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A Sad Fairytale May 23, 2010

……….was bored so wrote this sad fairytale

A fairy tale of our time.

Once upon a time there was an island out in the sea and in the middle of this island there was a huge bog.

In this huge bog there lived an apprentice undertaker called Blub. Blub was an awkward boy and was extremely ugly but was lucky in that his father the local undertaker/bar owner and tribal leader was quite wealthy and had sent Blub to college to study law. In college Blub had learned lots of huge word which he didn’t understand but he used them all the time in conversation. Blub had a simple life helping out in his father’s bar,drinking the leftover slops, doing the odd embalmment in his father’s mortuary, getting high on the embalming fluid.

Then Blub’s father died and his father’s cronies suggested he take over as tribal leader. Blub jumped at the chance thinking of all the exciting substances he would have access to on a tribal leaders wage. Images of cocaine and caviar sprang to mind washed down with the best scrumpy cider.

All tribal leaders had to attend the national committee of tribal leaders a few days a month. Blub enjoyed trips as he got to meet his hero the Emperor Chuck. Chuck had been chief of the clan for many years, he ruled with an iron fist.  He had taken Blub under his wing and told him he would be emperor someday.  This excited Blub as he was very aware of his shortcomings. When asked complicated or even slightly hard questions Blub realised that if he shouted and roared the questioners would back off.

The years passed and Blub rose through the ranks of the tribal leaders and he became second in command to the Emperor greasy fingers. Greasy fingers made Chuck look like a saint.  He used his position to garner a huge fortune for himself at the expense of the people of the island but things had started to sour on the island.  Greasy fingers and his minions had borrowed heavily from dangerous warlords in a faraway land they decided that the people of the island would be sacrificed to the warlords to satisfy the debt.

Greasy fingers abdicated and Blub became emperor. He used his position to destroy the island he had despised since he was young. The island that laughed at his ugliness and stupidity. He became an evil despot who set the young of the island adrift on the ocean and he joined forces with a cult who worshipped snow and sent the elderly out to die in it. Over the years the island became darker and no one went there anymore. Rumours of mass slaughter of the people by Blub and his henchmen but nothing could be proven. It eventually became a lost land; a place naughty children were threatened with. ‘’ be bold and Blub will steal your liver’’ was the threat.

So the moral of this tale is if you see a power hungry apprentice undertaker hungry for power, stop him at any cost.

CmB 21/05/2010

An Opinion of an Ordinary Decent Citizen that Attended the Dáil Protest Tuesday Eve May 20, 2010

 

Hi There…

Well, I rushed home from work, had a quick bite to eat and then myself and a friend took the journey into town. No banners had we, but an overwhelming feeling of good or bad publicity that the protest had last week, maybe we, as ordinary decent citizens, could attend this protest and feel that we are doing something and not just sitting and partaking in armchairs politics, which is now the new conversion topic that has over ridden the Celtic tiger conversations, for some, of how much is your house is worth now or nice 06 reg car etc etc. We parked up and headed to Kildare st.

So here I am at a protest, with different groups, some I may not agree with all their views, but I respect the right to protest. I see Gardai in abundance and horses with riot gear and a noisy helicopter up above …mmm, I think, christ is this going to get nasty ?, though, I see around me a lot of others, of all age groups, who were not necessarily affiliated to a particular group and those that were, well so be it and perhaps fair play, it is a democracy we live in. We listen to UNITE, we hear some music, that I can describe as “workers blues” we hear some more inspiring speeches from other folk..that guy from the Sociology Dept in UCD, another guy from Dublin Bus, that woman, Ann Moore, who got evicted from her house with Richard Boyd Barret, that other woman from Our Lady’s Hospital comparing the e.voting cost of storage to the need of monies needed for our sick children, much much less than the storage costs of said evoting machines..mmm, I am more and more getting annoyed, I hear my voice roaring, I am not shy or embarrassed to speak up now and roar anymore in this crowd..mmm. I may not know all these speakers names, but I am inspired, I feel maybe just maybe, Ireland has not lost soul or democracy.

After an hour or so, the organisers confirm that we are going to march up from the Dail to the GPO, myself and my friend look at each other, will we just shoot off and pick up the car and go home, or do we march on. We march on, I look back at that building, Leinster House, I see on the news every day and see some hangers on, we march on and boy am I glad we did, the rain is heavy, but as we pass Trinity College, marching on the “road”, car horns start beeping support and I feel great, chanting “power to the people” and some chant ” I don’t know were I have been” to the tune of some army US film. We get to the GPO and a few more cheers and speeches. I feel somewhat liberated, have I found a voice, a place I can join with others and demonstrate, me an “ordinary decent citizen”, not affiliated to any group or sector in society as such ? this protest with speakers, chanting under the GPO is done in a peaceful manner, again I am inspired. I look at some of the organisers, gosh, I could be their mother, I am 39 mmm and I look at this new generation of “adults” and think, mmm (again) and again, I am inspired. I look forward to next Tuesday and beyond, I am hoping that this will become stronger.

We stroll back to the car and I go home, immediately back to my normal life of sorting stuff out for the kids and housework. I am just one “ordinary citizen of Ireland” who is frustrated and angry that this government, who have no mandate, can go ahead and make serious significant decisions that are going to effect all current generations, my 3 children and perhaps at this stage their grandchildren. They imply, that their way is the only way, as I become a bit more politicalised and more “what is economics” savvy, I say NO, this is wrong, there has got to be another way.

Yours, just an ordinary citizen.

Posted by Bertie Basher

Welcome to Political World May 19, 2010

This blog started as a group blog by members of  Tok! internet forum, in January 2010.  In March, we moved to our new forum, Political World, at www.politicalworld.org.

I started Politicalworld.org to provide an Irish and International open political forum where people of differing standpoints could discuss urgent political concerns and ideas as well as just hang out and chat.

Now PW.org is up and running, with 300 + members, nearly 30,000 posts and is developing its character as a forum community.   Its time now to launch our own group blog.  

All members of Political World are invited to contribute.

C. Flower