John, you are eight years too lateand got a real bad running mate!
Friday 31 October 2008
Thursday 30 October 2008
Paul, the See-Saw Man
Paul Gogarty (39), Green Party TDand his party's spokesman on Education,
also known as "See-Saw Man",
has (as we can see) two hands and (as we cannot see)
also two minds, and two opinions (which we can read).
Two weeks ago he was happy with the 2009 Budget.
Ten days ago he criticised cuts in the education budget.
One week ago he was "satisfied with the education budget".
This week he told a lobbyist by e-mail that the Green Party
"might eventually consider withdrawing from the coalition".
Today he is "fully behind the Minister for Education".
Great variety act, Paul. Have you tried any other circus,
or are you under exclusive contract to Dáil Éireann ?
or are you under exclusive contract to Dáil Éireann ?
Wednesday 29 October 2008
The unacceptable Face of Irish Politics
Conor Lenihan (45), Fianna Fáil TD,Minister of State for Integration
and wild-tempered Hooligan-in-Chief
in the disgraced government of Brian Cowen,
son of former Fianna Fáil TD and Tánaiste, the late Brian Lenihan,
grandson of former Fianna Fáil TD, the late Patrick Lenihan,
brother of Fianna Fáil TD and Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan Jr,
nephew of Fianna Fáil TD and former Minister Mary O'Rourke.
He is also a grand-nephew of former Irish customs officer,
smuggler, racketeer and spy, the late Joseph Lenihan,
who worked as a double agent for Nazi Germany and
for the British MI-5 during the Second World War.
Already known for his insensitivity in matters racial and ethnic,
he reached a new height of unacceptability today, when he called
Fine Gael TD Dr. Leo Varadkar "a Fascist" and gave the infamous
Nazi salute with his outstretched arm. And where did this happen?
In a smoke-filled back room of some seedy pub in the docklands?
No, right in Dáil Éireann, in front of 150 fellow TDs.
And - what happened to him afterwards? Absolutely nothing.
As a member of one of Ireland's political dynasties, he seems to
have carte blanche and gets away with any possible outrage.
This kind of intolerable behaviour will only stop when we end
the power of these corrupt and inbred Irish political families.
P.S. - Yesterday a tram driver in the Austrian capital Vienna
was immediately sacked from his job when it became known that
he had used the words "Sieg Heil!" (a verbal Nazi salute) over
the intercom system of his tram. Of course he was not a member
of the Lenihan family, and thus unprotected. In fact, he might be
prosecuted and could face 10 years imprisonment for his stunt.
Tuesday 28 October 2008
Creationists love and support Sarah Palin
This group of dedicated American creationist women meets every Tuesday at their local country club for a coffee morning. They all belong to the same evangelical church and are sure that the world was created by God in six days, 6012 years ago, as their preacher keeps telling them every Sunday. They also believe that they were created after God's own image.All four also belong to the Republican Party and are over the Moon (also created by God 6012 years ago) that Sarah Palin, the creationist governor of Alaska, will soon be Vice-President and - perhaps in a few years - the first female President of the USA. They are sure about that, since no-one will elect a negro as President. That would be as idiotic as the idea of Evolution. But to be sure, they have turned their weekly coffee morning into a fund-raising event for Sarah Palin. The four of them pose - for a donation to the cause - in their bikinis for local photographers. We can well imagine that their efforts are highly successful. And Sarah Palin has said that she is proud to have such dedicated supporters.
The Great Craiglist Heist
In an elaborate robbery scheme that was one part "The Thomas Crowne Affair" and one part "Pineapple Express", a criminal robbed an armoured van outside a Bank of America branch in Monroe, Washington, by hiring decoys through Craigslist, a popular US advertising website.
He then escaped in a creek, headed for the Skykomish River, in an inner tube, and the police are still looking for him.
"A great amount of money" was taken, the Monroe police said, but did not provide the actual sum.
It appears that around 11 a.m. the robber - wearing a yellow day-glow vest, safety goggles, a blue shirt and a respirator mask - went over to a guard who was overseeing the unloading of cash to the bank from the van. He sprayed the guard with pepper spray, grabbed his bag of money, and fled the scene.
But here's the hilarious twist. The robber had previously put out an ad on Craigslist for "road maintenance workers", promising wages of $ 28.50 per hour.
Willing recruits were asked to wait near the Bank of America in Monroe right around the time of the robbery, wearing yellow day-glow vests, safety goggles, a respirator mask, and preferably a blue shirt. At least a dozen of them turned up after responding to the ad.
"I came across this ad that was for a job for $ 28.50 an hour," one of the unwitting decoys told NBC. As it turns out, he and his "colleagues" were simply placed there to confuse the police, who were looking for a man wearing an identical outfit.
They eventually found the getaway inner tube (a getaway inner tube - hilarious!) and suspect that accomplices may have picked up the robber in a boat.
According to NBC, police hope to track him down by finding out who posted the ad in the first place. Good luck with that...
Craigslist founder Craig Newmark was - surprise, surprise - not available for comment.
He then escaped in a creek, headed for the Skykomish River, in an inner tube, and the police are still looking for him.
"A great amount of money" was taken, the Monroe police said, but did not provide the actual sum.
It appears that around 11 a.m. the robber - wearing a yellow day-glow vest, safety goggles, a blue shirt and a respirator mask - went over to a guard who was overseeing the unloading of cash to the bank from the van. He sprayed the guard with pepper spray, grabbed his bag of money, and fled the scene.
But here's the hilarious twist. The robber had previously put out an ad on Craigslist for "road maintenance workers", promising wages of $ 28.50 per hour.
Willing recruits were asked to wait near the Bank of America in Monroe right around the time of the robbery, wearing yellow day-glow vests, safety goggles, a respirator mask, and preferably a blue shirt. At least a dozen of them turned up after responding to the ad.
"I came across this ad that was for a job for $ 28.50 an hour," one of the unwitting decoys told NBC. As it turns out, he and his "colleagues" were simply placed there to confuse the police, who were looking for a man wearing an identical outfit.
They eventually found the getaway inner tube (a getaway inner tube - hilarious!) and suspect that accomplices may have picked up the robber in a boat.
According to NBC, police hope to track him down by finding out who posted the ad in the first place. Good luck with that...
Craigslist founder Craig Newmark was - surprise, surprise - not available for comment.
Monday 27 October 2008
See how they run...
Nearly 12,000 people with nothing better to do were running around Dublin today.They call it the Dublin Marathon, and most of the runners taking part have not the slightest clue what the name means and where it comes from. They are just happy to run 26.2 miles and exhaust themselves once a year.
They have no idea that the first Marathon was run by only one man, a messenger, who ran from the battlefield at Marathon in Greece to the city of Athens to bring the news that their army had just won a huge victory against their arch enemy, the Persian Empire. And they also don't know that the runner collapsed and died shortly after delivering his message.
Maybe human beings are not meant to run 26.2 miles in one go.
But now it's a popular fashion and thousands do it every year, with no connection to the historic event, and no understanding what they are actually doing. The Jones' are running, so we have to run as well. What's the point?
Oh yes, I almost forgot, it's all "for charity". That's alright then, yes? We torture our bodies in a way it is not prepared for, so some more lazy gaffers will give us a few Euros for it...?
We must be totally mad. If people want to donate money to charity, they can do it any time and very easily, without thousands of sports freaks running around, blocking Dublin city for a whole morning and making a show of themselves.
And not enough with that, some really silly buggers are running the Marathon in stupid outfits or awkward costumes. Those idiots should really be rounded up and put into a lunatic asylum. Then they can run around all day wearing silly costumes, and no-one is bothered.
When the original runner from Marathon delivered his message in Athens, he collapsed and died. And when the lemmings reach the coast, they jump over the cliffs and die as well. What a great way to live our lives... I hope you enjoy the Bank Holiday.
Sunday 26 October 2008
Fianna Fáil is 10 Points down
Yes, it's true. According to the latest Red C opinion poll, published in the Sunday Business Post, Fianna Fáil have lost ten points in popularity since last month. And if Brian Cowen had any more fingers, they might have lost even more support, as he would certainly have put them into even more pies than he has so far. The larger government party is now left with only 26% of public support, the lowest level for them ever since - in 1926 - they came out of the political wilderness and decided to participate in the parliamentary process and in democratic elections. There must be a special meaning in the number 26. Meanwhile Fine Gael has risen to 33%, Labour to 15% and Sinn Fein to 10%.If Cowen were not such a coward, he would call a new general election, and what fun would that be now...
Saturday 25 October 2008
Sarah's Chick comes home to roost...
Animal killer, creationist "Christian" and "hockey mom"Sarah Palin, also governor of Alaska, has apparently
been too much concentrated on (ice) hockey, hunting animals
and weird religious doctrines.
In the process she missed the little matter of her eldest daughter
Bristol (what kind of name is that for a girl?) sleeping around with
the boys at school. Now that 17-year-old Bristol is pregnant, it is of
course entirely "a private matter" for the Palins and has nothing to
do with Sarah's ideas of parenthood, sex education and morals . . .
