Guantánamo.

I worth this over on Richard's Critics Corner

The reason for going to war in Iraq and the reason I support it is simple. Democracy. One of the worst crimes against a person is to deny them their say on polling day. Be you the Taoiseach or some one on the dole in Leitrim on polling day you are equal. The Iraq people have the right to this too. Anyone who says that they are not ready for this system need only look at history to see that people like the American's when they got their democracy embraced it and flourished. It can happen in Iraq too now thanks to the coalition.

But Democracy is about more then just polls. It is about certain values. Truth, Justice and human dignity. Tony Blair called the War on Terror not a war of civilisations but a war for civilisations. We are on the side of civilisation; we are the ones that has right on our side. But what is civilisation? One of the earliest definitions was "law which makes a criminal process civil". What is civil about not giving a person one of the most basic rights their day in court? Dostoyevsky said that you can tell what a nation is like by the way it treats its prisoners. So what does Guantánamo say about us. Whether or not detainees in Grantanamo are tortured or treated better then Belgian prisoners doesn't matter. By denying them their day in court we have already crossed the line that divides civilisation from terror.

When we capture a criminal we read them their rights. Why? Because they have rights. We are not the Taliban we have due process. Bush said "Our enemies murder because they despise our freedom and our way of life. We believe in human rights, and the human dignity of every man, woman and child on this Earth".

America intern people in Guantanemo without trial. Recently the US Supreme Court refused to question the government's power to hold US citizens indefinitely as enemy combatants. Interment in the North was brought in to stop the IRA did it? No. Sure it captured some of the heads of the IRA but it also radicalised hundreds that would never have been radicalised otherwise. By abandoning civilisation the British did not beat the IRA they made it stronger.

Many argue that these enemy combatants might go back on the field of battle if released. But isn't releasing these people not the very essence of what we are fighting for. For our beliefs. We let criminals out on a reasonable doubt. True they might offend again and true we might save a life by not letting them go but we do it all the same. Why because we believe in Justice. And if we let your selves give in, to abandon our beliefs, to deny the human dignity of even one person then we have lost the war for civilisation as we have become our enemies.

1916

1916 is coming up. While many people disagree with commemorating it. I don't. I think our fight for freedom and self-determination was right and we should not be ashamed of our origins. The French celebrate Bastille the English celebrate Trafelger why can't we celebrate 1916. I wrote my thought on 1916 here. Also check out the image on the sidebar. Remember 1916. United Irelander is going 1916 crazy with what is turning into a 1916 themed week.

EU freezes aid to Palestinian government

EU freezes aid to Palestinian government Reuters report that the EU is freezing aid to palestine. I am not convinced that this is a good thing. Sure it is wrong that Hamas doesn't recognise Israel. But will this push Palestine into the arms of Iran and Syria which would be even worse.? Recently.

New Hamas Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar has twice this week appeared to float trial balloons by talking of a "two-state solution", code for co-existence with Israel, in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that was later half-denied, and an interview with the London daily The Times.

Is that something that can be worked on?

Word

You Belong in Barcelona

When it comes to Europe, you don't want to decide between culture and fun. You want art by day and a big party by night. Barcelona is ideal for you. You can check out some Picasso, eat some tapas, take a siesta, and then dance all night!

What European City Do You Belong In?

Blogs in Ireland

Anyone else notice that Bloggers in Ireland are either from and based around either Belfast, Cork, Dublin and the Mid-West. Where are all the West and North Bloggers. There are a lot of student bloggers but how come so few from NUIG

Health

Health is the biggest problem in this country at the moment. But I am going to try to understand it. So if you want to join me in trying to understand it. These are some of the things I am reading. Feel free to suggest anything. OECD Health Data 2005 How Does Ireland Compare France babelfish translation.

Eco-health OECD 2005 How France positions the expenditure of health and their financing the total expenditure of health represented in France 10.1% of the GDP in 2003, that is to say 1.5 points of percentage more than the average of the OECD countries (8.6%). The expenditure of health compared to the GDP in France remains however less low than in the United States (which records the highest level with 15%), in Switzerland, in Germany, in Iceland and Norway. France is also located above the average of the OECD countries in terms of total expenditure of health per capita, with expenditure of 2 903 USD (adjusted on the basis of purchasing power parity of the currencies) compared to an average of 2 307 USD for the whole of the OECD countries. There still, the expenditure of health per capita in France remains however well below the expenditure of health in the United States, which rises with 5 635 USD per capita. Between 1998 and 2003, the expenditure of health per capita in France, in realities term (i.e. except inflation), increased on average by 3.5% per year, a figure less low than the average of 4.5% observed in the OECD countries during this period. The public financing represents the principal source of financing of the expenditure of health in all OECD countries, except for the United States, of Mexico and Korea. In France, 76.3% of the expenditure of health are financed by public funds, a level higher than the average of the OECD countries (72.1%). Among the European countries, the share of the public financing of the expenditure of health is higher in France than in countries like Spain, Austria, Portugal and Switzerland, but weaker than in the majority of the Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Sweden and Norway). The resources of the sector of health (human, physical and technological) France counts 3.4 doctors per a thousand of inhabitants, a figure higher than the average of 2.9 in the OECD countries. In addition, France counts 7.3 nurses per a thousand of inhabitants, a number a little less low than the average of 8.2 in the countries of the OCDE1. In France, the number of hospital beds for acute care is of 3.8 beds per thousands of inhabitants in 2003, a number rather close to the average of the OECD countries. As in the majority of the other developed countries, the number of hospital beds available per capita fell during 20 last years. The reduction of the number of hospital beds in the majority of the OECD countries coincided with a reduction of the average duration of the stays at the hospital and an increase in the recourse to the surgery of day. The diffusion of modern medical technologies is one of the principal factors of the increase in the expenditure of health in the OECD countries. For example, the number of apparatuses of imagery by magnetic resonance (IRM) used to diagnose many diseases has more than quintuplet on average in the OECD countries since the beginning of the years 1990. Although the number of IRM and scanners CT also increased in France, their number per capita is less low there into 2003 than in the majority of the OECD countries. The country which lays out, and by far, of the greatest number of IRM and scanners CT per capita is Japan. France on the other hand holds the greatest number of apparatuses of mammography per capita among the whole of the OECD countries. The health of the population and the factors of risk the majority of the OECD countries recorded important profits of life expectancy to the birth during 40 last years. In France, the life expectancy to the birth increased 9.1 years between 1960 and 2003, which is close to the profits recorded on average in the OECD countries. In 2003, the life expectancy in France was 79.4 years, that is to say 1.6 years more than the average of the OECD countries. Japan records the most raised life expectancy, with 81.8 years, follow-up of Iceland, Spain, Switzerland and Australia with life expectancies 80 years and more into 20032. The proportion of adults stating to smoke daily decreased in the majority of the OECD countries during two last decades. In France however, this reduction was relatively weak, the proportion of adults who smoke daily passing from 30% in 1980 to 28.6% in 2002. Thus, the proportion of daily smokers in France, which was less low than the average of the OECD countries in 1980, is now higher than this average. Canada, the United States and Sweden provide examples of countries which reduced in a considerable way the prevalence of the nicotinism. They record into 2003 of the rates of less than 18% of the adult population which smokes daily. The alcohol consumption per capita decreased in the majority of the OECD countries during last decades. In France, the total alcohol consumption strongly fell since 1970, even if it remains definitely higher than the average of the OECD countries. The fall of consumption coincided with more strict measurements of control, in particular in the field of publicity. The problems of obesity increased considerably during two last decades, even if there are notable differences of prevalence of obesity in the adults according to countries'. In France, the rate of obesity among the adult population (9.4% in 2002) remains quite lower than the rates recorded in the majority of the other developed countries, although it is in increase. The highest rates of obesity are found in particular in the United States (30.6% in 2002), in the United Kingdom (23% in 2003) and in Australia (21.7% in 1999)3. The latency time between the appearance of obesity and the increase in the chronic diseases which are dependent there (like the diabetes and asthma) leaves think that the strong increase in the obese population in the majority of the OECD countries will have, in the future, of the considerable implications in terms of health and expenditure of health

