The bank bailouts have been called a 'financial coup d'etat'  by our premier economist David McWilliams.  Another €730M this month to bondholders who were non-guaranteed. That's far more than the cost of the long awaited national children's hospital (which it is now hoped will be financed by selling lottery tickets).

Does this government have their priorities right? Who should get our immediate attention: wealthy, fat German businessmen or our sick children? There's simply no contest, apparently.

Despite many protests (such as the town of Ballyhea showing up in Kildare Street) the systematic embezzlement of public funds continues unabated.

Protesting is dead. The reason for this, (more…)

Call me a cantankerous old curmudgeon, but I think if people happen to dislike an organisation, they should be allowed to express their views . For example, fill in the blanks yourself:

I dislike Tesco because…
I hate Fine Gael because…
I abhor NATO because…
I despise Islam because…

'Whoa! Wait a minute. What was that last one? Islam?? You can't say that, it's a religion.'

But it's just an organisation. It's not like it's a skin colour or something. Why can't I say that I find a religion disagreeable?

'Because religion is sacred. It's a spiritual path bestowed upon us by God. These are people's cherished beliefs you're talking about.' (more…)

Over here in magical mystical Ireland, we are so lucky that we don't have to wake up every day to this nonsense on the news, perhaps even before we get our morning coffee.

What on Earth are regular US citizens meant to do with this information? According to the Dept. of Homeland Security: 'All Americans should continue to be vigilant, take notice of their surroundings, and report suspicious items or activities to local authorities immediately.' How very Orwellian it all seems. Be a good citizen: spy on your neighbours.

I remember reading about suspicious folks transporting blocks of cheese with wires attached as a dry run for the C4 explosives. 'Hmm,' I thought,'I guess there are some nefarious plans afoot.' I was right, well sort of. The FBI later admitted that they had made up the bogus reports to increase awareness.

So if I'm reading this correctly, the terror alert is to scare you into paranoia and your irrational distrust of others is further agitated by (mostly) unretracted false stories about terror plots.

What if Paul Revere had gone up and down from Boston to Lexington every day for a year shouting about the British? Who would believe him when they really arrived? And what if there were no Redcoats? What if the Redcoats were supposed to be everywhere and nowhere–your neighbours and friends? I'm losing clarity with the analogy now but you see the idea.

And I suspect Jose Padilla's 'trial' will bring the US one step closer to Oceania. No evidence of a crime or the means, only motivation: a crime of the mind. Pre-emptive imprisonment like pre-emptive war becomes the next control mechanism.

False news, thought crimes, eternal war, a fictional Enemy of the People…are these guys just using 1984 as a how-to manual?

In conclusion: 'War is peace.' – Slogan from Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell.

'I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace.' – President George W. Bush – June 18, 2002

But is it art?

Even asking the question is idiotic. Yes, yes, we know–anything that you decide to call art is art. I'm art; you're art; that shark in a tank is art; the toilet is art; pissing into the art toilet is art; etc., ad nauseum.

But, it can also be something else. Crass. Stupid. Derivative. Pointless. Cruel. Unethical. Just plain wrong. Labeling it art does not absolve it from having other adjectives affixed.

Wait…did I say wrong? How can something be wrong, you ask? In multicultural, post-societal Ireland all attitudes, worldviews and cultures are equally valid, aren't they? That is the true legacy of leftist socialism.

Well, here's a newsflash: this 'art' is wrong. Starving a dog to death in a gallery is wrong. Starving a dog to death anywhere is wrong. It is inhumane to a psychopathic degree. If you cannot empathise with an animal in fatal distress, you are lacking in whatever that undefinable thing is that makes us human.

Of course, we're more likely to get upset when a poor defenseless animal is tortured for art, than when a member of our own species is tortured for religion.

The Nigerian society is free to mutilate female genitalia; the Jewish religion is free to mutilate male genitalia; the Saudi Arabians are free to oppress women; sure, it's all part of their 'culture,' isn't it.

And here's a guy with a better post title than mine:
i-dont-know-much-about-art-but-i-do-like-watching-a-man-gargle-his-own-piss

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This chap has a request. Can we help him out?

Sorry to bother you but I was wondering if you could help….came across the Limerick band archive via a Romanian blog I picked up on when googling Tuesday Blue – is it true they released an album called "Waiting for the magic" in 2002 – cause if so I would give my left testicle to get my hands on it – any ideas on how  i could track down ?

The blog he mentions is probably Saltyka (TB stuff is about a third of the way down) and it contains much information ripped from our LBA site, but hey that's ok; we like to share.

It also includes a link to download the entire Shibumi album for free so let's hope the boys like to share too.

If you wish to purchase the original Tunnel Vision 12" (99p) and Shibumi ($4) on vinyl you may do so at Discogs. Amazon still has a few CD and cassette copies.

I have discovered that the elusive Waiting for the Magic has this track listing

1. Waiting For The Magic
2. Young Girls
3. Don't Go Away
4. Stop Thinking
5. Golden Girl
6. Inner Light
7. Lucy
8. The Veil
9. Legionnaire

But other than that, I can't seem to find any trace of it. I suppose I could just phone Dave Keary but before we start bothering people at home, let's try the usual channels. A little assistance please?

As promised above, the winner will receive a left testicle–slightly worn.

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This is the normal style series cover from a Rough Guide. Nice, clean fresh design. But very recognisable. When you finally make it to Chachabamba and find a zillion backpackers milling about staring at the same book, you feel a little sheepish.

Here's a quick way to disguise your dismal conformity with just the materials at hand. Take one standard three-fold airline ticker folder, this one is from LAN.

The inside probably looks like this (my one is now a bit ratty).

Tightly fold the edges to fit the book size, the inside left cover should fit snugly in the existing folder corner, like this, to give you a solid hold.

Wrap the rest of the folder around the book and voilà, in a pinch, you have successfully hidden your cookie-cutter holiday manual. It will end up looking kind of funky and cool if you stuff all your receipts, postcards, and other memorabilia into it as you go along. Just like these.

I guess you could just cover them before you leave home, or not use a guidebook at all and go native. What do you think?

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I'm jumping on the Face of Jesus bandwagon.

A lady reported seeing the face of Jesus in a photo she took at the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare. Bock has already had a go at it and displayed a little too much scepticism, I felt. He doesn't seem to believe it's really there.

I, on the other hand, not only saw the face immediately but was inclined to think the lady hadn't gone far enough! I was so excited by this miracle that in my state of heightened consciousness, I felt I could make out nearly all of the Apostles (including Zeus) peeping out from the rocks too.

Earlier today I went to the trouble of highlighting the apparitions for unbelievers. Some may take you a while to grasp, but when you see them, you won't be able to see anything else. Not even all the people laughing at you. And that has to be a good thing, surely?

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Way back in June you may remember a Father Con McGillicuddy complaining that Prof Richard Dawkins at the World Atheist Convention had described the Catholic church as 'an evil institution'. His response in the Irish Times letters page relied on that old canard about the 'institutions of death provided by famous atheists such as Hitler, Stalin, Ceausescu and others' — as if somehow atheism has a sacred text which tells you what to do.

As there are Christians who kill, there are atheists who kill. The difference is that there is no atheist creed to instruct the non-believer — he may kill for universal human motivations such as greed, power, lust etc. Whereas the religious killers may do so specifically because of his religious beliefs. Religion makes you do what you're told, not what is right.

I won't rehearse in full the voluminous refutations that have already been offered by atheists time and again to people like the pious Father McGillicuddy, since they never seem to land. If being told that Hitler thought of himself as a good Christian doesn't suit the superstitious padre, then no doubt he'll simply dismiss the fact out of hand. But don't take it from me, here's Der Führer — quoted in entirety (more…)

Some stories just seem to stick in your mind.