Alaskan Girl still wants to be Beauty Queen
Meanwhile Sarah Palin has been out shopping with John McCainand his credit cards. To make her look presentable, the campaign
has spent $ 150,000 on Sarah's new wardrobe. That's nearly
four times as much as "Joe the Plumber", McCain's special friend
from Ohio, earns in a year. I hope Joe is watching Sarah and her
attempt to become a beauty queen at last. When she tried back in
1984 to become "Miss Alaska", she was beaten into second place
by - now, wait for it - the first ever black "Miss Alaska".
Some Omen - or what?
While Sarah is focused on her new clothes and her dream ofliving in the White House and nuking moose and caribou one
day in the future, an independent investigation in Alaska has
found her guilty of abusing her gubernatorial powers
when she sacked the Public Safety Commissioner (something
like a Minister for the Interior) after he refused to kick Sarah
Palin's former brother-in-law out of the state's police force.
Not because he was a bad cop, no. The only reason was that
Palin wanted to punish him for divorcing her horrible sister.
Bitches, you have to realise, always stick together like glue.
And as Barack Obama pointed out so very well and clearly:
"A pig with lipstick - is still a pig..."
And, as we know since George Orwell's 'Animal Farm', pigsare more equal than all the other animals. I can see that.
Friday 24 October 2008
Irish Billionaire is fined Pocket Money
Sean Quinn from Co. Fermanaghis a self-made billionaire and currently Ireland's
richest man, with a personal fortune of about
€ 4 billion.
For irregular loans worth € 288 million between two of his
companies he has been fined by Ireland's Financial Regulator
the sum of € 3.25 million.
For a man like Sean that's really just pocket money, but
going by his reaction it seems that it still hurts his pride.
Bloody Friday
Today the world's great gambling dens, known as the 'financial markets', have gone crazy once more and share prises have lost much of their value.
Most of the main stock exchanges experienced the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices.
In New York the Dow Jones industrial average index fell 3.6%, not falling as much as other markets.
The bankers and stock brokers have dubbed today 'Bloody Friday', which is even worse than the infamous 'Black Friday'.
Whatever next? How far can a share price fall?
Well, I suppose until it reaches 0.00 ... but given the shenanigans the banks have invented, this might not be the end after all. Perhaps shares can have 'negative equity', like houses.
Both the US Dollar and Japanese Yen soared today against other major currencies, particularly the British Pound Sterling and the Canadian Dollar, as world investors sought safe havens for their money.
Yes, there is no shortage of money on this planet.
Quite the opposite. There's loads of it. But it is usually in the wrong hands and pockets.
Those who have too much know nothing better to do with it than to gamble on the 'financial markets' and thus create perpetual turmoil for the world's economies. And neither governments nor their central banks seem to be able to stop the dangerous nonsense.
Why? Because most governments are in the pockets of big business and the wealthiest people on the planet. They are the 'untouchables' of our time, untouchable by the law of any country, and controlling what ever they chose to control.
Today the deputy governor of the Bank of England, Charles Bean, made a frank statement, very unusual for a central banker like him.
"This is a once in a lifetime crisis, and possibly the largest financial crisis of its kind in human history," he said.
And he's probably right. The super-rich are playing cat-and -mouse with the rest of us, and we have to pay ever higher prices for everything, while we also earn less - to keep 'competitive' - and have to pay more taxes to bail the nearly bankrupt government out.
The joke's gone too far, and it's not funny in the first place.
It's time the ordinary people get their acts together, organise themselves and put an end to the plague of our time: uncontrolled and unregulated rampant capitalism.
If we want to survive, we need a revolution!
Most of the main stock exchanges experienced the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices.
In New York the Dow Jones industrial average index fell 3.6%, not falling as much as other markets.
The bankers and stock brokers have dubbed today 'Bloody Friday', which is even worse than the infamous 'Black Friday'.
Whatever next? How far can a share price fall?Well, I suppose until it reaches 0.00 ... but given the shenanigans the banks have invented, this might not be the end after all. Perhaps shares can have 'negative equity', like houses.
Both the US Dollar and Japanese Yen soared today against other major currencies, particularly the British Pound Sterling and the Canadian Dollar, as world investors sought safe havens for their money.
Yes, there is no shortage of money on this planet.
Quite the opposite. There's loads of it. But it is usually in the wrong hands and pockets.
Those who have too much know nothing better to do with it than to gamble on the 'financial markets' and thus create perpetual turmoil for the world's economies. And neither governments nor their central banks seem to be able to stop the dangerous nonsense.
Why? Because most governments are in the pockets of big business and the wealthiest people on the planet. They are the 'untouchables' of our time, untouchable by the law of any country, and controlling what ever they chose to control.
Today the deputy governor of the Bank of England, Charles Bean, made a frank statement, very unusual for a central banker like him.
"This is a once in a lifetime crisis, and possibly the largest financial crisis of its kind in human history," he said.
And he's probably right. The super-rich are playing cat-and -mouse with the rest of us, and we have to pay ever higher prices for everything, while we also earn less - to keep 'competitive' - and have to pay more taxes to bail the nearly bankrupt government out.
The joke's gone too far, and it's not funny in the first place.
It's time the ordinary people get their acts together, organise themselves and put an end to the plague of our time: uncontrolled and unregulated rampant capitalism.
If we want to survive, we need a revolution!
Thursday 23 October 2008
The Google Queen
Elizabeth Windsor, well-known senior citizen and hat model,has developed an interest in computers and this 'thing' called
Google. Her husband told her that it was a way to bowl a ball
at Cricket, but she did not believe him. Eventually she found
the magic Google and decided to add it to her private empire.
Easy Riders
While Elizabeth Windsor is learning all about Google, her twograndsons William and Harry are enjoying themselves with
two motorbikes on a 1000-mile tour across South Africa.
For the two Lieutenants of the British Household Cavalry this
is a nice adventure holiday, but officially they are doing it - as
a press release says - "for charity". It seems that whatever a
member of their family does is always "for charity", but hardly
ever do we know what kind of charity their fun is actually for.
In this case it is probably irrelevant, as - according to South
African media reports - the costs of providing "security" for
the two precious young men are much higher than the money
they raise for charity from their cross-country motorbike ride.
Some Royal charity, indeed!
Wednesday 22 October 2008
Three Cheers for the Old Folks !
Ireland is not (yet) a racist country, but we are the world champions in ageism.
More than half of our population is under 25, so once you get into the higher numbers, you are supposed to disappear and not spoil the show for the 'youth orchestra'.
Once you pass 40 they look at you with suspicion. What's he still doing here?
If you manage to hold on past the 50 line, the looks will become more annoying. Unbelievable - he's still about. Shouldn't he be well dead by now?
Anything after that is just a mixture of neglect, ignorance and hostility. Nobody takes any longer any notice of you once you pass 60, and at 65 they give you a free national travel pass and a free TV licence. That way they hope you'll either get lost on the buses up the country, or you may die of boredom in front of the dumb-box.
Seven years ago Fianna Fail was short of votes, so they decided to win over the 'grey power' by giving everyone over the age of 70 a free medical card.
The old folks liked that. They'd been ignored for decades, and now they felt that someone was in a sensible way looking after them.
But now the government wants to take these medical cards back, in order to save € 100 million a year. Apart from the fact that it's wrong to rob the elderly of their health care security, it's also a most idiotic political move. Only an imbecile of great incompetence and no political talent at all could come up with such an idea.
But the Irish are no fools, even though the government treats us like such. We are not playing ball with the little bully boy from Offaly and his piggy-bank carrier from Dublin!
Yesterday they tried to undo the damage with a 30-minute press conference that told us nothing but the fact that even the Taoiseach and some of his senior ministers have not a clue about this matter and how to get out of the hole they have dug for themselves and the country.
But then the people took over and completely sidelined the press conference at government buildings.
More than 5000 senior citizens, including quite a few sitting in wheelchairs or walking with Zimmerframes, crutches or sticks, assembled outside Leinster House and demonstrated against the government and the threat to their medical cards. On Monday 1800 elderly people had already voiced their anger at a meeting in Dublin, which was organised by 'Age Action', the 'trade union of the elderly'.
This is a level of activity the government never expected. And indeed such an amount of elderly people on a protest march was a novelty, never to be seen before in the Republic, or anywhere in Ireland.
The old folks did not just march, they also carried placards and shouted slogans. One of the large placards carried said: "Why don't you just shoot us? It would be cheaper!" And that sums up the general feeling of anger, fear, disappointment and distrust that the government has spread in the elderly population.
None of the senior government ministers had the guts to come out and face the demonstrators. Not only are they mean and cruel, they have also exposed themselves as spineless cowards.
Eventually a woman called Máire Hoctor was sent out. Nobody had ever heard of her before, but apparently she's one of four junior ministers in Mary Harney's Health Department, responsible for "older people". Not for old people, mind, but for "older people"... whatever that means.
