Most of True Finn members racist, study finds

According to an opinion poll published in Helsingin Sanomat, a majority True Finn supporters agree with the following statement:

"People of certain races are unsuited for life in a modern society."

Another opinion poll by Taloustutkimus published in Iltalehti found that 72% of True Finn supporters want Finland to stay in the Eurozone, and a similar percentage want them to remain in the European Union.

Timo Soini, Leader of the True Finns, looking awkward

So what are we to make of this? Clearly the eurosceptic aspect of the True Finn party is greatly exaggerated. It seems to not be the major driving force behind the party. We can certainly draw some conclusions about the motivations of the "Immigration Critical" wing of the party, led by blogger and popular racist Jussi Halla-aho.

The President of Finland, Tarja Halonen commented on the findings of the poll by saying that racist people "seem to be drawn towards voting for the True Finns." MP Jussi Halla-aho was quick to point out on his blog that "Friends of GDR seem to be drawn towards voting for Tarja Halonen." President Halonen, a Social Democrat, has been elected President twice after previously serving in three ministerial posts and consistently gets an approval rating in excess of 80%, while MP Halla-aho has an illustrious two year career in the board of directors for Helsinki Zoo.

Leader of the True Finn party, Timo Soini has thus far declined to comment, saying that opinion polls are not a good gauge of opinion and re-iterating his previous stance of not personally being racist. For someone non-racist he certainly likes to actively seek out the company of racists. He also leads an organisation that plainly caters to racists and does not mind benefiting from racists voting for his party. One can assume that either he is lying about not being racist or (more likely) he is morally corrupt to the point of having no guiding principles in his political life and will seize on to any idea no matter how abhorrent if it gets his party a few extra votes. Does it make him any different from other politicians? Maybe not. Call me an idealist but surely the point of leading a political party vanishes if the program of the party consists only of an attempt to get as many votes as possible.

Halla-Aho's list of recommended candidates, a sign of things to come

In several recent comments about Halla-Aho and his list of candidates, some revelations have been made recently. It seems obvious that the person writing them has had some unusual insight into the inner workings of the True Finn party so I figured why not translate them here. Here goes.

It has been suspected for a long time that angry, far right young men are infiltrating, and indeed have been for several years, the True Finn party through its youth organisation etc. The idea is to capture an old, established party for their own use instead of trying to form one from scratch. They would establish the anti-immigration policies they want, make their way into parliament and finally get rid of the old, Finnish Rural Party veterans. Entryism is a viable tactic proven in history many times over.

I have been calculating that the change of generation would fall on the True Finns after the parliamentary elections as Soini begins to prepare for stepping down as party head, and the newcomers have established secure positions in parliament, preferrably even in cabinet.

It has also been obvious that Soini is worried about the neo-True Finns at his back, and their intentions. Soini has tried to belittle the Hommaforum cadre as a small group of anoraks and boffins, and is obviously uncomfortable when they are brought up in public.

27th March Soini published in his "plok" a list of his favorite parliamentary election candidates, certainly in the hope of leaving the True Finn party into their safe hands, after moving on to other things. The names on Soini's list are Pekka M. Sinisalo, Osmo Kokko, Pirkko Mattila, Ari Jalonen, Anneli Manninen, Ville Vähämäki and Marke Tuominen.

The competing list from our low profile challenger, Jussi Halla-Aho: James Hirvisaari (member of Suomen Sisu, stood court for racial incitement), Juho Eerola (member of Suomen Sisu), Olli Immonen (member of Suomen Sisu), Heikki Luoto ("Multiculturalism is as desirable as shit in a fan"), Ari Jalonen, Teemu Lahtinen (Suomen Sisu's former chairman), Johannes Nieminen (Suomen Sisu's former chairman, famous for re-publishing the Muhammad drawings), Pasi Salonen (opposed to hate crime legislation because thinks its discriminatory towards White Heterosexual Males and too lenient on gays and foreigners), Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo, Maria Lohela and Jarmo Juntunen (filthy rich member of entrepreneurial justice league, convicted of insurance fraud, several traffic violations and wiretapping the police department ; engaged in a massive private war against the Finland justice system on behalf of the Wincapita pyramid scheme). A question arises; if Halla-Aho is not a neo-nazi or not even racist, why does his list contain mostly racist people associated with neo-nazi groups?

summary: this, but somehow even more gay

People on Soini's list are almost completely unknown to people. Not one of them even has an entry on the Finnish language Wikipedia. Halla-Aho's list is more known and wikified. It is obvious to anyone that Halla-Aho's list is going to dominate over the Soini list in the elections.