More on French Here Hanley report

Kerry

I posted this over on Irishelection.

According to the Kerryman newspaper. Morgan Stack a university lecturer from Listowel is planning to run for the Irish 9/11 Truth Movement which believes that 9/11 was “an intelligence operation planned and conducted by very senior elements in the current Bush administration”. This is a common conspiracy theory. Some how I don’t think Martin Ferris or the other sitting TD’s will be worried.

Ah Kerry where else.

Happy Birthday Ian

Ian Paisley is 80 today. Will he say a birthday yes is the question.

In bad Taste?

Hat tip Damian

Road to Guantanamo

Just listening to the Tipton 3 on the Last word. They were imprison in Guantanamo for over 2 years without charge. It really is a disgrace how America is disgracing the virtues of democracy the very virtues the soldiers in Iraq are dieing for. Tom Cosgrave has an article about Shannon. It’s Time to Search The Planes

South Park

South Park has to be the best satire out there at the moment. In a recent show they tackle the smugness of people from San Francisco for driving Hybrids. Even the newspapers respondSan Francisco takes it on the chin from South Park’ TV show. You can see it here. Hopefully RTE or TV3 will buy it again as it is far superior now then it was in the beginning when it was just fart jokes. Even though this on episode has fart jokes but they are brilliant satire.

Beating OffShoring

In Offshoring: The Next Industrial Revolution?(Non free Subs required for full article) by Alan S. Blinder in this Months Foreign Affairs he argues that Off shoring will be the next industrial revolution. So can we survive? Ireland can no longer compete with the likes of China for manufacturing. Even the fact that we have the much praised 12.5% corporation will not save Irish jobs. They will move to the likes of China. Everyone knows this is happening. Yesterday Fulflex announced it’s decision to leave Limerick with the loss of 108 jobs. Delll also looks like it will leave. But it is not just manufacturing jobs that can up sticks and leave.

There is generally two types of manufactured goods. The ones that can be shipped and those that can not be. Some products like Guinness that taste like crap when it travels cannot be shipped, a house cannot be shipped. Others like a computer can be shipped around the world all it needs is a box. Whether it is made in Limerick or Vietnam a box is a box, a postman is a postman to the end receiver of the product. Anything that can be delivered down a line can also be off shored. Telly marketing is already mainly delivered from India. But also stuff like accounting can also be delivered down a line. Unions battling to stop companies moving are fighting a battle they can’t win. Neither will introducing protectionism into the market stop it. As Mr Universe said in the excellent Serenity. “You can’t stop the signal”. Services delivered over the net or phone can never be stopped.

One thing that is not mentioned often about outsourcing is that it has limited gains. If companies move to cheaper places like China. Not only will they dent the economies that they leave thus denting their market but they also add to the economies that they move too. Recently it was announced that China’s competitiveness had fallen this was mainly due to double digit rise in Labour costs. With rising wages comes rising standards of living. Countries like China eventually will not be the sweat shops of the world. As they will be in the same position as we are in at the same standard. Thus the reason for moving from Ireland to China is gone. Then the companies can move on to Africa. But the same thing happens again. The countries prosper and eventually there is no more cheap labour in the world to move too. So the countries will eventually find a place to settle. But with the rise of standards of living also comes the desire for stuff. Ipods, TV, Prada, etc. Creating a greater consumer drive for products and services leading to more jobs worldwide.

With the rise of the economies in these countries so to will the level of education in these countries. Thus they will be able to compete with Ireland for the high level jobs.

In Offshoring The Next Industrial Revolution by Alan S. Blinder in this months Foreign Affairs said that “just as with the first two industrial revolutions, massive offshoring will not lead to massive unemployment. In fact, the world gained enormously from the first two industrial revolutions, and it is likely to do so from the third so long as it makes the necessary economic and social adjustments.”

Now his answer was that we need to focus on personnel service industries. Where face to face interaction is needed such as taxi drivers and doctors. But what I disagree with there is the fact that face to face services will only keep money in the economy. If people buy their stuff outside the country then money is leaving the economy. If there is no services that bring in an equal amount money then we will have a massive balance of payments deficit. Much greater then the roughly 1% of GNP we have in Ireland at the moment.

So what we need to do is innovate to create the initial patented idea’s and products in Ireland so that the financial benefit comes to Ireland. Also if the companies are headquartered in Ireland they will be less likely to move off to India. If we do this then we have to make a 100% Irish silicon valley

Silicon valley has been responsible for much of the economic growth in the USA. So what has silicon valley got that Nashvile hasn’t. Frederick Terman was a professor in Stanford University back in 1930s. He had a light blub over the head moment and decided that the unused land the University had could be used to help students set up businesses, he also looked for venture capital for them. One of the first students he helped were called Hewlett and Packard. In the 1950’s the Stanford Industrial Park was created. This basically was cheap rental space for technological companies. This attracted many bright individuals that attracted more and new companies spawned more new companies and eventually Silicon came what it is today. The cradle of all innovation in the world.

So what is the moral of the silicon valley tale. Basically it is that to create a successful economy it requires innovation. We in this country can not depend on foreign companies forever they will move. To succeed in the future we have to produce our own companies. If we take the lesson from Silicon valley our mission is clear. We need to create a climate where innovation and ideas can flourish. This requires 2 steps.

The first step is the vast increase of funding in the Universities especially in 4^th level. While the government is moving on this it is still very poor. Funding for a PhD in this country is about 12,700 per annum at best. This has remained fairly static for some years while the cost of living has not. Is there many people willing to live in Dublin on 12,700 a year. If you wish to keep the best and the brightest in the country and in research you have to provided them with a decent living wage. Feel free to say fecking student getting stuff for nothing. But if even one of those student can come out and create a company like Google then the benefit to the economy far out ways the initial cost.

Secondly once the researchers have the idea’s give them the financial means to implement these ideas. This means that Enterprise Ireland needs to be given more money to give them the ability to provide companies with the seed capital they need to blossom.