But the angry pensioners were not in the mood to be lectured and patronised by a second class Fianna Fail apparatchik and told her to shut up. On Monday Hoctor's colleague John Maloney had a similar experience. He was sent to the meeting of 1800 eldery people in a Dublin church, but also was told to get lost when he tried to patronise the gathering. Selecting him as an official government representative to 'Age Action' Ireland was in fact an insult, as Maloney is junior minister for Mental Health and Disability, commonly known as 'minister for the mad and lame'.
The only mad people in this affair are the members of the government, which is a 'lame duck' administration without precedence in Ireland.
It needed the older people to come out and expose the government as the incompetent bunch of nitwits they are. Well done!
They built this country, demonstrated against the Vietnam War and in support of the hunger strikes in the North, worked hard to survive and bring up children. They paid taxes all their lives and are the backbone of the state.
That they have shown once again with the meeting on Monday and the demonstration yesterday morning. Well done, indeed! I salute everyone who was there and showed great courage.
And well done also the 10,000 students who demonstrated two hours later in protest against the government and it's education policy. Next week there will be another march by angry teachers, and in the meantime the farmers have come out of the woodwork as well and contemplate a demonstration, too.
It's early days yet, but when the books will be written on our era, this day - October 22nd, 2008 - might be recognised as the first day of the second Irish Revolution.
More than half of our population is under 25, so once you get into the higher numbers, you are supposed to disappear and not spoil the show for the 'youth orchestra'.
Once you pass 40 they look at you with suspicion. What's he still doing here?
If you manage to hold on past the 50 line, the looks will become more annoying. Unbelievable - he's still about. Shouldn't he be well dead by now?
Anything after that is just a mixture of neglect, ignorance and hostility. Nobody takes any longer any notice of you once you pass 60, and at 65 they give you a free national travel pass and a free TV licence. That way they hope you'll either get lost on the buses up the country, or you may die of boredom in front of the dumb-box.
Seven years ago Fianna Fail was short of votes, so they decided to win over the 'grey power' by giving everyone over the age of 70 a free medical card.
The old folks liked that. They'd been ignored for decades, and now they felt that someone was in a sensible way looking after them.
But now the government wants to take these medical cards back, in order to save € 100 million a year. Apart from the fact that it's wrong to rob the elderly of their health care security, it's also a most idiotic political move. Only an imbecile of great incompetence and no political talent at all could come up with such an idea.
But the Irish are no fools, even though the government treats us like such. We are not playing ball with the little bully boy from Offaly and his piggy-bank carrier from Dublin!
Yesterday they tried to undo the damage with a 30-minute press conference that told us nothing but the fact that even the Taoiseach and some of his senior ministers have not a clue about this matter and how to get out of the hole they have dug for themselves and the country.
But then the people took over and completely sidelined the press conference at government buildings.
This is a level of activity the government never expected. And indeed such an amount of elderly people on a protest march was a novelty, never to be seen before in the Republic, or anywhere in Ireland.
The old folks did not just march, they also carried placards and shouted slogans. One of the large placards carried said: "Why don't you just shoot us? It would be cheaper!" And that sums up the general feeling of anger, fear, disappointment and distrust that the government has spread in the elderly population.
None of the senior government ministers had the guts to come out and face the demonstrators. Not only are they mean and cruel, they have also exposed themselves as spineless cowards.
But the angry pensioners were not in the mood to be lectured and patronised by a second class Fianna Fail apparatchik and told her to shut up. On Monday Hoctor's colleague John Maloney had a similar experience. He was sent to the meeting of 1800 eldery people in a Dublin church, but also was told to get lost when he tried to patronise the gathering. Selecting him as an official government representative to 'Age Action' Ireland was in fact an insult, as Maloney is junior minister for Mental Health and Disability, commonly known as 'minister for the mad and lame'.
The only mad people in this affair are the members of the government, which is a 'lame duck' administration without precedence in Ireland.
It needed the older people to come out and expose the government as the incompetent bunch of nitwits they are. Well done!
Let's have three cheers for the old folks!
They built this country, demonstrated against the Vietnam War and in support of the hunger strikes in the North, worked hard to survive and bring up children. They paid taxes all their lives and are the backbone of the state.
That they have shown once again with the meeting on Monday and the demonstration yesterday morning. Well done, indeed! I salute everyone who was there and showed great courage.
It's early days yet, but when the books will be written on our era, this day - October 22nd, 2008 - might be recognised as the first day of the second Irish Revolution.
Tuesday 21 October 2008
The PD's last Reserve...
...is now being mobilised by Noel Grealish for thefinal assault on universal health care in Ireland.
Mary Harney is watching from her dungeon.
Incompetence rules Ireland
We all are humans, and human beings make mistakes. That's normal.
Some of us make more mistakes, others less.
In the real world those who make more mistakes than they should pay the price for it.
They are demoted or even sacked, and then have plenty of time to ponder over their abilities and skills while signing on for the dole.
Only in Irish politics - and especially in Fianna Fail - those who make more mistakes than others are promoted. And the more mistakes they make, the higher up they get.
So we have an arrogant Taoiseach, who is nothing but a rude bully boy from the sticks who got into the Dail at the age of 24 and has not done a decent day's work since.
Mary Coughlan, the woman he chose as his Tanaiste, is Ireland's answer to Sarah Palin and the most clueless and useless politician one can imagine. Bad enough that she's a TD, even worse that she's been a minister for quite some time. But Tanaiste? That's a bad joke.
Looking through the Cabinet, there are not more than three or four people in it who are actually up to the extremely well paid ministerial job they are holding. The rest is a bunch of chancers and fools.
This morning Brian Cowen called a snap press conference "to explain changes to the rules about medical cards".
He appeared shortly before 10 o'clock at government buildings in Dublin, with Green Party leader John Gormley at his right, and Mary Harney at his left.
Never was there a more unholy trinity in Ireland than those three, trying to pull the wool over the people's eyes. But even though our politicians are fools, the people are not. So the attempt to shut the stable door after the horse had bolted was an utter failure, as you might have expected in the first place.
The current government is simply incompetent and not up to the job. They brought the budget forward to deal with the crisis, and by delivering a messy, over-bureaucratic and totally unfair budget, they created an even bigger crisis.
Now they want to talk their way out of that, and what do they do? They insult the intelligence of the majority of Irish people. And behind their backs they have at the same time the next plan ready to screw us ever more and more.
Can you still trust those clowns?
I can not, and in all fairness, I never did and have criticised the present regime for all the eleven years they have ruled us so far. I'm not in any party, and most of them are pretty useless anyway. But I'm Irish, proud of it, and take a very keen interest in the matters of my country.
The way I see it, the members of the current government are breaking their oaths of office they have to say when they are appointed by the President. They are supposed to serve Ireland and her people, defend the country and its interests, and perform their duties to the best of their abilities. On all three elements of the oath the current government is falling short.
At this stage I would not go as far as calling what they do treason, but it comes pretty close to that at times.
None of the three government parties are now led by the person who was party leader during the last general election in 2007. So the people the electorate voted for are no longer in charge, even though most of them are still in politics and in the Dail.
After all what happened in recent weeks and months, I think there is only one fair action for a government in such a deep shitehole: Call a general election! Let the people decide who they want to lead them through the crisis and out of it. Anything else is neither wise nor democratic.
Some of us make more mistakes, others less.
In the real world those who make more mistakes than they should pay the price for it.
They are demoted or even sacked, and then have plenty of time to ponder over their abilities and skills while signing on for the dole.
Only in Irish politics - and especially in Fianna Fail - those who make more mistakes than others are promoted. And the more mistakes they make, the higher up they get.So we have an arrogant Taoiseach, who is nothing but a rude bully boy from the sticks who got into the Dail at the age of 24 and has not done a decent day's work since.
Mary Coughlan, the woman he chose as his Tanaiste, is Ireland's answer to Sarah Palin and the most clueless and useless politician one can imagine. Bad enough that she's a TD, even worse that she's been a minister for quite some time. But Tanaiste? That's a bad joke.Looking through the Cabinet, there are not more than three or four people in it who are actually up to the extremely well paid ministerial job they are holding. The rest is a bunch of chancers and fools.
This morning Brian Cowen called a snap press conference "to explain changes to the rules about medical cards".He appeared shortly before 10 o'clock at government buildings in Dublin, with Green Party leader John Gormley at his right, and Mary Harney at his left.
Never was there a more unholy trinity in Ireland than those three, trying to pull the wool over the people's eyes. But even though our politicians are fools, the people are not. So the attempt to shut the stable door after the horse had bolted was an utter failure, as you might have expected in the first place.The current government is simply incompetent and not up to the job. They brought the budget forward to deal with the crisis, and by delivering a messy, over-bureaucratic and totally unfair budget, they created an even bigger crisis.
Now they want to talk their way out of that, and what do they do? They insult the intelligence of the majority of Irish people. And behind their backs they have at the same time the next plan ready to screw us ever more and more.
Can you still trust those clowns?
I can not, and in all fairness, I never did and have criticised the present regime for all the eleven years they have ruled us so far. I'm not in any party, and most of them are pretty useless anyway. But I'm Irish, proud of it, and take a very keen interest in the matters of my country.
