Mr. Cardiff's powerful friends

Labour MEP Nessa Childers has claimed she was threatened by a senior politician (presumably from the Labour Party) that she would be expelled from the party if she didn’t keep quiet about the proposed appointment of Kevin Cardiff to the European Court of Auditors.

She further claimed that the Press Officer (presumably the Labour Party Press Officer) told her not to talk about the matter any more.

She was also warned that she could be sued for Mr. Cardiff’s loss of income.

This is heavy stuff and indicates just how powerful Mr. Cardiff’s friends are.

Tanaiste and Leader of the Labour Party, Eamon Gilmore has denied Ms. Childers’ claims.

So, who’s telling the truth and who’s lying through their teeth?

I know who I believe.

Note to Marian Finucane: Flirting with reality can be embarrassing

Journalist and Fianna Fail supporter, Noel Whelan, was on the Marian Finucane Show (Saturday) discussing his new book – Fianna Fail, A biography of the Party.

He was joined in the discussion by former PD leader, Des O’Malley and historian and broadcaster, John Bowman.

None of the participants had any notion whatsoever of what they were talking about.

Any Irish citizen who engages in a discussion on the history of Fianna Fail for over thirty minutes without once mentioning the word ‘corruption’ is either clinically brain dead or is living in a parallel universe.

The criminal Haughey, for example, was only mentioned briefly on a number of occasions with no reference whatsoever to his long criminal career in politics.

It seems that this vastly experienced and professional group of people, deeply involved, for decades, in Irish politics and journalism, sees no connection between the most corrupt political party in the land, its former leader, the criminal Haughey, and the ultimate destruction of the nation.

Marian referred to those who are still proud to be a member of Fianna Fail, specifically referring to the recent rant by Fail TD, Robert Troy, who seems to resent being treated like something one would walk on, on the streets.

John Bowman’s response was incredible:

And so they should be, Fianna Fail has a fantastic record. It has changed this country, it has modernised this country. During the war it held the country together on a policy of neutrality when other parties were much more fragmented so it has a lot to be proud of.

Before I go any further let’s take a brief look at Bowman’s record.

He has a PhD in Political Science. He chaired Questions and Answers for 21 years where he dealt with the avalanche of political and business corruption that came down upon the people of Ireland during those years.

He has written several books on Irish politics/history.

You will not find many people in Ireland, and not one person in the media, willing to criticise this icon of the Irish state and yet he’s obviously a complete ignoramus on the subject of Fianna Fail and the major part played by that party in the destruction of Ireland.

We witness a hint of Bowman’s ignorance when he has to go back 72 years to Fianna Fail’s policy of neutrality in World War II for an example of the party’s so called good leadership.

He goes on to tell the nation where it all went wrong for Fianna Fail.

People were voting for Fianna Fail because they were economically competent. “Don’t much like them but they know how to run the country.”

They were trading on economic competence and because they were economically incompetent in the last government that’s where it all melted away.

So, this ‘great’ intellectual and so called political scientist labours under the delusion that Fianna Fail was, until very recent times, an economically competent party, a party who knew how to run the country?

Even Marian Finucane couldn’t handle this level of ignorance.

Mind you, given the amount of time they were in power in the 85 years, it was like cyclical that they were incompetent. If you take the emigration of the 50s, the disaster of the 80s and the current situation, they were running the show?

Finucane’s deadly and very accurate assessment of reality was followed by an embarrassed silence caused, I suspect, by what Bowman saw as an impertinent challenge to his usually unchallenged political analysis.

He began to splutter.

Mmm…yeah….but…well emigration was driven not necessarily…I mean there’s an assumption in your question that if only the politicians could get the policy right we’d have no emigration.

Finucane wasn’t talking about emigration; she was exposing Bowman’s ridiculous analysis of recent Irish history.

Before any more embarrassment could be inflicted on Bowman, Noel Whelan interrupted and changed the subject.

Finucane should really be more careful about straying from the parallel universe in which most of the Irish media enjoy a comfortable existence with their political friends.

Flirting with reality can be embarrassing.

Italians light years ahead of the Irish in recognising corrupt and traitorous politicians

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has resigned amid jeers from hundreds of protesters shouting buffoon, clown and Mafiosi.

What an uncivilised lot.

Here in our banana republic when the criminal Haughey was forced to resign in disgrace he was warmly praised by most of our gombeen party leaders.

Most of the media elevated the criminal to the status of national statesman excusing his crimes by arguing that he had done more good than bad.

When the scumbag Ahern was also forced to resign in disgrace he too was elevated to the status of national hero by the body politic.

When the then leader of the Opposition, Enda Kenny, suggested that perhaps there should be an election he was roundly condemned, not just by Ahern’s confederates in treason, but also by the same section of the media who agreed with Ahern’s description of the criminal Haughey as being a patriot to his fingertips.

