Monthly Archives: March 2012

And outside?

‘It’s Not Our Debt’: Thousands Of Protesters Attend Anti-Household Charge Rally (Irish Examiner)

Earlier: “The Irish Have Woken Up.”

(Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland)

From Paul Reynolds:


 

Riiight.

First Rabbitte. And now Eamon.

Labour staunchly defends the Enda and Denis roadshow.

What did Mahon say again?

“Given the existence of such rampant public corruption the question is why it was allowed to continue unabated. The shot answer to that question is that nobody was prepared to do enough to stop it.”

Meanwhile, one very short year ago:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18WTwttaXbA

“The problem lies at one single place in Irish life — the point at which business and politics meet. We in this House and in particular those of us in Government regularly make decisions that affect the fortunes of corporate interests. We are entrusted by the people to make those decisions in the public interest. In broad terms, good public policy decisions will also create a healthy environment in which businesses operate but the decisions we make may also regularly benefit or hinder particular businesses to a very large degree. Politicians, as a by-product of particular decisions we make, in passing can enrich particular businesses and individuals. It is this fact that requires us to be particularly vigilant, stringent and transparent about how we police that point where we interact with the commercial world.“

Pat Rabbitte, Moriarty debate, March 30, 2011

And what Enda had to say:

“I cannot imagine a mandate from Irish people – or true democrats anywhere – that would involve an order or desire or permission for the behaviour outlined in the [Moriarty] report.

…Previous Tribunals elicited thousands of words, but pitiful inaction, by those who sat, then, over here. The new government breaks from that precedent and acts definitively and decisively.

…And we plan further, direct action, to sever the links between politics and business once and for all.

 …I believe that to recreate political virtue, to rebuild public trust, to restore our reputation, it is no longer sufficient to do what is correct. To achieve even a fraction of that, we must do what is right.

When that culture included business and banking, it contaminated our country, divided our society, and diminished our republic. That contamination, division and diminution must end.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DApjHZq9o7M

The first of an old-school, fear-mongering eight-part mini-series from the Santorum camp, evidently targeting the ‘paranoid moron’ demographic.

BONUS SUBLIMINAL: Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually morphing into Obama as the narrator delivers the phrase “sworn American enemy.”

Subtle.

US election: Rick Santorum advert compares Barack Obama with Iranian President (Telegraph)

video: iheartchaos

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4l7yH193Ao&feature=player_embedded

“This could be the first country to smash the bankers in the face.”

Our old friend Max Keiser and RT co-host Stacy Herbert on the Household Charge boycott.

Growing Antitax Movement Shows Irish Stoicism Wearing Thin (Douglas Dalby, New York Times, March 19, 2012)

Council Staff To Knock On Doors For €100 house Charge (Paul Melia, irish Independent)

Previously: “Sullen, Peasant Discontent In The Finest Irish Tradition”

Poor moon. Still hanging in there after billions of years of battering.

Mmf.

NASA Explorer sez:

From year to year, the moon never seems to change. Craters and other formations appear to be permanent now, but the moon didn’t always look like this. Thanks to NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, we now have a better look at some of the moon’s history.

geektyrant