Wake Up Call

Every Irish citizen should read this article by Morgan Kelly. In a nutshell, it explains why:

• The EU doesn't give a damn about Ireland and is using it as punchbag to strike fear into other European "partners" such as Spain.
• Anyone who voted in favour of the Lisbon Treaty because it was good for Ireland was a weak minded and easily led fool.
• The ECB are not our friends - when the IMF and Britain favoured burning unguaranteed bond holders the ECB and US Treasury torpedoed the plan.
• Governor of the Central Bank, Saint Patrick Honohan, is actually a toadie of the ECB. He does as he is told by his European overlords despite the tragic consequences his actions have for Ireland.

I'm getting a bit sick of listening to people droning on about how the ECB and EU have been Ireland's salvation. Morgan Kelly's article expertly illustrates how monumentally wrong this assertion is.

The ECB and the EU only care about France and Germany. These countries forged the impossible dream of European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). They repeatedly broke the terms of the European Stability and Growth Pact yet now have the cheek to lecture others for running high deficits. They are home to banks which irresponsibly lent billions to other badly run banks all over Europe (not just Ireland). They think they can bully small nations, financially crippling them and ruining the futures of many generations of their citizens. They fool their own people into believing that they are selflessly spending billions rescuing basket case economies such as Ireland's in order to mask the reality of the economic war they are waging.

It's about bloody time the Irish government manned up. France and Germany created much of this problem. Their banks are just as badly run as ours were. Their imbecilic plan for EMU prevented countries like Ireland from controlling interest rates when their economies were overheating so that the faltering French and German economies could be kick started. Cheap money supplied by EU regulated banks drove demand for French and German exports in countries such as Ireland. Any French or German citizen who thinks that their tax is being wasted bailing out a country who created their own mess needs to examine the facts. The ECB created this mess by acting in the best interests of Europe's biggest players. Now they want to leave us solely responsible for it. They can feck right off!

Ireland, Portugal and Greece are now paying the price for their own stupidity. However they are also paying an extra premium for the stupidity, arrogance and greed of France and Germany. It is high time we realised this and started fighting back.

Are you listening Enda Kenny?

Tired of the same old politics?

Attention Fine Gael Voters

Judging by the latest raft of opinion polls, Fine Gael is set to sweep to victory in the election on Friday. The Irish electorate have obviously fallen for the Fine Gael sound bites and empty promises. For jaysus sake people - think about who and what you are voting for!

Fine Gael are promising to.....

• Make politicians lead the way in Ireland’s recovery. Why then is our future Taoiseach intent on taking a Teacher's pension (including a lump-sum payment of €100,000) when he only worked as a teacher for four years? Enda Kenny has made a fortune from 36 years of Dáil salaries, pensions and expenses. He pocketed severance payments worth €40,000 when he left government in 1997. These are not the actions of a man who puts the best interests of Ireland before his own greedy motives. So much for Fine Gael politicians leading us out of our economic crisis.


• "Protect and create jobs". Their decision to have their Election 2011 website developed and hosted in the USA is hardly a move that has protected or created one job in Ireland.


• "Take on the big vested interests" that have caused our financial crisis. The Fine Gael front bench is made up of Doctors, Solicitors, Auctioneers, Landlords and at least 4 teachers. Sounds like a lot of vested interests to me. I doubt we'll be seeing any initiatives to reduce professional fees or to implement pay for performance in the teaching profession with that lot fighting the corners of their friends and colleagues.


• Revolutionise our health system. Essentially they will copy the Dutch system. Typical lazy Irish attitude to problem solving. The Dutch health system has only been in place since 2006 - hardly long enough to declare it a success. What we need is for our new government to bring in immediate price controls on profiteering GPs and hospital consultants. This won't happen as the Fine Gael Minister for Health will be Dr. James Reilly. This man was president of the Irish Medical Organisation from 2004 - 2007. He campaigned for tax breaks to be given to GPs to build new surgeries, he justified industrial action by doctors and, in 2001, he negotiated a massive payout for GPs in return for the provision of free medical cards for everyone over 70 years of age. How the hell can we expect Fine Gael to improve anything with a money-grabbing GP pulling the strings?


• Strengthen local government. Strange that Fine Gael and the Labour party have controlled the majority of City, County and Urban District councils for most of the last decade. Their track record in local government is as appalling as Fianna Fáil's is in national government.


• Implement a transparent system of political funding. Obviously Leo Varadkar wasn't told about this policy when he refused to name the attendees of his big fundraising dinner last week.

