When governments pretend to care

Since the current financial manipulation and lack of regard  by the former Irish politics towards its citizens I've started thinking that the Irish government, like most governments, are not about representing the people, but using their power to put their agenda into place.

Given the present recession  it is not surprising that this government will try to cut all unnecessary costs and are prepared to enforce laws that will make personal choices into them. Luckily Irish people treasure culture too much and the hundreds of summer festivals are still in place and it seems the government wouldn't dare change that. 

However, it's not the festivals I like to address on this post, but the recent affirmation by junior health minister Róisín Shortfall. She claims cigarette breaks taken by employees in Ireland cost the public €1 million a day. How they reached this conclusion is unknown. It reminds of the talks of water charge, when the government said home owners in Ireland are the biggest water consumers in Europe when in fact there is no way of knowing that once the water meters are not in place yet.

Mr Shortfall has obviously alleged that his preoccupation about the €1 million loss a day has to do with people's health. Nevertheless, if this was the case she wouldn't have associated his point with money, which ultimately is what they want, preferably in their mates banks. 

Re: Thousands celebrate Osama's death at Ground Zero

I find it odd that someone could celebrate another's death (see video below). I can understand perhaps feeling 'relieved' or 'safer', but if America continues to bomb other countries retaliation could well strike again. 

Hubby was telling me that he saw on the news that Americans were warned by their government to take extra care when travelling abroad because now they may be even more targeted than before. If I were American I'd be pretty upset over this warning. I'd hope my own government would not put me in this position. 

The question is would I ever trust my government after finding out they lied about invading Iraq over weapons of mass destruction when it was actually a cover up to get their hands on oil? It would probably take a long time until I did so. 

It's been said that Osama is dead and that he's been buried in the sea. I see. Some Americans feel the need to see Obama's birth certificate in order to believe he's an American citizen, but they'll be ok not to see any proof that the man who was so-called behind 9/11 is dead? It doesn't make any sense to me.

However, what would make a lot of sense is if it was found out that the American government isn't certain that Osama was behind that terrorist attack and his death has been forged to make people feel safer. Maybe they have a new agenda and now it doesn't suit them to have the population scared anymore.

All I know is that if the US government really cared about the welfare of their people they would prioritise health instead of ammunition. The US government spend 10 times more on guns than on health care. Not to mention recruiting the less well-off on the streets to risk losing their lives over oil, which will subsequently make America an unsafe place to live. 

Finally, you can understand how people outside America are fed up of hearing some Americans say that the US is the world's savoir. It's quite the contrary. The US with the help of other countries like the UK have for many years made planet Earth a very scary place to live. Now even Brazil, who does not have a war-orientated agenda, is said to have a few terrorists living in the country as a result of it. As if Brazil doesn't have enough problems already!

Anyhow, this is not a political blog and I don't intend to make it one, especially because I really dislike politics and have little patience to try to understand this game. This was an excuse to write in English, as I hadn't done so in quite a while. I don't stand for left or right or centre. I just like to be told the truth, something that seems very hard for most governments to do these days. No wonder why people are getting together and protesting everywhere. 

Why it's better to be a flood victim in Australia rather than in Brazil

According to a comparative study by Globo into the number of deaths registered in the recent floods in Australia and Brazil, 700 more people died in Brazil than Australia. 

The primary cause for this would seem to be the lack of advance warning. The Australian government disaster plan resulted in a much lower loss of life – less than 100 people. Due to their advance warning procedures people could evacuate their properties and go to shelters where they found volunteers waiting to help them. In Brazil the sheltering and volunteering were arranged after the damage was done. 

Hundreds of lives could have been saved if the Brazilian government had bothered to monitor the weather and texted people. An elderly man in Australia was alerted 40 minutes before a coming flood and reached a shelter in time. Some houses weren't completely devastated either because of the prevention measures.

Now the Brazilian government talk about allocating billions to cover the flood losses and most importantly in reducing bureaucracy to make sure it gets to where it’s needed quickly.

This only makes it clearer that they had the means to reduce the impact of the floods on the people. These floods have been happening for at least 10 years in Brazil now and it's not getting any better. Ex-president Lula liked to sell the idea that he was the people's ¨father¨. In this case he let his children down. Let’s see how quickly his successor Dilma fixes this mess.

Coming to terms with Irish politics

I'm no political analyst. I try to understand politics based on politicians actions and reach a conclusion. One thing I learned in school about politics is that in democracy politicians are supposed to run the country for the people. The people confer power to the politicians they regard as most fit to govern their country.

And this is where the problem in rationalising politics starts for me. Ireland used to have a Prime Minister that had to or decided to resign amid corruption allegations. His party Fianna Fail then put another member in his place. Not the people.

The people were put on a spectator’s position where they could only hope the best for their country. In the meantime they had to vote twice for a Referendum as they apparently gave the wrong answer the first time. Again, the Lisbon Treaty was another puzzle for me as Irish people were cornered to accept what they didn't really want. In a democracy the people do no wrong.  They call the shots. Specially in a sovereign country, but perhaps this is where the power of the European Union comes in and enforces what they believe is right in the name of a more uniform bloc.