In the last Budget the government announced that €1.2 billion over 5 years was going to be spent on 4^th Level education. This is a start but only a start. We are talking about the future of the nation here. The education system needs vast amounts investment. We have a limited population so we need to maximise the talent in the country. This requires investments in all levels of education. The person who will have the vision and the drive to create the Irish version of Google can come from anywhere be it D4 or the Ballymun flats. Thus children from both area’s need to be given the same chance in life. In places where parents don’t place enough emphasis on education then the state has to step in and invest in homework clubs. Force the children to do there homework if needs be from an early age. Schools need to be of a great standard no matter where they are. If someone wants to go to a private school so be it but they should not get an educational advantage for it. Not by bringing the private school standard down but by bring the public school standard up.

We can no longer rely on foreign companies in Ireland. We have to invest in innovation. Now.

Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism

Just after watching some of the documentary Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism(Homepage) on TG4 it was a 3 part series which I kept managing to catch the most of but not all off. Very interesting charting the rise from Owen all the way to Blair. Keep an eye on TG4 to see if they repeat I hope they do.

Gerry O'Quigley back

Gerry O' Quigley is back blogging.

Denis Donaldson

Denis Donaldson “has been shot dead”. Ian Paisley speaking on BBC News claimed that his hand had been cut off. What effect this has on the peace process remains to be seen. Updates on: Slugger, Adam Maquire ,United Irelander ,RTE

Thank you God...It's official!

Here's a teaser trailer officially announcing the movie event of the decade.

Enjoy

Flights in Shannon

76% believe Government should search CIA flights . I support the war in Iraq as I believe it is right to bring democracy to Iraq. But suspending all the virtues of democracy by torturing people and rendering them via Shannon to Gitmo is just wrong. Check the flights Bertie

Irish Election.

I hope ye are all keeping up with Irishelection.com. The four posts prior(Ahh Lazy Sunday) to this were orginally on Irish Election but I decided to write them here as well. As I know some of my readers don't read Irishelection.

Talk is cheap at the Labour Conferance

One of the biggest mistakes the right in Ireland has ever done is succeed. The ideas of free market, neo-liberalism are now except as the norms of Irish politics. Hence the Labour Party could say quiet sincerely that they still have core left wing policies and advocate a 12.5% corporation tax rate. Put it this way would a French left wing party advocate 12.5%. But that is not a bad thing.

I am despite what some people might think a centralist. I have little time for ideologies to me they are counter-productive. The only thing that should matter is the end result. Machiavellianism if you will. For instance the left advocate nothing short of universal health care indeed Pat Rabbitee mentions this in his speech. The right advocates privatisation of health care with Mary Harney bringing in some reforms to implement this. But to me health needs to work whether it is universal health care, private health care or a little from column A and a little from column B the only thing that matters is that people get better. And while the intellectual heavy weights of politics weigh in on the arguments from their various ideologies they blind themselves to the solutions that the other side has. Instead of taking the best of both it is all or nothing.

This is I think something that all the parties are missing. The normal Joe public wants the best they can get for them and their family. They care little for the ideological battles that take place between the parties. Michael D spent much of his talk going on about the “extreme individualism of the Right” and that the “left must create a politics beyond the self”. But save the intellectual heavy weights of this world few care about left wing right wing ideologies. They care about results and will vote for the party that has the best plan for results.

As I mentioned before the right has won much of the economic policy debate and we have seen the benefit of this with our growth rates and employment levels. However while the economy policies of the government may be as close to bang on the nose right as possible but there is much that is rotten in the state of Ireland and it is not right to assume that just because the rights economic model won the beauty contest that it will win the health service argument.

But most parties seem to still think that the electorate still care for left and right wing politics. Take the Labour conference the point that Labour were left was continuously reinforced. The connection with the European social model was also reinforced by Pat Rabbitte. With a reference to the ideals of the founders of the party which is the political fashion now. In Labour’s case Larkin. All the talk of “solidarity, participation, equality of provision” (Note they criticise the PD’s for saying inequality is a good thing for the economy but also call for equality of provision which seems the same to the PD’s equality of opportunity.) is irrelevant to most people they want results not rhetoric.

Rhetoric is easy results and ideas is not. The coalition despite the Governments slip in the polls is making little gains. The reason is simple. Instead of using the conference to showcase their ideas about how to make the country better, how to produce the better end result. They retreat from ideas to left-wing rhetoric waffle like “Any new government will have to address the profound alienation of many from their lives and society. It will have to implement a strategy for inclusion and reconnection”.

Idea’s not big words is what is needed, not talk of “reconnection”. Labour lost their chance to sound like a credible alternative instead they sounded like a bunch of students.

Labour On Health

Now despite the amount of rhetoric that dominated the Labour conference there was some solid proposals. It seems the coalition partners have decided to spilt the election issues between them. Fine Gael seems to leading the way on crime figures while Labour seems to be leading the way on Health. I wonder is this a way of the coalition partners coming to a consensus on how to run the country. With each party having there own “patch”. Anyway what had Labour to say on Health.

Like all parties Labour have sound bite friendly plan this time it is a 5 point plan. Firstly they call for more beds. The fact the A&E crisis evolves mainly people not having beds it seems that the obvious solution is to have more beds. However much of the crisis is due to poor management of resources not lack of beds. As St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny (Sunday Tribune Free Subs Required) shows more beds is not necessarily the problem. If money is diverted from the Health budget to building beds that are not needed that is wrong. However it is hardly likely that the solution can be formed solely without providing more beds.

Second they call for hospitals to have higher hygine standards. All I can say to that is “word”! But Labour are not the first ones to mention this Mary Harney said “Meat factories are cleaner than some of our hospitals” back in June. The questions is of course what has she done about it and what will Labour do about it.

Third they will keep as much healthcare as local as possible. Again the example of St Luke’s is precisely this. A&E is being blocked up by many people who don’t need it who’s local GP could easily deal with them. But with figures recently showing that there has been a slow uptake in GP only cards. Seems to suggest much of the problem is getting people to actually go to the doctor instead of A&E. Currently there is about 11,000 people with GP only cards. Much of the deterrent for visiting the GP is the cost involved this needs to be addressed. By either increased competition (more doctors) in the long term or by government support(grants, medical cards etc) or both. But Labour’s call to “modernise the services offered by family doctors” while in my opinion a small portion of the problem is none the less needed.

Fourthly they would reverse Mary Harney’s tax breaks for private hospital developments. Now this is back to what I said in this post about ideologies. Labour are approaching from an ideological point of view. The end result of the health service should be the maximum return for the minimum spend. The only reason that the tax breaks should be dropped is if they will not lead to lives being saved. I don’t think this would be the case. True they are far from the solution and will be to the benefit for the rich. But if they free up bed’s and other resources in the public hospitals and allow the governments health budget to be spent on the poorest in society then it can be nothing but a good thing. The private sector is not to be feared or seen as the solution they must be used where applicable and where they will benefit the nation.

“Fifthly, we will reform the way hospitals work, so that money follows the patient, and doctors and hospitals are paid in line with the treatment they provide for patients.” Makes perfect sense to me.

