January 2012

Three Planks & Ron Paul

Noel Farrell

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A Republican Nova
January 3 2012 ,

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It's a wind of fury that's welcoming in the New Year raft of cuts and taxes which took effect from New Year's Day. The rains pretty icy too. Still it could be worse. We could be a young, innocent child living in Tehran or Baghdad as 2012 starts running - where just seeing the year through will be the ultimate goal. I'm sure nonsense was meant to be a subject for a bit of banter and the occasional ridicule, but not the word used to describe where human society stands at this juncture in our thought-evolution. Unfortunately, as I see it anyway, that's the best I can describe our current set of ideals into how we are going to get ourselves out of our current ponzi - peaking predicament. Us being humanity, that is, - assuming people have a belief in such a thing, after the start we have had to the current century. Nonsense it is. Strangled in debt or dying in poverty depending on an individuals Geo-political position on Planet Earth, the only ones going anywhere are those who deal in such things - for prot. It's disgusting when you thinks about it. Be it enslavement due to unsustainable debt or victims to a large weapons based complex used to prot from human misery - misery that costs hundreds of thousands of lives in wars served over resources, largely belonging to other nations. What will the human race ght over when oil runs out? Water? It seems the American Presidential parade has been going on forever at this stage and yet, it hasn't really even started. Just about every Republican that have put themselves forward to contest Novembers election against Barack Obama to see who gets to have their nger on the button for a four-year term, has led the polls at some stage. That's the media for you. Obama has been a op - no real sense in saying it any different. So many promises, equal number of let-downs. If the Republicans had a good candidate to step forward, I'd have no doubt in my mind that Obama would be a one-term president. American Republicanism is stained after the tyranny of George W. Bush's presidency. Unfortunately Obama has followed a similar path in foreign policy with Gitmo still water-boarding, Iraq on the verge of civil war after their withdrawal, Afghanistan in turmoil, a middle east in crisis and a war of wills currently going on against the Iranians.

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Not to forget that relationships are strained with Russia, China and Pakistan as well as a clear class divide inhouse between the so-called 1% and 99%. Meanwhile America continues to leak jobs to emerging nations, has a massive decit, an economy going no-where. Americans now not only have to deal with homeland security and home intelligence agencies, but now also have to run the gauntlet of being indenitely detained if their voice poses a deant tone toward what America is turning into. The National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA) Obama signed silently into law as the bell tolled midnight on New Years Eve will have ordinary Americans wondering where this erosion of rights came from, especially in a country which has designed itself on freedom and civil liberties through their Constitution and Bill of Rights. The signing of this bill was barely covered within the American mainstream media. We don't need to wonder why. All these things will give Americans who think for themselves something to mull over as the Race for the White House gathers pace with the Iowa Republican Caucuses holding their contest today. Polls suggest a slight lead for Ron Paul, but with most of the candidates holding a poll-topping position at one time or another in the media frenzy of debates, ideals, cock-ups and public appearances, momentum at this time will be important, even if the result lends little mass when it actually comes to selecting a Republican runner at the Republican National Convention in late August in Florida. Here's a quick rundown on the main protagonists at this stage Ron Paul is a congressman from Texas. He has served in the military and is known as a conservative libertarian. On the plus side are his less heathen foreign policies than those of his party counterparts and wanting to end the Federal Reserve System which privately controls the American dollar. On the minus side would be his nonacceptance of evolution as a theory and his ultra-conservative stance in certain areas such as gays serving in the American military.
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Paul is the best candidate on paper for America at this time, but one feels his progression is being hindered by his exclusion as a serious contender by the American mainstream propaganda machine led chiey by Bill O'Reilly and his circle of wannabes. Should Ron Paul win in Iowa, his every secret - true or false - will be known by the end of the week. That won't be good for a 76-year-old heart. Michele Bachmann is a Congresswoman from Minnesota. She was an early front runner in the polls. Various polls have her anywhere in the top-5 over the last few months, though few consider her much more than a Sarah Palin wannabe. Known for her anti-gay views, loose mouth and love for foot-long corn-dogs, it is difcult to see her winning the nomination, though don't be surprised if she is pulled from the pack to stand for VP. ''It's a free for all feeding frenzy out there and this little piggy has no shame in admitting that I want to get to the top of the hog trough." CHARLIE CASANOVA Newt Gingrich is the former draft-dodging Speaker of the House - the third most powerful position in American politics. A former Baptist, Newt became a Roman Catholic in 2009. He has written numerous books which have been aided to publication by Rupert Murdoch of Fox News fame. A known ip-opper on many key issues, he is in favor of increasing American military spending. He has been married three-times and is known in Washington for having a wandering eye. It may prove his downfall, but he can't be ruled out. Mitt Romney is a former governor of Massachusetts. He is aiming to become the rst Mormon president of the United States. Some estimate the former businessman's net wealth at close to a quarter of a billion dollars. Romney lost out on the Republican nomination in 2008 to war-monger John McCain and is seen as the front runner to win the Republican nod. Again known to ip-op on the issues, he supports a withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, increases in military spending and sees Iran as America's greatest threat. A win here in
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Iowa and in the New Hampshire primary next week may make the nomination race a non-event thereafter but such clear water is rare in American politics. Rick Perry is the governor of Texas, taking over from warlord, George W. Bush. Perry is the new poster boy of the neo-conserative America. During a campaign which saw a good start, Perry has appeared drunk on occasion - forgetful on others. A committed proponent of Christian values and the death penalty, he is also a committed homophobe. He is also a global warming septic, but to his credit is not a fan of the Federal Reserve. Hard to see America falling twice - but you never know. Rick Santorum is a former senator from Pennsylvania. He is another of the neo-con poster boys, a supporter of the War on Terror and neo-con foreign policy. In recent weeks Santorum has gained, as other conservatives have faltered, and rumors are out of Santorum-Bachmann 'dream-ticket.' He is also a homophobe. John Huntsman is a former governor of Utah and is regarded as a scal moderate conservative. He has chosen to by-pass the Iowa Caucasus to concentrate on the New Hampshire primaries next week. If Wall St. decide to get rid of Obama - Huntsman might be your man. Former Pizza guy, Herman Cain's name will appear on the Iowa ballot, but his campaign has been suspended as Cain attempts to keep his family together after numerous sexual allegations were made against him. His 9-9-9 plan however remains a talking point. All in all it amounts to a bad series of political X-Factor, doesn't it? Hard to see any of them really making any lasting contribution in the great scheme of things. Which doesn't bode well for the next four or ve years. With new emerging superpowers, America could be in real danger of losing its head at the top of the world table which may not be a bad thing.