In the final analysis, the only difference between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil is that they fought on different sides during the Civil War of 1922/1923. They are both staffed and financed by "vested interests". They have extracted maximum financial gain from their "service" in Dáil Éireann. They have both lied to the people of Ireland for the best part of a century. They both claim to honour the memory of Irish patriots like Michael Collins and Wolfe Tone. True patriots don't look for severance payments or €100,000 lump-sum pensions when their country is facing a financial meltdown. Tone and Collins must be spinning in their patriot graves!

ENHANCE YOUR BALLOT PAPER - VOTE "NONE OF THE ABOVE" IN ELECTION 2011.

Question Time Part II

I'm getting a bit sick of the gobshites who live in the Dublin South constituency droning on about how great Shane Ross is and what a fantastic TD he will make. I am quite sure that they haven't bothered their arses conducting any research into whether Ross is worthy of their vote. Instead they rely on the propaganda of Ross's mates in the media to inform their decision. So here are my questions for this squeaky clean paragon of virtue:

• You have been sitting on your arse in Seanad Eireann since 1981. During this time you have continued to pursue your career in journalism and, no doubt, have reaped significant financial rewards from this double-jobbing. Why has it taken 30 years for you to decide that our political system needs reforming? Are you a bit slow or do you simply see a bandwagon to jump on to gain easy access to the riches of the Dáil?


• You claim that you have spent your career challenging big bankers (amongst others). If you were always such a critic of bankers why did you want Sean Fitzpatrick appointed as Governor of Bank Of Ireland? You claimed that one of Ireland's greatest economic criminals was "too dynamic" for the jealous top brass in Bank Of Ireland to appoint. Too corrupt more like. Please explain your apparent amnesia in this regard.


• In your day you were a fanboy of Michael Fingleton, another banker who wrecked this country. You haven't exactly been critical of Fingleton. You once wrote:
  
  "Sure, he earns an awful lot of money (€835,000).
  Sure he has been less than transparent.
  But Fingleton, for all his faults, has delivered
  the only thing that matters in business: profit."
  
  
  He also delivered a steaming pile of trouble to this economy. How can you explain your lack of criticism of Fingleton? Is it because you were one of his bitches, the journalists that he went out of his way to do favours for in return for favourable coverage?


• Your election literature urges voters to "Elect me and like-minded independents to the Dáil...". You then promise to fight cronyism and lead the fight for Dáil reform. If you were serious about having any real impact - surely you and your "like-minded independents" could have formed a proper party with real policies to fight the election. Your failure to do this shows that you intend to sit in the Dáil and engage in the soundbite politics that have marked your 30 years of ineffective Seanad service. Discuss.


• The voters of Dublin South are known for their appetite for one hit wonders like Roger Garland and George Lee. Your candidature is very similar to that of Lee. You are both journalists who have profited from "exposing" things like cronyism. You claim that you do this in the national interest but at the end of the day your investigations are motivated by greed - selling more newspapers and gaining air time. You are both publicity hounds. Will your career as a TD also end as Lee's did? Will you also end up skulking back to your job as a journo hack having failed the voters of Dublin South and the people of Ireland?

ENHANCE YOUR BALLOT PAPER - VOTE "NONE OF THE ABOVE" IN ELECTION 2011.

Question Time Part I

Over the next few days I will outline some questions I have designed for any scumbag millionaire (or wannabe) who is unfortunate enough to knock on my door.

I will start with the questions I have for Sinn Féin candidates.

I won't even bother raising moral elephants in the room like the Northern Bank robbery or the party's role in preventing the murderers of Robert McCartney being brought to justice. There are some more fundamental questions that need answering:

• Sinn Féin claims that their public representatives only earn the average industrial wage (the rest being donated to the party). If this is true, why do the Standards in Public Office (SIPO) records only show contributions of €6,000 per TD. Where is the rest of their massive salary/expenses package going?


• Gerry Adams owns three houses. How can he afford these on the "average industrial wage"?


• The Sinn Fein website is disgracefully light on detail. There is nothing which explains how you plan to pay for your €5 billion plans to build schools, health centres and creches. All the while, reversing social welfare cuts and reductions in public spending. You will use the National Pension Reserve Fund to bankroll your spending plans without a second thought for the future pensioners whose incomes you are flushing down the toilet. Please tell me why I'm wrong? Some supporting facts and figures will be required to support your answer.


• The only document listed on the Sinn Féin website which contains anything resembling a policy document is the 10 point jobs plan. If you care so much about creating jobs why is your website hosted in the USA?


