Charlie Hebdo magazine in school: Why apologise?

The board of a multi-denominational school has apologised for allowing a Muslim child to be ‘forced’ to see a copy of the magazine Charlie Hebdo which depicts the prophet Muhammad in an unflattering pose.

The chairman of the school, Richard Allen, said the school would never set out to offend anyone and continued:

We live in a society where information flows freely, and we can’t be like we were in this country in generations past where we hid things. Children have a right to discuss these things, understand them and have a view, but also understand there’s an inherent responsibility that comes with free speech.

So, why the apology?

Junior Minister Dara Murphy: Not just politically stupid

In a previous article I described Junior Minister Dara Murphy’s decision to engage in political prostitution as stupid because it will obviously do a great deal more damage to his election prospects than any benefit.

But after doing some research on the man I find that he really is stupid, it’s not just political stupidity.

Here’s a video of the gombeen being justifiably torn to shreds by Vincent Browne.

He made the fatal mistake of sneeringly asking Browne whether he knew the difference between GNP and GDP.

Keep in mind that this idiot is the Minister for European Affairs and Data Protection at the Department of Taoiseach and Foreign Affairs and Trade.

He’s the man who negotiates Ireland’s business interests with our European partners, no wonder we’re broke.

Also note how he slyly tries to get off the (Vincent Browne) hook by dragging another panel member into the row.

Leo the liar

3 Nov 2013: (Leo Varadkar: Marian Finucane Show).

The property tax collected for 2013 went to central funds but the 2014 tax will go to local authorities to fund local roads, community centres, libraries, public parks and to a certain extent social housing.

5 February 2015: (RTE).

Irish Water received €439 from the Local Government Fund made up of motor tax and local property tax receipts for 2014.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald is a political prostitute

When I read this article I genuinely thought it was a joke.

Junior minister Dara Murphy is charging supporters €85 to have breakfast with Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald to raise funds for his general election campaign.

I’m not going to mince my words here.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald is a political prostitute. Junior Minister Dara Murphy is also a political prostitute. The man who organised the event, Fine Gael trustee Jerry Carey, is a political pimp.

The Minister’s office does not belong to her to abuse as she wishes, it belongs to the people of Ireland. The power and prestige of her ministerial position was not bestowed upon her so that she could abuse that power by engaging in sleazy election campaigns.

Her actions are disgusting and immoral particularly in light of what has happened to the people of Ireland since 2008.

I spoke about this yesterday on 96 FM where the presenter described my comments as ‘strong language.

He’s right, it is strong language but it’s well past time that Irish citizens spoke out against this abuse of democracy; it’s well past time we called a spade a spade.

Some might say I’m too harsh in my comments. Here’s why I’m angry.

Hundreds of thousands forced to leave their country because of political corruption.

Hundreds of thousands out of work because of political corruption.

Over a hundred thousand struggling in desperation to pay their mortgages because of political corruption.

Over a hundred thousand children living in poverty because of political corruption.

The suicide of thousands of citizens as a result of the stress caused by political corruption.

Millions who have lost hope in their own and in their children’s future because of political corruption.

Not only is this political prostitution disgusting, it’s also extremely stupid.

The number of people attending this scam will be tiny; they will almost certainly be people who are conservative and loyal members of the establishment. The scam will raise a couple of thousand and perhaps the promise of a few votes.

Meanwhile, judging from the reaction on the radio, thousands of Cork voters will rightly reject those who stupidly and arrogantly persist in abusing democracy.

Minister Murphy has warned (threatened?) that if Fine Gael is not leading the next government the economy will be severely damaged.

I have some news for this political prostitute and his fellow Fine Gael cronies.

Fine Gael will not be part of the next government; the party will be lucky if it still exists after the next election.

Copy to:

The political prostitutes and their pimp

Irish Independent: From objective newspaper to mouthpiece for other interests

Here’s how an establishment newspaper connects a serious crime to a group of completely innocent people.

A decision to provide “protection detail” for certain politicians was taken at a meeting of the Crime and Security Division at Garda Headquarters last week in light of the firebombing of the constituency office of Fine Gael TD Michelle Mulherin and after verbal abuse of President Higgins by anti-water demonstrators in Finglas.

The verbal abuse of President Higgins, while stupid and distasteful, was a 100% legitimate democtatic action.

The firebombing of Mulherin’s constituency office is almost certainly a criminal response to what looks like her fraudulent misuse of taxpayer’s money.

The conflation of both events by the Irish Independent is just the latest indication of the newspaper’s evolution from an objective and professional media outlet into a mouthpiece for certain political and business interests.

Copy to:
Irish Independent

Minister for Justice: If only she practiced what she preaches

Here’s what Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald had to say to new Garda recruits in Templemore today.