Other plans for Health were announced by Labour Deputy Leader Liz McManus. They include Targeted measures to improve lifestyles ie obesity, alcohol, exercise, smoking and screenings. Which ties in nicely with Enda Kenny’s National Conference Speech where he called for a national screening programming with free regular health checks for men and women. Also Better management within our hospitals. We spend more on our health service then Britain. Yet it is not a patch on the NHS. She also called for an end to the two-tier system. I have to disagree. I don’t think the two-tier system should be got rid for the sake of it. Only if it is detrimental to the health service now I am no expert on the health service but I would imagine that the money from private clients keeps many hospitals balance sheets in the black. The two-tier system should only be removed if it is needed and cause no ill effects to the system. Other points include Greater priority to be given to improving mental health services.

She also calls for more community beds. This is a much needed thing (if I have the right definition). Many people in the health service are taking up acute beds that are needed by others more urgently. Many of these people don’t need these beds at all. If there was adequate step down beds in the system. Then much of the delays in the system would be solved as space would be used efficiently.

However Labour miss out on what is the biggest factor. Consultants in Ireland consultants are among the highest paid in Europe and hold sway over the whole system and we often hear stories how they focus on their private patients to the determinate to their public patients. This needs to be dealt with. Pat said “no interest group has the right to veto changes which are necessary for the public good” will they act on it and take on the interest group with the most power? Another thing that needs to be done is to provide more doctors. There is demand in the system, the CAO points show that there is demand for places. However places need to be expanded and increased. UL’s Graduate Entry Medical School needs to be supported and perhaps Maynoth and Waterford IT should also gain medical schools.

There is much wrong with the Health service and no easy solutions. Labour have set out there stall. While there ideas might be good they are just words, actions are more important. Maybe Labour’s campaign would be better if instead of focusing on idea’s they simply used the slogan.

Sure We Can’t Fuck it Up Any Worse

Student Power

Condoms should be ‘zero-rated’ in next Budget – Fiona O’Malley(PD’s). I have to wonder how much of this is really due to health issues, as trying to jump on the Union of Students In Irelands call for VAT to be cut on Condoms. Are the PD’s courting the youth vote? Indeed should the USI field candidates in 2007. If students registered in the constituencies where their colleges are how many seats would they win. For instance with a student population in Galway West of about 25,000 and the quota last time being 8,245. The Students could be the king makers if they wished

The Irish Abroad

Late last week but strangely not at it’s conference Labour announced a plan to reach out to the Irish community abroad. This comes in the wake of the immigration debate in America which I am not going to get into the pros and cons of all that at the moment because that is an issue for the American people to decided. Basically the plan is as follows.

· The establishment of an Agency for the Irish Abroad, along the lines recommended by the Task Force on Policy Regarding Emigrants;

· Support for the principle of emigrant representation in Seanad Eireann for Irish communities;

· The expansion of the remit of RTE to allow it to broadcast to the United Kingdom;

· Early provision of the €34m in official government funding for emigrant services, as recommended by the Task Force;

· The extension to emigrant representative groups of the right to apply for funding from the Dormant Accounts Disbursement Board;

· A negotiated work visa programme between Ireland and the U.S., which would be open to undocumented Irish living and working in the United States;

· A political initiative to convey to the U.S. political community and business interests the importance of the Kennedy-McCain Immigration Reform Legislation;

· The provision to all Irish born emigrant pensioners of a right to free travel on public transport in this country;

· Entitlement for returning Irish born emigrant pensioners to full social welfare benefits.

Now most of those policies are quiet sound and a bit shocking that they were not implemented before. But by far and away the most interesting idea is the emigrant representation in Seanad Eireann. Now this would not be a entirely uniquely Irish thing. In fact the Italian parliament has twelve seats in the Chamber of Deputies and six in the Senate for Overseas Constituency. The Chamber has 630 members and 315 in the senate. If the same proportion was used in the Dail then there would be three foreign deputies. Considering how close the election will be that would be powerful body.

The Irish Seanad is in essences a talking shop which would benefit from the views of people from abroad. It may also give the Irish some more influence on the world stage. Then the question rises. Should people in Northern Ireland elect members to the Seanad or even vote in the presidential election, indeed should Irish in Boston get a vote in the presidential election.

Check out Irish Election for comments on this

Munster

Woohoo Munster won and will now play Leinster. The battle of Ireland is about to begin. The Red Army vs D4 it should be good.

HEAVE

Go Murty

That is somewhat scary

Blog El Paso Times Might be sued.

Article from the Sunday Times. Makes one think? I wonder will McDowell's libel reform's effect blogs. This is the El Paso Times. Update: the El Paso Times claims that it was all an April Fools joke. A lot of debate about the site and it's often libelous content. Here and here and here

Match

I am off to the Munster Match.

Low lie the fields of athnrey Where once we watched the small free birds fly.
Our love was on a wing there was dreams and songs to sing
It's so lonely round the fields of athnrey

Top 6 Friday: Top 6 Fridays

In honour of the great precursor to our weekends today we pay special tribute to Friday, as described by Wikipedia the day is a cause for celebration and relief, its very name deriving from Frige, the Norse god of beauty.

6. ‘His Girl Friday’ A really charming, funny movie from 1940 starring Cary Grant. Some of the fastest paced dialogue ever committed to celluloid.

5. TGI Fridays As chain restaurants go this place serves some tastiest dam food on the other side of the Atlantic, 3 words- Jack Daniels Sauce.

4. ‘The Long Good Friday’ An excellent gangster movie from 1980 starring Bob Hoskins, a reminder that the British used to make good movies.

3. Good Friday Certainly not a day of celebration on the Christian calendar, but great things were coming two days later.

2. Man Friday A reminder of the importance of friendship and companionship.

1. The Good Friday Agreement Gave peace a chance.

Dishonourable mentions: Casual or Dress-Down Friday, Crunchie Advertising, 'Friday Night Lights'

Have your self a laugh

leprechaun spotted in alabama. Seemingly it real from wpmi

Nuclear Power

Prime time special 30 March 2006 Is nuclear power set to undergo a renaissance? Interesting note one of the guys is the son of Ernst Walton the only Irish man to win the noble prise for Physics. Personally apart from the safety issues which are debatable. Nuclear is a no go. On issues of cost and the fact that all though uranium is in safe countries like Australia and the US it is finite, the waste is a major issue and it is only a temporary solution.

What can the government do about Road Deaths?

A mate told me this story. He was driving down a twisty turny mountainous road. In front of him was 2 cars and behind was a van. The van then decided to overtake all three cars. So the van driver put the foot down and accelerated passing out the three cars and cutting right across a blind corner to get back on correct side of the road. 10 seconds later and female driver came up on the other side of the road. If that female driver had left her house 10 seconds earlier she would have come around the corner and hit the van. She would not have seen it coming and probably would have died. Also the other three cars would probably have been in a pile up and more lives could have been lost. Maybe before leaving the woman might have changed the radio station taking 10 seconds, maybe she had trouble closing her house door lasting 10 seconds what ever delayed her that 10 seconds saved her life. From all the times you have been driving how often have you been 10 seconds from death. Road deaths are a national emergency. Since January 1 roughly 89 people have died on our roads, that is pretty much over one a day. But the government are not really to blame for road deaths.

