Should prisoners have the right to vote?

The politicians are direct representatives of the people ! No contradiction there...

The politicians can only be representatives of the people if the people have the right to vote for or against something.
Ireland voted against the Lisbon Treaty and then Ireland was promised a lot of goodies, and voted for.
Very few countries were allowed to vote for or against the Euro.
If the politicians know that the majority is/was against the Euro there would never be a voting pro and contra.

The politicians that decided such matters at a national level did n´t get there with the help of God all mighty...but I can see some flaw´s in the way things get done also...often people lack information, and many seam incapable of realizing their actual situation in a global context if to be out of EU...that much is the true problem of Europe that so far prove incapable of making a case of its utility directly to its citizen´s....a cliché in modern politics unfortunately !

nope, no vote. Otherwise, they could be a solid bloc in a local election, theres so many of em

I think as a foreigner observer up to an extent I can see why Americans think the way they do in these kind of matters...American reality is often more harsh then European Reality...be it in Religion issues, be it crime rates, property protection etc, etc...not really a critic...initiative and boldness takes a price when it gets to the wrong side also !

...if I were to live there with the Intelligent Design problem I would be a militant Atheist instead of a mild one, that´s for sure...as an European you see my point in between I hope...

Portugal is a country of contradictions...while 95% of the populations is Catholic almost nobody goes to church or questions Darwinism...

Pensioners vote in a pretty solid block fm and a good number of them won't be here when the policies they vote for come into effect. Hence the deficits. It makes more sense to give a bloke a vote for himself, his wife and each of his kids. He would have to cast them all of course. In the interests of domestic bliss.

At least most prisoners have a stake in the future. And there's sure to be some extra jobs in it. There's already a few jobs just discussing it.

When the promises of Science are fulfilled and energy is free I see 80% of jobs being concerned with discussing important matters, deciding on them, appealing the decision, through a tiered system, implementing the outcomes and discussing whether they are constitutional or not.

Finding the number of qualified people to engage in such important tasks is easily achieved by handing out enough qualifying certificates to fill the projected quota.

There's 2.5 million prisoners in the US. Which is a bureaucratic gravy train I should think. Are you trying to make it more difficult for Mr Obama to get the unemployment rate down. ci. won't like that.

I think that can be managed Fil. Whether you are a mild or a militant atheist is not a matter of much concern.

Why are you a mild one as a matter of interest? If you became militant would you start ranting?

OUr Catholic Church is sorta the same , except that the growing Hispanic Population has breathed new membership life into a rapidly aging laity

a matter of interest me ? oh no...you see I was just talking to myself...I often indulge in multiple personality's disorder to get somewhere in a talk...I am certain you can understand that...
...but lets say, if I were to get there, I mean to the ranting point, I would be actually glad to have you for a teacher...you have a quite nice, charming way about it Spendi...even if to play the wrong tune time to time...

yeah... although South American Hispanic population is often even more vivid in their beliefs and habits then in here Spain and Portugal...

The Lutheran Church in Sweden is the same. About 80-85% of the population is church members. The churches are not that full on sundays.

We don´t have the intolerance like it seem to be in USA today - at least when I read A2K discussions.
When I went to school we had Christian teaching and how God created the world.
Then in another subject we were taught about how the world started million of years back. We never found that there was a contradiction in that. One is a fact the other one a fine story.

precisely...that´s the general attitude back in here also...in the country side we still have a few old lady´s that can prove a tough case, but even that is changing rapidly...

I have never met any Scandinavians nor as far as I know any European who does not believe the word was created millions of years ago.

...honestly we still have a few creative minds in here that think otherwise...but they are so few and far between that we hardly notice their presence...

its funny Scandinavian country's are highly regarded by Portuguese elites, as the perfect role model of organization that we don´t seam able to implement...everybody talks in changing habits but then unfortunately habits persist in everyday life...no sense of getting the job done at all...although we are highly creative when it comes to improvise or evade heavy taxation, the problem seams to be the ability to converge and pull in the same direction instead of each pushing in its own way...we spend an huge amount of time debating instead of doing...this almost fanatical absorption with aesthetics on how we go about any business leaves everything on the planing for ages...
...my opinion is that we need to drop the gravitational emotional centre around family and learn more about the sense of State itself which is to most a distant abstraction unfortunately...anyway such is life...(not derailing the thread any longer)

The State as the emotional centre is a "distant abstraction" precisely because, as Bernard Shaw discovered, the abounding theories such a notion propagates do not need to be grounded in any action in the present. It's a sort of intellectual daydream which is possibly attractive to those who love the sound of their own braying and have unhappy recollections of family life. The objective is to leave business unattended to.

BTW Fil-- if it is true that I "play the wrong tune from time to time" will you tell me when I am doing it so that I can correct myself. It isn't much help to be told that I play the wrong tune from time to time without knowing which ones they are. Have you a couple of example for me to work on?

1 - The State is the Society my friend...from it to the Stars or nowhere at all...

...and no, I am not a Communist in case you wonder...Neo-Darwinism or Social Darwinism is my motto...we all should cooperate for individual interest and not the other way around !... maybe that makes things slightly more clarified in the age of network partnerships or cloud computing...

2 - I would n´t have the presumption of correcting anyone who essentially is the only one truly able to correct himself every time he stumbles on is own mistakes if it is the case to such enlightenment time to time...now of course I as anyone else am entitled to an opinion now and then which right or wrong is my own and its worth what is worth...in that sense and since you ask so politely I will try to do my best as far as my poor competence allows me so.

Best regards>FILIPE DE ALBUQUERQUE

You must be a foreign member of this foram if you believe that U.S. politicians represent the people!

I'm more interested in the wrong tunes you claimed I played from time to time Fil. Don't tell me it was just a top-of-the-head assertion with no beef in it.

When I assert that some bloke is a wanker I have Dr Kinsey's scientific evidence in mind.

I have nor patience nor the will to the pitiful Inquisition in which you so gladly indulge the digestion of some pints...I leave you to your affairs...see you around sailor !