tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76520060410744569982024-02-07T19:05:48.127-08:00Fluffy Biscuits Opinions to discuss over your tea!Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.comBlogger159125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-88740250144191659322015-01-02T18:24:00.000-08:002015-01-02T18:25:09.949-08:00Benjamin Netanyahu - Genocidal Maniac and War Mongerer - A Case for Genocide and War Crimes to be answered<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide lays out the laws and the punishments for the crimes of genocide and the definitions and provides a term of reference with which to look at the actions of Israel acting on the orders of Netanyahu. Article 2 of the aforementioned convention</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><i><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">...any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(a) Killing members of the group;</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Convention was brought in 1948 by the UN and became law in 1951, just six years after the end of World War 2</span></b></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Each of the acts above can be seen and evident in Israeli policy in Gaza and the occupied territories.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(a)</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Israel has flagrantly breached this rule when they deliberately targetted schools in heavily populated civilian areas of Gaza. Schools have been targetted (including UN schools) about five times at this stage resulting in a loss of life mostly that of children. Complete neighbourhoods in Gaza have been cleared because of Israeli airforce. One neighbourhood in Gaza was shelled out of it and destroyed in an hour, a ******* hour? (<a href="https://twitter.com/sheeraf/status/494064158791331840">https://twitter.com/sheeraf/status/494064158791331840</a>). UNICEF has condemned the atacks on children and has said that the attacks are deliberate on children, this straight from the horses mouth, a UN affilated agency (<a href="http://www.worldbulletin.net/world/141741/unicef-israel-deliberately-targeting-palestinian-children">http://www.worldbulletin.net/world/1...inian-children</a>)</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><i><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In an interview with Al-Jazeera yesterday, Awad said Israeli forces had deliberately killed 264 children in Gaza, which is equal to 11 children per day, and injured more than 2,000.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Where's the international community's reactions to the slaughtering of children in Gaza? Where are the international human rights covenants?" she asked.</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(b) Is it worth going into the bodily harm being inflicted, its all apparent from the above post but the mental torture alone is being laid on with a trowel. Deliberate propogandising by shills like the Times Of Israel. Breaking up families and moving them from Gaza city into refugee camps all the whilst dividing them to try and break their spirit. Israeli soldiers have also violently broken into homes of families to terrorise the children, beat them into submission and mentally torture them to tell them they wont be set free unless they make a declaration to not join Hamas.<br /> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(c) Users on here should be deeply familiar with the conditions of the camps that Palestinians are still living to up to this point in time. Camps in Lebanon have been described as being over crowded and many of those in the camps depend on the good will of others and the UN and locals for food rations. These are people whom have been displaced because of the settler policy or fleeing genocide being committed by the Israeli army . Every few years there are floods which create hazardous conditions which lead to illness and disease like typhus etc. Refugee camps are the Israeli way of 'Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;'</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(d) Records have shown that for a seven year period (2000 - 2007) there was about 35 deaths of women from Palestine who went into labour. THese women were denied access to medical treatment and then died of later complications, thus denying both the mother a life and the child being born. (<a href="http://newint.org/blog/2011/07/13/palestine-birth-at-checkpoint/">http://newint.org/blog/2011/07/13/pa...at-checkpoint/</a>). Conditions in Palestine have been described from the article that I just linked to as being fairly inadequate. A specialist mentioned in the article outlines the coditions that the women have to put up with</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><b>The Thaddeus and Maine “Three Delays Model” identifies the main causes of needless death of a mother and, often, her newborn. The first delay is getting out of the home when a woman needs emergency care; the second is in getting to the facility; and the third is when the facility can’t help her because it doesn’t have the right equipment or supplies. All three are at play in the occupied Palestinian territory.’</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(e) This is defined as</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><b>may be imposed by direct force or by through fear of violence, duress, detention, psychological oppression or other methods of coercion. The Convention on the Rights of the Child defines children as persons under the age of 14 years.</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rocketing schools? Breaking into their homes? Detention?</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">War Crimes are not just a recent phenomena either. Read the following, a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the details that it goes into. Previous recommendations that had been recommended had not been adhered to and Israel continued to ignore the plight of the Palestinians through its direct action against them.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/12session/A%20HRC%2012%2037_AEV.pdf">http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies...2%2037_AEV.pdf</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><i><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As reported above, significant prima facie evidence indicates that serious violations<br /> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">of international humanitarian law as well as gross human rights violations occurred<br /> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">during the military operations of 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009, which were<br /> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">compounded by the blockade that the population of Gaza endured in the months </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">prior to Operation Cast Lead and which continues.