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It may give middle-America the room to reect on what has been a catastrophic start to the new century for them. America, throughout her history, has tended to rise to serious challenges, especially in matters of denition when it comes to deciding on who they are. There ideals have taken a wayward turn since that awful day of September 11, 2001. It has served no-one well, in particular ordinary Americans themselves. With the class divide widening, it appears America stands at another of those dening junctures. They've tended to get there, often at a huge price. I just wonder where she'll stand eleven short months from now? My imaginary money's on an ObamaRomney showdown come November. I think Obama is in real trouble, and it won't be his talking that gets him home this time. He's going to need a whole lot more this time round. 'Cause the charm offensive is gone.

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Bachmann Overdrive
January 5 2012 ,

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I woke up an hour ago in a lather of sweat. The howl outside had obviously induced a coming together of various thought process' mulling through the mind. How to kick start the year off on a good note. Honour that new wall chart/year planner somewhat each day. Stay focused. On the abyss... Oh yeah. Sweat. Yep, there she was, a safe distance from the edge of the Cliffs of Moher, arms outstretched in submission. Michele Bachmann from Iowa. Suddenly a erce Atlantic gust of venom parts the darker than dark clouds - and Mrs. Bachmann of her Walmart dress. It stopped on my face - momentarily - before making its way back east. Toward Cavan. It should have saved her. But the clouds turned in again, the venom changed direction once more and within seconds, despite her best efforts, Mrs. Bachmann was touching chin with the broad Atlantic foam. I was just standing there, looking around at the bleak landscape, aghast, when I woke up. Bachmann this evening suspended her campaign after nishing last in the Iowa Caucasus last evening. To rub salt into her corn dog, Bachmann happened to be born in Iowa - in the same town as John Wayne Gacy. She withdrew this evening despite jump-the-gun reports to the contrary. Her backroom staff will now be doing everything to salvage something from the campaign. That dream ticket may happen yet, especially if she comes out in support of the big winner of the night last night, Rick Santorum, who nished just eight (yes, 8) votes behind Mitt Romney, who reminds me of Superman for some reason. Without the super. The press may talk it up in certain circles, but Santorum practically lived in the State this past few months, and capitalized by his fellow candidates declines in recent months. Romney, who four years ago also lived in the State, but to no avail, campaigned lightly this time... and came out on top. Go gure! The extremely likable Ron Paul nished a commendable third, polling 22% of the vote. If only the man was twenty years younger and maybe twenty years wiser. Who knows what world we might have got. It's a great
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showing considering the lack of air time given to him in mainstream circles in America. That's where the real power is. Rick Perry also nished dismally. He decided to head home to Texas to reect, before announcing a few hours ago on Twitter that he's going to take one last stand in South Carolina in two weeks time. A poor showing in a fellow Southern state and he's nished. His team might not be ruling out a possible alliance either - an extreme/dream team compromising two from Santorum/Perry and the two-year old Catholic with the Roman eye, Gingrich. "I mean do you have any idea the amount of long term couples out there who don't have sex anymore? Go to bed. Go to sleep. Go to work. To bed. To sleep. Dead from the neck down. And not particularly alive above it.'' CHARLIE CASANOVA The heat will fall on Romney this week. A New Hampshire win and he's practically home already. It's hard to see dirt coming out on him. He's ran in '08. It would have come out then. Best the anti-Romney crew can do now is plot some way to take the wind from his sails. Can't see his constant ip-opping doing him much harm. The night belonged to a sexual neologism - but when this gets more light - if it does - any straight thinking American is going to know they don't want Santorum as their President. Sure, they thought George W. was just a cowboy and the ride would be smooth. But we all make mistake, and sure hell, demeanor can count sometimes, and in fairness to W. he does pull it off. Romney needs to lighten up a little - he's awful stiff for an American. Swagger counts, particularly among the youth, and Obama wins there hands down, unless Romney gets a guru on board fast. He's also going to have to improve his debating skills. Obama has him there too - but then again, Romney can focus on a bad three years for America, and in an America in need of jobs, who knows.
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But the cliff belongs to Bachmann tonight. Perhaps if she can't muscle in somewhere she can form a new party with Sarah Palin as they continue to do their bit for America. It's the American Dream. No, not the idea of a ladies only party fronted by these two. It's the mountains of cash on offer to them from all angles as they speak across Evangelical land. I guess you got to respect a lady who's taken in over twenty kids in foster care. I just can't take to that brand and party of hers. She parted today with the words how she ''looks forward to the next chapter in God's plan" for her. I'm not up on where God stands on Obama-care, but one would have thought He'd be in favor. Michele certainly wasn't. I guess they had better things to be worrying about in those days. More than a socially acceptable health care system for sure. Things like building and banking and feeding republicans to the lions. Roman ones, of course.