The way I see it, the members of the current government are breaking their oaths of office they have to say when they are appointed by the President. They are supposed to serve Ireland and her people, defend the country and its interests, and perform their duties to the best of their abilities. On all three elements of the oath the current government is falling short.
At this stage I would not go as far as calling what they do treason, but it comes pretty close to that at times.
None of the three government parties are now led by the person who was party leader during the last general election in 2007. So the people the electorate voted for are no longer in charge, even though most of them are still in politics and in the Dail.
After all what happened in recent weeks and months, I think there is only one fair action for a government in such a deep shitehole: Call a general election! Let the people decide who they want to lead them through the crisis and out of it. Anything else is neither wise nor democratic.
Monday 20 October 2008
The Banks will be saved
Who cares if we all go bust and burn to death,as long as the incompetent banks are saved and
their criminal bosses can keep their millions...
The Banks are still run by Criminals
Today I met two old friends for lunch. Liam and Mary are a happily married couple, have children and belong to the small portion of Irish people who did not go crazy during the time of the 'Celtic Tiger'.
They both have a good job and are reasonably well-off. Nevertheless they are now struggling to pay their mortgage, as they told me.
"We still can manage the monthly payments," Liam said, "but in order to do so we have to cut back on other things. No more second holidays, and less sweets for the children, for example."
I listened with interest, and I know they will manage somehow. They are both resourceful people.
But then I was very surprised when Mary told something else. Her bank had just rang her and asked if she wanted an extra loan. Liam, who has a small business, had a similar call from a different bank a few days earlier.
"They must know that we have a mortgage," Mary said, "and when they look at our account details, they can see that we are not big spenders. So why are they trying to push loans into our face, even after the big disaster they got themselves into and nearly busted the banks?"
"Yes," Liam agreed, "they nearly went down, if the state had not bailed them out with the taxpayers' money."
I am as baffled as Liam and Mary. But what they told me is not an exception, it is rather the rule. Over the past couple of weeks I had several people telling me the same. Their bank rang them and asked if they wanted an extra loan.
What is going on? Do the banks not have enough trouble? All of the Irish banks are vastly under-capitalised, badly managed and at the brink of collapse. You would expect them to be tight now and lend less than before. But that's not the case. They seem to carry on as before, and in some cases even more aggressively.
Makes no sense, unless you see behind the scenes. Now, that the state has guaranteed the banks' eternal existence with our money, they are save and have no more worries at all. If they recover from the crisis - great. And if not - well, the state will pick up the tab, which means you and me.
By pushing ever more loans onto people, they also hope to make more money from interest and - in case the borrower gets into arrears - nice extra fees they are so quick to add in such cases to the amount owed. The other day I read about a widow who had borrowed a small sum from her bank to make repairs on her house. Then she got sick, could not continue with the agreed repayments, and now the amount the bank demands from her has risen astronomically. They are looking for more than five times the sum she had borrowed from them!
That's criminal behaviour, and should not happen at all. And now, that the state and we - the people - are guaranteeing the banks' existence with our money, the banks should change their behaviour, and do it quickly.
If they don't do that, the day will come when the people will tear them apart and applaud when they go down. They are playing with fire very close to the fuel tank. They have learned nothing from the crisis. And they are still run by the same old criminals who caused the crisis in the first place.
Heads need to roll, especially the heads of the top bankers and their fancy 'traders' who do nothing else but gamble our money away in big international casinos, called 'stock exchanges' and 'financial markets'. These people never produce anything, never buy or sell anything real, and don't give a hoot for the rest of us. They award themselves with huge 'bonuses' for their criminal gambling, and we all are supposed to pick up the tab when they mess up.
It is ever more clear to me that all this crisis can only be overcome in one way: With a big revolution!
They both have a good job and are reasonably well-off. Nevertheless they are now struggling to pay their mortgage, as they told me.
"We still can manage the monthly payments," Liam said, "but in order to do so we have to cut back on other things. No more second holidays, and less sweets for the children, for example."
I listened with interest, and I know they will manage somehow. They are both resourceful people.
But then I was very surprised when Mary told something else. Her bank had just rang her and asked if she wanted an extra loan. Liam, who has a small business, had a similar call from a different bank a few days earlier.
"They must know that we have a mortgage," Mary said, "and when they look at our account details, they can see that we are not big spenders. So why are they trying to push loans into our face, even after the big disaster they got themselves into and nearly busted the banks?"
"Yes," Liam agreed, "they nearly went down, if the state had not bailed them out with the taxpayers' money."
I am as baffled as Liam and Mary. But what they told me is not an exception, it is rather the rule. Over the past couple of weeks I had several people telling me the same. Their bank rang them and asked if they wanted an extra loan.
What is going on? Do the banks not have enough trouble? All of the Irish banks are vastly under-capitalised, badly managed and at the brink of collapse. You would expect them to be tight now and lend less than before. But that's not the case. They seem to carry on as before, and in some cases even more aggressively.
Makes no sense, unless you see behind the scenes. Now, that the state has guaranteed the banks' eternal existence with our money, they are save and have no more worries at all. If they recover from the crisis - great. And if not - well, the state will pick up the tab, which means you and me.
By pushing ever more loans onto people, they also hope to make more money from interest and - in case the borrower gets into arrears - nice extra fees they are so quick to add in such cases to the amount owed. The other day I read about a widow who had borrowed a small sum from her bank to make repairs on her house. Then she got sick, could not continue with the agreed repayments, and now the amount the bank demands from her has risen astronomically. They are looking for more than five times the sum she had borrowed from them!
That's criminal behaviour, and should not happen at all. And now, that the state and we - the people - are guaranteeing the banks' existence with our money, the banks should change their behaviour, and do it quickly.
If they don't do that, the day will come when the people will tear them apart and applaud when they go down. They are playing with fire very close to the fuel tank. They have learned nothing from the crisis. And they are still run by the same old criminals who caused the crisis in the first place.
Heads need to roll, especially the heads of the top bankers and their fancy 'traders' who do nothing else but gamble our money away in big international casinos, called 'stock exchanges' and 'financial markets'. These people never produce anything, never buy or sell anything real, and don't give a hoot for the rest of us. They award themselves with huge 'bonuses' for their criminal gambling, and we all are supposed to pick up the tab when they mess up.
It is ever more clear to me that all this crisis can only be overcome in one way: With a big revolution!
Sunday 19 October 2008
Turning in their Graves...
"The leaders of 1916 must be turning in their gravesover the mess Fianna Fail has made of Ireland..."
Joe Behan, TD (from Co. Wicklow)
who resigned from Fianna Fail over the 2009 Budget
Failing Fianna Fail is heading for China
Taoiseach Brian Cowen was due to leave for China today, heading a large delegation of politicians and businessmen from Ireland.But the crisis he and his Finance Minister Brian Lenihan caused with the 2009 Budget made him to stay home for another while. And at lunchtime he appeared on This Week, a Sunday current affairs programme on RTE Radio 1, trying to defend his policies and the budget.
He did a bad job, defending the indefensible, and demonstrated once again that he does not derseve the title Taoiseach, which is the Irish word for leader.
Meanwhile the delegation left for China without Cowen and is now headed by his Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe.It is rumoured that the happy Corkman and former teacher will not only negotiate with the Chinese about trade issues, which is the main purpose of the trip. O'Keeffe may also explore if China is willing to give political asylum to leading Fianna Fail politicians in case they are losing power in Ireland, a possibility ever more likely now.
Saturday 18 October 2008
Republicans - the Sick Party
Sarah Palin - just one heartbeat away fromthe man who will never be US President...
McCain's fake Plumber
A few days ago a previously unknown man approached Senator Barack Obama while he was out campaigning in Toledo, in the crucial 'swing' state of Ohio.
This man introduced himself as "Joe Wurzelbacher" (now this is some name to remember, coming second probably only to Arnold Schwarzenegger), told Obama that he was a local plumber and not happy with the proposed taxation policies of the Democratic candidate for the US presidency. Like any man who wants to win votes, the Illinois Senator listened for a while and argued with the man who had a shaven head and looked very 'Germanic' in a threatening kind of way.
While the conversation went on, "Joe the Plumber" - as he is apparently known to his friends - told Senator Obama that he was planning to buy the business for which he currently works, but if the Democrats would pass Obama's proposed changes to the tax system, he would not be able to do that.
As Barack Obama proposes to reduce the tax burden for the vast majority of US citizens - except the super-rich - this was a strange line of argument and no-one remembered much of it after a few minutes.
But then a strange succession of events began to make "Joe Wurzelbacher" a famous man in the USA, at least famous for fifteen minutes.
First he appeared in the campaign reports of Fox News, the most odious right-wing propaganda TV channel in the USA, which is owned by the Australian-born US citizen Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire media mogul and sleaze merchant who also owns many UK newspapers (including The Times, the Sun and the News of the World) and has the controlling stake in Sky TV.
And then - surprise, surprise - John McCain brought "Joe the Plumber" up towards the end of his third live TV debate with Barack Obama. How did he know about him? Or did he actually know him? That looked fishy even to the most gullible people, and soon some journalists were on their way to find out more about the Ohio plumber with the strange Austrian name. They soon found a lot about him, but - surprise, surprise - it does not in any way tally with the story he told about himself.
