Category: The State

Joan Collins joins Bertie Ahern on the arsehole of humanity

Joan Collins of People Before Profit – United Left Alliance was the woman who challenged the scumbag Bertie Ahern when he was being interviewed as the last Dail broke up.

People like us getting cuts in our wages and taxes and all that. Have you no shame, you’re on the TV the last two days mouthing out of yourself, you should be ashamed of yourself, shame on you.

Well, Joan Collins, now a TD, was herself ‘mouthing out of herself’ to Pat Kenny recently in defence of her decision to give a job to her partner Dermot

I’ve always been opposed to cronyism and I would have seen it in the relationship between politicians, developers, bankers and that sort of angle…but… Dermot’s ability is second to none, not to have him on the team would be an absolute scandal.

The people of Ireland desperately need their politicians to break with the corrupt political system by acting on principle all the time and not just when it’s safe to do so.

By engaging in the same old nepotism and pathetically trying to defend her actions with the same old dishonest arguments, Collins has betrayed those who hoped she was a force for change.

She has reduced herself to the status of gombeen politician looking out for her own interests, the interests of her friends and family and the interests of her constituents in order to get re-elected.

Ireland and its people as a whole are obviously way down her list of priorities.

Reacting to the spat with Ahern Collins correctly described him as a pimple on the arse of humanity.

By her actions Collins has now joined the scumbag on that arse.

Copy to:
Joan Collins

Would you vote for this man?

Niall O’Dowd is an Irish journalist living in the United States who wants to be the next president of Ireland.

Former Brussels, Belfast and Diplomatic Correspondent of The Irish Times, Walter Ellis, doesn’t think O’Dowd would make a good president and outlines his reasons in today’s Irish Times.

Here are some quotes he attributes to O’Dowd.

On Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Ireland:

Myself, I wouldn’t cross the road to see her, but I think on balance it is a good thing . . . hopefully.

On Prince William:

He’s a member of the luck sperm club.

On Kate Midleton, now the Duchess of Cambridge:

A good stud mare, who would be judged by whether or not she produced young colts to secure the bloodline.

Ellis concludes:

In my view, he is irretrievably a citizen not alone of the US, to which he has, of course, given his pledge of allegiance, but of that mythical and parallel world known to its misty-eyed adherents as Glocca Morra.

I agree.

Greece and Ireland are the same

Last night’s Prime Time analysed the differences between the financial crisis in Greece and Ireland.

Greece, we were informed, was in crisis because of a dysfunctional political and public service which is largely corrupt and no longer serving the best interests of Greece.

When Minister of State for European Affairs, Lucinda Creighton, was asked would Ireland, like Greece, require a second bailout she replied:

Certainly not, you cannot compare Ireland with Greece. The crisis in Greece was caused by structural problems, in Ireland the problem was caused by a credit bubble.

Such denial and/or ignorance is deeply disturbing and bodes ill for the future of Ireland and its people.

The cause of the Irish crisis is exactly the same as that of Greece – Political corruption which has infected every sector of Irish society and ultimately destroyed our country.

No recovery is possible until that brutal fact is accepted and acted upon.

Comrade Madam sticks it to Varadkar

Question:

Did the following comments emanate from the Propaganda Minister of North Korea or the editor of the Irish Times?

A coalition of two parties in government should speak only with a united voice…The Government must articulate only one policy position, the collective view that Ministers have already agreed and accepted…the role of other Ministers is to reflect and defend government policy…It is not to make policy themselves or to misrepresent the Government view by failing to inform themselves properly.

Today’s Irish Times editorial also sees that organisation boarding the ‘Europe is to blame for all our troubles’ bandwagon.

As the euro zone debt crisis has unfolded, Ireland has lost credibility and sustained major reputational damage at various levels, government, public service, banking and business.

The party line here is clear: The destruction of our country has nothing whatsoever to do with our corrupt political/administrative systems, somebody else is to blame.

Oh well, at least Lehman Brothers are off the hook.

Thieving banks still enjoy full state protection

Since the economy collapsed in 2008, politicians, the Financial Regulator and various other government authorities have been telling the Irish people that the days when financial institutions could rob customers without fear of prosecution were over.

From now on, they said, the law will be enforced. Stringent new laws would ensure that such criminal activities would never again occur, that Irish citizens could rest easy in their beds in the knowledge that the state and its enforcement agencies were protecting them.

Of course, all the talk was nothing more than the usual tissue of lies we have come to expect from those who claim to work in the best interest of the citizens of Ireland.

The following scams were reported in the media last week (Irish Independent).

Banks had charged thousands of homeowners the wrong interest rates on their mortgages.

Banks had misled customers with money in deposit accounts by promoting term and interest rates that were later changed once people signed up for the accounts.

Banks had short-changed thousands of customers on (other) interest rates.

