tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77921338785030507572024-03-19T11:12:15.349-07:00On The RadarViews on current affairs, war & peace etc.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792133878503050757.post-38799869215623937632011-09-13T01:57:00.000-07:002011-09-19T07:07:20.328-07:00The thin veneer of 'democracy' and Politicians calls for 'empowerment'.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">When governments make unpopular decisions, there's always a spin doctor</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">to remind us that "it's a democracy", and we must accept </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">the decisions of the elected government or vote them out in 5 years </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">time.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">That's a very thin veneer of democracy for 'the little people' not the 'big players'.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Take for example the banks. Back in 2006, when it was </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">known that we were already building far more houses than even the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">frenzied property bubble was buying up,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_969955212"> the banks were still lobbying</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_969955212"><br />
</a> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://kathleenbarrington.blogspot.com/2011/02/anglo-pressed-cowen-for-bank-law-change.html">heavily to get the regulations changed,</a> so they could take even bigger </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">and riskier gambles.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Some of the civil servants at the department of finance and staff in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">the financial regulator raised repeated concerns about this, but were </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">over-ruled. The government <a href="http://kathleenbarrington.blogspot.com/2011/02/bowing-to-bankers.html">published a bill</a> in February 2007, and</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">passed in April 2007, just BEFORE the election. No empty election promises for this crowd. T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">hey got their changes without even trading a vote for it. So much for </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">the 'currency of democracy' in Ireland.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a name='more'></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">In a proper democracy, TDs in government and opposition would have</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">been jumping up and down at how dangerous this was for the country.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">But the short-term mentalities were in play again, and they did not want to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">be unpopular. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Nobody wanted to upset the likes of Tom Parlon at the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Irish Builders Federation, or their mates the bankers and developers. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The most important item was the prospect of getting re-elected, not of</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">safeguarding the country. On that count alone, many of them did not</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">deserve to be returned to Dáil Éireann.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Having done nothing to alert the public, or resist the legislation, t</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">he last government</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">condemned the 'doom</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">mongers' and tried to convince us that somehow it </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">was our fault, as if borrowing money for a house or car, spending it, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">and continuing to repay a huge mortgage brought down the country, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">rather than lending to their buddies to make a fortune on very risky </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">deals they couldn't afford to do.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The opposition acted innocent, despite the fact that </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">they failed to provide the necessary oversight. Monitoring and</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">safeguarding the state of the economy and the nation is the actual job</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">of national parliament, not chasing votes about potholes, being </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">photographed cutting ribbons, and making serious sounding statements </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">about a crisis, which they didn't do anything to stop developing.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">And Minister Howlin seeks a <a href="http://www.thejournal.ie/government-publishes-wording-of-abbeylara-referendum-224400-Sep2011/">referendum</a> giving the TDs and Senators</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">greater powers of enquiry? Why would they not exercise the powers they</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">already had, when the task was easier and the problem smaller? They</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">could have fought against the Bankers bill back in 2007. Perhaps if</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">they had, then we wouldn't have experience the financial black hole</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">that quickly arose and resulted in the banking guarantee less than 18</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">months later.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Rather than mild finger pointing in an expensive inquiry years after</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">the fact, where were the watchdogs of democracy back when the</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">charlatans were pulling the rug from under the economy?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Why do people, (and the media) still give credence to the waffling</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">from these people who are (over)paid to steer us clear of such crises</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">in the first place? We should point fingers at the legislators and</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">watchdogs as well as bankers and developers.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">We should REDUCE the powers of TDs, Senators and Ministers, outlaw the</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">party whip system, which coerces TDs into giving their voting</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">allegiance to the central committee of a private organisation (and it's</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">vested interests). Is this really the system the people want TDs to</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">operate under, rather than having to use their vigilance, wits and</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">conscience to actually vote based on considered judgement? We should</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">also introduce a system for FIRING TDs (recall elections perhaps)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">before a Dail term ends, so that when a TD, or whole govt is so far</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">removed from the job it should be doing, the people have a peaceful</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">and legal way of saving the country from ruin.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">It seems this country has an electorate determined to continue the</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">tradition of rewarding incompetence inaction and corruption, even when</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">the cost of these rewards will be heavy burdens on future generations.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The blame for starting this crisis may not directly lie on our</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">shoulders, but our children and theirs will blame us for allowing it</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">to continue.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792133878503050757.post-68434335974163796892011-07-29T13:35:00.000-07:002011-09-13T08:48:48.199-07:00Smoking ban or smokescreen? Beware the wedge issues that distract and divide.<div><b>What is a wedge issue?</b></div><div><br />
</div><div>A <i>wedge issue</i> is a clever distraction that is used to draw public attention away from a more serious issue.</div><div>They cause the public to spend time and energy arguing over a different topic, while the government continues to push ahead with unpopular policies.</div><div><br />
</div><div>A very recent example of this is the proposal to ban smoking in cars. How many of you heard your local radio station discussing this, or saw articles about it in the paper, or were talking about it with colleagues or friends? The vast majority of you, right? Why did this topic suddenly pop out of nowhere, while the country is going down the tubes and we're being hit by cuts and charges?</div><div><br />
</div><div>Think about it, before the proposal to ban smoking in cars, if someone asked you to list the top 10 things that needed to be done to fix the country, would that ban even cross your mind?</div><div>If you got to Google News, and type in "<i>I</i><i>reland smoking in cars</i>" it returns over 13 MILLION results, from news articles in papers and radio websites across the english speaking world. And this is just a proposal.</div><div>Now<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> type in '</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>rape crisis network ireland funding cut</i>' and it returns 7 results. This is despite the fact that </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', fantasy;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;">their funding is in <b>real danger</b> of being cut off, and has only been extended by a short period. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', fantasy;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><a name='more'></a></span></span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZj3nCrZM6PQc2G15Ap3p2qjl-ywnL5nqWI1J9XaPYUbQJw3k61R42RJQI-j3L0N8BRNqXLCkxdz4y0BAn4TKNFE-4JGOVSxMdKuMUASsap-6sai9RN7f9Hv9IshcMebFqEQoZAOd6n4M/s1600/Picture+19.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZj3nCrZM6PQc2G15Ap3p2qjl-ywnL5nqWI1J9XaPYUbQJw3k61R42RJQI-j3L0N8BRNqXLCkxdz4y0BAn4TKNFE-4JGOVSxMdKuMUASsap-6sai9RN7f9Hv9IshcMebFqEQoZAOd6n4M/s400/Picture+19.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Less newsworthy than smoking in cars?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>And how many other cuts are being done quitely while we have the '<i>I'll smoke where I like</i>' versus '<i>Won't somebody PLEASE think of the children</i>' argument?<br />
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</div><div>How well informed can the general public be if they keep chasing these sensational headlines rather than focussing on what is important? <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Relatively few media pieces mentioned the fact that Engineers Ireland said that the <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0726/1224301383102.html">cost of installing water meters</a> is likely to be three times the government figure, and it would be cheaper to simply replace 5,000 kms of water pipes, which would save far more water than metering ever would.<br />
<br />
Or the fact that today 43 million euros was given to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bondwatch/136610376421120">bondholders</a>. Or a host of other issues that we should know about instead. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b>What are the typical features of a wedge issue?</b></div></div><div><ul><li>They don't come from public pressure, they seem to just pop up from thin air.</li>
<li>It will divide public opinion (if everybody agreed on it, it wouldn't be much of a distraction.)</li>
<li>There is usually no simple middle ground (e.g. Abortion, smoking in cars, you can't half-smoke or half-abort)</li>
<li>It makes a great headline 'Government to ban (x, y, or z)' </li>
<li>The topic doesn't require any great knowledge for most people to form a hard opinion. </li>