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Mad Pride
January 10 2012 ,

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The homophobic Republican tour whistle stops in the liberal state of New Hampshire tonight as they go to the polls to choose who should run off against Obama in November. If the polls are correct, Mitt Romney leads the pack with Ron Paul a distant second. Romney needs the momentum from this one as they head for South Carolina. It's territory which will decide whether Rick Perry or Newt Gingrich retires from the race. New to the party is John Huntsman and he is currently polling third. Iowa surprise, Rick Santorum is propping up the eld with Perry and Gingrich. So much for momentum. This was to be expected though, given New Hampshire's swing-state status by becoming a Democrat stronghold going back to the days of Bill Clinton after decades of Republican successes. If Romney does well in South Carolina or Florida the week after, it's over. If he gets the Republican nod the pollsters have him almost neck and neck with Obama. The only other presidential candidate to run Obama close is Ron Paul. I found it despicable earlier today watching Fox News pull a Democrat congresswoman up on taking something Mitt Romney said about 'loving to re people' out of context. These people will stop at nothing to push the Republican agenda. What makes it worse, it seems many Americans are buying into it. True, in an evolving society government should be less visible to us all, but these people want the run of everything, to do as they please at any one's expense, often under the name of God. I'm sure God would want little to do with them. I wonder will Obama hold rm and not bomb Iran. If he does, he's at war. Americans won't vote out a war-time President once the war was started on his watch. Now we will see how much water that noble peace prize holds over the coming months.
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The guys from the ECB and the IMF are in Ireland for a spot-check. With tax receipts down to the tune of almost a billion, the talk on the street is of an impending second bailout for us. I never seen that! I thought straight to default. Oh, how weve been led the merry dance. Events over the coming weeks will tell a lot. It's looking like a referendum, if Im to be honest. I can't see the Euro collapsing, as I feel there are just to many 'interests' involved. A ood of cheap money will be made available - once you are a rmly a European. After that, who knows? I can't see the Supreme Court not guiding us toward a vote. Its a You're either in or you are out decision us Irish have to make. France wants a Robin Hood Tax on bank transactions, which the UK is opposing. I'm not sure why? Maybe because every transaction would then have to declared? It does seem the decent thing to do, considering we robbed the poor to pay the rich, so they could get richer, and tell them in the middle, who the poor elected, to make us poorer. Are you with me? Nope, didn't think so! You wouldn't write that sh** ************* Ok, it's not the Palme d'Or, but the good news today is Irish Indie lm, CHARLIE CASANOVA - which if I'm correct was made for under a grand - and without support until its success demanded it, received four Irish Film & Television Academy nominations. It's just the latest in a long list of accolades the independent lm has scooped on its global travels through the festival sphere. The lm was nominated in four categories. Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Editing. I think if ever a lm spoke to the powers that be for more money to be put into an enterprising Irish lm industry to be
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developing it further then Charlie is it. But Ireland is rarely so brave. A New Wave as Ireland sinks - How Irish would that be. ************* Ireland lost two of her unsung heroes in one day today. Journalist and lmmaker Mary Raftery, who exposed child abuse in church run state schools in her documentary, States of Fear, died aged just 54. Her place in the hearts of Ireland is forever cemented by the gutsy and courageous way she did her job. Many in this country could learn from her. Particularly in those elds. And "Mad' John McCarthy, founder of Mad Pride Ireland. He was 61. I've heard him described as a 'force of nature.' A truly inspiring gure - a man I only came to know about about three months ago. I really wanted to meet the man. Both leave behind legacies that deed a time. People Ireland should reect on. Linger on, even. They are all that is great about Ireland. They should be held in the highest regards and even inspire a nation. You've all heard the saying about the good dying young. There may be a truth in that pudding. I'm not sure if either person knew of absurdity, but they certainly seemed to embrace it in their lifetimes. If only we were all so brave. R.I.P

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The Great Aggression

January 13 2012 ,

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I nally got around to watching the lm, The Age of Stupid, last night. Hate to ruin your weekend, but by its account we will, as a race of people, be gone sometime in 2055. With the spectacularly named Standard and Hoor's credit rating agency burning France, Austria, Italy and Spain tonight, as well as reducing Portugal to junk status, it may happen sooner than that. But let's whip up a storm of positivity for once around here and work under a 'kick the can down the road' assumption. We swim on, underwater, but for the occasional gulp of clean fresh air. But swim we shall. So, if catastrophe was to strike, and it's neither in the form of the economic ponzi scheme crashing down around us and creating The Great Aggression, or a little slip of a nuke button, then global warming and human failing to address our acceleration toward whatever these temperature rises bring with them, could be the Higgs Boson of natural events. Florida and London being submerged under water. Dubliners wouldn't be taking to kindly to it either! Another possible scenario is shifts in ocean currents could affect atmospheric pressure and result in a little cold snap. I've told speculators about land in Africa before. Buy it. Knowing those speculators though - they'll probably want it for free - again. There seems little we can do about it as things stand. The Green lobby, compared to the corporate one, is like David against Jupiter. Planet Earth is on the verge of ruin and yet we seem happy enough to sit back and allow it to happen. It can only point to one thing. That we are a self-consumed selsh race with an eye on consumption. And we want everything. Today. By the time we get sick of all that and actually question a few things, life has us beaten into watching Reality TV just to escape for a few hours. Into someone else's hell.