The Italians are light years ahead of the Irish when it comes to recognising and reacting to corrupt and traitorous politicians.

Where was the great Bertie?

I’m shocked I tell ya, shocked and outraged.

I watched most of the Presidential inauguration and not once, among the great and the good, did I see Bertie the national patriot.

Cowen was there in all his glory look bravely composed with not a drop of alcohol to be seen.

But Bertie, poor Bertie after all he’s done for the country. Was it a petulant RTE, determined to ignore the great man?

Was it Bertie’s natural shyness and personal sense of generosity that kept him in the shadows fearing he might intrude on Michael Ds big day?

Hold it…just hot off the press. The great patriot is in the Congo advising its people on how best to manage an economy.

What a man, what an operator, never tires of selflessly helping the downtrodden.

Update on complaint against Fine Gael Cllr. Pat Kennedy

On 20th Oct last I received a letter from Limerick City Council informing me that Cllr. Kennedy (Fine Gael) had been requested to submit a report by 1st November to the Council regarding allegations that he cheated on his expenses.

This arose from my formal complaint regarding Cllr. Kennedy’s activities.

The Council assured me that they would contact me after reviewing Cllr. Kennedy’s report.

Having heard nothing since I rang the Council today and was informed that Cllr. Kennedy’s report was to hand and would be forwarded to me very shortly.

Politicians will be forced to face brutal reality of mortgage crisis

For months before the publication of the Keane Report into the mortgage crisis we heard Minister for Finance and other politicians dodge questions by saying:

We have to wait until the Keane Report is published; then we will take immediate action.

Predictably, these promises were just the usual political lies.

Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton, has just launched the next phase of delay and waffle.

The adoption of many of the proposed reforms will have to wait until legislative changes to the personal insolvency laws come into force next year.

In normal circumstances such dishonest behaviour by politicians can be stretched out to years, even decades.

Time, however, is almost up for such dishonesty because the mortgage crisis is coming to a head and politicians are going to be forced, whether they like it or not, to deal with brutal reality – it will not be a pretty sight.

The banks are not (really) owned by the state

We’ve heard a lot of tough talk recently from the so called Financial Regulator, Matthew Elderfield, and various ministers warning banks not to increase mortgage rates and to reduce rates in line with the ECB reductions.

Well, we can see from the two fingered response of NIB and other banks to the latest ECB rate reduction that all the government tough talk is nothing but hot air.

The Government can do nothing to force the banks to comply with their wishes, the banks can and will continue to screw their customers with complete impunity.

Many people are puzzled that while most of the banks belong to the state (the people) the government seems powerless to tell them what to do.

In reality, of course, the banks are not owned by the state.

They are in ‘pretend’ ownership until all the billions recklessly gambled, robbed and wasted by the banks is either paid immediately by current taxpayers or set aside to be paid for by generations of taxpayers to come.

As soon as the time is right, the banks will be handed back to the greedy criminals and the corrupt roundabout will continue to turn.

Fianna Fail: the turd that destroyed the country

Newly elected Fianna Fail TD, Robert Troy, got very angry in the Dail yesterday on the matter of social welfare cuts (RTE News).

We have a strong social conscience and I for one am fed up coming into this chamber and being spoken down to because I’m a member of Fianna Fail as if we’re something you walk on, on the streets.

Well, that’s exactly what Mr. Troy is, something one would walk on, on the streets.

Anybody who’s a member of the Fianna Fail party is, by definition, part of the larger turd that destroyed the country.

Minister Hogan: What's a principle?

Pat Kenny (Thursday)asked Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan, if he got any stick from his party colleagues for his criticisms of Martin McGuinness in the recent presidential election.

No, all I was doing was ensuring that the people of Ireland when they were going to vote understood the background to all the individual candidates.

I targeted Martin McGuinness and I certainly feel that people should know what his past was and ask him to explain it.

Hogan’s response reminds me of the arrogant attitude of the Catholic Church before it lost power – we know what’s best for you ignorant peasants.

It’s this insulting arrogance that lost Hogan’s party the presidential election, the bye election and the referendum on inquiries.

The attack by Hogan and other ignorant Fine Gael politicians on McGuinness had nothing to do with what’s good for the people of Ireland.

It had everything to do with hypocrisy and snobbery – McGuinness may be good enough for the people of Northern Ireland but he’s not good enough for the Republic’s ruling elite.

If the people of Ireland had elected McGuinness we would have witnessed Hogan’s hypocrisy in all its glory.

He would have had to resign on principle or keep his job and learn to live with a ‘terrorist’ in the Áras.

Given the choice Minister Hogan would, I’m sure, have replied.

Principle, what’s a principle?