</ul></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Why are they so effective?</span></div></div><div><ul><li>People can get so sick of thinking about a problem that they unconciously welcome a distraction.</li>
<li>Wedge issues are usually simpler to grasp and form an opinion on than the bigger problem.</li>
<li>Mainstream media loves wedge issues, because they are sensational and controversial in nature.</li>
<li>People on social networks love posting on the screaming headlines about the "<b>latest big news</b>".</li>
<li>We like to think that the politicians are stupid, coming up with these "<b>silly schemes</b>".</li>
<li>Loads of unpopular decisions slip by unnoticed, while we argue about a red herring.</li>
</ul></div><div></div></div><div>If you ever wonder why governments have so many PR advisors, this is your answer. </div><div>Everytime we ring in to Joe Duffy, or some other talk radio show to discuss a wedge issue rather than the REAL problem, we are doing their job for them and proving Mary Harney right when she said "<b>People have short memorie</b>s" or have you forgotten that already?.<br />
<br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792133878503050757.post-60723809693969085032011-07-26T16:40:00.000-07:002011-09-13T08:46:51.738-07:00Why Fine Gael's "chicken little" act doesn't add up.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBkwvJzjkTkhdxf8SYzRsFONCd7Yv8yl7f8JTFxCa0ySSeg5PSsE98_vIw6ZIRub4CzDy0dhnjNWkWK11S-WuNCM84iNY_c_OxQ9fDMkpP_uhw1SKNiaxNDuzs-kXVKRoptxC-BAVB12o/s1600/FineGaelBrianHayes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBkwvJzjkTkhdxf8SYzRsFONCd7Yv8yl7f8JTFxCa0ySSeg5PSsE98_vIw6ZIRub4CzDy0dhnjNWkWK11S-WuNCM84iNY_c_OxQ9fDMkpP_uhw1SKNiaxNDuzs-kXVKRoptxC-BAVB12o/s200/FineGaelBrianHayes.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brian Hayes, junior minister for propoganda</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Does this sound familiar "<i>If we don't do this, we'll be out of the EU,<br />
and we'll be back to the days when we had nothing</i>"? </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Nice? Lisbon? Yes, they trotted it out then, and before, and they are reheating this "chicken-little" scare tactic once more.<br />
<br />
The latest is junior minister Brian Hayes telling us that we must<br />
"clear the debts or go back under Britain's skirts."<br />
Apart from the foolishness of playing the 'Britain card' so soon after<br />
the visit of Lizzy Windsor, the threat was rubbish.<br />
The Minister managed of course to present the only options as paying off all the debts, including those of the zombie banks, or leaving the euro, losing our sovereignty (as if it was being bravely defended now).<br />
This is utter crap, which is nothing new from politicians, but it is also dangerous.<br />
This country should not pay for bankers debts, and also CANNOT pay for them, not unless it is forever strung out, by 'deals' that piece by piece privatise everything possible, while reducing living standards to something similar to Poland or Turkey. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a name='more'></a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The stringing-out option is actually the one most appealing to politicians, because of how they think. For them, burning the bondholders would be a brave/risky thing to do. Politicians do not like risk, even if it is the right thing to do.<br />
They don't like to stand up for the people if it makes them unpopular with the powers that be. (This is why Enda didn't make his 'brave speech' ten years ago when the Church was much stronger in Ireland).<br />
Kicking the can down the road, beyond the next election on the other hand is very tempting because then the crash, when it comes, can be blamed on something else. This, I suspect is the actual 'policy' in place at the moment.<br />
<br />
<b>Breaking the rules of investment </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><b></b>It's been almost a decade since I worked in investment banking, but I doubt the rules have changed all that much (the biggest change seems to have been how <i>easy</i> it is to break the rules, and we should have no sympathy for anyone who does.)<br />
<br />
<b>Rule no. 1 </b> -<span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">The value of your investments can go down as well as up.</span><br />
Investing is risky and you may bet on the wrong horse. This happens every day, and investors, if they are not bankrupt, just take what they have left and find another investment to bet on.<br />
<br />
<b>Rule no. 2</b> -<span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;"> Diversify.</span><br />
Because of rule no. 1, it's not a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket.<br />
Most funds would limit the percentage of the fund that should be in any particular sector, any particular country, (unless it is specifically a "country" fund) and any particular share, bond or derivative. Eg. A fund might have 90% of it's value in shares, 5% cash, 5% in bonds.<br />
Of the shares, 20% might be in aerospace 20% in pharmaceuticals etc, so the risk is spread across different sectors, and perhaps 5 - 10 different companies in each sector, so no more than 4% of the fund is<br />
based on one single share. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Likewise, the 5% in bonds might be spread evenly over 5 different bonds.<br />
<br />
Just knowing these two rules about investment tells you something important.<br />
First, that the bondholders are getting the best deal in the universe by having the downside removed from their reckless bets, and secondly, that the percentage of their wealth that was in our zombie banks, probably accounts for a few percent of their investments.<br />
In other words, they could easily afford to take the loss.<br />
<br />
<b>Ireland cannot afford to be an insurance policy for reckless investors.</b><br />
Unlike these investors who stand to lose a small percentage of their funds, the bonds are a huge burden for Ireland.<br />
The amount of tax collected last year was about €41 billion euro.<br />
That's a lot of money, but consider that we have not only pumped into billions into recapitalising the banks, but we've also started paying off their bonds. In September alone we paid off €55 billion of bonds<br />
that reached their maturity date.<br />
The Irish state, of course didn't have €55 billion handy. So, to pay off the banks bonds, the government issued Government bonds. The govt won't tell us who these bank bondholders are, even though Senator<br />
Norris tried to read out a list in the Seanad. In all likelihood, quite a lot of the newly issued government bonds were bought by the same people who bought the bank bonds (probably including some of the<br />
crooks who were 'managing' our banks). In other words, they'll get paid twice for lending recklessly to the banks, and at high cost of borrowing as well. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">When you consider that, the rate reduction recently agreed doesn't look like quite the great victory it is being hailed as.<br />
<br />
<b>What's a bond?</b><br />
Bonds are a way of raising money for a fixed term. They are not like normal loans, where you borrow say €100 and pay it back in roughly equal instalments. They are like an "I.O.U" that is auctioned off to the highest bidder. It promises to pay a fixed amount called a coupon at regular intervals, as well as a lump sum at the end (the maturity date).<br />
The 'coupon rate' is a bit like interest, but there's an important difference, which I'll discuss later.<br />
<br />
Take for example a 10 year €100 bond with 4% coupon rate. This "I.O.U' says, the government of ireland promises to pay the bondholder a dividend or 'coupon' of €4 (that's 4% of the €100 "par value") per year.<br />
This is usually paid out as €2 every six months, for 10 years and at the end of the ten years, the bond issuer pays over the €100 "par value" as well as the final €2 coupon.<br />
So, you would pay out €140 overall - €2 every six months for ten years with the last €102 coming right at the end.<br />
So, your payments are not evenly spread. There is a big shock at the end, for anyone who was barely scraping by paying the interest in the first 9 and a half years.<br />
<br />
Compare this to a 10 year loan at 4% where to borrow €100 you would be paying 12.15 per year, with no big shock at the end, and it would cost 121.50 overall.<br />
<br />
What's worse, is that when this "I.O.U" is auctioned, you don't actually get €100 .. you might be get €90<br />
Remember the "€100" par value is what the bondholder gets, not what you get when you sell it.<br />
Usually when a country is in trouble, its bonds sell for less than face value. Irish bonds are selling for less than the face value, and German 30 year bonds are selling for more than face value.<br />
A recent bond issue by the Irish government issued an eight year €100 bond at 4.5% and the average price was €90.49 </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">So to raise 1 billion euros, instead of issuing 10 million of the "€100" bonds, you actually have to issue over 11 million of them, about 11% more than if you sold them at the €100 par value. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">So that's 11 million interest payments, and 11 million times the par value at the end.<br />
And remember, that 4% rate is not 4% of the sale price.<br />
<br />
<i>{<span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">skip this bit if you hate maths}</span>So, if stick with our example of a 4% 10 year bond, selling at €90, </i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i>To issue enough bonds to raise €1 billion today, you pay over €44 million per year in coupons for ten years (€444 million) , and over €1.111 billion at the end of the ten years. totalling over 1.55 billion<br />
(€1,555,555,555)<br />
If we'd managed to sell the bonds at face value, then we would have only paid over €40 mill per year interest plus 1 billion on maturity, totalling 1.4 billion, so issuing below par costs a lot extra to pay back.<br />
{<span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">okay, it's safe again now.)</span></i><br />
<br />
<b>What's this about bond yield?</b><br />
That's how the people buying the bonds look at how much interest they get on their money.<br />
Bearing in mind that the bond pays a 'coupon' which is a percentage of the face value, if the bond sells for less than face value, then for the person buying it, the return on their investment is higher than<br />
the coupon rate e.g 4% of €100 is €4, but if you only paid €90 for it, this €4 is a 4.44% return on investment.<br />
<br />
If you buy a 10 year bond, you don't have to hold onto it for the full 10 years, you can sell it on to someone else, hopefully for more than you paid for it, but if it looks like a risky deal, and the price keeps falling, then you'll get a lower price for it, and the new buyer will calculate a higher yield. Irish bonds are priced so low at the minute that the yield is almost 12% on a ten year bond, and almost 15% for 2 year bonds.<br />
<br />
At the moment the government is not issuing any new bonds, so this hasn't increased the cost of our borrowing, but it tells us what the cost would be if we tried to borrow on the bond market today.<br />
<br />
One of the prime reasons that our bonds are viewed so badly is that the 'market' does not have much faith in the countries abilities to repay what it owes, seeing as we have so heavily loaded ourselves up<br />
with debt to pay off the money owed by zombie banks. Most of the money we're borrowing is for paying off the bank debts, but the increased cost of borrowing applies to all of our borrowing.<br />
<br />
<b>Kicking the can down the road.</b><br />
I've already described how the way bonds are repaid helps to disguised the huge debt on the country by delaying the largest lump sum repayment until the end, and how this suits career politicians who don't like to be unpopular. Well, one way around being wiped out when the lump sum comes due, is to issue even more bonds, to pay off the<br />
lump sum, but this of course leaves us with an even larger lump sum looming down the road.<br />
This is called a rollover, and is common practice with smaller more manageable debt.<br />
The problem with rolling over <b>massive</b> amounts of debt is that the market has you over a barrel and you can end up paying very dearly to roll it over, either through very high bond yields, or by being forced to agree to a new list of cuts and privatisations or both.<br />
<br />
The logical solution in this situation, where most of our debt is actually bank debt, is to say that we won't pay back money we didn't borrow. The markets think we are idiots to do it, but of course, they will accept the money if we're obedient enough to pay it.<br />
