Thursday April 21, 2005
Taking out (a girl to see) Garbage
- Posted by Rob (#1) on April 21, 2005 15:41 CEST
At the risk of making Kari jealous, I ordered tickets for Garbage's gig at Paradiso in Amsterdam on June 2. Jelena is going as well, so there will be at least two from my circle who are going to enjoy Shirley Manson and company! As for Kari, she is getting married to someone other than me so it is probably me who should be most jealous anyway. She is one of the few gals for whom I would trade in being a happy single.
The weather is wonderful today, I might add. So even though I am sitting at work feeling slightly ill, summer seems near and it is already paying off with an increasing amount of interesting gigs to attend!
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Does D66 embrace gender discrimination?
- Posted by Rob (#1) on April 21, 2005 21:22 CEST
Hopefully the blurb on radio news was badly phrased. If not, D66 is embracing gender discrimination. As part of a good proposal to give children both surnames if parents can or do not decide, Lousewies van der Laan wants victims of incest to be able to change their surname if the offender is the father (traditionally supplying the surname).
While I have no objection against that possibility, the initiative itself annoys me because it sounds flawed, failing to take into account abuse by mothers, siblings or other relatives. Is it really so hard to stay clear from gender discrimination by simply giving victims the ability to change their name if it is equal to the name of any related offender?
Update, April 23: I have now heard Lousewies specifically saying "father" on the radio herself, so I have e-mailed her in the hope of correcting this flaw in the initiative.
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FNV wants to destroy Dutch economy
- Posted by Rob (#1) on April 21, 2005 23:42 CEST
FNV, the largest Dutch workers union, is seriously advocating the idea of a maximum salary in the Netherlands. I'm nowhere near earning that (admittably debatable) cap, ten times the minimum income, but if such a maximum would actually be introduced than my emigration plans will truly become a matter of some urgency.
See, I like living in a country with decent professional athletes, qualified heart surgeons and capable managers. Enticing only the mediocre to be part of our economy will not be beneficial for the middle class on the long-term, in fact it will be disastrous. Sure, sometimes it seems like people who put more talent, effort, time or mere negotion skills into their job are being rewarded disproportionally. But I would rather see their wealth trickle down into my wallet and their capital invested in our economy than see it leave the country all together. But if it does, I follow.
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