Many people blame the road network and like to use the statistic that the fast roads in the country are the safest. This is a nonsense argument. The main cause of road fatalities and what the government have to deal with is not anything tangible like road quality it is to do with people not taking responsibility for there own actions.

Many road in Ireland are of poor quality and people know this. So they should act accordingly if a road is a twisty turny road don’t speed and don’t over take on a blind bend. All these things make sense to most people but why do people not take responsibility for their own actions. Instead with everything that goes wrong in this country instead of taking responsibility as we would have in yester year we blame the government and expect them act like parents mollycoddling us as if we are irresponsible kids that know no better.

Another argument is that we need more enforcement of the law. Basically what we are asking the government to stop people being stupid and irresponsible. Would we inspect the Gardai to force people not to put their ATM pin number in the newspapers. No of course not because no one would be that irresponsible. But for some reason when dealing with road deaths we never deal with the irresponsibility.

The reason of course is that the person who acts irresponsibly, does not just get their bank account emptied they hit someone in a car that is acting responsibly. Thus the government has to introduce measures to combat stupidity. We Irish are the most informed about the number of road deaths in Europe yet we don’t seem to get the fact that we need to cop on. So what needs to be done.

A Garda traffic corp needs to be put in place the only thing that will slow down people is enforcement of the speed limits. We also need speed cameras. Anyone that says the speed cameras are just a money making device. I say if you do not break the speed limit you do not get fined. Also if you wish to make the argument that you can get done 5 km over the limit. Remember the speed limit is a limit not a suggestion.

Penalty point should also be enforced it is no use having laws if they are not enforced. When they were introduced back in 2002 they did work and reduce fatalities but it was not enforced and people being people were irresponsible and thought sure it is only against the law if I am caught. Hands up who has not driven while using a mobile phone without hands free.

Another option to bring in is to limit engine size or put speed limiters for drivers of a certain age. This is an ok measure but will do little. In the above anecdote the speed wasn’t the problem it was the fact the driver did a horrendously dangerous manoeuvre whether that is carried out at 120kmph or 100kmph would not change the fact that a live would be lost.

Teenagers in schools do not receive education in road safety. The point of education is to educate for living in a society. Schools need to start giving driving lessons as part of the school curriculum. Also the driving test needs to be changed. There is something fundamentally wrong when someone fails their driving test thus judged not competent enough to drive on the road and then drive home.

Drink driving is still rampant, publicans especially rural ones who are on first name terms with many of their customers and who know well who is driving still will fire out rakes of pints. Guinness Mid strength may come the drink of choice of people who are the designated driver. While 1 pint of it will keep you under the limit 10 pints of it wouldn’t. Also the limit is not a target it is the maximum. No alcohol should be consumed at all. An EU survey has placed Ireland at the bottom of the Euro-league for improving road safety. We need to seriously work on this. We need to enforce the law more, straighten roads even place restrictions on car engines

This may well be an issue in the next election. Even though it seems wrong that we have to legislate simple cop on but hey that is the world we live in.

Podge and Rodge and hostel

Great Story in The Examineer. Greens see red at Podge & Rodge axe

On another note I am now going to review the movie hostel.

Piece of Shit

Hope you like my review

Errors

Many people go on about the errors in Wikipedia. But errors occur in all publications take this line from National Geographic

In 1884, with Ireland under the rule of the British Crown, a group of Irish nationalists met in County Galway to establish an organization for Irish athletes, the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is still the governing body of hurling and Gaelic football (as well as of ladies football and carmogie, a hurling-like sport for women).

Can some one please tell me when Thurles Co Tipperary was considered part of Galway. Did they even look this up

Munster Tickets

Tickets are going on ebay for 202.50 on EBAY .

Saving a Counter weight to Dublin

Looking through the Party News on Irish Election .com I find no mention of the new IBEC survey about the Mid-West and the effect of the open skies policy on Shannon. For you who have missed the news basically from excellent the Limerick Blogger.

Shannon airport itself reckons it will lose 30% of its transatlantic business. According to the survey of 123 businesses who responded 25 of those expressed strong concerns that a reduction in flights could trigger decisions to re-locate from Ireland. Fears have also been expressed that parent companies may stop any further investment in existing businesses.

We hear much from all the parties of the need to create a counter-weight to the development of Dublin. This is not going to happen in Cavan (Sorry Cavan people) it is going to happen basically in Cork and Limerick. Galway while it has much infrastructure and indeed is a fine city it lacks two important things that Cork and Limerick have. Major Ports and airports. Cork has deepest natural harbour and Foynes just outside Limerick is Ireland’s largest bulk cargo handler. Also both of the airports are quiet busy with flights to America and to the continent.

From a markets point of view it could be said that Dublin is the dominate player in the market with almost a monopoly and is in need of competition. To attract companies away from Dublin you are not going to be able to bring them to Athlone. Only Limerick and Cork offer the competing infrastructures of airports and ports that companies need.

But to place Limerick and Cork into a position where it can compete with Dublin and slow down Dublin’s sprawl. The airports need to be better serviced. The bus services to and from the Airports need to be top notch. Yet the buses run at intervals of an hour at some stages. Once a flight hits the ground there should be a bus waiting to take the passengers away and regular buses to the airport. Also Shannon Airport is I believe about 3 miles from a train line. Why is a train line not being built to place a train station in the airport. Ireland must be the only country in Europe that does not have a train link any the airport. If we can build bypasses of every small town in Ireland surely we can build a train line to Shannon Airport.

Damien Clancy, president of IBEC, Mid West said

The key message of this report, encapsulating the views of companies in Limerick, Clare, North Tipperary and Galway, is that 'Ireland-US Open Skies' can be an opportunity if Shannon International Airport becomes a fully resourced, debt-free and independent entity, is properly financed and cost competitive so as to provide a full range of supports for airlines towards the development of new scheduled transatlantic services on a year round basis thereby substantially growing passenger throughput

.

But instead as usual in this country we get reactive rather then pro-active policy ( I hate that phrase but what else can I do) and while there are supposed to be plans for all this in Transport 21 it is years down the line. By that time if the government does not act, then companies will leave the mid west and leave the government one less counter-weight to Dublin.

Also Shannon airport is also a very passionate issue in the Mid-West the ending of the Shannon stop over brought crowds on to the streets I can’t remember child care ever doing that. What ever party can come up with a good policy to save Shannon will not only be taking a step in the right direction to slow down Dublin’s relentless march west they will also be gaining strong support in a number of constituencies.

Privatising the Bus Eireann

Fine Gael are on of the odd ones out of Irish parties of late. It is the only party with a leader that is not from Dublin. Even though Dublin only has about a quarter of the population it has far more of a share of the power. Of the ten Taoiseach’s in history only 4 have been TD’s for constituencies outside Dublin and one of them John Burton was not far from Dublin. Even though Enda is from west of the Shannon much of their energies are centred in Dublin. This I guess has a lot to do with the fact that they basically got creamed in Dublin losing about 9 seats out of 12. So it is no wonder that they focus on Dublin. Anyway one of there recent announcements is about the Buses in Dublin.

Olivia Mitchell TD “Can somebody please explain why Dublin Bus will need fewer new buses in 2010 than it needs in 2006? Dublin is seeing massive population growth, yet a new report out from Dublin Bus this week has slashed the number of new vehicles being sought by the company.

“Dublin Bus now wants an extra 425 vehicles by 2010. But in 2000, the Scott Wilson Report was calling for an extra 500 buses by 2006. Is this a joke?

Fine Gael solution “Fine Gael has put forward a viable solution that would mix public and private sector services to ensure that passengers come first.” This is indeed close to a real solution. Wulbeorn has previously talked about this as well pointing towards comments by PD Spokesperson on Transport Senator Tom Morrissey “Why should the taxpayer fund 120 extra buses at a cost of some €300,000 each while there are 5,000 under-utilised buses in the private sector?” The PD’s and FG seem to have the right solution but the question has to be asked why are they not implementing this. Market Liberalisation is essential to deliver better services and indeed is seemingly at the basis of there parties philosophy. So why is it not being implemented. The only explanation I can see for it is that Fianna Fail are dead against it and the PD’s are not forceful enough about it.

But it should be on more then just a Dublin solution. Bus Eireann being a state funded company can always undercut every other player on a route. They can operate at a loss until the competitor leaves the market then put the prices up when the competitor goes bust. As has been shown on some of the major routes competition has driven prices down. In some cases slashing the prices by half. Cost and availability are the main factors that deter people from using public transport. The Green party have talked about diverting much of the funds from the roads network to public transport. This is needed but if private enterprise is successfully brought into to market then the funds could better spent on education or health.

But don’t get me wrong the market is not the solution to all problems. Many routes in Ireland and especially rural Ireland are not commercially viable. These routes are vital to the local communities. I live in a rural area and use the bus. While it is quiet expensive and smelly it is a lifeline for the old and the poor who can’t afford cars. This has to be protected. The reason for the State in business is because they are the only ones that can do it. They should only be involved in offering bus services where no private business are going to set-up in an open market but where there is going to be competition the state should not be allowed to be in an denominated position. If the state sells the profitable parts of Bus Eireann the reduced cost of having not to have to continually buy hundreds of buses will allow them to concentrate on what they are needed for. Routes that are required where the market will not work. But will any party go the whole hog and implement it?

Green Party Convention

It is clear that the one reason that the Green Party took place in Kilkenny Mary White. In the last General election Deputy Leader Mary White was eliminated on the 7^th of 8 counts. Gaining transfers 10% of all transfers. She is one of the hopes for a seat in the next Dail for the greens. In his opening speech Trevor Sargent said she is “what the green party is all about”. But what does the Convention say about the Green Party.

By all accounts and these accounts are basically Green Party accounts the Convention seems to have been quiet good old time with the best crèche facilities of all of the parties and Organic wine. John Gormley hit back at Nazi jibbing Michael McDowell with a Nazi Jibe. It is great to see that the lost art of using the suffering of millions under the Nazi’s to score political points is not the sole preserve of any particular party. But outside the greens normal environmental issues and the obvious Reduce Class Sizes at Primary and Second level ( I mean what party is going to say they are going to increase calls sides) what of the larger issues.

The Greens idea is to tax smarter basically by basically trying to close some of the loop holes that the rich use to get of paying taxes. Basically there tax policy is as follows

to review, and where necessary decrease, the amount of tax relief that can be claimed in any given year by any single individual or company; • to relegate the use of residency as a means to avoid tax, confirming the principle that all money earned in Ireland and all wealth based in Ireland must be liable to tax; • to immediately rescind the most inequitable tax relief’s on capital and property; and • to introduce, on a smaller scale, tax relief’s with defined and measurable social, economic and environmental benefits.

Overall I have to say I agree with the above policies. The nature of tax relief’s is not to avoid tax but to encourage investment that is required by society. Back in the day people were needed to be encouraged to invest in property where it was required for instance student housing however now with the housing boom property tax relief’s have little place in all but various niece areas such as crèches. The fact that some millionaires are getting away with out paying taxes is wrong. However considering that in Ireland roughly the top 1% of the population pay 20% of the tax (correct me if I am wrong). This may not be as big an issue as it seems. On the issues of Education they had

1) Invest €1 billion in additional current/capital funding for education over and above the 2006 Estimates and Budget for the first year of the next Government's term of office, to front-load educational priorities;

2) Draw up a 10-Year Priority Funding Plan for Education within six months of entering office;

3) Commission a full cost-benefit analysis on the revenue implications to the State of further increased investment in education and, if it can be shown that an increased investment will pay for itself in the long term, we will:

4) Retain the additional €1 billion investment for each of a further nine years, index-linked to the first year's investment.

I have to say I am disappointed by this while it looks good it is short on content. Throwing money at a problem is never going to solve the problem. Education needs to be radically overhauled primarily and primary level. The essence of good performance in education is study. In many socially deprived areas the reason they perform badly is that the students are in an environment where they can’t study be it due to the parents not supporting them or they don’t have a quiet area to study. This needs to be addressed with some facilities as homework clubs. Whether this is in their Priority funding list I don’t know but from what I have read so far I am not impressed.

One of the next motions was.

devolve substantial powers to local authorities in areas such as transport, housing and education;

-introduce directly elected mayors to replace the existing County Manager system; -and shall place local authorities on a firm and independent financial footing, along the lines recommended in the Indecon Report; -and scrap the ill-conceived decentralization programme and instead devolve real powers and jobs to the regions on a planned basis.

Fellow Irishelection Blogger Cian said before "it was not the department but the power that needed to be decentralised". Personally I would disagree. Politics in this country is to local as it is. The TD member of the legislator doesn’t legislate he/she gets the road fixed with node and a wink politics. They put the services not where they are needed but where the votes are. Giving more power to local authorities is not going to fix this in fact it will make it worst. One village will be preferred to the other because that is where the voters are. Feel free to say I don’t have faith in councillors impartiality because I don’t. Save for a few rare exceptions services go to where the voters are.

One of the most interesting aspects of the Greens is that they don’t take corporate investments personally I could take or leave this policy. Corporate donations don’t make politicians corrupt, corruption only happens if the politician is corrupt anyway. But if it works for them fair enough. It is nice to see people with principles that they stick with. Rurari Quinn tried that with Labour last time around it didn’t work very well but certainly got into my respect book (more a scrap of paper really)

They have also vowed to clear the housing lists by building 10,000 social houses a year. A noble idea not sure how they would pay for it but still sounds good to me. They also proposed a Minister for migrant affairs. Which is an excellent idea. Migration is one of the big problems in Irish society and needs someone to deal with it full time.

I am sorry if a missed out on any major things but the Green Party website has been very poor. They have a blog of the convention that was very patchy on information. The audio of Trevor Sargent is in fact last years speech. Also unlike Sinn Fein they don’t have any of the speeches online. So as I was not at home to watch the speech. I relied on various sources for my post. But anyway on the face of it the Conference was like any other full of bluster and rhetorical nonsense but with one or two nuggets. While it has a long way to go to the election the poll that show the greens have 7% of Irish support, suggests that those nuggets might make it yet to government policy.

Green Party Convention Blog

The Green Party have a blog of their convention here

Top 6 Friday Reasons People Fear McDowell

6. McDowell is honest, a man of principle and not afraid to give a straight answer to a question. It's been so long since we've had a politician like that.

5. There's a nasty little rumour doing the rounds that he is in fact, a fascist.

4. He believes in capitalism and is not afraid to admit it.

3. He has an air of confidence about him that many may construe as arrogance. This frightens some people. We like our politicians to be in a perpetual, but futile, pursuit of our approval.

2. He doesn't shrink from confrontation. As Simon has outlined in a recent post, the man has a history. Someone like that might eventually come after each and every one of us.

1. We need him and that frightens some of us. Our guilty conscience might force some of us to vote Green or Labour, but deep down inside we secretly long for a cold-hearted McDowell-type to lower taxes, brutalise criminals and rule us like a King!

What Changed Ireland

With all the talk of Ireland's low tax economy etc I wonder is this what really changed Ireland and made us believe.That lift us out of the centuries of feeling inferior. Was this the birth of the proud nation we are today.Give it a lash

Isn't Ireland great.

Brussels Journal certainly think so. However they don't address Ireland's large personal debt.

McDowell. Moses to Ireland's red sea

The one thing that Bush can do is divide people. In America people tend to either love him or hate him. In Ireland we have the same figure. You would think that it would be either Ian Paisley or Gerry Adams. An anti-Irish man or an alleged “former” IRA chief of staff. But no Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley do not cause the same kind of passionate hate/love as one Michael McDowell.

It is funny people are rightly angry that McDowell referred to Richard Bruton as a Nazi yet do these people apply the same anger when people refer to McDowell as such. How many times do people refer to Herr McDowell. This is clearly a Nazi slur. I doubt these people are actually referring to him in the polite German form. In fact a google search for “Herr McDowell” produces 87,500. In fact this has been used by many of my fellow bloggers who I shall not name that are very angry at Richard Bruton been referred to a Nazi. So I have to ask this is latest anger against Michael McDowell against what he said or is in general a hatred of the man. To find out lets take a quick spin threw the history of McDowell hatred.

The real anti-McDowellism can about over the Citizenship referendum. At the time I have to say I was against it. In fact I am still against it. A kid born in this country is entitled to Irish citizenship. But to call it a racist referendum is wrong. Ireland was the only country in Europe to do this. A lot of people want us to copy European models yet they don’t want us to adopt that one. Something has to be done we need tough but fair immigration laws. While I disagree with not granting Irish Citizenship I also see the need to stop people abusing the system. It is always tricky when dealing with immigration. So bring our laws inline with Europe is probably not the worst thing to do. Also I don’t recall McDowell saying anything like “there is 122 million Nigerians you know”

The next big McDowell thing was his attack on Sinn Fein/IRA over the northern bank. Much of it has been vindicated with money been found in various places. I would say much of the money may have been destroyed once the Northern Bank changed its notes and rendered the bulk of the money useless. Part of his Anti Sinn Fein thing was his attack on the Daily Ireland newspaper. He basically called it a Sinn Fein propaganda newspaper and compared it to Völkischer Beobachter the Nazi propaganda paper. I note few gave out at McDowell doing this other then Sinn Fein supporters. Perhaps because it is as fair and objective as the Fianna Fail party newsletter is without possible connections to the IRA.

Then we had the next big clash with Michael. Over Olunkunle Eluhanla a Nigerian who was deported during his leaving cert year. There was a massive outcry plenty of Herr McDowell’s and he back down allowing him to return to finish his leaving. The reason he had been deported I am guessing was because he broke the law over some driving offence then early this year he was deported again because he had broken the law again. So McDowell was in the end right. But yet people gave out about this even when there was far more worthy cases in the country. I guess the length of anti-McDowellism is a Schwarzschild radius.

Then he had the café bars where he brought in legislation to fight the vintners lobby. By trying loosen the licensing laws to attempt to create a European type drinking scene and curb the excessive drinking culture we have. But is was defeated by Fianna Fail backbenchers who rowed in behind the publicans yet again proving the old joke Fianna Fail the Publican Party is far from the truth.

Then we had the Frank Connolly affair and the much debate that caused. In my opinion he was right in what he had done. Anyone who does not think that the head of an organization that is for investigating corruption in government, an organization that could bring down a government, can have links to an organization that wants to bring down the state and train FARC rebels in terrorist technology is a problem. Well they are not going to agree with me. When he was editor of the Sunday Business Post Pat Rabbitte called it the Continuity Business Post. Most people came out and gave out about McDowell giving Sam Smyth a Garda file when he in fact gave him a copy of a fake passport application which is a foreign affairs document. Then when Finian McGrath asked him a question he answered it and then came the acquisitions of abusing Dail privilege. This really must be the first time in Irish history that people have been given out to a politician for giving a straight answer.

Anyway sorry about that I probably should have given a less biased run down on McDowell’s time in office. But the thing is few people can give a straight analysis of McDowell and I did say it was a spin threw. Everyone has a strong opinion of him, some hate him others love him, some even fancy him. Turn on Vincent Browne of late and you can practically hear him dance a jig when talking about McDowell apologising so giddy was he with the excitement. Read the Herr McDowell blogs and Indymedia and strains of “Celebrate Good Times come on woohoo”(requires Real Player) waft over the keyboard.

But that is the nature of the man. He tells it as he see it. If every politician did that then we would be a lot better off. We wouldn’t have such PR sugar coated answers that leave us wondering what the f**k do these parties stand for. We must be the only country in Europe where the biggest party has no ideology. If Dev hadn’t called them “The Republican Party” they wouldn’t know where they stood on that either. But that will never happen we don’t want it to happen we like are political debates sending drunks and insomniacs to sleep and devoid of passion. That way we can bitch way about “that shower in the Dail” all day long and still go out and vote the way our parents did.

Auds has a crush

It seems Auds of Realitycheck(dot)ie has a crush on Michael McDowell. :-)

Google video

Just realised you can look at some of the National Archives and Records Administration of America video files. Here is an old news real of Marines Raise Flag Over Iwo Jima [Etc.] 1945

Moon pie what a time to be alive.

Programming help

Hey everyone. Just working on some stuff for the Irishelection site and just wondering does anyone out there know how to either get a web page to load a different style sheet if the resolution of the computer is under 1024 and also does anyone know how to get a bash file to delete the first line of a file and rewrite it with a set pattern or delete a certain portion of the first line. Help appreciated. Update: I managed to get the line deleted. Using a bash script. If anyone is interested in how let me know. Still no idea on the stylesheet though

Iraq, Fintan Double Standard O’Toole and 2007

Ah Fintan O'Toole Fintan Fintan Fintan what are we going to do with you. Yesterday in the Irish Times apart from the piece on the Irish Election site. We had a piece from the boald Fintan. Basically it is about Martin Cullen's meeting and "welcoming back of US troops from Iraq" in New York over Paddies weekend. Which included a wreath-laying ceremony in New York. And he told the audience that Ireland was proud of the contributions made by many Irish men and women to the uniformed services of New York and the US. The unit he was with was the 69th the "Fighting Irish" who took sustained 13 deaths in it tour of Iraq.

All fairly ok now you say. However then Fintan goes into his usual spiel. He says that because of the killings they sustained that it is was hardly surprising that they had a shoot first ask questions later attitude. Then he details the case of some Italian Journalists that they shot in a tragic accidents. He gives out that because of this Italians are angry and then says about the decision to say "Ireland was proud of the contributions" that "it is hard to know whether the stupidity of these decisions is greater then their immorality". He finishes of with how Iraq is failing and American public doesn't want it anymore and the neo-cons admitting they were wrong yadda yadda yadda. Now just in case any of you anti-war people are going right on Fintan is the man and I am an evil sugar. I ask you this question if Martin Cullen had said that to about a British Army regiment one that served in Northern Ireland. Lets just say the parachute regiment. Would Fintan be highlighting the case (the many cases) where this regiment shot un-armed innocent Irish citizens? Go on about British occupation of the six counties how the British public no longer want the North, how their rule of the North has ruined the North and how they will leave Northern Ireland "with a toxic residue of tribalism and sectarianism" . How all the pro-union conservatives now admit they are wrong. Would he of the decision of Martin Cullen to meet with the Parachute regiment "it is hard to know whether the stupidity of these decisions is greater then their immorality". No of course not Fintan would be praising Mr Cullan for reaching out to the other side. Going on about how democracy has won over the gun man. I am sure he would pull out Connolly's quote " I pray for all brave men who do their duty according to their lights". He would wax lyrically on about how far we as a nation has come that even if we disagree with a countries policies we can respect the brave men that risked there lives for their country and only then can we really find peace. But alas the nation has yet to go as far as to accept Connolly's words extend to all people not just British Soldiers that kill Irish people. It extends to all armies in the world. Agree with the war or not but the troops in Iraq are not the ones that started it the blame. If blame is required it lies solely at the feet of the administration. The soldiers task is to do and die not to question why. Using the lives or deaths of the soldiers for political point scoring is shameful whatever side do it.

But how will all this reflect on the next general election. Will Iraq become an issue will the Greens Socialists and Labour that demonstrated in Shannon last week get a bump in the polls. I think not the level of demonstrations over the Iraq war have dropped dramatically from what they once were. A mere 500 turned up at the last one. True it was after Paddies day and some people might have sore heads but if people were passionate about it they would be out. But they are not they are passionate about crime, health and education. In a few weeks no one here will remember Martin Cullen’s speech but some solider who risked his/her life for the Iraqi people (whether you believe in the war or not that is what the solider personal believed) but one of them might remember and that is all that matters.

When is 2 Gardai =109 Gardai? When both men are right

Cross Posted on Irish Election First off I have to condemn Michael McDowell for comparing Richard Burton to Joseph Goebbels there is absolutely zero call for it. Coming out and comparing someone who is merely quoting real figures to a Nazi leader is beyond the norms of civilised public debate. Also the people compare Michael McDowell to a Nazi are equally as guilty. But what of the general charge that Richard Bruton is manipulating the figures. Well that is another question.

Firstly for my foreign readers. This whole scandal started when Deputy Leader of Fine Gael the main opposition party came out and said that only 2 new Gardai joined the force in 2005 while detection rates have decreased. He said “Minister’s Bluster Fails to Put Extra Garda Feet on the City Beat.” Then on the news on one on RTE radio. Michael McDowell claimed the figures are wrong, that Fine Gael are leading a con job on the media, that Fine Gael and Labour when they were last in power they ran down the number of Gardai and called him the Dr Goebbels of propaganda.

So what of the figures well the saying Lies Dahm lies and statistics comes to mind. You can get statistics to basically say anything you wish. Like survey questions it depends on the variables and limits that you take. For instance if you wanted to take the percentage of riots in Dublin per month. If you took just the last three months you would get 33% while if you took it for the year 2005 you would get 0% neither figure is wrong but neither does it tell the truth.

So here for you mathematical and number junkies is the figures of Gardai in Dublin I managed to locate.

Now March 2006 3794 From McDowells statement yesterday

31 December 2005 3,742 From Mr Bruton's Statement

31 March 2005 3,685. From Dail Debates

1 February 2005 3704

31 December 2004 3740 From Mr Bruton.

Now if you take the Garda Annual report the figure for Dublin in 2004 is 3,983. Which is totally out of kilter with the rest of the Garda statistics.

You can set any two arbitrary points and statistically year end is and you will get the desired result. Most recruits don’t join on December 31 they join around June. Without adding information on retirements suspensions statistic are useless. Now what these stats show just seems to show is that there is a lot of variable factors in the Garda figures that they can go up seasonally and down seasonally. For instance if I said between this time last year and now the Garda figure is up close to 109.

So I have to say McDowell’s case seems a lot stronger and does show that Richard Burton’s statistics were fairly tailored to his advantage to say the least. I mean people would be quiet happy with a 109 Garda presence and think McDowell is doing a good job but that is not what Richard wants now is it. So he took the figures from December to December that are more in Fine Gael's favour.

However what is interesting is Richard’s latest dabbling in the world of maths. He claims that in 1996 there was 336 people per Garda while now there is 337 people per Garda. This does show that considering that the population has grown so rapidly that in fact Garda numbers have increased also in this period to keep a close pace to the increase in population. However not close enough. There is still less Gardai per-person in 1996 then in 2005. But yet again it is based on end of year total which are not the best indicator of the Garda levels. Personally I would prefer comparing yearly averages.

But indeed it is a bad figure for the government, even though Garda numbers fell during the Fine Gael administration by larger amounts and the population rise due to immigration was impossible to see. This is not going to be remembered by the public they are getting more afraid. While crime is still low compared to some of our social model European friends it is still rising. Fine Gael might just have found the big issue Gerry O'Quigley said the opposition needed.

Blogs again in the Irish Times

Woohoo the blogs are again in the Irish Times this time an article about www.irishelection.com that I did much of the design for and also write on and an article about political blogs in general and what they can achieve. Now time to go add an article.

McDowell vs Bruton

If you want a good debate in Irish politics. You need one Michael McDowell. Here from RTE's news at one. I would be interested to here both sides to this. Statistics are always open to manipulation and would like to read the stats my self before commenting. But the radio exchanges are well worth a listen.

News At One: Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Michael McDowell hits back at Fine Gael comments that he is not doing enough to fight crime

News At One: Richard Bruton TD, Deputy Leader Fine Gael and party spokesman, responds to Minister McDowell's comments

Update: 17:40. I am looking into the stats and will write longer about this later but first things first. As of the end of 2005 the figure was 3,742 in Dublin. In February 2005 the figure was 3704. Which is an increase of 38. So if Richard Bruton's figure of 3740 is correct then that means there was a loss of 36 between Janurary and February 2005. This may be due to retirements taking place in Janurary and new recruits joining in March. I will do more digging. Update 1755: Also crime rates are dropping while detection is falling.

Change in Belarus

There are stirrings of an Orange revolution in Belarus. Excellent blog coverage here. I could write some comment on it but the above is far better then anything I could do.