There's Something About Mary

It's her big mouth, actually.

This is Mary "Eircom" O'Rourke we're talking about. Remember how she told everyone to look on Eircom as a long-term investment? And then, when everything went Mary-shaped, how she blithely pointed out that investors would have made a profit if they had sold their shares in the first few months after the flotation?

Well, now she's busily trying to extract her outsize foot from her outsize mouth after comments she made - under privilege, naturally - about the murder of young Latvian mother Baiba Saulite in Swords.

“It is difficult to read the article in the Irish Independent today which states that the husband of the murdered Latvian woman is a suspect. He has a cast-iron alibi but was obviously able to direct operations,” she said.

Subsequently, Mary claimed that she "may have inadvertently given the impression that the murder of the young Latvian woman, Baiba Saulite, was guided by a particular person."

Should the DUP be allowed into government?

Shouldn't the DUP give up criminality before being allowed into government?

When all else fails...

They should give this guy a medal.

Westlife explained

I always find this kind of article fascinating, even though I don't understand most of it.

The general idea is that there is a mysterious force, a dark energy, in the universe that acts in the opposite way to gravity. It is described in the article as a "repulsive force".

In Ireland we have a name for it: Louis Walsh.

The Last Big Push at the End of the Tunnel

Even with Rumsfeld headed for boot-hill, Bush seems hell-bent on hanging tough on Iraq. Although "Staying the Course" is now politically off the agenda, it has been replaced with a new catch-phrase, "Last Big Push". (For those of us who can remember Vietnam, the phrase is chillingly reminiscent of "Light at the End of the Tunnel".)

According to this story in the Guardian, instead of planning for a US withdrawal from Iraq, Bush wants to send 20,000 extra troops there, the idea being that the extra forces will secure Baghdad, thereby allowing other US and Iraqi forces to be deployed elsewhere throughout the country.

This plan has two major flaws.

Firstly, it is highly debatable that even 20,000 troops could bring Baghdad under control. All the King's horses etc.

Secondly, they don't have 20,000 troops to spare.

Speaking before a Senate hearing in Washington, Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, head of U.S. Central Command admitted as much:

"Abizaid added that, even if it were in Iraq's best interest to increase the presence of U.S. forces, it would be difficult for the Pentagon to find additional combat troops without increasing the size of the active-duty military."

The Real Difference Between Vietnam and Iraq

Q: How is Vietnam different from Iraq?

A: Bush had a plan for getting out of Vietnam.

They just don't get it

Bush and Blair just don't seem to realise that the ground has shifted beneath their feet.

Their adventure in Iraq has turned into an ever-worsening nightmare. They need to get Iran and Syria on board if there is to be any chance of stabilising the situation.

So what do they do?

They lay down a whole series of conditions that Iran and Syria have to meet before Britain and the US will deign to enter talks with them.

The dynamic duo just don't get it, do they?

They are the ones who need Iran and Syria, not the other way around. And they are the ones who will have to pay a price before any talks begin.

This is Wrong

I know, I know, it's the law. Under the Constitution as it presently stands, the Supreme Court probably had no alternative but to rule as it did.

But it is wrong to take a two-year old child away from the parents who have nurtured her and to hand her over to a pair of strangers.

Yes, I have sympathy for the biological parents, but if they truly had the best interests of the child in mind, they would not have pursued this course. They are being selfish.

The child should be left in the only home she has known with the only parents she has known.

Curtains for Judge Brian

Given that this story on RTE News concerns a 'learned' gentleman, I shall tread extremely carefully. The facts, Ma'am, just the facts.

Or should I say, the alleged facts.

Alleged Judge Brian Curtin today submitted his resignation from the Circuit Court on the grounds of alleged ill-health. The alleged resignation came shortly after an alleged Oireachtas Committee announced that it would be proceeding with its alleged investigation into Judge Curtin's alleged misconduct. The alleged investigation will now be shelved.

The alleged Judge was allegedly cleared of possession of child pornography in 2004 when alleged Judge Carroll Moran ruled that a search warrant used to seize Curtin's computer was allegedly out of date. The alleged computer was alleged to have contained more than 200 pornographic images of children.

Something Truly Rotten in Denmark

I was shocked to see this story on the BBC News website.

"The editor and two reporters from one of Denmark's main newspapers have gone on trial charged with publishing secret intelligence about Iraqi weapons.

In articles published in 2004 they quoted from analysis by a Danish intelligence agent, Frank Grevil.

His report, written before the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, concluded that there was no evidence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq."

I wouldn't have been surprised to see this happen in the UK, given that (a) Blair was such an enthusiastic pusher of the WMD fantasy and (b) that the Brits get extremely knicker-twisted at the slightest breach of the Official Secrets Act - even, as in this case, when the end result is that truth is revealed and lies exposed.

But in Denmark?

These guys should be lauded as heroes, not threatened with prison.

The myth of the 'conservative Democrats'

Even after their defeat in the American mid-term elections, the Republicans can't stop spinning. Which is only to be expected, I suppose.

But you'd think that our own media outlets on this side of the Atlantic would do better than to regurgitate Republican propaganda as if it were hard fact.

On RTE, for example, the myth that the Democrats won the elections by running conservative candidates has been repeated on a number of occasions.

Not so.

This story in the LA Times gives the lie to this particular piece of nonsense.

"...of the 27 Democratic candidates for the House who won outright Tuesday, only five can truly be called social conservatives. Far more are pro-choice, against the Iraq war and quite liberal."

