122 posts tagged “current affairs”
Pope: Saving world from homosexuality like saving rainforests
You know, there's such a thing as carrying a metaphor too far...
This makes me really angry. Yes, Dell (and other US computer firms) have created a lot of jobs in Ireland in the last twenty years. But they have done so because it was advantageous to them - the Irish government offered foreign business a very attrctive low rate of corporation tax.
Now that the economy has taken a nose-dive, some of these US businesses are having second thoughts. That's fine, it's their right - it's a free market economy. However, when they start to impose heavy-handed tactics on their European employees, like they might try elsewhere (i.e. the US), I get annoyed:
Employees inside Dell's giant manufacturing plant in Limerick were not even allowed to listen to reports on local radio stations as rumours flew of an impending announcement of 2,000 job losses.
Normally, the company's workers can listen to the local radio station, Limerick's Live 95FM, which is broadcast throughout the factory in Raheen Industrial Estate.
However, the station was turned off yesterday morning as the cuts were discussed for over an hour on the 'Limerick Today' show with Ed Myers.
Fearful of possible repercussions from within the company, no workers were keen to go on the record.
"We don't have a union here, so there is nobody to speak for us. But management are afraid to speak also," the worker said.
In some cases, husbands and wives who met through their work in Dell are expecting to be made redundant.
The government also needs to realise that if your job creation strategy relies on foreign businesses, one day those businesses are going to pack up and leave. As for the Dell employees in Limerick - why don't you have a union?
Having once worked for a US-headquartered business that was incredibly insensitive to regional differences - a real one-size-fits-all mentality - I'll be honest and say I'll probably never work for another US firm again.
Conor Cruise O'Brien died last week. A scholar, journalist, government minister, diplomat and opponent of the IRA, he lived the most amazing life. Yes, I was a fan.
He was never afraid of saying the "wrong thing", as he did so often. He was a man of principle, unfortunately more often than not surrounded by cowardly politicians and lilly-livered diplomats. His obituary in the Telegraph was the best of the many I read.
Read the article in its entirety. It's inspirational.
It's what a life looks like when someone lives it according to their beliefs, not caring a jot for what others think of us. He wasn't a saint, he was far from perfect. I just wish there were a few more people with his standards in public office right now.
Palin puts faith in God for 2012
Defeated Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has said she hopes God will "show her the way" on any future bid for the White House.
The Alaska governor said 2012 was too far off for her to decide whether she would run for the US presidency.
Mrs Palin, who was accused of going rogue during the election campaign, also admitted veering "off script", but denied harming the Republican ticket.
She has been touted as a possible White House candidate in four years' time.
In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News, the 44-year-old said: "I'm like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I'm like, don't let me miss the open door. Show me where the open door is."
'Open door'
The mother-of-five added: "And if there is an open door in [20]12 or four years later, and if it is something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I'll plough through that door."
Mrs Palin admitted occasionally not having toed the line during the campaign, but added: "If I went off script once in a while, I can't for the life of me remember any one time where it would have harmed [Republican presidential nominee Sen John McCain], or the ticket."
She also said she neither wanted nor asked for the wardrobe costing at least $150,000 (£96,000) that the Republican Party controversially bankrolled for her during the campaign.
"I did not order the clothes. Did not ask for the clothes," she told Fox News. "I would have been happy to have worn my own clothes from day one."
Dismissing reports that she had been unaware Africa was a continent, Mrs Palin said: "Never, ever did I talk about, well, gee, is it a country or is it a continent."
This week, Mrs Palin has also scheduled national interviews with other TV networks and she plans to attend the Republican Governors Association conference in Florida.
Correspondents say she has a range of political options, including seeking re-election as governor of Alaska in 2010 or challenging the state's Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski.
There is also a possibility she could run in a special election for the seat of Ted Stevens, Alaska's other senator.
His bid for re-election last week remains undecided, although he may be forced to step aside whatever the outcome after being convicted of corruption.
Hmmm.
So I'm like "God," (ya know, cos I talk to him and stuff) "Can ya please just smite her and stuff? Maybe while she's ploughing through one of those doors you're going to open for her?"
My "very good friend", Irish Robinson has had her achievements recognised again. Stonewall has awarded her their 'Bigot of the Year' award for 2008.
No doubt this is in recognition for her sterling work in advancing the acceptance of gays and lesbians in Northern Ireland (where she is minister for health in the non-functioning Mickey Mouse executive).
No. Not really.
It's because she has a record of blatant homophobia and, despite her position as an elected representative, sees fit to spout gibberish about "curing homosexuals".
