWAY.

So i guess one of the first orders of business is to ensure the Rum Supply for the city.

--
Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge

Oh Great by fm6 · 2012-09-23 06:24 · Score: 1

What's the big significance here? If you get all your friends to vote in a local election that most people ignore, then yeah, you can get elected. Doesn't establish your political clout.

The citizens of Eichberg now have a mayor whose agenda has nothing to do roads, sewers, public safety, or any of the other unsexy issues that municipal officials deal with. He does care about copyright reform — an issue in which a mayor has no say at all.

Now the local Pirate Party people will pat each other on the back for this "win" and go back to ignoring local politics. Hey, real impressive.

Re:Oh Great by cpghost · 2012-09-23 06:56 · Score: 2

Well, I could imagine that he'll support efforts to establish unrestricted municipal WLAN access points. But seriously, how about typical "piratic" topics like pushing for transparency in governance at the municipal level?

--
cpghost at Cordula's Web.
Re:Oh Great by Opportunist · 2012-09-23 07:03 · Score: 2

Well, let's wait and watch? Considering how most other politicians seem to be primarily concerned with lining their own pockets at the expense of the country, a politician that gets actually nothing accomplished would be an improvement...

--
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Re:Oh Great by joaosantos · 2012-09-23 07:09 · Score: 1

You know that are several green party mayors across Europe? Just because the national policy of a Party if focused in a theme it doesn't mean that the party hasn't other ideas in other areas and that party members don't have ideas to implement at local level.
Re:Oh Great by fm6 · 2012-09-23 07:43 · Score: 1

Transparency is good. But that's a standard plank on everybody's platform these days.
Re:Oh Great by Hope+Thelps · 2012-09-23 07:45 · Score: 1

The citizens of Eichberg now have a mayor whose agenda has nothing to do roads, sewers, public safety, or any of the other unsexy issues that municipal officials deal with. He does care about copyright reform — an issue in which a mayor has no say at all.
Genuine question because I don't know anything about his politics - is what you've said here based on first hand knowledge of the mayor's opinions and policies, on local news reports, on something you read on some blog on the internet, or is it something you just made up based on your imagination of how a pirate party mayor should be?

--
To summarise the summary of the summary: people are a problem. ~ h2g2
Re:Oh Great by fm6 · 2012-09-23 07:49 · Score: 1

Let me dig into my memory bank. Oh yeah, the green party is about ecology and sustainability, right? These are things that municipal officials deal with every day. I live in a city that isn't actually run by the Green Party, but might as well be, given all the effort the city puts into mass transit, bike-friendly streets, mandatory composting and recycling, and other green initiatives.
Re:Oh Great by fm6 · 2012-09-23 07:55 · Score: 2

So, if the city stops repairing potholes, that's actually an improvement?
The lame thing about libertarians and other government haters is that they take for granted all the things government actually does that needs doing. The city infrastructure seems to be OK, so what's the big deal about actually maintaining it?
Sure, government is corrupt. Most big institutions are corrupt. Not sure of a good way to fix it, but electing a single-issue bozo who no actual interest in running his city is not high on my list.
Re:Oh Great by fm6 · 2012-09-23 07:58 · Score: 1

He's a member of a party that exists solely because people are pissed off about antiquated copyright laws (as am I). Maybe the dude has more going than his interest in this one issue, but the fact that he's affiliated with a single-issue party doesn't encourage me to think so.
Re:Oh Great by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 08:04 · Score: 0

He got 60% of all votes and 65% of the eligible voters took part.
Re:Oh Great by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 08:38 · Score: 1

He did his apprenticeship at the local government and the former major. Afterwards he went studding and gathered some years of experience as an informatics project manager. I am pretty sure he is capable of doing this job right.
btw: Also two major parties and the finding committee recommended him.
Re:Oh Great by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 11:46 · Score: 0

The citizens of Eichberg now have a mayor whose agenda has nothing to do roads, sewers, public safety, or any of the other unsexy issues that municipal officials deal with. He does care about copyright reform — an issue in which a mayor has no say at all.
Sounds like a win for the people then. Without having skewed ideals for how things should be run he will probably choose a more pragmatic approach for all relevant issues.
The reason people elected him is probably because the previous mayor was too busy circle-jerking his cronies and making choices that made him look like he was following the party line instead of what would be best for the people. Having someone with no agenda in charge is a pretty big step up from what is common in politics.
Re:Oh Great by aNonnyMouseCowered · 2012-09-23 16:18 · Score: 1

"The citizens of Eichberg now have a mayor whose agenda has nothing to do roads, sewers, public safety, or any of the other unsexy issues that municipal officials deal with. He does care about copyright reform â" an issue in which a mayor has no say at all."
This is Switzerland, not some Third World country where a road is more pothole than concrete. So maybe the local voters don't care that much about roads and sewers because they're in a good enough condition?
Remember that a government isn't all elected "politicians". In most well-run democratic countries, the government consists mostly of bureaucrats that can run the state or local unit even if there's a political deadlock where there's no legally elected leader but only a caretaker who may or may not have been elected. So basically you'll have a local "Pirate" politician setting "policies" for local bureacrats to put into practice.
Re:Oh Great by fm6 · 2012-09-23 17:01 · Score: 1

