BS: Icelanders Overthrow Government

Subject: BS: Icelanders Overthrow Government
From: wysiwyg
Date: 17 Dec 13 - 04:01 PM

Icelanders Overthrow Government and Rewrite Constitution After Banking Fraud-No

...Icelanders forced their entire government to resign after a banking fraud scandal, overthrowing the ruling party and creating a citizen's group tasked with writing a new constitution that offered a solution to prevent corporate greed from destroying the country. The constitution of Iceland was scrapped and is being rewritten by private citizens; using a crowd-sourcing technique via social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter. These events have been going on since 2008, yet there's been no word from the U.S. mainstream media about any of them. In fact, all of the events that unfolded were recorded by international journalists, overseas news bureaus, citizen journalists and bloggers. This has created current accusations of an intentional cover up of the story by mainstream U.S. news sources....

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Icelanders Overthrow Government
From: Don Firth
Date: 17 Dec 13 - 04:38 PM

Thank you for posting that, Susan!

I'm going to dig into this matter as much as I can. I think there may be a move afoot, but in the U. S, it's not the Tea Party, by any means!

Most interesting that the U.S. news media isn't touching this. Maybe if enough people get on their case--a good dope slap might be in order.

And a good dope slap for the U.S. government as well!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Icelanders Overthrow Government
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 17 Dec 13 - 05:05 PM

A key thing about Iceland is the fact that there are only about 300,00 Icelanders.

That's the right size for a country.

I like the crowd picture at the top of that. Decidedly not Tea Party...

Subject: RE: BS: Icelanders Overthrow Government
From: Lighter
Date: 17 Dec 13 - 05:25 PM

From CNN, 2008:

http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/01/magazines/fortune/iceland_gumbel.fortune/

Just a sample. The story was heavily covered in the US in 2008-2009 by CNN and NPR.

Not so much since then.

BTW, the entire population of Iceland is about 320,000, which is about one-fourth that of the Bronx, N.Y. Ethnically nearly everybody is Icelandic by descent, and nearly everyone has countless cousins.

The result of these and other factors is that Icelandic politics resembles that of, say, South Bend, Ind., in terms of what citizens are ready to do pr can do, far more than it does that of the United States as a whole.

Subject: RE: BS: Icelanders Overthrow Government
From: Songwronger
Date: 17 Dec 13 - 10:01 PM

Great. A constitution written by tweeters. Hope you enjoyed your freedom, Iceland.

Subject: RE: BS: Icelanders Overthrow Government
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Dec 13 - 06:51 AM

about as a likely as a camel designed by committee.

Subject: RE: BS: Icelanders Overthrow Government
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 18 Dec 13 - 08:08 AM

The result of these and other factors is that Icelandic politics resembles that of, say, South Bend, Ind., in terms of what citizens are ready to do pr can do, far more than it does that of the United States as a whole.

The diversity is the problem, not so much the size of a country. Everybody should be encouraged to discuss about political systems, in the Internet and elsewhere. Changes by public pressure can happen on a large scale (not necessarily to the better, but possibly)! The countries of the "Arab Spring" are even more striking examples, because of the high inertia of the previous elite there, even higher than in the USA.

Subject: RE: BS: Icelanders Overthrow Government
From: Lighter
Date: 18 Dec 13 - 09:14 AM

Not only does Iceland have little ethnic diversity (and thus little ethnic friction), Icelanders form a pretty close-knit society with a strong sense of national identity. Partly because they're surrounded by the cold sea and live in a bleak, explosive landscape, they've learned to balance their legendary individualism with a real understanding of constructive teamwork. Many factors make democratic governance in Reykjavik a lot less complicated than it is in Washington - or in almost any other modern Western nation.

Contrast, for example, the Icelandic attempt to revise their Constitution with the mobilized, industry-backed outrage in the US at even the *suggestion* that just the *Second Amendment* needs serious revision.

BTW, Icelandic health care is free while taxes are barely higher than in the U.S. Or so I was told. How do they do it? Since Iceland is in NATO, and faces no border threats, its minute military spending goes mostly to maintain a Coast Guard of three ships and five aircraft.

Subject: RE: BS: Icelanders Overthrow Government
From: skarpi
Date: 18 Dec 13 - 11:00 AM

How well do you know ,
yes we the people are re-writing our Constitution , but some how its on hold until 2014 , today with the Icelander s who live abroad we are about 340 thousand , our health care has been free for many many years
but that is about to change , the crisis are doing this .
the debts that Iceland has to pay in next 5 years to come are so high
that it will shake our nation . As you said we live on an Island
in the cold Atlantic , and we have to adjust to the mother nature
as Volcano and Earthquakes and bad weather s systems that come s over us
much more stronger than it have been for many years , but we build strong houses so at the most the roofs of the oldest houses may go
off , but mostly we are okei after those storms , and the world may
not always knows about this , we had some strong earthquakes without
major hazards and no one has ever died ( yet ) , they say the next big
earthquake to come can go up to 7.3 on Richter ? and that is a big one .
At the moment alot of people are loosing their houses and many still have no jobs and its hard live here at the moment . Every one is waiting for some thing that no one know what is ? strange .