The internal power struggle in the True Finn party has begun well before the April parliamentary elections. By any reasonable yardstick you would care to use, Halla-Aho has Soini in a choke hold. He has his opportunity, and no matter what you think about him as a person he is not stupid enough to forego taking it.

Soini's Damascene road conversion on immigration, or is it...?

Timo Soini has embraced the status quo on immigration, Helsingin Sanomat reported today. The move sees Soini give his "full and unconditional support" to the prevailing government policy and practices. The shock revelation represents a complete U-turn for the anti-immigration, anti-EU demogogue. That is, if his statements last night to unnamed German media reporters are to be believed.

"I love immigration and the Finnish system is the best"

Soini proceeded to dismiss immigration as a major issue in the elections, and said his party has "very few" anti-immigrationists. He also distanced himself from "right-wing populism" and defined his political position as somewhere between the Social Democrats and the Centre party. Unconcerned by the recent poll numbers, Soini told the Germans to start preparing to deal with a world-embracing, multicultural and European True Finn party in government. Okay he didn't actually say that last bit but hes still sure to ruffle some feathers among the lunatic racist fringe of his supporters.

Blogger and popular racist Jussi Halla-Aho was quick to do some damage control among the more strident voices in the True Finn anti-immigration wing, writing in a forum post that Soini had given him a "personal reassurance" that his statements to the press had been falsified and misinterpreted. Soini has, according to him also said that he credits Halla-Aho for "inventing the immigration debate", "not being a racist"(lol) and "passing several laws for immigration reform." Halla-Aho of course has not been in a position to neither invent immigration nor pass any laws, being a member of Korkeasaari Zoo board of directors. It remains to be seen if Soini's "personal reassurances" are meant to be publicised anywhere or if they are just meant to appease the more virulent racist fringe among the True Finn voters.

In other news, the early voting for the 2011 Finnish parliamentary elections ended, with 31.2% of voters, around 1.3 million people having cast their vote. 29% of Finnish men and 32% of Finnish women voted, bringing the activity on this round of Early voting well above the elections in 2007 and 2003.

Introducing Juhani Mönkkönen and his campaign

This is apparently old news but I've not previously blogged about True Finn candidate Juhani Mönkkönen and his incredible anti-muslim election campaign. His MO is putting up signs at construction yards saying they're about to construct a mosque there, instead of whatever they might be constructing, with an internet link pointing to his web page.

Islamisation of Finland is obviously a huge problem, with Islamic immigration dating back to 1868 and already almost a full 1% of the population being Muslim, we can safely say Finland will be a Muslim-majority country in the year 9011. Terrifying.

The signs are evidently pretty well made, listing an existing architecture office as the designer and even an electrician. (obviously without the companies' permission). The signs have been taken down a long time ago, so this was just a reminder.

But that's not all, mr Mönkkönen has also been spreading posters about "new neighbours" into flats in the Helsinki area, with house numbers and Arabic names.

Won't you be my neighbour...

But wait, there's even more! Mr Mönkkönen has also launched a website in parody of the Finnish Social Insurance scheme, called "Kelä Gold". It states, surprisingly that our social insurance money goes mainly to Muslim immigrants. This website has been reportedly advertised by spamming people's work email with links to the site, without their permission. When asked where he attained his spam list, he refused to comment on it.

 See if you can spot the difference!

That's right, the "Kelä gold" concept is based entirely on a previous election gimmick by the extreme right Sweden Democrats party. The party is entirely anti-immigration, anti-muslim and has been publicly blacklisted by all the major parties in Sweden, who refuse to even consider working with them. Looks like once again Sweden knows best.

