Tag: Rant

Parliamentary vs. Presidential Systems

Apparently our system with the head of the executive branch directly elected is called the “presidential” system.

No clear conclusions, of course. But some fairly clear tradeoffs. How it works in particular countries includes a lot of local tradition and cultural influences.

Elections

Pro Con
Parliamentary Short cycle. Come somewhat by surprise. Politicians can’t afford to have the populace pissed off.
Presidential Long cycle. Schedule known years in advance.

Recall

Pro Con
Parliamentary Whole government can be brought down if needed. Whole government can fall at an inconvenient time.
Presidential Government can accomplish things that are unpopular. No way to throw the rascals out short of impeachment or sufficient threat of it to force a resignation (Nixon).

Parties

Pro Con
Parliamentary Party owns the seats, not candidates, so there’s party discipline. Party can’t stand for different things in different regions.
Presidential Compromise happens within the party. Parties can’t become idealogical purists and ever win. Parties can’t really mean anything.

Ability to Act

Separation of Powers

Pro Con
Parliamentary One party controls the government. They can get something done. One party controls the government. Damage can be essentially unlimited.
Presidential Control of the legislative and executive branches can be split. Damage can be limited. Control of the legislative and executive branches can be split. This can prevent anything from getting done.
Pro Con
Parliamentary Less, since executive is headed by someone of party controlling the legislature. A very non-politicized civil service can help some.
Presidential More, since head of executive is chosen by the voters independently of the legislature.

Bad Website Practice

I’m encountering more and more sites that pull their content from a collection of servers sites with URLs in entirely different domains.  I don’t mean just linking, and I don’t mean just ads being pulled in; I mean main pieces of page content on “cnn.com” coming from “turner.com” and such.

This of course triggers warnings in any sane modern browser, and in fact they’re blocked by default for anybody running no-script (which you should be).

Web designers–don’t do this!  It’s a danger sign, and it needs to continue to be a danger sign.  Right now I’m skipping some of your content, and more nd more people are using this sort of protection software in their browsers.

Idiot Advertisement

Just got this in email from a company I let email me:

It’s our BEST INDOOR CAMERA period! With a powerful 44X Zoom, you can zoom in up to a half mile away and see everything as if you were standing right there.

Plus, it comes equipped with StarLight Mode NightVision, so you can see at night! Use it to watch over your home, business, car and property 24 hours a day! You will be amazed at the NightVision – it makes the dimmest areas look like it’s broad daylight outside!

Yes, that’s right, X-10.com.

An “indoor” camera. So it can see half a mile away. Cool! and StarLight Mode NightVision to boot!

All of their security / surveillance cameras that I’ve checked can’t be used where I live; they say not to be operated below 32° F.