Anyway while the people expected the best, the government decided the best thing to do was to use public money to rescue a bank that had a 75% likeability of breaking. I'm not great in Maths, but it doesn't look good even to me. Thus I carried on studying and trying to learn why the government's finance experts didn't realise that nationalising a bank in that condition wasn't a brilliant idea.

It would seem that financial experts were too busy funding the building of houses for people to buy because nearly everyone was rich enough not only to purchase a house but offices and hotels too, instead of paying good attention to the economy. 

The economy has flopped. The people have wanted their Prime Minister out of the office for a long time and also a general election as soon as possible. In the chess play of politics the general election can be brought forward if the ruling party loses the support of the coalition party. This is something quite interesting to me. Where I come from the elections are held every four years whether a president likes it or not. He's the head of the state as we have no Prime Ministers in Brazil.

In the rare event of an impeachment, like Fernando Collor saw happen to him in 92, the president is then not replaced by an elected one, but for one belonging to the same party, just like it happened in Ireland when Cowen replaced Ahern. Democracy isn't perfect anywhere, I guess. Perhaps because more often that not it's tied with capitalism and corruption and if I were to write about Brazilian corruption this post would be gigantic, believe me.

Back to the general elections, it turns out that Fianna Fail lost the support of their coalition party, the Green Party over the weekend, after the Minister for Foreign Affairs, also a Fianna Fail member, decided to quit because they didn't want to lose any more face. 

Meanwhile the Labour Party, has turned a game of golf into a magnificent opportunity to call for a motion of no confidence against the government.

There was this round of golf between the Prime Minister and a powerful man in 2008. This is how I saw it in the beginning, so I couldn't understand why people and the press were giving such importance to it. I thought ¨This is Ireland, famous for its golf courses, surely people will meet and play golf¨. But it is more complicated and serious than that as the other powerful man in question is Sean Fitzpatrick, the head of the very bank that the government rescued, that is the Anglo Irish Bank.

I haven't mentioned the European bailout yet. It's partially due to the fact that the Prime Minister had said for some time that Ireland wouldn't need one. I guess my brain went with that. But it did happen as the whole world knows. The people weren't asked anything regarding it beforehand. 

Not forgetting Michael Martin, who decided to quit his post as Minister for Foreign Affairs over the weekend and who now wants to be the next leader of Fianna Fail, we see both the Fine Gael and the Labour Party putting pressure on the Prime Minister to resign, which again is pretty much what the people have wanted in a long time, so it looks like Ireland is being put back on the democracy track and that Eamon Gilmore will be running the country soon. Not that it's what the papers are saying, but I guess I'm allowed to cast my vote at least on my blog.

Now if you ask me why these parties believe Fianna Fail's budget plan must be passed before the general elections, my answer is ¨I don't know yet".

Kenneth Tong - Marketing gone wrong

The other day I read this post by a professed marketing guru who said that if you're not insulting anyone, you're doing something wrong. So I thought that in marketing terms my blog is rather boring as I like to say positive things.

Anyway, I'm sure everyone's aware that this ex-Big Brother contestant in the UK is promoting size zero on twitter. He's gone as far as to advocate managed anorexia! There are several petitions online against him and his ideas. One, for instance, asks for his twitter account to be deleted. Another one wants his anorexia pill banned. 

I wouldn't think you can actually make a pill that makes people ill, but there you go, people are making a stand and possibly helping him in what he's set to achieve in the first place, which is become ¨popular¨.

As sad as it is this self-declared playboy believes he's making it big because he's appeared on twitter's trending topics. Maybe his 18 thousand followers agree with him, I don't know. But I'd like to think he's already become one of the most notorious persons in 2011 already. 

Finally, you may say he was totally unaware of the proportions his infamies would reach and couldn't have set out a marketing campaign, so I ask you to have a look at his tweets and see for yourself. He's got Gordon Ramsay involved. One of the most well-known chefs in the world, who could possibly have never imagined he'd cook good food and promote anorexia at the same time. 

Mince pie for sweeter winter nights

Could you possibly resist a treat like this? Before I was put off by its name which led me to believe there was  minced beef in it. I tried it about 10 years ago and absolutely hated it. I ate it right from the pack because I didn't know you were supposed to heat them in the oven first!

It turns out originally mince pies did have minced beef in them. During the English Civil War people in England needed a ban from Puritan authorities not to eat them because it was associated with Catholic idolatry. I wouldn't need a ban to put me off eating a pie with meat, fruit and spices in it! 

Luckily people in the Victorian era had better taste and dropped the meat, making it sweeter. However, it says it is enjoyed by families across the United Kingdom only when in fact it is popular in Ireland too. 

It's indeed a nice Christmas season treat, specially if it's served with whipped cream to balance its strong taste. If you're in Ireland you can get it for just €2 at Super Valu. 

There is life after snow with Keywest

Keywest on Shop Street today

It was worthwhile putting my fear of sliding on melted snow aside and going into town today. Keywest were launching their live album on Shop Street. Some not only stopped to listen, but danced too, specially when they played Don't Stop the Music by Rihanna. They even came up with this original version of Bad Romance by Lady Gaga and I loved the way they performed Alicia Keys' New York. It was captivating! 