Hey, I don't live in a third world country either. My mayor spends a lot of time talking roads and sewers.
If the public bureaucrats have everything in hand (ha!), why even bother holding an election?
Re:Oh Great by mcgrew · 2012-09-24 06:12 · Score: 1

He's a member of a party that exists solely because people are pissed off about antiquated copyright laws (as am I).
I'm pissed off because they got rid of the antiquated copyright laws that said a work must be in a fixed AND TANGIBLE medium and only lasted 30 years. If we rolled copyright back to what it was in 1900, file sharing would be legal and Led Zeppelin songs would now be in the public domain.
The DMCA and Bono act are less than 20 years old. It's not the antiquated parts that need to go, it's the new parts.

--
Free Martian Whores!
Re:Oh Great by fm6 · 2012-09-24 09:59 · Score: 1

Preaching to choir, dude. I'm totally on the same page with you as to retroactive copyrights. My point here is that touting the outcome of a city election as a major blow for copyright reform is just plain lame.

Wait for it! Wait for it! by Greyfox · 2012-09-23 07:19 · Score: 2

Running a town? That sounds... Harrrrrrd!

Hee hee hee... Oh damn... I kill me...

--

I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

So late? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-23 09:07 · Score: 0

I would expect member of this party to be much more savvy Foursquare users...

Old news. by TarPitt · 2012-09-23 10:25 · Score: 1

"Talk Like a Pirate Day" was last week.

--
If your children ever found out how lame you are, they'd murder you in your sleep

Rhein River and Lake Constance / Bodensee! by billstewart · 2012-09-23 11:15 · Score: 1

Yarrr! Obviously a town named Eichberg is in the mountains, but they've got a creek, and they're about 5km from the Rhein River, where there's all sorts of opportunity for river piracy, Lorelei sirens, and the border with Austria. And about 30km away is Lake Constance (or Bodensee, in German), which is certainly big enough for piracy.

--

Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks

Re:HOSTS file could have prevented this by shutdown+-p+now · 2012-09-23 12:02 · Score: 1

I miss Dr Bob.

sectoral party by manu0601 · 2012-09-23 13:50 · Score: 1

The pirate parties from various countries tend to be sectoral parties: they propose a lot of interesting stuff on some subject, but lack a global platform covering everything. Social or economic subjects may not be clearly included in their platform, for instance. It will be interesting how this pirate major will cope with matters that do not make consensus among pirates

Note that the term sectoral is not negative in my point of view. The goal of a sectoral party is to influence other parties so that their ideas get adopted in global platforms. Good example are greed parties: some of them could not decide for some time if they were left wing or right wing, but that did not prevent their green ideas spread far beyond their own ranks

Re:sectoral party by mcgrew · 2012-09-24 07:37 · Score: 1

The goal of a sectoral party is to influence other parties so that their ideas get adopted in global platforms. Good example are greed parties:
The Republicans are a sectoral party??

--
Free Martian Whores!
Re:sectoral party by manu0601 · 2012-09-24 12:56 · Score: 1

I meant "green", but this is an interesting lapse :-)
Re:sectoral party by mcgrew · 2012-09-25 02:47 · Score: 1

I could tell it was a typo, I just thought it was humorous.

--
Free Martian Whores!

Re:HOSTS file could have prevented this by Endovior · 2012-09-23 14:58 · Score: 1

Not sure if actually crazy, or just pretending to be crazy. Awesome troll either way.

Ads all over the city for 777 Poker, etc...? by Vegan+Cyclist · 2012-09-23 15:50 · Score: 1

If it's becoming anything like TPB website, there'll be ads everywhere.. What's happened to the site? Ever other click now brings up a full-screen ad. =(

Mayoral regalia by gargleblast · 2012-09-23 16:01 · Score: 1

Apparently they are still working on the new Mayoral regalia. Here is a sneak preview

Re:Where? by Spliffster · 2012-09-23 22:25 · Score: 1

I am swiss, and no: ~1400 is a village not a town here.

Re:HOSTS file could have prevented this by Arancaytar · 2012-09-23 23:06 · Score: 1

HOST file is Cubic Opposites, 2 Major Corners & 2 Minor. NOT taught Evil DNS hijacking

Oh hey, it's Gene Ray, the Time Cube guy.

Anybody know the rates for by Compaqt · 2012-09-24 00:23 · Score: 1

webhosting in Eichberg?

--
I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog

Re:remind me never to buy any music from the swiss by tehcyder · 2012-09-24 03:19 · Score: 1

> remind me never to buy any music from the swiss... or respect any other intellectual property from Switzerland.

All of a sudden, all Swiss products became a lot more interesting to me.

Try pirating a Rolex watch and see how amusing they find it.

--
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it

Slashdot Mirror

The Swiss Pirate Party Has Its First Mayor

110 comments