The junior-department of one of our nation’s biggest political parties (the PvdA) has spoken wise words to their senior division: there should not be any discrimination the the composing of the votinglist.
Last year, the PvdA has put a man next to a woman throughout their entire list, non-autochthone residents are put next to autochthonous residents. In other words: positive discrimination is put to use to get such a diverse list (which has, among other things, resulted in the fact that the PvdA has become the biggest party among foreigners in Holland)

The junior-devision has claimed that women and non-autochthonous people generally are not pleased with the fact they are not only judged on their possibilities and ideas, but also on their gender or ethnicity. It is regarded to be moralizing and unfair by all, including the beneficiaries and the others.
The reason of positive discrimination of women and immigrants was the idea these groups needed support in their (political) careers as they would be considered inferior as of various reasons compared to autochthonous men. An idea nowadays regarded to be out-of-date.

So, what do you think should be done? Should positive discrimination be abolished as discrimination in any form is deplorable, or should it be kept as those groups of people still need the extra support?

After my first post about the plan to abolish (premature) fireworks, a new plan has seen the light of day: to banish public firework lighting in places where it is not prohibited.
In other words: the creation of fireworks-friendly locations is imminent!

Our government is to decide where to light your fireworks to minimize any nuisances. Last New Years Eve there have been several incidents with teenagers causing havoc with their fireworks, and this should apparently be stopped at any cost.
To control these kids, a complete regulation of the lighting should be created; according to the majority of our Tweede Kamer.
The plan is to create specific areas where fireworks should be lit to lessen the amount of used fireworks littering the streets. If it is centered, it’s easier to maintain; or so it seems to be the thought.

I can be very short concerning this matter: they have now officially become way too much disattached from ‘us’, being the inhabitants of The Netherlands. In our hearts, people in general are conservative: we do not like changes. Nor do we like the constricting of our freedom, or the government tampering with our daily (yearly) lives.
The above named plan does meet all bad expectations and from now I’m officially declaring the entire Tweede Kamer as superfluous.
New elections are not recommended (for now) but I think our representatives should not be concerned with small subjects like this: the bigger issues should be taken care of.
Like the subjects in my previous posts: public transportation and the AOW.

Without looking like a glossy magazine, I’m hereby declaring the new found way to pay in our public transportation dead.
Why? Because security is important.

Multiple times delayed, and without a clear introduction date the OV-chipkaart (Public Transportation ChipCard) is becoming a small fiasco.
I can safely admit to the fact it really is a good thought. By eliminating paper cards as payment method, and introducing a tamper-free card which needs no additional checking by humans to detect illegal use of the transportation several advantages will become reality.
For instance: there will be less nuisance due to homeless people using the metro/bus/train as heated and comfortable mobile housing, the revenue of the use will increase due to the fact everyone has to pay the entire fee and money is saved on loans and wages as less personnell is needed.

Theoretically, the OV-chipkaart is great! The practice turns out to be somewhat different.
Lately, a couple of German "hackers" has turned their attention to the RFID-tag that is inside every card, and is used to store the data concerning the credit you have and the possible subscription to travel daily. They discovered that the security of the chip and it’s stored data is terrible and ever since 1883 deprecated.
The key term here is: Security by obscurity.

That should give a big enough hint to see that should not be the solution to do things.
Hiding keys that unlock the encrypted data has been proven to be ineffective by A. Kerkhof back in 1883, and is mysteriously implemented in the current version of the OV-chipkaart; which leads to the inevitable conclusion the card is unsafe and not ready to be rolled out.
The question that should be asked is the following: Why is such an ineffective way of securing the system used, and what should be done to protect the data better?

Being a member of our "Tweede Kamer" certainly does pay off well, both literally and figuratively.
The pay is nice, the holidays are fixed and ample and when you do not feel like doing something useful, hide in the back. Resigning from the Tweede Kamer also has it’s advantages: the pay between jobs also is substantiable.
However, I’m not going to rant on our Tweede Kamer. The members do an important job, and have to carry a heavy burden. Representing us is hard work.

An issue almost certain to keep the "Tweede Kamer" busy is the imminent retirement of the guest workers who came to Holland in the sixties and seventies. Because they played an important part in our history, a reward should be prepared for them. Or so does the PvdA think. The real problem is taht, due to the fact the guest workers did not live in our country their entire life, their AOW is cut by a certain precentage. This percentage can be calculated by subtracting the number of years they worked in The Netherlands and 18 from the age.
A person who is 65 years in age, came to Holland when he was 25 and has lived here ever since does not benefit the full 100% of the AOW, but does so for 100% – ( ( 65 – 18 – 40 ) * 2 ) = 86%. Put simply: for every year a person did not live in The Netherlands, he or she is cut 2% on AOW. If you don’t pay for it, you do not benefit from it is the simple and effective reasoning behind it.

Among others, the PvdA does not share this line of thought and is lobbying for the approval of the full benefit for the guest workers.
I’m trying to see the reasoning behind this, as I do not fully understand it.
The main reason for the PvdA is that they find it unfair since these guest workers have played such an important role in our recent history and should be rewarded accordingly.
I underscribe the importance of the guest workers, but I’m letting the financial aspect of the AOW prevail above subjective matter of rewards: if the premium is not paid for a whole year, the benefit should not be reaped.
The proposed 100% quite possibly puts an excessively large burden on the system and could very well lead to the demise of the AOW as the system simply cannot cope with such an added load.

As the left and right fractions in our political landscape do not agree on this matter (left is in favor of awarding 100%, right is not) I can see a crisis coming for the upcoming year. The issue is more current due to the retirement of a large part of the group guest workers over the next few years. Next year will prove to be harsh on our leaders: I’m not setting any money on Balkenende IV reaching 2009 intact…