True Finn councillor: Holocaust was Soviet Propaganda

Iltalehti reported today that the everyone's favorite anti-immigration immigrant Freddy van Wonterghem thinks "the Holocaust was nothing but Soviet propaganda". You might have correctly guessed from his completely innocent and patriotic opinion there that Belgian-born Wonterghem is, like Jussi Halla-Aho and Teemu Lahtinen, a member of Suomen Sisu, a neo-nazi group based in Helsinki. He is also a True Finn member of the Kotka city council.

Timo Soini of course was quick to deny "any links to any members of Suomen Sisu", despite repeatedly filling his candidate list with their members. Soini says he will only comment on any SS-affiliations of any True Finn members, if one of them is found to be "breaking the law". Previous guilty verdicts for inciting racial hatred that Jussi Halla-Aho and his band of merry men have gathered, evidently notwithstanding.

Iltalehti also reported on the "racist manifesto", signed by some of the more strident voices in the True Finn anti-immigration wing. Teemu Lahtinen and Jussi Halla-Aho are quoted as being 'proud' of inserting the SS-philosophy into the manifesto and getting it signed by a large number of the more mainstream parties' candidates. It is also mentioned that Suomen Sisu used to state on its web page that it is "an organisation committed to anti-miscegenation."

Ridiculous. Just goes to show the True Finns are nothing but a racist group of sexually frustrated men. And that is precisely why they are so dangerous.

True Finn Anti-Women Practices Revealed by MTV3

Former and current female politicians from the True Finn party spoke out about the anti-women atmosphere of a lot of the True Finn party workers. The problems are evident in all electoral constituencies.

Women interviewed say that especially active and outspoken women are in risk of getting into trouble, for disagreeing with the official party line. The party leadership has denied the allegations. You'll remember a previous blog post about Sirkka-Liisa Lamminkoski, a True Finn woman who was pressured into relinquishing her party membership for disagreeing with the True Finn leadership about Modern Art of all things. Five women were interviewed for the MTV3 story.

Haataja: I got made a target of mud slinging

Seija Haataja was a True Finns candidate from the parliamentary election 2007. She thinks she didn't get the support of the Nyland constituency True Finns for her campaign but was instead left to fend for herself. This was mainly due to her positive approach to foreigners.

-In the True Finn party a woman is expected to either submit or be quiet. Otherwise the only way is to rebel and you can guess how that is going to turn out. Troublemakers are either expelled or quit the party themselves, says Haataja.

Haataja, a council member in Vantaa, didn't quit immediately after her failed campaign, but thought about it long and hard. Last spring she joined the Social Democratic party and according to her, got hateful replies from former comrades in internet discussion pages.

-I've let the comments slide because I dislike fighting windmills. I know I'm not the only woman who has faced this treatment in the True Finn party.

Virtala: One is not Allowed to Talk of Problems:

Satu Virtala's decision to quit the True Finn party is a recent one. She quit the party in February, because she was not put up as a candidate from the Kyme constituency. She thinks the decision was unfair.

-There was clearly a good ol' boy network at work behind the decision. A few men have handled themselves in an extremely dubious and calculating way. My family has been threatened, and lies have been told about me behind my back.

According to Virtala, the male members of the True Finns are allowed to  have opinions and do things that would not pass for a female member.

-I don't understand why a woman needs to be a Mother Theresa, or a Virgin Mary, whilst the men are allowed to have any opionions about anything they like. It feels as if the party only allows such women to progress who toe the male party members' line.

Virtala says she has heard of other women who have been expelled from the party due to dissenting opinions.

-One shouldn't really discuss these kind of things before the election. Perhaps later on along the way, things will change, Virtala wishes.

Timonen: I no longer wear my True Finn Armband

Virtala's fellow sister from the Kyme district, Eliisa Timonen is still a party member. She did forfeit her candidacy for the True Finn party not too long ago, though.

-There is no shred of the old True Finn philosophy left in the Kyme district. It feels like the will to power has blinded the eyes of everyone and they are only looking out for number one, Timonen says.

She feels she has been pushed aside several times, when the party has distributed council responsibility.

-It feels as if we're in the dark middle ages. I'm honing my skills as a coffee maker, but have no chance to develop as a political animal. My voters have been left disappointed.

