Move over, darling

by Sheilanagig Fri Oct 02, 2009 22:03

Voting registration irregularities at the polling stations for Lisbon.

Roscommon

Local residents reporting that at least 8 people were turned away from the polling station in Loughglynn as of 7pm, October 2. Workers said Michael Scally took many off the voting registration list late last week, a move that was described as highly unusual given the proximity of the vote.

Loughglynn is a district primed to vote NO on Lisbon.

Reports of the same also from Kildare county.

I urge all to report similar instances that we may have transparency as to why the registration list has been pruned.

by Wondering... Sat Oct 03, 2009 01:05

Why no newspaper polls this week? Why were there no independent exit polls, and the sudden turnaround in voter turnout, from significantly less than last time to more than last time, all after 7p.m., is odd.

by a Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:39

VOTING CARDS: SOME RESIDENTS in Kildare who are not Irish citizens received polling cards to vote in yesterday's referendum, the Department of the Environment has confirmed.
It is not known if any of those in receipt of polling cards who are not entitled to vote actually voted...

by Wondering... Sat Oct 03, 2009 13:25

Up to 80% turnout in some places? Really?

by IDontTrustThisCompletely Sat Oct 03, 2009 16:03

the same ones that protect the interests of shell by beating up protestors in erris?
Did any late voters notice them wearing large rucksacks?

Does anyone want another vote? I do. Will we get one? Hah!

by LizardScum Sat Oct 03, 2009 16:06

I for one welcome our unaccountable european lizard overlords

by awake Sun Oct 04, 2009 01:56

youtube lisbon treaty count at cork city hall

by Bazooka Joe Sun Oct 04, 2009 12:26

Blair told the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, that his Catholic faith has become the driving force in his life. He said Pope Benedict’s belief that God is central to politics, society, economics and culture is ‘brilliant’.

Blair has become increasingly popular with the Vatican recently. They let it slip that they believe him to be the anointed one: the heir to Charlemagne; the future President of Europe.

You could also reasonably conclude that having risen to the office of Prime Minister of Britain he also has connections on the other side of the house too. Queen and Pope approved, how could he fail.

It's all a bit 'Angels and Demons' or science fiction but unfortunately true.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ9sJVJMiYM

by dunk Sun Oct 04, 2009 13:21

So reads part of recent article from UK independant paper. Perhaps that Jim Corr fellow got it right, we could be entering strange days indeed

Tony Blair has emerged as the leading candidate to become the first permanent president of the European Union after Gordon Brown gave his grudging blessing to the plan.

His return to the global stage would be a shock to his critics over the Iraq war and dismay many in Europe.

But The Independent on Sunday has learnt that Mr Brown has accepted that his old rival should be in pole position for the appointment, on the basis that Britain needs to have a key figure in the architecture of the "new world order"...

Blair steps up fight to be crowned first 'President of EU'
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/blair-st....html

Euro star: Could Tony Blair become the first EU president?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/euro-sta....html

further discussion; http://www.politics.ie/lisbon-treaty/104583-vote-yes-pr....html

Jim Corr on The Lisbon Treaty & The New World Order.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPfszpqq2o4

Mahatir Mohammad (malaysia former president) says Bush Blair must be tried for war crime
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSk7M-LTaE8

Europe has to decide whether to think big or behave small. Big means Blair - MORE WAR, WAR, WAR, OIL, OIL, OIL....not in my fucking name!

Caption: Video Id: mPfszpqq2o4 Type: Youtube Video
Jim Corr on The Lisbon Treaty & The New World Order.

Caption: Video Id: vSk7M-LTaE8 Type: Youtube Video
Mahatir Mohammad (malaysia former president) says Bush Blair must be tried for war crime

by iosaf Sun Oct 04, 2009 20:11

Blair's job really does seem to use up so much speculation that nobody touches the obvious -
Who will be the other founding fathers (mothers) of the EU?

Half jokingly, I remember writing on this newswire several times that Blair was the antichrist. I don't believe the devil has babies, incarnates souls or fulfils mostly American fundamentalist interpretation of selectively read scripture any more than I expect devout muslims to see their eschatological personification of evil "the one eyed Djal" come true this side of Nostradamus.

Well, to be fair to the arabic of the Islamic tradition "the evil one with something dodgy about one of his eyes" is more how the Dajjal is described in the Hadith and folklore. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dajjal

Nope - coz I don't believe in that. But I do believe in mass psychology, mass hysteria and the awesome commercial and societal changes which can be achieved by carefully playing on profoundly embedded eschatological myths. Which is why I named Blair as the antichrist back in my silly days as an IMC Ireland writer & used to add the telling addition "you just wait and see". Thereafter I got bored of my silliness in a rational way and simply wrote out "Tony the antichrist Blair" much as I used to write "Big Swinging Mickey Mc Dowell" or "9mm Willy O Dea". Eventually I bored of such eschatology.