I find it intresting to see what people from abroad are thinking and saying about this little Island , that was hit by cruel money people
at Wall street and other s and put on a terrorist list by Gordon Brown
and UK Government and that is not FORGOTTEN , and never will be by our people .

so all the best from a Bankrupt country ( my opinion )
Skarpi Iceland .

Subject: RE: BS: Icelanders Overthrow Government
From: Lighter
Date: 18 Dec 13 - 11:58 AM

Not a pretty picture, Skarpi, but if you can deal with the presence of Katla and Hecla, I think you can deal successfully with crooks and economic crises.

*They* come and go.

Best wishes from the USA.

Subject: RE: BS: Icelanders Overthrow Government
From: GUEST,gutcher
Date: 18 Dec 13 - 12:00 PM

We do not see much mention in the UK about the jailing of the four bankers in Iceland last week---could this have anything to do with the fact that all the major political parties here are in hock to the banks and they therefore wish to keep the knowlege that bankers can be brought to book hidden from the plebs
This along with the old boy network means that those who caused the problem are laughing all the way to the bank or wherever they hide their obscene wages and bonuses.

Subject: RE: BS: Icelanders Overthrow Government
From: skarpi
Date: 18 Dec 13 - 01:12 PM

Katla and Hekla are both on red alert I mean its over their time
, and crisis come and go , but the people who start them are still
at work and that is some thing that worry me alot .

Last week 4 bankers where judged in lower court , but it will go
to the higher court and we hope they will be jailed fro some time
10 years or so ..

all the best Skarpi Iceland .

Subject: RE: BS: Icelanders Overthrow Government
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 Dec 13 - 02:24 PM

SO glad to hear YOUR view of this Skarpi-- that's exactly why I posted this, and so that you would know your Mudcat friends are thinking of you in this time of change.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Icelanders Overthrow Government
From: skarpi
Date: 18 Dec 13 - 04:04 PM

:) thanks Susan , they say next year is going to be better so I hope to be in the US in the Autumn ..lets hope :)

all the best Skarpi

Subject: RE: BS: Icelanders Overthrow Government
From: akenaton
Date: 19 Dec 13 - 12:00 PM

The politicians actively encouraged bad behaviour from the bankers, they are just as complicit.
Successive governments de-regulated the financial sector, because it looked like growth, it looked as if the economy was booming, while people who knew better...even on this forum said that it was all a mirage.

The fault of course lies with the rotten economic system, which makes it easy to fool the public......most of whom like being fooled anyway, as can be seen on these pages.

Subject: RE: BS: Icelanders Overthrow Government
From: The Sandman
Date: 19 Dec 13 - 12:30 PM

they should bring back the stocks for the bankers.

Subject: RE: BS: Icelanders Overthrow Government
From: Thompson
Date: 20 Dec 13 - 01:19 AM

Indeed, Good Soldier Schweik; stocks and bonds too.

Apparently, one Icelander in every ten has published a book. So they should be well able to think their way through a crisis. It's tragic and wrong that people are losing their houses, and that Iceland is abandoning free health care (which works out cheaper in the end because it's largely preventative). I hope this is a temporary dip, not a slide.

Subject: RE: BS: Icelanders Overthrow Government
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 23 Dec 13 - 07:07 PM

Even Iceland's Elves are revolting:

Iceland's hidden elves delay road projects

Elf advocates have joined forces with environmentalists to urge the Icelandic Road and Coastal Commission and local authorities to abandon a highway project building a direct route from the Alftanes peninsula, where the president has a home, to the Reykjavik suburb of Gardabaer. They fear disturbing elf habitat and claim the area is particularly important because it contains an elf church.

The project has been halted until the Supreme Court of Iceland rules on a case brought by a group known as Friends of Lava, who cite both the environmental and the cultural impact — including the impact on elves — of the road project. The group has regularly brought hundreds of people out to block the bulldozers.

And it's not the first time issues about "Huldufolk," Icelandic for "hidden folk," have affected planning decisions.

They occur so often that the road and coastal administration has come up with a stock media response for elf inquiries, which states that "issues have been settled by delaying the construction project at a certain point while the elves living there have supposedly moved on."

Scandinavian folklore is full of elves, trolls and other mythological characters. Most people in Norway, Denmark and Sweden haven't taken them seriously since the 19th century, but elves are no joke to many in Iceland, population 320,000.

A survey conducted by the University of Iceland in 2007 found that 62 percent of the 1,000 respondents thought it was at least possible that elves exist.

...

Andri Snaer Magnason, a well-known environmentalist, said his major concern was that the road would cut the lava field in two, among other things, destroying nesting sites.

"Some feel that the elf thing is a bit annoying," said Magnason, adding that personally he was not sure they existed. However, he added, "I got married in a church with a god just as invisible as the elves, so what might seem irrational is actually quite common" with Icelanders.

...

[A little more at the link.]

John