Timonen is not sure if she will run in the next municipal elections. Even though the local constituency has been personally disappointing to her, she still trusts the party leadership.

Lamminkoski: I have never seen such dictatorship

Sirkka-Liisa Lamminkoski, a candidate from the True Finn Vaasa constituency recently criticised the party's cultural political line, and was quickly given a talking to by the party brass.

-It was like an obedience school. I was told I can not have my own opinions, and that I must stop writing for newspapers. I have never heard of such dictatorship in Finnish politics before. I've been a True Finn member for 10 years and the atmosphere has been very free, up to this point, Says Lamminkoski.

Lamminkoski refuses to back down from her opinions, and the dispute has been continued in several newspapers and on the internet, where party members have screamed for Lamminkoski's head, calling for her immediate expulsion from the party.

-Behind the calls for my quitting the party is election tactics and the whole thing smacks of little boys being mad at someone messing with their sandbox games. Truth is though, come at a woman from Ostrobothnia screaming and it's all petrol into the flames, Lamminkoski says.

Lamminkoski and the party brass' argument has caught the attention of other female party members. She has gotten a lot of calls from women who say they've been thrown under the bus. They've sympathised with her and asked how she's handling it all. A lot of them have said they are afraid to take a stand on the issues within the party, if they are actually in an elected office or running for one.

Lamminkoski does not blame the whole of the True Finn party or party leader Timo Soini.

-It is sad, though if we lose out on female talent because of this. We can't afford to lose the female vote, Lamminkoski says.


Puolakka: Straight up male chauvinism

Ritva Puolakka, says the True Finns are 'No different from the old parties they rage against'.

-I thought the party was for freedom of speech. Turns out there is a hierarchy where your opinions only matter in relation to who you kiss up to and how good you are at it.

She left the True Finn party, because she was a target of lies and rumour-mongering in the Oulu constituency.

-It was all straight up male chauvinism in the party. If there's a strong woman who is a member, she is forced out of the party, Puolakka says.

She thinks she was passed up as a parliamentary candidate due to mud-slinging and slander from the male members of the party. There were people listed as candidates instead of her, who were never voted on by the party members, she says.

Nyland election debate: Soini gets destroyed once again

Those watching the Nyland election debate last night to see Soini fail yet again were not disappointed. When the issues of the European financial fund got brought up, Soini overstated the amount of loans from Finland to Greece by €85 million. Too bad for Soini, foreign minister Alexander Stubb(pbuh) and Social Democrat party secretary Mikael Jungner were also present, and proceeded to annihilate their opponent with well-researched facts and statistics.

One of these does not belong (hint: the one in the middle)

"It's so easy for you to shoot from the hip, Timo. Nowhere else in Europe are people forced to endure discussion on this level" said Stubb. And so say we all.

Timo Haapala on Soini's costly slip-up

Another piece of frankly brilliant blogging from Timo Haapala, our man from Arcadia hill. Take a gander:

In three weeks we know where we stand.

Or rather, we know where to begin. Begin to form a new ruling coalition, that is.

Three weeks seem to be the limit of Soini's sense of direction and speed, and accordingly he finally slipped up. Big time. 

Soini has raged everywhere that he and his party will always and everywhere vote against opting into the EU's financial fund and financial instruments, be they temporary or permanent. If Soini is to decide, not a cent will be given as collateral by Finland.

Unless.

Yes, unless we agree that Soini will be in the ruling coalition but will still maintain a right for his party to vote against the bailout funds. Soini has always been at the throat of the Green Coalition, who have remained despite their own program in a coalition that authorised the building permits for two new nuclear plants. The Green Coalition voted freely against their coalition partners, and now Soini said in an interview with YLE (Finnish Broadcast Company) that he wants the same deal for his party.

The difference is huge however; the EU rescue funds are to do with the entire basis of the future coalition's economic policy, as well as their EU-policy. Soini wants to sit both in the government and the opposition at the same time, two chairs at the same time. A normal person would tear themselves apart trying a feat like that.

Soini wants to pick and choose which parts of actually being in the ruling coalition suit him. It does not work that way.