"This is not a world of men. When was the last time we stepped up to do anything other than earn money? A generation of cowards." Charlie Casanova
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I decided this week to rid myself of Sky Channels. Most of them anyway. Tired of giving money to old Rupert. Saving myself a few quid, I purchased a Netix subscription and although Rupert could buy it someday, I'm still thinking, I, the consumer, am getting a fairly good deal. I'm sure Murdoch won't miss the money much. Call it a little stand against big business. From an attic in Ireland it's hard to know what else to do at times. If I could nd a way of ridding myself of oil next. Halved that bill this year already thanks to logs and a mild winter. As McGyver used to say, 'Adapt. Improvise. Stay cool.' Congrats to Morman Mitt on winning the New Hampshire primary. Ron Paul, the old swinger, still hanging in there. Can the guy run as an Indie if the Republicans don't wise up and choose him? The ace in Obama's pack will be a strike on Iran. Will he do it if things start going south on him when it comes down to the run for the wire. Tensions are mounting in the region. The speak is thinly veiled and lled with equal disregard for each others nation. Further tensions mounted this week with the murder of Iranian nuclear scientist in a bomb blast in Tehran. The fourth of such kind. Iran blame the US and Israel - they deny it. War games and the exing of muscles in the narrow Straits of Hormuz - one of the worlds busiest shipping lanes - doesn't bode well for the region.Iran has not started a war in over 300 years. If the Yanks go for it, that's four they've started in a decade. Nation building or Empire building? If it is Empire, theyre no Romans and that's for sure. Nations should ex their muscles in other ways for a time. If war games are the best we can do to challenge ourselves, then maybe those of intellect when it comes to human origins are right. But we have to be a disappointment to ourselves at times. At the end of The Age of Stupid, acting legend, environmentalist, and Booker endorsee, Pete Postletwaite hit a button, sending a beam of light out past the junk that surrounds our planet. Information of all we thought about as a planet - hopefully to be picked up someday in a universe far far away. That itself wouldn't be a bad

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way to go about things. Instead of an age of stupid - an Age of Discovery. Finding out about what we can along the way. Ruling little out. I must actually say it to Bamber. I remember back in the better days of 2009 and our little social enterprise. We should have been thinking bigger. World needs a cross-nation social corporation now - and it has to be bigger than all those bloodsucking ones put together. A Facebook/Google times a hundred thousand. And we need it yesterday. We should patent some sort of casing that could survive in space. containing a solitary hair, a swab of saliva, a disk with a few personal quotes, few photos, bottle of Jack, in case an intelligent form might nd it. And a cigar. Maybe get Dick Branson in on it. You could have your personal details out there exploring the cosmos hoping to nd that planet of your own. Its not like there isnt a half a dozen or more for each of us. Crazy little world...

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An Open Letter to Brian Hayes - TD

January 14, 2012

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Dear Brian, Im Shifty Doyle. Im ten years old. Nearly. My mammy Denise brought me up by herself. She's an artist. shes pretty kool. mammy says that if you call someone mister you should no them and respect them. i dont know you so i hope thats ok. And my uncle don says your no good with money either. Me uncle Bamber is like me dad. I like him, but there is something quare about him. i can't gure it out yet, but im working on it. Ive a load of aunties that I never see. They had to go away. couldnt nd jobs. Mammy gets pictures all the time. They seem happy but it makes Mammy sad. Me own Da left years ago. Mum said she will tell me about it when i'm older. He was a ladies man uncle bamber says. That much I know. My teacher says I'm too lippy. Somethin bout having opinions. I think i get that from uncle don. Though he's not really my uncle. Just take yesterday. I was telling teacher that Columbus never was in America. But she insisted. I protested and landed myself in detention all next week. I know shes under pressure. The class used to be smaller. but a week for telling the truth? now come on. is that fair? I dont like school much. a lot of the kids are angry. they weren like that when i started in school. My best friend elvis is from Lithuania. I like girls, war games and chess mostly. My hero is Bobby Ficsher. He played chess as well. before the world said he was mad. do you know him? Whos your hero? In anyways, I wanted to write to you today. Its uncle Don. Hes very annoyed with you. He said last night you said that irish people were victims. I taught uncle dons face would explode. It was really red. Mammy says he wil have a heart attack soon. Hes minding me today. Mammys off doing a workshop with alcoholics. She does it for free. she says it makes her happy.
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Don was really mad. He was hopping about the place and kept sayin victim. I asked him what was wrong. He didnt answer. Hes upstairs now in the jacks. You know when don is in the jacks. lol I do be bold sometimes. I looked at dons computer and saw apiece of writin about you. Do you not mind people writing about you? I dont tink id like it much. Uncle dons friend chester cocks is in jail. He's written about all the time. even on the internet. Lie low as uncle mitch says. him and bamber are good friends. But again, theres something quare going on. Ill get to the bottom of it. I tink ill be a cop when i grow up. work for the fraud squad. maybe you can help me Brian? I read the piece of writing Brian and i tink i agree with what uncle don says. I cant write what he said because that would be naughty but hes right. Hes not a victim and i no lots of people who try hard. Sometimes sad things happens here. Mammy says they happens everywhere. That I should count my blessings i dont live in baghdad. Where is that? in donegal? I still tink its sad though. When people try hard and then nothing. When i see mammy crying after talking to her sisters on facebook. Im not allowed on facebook yet. something about bad people who pray with children. but im to old for Mashi Monsters now. My best friend i said about earlier is a big boy but he still cries. for his daddy. He has to work somewhere else. I try to tell him its ok. I wouldnt say that to the big red haired boy. His daddy died and nobody knows why. Bobbi mallow had to move into his grannies house and his mammy and daddy dont even talk. Theres bullies in the school but im ok. elvis is the biggest in the school. I still dont like it though. Uncle don says i should start a blog about it.
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Out those feckers uncle don says. i wont though. i dont like writing. its boring. Uncle don writes though. He wrote a book. But no one would sell it. Loser. I tell him as well. to his face. lol He tells good stories though. He says he cost people 50 million euro one time and it was a good thing and he knows people who make lms and a man called dan boyle. he's from twitter or something like that. so maybe uncle don can be a writer someday. I think i better go now. i hear the toilet ushing. hope he feels better. He's to quite when hes in bad form. and he won't play chess. I always take him down. what games do you like? maybe next time when you talk be careful what you say. It gets me in trouble all the time. some people then say im a trouble maker. and im not. sometimes i just stay quiet now. just for some peace. Uncle bamber says im getting smart. uncle don says if people are victims its because they have reasons to be that way. hes says thats your fault and people that you work with. i dont know what a puppet republic means. doesnt sound like a very good job. how much money do you earn? Sorry. I ask too many questions sometimes. uncle don says you can talk out of your bum. I want to see that. Thats funny. I want to be a comedian someday. Sonny is going to help me. hes away at an occupation now. whatever that means. Have to go. sorry for mistakes. i hate writing. I hope you didnt mind me writing to you. it was the picture. You look scary. Like a menace from a comic. i love comics. and uncle don is wrong. you look nothin like a clown. :) mor an pik ur wrds btr. Thanx for reading, Shifty Doyle
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Three Planks & Ron Paul