They try to scare us by saying nobody would lend us any more money, but this is rubbish, the european banks, cannot afford to let Ireland go down the tubes, because of the knock on effect it would have on the euro, which would wipe out a lot of value on their other investments, hurting them far more than the losses on the bonds ever would.<br />
If we tell the bankholders that they have to accept the rules of investment, and accept that their bonds in zombie banks aren't going to be paid by the state, then our own level of debt will drop, the market will consider us less of a risk, not more, and we will be in a better position for economic recovery and therefore more attractive to<br />
investors than we are now,which is on the road to financial slavery or bankruptcy.<br />
<br />
So, while it may suit our politicians and the bankers to play chicken little. It does not suit the people of Ireland. Listening to the 'experts' lecture on this, will lead to more and more money going to bankers, and more and more cuts and privatisation for us.<br />
It's time we took control of our own destiny, got out on the streets and demanded an end to this gigantic swindle that is being pushed on us.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792133878503050757.post-19609052591109904402011-07-25T11:07:00.000-07:002011-09-13T08:56:41.699-07:00Facebook as an activist tool - know the limits<span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Summary:</span><br />
<i>Some of the best websites for free non-mainstream media (like <a href="http://Indymedia.ie/">Indymedia.ie</a>) have lost readers to sites like Facebook. While Facebook can connect you and let you post (theoretically) to large numbers of people, note that fewer people may see it than you think. Also, in order to get change done, we have to engage with people who do not already agree with us. Facebook filters can actually lead us into more closed circles with people who agree with us. And while I do agree that blogs and Facebook can be useful for activism, never forget that we must do more than be keyboard warriors, and get out there in the real world with real people. </i><br />
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<b>Facebook and other online tools can be useful, if used correctly.</b><br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
In my opinion, nothing beats talking to people on the street. Few of us have the time in this busy world, so we try to use free online tools, in an attempt to mimic the mass communications power of the<br />
bought-and-paid for commercial media.<br />
One of the best examples of how this was done is Indymedia, and some of you may be familiar with the I<a href="http://www.indymedia.ie/">ndymedia Ireland website indymedia.ie </a> . On Indymedia, you can post your own stories without the need to go through the mainstream press. Indymedia was a great source of information on what was really happening at Shannon Airport and broke some exclusives of national importance. Indeed quite a few journalists were avid readers of the site.<br />
It is still a very good site in relation to topics like <a href="http://nofrackingireland.wordpress.com/">Fracking</a> or the <a href="http://www.corribsos.com/">Corrib Gas scandal</a>, but it is not as busy as it used to be, mainly because people have flocked to newer sources of information, entertainment or distraction, chiefly Facebook, but also the numerous discussion boards like politics.ie. (mostly populated by cranks)<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Another very useful site is <a href="http://www.contact.ie/">Contact.ie,</a> whereby we can select a range of options to send e-mails to all TDs, or all Senators, or all MEPS with a click of a button. I think more people should use this site, and we should be more active in letting these "representatives" know what we think. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Very few of them will actually respond, but it is sometimes interesting to read the responses, and at a minimum, when the campaign moves forward, you will be able to say 'we did contact you about this some time back' and prove it. But remember, writing a letter should only be the first formality in campaigning. </div><br />
<b>Facebook's huge audience.</b><br />
It's true, that if we took the 500 million users of Facebook to be its 'population', it would be the third most popular nation on the planet.<br />
But you don't get to reach all of them. In fact, you don't even get to reach all your 'facebook friends' sometimes.<br />
<br />
Facebook is a <b>business</b> which helps connect advertisers to potential customers through advertising.<br />
And while it can help to 'connect people' online, you should remember that if you have dozens of friends and pages '<i>liked</i>' you will get a huge '<i>firehose</i>' of new posts in your news feed.<br />
Facebook handles this for you by filtering it based on whose posts you usually 'like' or comment on. This is similar to the way in which they target ads that appear on your screen, based on what you clicked on previously. <br />
It's important to remember this filtering system if you want to use Facebook as a means of communicating and organising.<br />
As Facebook's algorithms track more and more of your '<i>like</i>' and '<i>share</i>' patterns, it shows you more posts that it thinks fit your assumed preferences and, while it's good that you may find more interesting posts, you also see fewer posts that Facebook thinks don't match your profile.<br />
So, imagine one of your friends who posts stuff every day, whether it's jokes or news or petitions on things you agree on. His post is very likely to show up on your newsfeed, even its a rehash of something you both already know and agree on.<br />
Imagine another friend who is not on Facebook every day, but when she posts, she posts something very original and interesting. You are one of her 150 friends. She may imagine that 150 people will see this post, but she'd be wrong. If it doesn't match the criteria that Facebook has <b>automatically</b> applied to your filters, it probably won't show up at all. And of course, the same applies for the things you post. <br />
<br />
The downsides of the filter can be three-fold.<br />
a) we think Facebook has more 'reach' for us than it really does, and<br />
b) we can end up finding <b>only</b> people and posts who already agree with our point of view.<br />
c) some users are overwhelmed by the sheer amount of heavy headlines one after another and are distracted from actually doing something effective about them.<br />
<br />
By the way, this can even happen with topics that do interest you, if the title of the topic is negative.<br />
E.g. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Woman stoned to death in Tehran. </span><br />
You may be interested, you may click and read, but you may feel uncomfortable clicking "<i>like</i>" as you don't like people being killed by stoning.<br />
<br />
It's also true that some people aren't that familiar with facebooks ranking system, which puts different values on clicking to read a post or link, or clicking "<i>like</i>" or "<i>share</i>".<br />
They may read, agree, but don't "<i>like</i>", or they may "<i>like</i>", but don't "<i>share</i>", and that post you spent ages writing, doesn't 'go viral' the way you thought it would. <br />
<br />
You can remedy this to a degree, by cross posting and e-mailing links, but be very careful that you're not spending increasing amounts of time tracking joining dozens of groups and cross posting the latest bit of news to each of them. You might find by the time you've done the rounds, the first post has already been shoved down the page on one of the busier walls. Use common sense, and don't spend too much time at the computer in one go. It's bad for you physically (lack of movement), psychologically (mental stress combined with lack of physical movement, and also long exposure to the artificial light affects the level of hormones in the brain, especially using computers at night.) and spiritually, it can feel like pushing a rock up a hill and 'nobody is paying attention'.<br />
<br />
All off this must be backed up with real human interaction otherwise the politicians will imply hire more people to read their mail, and moderate their facebook pages, thus playing along with the illusion of democratic input, and giving us a place to vent our anger - mostly ineffectively. Although I must admit that posting challenging comments or links on the Fine Gael and Labour wall does give me some pleasure in that their supporters will get to read something to counter the propaganda - at least until I'm banished or my posts stop showing up on the feed.<br />
<br />
While it can seem like more of an effort to engage with people offline, at least you have the opportunities of meeting a more diverse cross section of society, or at the very least, the diversity is defined by where you are, rather than by a piece of software trying to match you with things it calculates already fit into a neat little category.<br />
Talking to bus drivers, passengers, shopkeepers, taxi drivers tends to happen one at a time, but it is a more natural human way of contact, and I find that the chances of getting them to engage you in constructive discussion are fairly decent, if you know your facts, have a good opening line or gimmick, and have good interpersonal skills (assuming they haven't degraded from spending too much time online!).<br />
Getting them engaged in the topic is the first step... after that, it comes down to having an answer to the question '<i>You're right, but what are we going to do about it?</i>'.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792133878503050757.post-13577287609228998692011-07-23T14:58:00.000-07:002011-07-27T12:38:09.398-07:00Ireland in Debt. Hostage to fortune, or just plain hostage?We have been repeatedly told that "we" lost the run of ourselves, that "we" all partied, blew the boom, and now "we" are dependent on the "kindness of strangers".<br />
<br />
This is a dangerous lie, designed to make us feel guilt rather than justifiable anger at the banking crisis.<br />
<br />
The banks didn't fall apart because of people not paying their home mortgages, it was their reckless lending to speculators, and over-borrowing from the bond markets that landed them in trouble. It's nothing to do with the average John or Mary on the street, the vast majority of whom continue to pay their mortgages even in these tough times.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijUpOcmxuISBLSGpXWJsRycTZ7oQI36ji7hWVso8Y-azVnUh8u2wHrrYr8_qFZ6rqAXLqpU6ffF6hYy0qkQl86tfzCFyc2ig2VJo6D3WCulGxcO1i5Kg2H6yncts84petlghqCyxFTEBM/s1600/ExaminerHeadlineApr2011.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijUpOcmxuISBLSGpXWJsRycTZ7oQI36ji7hWVso8Y-azVnUh8u2wHrrYr8_qFZ6rqAXLqpU6ffF6hYy0qkQl86tfzCFyc2ig2VJo6D3WCulGxcO1i5Kg2H6yncts84petlghqCyxFTEBM/s320/ExaminerHeadlineApr2011.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Irish Examiner</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Most of the deficit is caused by the fact that we borrowed money to help out the banks. These banks borrowed ridiculous amounts of money from the bond market in order to lend it out to the property developers who didn't know when to stop.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
The banking system failed because of lack of regulation and sheer greed by private companies. Money from British, German and French banks poured into Irish banks as the likes of Anglo, AIB and Bank of Ireland continued to throw money at developers building houses like there would always be someone to buy.<br />
<br />
The fact that these people, - all very well paid to make investment decisions - got it wrong, is not our problem. As we heard so often on the TV and Radio ads "<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">The value of your investment can go down as well as up</span></b>". Or perhaps that is just for Joe Soap?<br />
Rather than take their losses, the banks who lent these huge sums somehow got the Irish government to agree that the taxpayer should bear the burden. <br />
<br />
So now, while already adjusting to seeing tax-paying construction workers joining the dole queues, the taxpayer was expected to fund truly massive government borrowings, in order that these international speculators shouldn't have to suffer for their own greed.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX5uvXHslXXKdwLAp3uEM8IYNcVkU6-lo0xneoakJ42_PmBDLNXB9pi6ARLwaPRqOco4pXGu5T9KRsye3yVu19yN3eyCzQZUy7SyBTn9M5TOygh50cNlD4mmbQhv34tCVOacJGO6dLNIc/s1600/CowenLenihan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX5uvXHslXXKdwLAp3uEM8IYNcVkU6-lo0xneoakJ42_PmBDLNXB9pi6ARLwaPRqOco4pXGu5T9KRsye3yVu19yN3eyCzQZUy7SyBTn9M5TOygh50cNlD4mmbQhv34tCVOacJGO6dLNIc/s320/CowenLenihan.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These boys were paid very well to 'lead' the country.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Indeed, it was decided to tell the people that it was <b>our greed</b>, and that <b>we all partied</b>. And therefore, we must all share in the tough decision. This was repeated time after time, and a surprisingly large number of people believed it. <br />
<br />
In case you STILL don't get it. This was not about 'bailing out Ireland'. We were the ones doing the rescuing, and if you need it made into a simpler example, I'll give you one.<br />
<br />
Imagine being forced to remortgage your house to pay off the debts of a local bookie. Not money you owe the bookie, but money the bookie owes to <b>another</b> bookie. Only a fool or a madman would agree to this, but for some reason when the government does it, a lot of people think it must be okay, because they're in charge and they know what they're doing (supposedly).<br />
<br />
<br />
To make things worse, the way it is financed, and the shameful lack of information given to the people, means that most people aren't even aware how bad the situation is.<br />
Most of us are familiar with mortgages, which is what we think of when someone says 'very big long term loan'. But a mortgage is very different from a 10 yr government bond.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX4IBopVSbE_n8e5mHLLEx5OmMFfh_UD-Z6GcubdJlsLFqssRcijeTO2duesPTrRRWtxnc1NAXvz6xo66IeshHRHbaiG8kLQG5ZN1gpCz3-f5lbZ-pkR2XGfgzdzIBK25ivSHP9UElpZA/s1600/MortgageVbond1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX4IBopVSbE_n8e5mHLLEx5OmMFfh_UD-Z6GcubdJlsLFqssRcijeTO2duesPTrRRWtxnc1NAXvz6xo66IeshHRHbaiG8kLQG5ZN1gpCz3-f5lbZ-pkR2XGfgzdzIBK25ivSHP9UElpZA/s320/MortgageVbond1.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
In a mortgage, (if interest rates are fixed or relatively stable) you generally pay the same amount of money each month. At the start most of this money is merely paying off the interest (shown here as the red section of the slices) and less is going towards the actual repayment of the principle. Still, the payments tend to be fairly even over the life of the mortgage.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMauc4q7xPBi7r9Qwb2KVsY3xofY9-6NXqYRjhw97zFI3gjvAESbc5tiaQxAHgf-87bBhcOn1R_w4NNwRI4eutYB2srTSAGzp3dYkWM2PnTUCiuY9XnT0l4f1a3rm59AfS0RxQ3c0iEvo/s1600/MortgageVbond2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMauc4q7xPBi7r9Qwb2KVsY3xofY9-6NXqYRjhw97zFI3gjvAESbc5tiaQxAHgf-87bBhcOn1R_w4NNwRI4eutYB2srTSAGzp3dYkWM2PnTUCiuY9XnT0l4f1a3rm59AfS0RxQ3c0iEvo/s320/MortgageVbond2.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
A bond is a totally different situation. If you issue a bunch of 10 yr €100 bonds, with a rate of 5%, then you don't pay the €100 back until the very end of the 10 years. In the meantime, you pay €5 per year to the bondholders. <br />
So, nine years of paying €5 and then, boom in year 10, you suddenly have to come up with the goods. the last €5 plus the original €100. It wouldn't be too difficult to 'not mention this' to the public, if you can get away with nine years of dodging and chancing before it blows up in your face.<br />
<br />
This is the same way the banks borrowed. And what happened where their bonds came due for repayment? Well, the government paid it instead. How? Well, we issued our own bonds... therefore borrowing money at interest from some of the same people we had just paid off on behalf of the banks.<br />
<br />
That's how the massive debts of the banks is being paid off by taxpayer funded borrowing. We've already done this for about 70 BILLION euros worth of bank debt. That means we borrowed 70 billion at interest, probably costing us well over 100 billion to pay back.<br />
And that's only about half of the bank bonds. There are more out there due to be repaid over the next few years. As they get paid off, our national debt goes up and up, and the interest payments alone are inflating our deficit, and forcing cuts upon services. When the actual repayment date comes up, we're completely screwed.<br />
<br />
Apart from the crooks who lent us the money, to pay off their own bad loans to the banks, other investors also think we are fools. Looking from the outside at a country that has agreed to cripple itself with debt, and then expects others to lend it money at cheap rates, we should not be surprised at the lack of sympathy from 'the market'.<br />
<br />
As economists like Prof Kevin O'Rourke, David Williams, Constantin Gurdiev and others have pointed out, it is madness to expect that we could even afford to take on this bank debt.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
It is because of these bank debts, that the IMF /ECB came into the country. It is because of these bank debts that we are being dictated to on cutting spending, so that we can go on our knees begging for money at high interest rates from the same shower we're rescuing in the first place. <br />
<br />
As the Manic Street Preachers sang ... "If you tolerate this, then your children will be next".<br />
Perhaps that should be our new national anthem?<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX8szNPgrEs">If You Tolerate This, then your children will be next.</a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: monospace, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />
</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792133878503050757.post-39740360972453381472011-07-20T14:37:00.000-07:002011-07-20T16:22:55.870-07:00Fake choices, moving targets and diversions.<b>Some tricks to watch out for in opposing the cuts caused by the banking scam.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Fake Choices</b><br />
In an attempt to fool people that 'we're all in this together' and that it's all above board and democratic, the government is providing us the opportunity to have <i>some input</i> into the public sector 'review' (also known as the big cuts, aka the 'tough decisions'.)<br />
<br />
If you visit the website of the Department of Public Expenditure & Reform, you will see that Minister Howlin has a nice new section where we can all play our part in planning the cuts.<br />
<br />
While there certainly is plenty of waste to complain about (mostly a result of corruption, appointment of incompetent cronies who couldn't run a chip shop etc.) the emphasis is on "suggestions and proposals for making further savings, and for introducing reforms and efficiencies in spending programmes and in the design of delivery of public services."<br />
The biggest current waste of money doesn't get a mention. There s no option for 'burning bondholders'... nor of course do they propose taxing the rich, nor increasing taxes on (or nationalising) the Corrib Gas field.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif;">You can suggest this yourself by sening an e-mail to expenditurereview@per.gov.ie</span><br />
<br />
They haven't moved into a full on "choose your punishment" question... yet.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Actually, they could raise revenue by doing this.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeFio0XGm1oBVQacE8McGNYd0sopkw0oGAdZ6GT9ytqNIbfu3Ppn4eyW8lewLnaj_GyT0Hlm1MSoXfe4icRPdpzjRYVuDXBGKK_GSMNzHh00Sbd_rXD5x7ZIu15IE7SkP4upxYrh7tY64/s1600/cutsfactor.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeFio0XGm1oBVQacE8McGNYd0sopkw0oGAdZ6GT9ytqNIbfu3Ppn4eyW8lewLnaj_GyT0Hlm1MSoXfe4icRPdpzjRYVuDXBGKK_GSMNzHh00Sbd_rXD5x7ZIu15IE7SkP4upxYrh7tY64/s320/cutsfactor.gif" width="320" /></a></div> 'Cuts Factor' - we all text in to a premium rate number to vote for what to cut or what to save. The govt still gets to make cuts, we get to think we had a choice, and they get lots of money from the call ins, which they can give to those lovely bond holders.<br />
Everyone's a winner!<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Moving Targets.</b><br />
Another tactic is to propose one cut, and if it seems too unpopular, change your mind, and put forward another one. This will have people running around from pillar to post, preparing leaflets, organising meetings on local topics, and of course pit one cause against another.<br />
<br />
<b>Diversions.</b><br />
There will of course be attempts to divert peoples energy.<br />
E.g. Try to tie people up in the courts fighting trumped up charges, or fines for posters etc.<br />
Anyone who is spending their energy fighting council bureaucrats about rights to leaflet, exchange information and erect posters will have less time and energy for the main goal. To some extent, this is unavoidable, but we have to box clever so as to know when to dig in, or when to come up with a creative way around the obstacles. e.g. people who instead of erecting 4 posters on poles in town, would lock four bikes to bike stands where there would be good foot traffic, and then have the posters on the bikes, not the railings.<br />
Technically, your poster is not on public property, and any interefence with it would be criminal damage.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792133878503050757.post-51807259123936804142011-07-18T16:47:00.000-07:002011-09-13T08:58:21.232-07:00Time to stop dithering, and do what the people AND the markets want<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The more it drags on the worse it gets. Ireland is facing savage cuts followed by insolvency, and the rest of the Eurozone is looking like a house of cards.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's time this government grew a spine and did the right thing.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Burn the holders of bonds in the zombie banks. Just do it. Merkel wants us to do it, the IMF wants us to do it, the markets want certainty, so they can move on. And everyone knows that the Irish people don't want to pay off the debts of banks, to people we didn't borrow the money from.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We've already paid out over 60 billion euros to bank bondholders, and according to figures available on </span><a href="http://www.namawinelake.wordpress.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">namawinelake</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and </span><a href="http://thechatteringmagpie14.blogspot.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">bondwatch</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, there's at least another 64 billion that expires soon. How can we pay that? Borrow from the markets at 14% to pay off bonds that the state didn't even issue ? Even if the Greeks think we are sheep, we can't be </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">THAT</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> obedient can we?</span><br />
<br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let's find out</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a name='more'></a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have a referendum on bank debt should copperfasten the burning because under Art 6.1 of the constitution:</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 1px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <i>All powers of government, legislative, executive and judicial, derive, under God, from the people, whose right it is to designate the rulers of the State and, in final appeal, to decide all questions of national policy, according to the requirements of the common good.</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 1px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 1px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would bet a junk bond that the people would vote to burn the bondholders. I would also expect it to be the highest turn out for a vote in a long time.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 1px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, having done as the Icelanders did, the next step is to announce to the bondholders in these words, (which may sound familiar.)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You all partied, but now, well, we are where we are, and it's time for the tough decisions. Take your loss, and we'll turn the corner". </span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sure they will howl, about it, they thought they'd get paid out on a losing gamble on the banks, and the poormouth will be heard for a while, and then they'll go looking for the next place to gamble their money.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We should very firmly explain this to the markets as very necessary 'housekeeping' and that we haven't reneged on the sovereign debt. I</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">reland pays its debts, but we're done paying anyone else's</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There will be a short period of turbulence while this is absorbed, but it should be limited. Any bonds that were considered junk wouldn't be held by major pension funds anyway. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The market will quickly factor in the new reality. In fact they've been demanding something to factor in.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">"Peter Clarke, the chief executive of the Man Group, the biggest hedge fund in the world, gave an interview to the Telegraph last week in which he warned: ‘Until very recently, everyone has been assuming that the eurozone would come up with a solution for the peripheral countries’ debt that would provide sufficient certainty for the markets to be able to move on."</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why the hesitation? Perhaps the fear of another Lehman's type incident?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hardly. When American banks came crashing down, it was a huge surprise. Most of them had very good ratings just beforehand. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These zombie bank bonds however would not be a shocking event for the market. There's been a question over them for a long time. And the longer it goes on the worse it will turn out.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do the right thing, and do it quickly.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792133878503050757.post-32583135253374385762011-05-04T02:20:00.000-07:002011-05-31T08:05:25.764-07:00bin Laden dead, time to reflect, not just whoop it up.I can't say I was sad or happy to hear that the US had killed Osama bin Laden. <br />
<div>He'd been reported dead before anyway, so I don't jump at headlines.<br />
<div>I think, if after 9/11, they'd treated that massive crime, as a crime and hunted the man down, caught him, or killed him resisting, I would have been happy about it.</div><div>But after 9 and a half years, during which the crimes of 9-11 were abused as cover for the slaughter of innocent Afghans and Iraqis, hearing that bin Laden is dead brought me no relief. </div><div>Certainly he didn't deserve to be free and happy, but I strongly feel that the most just solution for the 'War on Terror' would be bin Laden in handcuffs awaiting trial for mass murder, while Bush and Blair sit in the dock in the Hague.<br />
<a name='more'></a> </div><div>I understand why Americans would 'whoop it up', after the trauma of 9/11 and long years of war, they need some relief, and some attempt at closure. I would respectfully suggest that bloodlust is not a healthy outlet for stress, precisely because of where it leads people.</div><div>Was it not blind lust for revenge that caused so many to avoid scrutinising the logic of carpet bombing Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world, and then invading Iraq? Would they have swallowed the lies so easily if they were not driven by fear and vengeance? </div><div><br />
</div><div>For the US, bin Laden was supposedly the no. 1 terrorist, and they were the good guys.</div><div>For a lot of the world, bin Laden was a notorious terrorist, but in a much smaller league than Bush, Blair and their fellow warmongers.</div><div><br />
</div><div>I'm sure a lot of US and western newspapers will use the word 'Justice' about the killing of bin Laden. When will the victims of <a href="http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/fallujah-the-hidden-massacre/">Fallujah</a>, <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/05/10/040510fa_fact">Abu Ghraib</a>, '<i><b>Shock and Awe</b></i>' see their justice?</div><div>If westerners can get 'closure' from bin Laden's death, and feel no sympathy to those Iraqis and Afghans shredded, blasted and burned by high tech weapons, then any claim they stake to moral superiority rings very hollow.</div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792133878503050757.post-15804836961661370372010-10-19T02:29:00.000-07:002011-09-13T09:03:20.311-07:00Enough damage, you're fired, get out.<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 130%; font-style: italic;">"<span style="color: #009900;">More than enough done, only one thing left to do.</span>"</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-kuVRUEL0_sozNLrlAvthJXxc7v-65pLeRJxVVYlUf1071cHhSAHYPACA9z2SVqzatoKohO61-RqI0N3ifAd4ryWFMK7xN36itjX66ALDJThClHGSq0QTzjKkXtB9Up1AVo59HEBWrnk/s1600/BCP45.gif"><img alt="P45 for Brian Cowen" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5529686985030683234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-kuVRUEL0_sozNLrlAvthJXxc7v-65pLeRJxVVYlUf1071cHhSAHYPACA9z2SVqzatoKohO61-RqI0N3ifAd4ryWFMK7xN36itjX66ALDJThClHGSq0QTzjKkXtB9Up1AVo59HEBWrnk/s400/BCP45.gif" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 241px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>No, you may<span style="font-weight: bold;"> not</span> have a national consensus government to bide time while you cover up more of the connections between your buddies and the mismanagement of the banking and building bubbles.</div></div><br />
No, you may <span style="font-weight: bold;">not</span> continue to fudge the problems, while you lie to us, throw good money after bad, and build an Ireland where the prospects for our children looks far worse than it did for us.<br />
<br />
No. You are <span style="font-weight: bold;">not</span> fooling us with saying it was all "<span style="font-style: italic;">international factors</span>". It wasn't international factors that got the overpaid financial regulator to engage in light touch regulation of your banking buddies, gave tax breaks to an overheating construction sector filled with more of your buddies, and led thousands of people into a trap by talking up the economy while they were burdening themselves with crippling debt.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
No, you may <span style="font-weight: bold;">not</span> lecture to us on sharing the pain. You could have let Anglo go, and the shareholders and bondholders would have to take the hit. After all, they say they deserve the profits because they took the risk. Why should we bail them out? Because they are your friends or lend to your friends?<br />
<br />
No, we <span style="font-weight: bold;">don't want to wait for you</span> to bluster until <span style="font-weight: bold;">you</span> feel like an election. We want you OUT. You have betrayed the trust put in you by the public.<br />
You need to go, and we need to sack you, and we need to let the next government know that we have no tolerance for this anymore.<br />
<br />
It is way past time that the people of this country said "<span style="font-weight: bold;">You are fired. Go, get out and don't come back.</span> "Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792133878503050757.post-23953283637415831072010-08-01T08:11:00.000-07:002011-05-31T08:03:31.883-07:00Fake Feminism for pro-war purposesWe are currently seeing a renewed effort to rebrand Afghanistan as a war for Human Rights, and in particular Women's rights.<br />
<br />
The current issue of TIME Magazine has a front cover photo of an 18 year old Afghan woman called Aisha whose nose has been cut off and the headline "<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">What happens if we leave Afghanistan</span>".<br />
The Editorial and other stories and interviews go on to tell us all about the horrific treatment of women by the Taliban. And I have no reason to doubt any of the claims of brutal oppression. What I don't believe is the Editorial assertion that "<span style="font-style: italic;">We do not run this story or show this image either in support of the U.S. war effort or in opposition to it</span>."<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
And why do I not trust their intentions? Because half the truth is as bad as a lie. The editorial promises to give us something we 'cannot find in those 91,000 documents' (<a href="http://wardiary.wikileaks.org/" target="_blank">Wikileaks War Diary</a>), but it is precisely what Time Magazine left out that shows their bias.<br />
<br />
There was no mention of women being beaten, imprison, raped or kidnapped by the Northern Alliance allies of the US. Not because it doesn't happen of course, but because it doesn't fit the official position. Much like the crimes of the Taliban during the 90's were covered up while they were busily negotiating pipeline deals with UNOCAL, the brutality of US allies is off limits, until they fall out of favour of course.<br />
<br />
One group I would trust more than TIME magazine, is <a href="http://www.rawa.org/" target="_blank">RAWA</a>, brave Afghan Women who have been campainging for women's rights in Afghanistan since 1977.<br />
Here's what they had to say about it the emancipation of Afghan Women.<br />
<a href="http://www.rawa.org/rawa/2010/03/07/emancipation-of-afghan-women-not-attainable-as-long-as-the-occupation-taliban-and-national-front-criminals-are-not-sacked.html" target="_blank">"Emancipation of Afghan Women not attainable as long as the occupation taliban and national front criminal are not sacked"</a><br />
<br />
You can see more in this video <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7jAT0FAGBc" target="_blank">Rethink Afghanistan part 5 - Women of Afghanistan</a>.<br />
<br />
Malalai Joya, a young female Afghan MP is a brave, inspiring and determined woman whom I've had the pleasure to have briefly met last year in Strasbourg. As well as opposing the death and destruction of the occupation, she is very angry about <a href="http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2010/05/15/hillary-lies-again-to-afghan-women.html" target="_blank">the lies and betrayal</a> of women still ongoing.<br />
She refers to Hilary Clinton speaking about conditions to bring the Taliban into a negotiated settlement. After outlining the conditions the Taliban must reach, she did mention womens rights, not as a condition, but merely something 'on a personal note'.<br />
<br />
Another reason I don't trust the intentions of the TIMES Editorial is a classified CIA document leaked in March which listed of hot-button topics that could be manipulated to get support for the war. Benefits was one (just prior to the Lithium gold rush story) and human rights was another and specifically the cynical use of women's rights as an argument for supporting the war.<br />
<br />
The document was called "<a href="http://file.wikileaks.org/file/cia-afghanistan.pdf" target="_blank">Afghanistan: Sustaining West European Support for the NATO-led<br />
Mission-Why Counting on Apathy Might Not Be Enough</a>".<br />
This document discusses proposed PR strategies to focus on pressure points that have been identified within the populations of NATO allies. It is classified as Confidential / No Foreign Nationals. If you read the document, it's all about a tailored response to falling support for the mission, not any actual concern for the Afghans.<br />
<br />
In relation to the issue of women's rights, the leaked CIA document stated "<span style="font-style: italic;">Afghan women could serve as ideal messengers in humanizing the ISAF role in combating</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">the Taliban because of women’s ability to speak personally and credibly about their </span><span style="font-style: italic;">experiences under the Taliban, their aspirations for the future, and their fears of a Taliban </span><span style="font-style: italic;">victory. Outreach initiatives that create media opportunities for Afghan women to share </span><span style="font-style: italic;">their stories with French, German, and other European women could help to overcome </span><span style="font-style: italic;">pervasive skepticism among women in Western Europe toward the ISAF mission.</span>".<br />
<br />
One of the women in the Rethink Afghanistan video, Orzala Ashraf, of the Afghan Women's Network says '<span style="font-style: italic;">I do not believe an outside power can liberate me. If I cannot liberate myself, noone else can'</span>.<br />
That is true in one sense, but certainly we must try to stop other nations from assisting the very people who would continue to oppress them, whether that is the Northern Alliance or the Taliban.<br />
Women's rights are not something to be traded or ignored or used simply as a hot button issue whenever the ratings dip.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792133878503050757.post-90458003299184050052010-08-01T05:35:00.000-07:002011-05-31T08:30:15.691-07:00lies about torture, and uncomfortable truths about a kidnapping case in Iraq,I remember reading a few cases of torture where the detainees where forced to sign false confessions.<br />
<br />
There is the case of the the Tipton Three, British Muslims, who the US said were in Afghanistan with Al Qaeda in 2000. The problem with that is, their passports, travel records, employers, all show that they didn't leave the UK in 2000. MI5 actually backs up their story.<br />
<br />
Another example is the case of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi. He was tortured by the Egyptians (one of the CIA's favourite places to 'outsource' torture).<br />
He signed documents that were used the sole source to "prove" a link between Iraq and Al Qaeda. This was then used in a speech by Bush in 2002 to persuade Congress to get behind the invasion of Iraq, then just a few months away. Powell also repeated the same garbage at the UN.<br />
<br />