No wonder then that the other parties made a noise about Soini's brainfart. If you are in the ruling coalition, you are part of the ruling coalition. You are sitting in the back of a ministerial automobile, not out and about in the towns and markets, cracking crude jokes about the gov't decisions amongst your prospective voters. Would be nice though, but it just doesn't work that way.

A few have suspected that Soini is aiming to purposely set the bar of cooperation in a coalition so high, he will have another election cycle of cozy shouting from the opposition sidelines and no actual responsibility.

Soini's talk of the EU financial instrument reveal it's not that; it's more that he speaks whatever comes to his mind. Constantly putting his foot in his mouth.

In the same caste are Soini's lesser (depending on your circumstances) stances on issues like abortion and religion. Soini says he doesn't have to justify, or indeed even express his view on abortion because "other politicians are not asked such things". Yes you need to answer those, yes they are asked and indeed have been asked. And are being asked, especially now. "This is just the way it is" is not enough for a politician who seriously considers himself a contender for the next Prime Minister.

Four years ago, before the last election, Soini kept repeating the figure 10 to 12 MPs as a suitable goal for the True Finns. If they got more than that, Soini thought there would be 'too many contesting leaders' in the party. 

Well, remains to be seen if they can handle even one leader.

The True Finns' campaign manifesto and especially the art discussion therein has been criticised. Soini has proceeded to explain that it is in fact a wittily placed joke in their manifesto, expertly designed to provoke the cultural elite. You're having a laugh. A person with less of a sense of humour, such as myself would ask from Soini which exactly are the jokey part in the campaign manifesto and which are the serious ones. Would it be possible for the True Finns to produce a campaign manifesto with the joke bits in italics and the serious bits bolded? 

Or maybe the entire thing is a big joke?

x x x x x x x x

The decisions concerning the EU financial instrument and the bailout funds, which need to be made before next summer's EU summit will definitely affect Finland. A worthy task even for the Social Democrats, if they get into the coalition government and have to be involved in the negotiations. A permanent crisis fund seems to be easier to swallow for each party, as it delegates some of the responsibility to the banks. 

In all likeliness the people will be totally clueless about not only the temporary ERVV and permanent EVM/ESM financial instruments and the collaterals required et cetera. Even then.

Which is no wonder. Politicians are too, MPs and those wanting to be MPs.

This Monday A-Studio asked of the candidates and MPs what they know of the EU financial instruments. Nearly everyone - even current MPs! - were completely baffled by the concept, even though the media has been inundated with information about the subject for months on end and the parliament has used hundreds of hours speaking about them. It is no wonder that the citizenry does not know which parties are in the governing coalition, if the ruling political class is operating at this level.

In Europe it is being debated why Finland of all countries has become an eurosceptic nation just before the elections. 

In Finland the concept of Impivaara is being raised.

Who knows which is right and which is wrong.

One needs to remember though, speaking of Impivaara, that the seven brothers came back from Impivaara through snow and ice, in the biting cold when it caught on fire. This story is related in Seven Brothers by Aleksis Kivi. MPs and those wanting to be MPs would do well to read it after finding out for themselves what the EU financial instruments are all about. Who knows if a citizen might ask it in one of the squares and markets...

A third of True Finn voters are, well, not actually voters

It was revealed today by the newspaper Keskisuomalainen that only two thirds of those identifying asTrue Finn voters bothered to vote in the parliamentary elections of 2006. Additionally, only 14% of the current generation of True Finn voters are those who actually voted TF in 2006.

It is a well known fact in Finnish politics that the working-class voter is a finicky creature, whose turnout is dependent on among other things the weather and if they recently got paid. Those who get paid the same week as the election, tend to vote more conservatively than those who didn't. Add to this the fact the TF candidates are by and large local council members with as little as two years of experience from governance, and next to no name recognition and the True Finn's 18% poll rating may well dip under the 10% mark.

Soini gets humiliated again, this time by a 15 year old girl

I have good news to report for a change! A question from a 9th grade girl from Kirkkonummi got True Finn leader Timo Soini embarrassed, reported Iltalehti today. She succeeded doing what many a leader from the much maligned old parties has tried and almost as many have failed.

Oona Riipinen asked "why should a girl who has been raped not be allowed to get an abortion?"