January 20 2012 ,

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The South Carolina primary goes ahead tomorrow with just three planks and Ron Paul left in the eld. It doesn't bare thinking about the possibility that one of the three planks may actually be the next President of the United States. No sooner had Jon Huntsman entered the race, he was packing his bags and heading home, daughters in tow. Giving his endorsement to Mormon Mitt in the hope of securing future favours, Huntsman took his nal bow de-crying politics as a 'toxic' environment. No lies there then, Jon. Rick Perry, the executing-lovin' homophobe Governor of Texas also took his nal bow. Perry, who's gaffs in live debates will live fondly in the memory of American political satirists everywhere, said as he parted, that the roads to the nomination was not possible for him, before giving his endorsement to Newt 'The Womanizer' Gingrich. The move is seen as a last ditch attempt by sections of the Republican Party to stop the Mormon Mitt bandwagon rolling toward a showdown with current President, Barack Obama. Mitt Romney currently neck and neck in the state, but the gap, both in South Carolina and nationally is closing, as pressure on Romney to release details on his taxes fall on deaf ears. What you hiding, Mitt? The campaign has now turned into the customary candidate bashing - advertising frenzy it is designed to be. These people belong to the same political ideal - long hijacked by junkie capitalists, Ronnie Reagan and the Bush's - but all is fair in love and war, and with the nuke button at stake - it's open season. Gingrich, who is neck and neck in South Carolina after Perry's withdrawal, had the indignation of having his ex-wife broadcast on national television that Newt once wanted an 'open marriage.' Hardly conservative, is it?

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Gingrich, in his wisdom has reached out to Sarah Palin fans, by saying he wants to make Palin a part of his government. And who could blame him It looks as if Rick Santorum and Ron Paul will ght it out for the minor placings. Paul easily won the Fox debate this week - despite a hostile crowd drunk on war. A potential ace in the Republican pack - but they too dumb to know it. Peace isn't on any of their agenda's. There's dollars to be made. Women and children to be bombed. For a God called Oil. Ron Paul has not ruled out a run as an Independent candidate should he, as expected, come up short. I would make it something to behold. The only reason the race is still open is because of Perry's withdrawal. Santorum might go next. He should endorse Gingrich and that will make the Florida primary a little more interesting - well the ads anyway! If Gingrich can clinch South Carolina and Florida, and hold his own until Super Tuesday in March, then it's game-on. Anything less and he's be hightailing back to Washington to consider his future. We'll know soon enough. Imagine it going all the way. A tie at the Republican convention. What then? Jeb Bush?

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Bloodlines
January 21 2012 ,

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I had the honour of being pulled up yesterday by an American. Luckily it wasn't a family gathering or even at a debate, but a comment made under a posting of my last blog post, involving members of the Republican Party looking for their party's nomination, and the chance to run off against Barack Obama in November for 'face of Wall St. duties. The comment proclaimed a love for the Irish based out of some multi - celtic bloodline (Scott's, Irish & Welch ?) that saw ocean's crossed, before settling on the lands of the Native American people, an epic journey that seems to pay off with a form of arrogance I'm still trying to gure out. I have to admit, I let me get the better of me, and picked him up on the mis-spelling of his heritage which he dearly loved. He was multi - tasking which was fair enough, I'm a ridiculously bad MTer myself. It was suggested that I gure out how to clean up things here on the Emerald Isle before making myself an 'expert' on all things 'politic' in the U.S. Now it should have been enough to see me y off in a huff - it wouldn't be the rst time - particularly having spent over two years chronicling Ireland's own Shock Doctrine - Phase 1 - as honestly as I could, in language I think most people can understand. I mean it's not like I don't suggest things from time to time around here. I am also pretty sure, and I don't mind being stood corrected, but I don't think in my entire life I have claimed to be an expert on anything. It appeared that some Americans have bridged something some of the rest of us are unaware of - an arrogance of thinking which does not even allow for a debate - but would sooner suggest that an Irish opinion on anything is just sheer nonsense and that the mouth - or ngers in this case - would be better kept shackled. It's a level of superior intellect I have not managed to reach myself yet, but I can't wait until it comes. It's bound to save me time and make me feel just dandy about myself.