He later said, it was false, and he signed it so they would stop torturing him.<br />
He claimed that his interrogators staged a mock burial, locking him in a box for 17 hours, and after they let him back up, they punched and beat him until he agreed to sign the detailed confession.<br />
<br />
The only people who benefited from this torture, were the ones who wanted a convincing argument to attack Iraq, and didn't care that the argument was a work of fiction.<br />
<br />
Torture <span style="font-weight: bold;">is</span> terrorism. It's politically motivated and has nothing to do with saving lives.<br />
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<br />
I recently bought and read Patrick Cockburn's book "<a href="http://www.versobooks.com/books/cdef/c-titles/cockburn_p_the_occupation.shtml">The Occupation - War and Resistance in Iraq</a>".<br />
In chapter 15, he describes the kidnapping of a Baghdad doctor by an armed gang.<br />
Luckily for the victim, Dr. Thamir Muhammad Ali Hasafa al-Kaisey, the kidnappers were stopped at a police checkpoint and during the shoot-out, he managed to escape.<br />
Cockburn writes that the arrest and interrogation "<span style="font-style: italic;">was a rare success for the police</span>" and "<span style="font-style: italic;">the Iraqi police were jubilant that they finally had detailed information on how a kidnap gang operated. The two captured men were willing to provide the names and addresses of other gang members.</span>".<br />
Unfortunately, as Cockburn goes on to inform us, a convoy of US military police suddenly turned up at al-Khansa police station and demanded, and got custody of the two suspects, took them to Camp Cuervo, and according to officals they were "<span style="font-style: italic;">almost certainly freed after they agreed to inform on the insurgents</span>."<br />
<br />
So, why was it necessary to release a bunch or armed kidnappers, murderers, to get intel?<br />
How come THESE guys didn't go to Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay...<br />
Is it because they actually had REAL information and were willing to trade it?<br />
<br />
It's also a sign of utter stupidity of the military occupation in Iraq, that in return for some info on insurgents, they ignore the kidnappings.<br />
The very absence of security for ordinary Iraqis, combined with their knowledge that the Americans don't prioritise their security, their employment, their access to electricity, healthcare, or clean water is one of the factors that recruits people to the insurgency.<br />
<br />
The defeat of lies about WMD, secret torture programmes and supposed humanitarian motives for the war is essential to shortening the occupations of both Iraq and Afghanistan, (and indeed any occupation).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792133878503050757.post-81640085619506183572010-07-26T15:00:00.000-07:002011-05-31T08:31:33.285-07:00Wikileaks criticised by the White House.<a href="http://www.wikileaks.org/">Wikileaks </a>releases over 90,000 classified reports from Afghanistan, a war that's being going badly (as EVERY attempt in history to occupy that country has done) and where the media reports are about as open and informative as the burkas some of the women are forced to wear by local fanatics. <br />
<br />
The cables paint a picture of a different war from the re-assurances we've been spoon-fed. Some hints of the reality came out from McChrystal's statements about civilian casualties and some of his staff remarks that they are <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AyKmkfwzmk">'losing this f*c&ing thing'. </a><br />
Reports available from Wikileaks and the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/series/afghanistan-the-war-logs">Guardian Newspaper</a> contain accounts of Polish troops raining mortars on a wedding party, of British troops killing civilians, of collusion between the ISI and Taliban, of the Taliban shooting down helicopters with anti-aircraft missiles, and of US troops killing and maiming the locals. In one case, it gives a report of an American base that was over-run by insurgents, abandoned by the surviving soldiers.<br />
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All in all, this war is causing a lot of death and suffering, and the hawks have little to show as justification for it. <br />
<br />
The Taliban of course are causing a lot of suffering too, but they on the other hand have little to lose and plenty to gain by prolonging the bloody stalemate. <br />
<br />
The White House, has reacted angrily of course to these leaked reports. Putting on their best show of moral outrage, they accuse Wikileaks of endangering lives (those of US soldiers - the only lives that really matter in domestic politics).<br />
<br />
Even though compared to the quagmire in Iraq, it was considered 'the Good War', the American-led war and occupation of Afghanistan is now deeply unpopular in the US, and that's from figures BEFORE the wikileaks reports. <br />
<br />
So the White House, has a tall order to try claim some moral high-ground in this scenario. Wikileaks hasn't shot up a single wedding party, strafed a bus at a checkpoint or covered up an errant air-strikes. They are merely helping to expose the reality of this war, bypassing the stage-managed media and giving the information direct to the public, from the soldiers on the ground. <br />
Whereas the White House, has the gall to criticise anyone for endangering lives, when, since 2001, it has delivered death to Afghanistan from B-52s, F-16s, Apache helicopters, artillery, marines, special forces, and the latest weapons, the hellfire missiles from unmanned drones controlled from Nevada by pilots who don't even leave the ground.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krHV9iT20zw&feature=channel">The destruction</a> wrought on that country, the dead, the maimed, the refugees freezing and starving in camps with little food or medicine already know the reality of the war in their country. The guns and bombs have been directed at them for long enough. The censorship has been directed at the 'civilised Western audience', mostly those whose taxes pay for the war, whose loved ones are in uniform over there, or in the case of Ireland, a much less onerous, but shameful burden, who turn a blind eye while our government surrenders and airport to the transport of troops and weapons to Afghanistan, while our taxes pay for the Air Traffic Control Fees and the security for these flights. <br />
<br />
These reports of incidents between the NATO/ISAF forces, Official Afghan forces, Taliban, other insurgents and of course the unfortunate local civilians do not paint a pretty picture, and of course are subject to bias if the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/26/afghanistan-war-logs-us-marines">reporting units wish to cover up their own errors</a>, perhaps reckless targeting when under pressure, perhaps occasionally malice, motivated by revenge or just being fed up at being stuck in a country whose national motto might as well be "there is no welcome for foreign troops"<br />
<br />
It's a long way short of the full picture, but surely a lot more honest than asking a career general to report to Congress, knowing full well he will not contradict his commander-in-chief or secretary of defense.<br />
<br />
By publishing these reports, Wikileaks is much more likely to be saving lives than endangering them. By letting it be known that atrocities may be leaked, it may reduce the chances of them occurring, but more importantly, by exposing just how awful the situation is, it may help to bring the tipping point of public opinion that bit closer, and force an end to this war. <br />
<br />
Hawks still bitch and moan about the 'media' and the 'public' losing them the Vietnam War. They don't get the reality. The public is paying for it, suffering for it, and if they think that it's a futile war, if it's immoral and that the 'hearts and minds' of the the citizens under fire are lost, then the American Public has every right to demand that the senseless killing must stop, and a new solution must be found. <br />
<br />
If the power politics were done away with, and the quest for control of pipelines and other resources were dropped in favour of truly making America safer, and improving Afghan life, it would be cheaper to life the Afghans out of despair, than to keep shooting and bombing to prop up the corrupt Kabul regime, try to stamp out any resistance, and control key territory against a very xenophobic population. <br />
<br />
I once read that the cost of paying Afghan farmers to switch crop production away from opium, to anything else, (or to divert the opium to medicinal uses) would have been far less than the cost of a single days bombing during the original 2001 air raids on Afghanistan, which saw B-52s drop massive amounts of bombs in a few weeks.<br />
But that of course would break the alliance with the drug peddling warlords of the Northern Alliance, some of whom are members of parliament in Kabul.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792133878503050757.post-30720257826317773222010-02-02T01:47:00.000-08:002010-02-02T01:49:49.281-08:00New Dictionary definitions thanks to NAMA and FFDictionary of NAMA.<br /><br />Bailout (verb, noun)<br /><br />1. To remove water from a flooded area, such as Cork or Galway after a river breaks its banks.<br /><br />2. To put taxpayers money into a bank after it has been broken by unregulated greed.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792133878503050757.post-80047331782231645852010-02-01T08:27:00.000-08:002011-05-31T08:32:38.201-07:00Chuggers - Charity Muggers. No thanks."Chuggers. " Either sounds like a theme bar or an insult. I'm sure you've met them. The practiced smile, extended hand and polished sales pitch.<br />
"Hey, you look like a decent person, you wouldn't refuse to help (orphans, AIDS victims, the blind... etc)"<br />
Usually young and energetic, and dressed in a bright uniform, with a clipboard full of forms ready to take your bank details.<br />
Now, I've worked for charities AND I've worked for banks, and I would not give someone a form that contained all my banking details AND my signature. The potential for fraud is too high.<br />
One Chugger tried to reassure me by saying there's the same info on a cheque. Well, that's why I don't have a cheque book.<br />
I ask them to give me the form so I can set it up myself. Nope. I figure they're working on commission. Well, if they care more about their commission than the people they're supposed to be helping, they can take their fake 'buddy smile' somewhere else. I'll donate without their 'help'.<br />
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<br />
I have no problem donating money to charity. I'm not wealthy, but I'm better off than some unfortunate in Haiti, Sudan or a refugee camp in Thailand. But when I give money to charity, that's where I want it to go. Not 30% of the top to pay some smiley youngster to bother me on the street, before it even gets into the other overheads.<br />
Charities would be better off hiring some of these same people to go around to big employers pitching a system where employees can donate directly from their wages. It has two immediate advantages over dealing with Chuggers.<br />
<ul><li>No need to give a stranger your bank details</li>
<li>Tax can be adjusted straight away</li>
</ul><br />
I once did this in a former job, and CONCERN for example, were getting 3,000 /month straight from payroll, and the employees got the tax deduction straight away instead of applying at the end of the year. <br />
It would take time to set up, but more of the money will get to the Charity.<br />
<br />
And then we could wander down Cruises Street again in relative safety.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792133878503050757.post-23824318125067836082010-01-29T18:34:00.001-08:002011-05-31T08:35:00.778-07:00Mayor Kiely does it again. Jail the beggars!!!!According to the front page of this week's Limerick Chronicle, our fearless Mayor is jumping to our rescue from another great peril.<br />
He wants new laws brought in to give powers to Gardaí to stop people begging on the streets of Limerick City. He has the backing of the manager of Brown Thomas!<br />
The mayor says that he had been approached by three beggars and found them "a complete annoyance to shoppers and it is time something was done about them".<br />
<br />
I'd also prefer if there were no beggars so what's the wonderful cure, Mayor?<br />
Mayor Kiely intends talking to the city manager and the Gardaí to see if new bye-laws can be brought in to prevent begging, and urges the TDs to see if legislation is needed.<br />
<br />
Really? To do what? Tell them it's illegal, move on or be arrested? So that they can end up in court and prison (costing over 300 /day and being around criminals and drugs in our already overcrowded prison system).<br />
<br />