"I refuse to answer that. No other politicians get asked questions like these", was Soini's reply. (Here's a hint: it's because no other politician shares your crazy anti-woman opinions.)

Timo Soini, an artist's conception

Riipinen remained unsatisfied with Soini's reply. She, like Soini is a Roman Catholic, and is insulted that her religion is being used as a political tool. Riipinen, who is due to start secondary education next autumn, does not support abortion per se but would allow it in cases of rape or if the parents are unable to physically or mentally take care of the child. If she were able to vote, she would most likely vote for the Green Coalition.

Political activity for young people has declined very sharply in Finland. According to the youth barometer by the Ministry of Education, over a fifth of young people are "not at all interested" in politics. Riipinen is therefore a special case in that she follows the news and keeps informed. She considers the True Finns' goals unrealistic and finds the rise of the anti-immigration party "scary". Of Timo Soini in particular she says he has not understood the difference between religion and politics.

Jussi Halla-Aho grows Hitler moustache

Blogger and popular racist Jussi Halla-Aho published a new advertisement in yesterday's City-magazine. If you look carefully, he appears to have grown a wee little toothbrush moustache.

It's evidently not a mistake, he actually went and gave his ok to this advertisement. He says he hopes to make people pause and reflect on how the "mass media is controlling them." The text in the advertisement encourages people to vote "just for the f**k of it." My guess is he finally lost his mind and now actually thinks he is Hitler.

YLE election start: Soini humiliated in public

In the YLE election start special, the leaders of current parliamentary parties were present and in good humor. Everyone's eyes were fixed on the shooting star of the recent polls, Timo Soini. Soini, sweating and red, drinking lots of water (hung over?) was wearing a blue shirt two inches too small and looked uncomfortable throughout.

Questions started off rather softball'ish, with Soini scoring lots of easy points with answers like "we have lots of good candidates, in every electoral district" and "my favorite color is black on white and red". When the time came for him to comment on an actual issue he didn't fail to fail miserably. His answer consisted of confusedly comparing the Greece bailout to "a baseball cap fitted on a melon, then an apple", which prompted every single panelist and host to call him out on not actually answering the question. He then tried to clarify his stance by saying "they will run out of bananas and liquorice sooner or later" and this my friends, is a man with a Masters' degree from a University I kid you not.

The easiest comeback of the night was from the Green Alliance leader Sinnemäki, who said she didn't understand what melons and baseball caps have to do with the issue at hand, getting a few laughs from the audience. Soini, embarrassed, stayed mostly quiet for the rest of the debate rather than rattling off slogan after slogan as per usual. Other good points came in form of the quotable "responsibility is a career choice", from National Coalition's Jyrki Katainen, and "only a healthy county can take care of its sick" from Social Democrat Urpilainen.

True Finns now the second largest party in Finland, TNS Gallup

According to the pollster JNS Gallup for Helsingin Sanomat last thursday, the True Finns are the second most popular party at 18,4% after National Coalition. This is due to the Finnish people wanting change to the horrible conditions that the Finns are currently suffering.

Matti "Rape Rape" Putkonen was quick to comment that this is no mere poll blip, in spite of 4 most popular parties' support fitting inside the margin of error, but instead a bona fide tsunami of support, wreaking havoc to the Finnish political scene well into the future. "Our candidates are extremely committed to foot work and are campaigning as their true selves."

Seriously Finland if you do this, I'm going to stay in the UK for the next four years.

Timo Soini: there will be 'nasty' revelations

Soini interviewed in the middle of an alcoholic burn-out

Timo Soini: "People have been digging up dirt about us not like any other party. You can see it for instance with the way people have been discussing the True Finns' election platform."

Soini expects a dirty election fight in the coming weeks. Soini expects all kinds of negative material to emerge concerning TF-candidates. He readily admits election finances have been affecting other parties, but considers the timing to be especially harmful to his party. Soini is disinclined to comment on the revelations concerning local disputes or individual candidates.

Soini's personal health and probable alcoholism has been discussed intensely, following his absence from several election debates. He says he has been in the European parliament at the time of the debates and angrily points out that people would likely raise a noise about him missing those sessions, too. He says no other party leaders' health has been discussed (false) and that he is put into a negative context, notably avoiding to confront his problem directly.