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I'm not sure why opinions sometimes seem to offend other people. Maybe it's the way I write it. But isn't the world served well enough by those paid hacks from the world of media willing to spew out any rubbish once it pays? Every one of the Republican guard in this race, with the exception of Ron Paul, have turned my stomach with their sick brand of politics. I didn't have to think twice when I asked the enlightened American if he was a fan of these ' neo-conservative, homophobic, war and environmental, hate spewing Wall St. whores.' In fairness the guy bowed out pretty quick declaring himself a 'registered undeclared.' Well I suppose it's better than being a Republican supporting this current shower. I've been there myself at times. Ireland's own 'Republican' Party, the disgraced Fianna Fil, who bankrupted the nation and then sold her cheaply down the Danube. They got my vote on plenty of occasions. Some misguided belief that they were the ones best equipped to lead Ireland into the future. They ended up equipped for nothing, but heaping misery on another generation or ten. An Irish populous that seemed to nally get a taste of that freedom we'd fought over 800 years to ascertain. Didn't quite work out that way though, did it? Ireland - Land of Saints & Scholars. Where most are raised to ask no questions, put faith in what is blind, say your sorry now and again, and wings would be granted while all the evil-doers would burn for all eternity in the res of hell - a karma leveler for the shite the majority of human-beings have had to put up with during the course of human existence. I guess that sort of mentality has its worth, somewhere, on some fucked up backward planet out there in the cosmos! I had my doubts pretty early that it was a deal that was worthless. My schooling was at the tail end of the corporal period in education. Where a good old beating was part of the day. Canes and leather straps were popular
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among the Christian Brothers favored implements. Usually dispensed in a public arena to allow for maximum humiliation. I was close to my teenage years when they banned their uses. Little did many of us know that other segments among the moral high-grounders were taking a less violent approach to forming thinking. Thousands had their lives destroyed due to sexual abuse by a Catholic Church that still to this day fails to make proper restitution to victims - not just here in Ireland, but right across the globe. Trying to juggle all that whist doing bad impressions of Ollie Reed and Ale Alkins at weekends didn't allow much time for some much thought. It sort of skewed it in ways. Down nihilistic avenues - all of a personal nature.There was denitely a sense during those years of anger - perhaps at ones own naivety to many things. For putting faith in the words of people we were brought up to trust and respect. For coming to the realization that perhaps there is no life-leveler off in the never-never. That perhaps people behave the way they do because they know that already. And then things started making a little more sense. It was still a tough thing to come to terms with. To realize that you've been taken in - to admit to stupidity - something no human-being is ever comfortable with. Giving up my impressions at weekend made for a lot of time. Gave me a chance to catch up on how things were out there. Lots and lots of reading. A lot of that was about America - it was what we, even here in the 'old country', were brought up on. That 'freedom' they spoke about, that dream they wanted for all of humanity. I've read at least one bio of every American President since WWII and a few more from further back. Many, many accounts on American history. If I have an opinion, it certainly isn't derived from the lips of America's best paid propagandists.

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I don't blame Americans for being brain-washed half the time. It's national policy. But America has lost its way. The acceleration downward is actually beginning to become startling, particularly when weighed up against the road they have gone down raging illegal wars where ever it suits their empirical national interests. The bunch of candidates the GOP of America managed to assemble this time round is a new low in American politics. Everyone of them appealing to folk who draw opinion from the neanderthal jargon spewed out by the likes of Bill O' Reilly and many, many more. Taking it all in without so much as a clue to any real facts about anything. Just spin, no care for fact. Even lies, if it serves the purpose of the junkie capitalism they promote that has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands worldwide. Their course is one with God. Many deny evolution. Many deny science. Yet, and here's the real fucked up part - they believe in survival of the ttest, evolution down at its most primitive form. Is that the ultimate oxymoron? Or should we just drop the oxy? But America shouldn't feel to bad. Over here in Europe we have NATO - another shower of murdering tyrants. I say we, as Ireland herself voted to be European, and I think most neutral values set out for us by those who lined the wall of Kilmainham Jail in 1916 have been tarnished by allowing stop over of American planes on worldwide tours of torture. It's hard enough trying to understand what it means to be Irish anymore, so I guess it's a small blessing in some way I don't have all that to deal with. I went to New York in 1999. A city of wonder, culturally diverse. An energy I never experienced before. Going through JFK, my accent giving me away to a warm welcome and a smile by those that man the borders. Just six years later and a trip to Florida and those smiles were gone. Replaced by a four hour long queue which led to multiple questions, an eye and ngerprint scanner for everyone and a feeling that the welcome wasn't quite there anymore.
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I laugh when Americans talk about their freedoms while The Patriot Act and the recent NDAA could never be considered acts of a state that preaches freedom. The wake-up call started in America last year with the Occupy movement. It's still going strong despite the beatings and the arrests. We don't hear much about it these days. Best if the public think it is not happening at all. America was hijacked in the early part of the last century when they handed over control of their currency to the Federal Reserve. Its been at war practically since the end of WWII, but it's outings in Iraq and Afghanistan this century that have thrown more light on America foreign policy and it's a dark and corrupt place to go. They are not what many of America's people want - Many are equally dismayed about how they have fallen. 164 members of the American military committed suicide in 2010. Thousands dead in combat zones. Many thousands more left crippled. Many scarred mentally. Unemployment among ex-servicemen is among the highest in America. That unfortunately is how America treats her heroes. It shouldn't be a surprise really. They didn't do much for Korean or Vietnam vets either when they returned. In many ways its out of the hands of the American people at this time. Like here in Ireland, and in a lot of socalled democratic societies, a vote is an illusion of democracy, and furthermore a delusion in terms of freedom. Look at Obama. All his promises largely empty lies. Who would have thought it as he delivered that speech on the day of his inauguration back in 2009? The last day there seemed to be a chink of light appearing again after the tyrannical Bush years. At the end of the day, no nation, Ireland included, escapes episodes of our past which we would rather forget. The human race of which we are all part - I think - doesn't escape either. Be it through action or just plain igno31

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rance, we haven't come so far if we are willing to let it all just continue on its current path - killing people for control of countries be they national or otherwise. I sort of like the current idea that all man came from Africa and somehow populated the globe. Of course most ignorance laughs at such folly. It will probably be humankind's undoing some day. For all the potential is nothing if all the goal is a pointless chase for obscene wealth at any price. The only planet we know about that can sustain life and all we do is destroy it. Sort of demeans someones effort, somewhere, don't you think? I remember not so long ago as Fine Gael swept to power in Ireland. I make it sound historical, don't I? What I mean to say is were swept into Dil Eireann to preside over a heist of all things Irish, including its people. Never thought I'd see that day, but then again there are many things at play that most people wouldn't be aware of. A guy ripped into me once when I said Fine Gael would be no better than the crowd exiting. OK, maybe I jumped the gun just a little bit, but what the heck, I bloody knew it. Same guy sent me a message not long after. 'Think you may be right.' The Irish should be careful this year. Choose how she reacts to everything wisely. It's difcult choices whatever way we, the Irish, look at it. There's a payment next week of 1-25 billion to unsecured bondholders - gamblers who lost, basically. The government is paying it - though it has no legal requirement to do so. The amount of lives that could save in our health care shambles. Or the jobs it could create to get people off our welfare shambles. Or the special needs assistants it could employ. A bit of relief for full-time carers who save the state close to 5 billion a year. How many worthwhile services could that keep open? Our predicament economically at least is similar to the one in America. Ordinary decent folk left with shattered lives because government in their esteemed wisdom decided to side with outright and blatant corruption within the nancial system, then setting out on a course to crush those shattered lives a whole lot more. If anyone can provide a moral or any
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other justication for that, please tell me? I'm at a strain to know. To make a little sense of it. It's almost impossible to do. Because anyway I view it, it's theft in broad day light. Our responsibility as a people shouldn't extend beyond the scal woes we create for ourselves within our society. They should not include the debts of nancial vultures - those modern day demons who tick every box in the make-up of the modern psychopaths. What went on in Anglo Irish Bank needs to be got to the bottom of. But it doesn't look great. Our own human cost will be far reaching and probably will never be fully known. The omens are not positive. 30 suicides so far this year. And the impact of December's scavenge on the Irish people hasn't even been fully felt yet. Article 45 of the Irish constitution states amongst under things "justice and charity" must "inform all the institutions of the national life". Everyone has the right to an adequate occupation. The free market and private property must be regulated in the interests of the common good. The state must prevent a destructive concentration of essential commodities in the hands of a few. The state must supplement private industry where necessary. The state should ensure efciency in private industry and protect the public against economic exploitation. The state must protect the vulnerable, such as orphans and the aged. No one may be forced into an occupation unsuited to their age, sex or strength. Too bad it's largely forgotten about when it comes to our own government decision making at this time. It's always helpful to nd guidance from those who sacriced for a land especially in a national crisis. Or at least I thought that would be the case. But, as with so much I tripped across over the past number of years, that case has often times proved difcult to solve. In fact, in this day and age, it's safe enough to say, damn near impossible.
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************ Congrats to Newt Gingrich on his win in South Carolina. If Santorum bends over now, 'Ging' have a great shot against the ever dreary Mitt Romney. I'm going to order a bumper sticker. ''Have You Gone With Ging?'' (c) Don Booker. Great to see a womanizer who condemns another mans womanizing doing so well - and he being a Catholic and all. We won't go into lies and ethics. It's Sunday. I know, I know - sort my own island out rst. Go Ging!

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Earthworms
January 29, 2012

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Grand soft morning here on the Emerald Isle, thanks to The Buddha. The earthworms will be rising, giving the sparrows and robins something to slide down into them after the frost of the night before. They cautiously look around for an imminent attack by their distant cousins, the scavenging crow. I wonder how these slithery megadriles, so valuable to the earth's Eco-system, are doing down there. I imagine where I'm living they're doing OK. The excess of the Celtic Tiger came here - but not in the crazy way it did in other parts of the country. Places where ghost estates not only de-value small towns and rural settings, but provide a daily reminder of how far Ireland came, before having to leave it all behind. Having been a site worker for half my life and seeing the way the thinking never swayed much into Ecosystems off into the future, and all that goes with that, I sometimes wonder about scandals. For instance, what's happening to the residents of Priory Hall or the unfortunate sprinkle of residents on abandoned estates littered throughout the country. An RTE once-yearly half hour 'special' into such things hardly amounts to doing what a national broadcaster should be doing. Surely shaming and shaping has to be part of their remit. It is. It just rarely gets done - and less so, never seems to make much of a difference. Specically in the short-term. Lots of Ireland's past shames have had to be dealt with in silence. Generations of it. Passed down to be dealt with by other generations. Scandals - too many to mention. Years ago I remember working on apartments on Sheriff Street in Dublin. A regeneration project. Dublin was beginning to boom. These apartment blocks were ying up. Property was beginning to become the name of the game. Cowboys and Indians came. The cowboys stayed. Cardboard boxes with walls like paper. A great environment for the writer who had no ideas, but being able to listen to everything going on next door would soon have become a living nightmare to many who wished they hadn't been so naive.
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Take things like sub-soil acting as topsoil. Little to cling to but the broken bits and pieces of materials that didn't quite make it on to some of the most expensive builds in Irish mortgage history. Surely, if the earthworm thinks, they must be thinking we are a vandalizing lot. We'll chant 'progress' but surely progress has to be measured over our understanding of time, and not just in the instant. Grabbing desperately for any currency note available to work for the common good of the shareholder who benets most all this. When weighed up against time, I wonder if Darwin was about today, would he be having his doubts. Particularly at the human end of evolution. While we are the only species to have to pay for the privilege of living on the planet, we do seem at times hell-bent on making sure it isn't going to be worth paying for a hundred years down the road. I doubt even humans will be stupid enough to pay stealth taxes on toxic air rations. Or poisoned foods. Assuming we make it that far at all. At least there's genetic modication to be played around with. I wonder how earthworm survive in Switzerland? Enda Kenny scooted off to Davos this week to attend the World Economic Forum beneath the powdery snow of the Swiss Alps. No Ryanair ights or cheap train rides this time. But then, even we Irish, can't be having our state leader-in-name thumbing lifts on European highways and going cross country on skies. Among the lavish surroundings Enda looked well. Doing Ireland justice after the lack luster style years of the anorak wearing Bertie, and the disheveled Ollie Reed years of Brian. Nothing against the guys. I've worn anoraks. Disheveled too. Enda was allowed to talk in some of the media set-ups and may have even at times spoke well. But he is an earthworm in a sea of crows. They all know that. Even the maids and porters.

