Tant hu politikant tajjeb u bniedem ta’ principju li min lejl ghal nhar biddel il-vizjoni politika tieghu u bidel il-partit.

Bniedem bla vizjoni u minghajr vibra.

Nithassar lilkhom meta turragunaw bdan il-mod.

Tiehdu gost meta it-tfal taghkom jaraw bews bejn persuni tal-istess sess? Ghax jien le.

Jien ma noboghod lill hadd u ghandi hbieb gay pero quddiem uliedi jirrispettaw lili u iktar lill uliedi u ma jaghmlu xejn kontra in-natura.

Mohhkom maghluq inthom ghax egojisti f’dan is-sens. Dawn il-persuni ghandhom dritt ghall-hajjithom daqs kemm ghandi jien pero le ma jistawx jkunu figure-heads jekk jaghmlu dal-kummiedji f’ghajn in-nies.

Mhux ezempju tajjeb ghal uliedna. Issa jekk tkun trid tinstema popolari bhal ma qed taghmlu inthom, dak mod iehor pero deep down il-maggoranza bhali jahsbuha.

Would a single district for the whole country help us move away from the way candidates abuse the current system?

Or is it unworkable?

[Daphne – A single district would give us a ballot-sheet like a lavatory roll, with the names of every candidate in the country on it. I don’t know about you, but I get desperate enough as it is reading through the few on the Mosta list.]

I always thought that it is easy for a candidate to get the current quotas as it means keeping 2000 people (would that be 10% of the eligible voters?) “happy”. With no districts, a candidate would need many more votes to come out within the top 60 or 65.

The most obvious downside to this system I can see is that a voter would need to vote for 35 candidates – quite a laborious stay in the polling booth.

Ninu , i been living here for about 16 years now. i can assure you that being nationalist is not really a prob to most, in Cospicua . not anymore atleast. People who have come to live here in the past 15 years, i been here .. come from all walks of life and other localities. There was a time yes or should i say, some parts of Cospicua .. may be still a bit heavy on people, who are in favour of nationalist beliefs. But it has changed a lot , i can assure you.

Purity – Yes, I more than acknowledge that people in these villages go beyond the airport tunnels for work, school etc.

What I was referring to was the mentality that the village in which one lives is sacred and exhaustive.

For example, I know people who did not like the fact that their children moved away to Attard or Balzan after marrying. In their mentality, children should live very close to their parents’ home and any attempt otherwise would be insulting.

I am obviously not generalising but talking about the prevalent mentality of native villagers.

DCG- I wanted to post a comment about the above yesterday but I think it did not get through.

Gay adoption rights are not that simple as you stated above. Persons who decide to adopt have to show that they are of sound beliefs and stable. Many gays have to pretend that they are not in a relationship or living with someone, to stand a chance of adopting.

[Daphne – That’s why we were talking about single people. Single people by definition are people who are not in a relationship, not people who are not married. People who are cohabiting will not get permission to adopt, whether they are homosexual or heterosexual. This is not because adoption laws are against cohabitation, but because you have to be either single or in a really stable relationship, and that stability is defined as marriage, though even married couples must have been married for some years before they can apply for adoption.]

If a gay couple want to adopt they cannot do so together but as single parents. The law does not recognise the couple, so although acting as parent to the child one of the couple would never have any legal rights over the child.

[Daphne – It is the same with heterosexual couples. Only one adopts – but only if the social workers etc do not notice that you are cohabiting.]

It truly is a shame because there are many wonderful couples I know who would make fantastic parents to so many children in need.

[Daphne – I agree. I do not subscribe to the mentality that a child is better off in an orphanage in Ethiopia or Russia than in a good home in Malta with gay/straight/single parents. I have had several arguments about this with members of the religious right. I am sometimes shocked at the hardness and lackj of humane sentiments in people, especially women strangely enough, who are diehard members of certain types of Catholic prayer groups. The hardness required for their own self-discipline (though I doubt they lash themselves with a celice or whatever it is called) is projected onto the rest of society. Lacking feeling for themselves, they lack feeling for others. All empathy is gone. This refers to some individuals and obviously not to all members of such organisations, which would be a wrongful generalisation. But I do think that people who are attracted to the extreme discipline of Catholic organisations are attracted to discipline in general. Taken to its extreme, discipline negates empathy.

Also, let us not forget that the worst case of abuse of adopted children in Malta – the repeated rape of five-year-old girls by their adoptive father – took place in a heterosexual married couple’s home. The court heard that the girls had been literally ‘imported’ from Romania for the man’s satisfaction, with his wife’s collusion. The wife, in court, actually accused the girls, aged five, of ‘throwing themselves’ at her husband.]

Mr Farrugia – I was going to ignore your comment but felt I had to say that your second paragraph above is quite narrow-minded. Having lived in Safi all my life I can assure you that most people who live there are not as you portray. Through such a comment you just go to show how limited your thinking is.

Safi and the surrounding villages are a mixed pot but believe it or not during the day time people do go beyond the tunnels and explore the rest of enlightened Malta.

[JCIM – Jien ghidtlek li Cyrus ma jistax ikun politikant tajjeb meta wiehed immur jitbewwes quddiem il-cameras u jghid li irid iz-zwieg bejn koppji gay quddiem il-cameras].

Fiex wasalna, hux? Bniedem jaghmel turija ta’ mhabba pubblikament! Ma jistax ikun nibqghu sejrin hekk. U dan x’jigifieri ikun onest quddiem il-cameras! Quddiem il-cameras ghandu jkun hemm biss nies li juru wicc b’iehor.

Forsi dan ridt tfisser meta ghidt li Cyrus ma jistax ikun politikant tajjeb? Forsi ghax ihobb u hu onest wisq biex ikun politikant?

[Lorna saliba – If it were gypsies, or romanians which keep coming in, then the argument would remain the same].

By “argument”, do you perhaps mean “let them drown”?

[Lorna saliba – This is not about colour, it is about the effects of multiculturalism and diversity which are worrying].

True. Its not about racism, but about xenophobia.

[Lorna saliba – Different cultures can not co-exsist]

You’d be surprised to learn that even among Maltese citizens, you will find different cultures. For instance, I cannot relate to anything you are saying, and my birth certificate says I’m Maltese. I hope we can co-exist, and if not, what would you suggest we do?

There’s the law to regulate harmful behaviour. Cultural diversity within the limits defined by law should not only be tolerated – it should actively be encouraged. We are not robots.

[Lorna saliba – History almost always repeats itself].

True. Think Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia.