Posted 8th March 2009
At the Green Party Conference this weekend, the Green Party leader, and Ireland's Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, laid the blame for the economic crisis squarely on corporate greed, and the influence that big business have on many high-level decisions, including planning decisions, through political donations.
In his speech, he signalled his intention to put an end to political donations, a cap on salaries for bank executives, and to go after those white collar criminals and make them pay for the damage they have done to this country. Click here for the text of his speech.
We all know who he is referring to - Sean Fitzpatrick (former executive of Anglo Irish Bank), as well as the other scum in the so-called "Golden Circle", who have "borrowed" hundred of millions of euros which they don't have much hope of paying back. John Gormley is dead right when he used the term "white collar criminals". Because that is what it is at the end of the day - organised crime - no different from the mayhem caused on the streets of Limerick by the thugs in the McCarthy/Dundon and the Collopy/Keane factions.
Let's hope he is not stopped from following through on his pledges.
I'll tell you one thing that these white collar criminals have in common with their gangland cousins - they like to threaten journalists from time to time - maybe not with death, but certainly with libel suits and the like. That is why we have tribunal after tribunal, to find out what the newspapers are afraid to publish for fear of being sued for millions of euro.
This economic crisis causes one thing to sping to mind - the oppression of activists against capitalism and globalisation since 2000.
It is not just in Ireland, but the whole world, that corporate arrogance is to blame for the economic crisis worldwide. At last, all those anti-capitalist, and anti-globalisation activists, who risked their lives, and certainly their freedom, to take to the streets of Seattle, Washington, London, Prague, Nice and Genoa, can now say to the governments of the day "I told you so!". What is it about the corporate elite that they are anxious that the authorities give anti-capitalist activists the same treatment as armed terrorist who, unlike the former, are intent on mass-murder and mayhem.
Posted 18th January 2009
Gary McKinnon is a British national who is wanted in the United States for hacking into computers controlled by the US military in 2002. The US military say that he caused hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage as a result of his hacking. Gary is claiming that all he was looking for is information on UFOs, which he believed the US government was hiding from the public. Furthermore, he found no passwords to protect classified information, thus, he argues, there was no security.
In the last two years he has suffered setback after setback in the fight against his extradition. He lost appeals in the High Court, then the Law Lords, and then the European Court of Human Rights.
Gary McKinnon is currently on bail, one of the conditions of which, he is not allowed at any computer that his connected to the Internet. There is going to be another judicial review of his case on Tuesday, 20th January 2009, incidentally the same day that Barack Obama will be sworn in as President of the United States.
If he is extradited, and convicted over in the US, he will face virtually the rest of his life in a federal prison. He will be thrown in among what is very likely to be a pack of animals - multiple murderers, rapists, drug dealers, gang members. If you watch any of the "America's Hardest Prisons" on National Geographic, you will get an idea of what I mean.
At one stage there was a fear that he will be sent to Guantanamo Bay, but this would be less likely to happen, if Obama makes good on his pledge to shut down the facility.
At least George W Bush will be gone after 20th January 2009 - and good riddance. Many argue he stole the presidency from Al Gore. He pulled the US out of the Kyoto Protocol (by the way, G W is also an acronym for Global Warming!). Even before he took the top job, he was Governor of Texas, where he oversaw a brutal regime of executions carried out in Texas - on his watch, Texas not only executed more prisoners than any other state, but the rate of rise in the number of executions was also higher than in any other state. The only positive thing he did was got rid of Saddam Hussein, but at what price - 4000+ soldiers killed, and Iraq in chaos.
I wish Obama luck in re-building America's reputation.
Gary was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome last year, and whatever about the British authorities giving him some leniency over his condition, the authorities in the US will show him no mercy regardless.
I think he should not be extradited to the US. At the very least, try him in the UK, where the worst he will get is about 2-3 years in prison.
For more information on Gary McKinnon's case, go to www.freegary.org.uk
Posted 18th January 2009
This is one thing that we, in Ireland have noticed in the last few months, with the euro gaining ground on the pound sterling.
If you go into any British store chain (e.g. M&S, Debenhams, Next, Argos etc.) in the Republic of Ireland, and then go to the stores in Northern Ireland, you will notice the price difference, which works out as UK£1.00 being equivalent to €1.55 to €1.60.
The current rate of exchange stands at £1 approximately equal to €1.10.
Even if you consider the difference in VAT rates - in Ireland, it was increased from 21% to 21.5%, while in the UK, it was cut from 17.5% to 15%.
Let's say something costs £25 in the UK.
Take away the UK's VAT rate: £21.74 excluding VAT.
Convert to Euro: £21.74 = €23.91.
Add the Irish VAT rate: €29.05 including VAT.
And yet for something for which you would pay £25 in the UK, you end up paying €39 in the Republic of Ireland.
No wonder shoppers from Dublin went up to Newry in their droves to take advantage of the cheaper prices in the UK.
For all the British store chains who apply the rate of exchange as £1=€1.55 to €1.60 - I say give us a fair deal!
On the other hand, many people in Northern Ireland used to come down south in their droves to take advantage of our cheaper fuel petrol prices, when the sterling was stronger against the euro - I went up to Northern Ireland this summer, and on my way back home, I pulled into a filling station, in Monaghan, where I saw someone with Northern licence plates, filling the fuel tank to the brim as well as filling up 5-6 jerricans (about 20 litres each) in the boot (which is dangerous, because if that car is rear-ended, you could end up with one big fireball).
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