</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Just in the last three hours as I was researching this, Salon.com published this cracking article which covered more ground than I ever could.Summing up some of the points it makes</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">-Denying Palestinians access to water</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">-Deliberate settlement of the West Bank with shifted Jewish settlers.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">-Disproportionate targetting of children.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">-Deliberate targetting of churches and mosques</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And one point of note that counters Israeli propoganda (Netanyahu had called this a double war crime by Hamas)</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><i><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The claim that Hamas bares the responsibility for Palestinian civilian deaths is ludicrous. A recent NY Times Article published on July 23, 2014 stated that “there is no evidence that Hamas and other militants force civilians to stay in areas that are under attack – the legal definition of human shield.” Jeremy Bowen, a BBC Middle East reporter in Gaza, confirmed this as well. On July 25, Amnesty International reported that there is no evidence “at this point [behind the notion] that Palestinian civilians have been intentionally used by Hamas or Palestinian armed groups during the current hostilities to “shield” specific locations or military personnel or equipment from Israeli attacks.”</span></b></i>Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-65005912397907711282015-01-02T18:18:00.001-08:002015-01-02T18:19:06.975-08:00Democratic Left and the Fall of Labour<div class="content" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.2199993133545px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
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Labours downward spiral could lay in its embracement of freemarket economics in the 1980's via their Democratic left members. Proinsias De Rossa thought the Workers Parties marxist views hampered its views electorally and saw neo liberal economics as their saving grace . Sean Garland aside, the cabal of ex lefties turned into a new group , the Democratic Left. This consisted of six TDs including Eamonn Gilmore and Pat Rabbitte. At their founding conference they were<br />
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democratic socialist party. We believe that the idea of socialism coupled with the practice of democracy provides the basis for the radical transformation of Irish society. We aim to be a feminist party. An environmental party. A party of the unemployed and low-paid. A champion of personal freedom. A friend and ally of the third world. An integral part of the European Left</div>
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Soon after 1997 the Democratic left merged with Labour and this inevitably laid the path to the downfall. Liz Mc Manus and Pat Rabbitte became deputy leader and leader respectively and then later on Eamonn Gilmore. Gilmore at this point liked to paint himself as a man of the people, a person of the working classes and anti bourgoise.<br />
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Pic from Irish Election Lit!<br />
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In a manifesto published in 1992, there are hints of a lean towards neo liberal reforms in places like energy .<br />
<a href="http://michaelpidgeon.com/manifestos/docs/dl/Democratic%20Left%20GE%201992.pdf" style="color: #0e758e; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://michaelpidgeon.com/manifestos...0GE%201992.pdf</a><br />
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An Energy Tax, geared to encouraging conservation<br />
and creating extra jobs, could also belp raise additional monies<br />
while achieving desirable social and environmental objectives.</div>
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Other things though are more noticeable on terms of housing . Pyrite remedial works and houses built to substandard levels still pop up from time to time. Back in 1992 DL was proposing a redress scheme for those whose buildngs were found to be in a state of disrepair because of substandard works.<br />
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Full defects protection legislation is needed for<br />
both owner-occupiers and tenant purcbasers against longer-term<br />
design and construction defects on bebalf of the developer and<br />
local authority. There must be legislation to ensure that bouse<br />
and flat construction is of the bighest standard aod that it<br />
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The rest of the document reads like a normal socially liberal document one would expect. Increasing corporation tax and better representation for women and fighting the then decriminalisaton of homosexuality which was to eventually come about. When did the DL members in Labour eventually become fully neo liberalists?<br />
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While in opposition they were quick to snap at the heals of the government on its policies. Liz Mc Manus has written at length on her blog about the problems in our health system (she has since retired) and this document is a far cry from the current policies of the governemnt where those very same DL members are invovled in cuts to those in the working class. I cant put my finger on it. Is it Labour are now selling their arse to FG for a few scraps from the table of political power and go along with whatever ruse that Hoga,Shatter or Reilly pull out of their arse? There was a pamphlet written around the time of the WP/SL split that predicted the downfall of the Labour party when they 'absorbed' DL .<br />
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I apologise if post is slightly disjointed but its an issue worth discussing,chartering the downfall of Labour needs to look at when the DL Quislings sold themselves out....</blockquote>
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Cause I can’t change, I can’t change the world alone</div>
