Monthly Archives: January 2012

Obama And The Internet Copyright Extradition

“Why are you personally supporting the extradition of British citizen Richard O’Dwyer for solely linking to copyright-infringing works using an extradition treaty designed to combat terrorism and to bring terrorists to judgment in the USA?” Mozart asked.

The president replied: “I’m not personally doing anything; I want to make sure everybody understands. One of the ways our system works is that the president doesn’t get involved with prosecution decisions or extradition decisions and this has been a decision by the justice department.”

Obama spoke in greater depth on the contentious issue of internet piracy and copyright law, saying his administration was trying to “make sure that intellectual property is protected; we want to make sure that the creative works of people in this country aren’t expropriated but we want to do it in a way that’s consistent with internet freedom”.

O’Dwyer’s mother, Julia, said Obama had given a “typical politician’s response” but she was glad the question had been asked because it drew attention to the case.

 

Barack Obama Faces Pressure Over TVShack Extradition Case (Guardian)

“Sign The Paper McFly”

The Government, in signing the Fiscal Treaty, has effectively committed itself to introducing up to €6 billion more in tax increases and spending cuts in the medium-term, over and above what it has already planned…The reason why we will have to endure another round of cuts can be found in the section of the text entitled ‘Fiscal Compact’:

‘The Contracting Parties shall apply the following rules, in addition and without prejudice to the obligations derived from European Union law:

The budgetary position of the general government shall be balanced or in surplus.

The rule shall be deemed to be respected if the annual structural balance of the general government is at its country-specific medium-term objective as defined in the revised Stability and Growth Pact with a lower limit of a structural deficit of 0.5 % of the gross domestic product at market prices.’

Last Night the Government Signed Up to €6 Billion More in Austerity Measure (Michael Taft, Notes On the Front)

STILL Out In The Cold

Some of the 240 evicted residents of the Priory Hall apartment complex in Donaghmede, Dublin protesting outside Leinster House literally moments ago. The residents have been living in temporary accommodation since October. The residents have asked for the government’s help against Priory Hall developer Tom McFeely, after he succesfully filed for bankruptcy in the UK earlier this month.

(Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland)

He Was The Last Of The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight


Pat Neary. Financial regulator: €630,00 pay-off plus public service pension of almost €143,000 a year, €2,750 per week, for the rest of his life.

Kevin Cardiff, former General Secretary of The Department of Finance. Now a member of The European Court of Auditors on  a gross salary of around €180,000 a year but a net salary of €140,000 due to the low tax rate on EU salaries. The post, which is normally for a period of six years, “also involves generous pension arrangements which amount to half salary for the three years immediately after serving in office and a pension of 26 per cent of salary after that”.

Earlier: My Work Here Is Done

(Photocall Ireland)