A Law Unto Themselves

Well what can I say, we live in turbulent testing times but at least we have a government of stature and stability to rely on and a church of true values, morals and reliability!!!

You are excused if you are not outraged, frustrated, disgusted, baffled, speechless, surprised, shocked and appalled at the behaviour of some of the leading authorities of this country but only if you have been living in a cave on Valentia Island or somewhere of equal isolation.

The afflictions which trouble my mind and this small island of ours in particular are those that relate to politics and the faith of its people in every sense of the word. These may not be your typical page turning topics but they merit the space on a white blank page because they are so important.

It troubles me to see our small land of tradition, poets, storytellers, heroes, political revolutionaries, brave war heroes, a country that prides itself on the generosity of its people, the vivaciousness of its people losing its way and falling apart at the seams.

We are currently in political turmoil. This correlates and trickles all the way into the national psyche and drains confidence in the people of this nation, sapping hope from the many people that are lost in the mire of financial obscurity, health problems and so on in these troubled times.

Over a sustained period we have seen the downfall of several leading political figures that were cornerstones of this so called "government". I suppose the ball started to really pick up the collective proverbial shit that these idiots have left strewn on our nation when it became apparent that tax payers were being taken complete advantage of when the tale of "The Expenses" came to light. Leading figureheads using taxpayers money to enjoy the finer things in life and make life as easy as possible on themselves while other people worked and suffered to grant those privileges. These politicians are meant to represent and serve the people not drain them of their earnings for their own benefit and take advantage of them. It seemed to me that John O Donoghue, the Ceann Comhairle who had to retire because of this matter, was made a scapegoat for this particular debacle. He was not the only guilty party with many other TD's weighing in but not taking responsibility for their actions which in my eyes painted them as cowards but that's their prerogative.

We then saw the resignation of poor old George Lee from the leading opposition party Fine Gael. Mr. Lee was seen as the great white hope of Fine Gael when he was voted in in the last general election with the second most first preference votes in the country. The people saw something in him that they believed could make a difference to the ailing fortunes of this country. An economist with RTE that saw into the future,he was considered a saving grace. However it became apparent to George a couple of months into his tenure he had become nothing more than a face for the party and felt he was not getting his fair crack at the whip. I personally don't know what he was thinking being such a public figure in the first place and secondly why did he not expect to have to bide his time to have a lasting impact on the party. He resigned in abject failure and in a whimsical fashion expecting the people to sympathise in his plight of not getting his way.

Then came the farce that was the Willie O Dea affair. The then Minister for Defence had the audacity to swear a false affidavit in court. He accused a candidate in the 2009 general elections of operating a brothel and was subsequently taken to court. He was taken to court on the basis of these allegations but swore in court he had made no such allegations. However it emerged an out of court settlement was made and the matter was put to the side until early in 2010 a vote of no confidence in Mr. O Dea was motioned. The Green Party conceded they had lost all confidence in Mr. O Dea and he subsequently resigned citing that he felt the furore surrounding these matters was taking away from the vital job the government was doing. The irony in this matter is Willie O Dea happens to be a qualified barrister who seemed unaware it was a crime to lie in court. Farcical. I rest my case.

Then came the resignation of Deirdre De Burca from the Green Party. A woman who felt she could not operate in the confines of a political party she felt no longer was true to itself which was quite refreshing it has to be said. Good enough reason and noble enough reason to resign, staying true to your values.

And last but not least we had dear old Trevor Sargent, the Green Party TD who embodied their values and probably should not have been lambasted over his actions which led to his honourable resignation. Formerly leader of the Greens, he contacted Gardai about an ongoing investigation regarding one of his constituents. It may not have been right but you could see where his loyalties lay,in those of his constituents which seems to be rare these days.

Cervical cancer vaccine, child deaths in the HSE not being investigated and 58,000 X-rays being left unchecked resulting in a death and numerous undiagnosed patients. These are just a few of the many revelations that have come to light in recent times about our health service. The woman responsible for overseeing these matters and safeguarding their implementation is none other than our very own Mary Harney. The most recent case to come to the nations attention was the Tallaght hospital X-ray scandal. The utter neglect of this matter is inexcusable yet Ms. Harney is not shouldering the blame. When news broke of the national scandal she was away on a "fact finding" mission in New Zealand and did not feel the urge to come home and manage the crisis. Her head should be on a platter.

