President election in Iceland today -- interesting situation in Iceland

Today there is a Presidential election in Iceland.
The current President ,Mr. 'olafur Ragnar Grímsson, is on the ballot .
There are also five others on the ballot.
Mr. Ólafur has been president for four terms, or, 16 years.
It has been easy for him for the last four terms,but now, there is a fight for the President seat.

One of the contenders now is Þóra Arnþórsdóttir ,and it looks like she could be giving the president a hard time today .
Þóra is young and has been working in the media , and is a popular Tv celebrety.
Many say that the election today is about , should Iceland join the EU.
But both ,Þóra and Ólafur , say that if the is an EU contract on the table , then it would go for a National Referendum.

And the weather for voting is excellent, calm,warm and clear skies .
Tonight , as on every voting night in Iceland , there will be a lot of parties and lots of alcohol used this evening and night .

If Þóra wins the election , then there will be an interesting sitution here in Iceland.
All of the top posts in Icelands goverment will be held by women.

The PM, the Finance Minister,the president of Parliament,the State Bishop,and the President , all women .

Are members of the Icelandic parliament breaking laws ? interesting bill passed in Iceland

The Icelandic parliament is an interesting place .
There members of parliament argue about everything, the fishing quota system,joining the EU and so on .
But when it comes to getting more in your pockets ,then the are all good friends .
Just before parliament took its summer vacation , on bill was passed,silently and everybody who was in parliament - agreed on it .

And in this bill , they agreed on letting the tax payers pay for their , eyeglasses,hearing aids,cancer search,physical excersise , and more .
Eyeglasses and hearing aids in ICeland are not cheap - they are quite expensive.

So you can see , that the members of the Icelandic parliament know how to get more - and how to pay for it .
Of course you let the tax payer pay for it .
There is no respect for members of the Icelandic parliament 

So ,you see, the protests in Iceland a few years ago --- did not do anything - the only thing that they did , is changed who was controlling --- but the corruption is the same .

Politics in Iceland still doing well ---- raising salary --- interesting .

Politics in Iceland are still strange and politicians are doing well.
In Kopavogur ,a town just south of Reykjavik ( well ,nearly a part of Reykjavik) has had money problems.
And the new mayor ,mr.Ármann Kr. Ólafsson,   and his city council ,have been saving money , uniting  schools,cutting down on money expence,,and so on.
Now the Mayor ,Mr. Ármann Kr. Ólafsson, raised his salary .
He raised his salary  up 23 percent .
While people have been saving money ,working more.
But of course ,according to the Mayor,this is not a rase in salary -- this is a correction on his salary .
Ármann Kr. Ólafsson is member of the Independence party in Iceland .

Chess tournement in Iceland - young people play members of parliament

Today at noon, there was a chess tournement in Reykjavik,City Hall.
It is held to promote chess for schools.
The minister of Education,Katrín Jakobsdóttir, took the first match , and as you can see on the video - she lost .
The presidents wife ,Dorrit Mousaieff ,made the first move when the tournement opened --- great fun and great chess being played in Reykjavik.
The challengers where children of all ages, and the oponests,where members of parliamnet,city officials and a minister of education --- the children won most of the matches .

 

 

 

 

 

  

Fishing quota protet in Iceland today ---- for and against - video and photos

Today - fishing quota owners in Iceland , protested in front of the parliament .
They where  protesting a bill in parliament ,that would make them pay little for the rights to fish in Icelandic waters.

In 1991, all Icelandic fishing fleets were given a quota, with each ship allocated its annual share. The quota rights can be sold, leased out, or used in the same way as other possessions.
And since they have sold the quota , leased it , got loans on it and so on .
They have never payed for the rights to fish , but they have bought , and for the profits they invested in banks,newspaper,car dealerships,and so on .
This all happened before the crash in 2008 .
But the goverment wants to say that the fish in Icelandic waters is the people property,not for a few fishing quota kings .

People that are against the Fishing quota owners policy , protested also in front of parliamenet building ,and protesting at the same time,and demanding that the goverment does what it has promised.

Protesters that are for the people ownership of the fishing stocks, bood when the quota onwers where holding the speaces .

Many fishing boats came into Reykajvik today - to take part in the protest - and you can see one of the boats leave Reykjavik,after the protest - and he sounded its horn when it left Reykjavik harbour

Protest tomorrow in Reykjavik ---- who owns the fish in the sea ?

Tomorrow - fishing quota owners in Iceland , plan to protest in front of parliament .
They will be protesting a bill in parliament ,that would make them pay little for the rights to fish in Icelandic waters.

In 1991, all Icelandic fishing fleets were given a quota, with each ship allocated its annual share. The quota rights can be sold, leased out, or used in the same way as other possessions.
And since they have sold the quota , leased it , got loans on it and so on .
They have never payed for the rights to fish , but they have bought , and for the profits they invested in  banks,newspaper,car dealerships,and so on .
This all happened before the crash in 2008 .
But the goverment wants to say that the fish in Icelandic waters is the people property,not a few fishing quota kings .

People that are against the Fishing quota owners policy , are also going to be in fornt of parliamenet building ,and protesting at the same time,and demanding that the goverment does what it has promised.

Heatwave in Iceland ? great weather in Reykjavik- photos and video

This week and weekend ,there has been great weather in Iceland.
The skies have been clear and calm and warm winds.
People have been enjoying this weather ,going to the beach, and jumping into the north atlantic ocean.

airshow in Iceland ,may 2012 - catalina and dc-3 - photos

Last monday ( may. 28 2012 ) there was an airshow in Reykjavik,Iceland.
It was to celebrate the 75th annivercary of Icelandair , flight carrrier.
The highpoint of the show was when the visiting Catalina PBY and the local DC-3 took off and flew in formation.
The weather was excellent ,warm clear skies and calm winds. 

Click on the photos - and they will get bigger