Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Exactly

A terribly fun article, mostly because it accords with my personal ire.
Favorite quote:
Israel is an immature democracy, poorly governed; its political class is mediocre and corrupt; it floats precariously in a lethally hostile Muslim sea; and it really could use a constitution.
Did you know that yesterday I was at a forum about the EU and when one of the speakers said "ICompared with its neighbors, Israel is low on corruption", every single person in the room snickered quietly? In unison.

8 comments:

Larry Lennhoff said...

Link to terribly fun article doesn't work for me - it seems to want me to create the post instead of read it?

Tobie said...

Oh dear. Thanks for telling me.

Looking Forward said...

it says we need to suscribe to it. :-(

Tobie said...

oh, for heavens sakes! It doesn't tell me that...
I'm sorry, people, I will attempt to put up a functional link....

Looking Forward said...

that man is horrifying.

Is the legislature such a den of total cowards that they refuse to stand up to this man?

Talk about having the power and wielding it as he felt.

Impressive though.

Anonymous said...

hnc- For the legislature to pass a law reining him in would be nonsensical and therefore would go against the Basic Law, as determined by Barak

Tobie said...

The saddest thing is that you occasionally see the legislature feebly waving its hands and trying to contend with the heavyweight that is the court. Example: Every law,according to the court, must be checked according to a set of guidelines from the Basic Law of Human Dignity and Freedom, even if they impeach on rights protected by entire different basic laws. The legislature passed an amendment to the Basic Law for elections saying that the rights could be violated in any law passed with an absolute majority.
The court read the law and, in a brilliant little decision, decided that the legislature meant that the rights could be violated only with an absolute majority AND if they stood up to the guidelines from the basic law. The funny bit is to read the K'nesset records and hear them say, "Ha! Thusly will we thwart the silly court!" or words to that effect.

Poor things, they can't hope to compete.

Looking Forward said...

maybe tobie you'll rise up to the head of the supreme court and get to have it your way :-)

and maybe you'll launch a crusade.