The point is - there will be many EU presidents will there not?
They are not going to appoint just one individual who speak for and under the 12 starred flag of deepest blue and then forget the whole yarn, are they?

Who else will be in the running in the future if not for the first time?
- our tittie taoiseach?
- Bertie?
- Berlusconi?
- some fascist who has yet to crawl out from under a eastern European rock and become a household name?

He hardly fits the description of the eschatological devil incarnate or false prophet of Christian antichrist or One eyed Dajjal of Islam, does he?

by paul o toole Sun Oct 04, 2009 21:12 pauljotoole at eircom dot net

Un Democratic, un Constitutional and unbelievable
With the BCI overturning the Crotty judgement which ensured that the State Media must provide 50/50 coverage to both sides of the argument in referendums, the BCI being set up to ensure the media would behave...this was a severe blow to democracy. Legalised media bias.
Private business interests like anti-union bosses in Ryanair, Nextel, Intel etc rowing in behind the Yes campaign. All media is reliant on advertising from big business. 90% of coverage on all media was for a yes vote
The exact same treaty as before was decided and they came back with the same one along with groundless threats of EU isolation.
Arround 800,000 Irish people who voyed yes, got to decide on the fate of 520,000,000 Eu citizens, and this is called democracy.
The ECH already ruled in the Lavalle case that labour from other lower paid nation states can be used at the rates of their home state within the new European boundaries which encompasses 15 new countries to the Union to exploit its labour force.
This is a treaty which is 'self amending'....We may never be 'asked' to vote again, by unelected comissioners. This stinks of a soft facist approach to domestic affairs and externally the EU/ Nato/ UN/ are an agressive expansionist enterprise, joned at the hip.

by Pierce Farrell - CAEUC Sun Oct 04, 2009 22:46

So the results are in; http://electionsireland.org/results/referendum/refresul...2009R and you can compare and contrast the figures from this year and last on the same website. One thing to note is that the No voters were down by 268,000 which makes total sense seeing as that's approximately the same number of people who have become unemployed since the recession began in Q2 2008: http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1018015...shtml

First and foremost we on the No side must admit that we failed to provide reassurances on the issue of jobs - primarily because the treaty mentions nothing about jobs! What the Yes side did was clever politics, clever in its simplicity. They identified the key issue in the minds of the electorate then tied that as much as possible to a virtually unreadable treaty that even in its consolidated version (published May 2008) was difficult to read. We must now accept the charge that has been laid against all left-wing groups, that we are so caught up in the ideological battle we often leave behind the immediate material concerns of the people we hope to convince to our arguement.

And on the issue of material we all know that the Yes side used a wall, a tsunami of money to hammer their scare-tactics home. They undoubtedly used this ocean of finance to carry out their unpublished research and identify those issues which would demoralise those who turned up to vote No in 2008 and motivate potential Yes voters to show up in 2009. Coir obviously did their homework and put on the Shinner-clothing with the 'They died for your freedom' poster and devoloped their €1:84 poster straight from the findings of the UCD Geary Insitute: http://www.dfa.ie/uploads/documents/ucd%20geary%20insti...t.pdf But how relevant is the arguement over pay and conditions when you've received a paycut, are unemployed or being constantly reminded that your livelihood could simply disappear? Instead of voting against low-wages and long hours people were told that they had the chance to vote for the opportunity work and earn (or to simply keep working) and that if they didn't take the chance now it might never come again. One reason why the reaction against this arguement was slow and patchy was because it was unprepared for and I for one will constantly hammer home the necessity of preparation! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEuuyVPmdhg (Watch as far a 1:09)

So Coir are going to try and do what O'Leary accused Ganley of trying to do, win Dana's seat in Donegal and if they keep their efforts focused to a few constituencies they might!

Everyone present at the Teacher's Club meeting Saturday 3rd knows that the real battle against 'Growth and Stability Pact' induced cuts, redundancies including over 6,000 last month( http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1018041...shtml ) and at all possible points in these sub-sets of the battle we must hammer home how EU policies are not working, not assisting the ordinary people. We also have to provide leadership so that the impact of the first factory to close down and move to eastern Europe is directed at the corporate high-flyers and not ordinary immigrants. It is through unity that this leadership can best be channelled to a demoralised and intimidated working and unempolyed population and we have to focus our efforts on where they will make the greatest impact.