I myself didn't miss the chance and got closer to record their cover for Maroon 5's She'll Be Loved after Pete bought both their albums: KeyWest Live in Los Angeles, which was recorded in Hollywood, and It Started on Shop Street. 

I was pleasantly surprised to find out they recorded a cover of U2's Where the Streets Have No Name. They're very versatile.

New ad in Daft

Click on the image to enlarge it

This was sent to me by email today. You will probably know that I enjoy receiving emails of this nature. They allow me to understand how locals feel about a given subject. 

It's no doubt that the people who have been spreading this image feel that their country is being sold out by their government since these bailout talks.

Click here and insert this post's password to continue reading.

Brazilian democracy and elections

The second round of the Brazilian presidential elections will be held today. One hundred and one million people are expected to vote, as voting is obligatory. 

Over ten years ago Brazil introduced the electronic voting system. Many Brazilians boast about the celerity of both the voting system and the result process. The results, it is claimed, will be given in two hours. I however am not impressed by the electronic voting system. I do not believe it was created for the people’s ease but to overcome the problem of illiteracy in voting. It is clear to me it was created to ensure more people vote. 

Illiteracy in many countries is considered a huge problem with the traditional ballot paper. In Brazil it is argued this is no longer a problem. Fourteen million people who are still illerate can resort to their candidates’ pictures. 

Although failure to vote will not result in a civil or criminal case, failure to do so will result in sanctions against you unless you pay a ridiculously small fee of about 1.50 Euro. The sanctions include being ineligible to apply for a passport and other rights normal to citizenship. Many believe that the deterrent of the fee has more to do with the ordeal of facing long bank queues as voting is easier than paying. 

In order to pay your penalty fee you must have a payslip issued on your name by the electoral registry office. Thus, even if you decide to pay your fee online you’ll still have to go there to collect your payslip. 

As if it wasn’t enough there is a drinking ban during the election in Brazil. Initially it was a 24hour ban starting at midnight of the previous election day. Now because bar owners went to court and complained about loss of revenue the courts have decided it will be lifted one hour after the voting period, that is, at 6pm. The results will be disclosed at 7pm, so people will be able to either celebrate or literally drown their sorrows, at least the political ones in a hour’s time. 

Shockingly enough the Public Safety Department claim the ban is to prevent violence between rival political supporters and say the population is pacific. It makes me wonder if what they’re trying to do is to secure more people vote rather than ensuring public safety.

Would you say Shaun Ellis is a lunatic?

I particularly, would not. But I guess I am. Not in the normal sense, though. I'm a lunatic because I love the full moon. Luna is moon in Spanish. 

And I find it hard not to associate full moons with wolves, which is another thing I find beautiful. I just love looking at them. That is probably why my late dog was an Akita, a brown-eyed happy looking wolf. But I´m not a wolf expert. Shaun Ellis is. It is clear to me he took the love for these wild canines to another level (see video).

But going back to the late spring moon, they have been associated with temporary insanity. I'm doing well since the last full moon started. At least while I´m awake because I dreamt two samurai were teaching me how to use the long sword last night. And to recover from this dream that became a nightmare I´ve been listening to Dean Martin and Chris Isaack´s covers of Blue Moon.

NB. The term "blue moon" traditionally referred to an extra moon in a season: if a season had four full moons (rather than the more common three), then the third of the four moons was known as a blue moon.

Full Moon Group on Flickr

Living on top of a big rock

The other day I was exploring a blog on Indie Rock so I could discover new bands. I am not certain how many Indie rock bands I know. I find it hard to categorise music. I usually put them into two categories: good or bad. I like to keep things simple. Life can be complicated enough sometimes. I, for one, find it unbelievable that people can give one colour so many different names. But I guess it´s very important if you paint.

Talking about painting, I saw a preview to a tv programme on gouache painting yesterday. It left me wondering. I had an aunt who was an outstanding painter. I sometimes wish I could reproduce aunt Zélia´s  beautiful paintings. But then I think of all the colour names I do not know and am seriously not too pushed to find out. Perhaps I could be a semi painter who only uses a limited amount of colours. I don´t know...

Going back to the subject of music, though. I saw a post about Two Door Cinema, which is a band that I´ve recently started listening to. According to the Indie Limerick blog this band is being compared to Bloc Party. Given my little knowledge on the first I limited to say that to me it´s a dance version of Keane and that I had never listened to the latter.

Today I was asked if I´ve been living under a (Indie) rock my whole life. I said I guess I´ve spent a large part of my life living on top of U2 rock and that it´s so big it has prevented me from seeing other rocks. 

I´ll continue to explore other bands as I´ve clearly only followed a few in comparison to some despite the fact that my little twitradio features over 250 songs. I should count how many different bands are featured on it, just out of curiosity. I remember it has several songs from the same artist/band such as The Corrs, Jamie Cullum, The Wallflowers, Faith No More, The High Kings and U2, obviously.