In Limerick city, we have beggars, some are simply homeless, some are Romanian gypsies, begging while selling old copies of Big Issues, others are homeless because they are addicted to alcohol or another drug.<br />
<br />
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<br />
I ignore the ones I think are simply trying to skive. Others are looking for money for either a bed for the night or their next fix. Usually they ask for 30c for a 'coffee'.<br />
One good way to tell is to refuse to give them money, but offer to buy them coffee and a sandwhich. I don't mind buying a sandwhich for a hungry person, but I don't like the idea of helping them kill themselves with Heroin. The ones who just want to get drunk or high will make some excuse not to accept.<br />
It's unpleasant to see people in such a low state, but they are not criminals simply because they beg, and there are enough real criminals around to keep the Gardai busy already.<br />
<br />
A rehab programme would be far cheaper than prison. But that doesn't have the same 'tough leader' quality that setting the cops on them has.<br />
<br />
As for annoying? Hey if you want to pass a bye-law, how about you restrict the number of '<a href="http://timhourigan.blogspot.com/2010/02/chuggers-charity-muggers-no-thanks.html">Chuggers' (Charity - Muggers</a>) around the place.? They're not good for business either.<br />
<br />
Limerick has a bad name, not because of beggars, but because of criminal gangs, the violence associated with it, and the way the media loves to drool over it. (see TV3's crime capitals for example).<br />
Another thing that will damage our reputation is some over -eager populist throwing out hardline policies that drain our taxes, our garda time, and don't actually solve any underlying problem.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792133878503050757.post-44169398084067505642010-01-18T19:15:00.000-08:002011-09-13T09:02:30.695-07:00Secret Banking Inquiry? Shows how obedient we are that they even propose it.So, Fianna Fáil wants to hold the Bank Inquiry in secret?<br />
Of course they do. Not for any decent reason (to get more evidence)<br />
but the usual formula;<br />
<ul><li>to control what is made available to the public</li>
<li>as an excuse not to answer questions ("that's under review by the inquiry, I wouldn't like to prejudice that process")</li>
<li>and when the whitewash is done, to point at the conclusions that there were systemic faults but no personal blame can be attached to anyone, unless they've already been laid low enough to be used as sacrificial lambs.<br />
</li>
</ul>And the Irish public will probably let them do it too.<br />
<br />
Never mind that the 'Financial Regulator' didn't do his job -<br />
<ul><li>he carried out less than 25% of the checks he should have</li>
<li>he didn't check that the banks were being prudent (and before being regulator, he worked in the prudence section of the Central Bank)</li>
</ul><br />
He got a lovely big payoff when he retired, rather than being fired for incompetence and lack of productivity. Was it hush money?<br />
Obviously the Minister for Finance and the Government allowed this situation to go on, because in the short term it created jobs, and grasping politicians always think in the short term. Let the next govt deal with the burst bubble, and we'll blame it on 'external factors'.<br />
We know it wasn't just external factors.<br />
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If I build my house from straw cos I see the little piggie next door doing it, I can't blame the wolf for blowing it down. Not if I'm being (over)paid to be an expert in solid homebuilding.<br />
Property bubbles have happened before, and plenty of people gave warnings. It's not that the government didn't understand, nor see it coming, they just milked it for every last drop, after all, they are not personally suffering the effects of it. We are.<br />
Now, the Irish bankers will try to act like innocent victims of a financial earthquake, having no more blame for the situation than the residents of Haiti.<br />
Well it's untrue. They either willfully ignored the signs by greed, or worse, ignored them because they knew they'd get a bailout, or be protected by moving assets offshore.<br />
<br />
What will a FF inquiry do?<br />
Cost us money, and fudge the issue.<br />
They will of course have a 'public' part of it, where the watered down 'evidence' is presented to the Oireachtas, for a muted debate in limited terms of reference.<br />
<br />
I propose an alternative inquiry.<br />
We, the people paying for NAMA, call an inquiry, and we invite the bankers to come testify before us.<br />
We ask the questions. No lawyers, no jail time, no fines.<br />
If we're not happy with the questions, or they ignore us, then those of us that can, simply close our accounts and open a new one somewhere else.<br />
Ideally if everyone at your workplace feels strongly enough, get payroll to stop paying you to your bank account, and pay by cheque so you can lodge it to your credit union account.<br />
(yeah that's a bit less convenient than automatic transfer, but taking your power back isn't without efforts)<br />
<br />
or, if you're stuck with your bank cos of mortgage commitments, why not try this.<br />
What money you have left over after paying your mortgage each month, pull it out of their bank. Keep it in a box or the credit union, but don't let them keep it on deposit.<br />
Starve them of funds until they pay attention to us.<br />
<br />
That requires a lot of people to sign on to it to be effective. Do Irish people yet have the collective cop on to know that rather than moan about being screwed by bankers and politicians, they have to DO something about it?<br />
Crying into a pint never solved a damned thing in this country.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792133878503050757.post-16713525502744270462009-09-23T02:14:00.001-07:002011-09-13T09:32:44.443-07:00Voting Fraud in Ireland? What would "Wheeliebingate' mean for Lisbon 2 vote?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW1k0vUV-GWVIWnNyO9PY0pBEdghgcA761tiTHMEVqtse5kGpu69MVE0XeJk5FIb6bvhePoEhSlKtrSW5uvFP8H88D2Iht3N07trO8vX-3utfYV2MAkB7sgnc_m_WBDG3NuFr3jC_3SYg/s1600-h/bin.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384608590488194722" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW1k0vUV-GWVIWnNyO9PY0pBEdghgcA761tiTHMEVqtse5kGpu69MVE0XeJk5FIb6bvhePoEhSlKtrSW5uvFP8H88D2Iht3N07trO8vX-3utfYV2MAkB7sgnc_m_WBDG3NuFr3jC_3SYg/s200/bin.gif" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 116px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 116px;" /></a><br />
WHEELIEBINGATE<br />
=========================<br />
<div><wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>An angry young Irish politician is outraged over the lack of progress in the investigation into the incident known as 'Wheeliebingate' - where 3,000 of his votes in last June’s European Elections were incorrectly attributed to another in the Ireland North West constituency.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">MARGIN<br />
<br />
</span>Not a big deal, you say? Consider these facts;<br />
The Irish Divorce Referendum of 1995 the deciding margin was 9, 114 votes.<br />
If the Republic of Ireland is the only country to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, that will utterly change the nature of the European Union for all of its 500 million inhabitants.<br />
<br />
Now Irish voters are being warned to be concerned whether their votes during the upcoming Lisbon Treaty Referendum will be allocated correctly.<br />
28 year old resident of Carndonagh, Co. Donegal, Fiachra Ó Luain has this week written to the Republic of Ireland’s Top Cop, Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy, complaining that the police officer put in charge of the investigation, was the same Garda who was in charge of the European election count when the votes originally went missing. Ó Luain has complained that so far, the Garda in question has been professionally inert in his attempts to gather further statements and investigate the matter.<br />
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<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">REFUSAL</span><br />
<br />
The Returning Officer who was in charge of the count has <span style="font-weight: bold;">refused to give a statement</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">or provide a list of the names of all individuals who had contact with the votes.</span> Meanwhile the investigating Garda told Fiachra Ó Luain that he would not interview the members of the ‘red team’ who discovered the Ó Luain ballots in the bundles of multi-millionaire candidate Declan Ganley, unless Ó Luain could come up with their names. However seeing as the investigating Garda was also the Garda in charge of the election count he should already have access to the name of all persons involved in the count!<br />
<br />
Ó Luain was written to the Garda Commissioner and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government saying that the whole thing now reeks of a cover-up. Ó Luain, and his Election Agent, UN and EU credentialed election monitor Dr. Edward Horgan are now convinced there was political interference in the process, and the investigation. “Just because it was millionaire Declan Ganley who called for the recheck that ultimately brought the misallocated votes in the Ganley bundles to the media’s attention, does not mean it was all an innocent mistake. If extra ballots had already been bought, then indeed it gives rise to possibility that further negotiation could have occurred during the overnight pause in the count. We are very lucky that the ‘red team’ brought the misallocated bundles to the attention of the media, at which stage Declan Ganley is said to have asked for the recheck to be cancelled! That is why the 'Red Team' should be so central to the investigation, however the Garda investigation has completely ignored them.”<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">CONCERN</span><br />
<br />
Ó Luain is concerned that if up-to 3000 votes can be misallocated from the candidate with the least financial resources to the candidate with the most financial resources, and if the same people in charge of the European election count are again in charge of the referendum count, then it is conceivable that the result of the upcoming referendum could go to the highest bidder! When Ó Luain asked the Garda in charge of the investigation what guarantee there was that thousands of votes would not be misallocated in the upcoming referendum count, the Garda told him that there was no guarantee at all.<br />
<br />
The Donegal based ex-Euro candidate says: “In this final fortnight before the second Lisbon Treaty Referendum, that is bound to be decided by a close margin, voters need to be reassured that all of their votes will be counted and allocated correctly. As the candidate involved, I am concerned that this may have resulted from deliberate electoral fraud rather than from an inadvertent mistake. It is highly unusual, and completely unacceptable that 3,000 First Preference votes can be misallocated.”<br />
<br />
In the three months since the European election Mr. Ó Luain made repeated requests for a prompt and thorough investigation by the Returning Officer for the North West Constituency Kieran McDermott, the Gardaí and the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government and so far has not received any satisfactory response.<br />
Mr. Ó Luain's position? Angry. Declaring: “The lack of any thorough and transparent investigation, three months down the road leaves a question mark over the accountability of our count process. How can we go to the polls again on October 2nd when the people who may have deliberately misallocated 3000 votes may also be in contact with the referendum ballots? The Garda Siochána have said themselves that there is no guarantee of anything. Needless to say this issue is not only relevant to Irish voters but also to the 500,000,000 citizens of 27 EU member states whose relationship with the EU will change irreversibly depending on the result of our referendum on Lisbon.”<br />
<br />
-------<br />