The ongoing seemingly never ending church scandals are continuing to unearth fresh wounds with the news that Cardinal Brady one of the most senior bishops in this country was involved in a cover up back in the 1970's involving a priest and his penchant for children. It came to light some of these children were forced to keep quiet upon threat of ex-communication which was a very serious matter in those days. Cardinal Brady then quite blatantly explained he did not feel it was his responsibility to report this matter to the Gardai. He believes resignation on his behalf is not a matter warranting contemplation or discussion.

There is something rotten at the core of this country and its authoritative figures.

Week Review

"Life is the shit that happens when we're waiting for those moments that never come" 


- Lester Freamon, The Wire


This week we saw the homecoming of Sharon Commins from her toil and ordeal at the hands of terrorists in which herself and her Ugandan colleague, Hilda Kawuki, were subjected to mental torture and anguish in horrible conditions for 107 days so my admiration and congratulations go out to those two ladies for their courage and determination to survive in the face of adversity and for their charitable work. Welcome home!


However the other main news story inter alia NAMA and the like was the controversial and contentious introduction of the reduction in the alcohol limit when driving. The plan was to reduce the limit to a point where it was not possible to even have a pint and drive. Nothing wrong there. It's been proven in other countries who have introduced the same alcohol limit that road deaths have been reduced. All good so far. Road accidents reduced, lives saved. Where could there be a downfall in this you may ask?


You could hazard a guess at the general public or alcoholics!? However you would imagine there wouldn't be much opposition to such a sensible and obvious law being introduced. Think again. Opposition was voiced but not from the usual lobbying parties and the associated groups. No, opposition was expressed in our very own Government, by the people who are entrusted with the welfare of this country, the country we love and cherish. By the people who we chose to represent our values and beliefs and manifest them in Government.
Twenty two Fianna Fail backbenchers had the gall to suggest that this law was a further stepping stone in the direction of a nanny state and cited rural isolation as the main issue. Twenty two of these fucking numpties thought it would be clever to protest against saving lives effectively. I am still finding it hard to believe thay had the balls to protest and whats more Noel Dempsey did not have the conviction to follow through and ignore these gobshites. Despicable.


Perhaps these "politicians" should be put in a room and the key thrown away with the families of people tragically taken from them in drink driving accidents and justify their ludicrous opposition to this law.


On a seperate note the troubador Josh Ritter had ny attention this evening for about forty five minutes until I decided it wasn't worth twenty five euro to stand behind a big pillar and watch that. Pillars dont sing to you, it took me forty five minutes to realise that, Whelans as a venue has a lot to answer for!

Rain rant

Why does the country come to a standstill when it rains?


Cars piled up on motorways in a uniform line all like lambs being led to the slaughter, going somewhere but nowhere at the same time. People who maintain a nice speed whilst driving suddenly slow down to a snails pace like they had nowhere to be in a hurry. Get out of my fucking way. I have to be somewhere and your stopping me from getting there on time. Or people who dont use their indicators infuriate me. Where are you going, left? right? fair enough just swing in there in front of me with no due notice. Very annoying but beside the point, back to the rain.


Your sitting there with no place to go but dying to get to your destination with nobody to entertain you but your friend, the radio. Then that gobshite Gerry Ryan comes on if you listen long enough. Christ, you should be rewarded for listening to a radio station not punished. Take a fucking paycut you wanker! I'd gladly do your job for forty thousand a year you selfish prick. My integrity and my lifestyle are being violated he whined. Get over it, your on over half a million a year even after your "paycut". What about those out there struggling on minimum wage raising two kids and have to work two jobs to make ends meet, educate their children and put food on the table. You sittin in RTE with your cushy job, being all smug, thinking the masses are at your mercy and hang on your every word. Tune out people, tune out. Show your disgust at this man by reducing his listenership to the bare minimum, TUNE OUT!


One other thing that got to me in the last two weeks was the tragic death of Stepehen Gately. God rest his soul. RIP and all that but the media circus and outpouring of grief that surrounded the event in question was a bit out of hand. He was an icon and he did his duty for raising awareness to the plight of the gay community and how they may suffer at the hands of the ignorant minorities, but I ask you, where was the outpouring of grief for the two young men killed in a training exercise for the Air Corps? They died serving their country. Two young men tragically taken from their mother, their father, their brothers and sisters, their wives, girlfriends, perhaps kids. Where was the media? Focused entirely on Stephen Gately. Priorities people. Anyways enough of my ranting. 


Until next time people, au revoir!