A sample of typical Liberal's snobbery.

by clackers793 - None Mon Oct 05, 2009 00:17

I largely agree with you.

by its *not* funny Mon Oct 05, 2009 06:48

but the table @ link is : http://www.euractiv.com/en/future-eu/choosing-europe/ar...85666

by my eminence Mon Oct 05, 2009 07:46

I wouldn't have Blair or Berlusconi for President of Europe. I might have Berlusconi for editor of Playboy, and I might have Blair for editor of The Irish Catholic. Now what publication could Bertie edit?

by Fred Johnston Mon Oct 05, 2009 11:40

That's easy. Bertie could edit The Irish Times - though I think Blair may have got his foot in the door there first. The Irish Times pushed the pro-Lisbon case like nobody's business. Is it now eager to become a Right-wing tabloid?

by dunk Mon Oct 05, 2009 14:51

Robinson candidate for EU presidency
http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/robinson-candidate-for-e....html

Vice-president of the EU Commission Margot Wallstrom said: "We have started to hear some names and finally I have heard the name of Mary Robinson being mentioned. I am very glad about this."

"It would be very, very good, she is a true European. This is about leadership and she has that leadership quality. She is highly respected everywhere," said Commissioner Wallstrom, a view echoed by other senior sources from across the political divide in Brussels.

Read more: http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/robinson-candidate-for-e...gFMPW

from democracy now!
Fmr. Irish President Mary Robinson Joins Women Leaders at International Women’s Conference in Liberia
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/9/fmr_irish_presiden...joins

Fmr. Irish President Mary Robinson Heads Panel Faulting “War on Terror” for Eroding Human Rights
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/2/25/fmr_irish_preside...heads

by my eminence Mon Oct 05, 2009 15:08

I'd prefer Blair as editor of the IT to one E. Harris. Seriously though, I do get nostalgic about the Irish Times of the 60s and 70s when Douglas Gageby was steering it. It stood up occasionally for the underdog. Gageby's instincts were for fair play, support for the business and investment policies pioneered by Lemass-Whittaker and implemented with much initiative by the IDA, and cultivation of a liberal educated Catholic middle class influenced by the spring cleaning of Vatican II. Conor Brady's memoir notes that Douglas Gageby felt uncomfortable about the heavily pro-Labour Party feelings among several of the younger journalists recruited to the paper.

I think it would be a good idea for studies to be made into the cultural and social impact of the Irish Times during the two decades 1960-1980.

It is always useful to bear in mind that a daily newspaper is in the first instance a business. As a business it needs to attract advertising e.g. it needs to practise efficient capitalism in a capitalist society. It needs to groom its readership, and if they are the A & B categories of the business and professional middle classes then any 'socialist' dimension to editorial policy is going to be social democratic rather than social revolutionary. Gageby himself was not a socialist but an enlightened FF sympathiser and a constitutional patriot proud to have served in the Army during the Emergency. He was also a liberal democrat who believed that sincere articulate thinkers of varying views should be given the opportunities to test their ideas in print.

But eh... my question about Bertie Ahern still remains. What publication could he be appointed editor of?

by dunk Mon Oct 05, 2009 17:10

Bertie, d man o da people : give him a column in d herald.

+

Cowen backs Blair for president.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen yesterday backed former British prime minister Tony Blair to become the first so-called EU president.
Mr Cowen said the former British Labour Party leader was "highly respected" in this country.
"Tony Blair made a wonderful contribution to the peace process and he is a person that we admire," he said.
Mr Cowen said he would be supportive if Mr Blair's name was put forward.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/taoiseach-backs....html

by Radio fan Mon Oct 05, 2009 18:10

I saw a few billboards a few weeks ago about some sports radio show he has. I think part of it said "Bertie talks sport". I think the last word could do with a slight alteration. The last four letters of "sport" could be changed to "hite".

by Jockey Mon Oct 05, 2009 20:38

Since his knowledge of horse racing is obviously without precedent

by Fred Johnston Thu Oct 08, 2009 15:56

. . . .surely also he would forget all he knows? That is a precedent all of his own which he set some time ago. To think that some idiot should even breathe the suggestion that Bertie shoud be Dublin's Mayor or Ireland's President illustrates the Tammany Hall nature of this diseased political system.

by Pete. Thu Oct 08, 2009 16:25

"Since his knowledge of horse racing is obviously without precedent."

Why are peole so obsessed at why one horse is quicker geting in front of a post before the other horse?

Ahern was empty.

Did he fret about why the numbers of Hadrons don't match the numer of Leptons in the known universe?

Mental children ruled Ireland.

by Jockey Fri Oct 09, 2009 03:43

I was alluding to all the money bertie claimed he "won" betting on horses

Its no fun if you have to explain.

Yeah horse racing is daft. But isn't everything in the universe. Including Hadrons.
In fact, the more you think about current theories in physics, the more daft it all seems.

Mbranes, Pbranes, strangelets, loads of different string theories with different numbers of folded dimensions, all equally valid but completely unproveable with any technology accessible to us currently. Schrodingers cat both dead and alive at once, And how do you define the boundaries of the box the cat is in? Sometimes I think physics has lost it's way and I might as well just believe in god.instead!

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