See Fiachra O'Luain's YouTube video about this at: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouUN2ylqGNI&feature=sub">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouUN2ylqGNI&feature=sub</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792133878503050757.post-81431554360049565262009-06-16T02:50:00.000-07:002009-06-16T02:53:02.298-07:00Adding changes to Lisbon AFTER voting Yes?So, let's get this straight, it's the same Treaty. They promise to fix it, AFTER we vote.<br /><br />Wow, the best 'election promise' yet. I must try this scam meself.<br /><br />I have a car to sell, I bring it to you, you look at it, and say no thanks.<br /><br />A short time later,I come back uninvited with the same car. I'm not happy you said no, and the other guys in the car dealership are giving me a hard time. So here I am, with the same car, right down to the fluffy dice.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> - Ah, go on buy it. </span><br />"But there's things wrong with it" You tell me.<br />-<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> I'll fix them sure I will.</span><br />"Okay, go on fix them".<br />- <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Ah, just buy it first, and I'll fix it later.</span><br /> "and is it in the contract of sale that you would fix them later?"<br /> - <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Ah, no. Trust me. I'm a salesman. I wouldn't lie. </span><br /><br />Wouldn't your reply be along the lines of<br />"Exactly how thick do you think I am? Get out, take your dodgy car. I don't want to see it again" ?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792133878503050757.post-23281200188326023602009-06-10T05:34:00.000-07:002011-09-13T09:05:28.410-07:00Should they even be allowed re-run the Lisbon referendum?A lot of people feel it's undemocratic, even a lot of those who voted "Yes" the first time.<br />
Of course some people, when a vote doesn't go their way, welcome the chance to just vote again, ignoring the fact that it's not democratic.<br />
<br />
Some argue that the government has a mandate to re-run it, supposedly cos they support it as do most MEPs we elected. (discussed that in a <a href="http://timhourigan.blogspot.com/2009/06/lets-knockle-down-to-hard-work-for-2nd.html">previous post</a>)<br />
But that's irrelevant. As a result of the <a href="http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crotty_v._An_Taoiseach">Crotty Case</a>, the decision to ratify Treaties like this is not a decision for the government, but one for the people to decide by referendum.<br />
So, it was our decision and we took it, looked at it, and said 'No'.<br />
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A lot of people on the pro-Lisbon side, have been arguing that the government has every right to keep pursuing a policy of asking us again, "because circumstances have changed" or in some cases, blatantly stating that they should ask until we say 'yes', because really, we're better off saying 'yes'. Cos obviously, the politicians know better, and the referendum is really just supposed to us giving a rubber stamp to the government's decision, and the expensive voting day is just down to that gurrier Crotty...<br />
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First off, apart from being insulting, that's also very dangerous for democracy, and it's bigger than the Lisbon Treaty problem itself.<br />
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If the govt can keep throwing back unpopular treaties at us, even after we've rejected them, they know that people can become cynical and apathetic as a result of feeling ignored.<br />
Some people will vote 'Yes' or not vote at all, because they'll see no point in voting 'No' if it's just going to be ignored.<br />
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Well, if one looks at the Constitution, we see in Article 6.1 the following.<br />
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" <span style="color: #ffff99; font-weight: bold;">All powers</span> of government, legislative, executive and judicial, <span style="color: #ffff66; font-weight: bold;">derive</span><span style="color: #ffff66;">,</span> under God, <span style="color: #ffff99; font-weight: bold;">from the</span><span style="color: #ffff99;"> </span><b><span style="color: #ffff99;">people, whose right it is</span> </b>to designate the rulers of the State <b style="color: #ffff99;">and, in final appeal, </b> to <span style="color: #ffff99; font-weight: bold;">decide all questions of national policy</span>, according to the requirements of the common good." (emphasis added).<br />
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So, it would seem to the lay reader, that when a question is put to the people, rather than Dail debate, then that's the final stage. We either say yes or no, and the government surely should accept the outcome.<br />
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Now, I think that if we took a court case on this, we'd probably lose, not because the law doesn't favour us, but because, of one political reason.<br />
Nobody took a court case when the government announced it was re-running the NICE Treaty. (I spoke to a few people about this, and the reasons included the danger of losing a very expensive case, and also, fear of being called anti-democratic by not wanting to let the people vote... ironic, yes I know. )<br />
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If the Supreme Court were to hear a case on this, and rule that Art. 6.1 means that the government can't try to resurrect a dead Treaty, it would be saying that the Government had no right to re-run the NICE Treaty referendum, which would be quite a spot to put the government in.<br />
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In reality, this hasn't been tested legally, and it's not likely to happen either.<br />
But, I think we need to raise the issue with lots of people, that we are being ignored, and the government is ignoring our own Constitution to do it.<br />
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In fact we probably need to amend the Consitution, to make it clear that once a Treaty or other question has been rejected in a referendum, the government can't raise it from the dead, unless the people have another vote to say, "okay, we're willing to take a look at it".<br />
They can't claim to have any mandate to re-run the same question on the same Treaty, cos we didn't give them one, we didn't ask to vote again. And the likes of Sarkozy & Co, can jump up and down all they like, but they can't grant our government a mandate on this either. Only we the people can do that.<br />
If we forget that, then we might as well just get on our knees and stay there, while they run the country however suits them best. (that worked out well for us before with the industrial schools, banking scandals, etc. )<br />
We should talk to people, get out there, and give an even bigger 'NO' than last time.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792133878503050757.post-19557691603811097132009-06-09T04:23:00.000-07:002011-09-13T09:23:23.091-07:00Let's knuckle down to the hard work for 2nd Lisbon rejection<div style="text-align: justify;">We can expect plenty of hype, scaremongering and bullying from the YES side.<br />
There will be lots of doom and gloom threated about the consequences of a NO vote.<br />
Of course, we'll still be in the EU, and we'll still be an equal partner to the other countries and they'll just have to work with us, but it's amazing how many people seem to think otherwise.<br />
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And of course they have the recession to help fuel that fear, and dangle the idea that the Lisbon Treaty will fix it.<br />
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They can point to the elimination of Declan Ganley (the fake figurehead of the NO vote) as some sort of evidence that people have changed their minds. When of course, we want neither "Lisbon nor Libertas" and Declan Ganley's vote on Lisbon still carries the same weight as yours, mine, Brian Cowen's or any Irish MEP.<br />
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We'll hear loads about the 'mandate' for the No side being lost.<br />
Mandate? Isn't that something you give to representatives when they vote on an issue instead of the public? This is a referendum, we all get to vote. We're <b>not delegating</b> it.<br />
We have to get that idea into people's heads, it's <span style="font-weight: bold;">YOUR VOTE</span>, not theirs, and their just ticked off that they can't use their whip system to get people to vote in line, like they do in the Dáil.<br />
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Failing that, they'll try make to frame Joe Higgins as a die hard stalinist and make it a vote on whether we want a democratic EU or Communist centralised economies with Gulags.<br />
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Arguing this Treaty is difficult cos it's so big and complicated and there's loads of untruth fired out on both sides.<br />
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A big problem is the myths, thrown about by some of the no side. People who check their facts can throw them back in their face.<br />
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This is part of the problem of having ill informed figure heads being the talking heads for this. They can be discredited for throwing out red herrings (either by design or didn't check their facts) and if people are still hung up on following leaders and not their own judgement, that will have an effect.<br />
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Things like the argument about the Death Penalty, are a good example. If people go in guns blazing on a false argument, it won't matter much that the other arguments do hold water. The truth of the matter lay in a footnote to a footnote, which I eventually tracked down, and it didn't say anything like what was being claimed by the alarmists.<br />
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I think we need teach-ins, for serious voter education in this country. (if the YES side were serious about getting it passed, and believed in the treaty, they would do this as well. But of course they don't want us getting too informed about the Treaty, or much else about how we are governed or what we pay for the privilege.)<br />
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We need to get people to stop thinking of politicans as <span style="font-weight: bold;">leaders,</span> and more as <span style="font-weight: bold;">employees and servants</span>. That's the first step in seeing through hype and unquestionably accepting what they spew forth.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792133878503050757.post-36014448283784206032009-06-07T10:08:00.000-07:002009-06-09T11:26:01.269-07:00Change the mechanics of Democracy<div style="text-align: justify;">Isn't it well past time we changed the mechanics of democracy in this country to stop the current system which is morally and ideologically bankrupt (and has bankrupted many of us).<br /><br />I would propose a few major changes to start with.<br /><br />1. Introduce a system whereby the electorate can FIRE a politician, rather than waiting for the next election. They work for us, on a contract basis. As their employers, we should be able to fire them for serious misconduct like using state assets to benefit themselves or their buddies, or , y'know involving us in illegal wars. <br /><br />2. Get rid of the systems of co-opting when a seat is vacated.<br /><br />3. Set up a system that allows Citizens to propose referenda.<br /><br />4. The Ceann Comhairle position should not be filled by a TD, nor an appointee of the government.<br /><br />5. The gerrymandered rotten borough that calls itself Seanad Eireann should discover the joys of universal suffrage. After all, this is the 21st Century.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792133878503050757.post-70469538883791684472009-06-03T02:07:00.000-07:002009-06-09T11:25:37.796-07:00Shell Spin and more hot air than gas.<div style="text-align: justify;">Between TV3's Paul Williams Hatchet job, and the spin doctors we heard on Pat Kenny's show, one would be forgiven for thinking that the <a href="http://www.corribsos.com/" target="_blank">Shell to Sea campaign</a> was made up of a mixture of Nazis, Stalinists, and luddites who parachuted into the area.<br />We've seen the interviewers let biased spin doctors set the frame for the argument with unfounded and unchecked claims.<br />What they all want to dance around is the fact that in a <a href="http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=2196" target="_blank">little known deal,</a> the government of the day simply signed away all claims to the Corrib Gas field.<br />Previously, the State automatically got 50% of any oil or gas found in our territorial waters.<br />They then lowered the tax rate and gave generous tax breaks.<br />Added to that, the group extracting the gas are under no obligation to supply any of it to Bord Gais. They can export all of it to the highest bidder if they like.<br /><br />These points were not raised in Paul Williams' programme. In fact the Pro-Shell talking heads suggested the exact opposite to be true - that this arrangement gave us a secure cheap source of gas.<br /><br />Despite the amount of freely available photos and videos of Garda brutality against the locals, Mr. Williams, dismissed claims of Garda brutality, by referring to the Garda's own internal investigations which cleared their colleagues of any wrongdoing.<br />But would we expect any better from a 'crime reporter' who made a career of being spoon fed from the Garda Press Office?</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0