Marko Kulmala: what its all about

 A great blog post about the True Finns by Marko Kulmala I've been meaning to post since two weeks ago.

http://blogit.mtv3.fi/kuinraivoaanestaja/2011/02/28/mista-on-kyse/

Media has loved Timo Soini, because media thinks Timo Soini speaks his mind. This has been believed by the media, because Timo Soini has said he speaks his mind.

"Paddle the water that's under the canoe." Was Soini,s answer to a question asking what a critic of the European Union is doing as a member of the European Parliament. No follow-up questions were asked.

The True Finns published their election manifesto this Friday. For the first time I saw a bemused Timo Soini, in an interview by the YLE news.

"It is not possible to calculate these figures in a concrete way." This is an entirely new, understandable Soinism. He said the soon-to-become fourth largest party simply lacks know-how.

It seemed to be possible for the True Finns however, to suggest concrete cuts and reductions in budget, even outside the sphere of political influence. Soini complained about the lack of the same access to political tools that the "old parties" have, because they were not given access. There is no information about their proposed budget because it was not given to them. How so? Do they not have the proposed government budget in use? It is available to anyone and contains all the necessary numbers and figures. Do they not have a calculator? Or do they simply lack knowledge?

The True Finns have five MPs. They have exactly the same access to parliamentary information services as MPs from other parties. Knowledge is available and accessible. Lots of it. The True Finns may ask for advice from economic scientists if there are numbers they don't understand - other parties do this. They have either not asked for help or tried to gain knowledge. This is called ignorance and laziness. Laziness and ignorance are not a viable alternative.

Speaking of phenomenae, and the True Finns' poll success is really phenomenal, it is always good to ask the question: who benefits from it? The media does, media loves dramatic elections. If there is no drama to be found, it will be created. Therefore for example Timo Soini gets special treatment from the media: as the only party leader he gets asked no follow-up questions. The media only waits for the next clever quip.

I have been thinking, if the True Finns are to rise to become the second largest party in parliament, how are they going to fill ministerial seats? They have two people who can work as ministers now. Who would they seat as the speaker of parliament? Veltto Virtanen?

I understand well Timo Soini's bemusement. Any old Opel-driver will panic if they suddenly find themselves at the wheel of a Ferrari. You can't even engage the reverse without outside help.

True Finns announce election platform

The True Finns announced their election platform yesterday. It is quite something else, take a look.

1. Finnishness is Finland's gift to the world.
2. Culture funding must be directed in a way that strenghtens the Finnish identity. Faux-artsy postmodernists can procure their funding from the open market.
3. YLE's (national broadcast company) Swedish-language programming must be reduced.
4. War orphans must be registered.
5. The child benefits to those on higher income (in excess of €5000) can be reduced.
6. True Finns are for traditional family values (against gay marriage/civil union)
7. The portion of immigrant students in schools should be capped, in order to prevent separation of schools.
8. More physical education to schools. Behaviour must be graded for younger children than now, and there should be a behaviour grade in the final diploma.
9. Learning Swedish should be optional.
10. Village schools must be kept.
11. Finland to become a critical collaborator with EU instead of a model student.
12. Finland must prepare for the downfall of the EMU and EU in their current forms.
13. Finland must succesfully defend against NATO-membership and keep its universal conscription system.
14. Un-work-related immigration must be cut down by reducing the economic appeal of Finland and making it more difficult to bring immigrant families together.
15. Citizenship is a reward - residence is not enough, but language must be learned and one must be able to support oneself.
16. Ghettoization must be prevented with sensible housing policy.
17. No to flat tax
18. Green taxes must be succesfully defended against. No to higher energy taxes and congestion charge.
19. VAT must not be raised.
20. Stock dividends must be taxed at a higher rate.
21. Bring back the wealth tax.
22. Finnish work and entrepreneurship to be brought to the fore - economic growth must not be eaten into with domestic policies: adopt the True Finn climate policy.
23. Tougher sentencing for crimes. A foot collar is not the same as doing prison time.
24. Criminal immigrants must be expelled and begging must be criminalized.
25. One may not be punished for defending oneself.