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RTE Political Debates 2016

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The only thing that I hear from the ‘Debates’ were that Parties were running against Parties. There was no debate about anyone being held responsible for decisions, no one responsible for any outcomes. It’s the Party’s choice. The Party that Failed, the Party that succeeded, the party that brought you X or Y.

We the people are voting on, and for PEOPLE, not parties. We know that Kenny never fulfilled any campaign promises, but it’s not his fault, he was doing what his party wanted. Sinn Fein has killed people in the past, therefore the people who now represent Sinn Fein are all murderers, because Sinn Fein, the party, murdered.

There are criminals who have been CONVICTED dozens of times, that do not get painted as a criminal when next they come to trial, why does ANY party get painted with past party issues, by past party members, when it was the members who committed them.

This lame attempt by our politicians to redirect blame to an anonymous ‘Party’ is another attempt to shed personal responsibility for the outcomes of bad decisions and choices. Like cheap used auto dealer, I have to talk to my party…er manager about that deal.

I hold Kenny & Noonan responsible for Water Charges, and paying off the bond holders, not Fine Gael, and Labor.

But if you want to play party politics, fine, Kenny, Noonan you have lost my vote for ANY Fine Gael politician, Labor too, as you had no guts to stand up for your ‘Party’ position, you also will fail to get a vote.

Garth Brooks, victim of bad Business (Ireland)

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The entire Garth Brooks debacle is an example of Irish ‘Wink and a Handshake‘ culture. I have absolutly no doubt that the concert series was ALWAYS for 5 shows, but that the promoter thought they could make more money by promoting only the first three, then adding on the additional two shows, with the full support and agreement of the GAA and Dublin City Council.

The promoter KNEW he could not get 5 nights, but thought that they could ‘work around‘ the issues in back room deals the the GAA and Councils. The issue is that they were NOT required to get a license BEFORE promoting the concerts.

This is the same issue that the building boom had, that collapsed the Irish Economy, get the planning permission AFTER you completed the building. Bass Ackwards!

The 71 Fianna Fáil Royals, does not Democracy Make.

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The 71 Fianna Fáil Party Royalty who are being allowed to decide on the issue of wither we remove a Corrupt and disgraceful Taoiseach, Brian Cowen is not a Democracy. It only represents the swaggering elitist thugs that have manhandled the Irish state into the ashcan of Europe and pissed away the sovereignty of Ireland and are therefore NOT entitled to make that decision.

An immediate General Election should be called and the ‘Heave’ should be given to the entire Fianna Fáil Gang by the people of Ireland in a true Democratic election.

A Neighborhood solution to water supply

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If you live close enough to your neighbor (most semi-detached homes would fit this description) you can attach your external faucet, from your non functioning household water, to that of your neighbors FUNCTIONING water supply with a common garden hose and By opening the valves on the waterless house, and then the working house. The house with the functioning water supply will supply the non functioning house.

You might call this an Irish solution to an Irish problem. And since we are not currently paying for the water, we aren’t stealing water, just loaning it.

WoW! A positive step to restore trust.

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The Gardaí raid offices of Anglo Irish Bank in Dublin in the first positive step in restoring confidence in the Irish Government. It’s a shame that that it took almost violent public outcry from the people to stir action from the lame corrupt ministers. It’s also a shame that any incriminating evidence has probably been destroyed and disposed of.

Settling back into Cork

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Sunday, and I’m not back on the road to Dublin, I am now configured to work half time for my employer in Dublin rather than a full redundancy. The concession is, I get to work from home, and while this is not the ideal, it should keep us in beer money through this recession. Besides I could use the rest. The job never did require my presence in the office, it’s was only a vast empire of personnel from the perspective of management. I never touched any of the hardware, nothing I did in the office couldn’t be accomplished from anywhere on the planet. I was just another gopher popping out of the cubicle to reinforce the illusion of power. Long live VPN and the internet 😉

Wounded Tigers and Irish Grannies

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Listening to RTE radio this noon, I realized there is something more dangerous than a wounded (Irish) Tiger, and that’s an Irish Granny! If you could harness the energy of the Irish grannies, you would wouldn’t need dynamite under a politician’s seat. You could power the country with them 😉 And I wish that they had been mobilized during the last elections. Hey, maybe we need another election, it could happen!

A green road to Cork.

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Having driven the Cork to Dublin (or Dublin to Cork road take your pick) more than a few times, I realize that the upcoming Motorway while making the trip faster, it will make it more dangerous, boring and expensive. It will be faster, burn up more gas, and toll payments, wear out my car faster, and cause accidents by drunks, boy racers and road fatigue.

But there is another cost, and this one is a big unknown, Lifestyles of the communities along the old road.

In many ways, the towns along the way make a living from the traffic, but in a more ethereal way the motorway will disconnect each community along the way from each other, and the people traveling past them. It will erode the distributed population, and create a conduit to increased centralization in Dublin.

Having grown up in the Central U.S. I know that the era of the superhighway pretty much destroyed small town america. In a real way the world passed them by, slowly draining away the youth, and futures of small towns. One more nail in the coffin of Ireland that was, one more notch in the handle of globalization.

And you know, I’m going to miss the view.

Dublin, second city of the British Empire

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I was watching a historic program the other day, and was amazed that Dublin was considered the Second City of the British Empire, Second to London! Very interesting, so, in fact the people who pride themselves on being Dubliners are really (secretly) proud to be from the second city of the British Empire 😉 and not really Irish at all :-0

Maybe that is why they continue to believe that corrupt politicians are the norm, and continue to vote for Bertie, better the devil you know, Eh!

Headhunters and Monster.ie

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If you have ever wondered how it feels to be a wounded deer amongst a pack of wolves? I now know, having posted my CV on monster.ie, and having ticked the ‘Public’ button with the expectation that some reputable employer might contact me, no less that eleven ‘headhunters’ have contacted me in the past week. And at first it feels good to be wanted, it has soon turned into a feeling of being a piece of meat being sold quickly to make a profit, before the ‘sell by’ date.

The only time I’ve been placed by a headhunter, it turned out to be my worst job to date. And I should remember this, but I continue to have to relearn this lesson. But as some of you know, I have very few contacts here in Ireland, and most of the jobs I found in the States came from contacts I had, or, believe it or not, my reputation, neither of which I have here.

Here in Ireland, job posting in the paper appear to be bare legal requirements rather than open positions that have been filled by preselected candidates or have requirements that require 5 years experience in a technology that has only been available for 3 years posted by HR people who don’t know a twit about what the job requirements really are.

The reality is that I would take a job in Cork at half the salary I make in Dublin (€ 60K) just to work back in Cork. Damn the fancy titles, IT ditch-digger would be fine, well, maybe but you get my drift, it’s just not worth the money to be working in Dublin. There is no other way to say it, working in Dublin sucks!

But Cork seems to be very ‘Cliquish’ and me having no contacts here is proving problematic. But I’ll bite the bullet and keep trying, the sun will shine in Cork someday, and so will I.