But there is another possibility. He could simply be a stooge, a Republican propagandist, who was deliberately planted into the meeting with Obama to stir up trouble. Why else was he - of all the people present - filmed and interviewed by the right-wing Fox News? And why was McCain so quick to use him as an example?
The whole affair looks to me very much like the handwriting of Karl Rove (real name Karl Röver and named after his grandfather, a senior official in Hitler's Nazi party) who was George W. Bush closest adviser and campaign manager. He organised several stunts like this during the 2004 presidential election campaign, especially in the 'swing' state Ohio, which Bush narrowly won eventually.
Officially Rove is now in the background, but he still controls the strings of the Republican party propaganda machine. And one of his closest associates - a man called Steve Schmidt - is John McCain's chief campaign manager. The links are obvious, and "Joe the Plumber" is as bogus as the whole hate and smear campaign Karl Rove, Steve Schmidt, Sarah Palin and John McCain are running against Barack Obama. Let's hope that the Americans as a whole are not as stpuid as the Republicans think they are...
This man introduced himself as "Joe Wurzelbacher" (now this is some name to remember, coming second probably only to Arnold Schwarzenegger), told Obama that he was a local plumber and not happy with the proposed taxation policies of the Democratic candidate for the US presidency. Like any man who wants to win votes, the Illinois Senator listened for a while and argued with the man who had a shaven head and looked very 'Germanic' in a threatening kind of way.
While the conversation went on, "Joe the Plumber" - as he is apparently known to his friends - told Senator Obama that he was planning to buy the business for which he currently works, but if the Democrats would pass Obama's proposed changes to the tax system, he would not be able to do that.As Barack Obama proposes to reduce the tax burden for the vast majority of US citizens - except the super-rich - this was a strange line of argument and no-one remembered much of it after a few minutes.
But then a strange succession of events began to make "Joe Wurzelbacher" a famous man in the USA, at least famous for fifteen minutes.First he appeared in the campaign reports of Fox News, the most odious right-wing propaganda TV channel in the USA, which is owned by the Australian-born US citizen Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire media mogul and sleaze merchant who also owns many UK newspapers (including The Times, the Sun and the News of the World) and has the controlling stake in Sky TV.
And then - surprise, surprise - John McCain brought "Joe the Plumber" up towards the end of his third live TV debate with Barack Obama. How did he know about him? Or did he actually know him? That looked fishy even to the most gullible people, and soon some journalists were on their way to find out more about the Ohio plumber with the strange Austrian name. They soon found a lot about him, but - surprise, surprise - it does not in any way tally with the story he told about himself.
- His name is not "Joe" but "Sam" - short for Samuel Wurzelbacher.
- He is not a plumber. At least he does not have a licence, which all qualified plumbers in his area are required to have. So either he is no plumber at all, or not a qualified one.
- The firm he says he is working for - and which he wanted to buy and take over - does not have a plumbing licence either. So either they are fly-by-night cowboy plumbers, working illegally, or not in that line of business at all.
- According to his tax returns, Mr. Wurzelbacher earns about $ 40,000 per annum. On that basis he would not be in a financial position to buy his employer's business, which is currently valued at around $ 250,000.
- And - again according to tax records - Mr. Wurzelbacher still has an unpaid tax bill of $ 1200 outstanding. So he is already in trouble with his taxes now, after nearly eight years under the Republican Bush administration.
But there is another possibility. He could simply be a stooge, a Republican propagandist, who was deliberately planted into the meeting with Obama to stir up trouble. Why else was he - of all the people present - filmed and interviewed by the right-wing Fox News? And why was McCain so quick to use him as an example?
The whole affair looks to me very much like the handwriting of Karl Rove (real name Karl Röver and named after his grandfather, a senior official in Hitler's Nazi party) who was George W. Bush closest adviser and campaign manager. He organised several stunts like this during the 2004 presidential election campaign, especially in the 'swing' state Ohio, which Bush narrowly won eventually.
Officially Rove is now in the background, but he still controls the strings of the Republican party propaganda machine. And one of his closest associates - a man called Steve Schmidt - is John McCain's chief campaign manager. The links are obvious, and "Joe the Plumber" is as bogus as the whole hate and smear campaign Karl Rove, Steve Schmidt, Sarah Palin and John McCain are running against Barack Obama. Let's hope that the Americans as a whole are not as stpuid as the Republicans think they are...
Friday 17 October 2008
Shooting from the Lip
Willie O'Dea, TD, Ireland's Minister for Defence,has now got a new job, defending the indefensible fiscal
atrocities inflicted on the Irish people by the 2009 Budget.
While Finance Minister Brian Lenihan is hiding behind a
'huge workload' in his department, Willie is sent out into the
media as new government spokesman, shooting from the lip
and thus adding insult to the injuries Fianna Fail is inflicting
on us. Often seen as the comedian in the Cabinet, Willie O'Dea
is anything but funny when he tries to tell us that we all have
to bear the extra taxes a wasteful and ignorant government
is settling us with now, ten years after they squandered all the
wealth of the 'Celtic Tiger'. We won't forget this, Willie!
Thursday 16 October 2008
Bertie's Book?
This front cover design of Bertie Ahern's up-coming book has been obtained from a well-known Irish publisher.
The graphic similarities to the chick lit novels
of his daughter Celia are obvious and intentional.
President in waiting?
Remember Bertie Ahern?
It's been very quiet lately around the backbench TD from Drumcondra, Bass drinker, chancer, constant witness (at the Mahon Tribunal), happy father of a novelist and relaxed grandfather, since he resigned as Taoiseach and handed the office, as well as the leadership of Fianna Fail, over to Brian Cowen.
He is seen in Leinster House now and then - but not very often - and only attends sessions of the Dail occassionally. What else he is doing is a bit of a mystery.
Some say that he is writing his memoires. Well, given all the things he cannot remember in front of the tribunal, this might turn out to be a very small and short book...
But insiders have another piece of information, and that sounds really interesting and very, very alarming. Apparently Bertie is deliberately keeping a low profile to make us forget what he did during his years as Taoiseach, and - more important - what he failed to do while at the helm, such as preparing the state for a recession (that many analysts predicted correctly for years).
He is - they say - quietly preparing a come-back. Not at Leinster House though. There he has truly and thoroughly burned his ships for good. No, Bertie is aiming higher.
Since the chance to become the first permanent President of the EU was shattered by the Irish NO to the Lisbon Treaty, Bertie Ahern has now set his eyes on Phoenix Park. There is a lot of evidence that he wants to become the next President of Ireland, when President Mary McAleese (left) comes to the end of her second seven-year term in 2011 and cannot stand again.
Well, Bertie is obviously hoping that the Irish people have a very short memory, or even suffer from the same kind of partial amnesia he has claimed for himself so many times at the Mahon Tribunal. If his ploy works, we will become a real laughing stock around the world and could as well elect Micky Mouse as our next President. I think that the Irish nation deserves a lot better.
It's been very quiet lately around the backbench TD from Drumcondra, Bass drinker, chancer, constant witness (at the Mahon Tribunal), happy father of a novelist and relaxed grandfather, since he resigned as Taoiseach and handed the office, as well as the leadership of Fianna Fail, over to Brian Cowen.
He is seen in Leinster House now and then - but not very often - and only attends sessions of the Dail occassionally. What else he is doing is a bit of a mystery.
Some say that he is writing his memoires. Well, given all the things he cannot remember in front of the tribunal, this might turn out to be a very small and short book...
But insiders have another piece of information, and that sounds really interesting and very, very alarming. Apparently Bertie is deliberately keeping a low profile to make us forget what he did during his years as Taoiseach, and - more important - what he failed to do while at the helm, such as preparing the state for a recession (that many analysts predicted correctly for years).
He is - they say - quietly preparing a come-back. Not at Leinster House though. There he has truly and thoroughly burned his ships for good. No, Bertie is aiming higher.Since the chance to become the first permanent President of the EU was shattered by the Irish NO to the Lisbon Treaty, Bertie Ahern has now set his eyes on Phoenix Park. There is a lot of evidence that he wants to become the next President of Ireland, when President Mary McAleese (left) comes to the end of her second seven-year term in 2011 and cannot stand again.
Well, Bertie is obviously hoping that the Irish people have a very short memory, or even suffer from the same kind of partial amnesia he has claimed for himself so many times at the Mahon Tribunal. If his ploy works, we will become a real laughing stock around the world and could as well elect Micky Mouse as our next President. I think that the Irish nation deserves a lot better.
Wednesday 15 October 2008
Ireland's new national Symbol
The Laughing Banana
(laughing all the way to the bank)
Ireland's new national symbol that will replace
the traditional Shamrock on 1 January 2009
Expensive Bananas
The European Commission has fined the banana importers Dole, Del Monte and Weichert a total of € 60.3 million for price fixing in violation of the EU's strict antitrust laws.
The infringement covered the period from January 2000 to January 2002.
California-based Dole was fined € 45.6 million, with Del Monte (USA) and Weichert (Germany, but now controlled by Irish banana giant Fyffe) jointly accountable for € 14.7 million of the fine.