The Democrats won because America moved away from right-wing extremism back to the political centre, because America woke up to the fact that the White House was occupied by a spoiled frat-boy who had no notion of how to lead, and because America has finally moved on from the nightmare of 9/11 and can no longer be panicked into supporting the notion that every conflict has to be settled by brute force.

Taking the Law into her own Hands

You've got to admire this woman's determination. Unfortunately, there's about as much chance of Irish drivers taking any notice of her as there is of George Bush converting to Islam.

What she really needs is a Hi-Viz jacket, a peaked cap and an old hair-dryer to point at oncoming cars.

Just watch them hit the brakes then.

The Minister for Carnage

I only just came across this post on Public Inquiry. It says it all about the way this government works.

Read it. The interview between Pat Kenny and that clown Martin Cullen will make you grind your teeth in frustration.

This is the conclusion to the piece. It sums it up perfectly:

"Minister Cullen has been in the job for two years, the Government has been in power for nearly ten years.

Lithuania, a country that gained its independence only a few years ago also suffered from a serious road safety problem. They trained and resourced a proper traffic police force and sent them out to deal with the idiots and killers.

In one year the death rate was reduce by half.

Irish citizens are still waiting (After decades) for this simple but effective action. All we get is waffle – meanwhile the carnage continues."

Rank and Utter Hypocrisy

The hypocrisy of our government is sometimes enough to turn one's stomach.

This story in today's Indo concerns a Nigerian woman who is fighting a deportation order as she fears her daughters will be forcibly genitally mutilated if she is sent back to home country.

Another daughter of hers has already died after being subjected to this barbaric custom, yet our government still wants to send her back.

Meanwhile, Dermot Ahern is in the US lobbying on behalf of Irish 'illegals' in that country.

As I said, stomach-turning.

Famous for what?

Why in the name of Jaysus is Paris Hilton famous? Other than inheriting a load of moolah and being named after a hotel, what exactly has she done?

Now she's in Dublin and the Indo is wetting itself with excitement.

To be honest, I think the Shelbourne is better looking. And I'd rather spend a night in the Gresham.

Love this headline...

From today's Glasgow Herald: World rocks on axis as Ferguson praises referee.

Actually, he doesn't quite praise Graham Poll; it's more a case of, 'He's not the worst of them'.

The real shocker comes when Ferguson offers support to Arsene Wenger over his recent sideline bust-up with Alan Pardew.

What a difference a Mourinho makes.

Born Liar Comes Clean

The Washington Post reports that there's a bit of a brouhaha...well, brewing, in Washington over Bush's admission that he lied to the press about Donald Rumsfeld's future a week before the election.

"Six days before the election, Bush told three wire-service reporters in an interview that Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney were doing "fantastic" jobs.

"You see them staying with you until the end?" asked Terence Hunt of the Associated Press.

"I do," Bush replied.

"So you're expecting Rumsfeld, Secretary Rumsfeld, to stay on the rest of your time here?" asked Steve Holland of Reuters.
"Yes, I am," the president said.

On Wednesday, the day after the election, Bush at a news conference said that "that kind of question, a wise question by a seasoned reporter, is the kind of thing that causes one to either inject major military decisions at the end of a campaign, or not. And I have made the decision that I wasn't going to be talking about hypothetical troop levels or changes in command structure coming down the stretch."

In other words, he lied.

In fairness though, he was honest about it.

So that's what it's called!

Michael Noonan accuses the Revenue Commissioners of 'low-balling' taxpayers.

Is that what they call it in Limerick? In Dublin, I believe it's known as a 'Ringsend Uppercut'.

New religion

Mahon Point Shopping Centre has been named as Cork's most beautiful building of the last decade in a poll conducted by the Irish Examiner. Why is everyone surprised? If the poll had been conducted forty or fifty years ago, chances are the winner would have been a church or some other building associated with religion.

It's all about where we worship, isn't it?

On reflection...

It occurs to me that the results of the US mid-term elections may be good news in more than the obvious ways.

It has been my belief over the past five years that the US as a nation was suffering from a form of collective PTSS (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome) in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. (This was why, for example, Bush and his cronies were able to convince the American public of the necessity to invade Iraq. The constant drumbeat of the 'War on Terror' was cynically used to ride roughshod over any opposition to the invasion.)

Hopefully, the rout of the neo-cons is a sign that Americans are finally emerging from their long nightmare. The healing process is well under way.

Is it just me?

I work in the home and consequently get to listen to the radio a lot while getting the chores done. And I have to say that the new afternoon show on RTE Radio 1 is beginning to grate.

I mean, a once-a-week dose of Derek Mooney on Saturday mornings was just about enough. In fact, I quite enjoyed his nature show on a weekly basis.

But every afternoon?

By this stage, I am becoming thoroughly Mooney-ed out.

And what exactly did John Creedon do anyway to get himself banished to the graveyard shift?

Ah, now I remember. He went and got himself born outside the Pale.

This is terrorism...

...unless, of course, you're Israel. In which case, you're defending yourself.

For the record:
FOUR MONTHS OF GAZA DEATHS
Total: 247 fatalities
155 civilian deaths
57 deaths of children
996 wounded, including 337 children (34%)
Source: Physicians for Human Rights (28 June to 27 Oct)

Dumsfeld Dumped

It doesn't matter whether or not he jumped before he was pushed. After those results, he could never have survived.

He should not be allowed near a shredder.
He should not be allowed to remove any documents.
He should be warned not to leave the country.