• Sinn Féin believes in high taxation and high spending on social welfare and the public service. Your party will tax ordinary workers into oblivion in order to avoid essential reforms to our wasteful and fraudulent social welfare system. Your party has no fully costed budget and tries to disguise its Marxist ideology with waffle. My final question is... would you like to leave my door before I forcibly remove you from my property?

ENHANCE YOUR BALLOT PAPER - VOTE "NONE OF THE ABOVE" IN ELECTION 2011.

Our Future Leader

Going on this performance I'd be surprised if Enda knew what day it was, let alone the status of his website. The man is a simpleton, plain and simple! Even Cowen wasn't this pathetic. We're going from bad to worse, frying pan to fire, dumb to dumber.....

ENHANCE YOUR BALLOT PAPER - VOTE "NONE OF THE ABOVE" IN ELECTION 2011.

Voting None Of The Above

Until very recently I found it unthinkable to "spoil my vote". However, faced with a political menu full of candidates and ideologies which are well past their sell by date, I feel I have no choice. Rather than simply not turning up at the polling station, I will turn up and cast my vote and it will be counted. My hope is that the total valid poll will be significantly lower than the total poll. This will show that a lot of people chose to turn out and register their disaffection with the state of our political system by enhancing their ballot papers with their vote going to "None Of The Above".

In many democracies "None Of The Above" is a valid option on ballot papers. The rationale behind this is that voters should have the option to register their disapproval of all the candidates or parties being put before them. If the recent troubles we have endured have taught us anything it is that our political system is in need of serious reform. We have so many overpaid public "representatives" that it is possible to make a lifelong career from politics without ever working a proper job (take a bow Eamon Gilmore). Our politicians are not in touch with the people. They live in a world of vast salaries, state cars and expense accounts while we deal with redundancy, pay cuts and poverty. We need a political system that allows us to reject all the dross put in front of us in an election - None Of The Above would be one such mechanism.

Why should we be forced to vote for some Fine Gael, Labour or Sinn Féin muppet just because we are outraged with the mess Fianna Fáil made of the country. The truth is that the opposition would have made just as bad a job of things as Fianna Fáil. The politicians of this country are cut from the same cloth - selfish, arrogant and greedy. I refuse to endorse any of them. If enough Irish voters have the courage to enhance their ballot papers on election day we will see a massive proportion of "spoilt votes". This will send out a message to the rotten apple cart of Irish politicians. While they might have a technical electoral mandate - they will have no moral authority to govern us. They do not represent us, they do not know what is best for us and, if they are not careful, a mass of spoilt votes will be the least of their worries.

So if you find yourself torn between voting for Fine Gael and its simpleton leader, the communist manifesto of the Labour Party, the fantasy island politics of Sinn Féin or if you are planning on voting for Fianna Fáil because that is what you always do. STOP. You have another option - ballot paper enhancement - vote None Of The Above.

Lunar Eclipse

You would imagine that something the size of the moon would be hard to hide. However that is exactly what has happened this week as our Minister for Health and Cream Cakes has disappeared. With the country's hospitals at breaking point due to severe lack of funds and the wasteful dinosaurs in the VHI deciding to rape their customers with massive premium increases you would imagine that Fat Mary Harney would be here showing a bit of leadership. Instead she has chosen to follow the Noel Dempsey approach to crisis management - go to ground and don't emerge until the problem has sorted itself out. Bad enough that Harney's failed right wing reaganomic principles have destroyed not only the health service but the wider economy. But now she's off sunning herself while the people
of this country die on trolleys in hospitals that are more akin to concentration camps than centres of healthcare excellence.

It is quite evident that the government of this country is a dead man walking but you would think that the likes of Fat Mary would at least have the good grace to pretend to care. Given her complete failure to lead or even feign empathy with people during this crisis it would appear that she won't stand for election in March. Just like Fianna Fool rats such as Mary Wallace, Noel Dumpsey and Betray Ahern, Fat Mary acts like she too will jump from the ship that she has helped to sink. Just as well she has stored up 30 years' worth of cash by "representing" the people of Ireland in the Kildare Street Country Club - that should keep her in cream cakes for a while.

Unfortunately it doesn't look like things will change much after Funny Gael come to power. They've been hiding their clown prince of a leader for the last few months for fear that he will speak in public and us poor pixie Irish will realise that the opposition are every bit as inept as the government.

ENHANCE YOUR BALLOT PAPER - VOTE "NONE OF THE ABOVE" IN ELECTION 2011.