Posts coming soon ... "my 50 word review - brüno" & "re-watching lost - series 1"
Even if Borat WAS "so 2006" as the tagline süggests, don't even consider watching this if yoü're not aü fait with SBC’s hümoür. Über shocking, über challenging to all forms of homophobia, über sürprising cameos. Ich woüld give “Brüno” the thümbs up büt he’d probably think it's a come on.
trailer treat - Shutter Island
trailer trash - The Ugly Truth
HELP! I’m caught between an ideological rock and a hard place!
Which do I want more? Lisbon2 to pass or Taoiseach Without Mandate Brian Cowen to be a step closer to the exit door? Are the two really mutually exclusive?
I believe in some ways that they are. The recent local elections sent two distinct messages, made clear by the nationwide failures of Fianna Fail, the Greens, Sinn Fein and Libertas. The general sentiment of the Irish people seems to Anti-Government, and Pro-Treaty.
Yet Enda Kenny’s motion of no confidence shortly after polling day failed, and Cowen & co remain in power. So the moment the date of October 2 was announced for the re-run of the referendum, those like myself who had both of the stances mentioned above were put into a political straightjacket of sorts.
What’s the best tactic for the No campaign between now and the poll? Not to spread fear. Not to bitch and moan that the first result has been ignored. The best thing they can do in my book would be to somehow spread the belief that a second “no” result would bring down the government. And you know what, that may very well be exactly what happens, so don’t tell them about it, ok?
Here’s how I see the big picture. Back in January I did a post entitled “butchering government”. What I was trying to say was that the Left/Right allocation of seats in the Dail didn’t come anywhere near to representing the viewpoint of the entire electorate in the country today, and the only way for it to do so would be for the Irish Left to somehow show a more united front to get the masses voting for it.
Even if that were possible, however, there would be a few short-term drawbacks. For one thing, the Labour Party would have to forget about any sort of coalition with Fine Gael for the sake of power. In my view, it would need to withdraw and re-structure, creating a spin machine that does everything it can to show the public just how similar the Blueshirts are to the FFers.
And we have perfect examples of these similarities right here in our contemporary news cycle. I’m referring of course to Minister Ahern’s Criminal Justice and Blasphemy bills, which are virtually straight out of the Fine Gael play-book, and clearly one of his objectives is to outflank Kenny & co on the right.
How do I feel about the two bills? Well, of course I’m against them in principle, but I retain an air of scepticism about any high-profile legislation brought out by Fianna Fail. As far as I’m concerned, to them being in government is akin to fishing…you spend a long time looking like you’re doing sterling work when in actual fact you’re just sitting in a chair staring at a pole (poll?). Sure, once in a while you do catch something, but that doesn’t necessarily make the whole exercise worthwhile.
Re : Criminal Justice, of course I’d be concerned if someone could be sentenced without a jury or on the word of an ordinary garda. And guess what – the gardaí themselves don’t like the bill, so what does THAT tell you?
Re : Blasphemy, well of course the whole thing is ridiculous, and I’ll admit I was one of those bloggers wracking my brain to come up with suitable protests and parodies to show my disgust, but then I thought – what good would that do me OR the likelihood that the bill will become law? Do I REALLY think Dermot Ahern gives a toss about what I think out here on the left of the political spectrum?
And THAT’S my point. Ahern’s agenda is clear. He’s positioning himself to make a run at Cowen’s job, and to do that he needs to have some results from his stint at the DoJE&LR. And what do I mean when I say “results?” I mean produce bills that not only appease the right-wing sentiment but also piss off the “looney lefties”. Let's face it...when Lefties get up in arms, it's political gold for the Aherns of this world!!! So taking JUST those aims in mind, I reckon he’s hit the jackpot.
He is, after all, in direct competition with Micheal Martin, who you would think has the inside track in the Foreign Affairs portfolio. If he can keep the Pro-Lisbon ship generated by the local elections steady between now and October, he’ll have that plus the smoking ban to bleat about once Cowen calls it a day.
Of course, I’d choose to remind people about Martin’s role in the organ retention scandal plus his cowardice in fecking off on holidays once the Travers Report was published, but that’s a fight for another day.
Basically, my argument is that ever since this state came into being the struggle for power has been between those on the right, whether they were blinded by or just hiding behind the notion of “Civil War politics”. And in the meantime, they have kept the Left appeased by either throwing them scraps or ignoring them altogether.
Well I believe it’s time for a change, and where else could you draw inspiration from than the Obama campaign.
No, I’m NOT suggesting that all lefties go around shouting “yes we can” like fools, but I DO believe it’s possible to find some candidate on the Left that can find a common thread amongst all left-wing thinkers, and dare I say it, albeit after more than one general election, actually become the country’s first left of centre Taoiseach one day.
And if ANYONE comes back with a claim that Bertie Ahern was a socialist I’ll hunt you down… ;-)
Think what I’m suggesting is impossible? Then it definitely will be.
In the meantime, this here lefty is going to stay in his political straight-jacket, vote “yes” on October 2, then once I’m free, I’ll start using the term “Fianna Gael” to refer to anything involving either of the Civil War parties.
I’ll know I’m getting somewhere when a righteous righty blogger starts making protests and parodies about me.
Related posts…
why i’m voting “yes” on lisbon
why i’m STILL voting “yes” on lisbon
the whole second referendum thing
Every year at this stage I seem to be bemoaning the GAA’s “back-door” championship format because the only teams that don’t get to benefit from it are the ones who actually win their provincial titles.
And since my Dubs have faced little or no competition within Leinster over that time, we’re the ones who have been hurt more by the shortcomings.
This year may be different.
The purpose of the qualifiers was meant to give teams a second chance in case they had an off-day when they were eliminated from the Championship. Well for the Dubs, they actually had that day back at the beginning of June, when they scraped home against a woeful Meath team by only two points, which surely Pat Gilroy treated as though it were a defeat.
And yesterday, it seemed in Kildare we had a team that was ready to bring the game to us and go for the win, and even with 14 men we were able to rise to the challenge and claim a 5th Delaney Cup in a row.
Maybe, just maybe, we might be better prepared once the quarterfinals come round…
The above pic shows Jason Sherlock hammering home our second goal – right before this he was berating the half-forwards for not getting the ball to him – what a way to respond!
But man of the match had to be Bernard Brogan, who gave a real “cometh the hour cometh the man” performance, knocking over points for fun in the closing stages to bring the game home.
And as for Ger Brennan’s stupidity in throwing a punch right in front of an official, I’d drop him for the next match if I were Gilroy. Clearly Kildare were on a mission to get Dublin tempers flaring, and senior level players should be able to withstand this, so a message needs to be sent.
So let’s say all in all, I feel better about the Dubs chances this year than I’ve done the last four, which probably means they’ll draw Kerry in the quarter-finals and go crashing out…
I was brought into the world by Americans, raised by the Irish and confused by everyone.
Click here to make sure you're reading my most recent post.
Confuse me even further by leaving a comment, sending an email, stalking me on Facebook or if you're REALLY feeling adventurous, Twittering me.