I always knew that Ireland is really a banana republic...
The infringement covered the period from January 2000 to January 2002.
California-based Dole was fined € 45.6 million, with Del Monte (USA) and Weichert (Germany, but now controlled by Irish banana giant Fyffe) jointly accountable for € 14.7 million of the fine.
I always knew that Ireland is really a banana republic...
Tuesday 14 October 2008
The Highwayman comes riding...
Fianna Fail's Chief Highwayman Brian Lenihan"In the name of the Taoiseach, myself
and the unholy spirit of Fianna Fail:
I order you to stand and deliver!"
Lenihan robs the Poor and spares the Rich
What do you expect from a lawyer?
- To be taken to the cleaners.
And what do you expect from a lawyer who is Minister for Finance?
- To be taken to the cleaners even more.
So today's Budget should not really surprise you.
We are in recession and the economy is shrinking, thanks to ten years of clueless government that was too busy with filling its own pockets and those of their millionaire cronies. They simply had no time to look after the people and the country, or prepare for the rainy days that inevitably come in Ireland after a period of sunshine.
But now that it not just rains, but pours, Brian Lenihan - a Dublin lawyer, TD and Minister for Finance - has to deliver the bad news to everybody, except Fianna Fail's millionaire cronies of course.
They are getting away with the loot from the 'Celtic Tiger' scot free, laughing all the way to the bank, if they can still find one that is trustworthy.
So, after the government, that was still swimming in extra billions only two years ago, has lost all credibility and squandered all the money, we - the people of Ireland - will have to pay for it.
Well, that's only fair, isn't it? After all, we elected the scoundrels, and kept electing them, since we were too blind, too drunk or both to see what was happening around us.
We all will pay more income tax, which is fine with me. In a crisis we all have to pull together and make a contribution. But what is not correct is that we all have to pay 1% extra, while those with an annual income over € 100,000 pay only 2% extra. They could easily afford 3% or even 5% as a contribution. Or Lenihan could have made a sliding scale: 1% for everyone; 2% for those with more than € 100,000; 3% for those over € 200,000; 4% for those with € 300,000 or more; and 5% for those over € 500,000.
But no, the rich and super-rich are still untouchable in Ireland, at least as long as Fianna Fail is in government.
Instead the over 70-year-olds will be robbed of their medical card, which Fianna Fail gave them seven years ago to buy the grey vote. This - so Lenihan says - will save € 100 million a year. It's a very bad joke. While we are bailing out the corrupt and incompetent banks with up to € 400 billion of state (= taxpayers' money) guarantee, we now have to scrap the barrel for an extra € 100 million from the old age pensioners.
This is not only scandalous, it is declaring war on the old and sick! Almost a kind of state-educed fiscal euthenasia.
There is a lot more, but I won't bore you with the details, as you can read them all in tomorrow's newspapers. As usual cigarettes, wine and petrol will get dearer, and the farmers and millionaires will keep their perks.
Thanks a lot, Brian! You had the chance to make a real mark with your first budget, and you had the opportunity to be seen as a man who cares and can handle money well. Sadly you missed the golden opportunity to unite the people and make the rich pay their share to the national recovery funds. You have not. Instead you prefare to run down the same lane all your shabby predecessors - from Haughey over Bertie to Biffo - have chosen: rob the poor, the old and the young, squeeze the hard-working middle classes, but leave your fat cat cronies in joy and luxury.
It might take another while, but after this budget - on top of all the other bad decisions Fianna Fail made over the past ten years - you will have your come-uppence in good time. Anyone who will still vote Fianna Fail in future deserves to be stripped and robbed of everything and left by the wayside. That's also the place where you will find yourself, after the Irish voters are finished with you and your ilk.
- To be taken to the cleaners.
And what do you expect from a lawyer who is Minister for Finance?
- To be taken to the cleaners even more.
So today's Budget should not really surprise you.
We are in recession and the economy is shrinking, thanks to ten years of clueless government that was too busy with filling its own pockets and those of their millionaire cronies. They simply had no time to look after the people and the country, or prepare for the rainy days that inevitably come in Ireland after a period of sunshine.
But now that it not just rains, but pours, Brian Lenihan - a Dublin lawyer, TD and Minister for Finance - has to deliver the bad news to everybody, except Fianna Fail's millionaire cronies of course.They are getting away with the loot from the 'Celtic Tiger' scot free, laughing all the way to the bank, if they can still find one that is trustworthy.
So, after the government, that was still swimming in extra billions only two years ago, has lost all credibility and squandered all the money, we - the people of Ireland - will have to pay for it.
Well, that's only fair, isn't it? After all, we elected the scoundrels, and kept electing them, since we were too blind, too drunk or both to see what was happening around us.
We all will pay more income tax, which is fine with me. In a crisis we all have to pull together and make a contribution. But what is not correct is that we all have to pay 1% extra, while those with an annual income over € 100,000 pay only 2% extra. They could easily afford 3% or even 5% as a contribution. Or Lenihan could have made a sliding scale: 1% for everyone; 2% for those with more than € 100,000; 3% for those over € 200,000; 4% for those with € 300,000 or more; and 5% for those over € 500,000.
But no, the rich and super-rich are still untouchable in Ireland, at least as long as Fianna Fail is in government.
Instead the over 70-year-olds will be robbed of their medical card, which Fianna Fail gave them seven years ago to buy the grey vote. This - so Lenihan says - will save € 100 million a year. It's a very bad joke. While we are bailing out the corrupt and incompetent banks with up to € 400 billion of state (= taxpayers' money) guarantee, we now have to scrap the barrel for an extra € 100 million from the old age pensioners.
This is not only scandalous, it is declaring war on the old and sick! Almost a kind of state-educed fiscal euthenasia.
There is a lot more, but I won't bore you with the details, as you can read them all in tomorrow's newspapers. As usual cigarettes, wine and petrol will get dearer, and the farmers and millionaires will keep their perks.
Thanks a lot, Brian! You had the chance to make a real mark with your first budget, and you had the opportunity to be seen as a man who cares and can handle money well. Sadly you missed the golden opportunity to unite the people and make the rich pay their share to the national recovery funds. You have not. Instead you prefare to run down the same lane all your shabby predecessors - from Haughey over Bertie to Biffo - have chosen: rob the poor, the old and the young, squeeze the hard-working middle classes, but leave your fat cat cronies in joy and luxury.
It might take another while, but after this budget - on top of all the other bad decisions Fianna Fail made over the past ten years - you will have your come-uppence in good time. Anyone who will still vote Fianna Fail in future deserves to be stripped and robbed of everything and left by the wayside. That's also the place where you will find yourself, after the Irish voters are finished with you and your ilk.
Monday 13 October 2008
Fifth Incarnation of the Prince of Darkness
When government ministers in Ireland make a mess of things, nothing happens to them. They just carry on as usual. Such is our green Banana Republic (without bananas).
When the same happens in Britain, the minister who misbehaved, mislead parliament or was found with his pants down in one way or another has to resign, and usually quite quickly.
To Peter Mandelson this happened not once, but twice. And he is still one of the most hated men in the UK and in his own party.
Some might say this is strange, and that the British Labour Party is ungrateful to a man who was for years part of the team that made it electable again, after nearly 18 years in opposition. But in politics thanks is the last thing anyone should expect, regardless what he does.
Mandelson is a very bright man, there is no doubt about it. But he is also devious and a true schemer if there ever was one. Since his appointment as Labour's director of communications in 1985 he has done plenty to earn his nickname "The Prince of Darkness".
Together with Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Alistair Campbell (Blair's devious press secretary and communications director) Mandelson was part of the quartet that changed the Labour Party and turned it into "New Labour".
He was also the first of the many Labour "spin doctors". In fact he was the father of all spin and creator of the black art of political shape-shifting which brought "New Labour" to power in 1997 and is still widely practised throughout the British government.
His ministerial career looked at first very promising. After Blair's election victory, Mandelson became his special troubleshooter as "Minister without Portfolio" in the Cabinet Office.
A year later he was promoted to Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, but soon after he was forced to resign. Newspapers discovered and published details of a dodgy deal he did a few years earlier when buying a house way above his income level.
For ten months he was in "the wilderness" (as UK politicians call a state of disgrace), but nine years ago, in October 1999, Tony Blair brought him back as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. This time he lasted 16 months, during which he oversaw the creation of the power-sharing agreement between unionists and nationalists. But he was never very popular with either side. There was great suspicion about him and his intensions, not least after he began the job with a strange gaffe. In his very first speech he referred to himself as the "Secretary of State for Ireland." Not the kind of thing Irish people like to hear, especially not if they are nationalists.
In January 2001 Peter Mandelson had to resign again over an interference at the Home Office, where he had intervened on behalf of the billionaire Hinduja brothers, Indian businessmen who had obtained British citizenship with his help. It did not help that the brothers were investigated by the Indian government over an arms selling scandal.