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More worrying though perhaps is our leaders recent problems with memory. Who remembers his 5-point-plan at Irish salvation just over a year ago. Point One - Protecting and creating jobs - Fail. The only reason there has been stagnation is because 50,000 are heading off the island each year. Expect that to double this year as more and more make a better lifestyle choice. Point Two - Introducing better, fairer budgets to keep taxes low - Epic fail. Taxes are low alright. For the rich or bankrupted - depends on how you view it. Point Three we will create a completely new health system. Hard to call this one. If he meant 'new' in the sense it's going to be twice as bad, then they have achieved here. Your call. Point Four - smaller, better government with the peoples money spent wisely on vital public services. The government, either locally or nationally is no smaller. The Seanad still exists. People's money is going into Zombie banks. A vital public service. Again it's up to you to decide. Point Five - a political system that achieves more and costs less, with the Government leading by example. Epic is too small a word to describe the failure of this one. However, Enda's dementia seemed to take on some new dementia this week. Just 6 weeks ago, Enda broadcasted himself to the nation. You all remember 'This is not your fault,' he told a hopeful public - before taking 4billion off them the next day.
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This week in Davos he changed his mind. It actually turns out - it is our fault. We got greedy he said. Wealth created from cheap credit. And now we must pay for that. Some unfortunately with their lives. 30 suicides in Ireland to the middle of January. Dees believe. Enda's playing the medium term here. He's looking to get a 'fairer' deal from the bailout. Maybe even have it's repayment put off so economic worries can be addressed. Give the island a chance at least. If he succeeds it's a noose taken from our throats. For now. The interim period between such a deal and its payment could dene Ireland once and for all. I'm still of the opinion all this is a nation grab. Soon the family jewelry will be sold. If Europe and America come to some 'arrangement' cheap money could be available again. EC grants for infrastructure. Ireland's going to need it for all the oil and gas tankers to take our natural resources out of the county. 'It's jobs', they'll chant. We'll probably cheer. And the wider diaspora will sigh relief that they got out in time. The media had a eld day on Enda's ip-op. I'm not going into it much. The only people seemingly being blamed for our economic woe is the Irish public. Because cheap arrest gestures to coincide with unsecured bondholder payments is not putting any rm blame on those few people - and they are just a few - who bankrupted us back to the 1980's. If we're playing the blame game there may be reasons. Particularly when you have capitalist cheerleaders like Bertie Ahern telling citizens to top themselves if they talked down Bertie Economics. Why shouldn't a nation trust their leader? Let's lob a quarter off everyone's debt and be done with it. OK, it may only save me about 500 quid - which is about how much this weeks bondholder payment will eventually cost me - but I'm sure it will benet lots more people a whole lot more. This unfortunately now is costing people their lives in worrying proportions and the longer the issue goes on, the more blood the banks have on their hands. Another thing capitalist junkie's are not held to account for.
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Enda's home now to work on how to avoid a referendum on the upcoming treaty changes. Early polls on that subject suggest an even split. Once the fear machine goes into action that will sway it. Even if it goes to the polls, he's safe on that. At least he won't have to worry about a leadership challenge from Leo Varadkar anytime soon. The speed up to save the Euro gathers pace, with wording on the new treaty expected this week. The only way Europe can save itself now as a scal union is to print money - and fast. That will be done if countries sign up for it - meaning further erosion to national sovereignty. The United States of Europe will be here. Controlled by the ECB - Europe's own Federal Reserve system. Working toward a common currency with America even? Must have been plenty of Fed money went into the old Marshall plan at the end of the last world war. I'm sure they have their suckers rmly implanted in the ECB too. Austerity is the only game in town right across Europe. Driving down living standards in an effort to compete globally with the emerging superpowers of China, Brazil and China, to name but three. But put in simple terms - it's impossible. Europe would go to war long before they would subject themselves to conditions these countries subject some of their employee's too. That's just the reality now. People are seen as a natural regenerate-able resource. A corporatist commodity there to be used and abused as long as the shareholder don't have to see it or be subject to it. Blind ignorance. The cruelest kind.
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Bookers World January, 2012

This ebook series cover events as they happen through the eyes of the ctional Don Booker, an unemployed recluse as he attempts to write himself through personal woe in an Ireland in decline. The novel, Booker's World is separate from this series of ebooks, though both worlds do cross at certain juncture as time goes by. An ebook version of the novel is now available. All ebooks in this series may be used for reference and may be distributed freely once adhering to Creative Commons License and crediting the author.

With cuts to depression & addiction services being implemented in Ireland, please consider these when making a charitable donation in the future.

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Also in this series 5 Days in September Deathly Quotes November Nightmares Absurdities Purjurious Times Forgetful Directions Chill Dark The Loaded Taoiseach Independence International Mutha-F*ckrz The Cost of Living Last Daze The Artful Dodger
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Planet Bonkers 45 Visitors Dead Peasants The Great Gas Giveaway Celtic Whine Murder by State Mr. President The Casting of the Dye

All available to read or download at www.fbooker.blogspot.com www.scribd.com/don_booker

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Also by Noel Farrell

Novel Bookers World

Sonny Strange

Amazon
or

Free download

Contact :jasepub@gmail.com
Noel Farrell 2012

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