It’s at this point Irish citizens would expect to see the many promises come to fruition, that they would expect to see justice done, to see transparency and accountability.

Here’s what they got:

The Central Bank, the so called Financial Regulator, refused to name the financial institutions involved, refused to specify the number of customers involved and refused to disclose the level of funds involved.

This absolute refusal to disclose even the most basic information is of great benefit to the thieving banks and is, potentially, very destructive for Irish citizens.

A spokesman for the Central Bank arrogantly dismissed all queries by declaring: It is not the practice of the Central Bank to name and shame.

I rang the Central Bank and spoke to an official in the hilariously named Public Contacts Unit. I wanted to know why such basic information was being kept secret from the public.

Because it would not be in the public interest and it is a corporate or private matter between the Central Bank and the companies that they regulate.

Ultimately, what happened was that these people were refunded so, this might sound a bit stupid, but the fact that these people were compensated and corrections were made to their accounts the wrongdoing as such has been rectified and catered for and the acts themselves have stopped.

After picking myself up off the floor and gaining control of my hysterical laughter I asked the obvious question: How could the keeping secret of the names of the thieving bankers be in the public interest?

He replied:

Well, I’d like to withdraw that, it may not be factually correct.

This official was unable/unwilling to provide me with any further answers and ‘helpfully’ gave me an email address (of his own unit as it turned out) where I could follow up on my queries.

To be continued…

Talk, even genuine, patriotic talk, will not change the status quo

I have nothing but admiration for people like Fiach Mac Conghail of We the Citizens and those involved in setting up The Citizens Assembly. They are, unlike the bulk of Irish citizens, including myself, taking action to create a truly democratic country.

Unfortunately, they are too late. The old corrupt Republic of Ireland came to an ignominious end on 29th September 2008 when the Fianna Fail/Green Party government handed over all our assets and our children’s future to bail out the corrupt bankers.

Many people blame the bankers for the disaster that has occurred, this is a mistake. No banker, developer or any other organisation or individual could have acted as they did without the full cooperation of a corrupt political system.

That corrupt political system is still in place, still protecting the corrupt, still betraying the best interests of the Irish people.

Nothing will change until that corrupt system is totally destroyed and replaced by a truly democratic system.

Representatives of We the Citizens and other groups attempting to rescue our failed state featured on The Late Debate (Tuesday).

There was a great deal of debate about debate, a great deal of discussion about how our systems can be reformed.

It is all to no avail, our country is a failed entity. Nothing less than a complete clear-out of all the political, administrative and regulatory systems that have betrayed the people of Ireland will do if we are to create a proper democracy.

Organisations like We the Citizens and The Citizens Assembly will fail because of one glaring flaw, they are all talking shops. Talking shops full of genuine, enthusiastic, patriotic people but talking shops none the less.

They carry out their business within four walls; they will not be conducting angry street marches and therefore will pose no real challenge to the political/administrative status quo.

The corrupt political/administrative system will pat them on the head; praise them for their high ideals and then ignore them.

Just as I was despairing of all the talk about talk a woman in the audience, Sarah, a youth worker with Spunout.ie, cut through all the discussion with the truth (my emphasis).

I’ve been at Reset Ireland, The Ireland/Iceland project, Claiming our Future and We the Citizens where there has been lots of discussion.

But I have come to believe that we will not achieve any significant political change through polite little initiatives that operate within the current status quo. We just won’t do it, it hasn’t happened anywhere else.

In every other country where they have achieved such political change it has been because of a prior rejection of the status quo on the part of the people.

We have had no such rejection in Ireland; change will only come about by rejecting the systems that have failed us

Good woman Sarah, I couldn’t have put it better myself.

The current ruling elite will never give up their power until it is taken from them and all the talking in the world will not change that fact.

Once again we're disgraced by a political leader

I spoke with a friend shortly after the speeches by Enda Kenny and Barack Obama in Dublin.

He thought Obama’s speech was better and that Kenny went on too long.

I disagreed; I thought Obama’s speech was a standard, harmless election speech aimed solely at the Irish constituency in the US.

Kenny’s speech, I thought, was passionate and very well delivered. I was aware that he might go on too long but Obama, in the background, seemed to be enjoying the Taoiseach’s contribution.

Now I know why Obama was laughing in the background. It wasn’t from admiration for Kenny’s oratory skills but, probably, from contempt that neither he nor any of his officials were capable of writing an original speech.

What we, and the whole world, witnessed was just another typical Tammany Hall stroke by a gombeen Irish politician.

When the scam was uncovered the reaction was predictable – lies.

The use (theft) of Obama’s words was, we were told, to honour the man. This, of course, is bullshit.

If this was true Obama would have been informed and would have received public and proper credit for his own words.

Once again the Irish people have been disgraced by a political leader.