In the 2001 general election he retained his seat, but stayed on the backbenches and kept fairly quiet. It came as a bit of a surprise to many when Tony Blair gave him a forth incarnation in the Autumn of 2004 - just four years ago - and appointed him as the British EU Commissioner. He was given the Trade portfolio and soon made himself a lot of new enemies throughout Europe and around the world over his attitudes in the World Trade negotiations.
Especially angry were the Irish farmers, who even staged one of their rare mass protests over Mandelson's policies in Dublin earlier this year.
After four years in Brussels it was an even bigger surprise that Gordon Brown, Blairs successor as British Prime Minister, called him back into the Cabinet in his recent reshuffle.
Mandelson is once again heading the Department of Trade & Industry, now renamed Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, and is also President of the Board of Trade.
But since Mandelson is no longer an MP and Labour does not want to risk yet another by-election - having lost the recent ones spectacularly and facing another one soon in Scotland - Mandelson was made a Lord instead. This is the first time for ages that a Secretary of State sits in the House of Lords instead of the House of Commons. And for Mandelson - now The Right Hon. Baron Mandelson of Foy and Hartlepool (which is his former constituency) - it is the fifth political incarnation.
They say that cats have nine lives. I wonder how many the "Prince of Darkness" has...
When the same happens in Britain, the minister who misbehaved, mislead parliament or was found with his pants down in one way or another has to resign, and usually quite quickly.
To Peter Mandelson this happened not once, but twice. And he is still one of the most hated men in the UK and in his own party.Some might say this is strange, and that the British Labour Party is ungrateful to a man who was for years part of the team that made it electable again, after nearly 18 years in opposition. But in politics thanks is the last thing anyone should expect, regardless what he does.
Mandelson is a very bright man, there is no doubt about it. But he is also devious and a true schemer if there ever was one. Since his appointment as Labour's director of communications in 1985 he has done plenty to earn his nickname "The Prince of Darkness".
Together with Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Alistair Campbell (Blair's devious press secretary and communications director) Mandelson was part of the quartet that changed the Labour Party and turned it into "New Labour".
He was also the first of the many Labour "spin doctors". In fact he was the father of all spin and creator of the black art of political shape-shifting which brought "New Labour" to power in 1997 and is still widely practised throughout the British government.
His ministerial career looked at first very promising. After Blair's election victory, Mandelson became his special troubleshooter as "Minister without Portfolio" in the Cabinet Office.
A year later he was promoted to Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, but soon after he was forced to resign. Newspapers discovered and published details of a dodgy deal he did a few years earlier when buying a house way above his income level.
For ten months he was in "the wilderness" (as UK politicians call a state of disgrace), but nine years ago, in October 1999, Tony Blair brought him back as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. This time he lasted 16 months, during which he oversaw the creation of the power-sharing agreement between unionists and nationalists. But he was never very popular with either side. There was great suspicion about him and his intensions, not least after he began the job with a strange gaffe. In his very first speech he referred to himself as the "Secretary of State for Ireland." Not the kind of thing Irish people like to hear, especially not if they are nationalists.
In January 2001 Peter Mandelson had to resign again over an interference at the Home Office, where he had intervened on behalf of the billionaire Hinduja brothers, Indian businessmen who had obtained British citizenship with his help. It did not help that the brothers were investigated by the Indian government over an arms selling scandal.
In the 2001 general election he retained his seat, but stayed on the backbenches and kept fairly quiet. It came as a bit of a surprise to many when Tony Blair gave him a forth incarnation in the Autumn of 2004 - just four years ago - and appointed him as the British EU Commissioner. He was given the Trade portfolio and soon made himself a lot of new enemies throughout Europe and around the world over his attitudes in the World Trade negotiations.
Especially angry were the Irish farmers, who even staged one of their rare mass protests over Mandelson's policies in Dublin earlier this year.
After four years in Brussels it was an even bigger surprise that Gordon Brown, Blairs successor as British Prime Minister, called him back into the Cabinet in his recent reshuffle.Mandelson is once again heading the Department of Trade & Industry, now renamed Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, and is also President of the Board of Trade.
But since Mandelson is no longer an MP and Labour does not want to risk yet another by-election - having lost the recent ones spectacularly and facing another one soon in Scotland - Mandelson was made a Lord instead. This is the first time for ages that a Secretary of State sits in the House of Lords instead of the House of Commons. And for Mandelson - now The Right Hon. Baron Mandelson of Foy and Hartlepool (which is his former constituency) - it is the fifth political incarnation.
They say that cats have nine lives. I wonder how many the "Prince of Darkness" has...
Sunday 12 October 2008
Looking for the frozen Assets of ICEBANK
After ICEBANK's assets were frozen last week,the British government has now sent experts
to Iceland to find a solution for the problem.
What a Difference 18 Months make...
Last week everyone - from bankers over politicians to ordinary folk - were shocked by the sudden and total collapse of the Icelandic banking group ICEBANK.
For years that bank had grown and grown, out of all proportions, and no-one seemed to have realised that Iceland is a small country with only 300,000 people, no heavy industry and - apart from fishing and whaling - not much industry at all. So why was this tiny country with very few resources suddenly so attractive as a banking place?
The answer is risk. ICEBANK was willing to take more and higher risks than most other banks, and in exchange they offered higher interest rates to their customers. Many of the small deposits are safeguarded by various national guarantee schemes. But no-one has any idea what is going to happen to larger investors, including 'Transport for London' (which deposited over £ 40 million), more than 100 UK county councils and - wait for it - also several UK police authorities.
You wonder why all these official British institutions did not trust British banks and put their money into off-shore accounts in Iseland?
I just came across an ICEBANK press release, less than 18 months old. Read it for yourself, and you will undertstand why we are in a crisis. (The original text was set in plain type. Emboldened parts and those set in red are my way of highlighting important points. Green text is added by me.)
Hint: Pay special attention to the list of other banks that are involved in the interconnected and multi-nationally entangled financial transaction. If you have any money left in any of the banks listed, then take it out as soon as you can.
ICEBANK today signed a syndicated term loan facility for € 217,000,000 - which is equivalent to ISK 19 billion - provided by 34 European banks. Owing to heavy oversubscription and the number of investors who showed interest, the final figure is more than twice what Icebank originally sought. This is indicative of the high level of confidence that Icebank enjoys abroad, and is seen by its management as an encouragement to further expansion both in Iceland and abroad.
The signing of the loan facility took place in Berchtesgaden, Germany. [Why? Was Reykjavík not good or posh enough? No, that's not it. Icebank combined the signing of the new scheme with a happy day-out of food, fun and games for its staff, visiting the world-famous Berchtesgaden salt mines in passing as well. (see photos below)]
The loan facility, which is for a term of three years, was launched for general syndication on 8 March this year, and the response was immediately strong. The interest premium, 0.46%, is in line with the terms that Iceland’s banks currently enjoy. The loan will be used to refinance older loans and to finance Icebank’s further expansion.
Finnur Sveinbjörnsson, CEO of Icebank, tel. 540 4000.
Agnar Hansson, Managing Director, Treasury and Capital Markets, tel. 540 4000.
For years that bank had grown and grown, out of all proportions, and no-one seemed to have realised that Iceland is a small country with only 300,000 people, no heavy industry and - apart from fishing and whaling - not much industry at all. So why was this tiny country with very few resources suddenly so attractive as a banking place?
The answer is risk. ICEBANK was willing to take more and higher risks than most other banks, and in exchange they offered higher interest rates to their customers. Many of the small deposits are safeguarded by various national guarantee schemes. But no-one has any idea what is going to happen to larger investors, including 'Transport for London' (which deposited over £ 40 million), more than 100 UK county councils and - wait for it - also several UK police authorities.
You wonder why all these official British institutions did not trust British banks and put their money into off-shore accounts in Iseland?
I just came across an ICEBANK press release, less than 18 months old. Read it for yourself, and you will undertstand why we are in a crisis. (The original text was set in plain type. Emboldened parts and those set in red are my way of highlighting important points. Green text is added by me.)
Hint: Pay special attention to the list of other banks that are involved in the interconnected and multi-nationally entangled financial transaction. If you have any money left in any of the banks listed, then take it out as soon as you can.
Largest syndicated loan facility
in Icebank’s history
Reykjavík, 26 April 2007
in Icebank’s history
Reykjavík, 26 April 2007
ICEBANK today signed a syndicated term loan facility for € 217,000,000 - which is equivalent to ISK 19 billion - provided by 34 European banks. Owing to heavy oversubscription and the number of investors who showed interest, the final figure is more than twice what Icebank originally sought. This is indicative of the high level of confidence that Icebank enjoys abroad, and is seen by its management as an encouragement to further expansion both in Iceland and abroad.
The signing of the loan facility took place in Berchtesgaden, Germany. [Why? Was Reykjavík not good or posh enough? No, that's not it. Icebank combined the signing of the new scheme with a happy day-out of food, fun and games for its staff, visiting the world-famous Berchtesgaden salt mines in passing as well. (see photos below)]
“This high level of oversubscription by European investors reflects the high level of confidence they have in the bank,” says Finnur Sveinbjörnsson, CEO of Icebank.
