To AV or Not to AV, that is the Question

For some reason - possibly masochism - I've started following the "VoteNo2AV" group on Twitter.

As you can guess by their name, they're opposed to the proposed Alternative Vote (AV) system. For the record, I am too; however, I know that it'd be better than the current First-Past-the-Post system that we use.

They claim to be opposed to AV, because FPTP has "suppl[ied] a simple, strong, stable majority government in over 74 nations worldwide for hundreds of years". Aside from the fact that this is irrelevant because tradition is no reason to support something, they have a go at other groups, e.g. the Electoral Reform Society, who favour AV over FPTP, because it would delay proportional representation, which VoteNoToAV are also opposed to!

Anyway, amongst other things, on their blog they have a post in which they have a go at the Electoral Reform Society over its support for the referendum on AV.

They state that because the ERS's position is to support Single Transferable Vote, not AV, then their support for the next year's planned referendum is "contradictory" and a "U-turn".

I might be missing something, but I fail to see how.

A choice of a preferred voting system - as an example - is not mutually exclusive. You can prefer one over another, i.e. you can prefer A [STV] over B [AV] and prefer B over C [FPTP].  It's ridiculous to say that for someone to support B over C contradicts their support for A over B.

I'm expecting more of this sort of thing over the next 9 months. Tweet

Proposition 8

You've probably heard that California's Proposition (the "ban gay marriage within the state") has been ruled to violate the US Constitution, specifically Amendment 14.

Back in 2008 I wrote an article for the London Progressive Journal, which briefly touched upon this. I mentioned that it was subject to legal challenges on the grounds that it was unconstitutional.

Thankfully, I have been proven correct.

In light of this ruling, there's two songs which I'd like to link two; both of which relate to gay marriage: The Gossip - Standing in the Way of Control (not embeddable)

Hidden Cameras - Ban Marriage

All I have to add is: good! It was an appalling thing to put to a public vote, which was publicised, promoted and voted for by twats. Tweet

... DNA wasn't invented then

There's a post on Pharyngula about fundamentalist religious group teaching RE in schools in parts of Australia.

This includes possibly my all-time favourite response to a question:

A parent of a Year 5 student on the Sunshine Coast said his daughter was ostracised to the library after arguing with her scripture teacher about DNA.

"The scripture teacher told the class that all people were descended from Adam and Eve," he said.

"My daughter rightly pointed out, as I had been teaching her about DNA and science, that 'wouldn't they all be inbred'?

"But the teacher replied that DNA wasn't invented then."

I don't know what I can say. Even one of my usual sarcastic responses wouldn't suffice to such a moronic position. Tweet