I first heard the writer Roger Rosenblatt tell this anecdote in a brief NPR segment for KQED radio in San Francisco back in 1999. Ten years later he reused it in a commencement speech he gave at Kenyon College. And thank goodness he did, otherwise I'd never have found it again.

When I was a boy of 12 — knowing then that I wanted to be a writer — I was already exhibiting signs that I dimly perceived would qualify me for the pursuit. I used to memorize certain lines from movies, which I would store in my head, awaiting an opportunity to slip those lines into ordinary conversations. People would be conducting a perfectly sensible chat, and I would be crouching like a lion in the brush, anticipating the moment when I could insert a line from a film. I do so to this day. You may imagine what a delightful social companion I am.

The lines I chose where never the garden variety, such as "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship" or "Frankly, my dear…" and so on, but rather ones that an idiosyncratic attraction for me.

For many years, there were two lines I had never been able to slip into any conversation. The first of these, I never did get in. It occurred in Earthquake, one of the disaster films of the 1970s, in which a man was stalking a young woman to do terrible things to her. One would have thought that an earthquake would have been enough to divert his attention, but he was, as they say, focused.

At the height of the quake, he finally cornered his quarry and was about to jump her, when George Kennedy, playing a cop as he always did, appeared, threw the attacker to the ground and shot him dead. Consoling the shaking woman, Kennedy told her: "I don't know what it is. Earthquakes bring out the worst in some guys."

The other line was more unusual and exotic so it presented a much greater challenge. It was spoken by Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson in one of the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies of the 1940s, when Watson was attempting to impress a couple who were unfamiliar with Holmes's exploits. "Haven't you heard of the giant rat of Sumatra?" asked Watson, referring to one of the great detective's most famous cases.

"Haven't you heard of the giant rat of Sumatra…?"

Decades passed, and I never came close to a moment when I might work that line into a conversation. Then, in the late 1970s I was writing for the Washington Post, and I had all but given up on my quest. One day, some friends and I went out to lunch, and it happened to be the 50th anniversary of the creation of Mickey Mouse.

There was some chatter at the table about Mickey, to which I had been paying scant attention. Suddenly, one of the guys sat up with a quizzical look and asked, "Has there ever been a bigger rodent?"

Naturally, following Roger's admitted failure, I became obsessed with trying to smuggle the George Kennedy line into some conversational exchange with co-workers. One night when a 4.6 quake finally hit the city, I was alone. Sadly, the next morning I couldn't conceive of any device that would casually introduce the phrase. I have all but abandonded hope. Perhaps you may carry the torch?

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Rather than publish the usual long list of "must-have essential" software, I thought I'd just focus on one piece at a time. Since Google recently announced they're wrapping up Google Desktop search, today is the turn of Everything.

It's an unfortunate product name of course, since searching the internet for "everything" doesn't really produce any meaningful results — utterly ironic, given that Everything is the finest desktop search agent you'll come across. (more…)

There's plenty of talk this week about mortgage debt forgiveness — or relief or restructuring, call it what you will — this has got a lot of people very fired up. It's the disease of the week for the talking heads and pundits on the panel shows.

Decent hard-working taxpayers will probably be skeptical of any scheme using  the term "forgiveness", and rightly so. Many pre-Tiger people worked hard for their money, saved up a healthy deposit, and paid off their heavy mortgages with no help or forgiveness from anybody — why should today's debtors be any different?

I wouldn't dare offer a solution of my own or even any analysis, not being any kind of an expert on morgages, debt financing, or other such animals. What I can tell you is a little something you may not know about the most important item: the very money itself. (more…)

A little while back — before the tail-end of the Tiger became the financial crisis, and latterly the 'economic reality' — I wrote something on voting systems. I think I've always been intrigued by the idea of proportional representation's single transferable vote. In essence, this is an attempt to solve the problem of 'one man, one vote'.

Instead of 'your guy lost, tough luck', STV in PR tries politely to ask you if you have any other preferences. It doesn't work perfectly, but then again all voting systems appear to be deeply flawed for some reason — the reason being of course (more…)