“Their response is an encouragement to us, and opens up a lot of interesting possibilities in accordance with our strategy. Last year saw the best performance in Icebank’s history, and it is well prepared for further expansion.”
Four prominent European banks acted as mandated lead arrangers: BayernLB (which had its own scandal already earlier and is now deeply affected by the collapse of Hypo Real Estate) in Germany, Fortis Bank (which collapsed a few days ago and had to be rescued by the governments of France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) in Belgium, HSH Nordbank in Germany and the Austrian bank Raiffeisen Zentralbank. A list of other providers is appended below.
For further information please contact:Finnur Sveinbjörnsson, CEO of Icebank, tel. 540 4000.
Agnar Hansson, Managing Director, Treasury and Capital Markets, tel. 540 4000.
ICEBANK is a commercial bank, focusing on wholesale and investment banking services to savings banks, Icelandic and foreign financial institutions and other large customers. It is owned by the savings banks in Iceland (a miniscule country of only 300,000 people).
Other providers:
Lead Arrangers:- Commerzbank International S.A.
- Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, London Branch
- Natixis
- Norddeutsche Landesbank Luxembourg S.A.
- The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd.
- Zürcher Kantonalbank
Arranger: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Europe Ltd.
Lead Manager:
- Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, London Branch
- Banque et Caisse d'Epargne de l'Etat, Luxembourg
- Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank AG
- Chang Hwa Commercial Bank, Ltd., London Branch
- Geral de Depósitos, S.A. – Sucursal Financeira Exterior
- DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank, Frankfurt am Main
- Landesbank Saar
- WGZ Bank AG Westdeutsche Genossenschafts-Zentralbank
Manager:
- American Express Bank GmbH
- Arbejdernes Landsbank
- BRE Bank SA
- Dresdner Bank AG
- Erste Bank der österreichischen Sparkassen AG
- Mega International Commercial Bank Co. Ltd. Offshore Banking Branch
- National Bank of Egypt (UK) Limited
- Oberbank AG
- Raiffeisenlandesbank Burgenland und Revisionsverband (registrierte Genossenschaft mit beschränkter Haftung)
- Salzburger Landes-Hypothekenbank Aktiengesellschaft
- Sparebanken Øst
- Raiffeisenlandesbank Kärnten
- Banco Popolare di Verona e Novara S.c.r.l., London Branch
- Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien AG
Saturday 11 October 2008
Sarah Palin is a Bitch
Well, we should not really be surprised about Sarah Palin. In her first public speech - at the Republican convention which made her the 'running mate' (a strange word with more than one meaning) of John 'Oldie' McCain - she said it herself, for all the world to hear: she is a bitch, a pit-bull with lipstick.
Now the independent inquiry into her less than two years of gubernatorial experience in Alaska has found that "Sarah Palin abused her authority by pressuring subordinates to fire a state trooper involved in a feud with her family".
The story is that her sister had married a 'state trooper' (policeman), the marriage didn't work (as so many others) and broke up (as so many others). After the divorce there was some dispute over access rights to the child (also quite common) and some harsh words were exchanged (happens here all the time).
But then governor Palin demanded from the public safety commissioner (who is in charge of the state troopers), a man named Walt Monegan (sound oirish), that he should fire Trooper Wootten who had been stupid enough to marry Palin's sister. Not because he was a bad policeman. Oh no!
Trooper Wootten's only crime was that he had fallen out with a member of the Palin family.
When Commissioner Monegan refused to break and bend the law in order to please his governor, she sacked him instead of Trooper Wootten. That's the kind of woman Sarah Palin is. A bitch.
She wouldn't know what fairness is, if it came along the road and hugged her... She is just an evil and meanspirited bitch, badly educated, biased, prejudist, creationist, reationary and - most of all - power-hungry.
Beware Ye, people of the United States...
though hast a beast at the gates of the White House!
Now the independent inquiry into her less than two years of gubernatorial experience in Alaska has found that "Sarah Palin abused her authority by pressuring subordinates to fire a state trooper involved in a feud with her family".
Why am I not surprised...?
The story is that her sister had married a 'state trooper' (policeman), the marriage didn't work (as so many others) and broke up (as so many others). After the divorce there was some dispute over access rights to the child (also quite common) and some harsh words were exchanged (happens here all the time).
But then governor Palin demanded from the public safety commissioner (who is in charge of the state troopers), a man named Walt Monegan (sound oirish), that he should fire Trooper Wootten who had been stupid enough to marry Palin's sister. Not because he was a bad policeman. Oh no!
Trooper Wootten's only crime was that he had fallen out with a member of the Palin family.
When Commissioner Monegan refused to break and bend the law in order to please his governor, she sacked him instead of Trooper Wootten. That's the kind of woman Sarah Palin is. A bitch.
She wouldn't know what fairness is, if it came along the road and hugged her... She is just an evil and meanspirited bitch, badly educated, biased, prejudist, creationist, reationary and - most of all - power-hungry.
Sarah the hunter... she needs to find and kill her prey, and the more the better. No other creature has any rights or chances in her world. It's a dog's world. Dog bites dog. And bitch bites everyone else...
Beware Ye, people of the United States...
though hast a beast at the gates of the White House!
Friday 10 October 2008
Thanks George, you've fucked us all!
In November 2000 George W. Bush (better known as Dubya) was not elected President.In December 2000 the US Supreme Court, most of whose members were appointed by Dubya's father George Herbert Walker Bush, decided with a 5:4 vote that Dubya should be President.
In January 2001 Dubya was inaugurated as President, and in his speech he said that he had to come to Washington to "demand a refund" for too much taxes he had paid apparently.
Until September 10th, 2001 Dubya was a 'lame duck' President, who could not get one single law he proposed passed in Congress.
On September 11th, 2001 he sat in a primary school in Florida, land of the 'hanging chads', to read simple sentences with real seven-year-olds. All leading members of his administration - except Dick Cheney, who sat in the bunker of the National Defense Center - were doing similar 'important' things outside Washington.
Meanwhile some nutters crashed two airliners into the World Trade Center in New York. Later that day Dubya declared that this was the work of one Osama bin Laden, whose name no-one else had ever heard before. But Dubya knew him well, as his family is doing business with the Laden family for more than 40 years. (It turned out that Osama bin Laden had been a CIA agent, organising radical Muslims in Pakistan, to fight against the Russians in Afghanistan.)
- On September 12th, 2001 Dubya declared war on 'terror'. Suddenly Congress became a flock of lame sheep, just bleating and nodding to everything Dubya wanted. And the US media became quaint as well, becoming the complacent unofficial propaganda instrument of a criminal regime.
- On October 7th, 2001 Dubya began the illegal invasion of Afghanistan, a country that had never done any harm to the USA.
- On March 20th, 2003 Dubya began the illegal invasion of Iraq, another country that had never done any harm to the USA.
Both wars have cost the US taxpayers meanwhile more than $ 600 billion - and counting.
About $ 100 billion - including $ 20 billion in cash - have disappeared in Iraq without trace.
In November 2004 Dubya won the presidential election - yes, this time he actually was elected - with a majority of 50.7% (to 48.3% for John Kerry) after an odious campaign full of lies, scaremongering and religious hype.
Bush's campaign manager was the Nazi sympatiser Karl Rove, grandson of Karl Röver, one of Hitler's Gauleiters (party area governors).
In January 2005, at his second inauguration ceremony, Dubya declared that he had now gained "political credit" and that he was "going to spend it".
And spending he did, especially on his friends in Wall Street and political cronies, who pocketed billions.
During 2008 one by one the big Wall Street banks and finance houses crashed with huge debts, of a size never seen before in history. They all were bailed out - with the sole exception of Lehman Bros. - with hundreds of billions of US taxpayers' money. Their bosses walked away with a smile and large pay-offs or 'golden handshakes', between $ 15 million and $ 300 million per person.
Nevertheless the 'markets' remain in turmoil, share prices are in free-fall and the world is facing a total financial meltdown.
Today Dubya made another of his meaningless speeches. He said that "many of our citizens are worried about their savings and pensions". Oh yes, they are. But not he, of course, and none of his cronies. They have creamed off their millions and even billions already and are sitting pretty, no matter what will happen to the rest of us.
Offering no new remedies, he then said: "We are a prosperous nation with immense resources and a wide range of tools at our disposal. We are using these tools aggressively."
Indeed, aggressively is the only way America is using its 'tools' - and fools - since Dubya came to power. The people of Afghanistan and Iraq can vouch for that. More than a million civilians in Iraq are dead by now - with new killings happening every day.
In Afghanistan the number is now close to 100,000 - and counting.
But not only did Dubya attack and devastate Afghanistan and Iraq, he did the same to his own country, the world's financial system and the economies of all western countries.
In fact, the USA have declared war against the rest of the world!
And what is he offering now to get out of the crisis?
More aggressive tools.
Thank's a lot, George! You've managed to fuck us all!
In three months' time you will walk away from it all, with extra billions in your private pocket, a big smile on your face and another 'Mission accomplished' sign over your door.
Damn you, you spineless criminal! Damn you for all times!
And since you pretend to be a 'Christian', I hope you'll burn in Hell for all eternity!
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