It’ wasn’t easy to read your post. here are the facts: Gore won the popular vote in the U.S.A. by more than 1 million votes. however, GWB won in Florida by more than one thosand votes and won the national electoral vote and therefore was elected president. It had happened a few times is the past that the winner of the popular vote lost the electoral vote. to say that GWB lost in FLORIDA is an ignorant statement.

ok. you do the news! However, 2 recounts show that GWB had won by 1000 votes. the intentions of Pat’s voters are nothing but speculation. as you say about intentions in your country: "haderech legehinom retzufa bekavanot tovot"
have a happy new year and thank you for you response.

P.S. I have lived in your country half my live and I can tell you that it feels a lot better to live in a country that has a constitution and respect for human rights. Israel will get there one day (I hope) when religious sentiments subside. but then again, maybe not…

The U.S. Supreme Court based on their interpretation of the CONSTITUTION rightfully certified the election results. As you may recall it was a split decision with some powerful dissenting opinions. Please don’t try to analyze my response as typical Republican response. A. I am an Independent (not Republican not Democrat. B. By doing so you only make my point that there are a lot of similarities between American and Israeli pseudo-intellectuals.

As for human rights: Israel does have a strong human rights record as the only democratic country in the Middle East. However, you have a long way to go to reach the human rights level in the U.S.A.

Yes. America had it’s problems and made great progress in the last 250 years..
Israel was on the right track for many years; not any more though. This makes me sad and I hope things will get better for you. In order to make any progress, the first step must be writing a constitution.

I’m afraid you are wrong. Most western European countries do have a constitution. A constitution, however, does not necessarily make a country civilized or enlightened. I would not say that most European countries have a better human rights record than Israel. No at all!

Nogah,

I agree with everything you stated in your post. Including “haton hamitnase…”
(can’t help it, spent too much time in Israel… just kidding)

Countries with ratings of 90 or above were Australia, Austria, Belgium, Benin, Canada, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay.

The ballots (‘tofsey bbchirot’) in Florida were designed by a democrat and were legal (even though some voters found them misleading). Your statements about convicted man not able to vote show a complete lack of understanding on the American federal system. Every us resident must follow 2 sets of laws: federal laws and state laws. The law that prevents convicts from voting is a local Florida state law. Convicts in some other states can vote. I hope this helps..

No. I just don't like those 'know it all’ pseudo-intellectuals. I find them to be ignorant small-minded one-sided people. We have too many of them here in America.

I count at least one.

I count 2

Thank you. that's really nice of you. I've already tried the following
link: http://www.hevre.co.il/hebkb.htm and it's just too slow.

Thank's again.

OK Shai,
you do know something about the US constitution. the fact that some states revoke voting rights from convicts and or prisoners does indicate that the U.S. constitution allows this. otherwise those state rules would have been overturned by the U.S. federal courts due to unconstitionality. however, I don't agree with your statement that suggests that revoking voting rights of criminals is somehow anti human rights. do you think that convicted murderers and rapists should have the right to vote? I don't.

convicts who serve time in jail can lose their right to vote regardless of their crime. my "killers and rapists" example was not necessary. as for the difference between killers and "big fish" thieves, that is another subject that has to do with your definition of basic human morality.

if you want to have a conversation here, please present you arguments and refrain from personal attacks such as

convicted criminals who serve time in jail lose most of their freedoms, for a certain period of time, as punishment for their crime. why the special concern with "the right to vote "?
however, in some states convicted criminals lose their right to vote for life! in other words, they cannot vote even after they are released back to society. this is wrong and needs to be changed; but hey, no system is perfect.

answers to Mitz Petel (PJ) & Eyal Arsi,

1. the number of would be voters that can't do so because they are convicts or ex-convicts is completely negligible. and, as PJ wrote, most poor people are not registered voters and usually don't bother to vote.
2. I really hope that one day black people in America would be considered potential voters for a democratic ticket that includes a jewish candidate for vice president.