Yes, I've blogged about this nut-job before. Oh, and here. Sorry for the repetition. I'm just incredibly angry about the lack of an sort of apology, or the fact that there was little or no censure from her government.
Possibly because she's married to the First Minister, Peter Robinson (only in Northern Ireland...).
The BBC broadcast the DUP's annual conference this year, where her husband got a few chuckles from the dinosaurs in attendence when he mentioned her lack of political correctness (see his speech here). It's not about being PC. It's about respecting people and treating everyone equally. And (ideally) it should be about keeping your personal religious views separate from work... especially when religion has had such a negative impact on society, as in Norn Iron.
I'm sure the Stonewall award will find pride of place on her mantlepiece.
Italy's PM, Silvio Berlusconi, has managed to screw-up his response to Obama's election victory, referring to Obama's "tan". Ahem. Obviously, the man's an enormous tosser and just doesn't know when to keep his trap shut. I was going to pull together a list of his best one-liners, but helpfully the Telegraph has done it for me.
My favourites from the list:
On Mussolini: "Mussolini never killed anyone. Mussolini used to send people on vacation in internal exile."
On business: "Another reason to invest in Italy is that we have beautiful secretaries – superb girls."
To a German MEP: "In Italy there is a man producing a film on Nazi concentration camps – I shall put you forward for the role of Kapo (a guard chosen from among the prisoners)."
On left-wing voters: "I trust the intelligence of the Italian people too much to think that there are so many pricks around who would vote against their own best interests."
On plans to base an EU food standards agency in Finland instead of Parma: "Parma is synonymous with good cuisine. The Finns don't even know what prosciutto is."
Before the 2006 election, which he lost, he said any Italian who didn't vote for him would be a "dickhead".
Tosser.
In the UK they've passed a law saying that smokers will not be allowed to become foster parents, do you think this is fair?
I know I'll probably sound like a rabid Daily Mail reader, but I think this is madness. They're crying out for suitable foster parents here in the UK, yet they now want to exclude vast numbers of potential candidates for this most difficult of jobs. Do they ("they" being the faceless authorities that make these decisions) believe it's better for a child to be raised in a care home than with caring foster parents, just because those parents smoke? I just don't understand it.
What next? Excluding people based on their political beliefs? The fact that they have poor fashion sense? That they pick their nose?
There's just a couple of days left until the end of the US Presidential Election and I'm glad this only happens every four years. I'm exhausted and can't handle any more. I just want it to be all over now.
As I've previously indicated, I'm rooting for Obama. I've been giving this a lot of thought over the past few days and have come to the conclusion that I'm not exactly pro-Obama, but fearful of another Bush clone (and his nutbag sidekick) taking over the White House. The world is is a state o' chassis (as Joxer Daly famously said) and I don't want an angry, bitter old man with his finger on the button.
I am truly fearful of what Palin could get up to as VP. Aside from making Tina Fey a bazillionaire, her gaffes would recall Bush Jr's worst slip-ups and remove even more of the gravitas that should be associated with the Presidency. And when (not if) McCain shuffles off this mortal coil, who'll be there to fuck things up? I shudder.
On the other hand, I'm optimistic that Obama will cleanse the political palet of the US people, reminding them that their commander in chief doesn't have to be the kind of guy you'd want to have a beer with... reminding them that anti-intellectualism should not be a badge of pride... reminding them that pride in their own country doesn't have to be at the expense of the integrity of someone else's.
I would hate for any readers of this blog to interpret my dislike of right-wing Republicans as a generalised dislike of America or Americans. I can separate the Presidency from the people. I've visited the US many times (and no, not just NYC) and have absorbed its mass media since I was born. I think America has had a wonderful and positive impact on the rest of this planet. I'd like to view Bush and his ilk as a blip. A momentary lapse in judgement. We all make mistakes. Making Obama President is an opportunity to move on and demonstrate to yourselves (and the rest of the world) that you haven't fallen for the same old right-wing nonsense.
Please don't prove me wrong.
The election is a week from today, who are you going to vote for?
Obviously, I don't have a vote in the US Presidential Election. I'm Irish (real Irish, in that I was born in Ireland, not fifth-generation Boston cop Irish) and live in the UK.
But like the rest of the world, I have a vested interest in who gets the top job next.
A cursory glance over the recent content of this blog will tell you I'm no fan of John McCain. If I had a vote, it would go to Obama. I hope it plays out that way next week.
The thought of Sarah Palin strutting round the White House is just too terrible to contemplate.
My fingers are firmly crossed.