Courage is called for without any physical threat. Courage can be called for in the middle of a quite normal day. The courage to say ‘No’ if you believe the instruction is wrong.

The courage to cry halt to a practice that may have been going on forever, but that should stop right there and then.

If only the Minister had the courage to cry a halt to a practice that has been going on forever – the corrupt nexus between the body politic and the Gardai.

Unaccountable deals made by state officials should be made a criminal act

RTE’s This Week programme has exposed the latest dodgy deal surrounding the establishment of the Irish Water quango.

The goings on in smoke filled backrooms is justification alone for Irish citizens refusal to pay the water tax.

Here’s an analysis of the dodgy dealing.

The following groups were involved.

Irish Water and the Dept. of the Environment representing the interests of Irish Water and the Government.

The County and City Managers Association (CCMA) which was representing the County and City Managers (I know, I couldn’t figure it out either) and, presumably, representing the workers of these entities.

Ordinary citizens/taxpayers.

The first decision, made by the groups with power, Irish Water, the Government and the CCMA, was to exclude the taxpayer.

It seems at least some meetings were held in secret and no minutes were kept during the most crucial meeting. This is standard practice in banana republics.

The second decision taken was that the taxpayer would pay for all agreements reached by the interested parties. There was no need to inform the taxpayer of this decision since the practice has been in place since the establishment of our banana republic.

Ok, so here’s how the deal went down.

The CCMA had information that Irish Water badly needed to ensure its successful establishment. The CCMA effectively blackmailed Irish Water by threatening to withhold or delay handing over the information unless their demands were met.

Irish Water and the Government quickly conceded to all demands. This was no problem since the non-represented taxpayer was paying for everything.

The agreements reached, if implemented, will cost Irish citizens countless millions over the years.

In my opinion the individuals involved in this agreement are traitors. They made their decisions in full knowledge of the pain and loss suffered by their fellow citizens since 2008, yet they ruthlessly went ahead anyway.

The unaccountable divvying up of our money by public officials, particularly when it’s done in secret; should be made a criminal act.

Copy to:
Dept. of Environment
Irish Water
CCMA

Dr. Kelly and the Operation Transformation roadshow

Last year, if I remember correctly, there was a major controversy surrounding RTE’s reality TV show Operation Transformation. As I recall some person of authority strongly attacked one of the contestants for something or other.

The incident resulted in wall-to-wall coverage and comment, generating massive publicity for the programme.

And now, amazingly, the same thing has happened this year.

So here’s the reality of reality shows.

This show, like all other reality shows, has just one principal aim – to make lots and lots of money.

The principal resource for such shows is an endless supply of naïve, desperate people who are willing to humiliate themselves in front of the nation in the hope of solving their problems and/or enjoying their 15 minutes of famosity.

The more people that watch the show the bigger the profit, so a big effort goes into promoting the product and by far the best, and most cynical, promotional strategy is the creation of controversy – hence the annual charade.

Somebody called Dr. Ciara Kelly was the vehicle for this year’s controversy.

It may be that this doctor is completely unaware of the standard strategy of promoting such shows; it may be that her motives are entirely genuine.

It may be that her one mission in life is to do all she can to help people like Eilish, the victim in this year’s controversy – but, somehow, I doubt she’s as naïve as her victim.

Dr. Kelly should have dropped the matter once the annual controversy had garnered the required publicity but she lost the run of herself and began lecturing the nation on the evils of drink.

The lecture began on the Sunday Independent and continued on the Marian Finucane Show (did the producer of Operation Transformation ‘arrange’ her presence on the show?).

The doctor tells us in her article that:

Yes, I was speaking to Eilish, but I wasn’t talking about Eilish.

So, she was exploiting Eilish’s weakness as a vehicle to deliver a rant to the nation? Not exactly a professional approach to a medical problem.

Here’s some of what she said to her victim.

I’m disgusted (by your behaviour) because there are people around the country following you.

There are young people watching this show, there are kids watching this show and I thought that was appalling.

This week was an abomination.

I was embarrassed for you and I was disgusted to see you, you let the programme down. You let your followers down and with respect to Eilish, you let yourself down.

Ok, I might be missing something here but these brutal, deeply insulting comments do not sound like they were aimed at the general population.

They sound more like an individual abusing her position of authority to stoke up a controversy to promote the commercial interests of a reality show.

No reasonable person would deny that drink abuse is a very serious problem in Ireland. But if Dr. Kelly is serious about helping the situation I would suggest she does it in a measured, professional manner.

I would suggest she desist from exploiting vulnerable people to promote what looks like self-promotion and the promotion of RTEs commercial interests.

Copy to:
Dr. Kelly
RTE