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Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-40911864064579541102015-01-02T18:17:00.003-08:002015-01-02T18:17:28.854-08:00Is Gender a Social Construct?<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Conchita is the bearded drag queen from Austria that won peoples hearts with her/his song, 'Rise like a Phoenix'. Reading the comments under the video on youtube, users were shifting uncomfortably to see a man impersonating a woman with a beard as it combined elements of both genders. They thought both should be just fitting into either camp , male or female. This spurred me on to look at the issue a little bit more and see what the current thinking is on it out there at the moment. This lead me to <a href="http://thefeministagenda.blogspot.ie/2009/04/social-construction-of-gender.html">http://thefeministagenda.blogspot.ie...of-gender.html</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the blog post quite rightly it details that humans are assigned a gender from the time they are born based on their genetalia and should they be intersex they are then placed in either camp conveniently so that society can make life easier for them and label it. Certain emotions are thought to be kept under wraps lest men should be seen as being wimps should they cry . (Might contribute to why there is so much suicide amongst men in Ireland being taught to not convey their emotions and any manifestations of poor mental health being seen as effeminate or weak - which is not true but people do still think like that.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some cultures have seen that there is a third sex or gender. The Fa'afafine are widely accepted in Polynesian culture and have come ro represent a normal way of life in American Samoa etc. These people are accepted as normal members of society.</span>Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-12139232996435384612015-01-02T18:15:00.003-08:002015-01-02T18:16:30.188-08:00On our deathbeds....Thoughts of Jack Hornfield<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A buddhist philosopher and thinker...he had three questions...</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On our death beds</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How much did we love?</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How much life did we live?</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Did we make a difference?</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All of this is paraphrased but yeah, what do others think?<br /> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Im in a philosophical mood!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-72403555242950109452015-01-02T18:14:00.004-08:002015-01-02T18:14:48.675-08:00Where is the Israeli left?<br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Labour are like Labour in Ireland, suppose to represent the working class but serve the interests of the capitalist elite. Traditionally the party of the left they are now more to the centre than the left where they were. A difference may have been made if Yitzhak Rabin had survived and not been assisinated. They did support the Oslo accords and brought Israel into line with an expansion of welfare programmes in the sixties/seventies. They failed in the 2000s as members heavily criticised them for heavy support of businesses. The rest of the Israeli left is a rag tag group. The rest of the Israeli left...<br /><br /><br /><br /><i>Peace Now supports territorial concessions in the West Bank and was critical of government's policy in withdrawing from Lebanon after the 1982-6 war and the subsequent withdrawal from South Lebanon.<br />Geneva Initiative and The People's Voice (HaMifkad HaLeumi), two peace initiatives led by prominent Israeli and Palestinian public figures that surfaced in 2004. These initiatives were based on unofficial bilateral understandings between the two sides, and offer models for a permanent agreement.<br />HaHistadrut ("The Union"; short for "the General Union of the Workers in Israel"), an umbrella organization for many labor unions in Israel. In the past, was identified with the different forms of the Israel Labor party; nowadays, the chairman of the Histadrut is Offer Eyni. The former chairman Amir Peretz became head of the socialist One Nation party, which eventually merged into Labor in 2004, which Peretz led from November 2005 to June 2007.<br />Several radical left-wing organizations calling soldiers to refuse service in the West Bank and Gaza; the best known are Ometz LeSarev ("Courage to Refuse") and Yesh Gvul (There's a limit/border).<br />Ma'avak Sotzialisti (Socialist Struggle) campaigns against privatisation and the worsening conditions faced by workers and young people in Israel.<br /></i><br /><br />What happened to them?</span>Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-34544329510825244482015-01-02T18:05:00.002-08:002015-01-02T18:07:47.068-08:00Repeal the 8th Ammendment<br />
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<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /><br /><br /><br />http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/doctors-told-they-can-withdraw-life-support-for-clinically-dead-pregnant-woman-30863340.html<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />All of the case raised so many questions as to how to best judge the situation. There are so many twists and turns that its impossible for anyone to judge what should happen, the old adage doctors differ and patients die here could be replaced with the mantra that legal teams differ and patients die such is the intensity of the legal wrangling that goes back and forth. Legally there are two problems at hand with these judgements - time and a problem with the law, human rights law especially being extremeley abstract. During the time this case was being heard, the womans life machine was left on resulting in massive infections and organs failing on an extreme level, notwithstanding the details reported in the media which I'll refrain from mentioning. As for the law being abstract, all of it is so open ended from the interpretation of the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Act 2013 to the human rights law on the topic, nothing is clear on the topic giving doctors and those within the medical profession more and more confusion delaying matters.<br />HSE guidelines must also be ammended to clarify positions when and how a termination can be carried out to lesser the burden on doctors. A doctors job is to treat patients, it is not to argue philosophically over aiding a foetus when the mothers life takes precedence, any other faulty position stems from the catholic ethos the medical profession has been unduly placed under.<br />Women suffer unfairly under the 8th Ammendment, this law places equality on the life of a foetus, a group of cells that has not attained any degree of personhood on parity with that of an adult woman, most of whom can think for themselves, fully autonomous human beings. Numerous falsehoods are contained within that eight ammendment as well, creating this weird boundary where were a foetus to poison a woman and dehabilitate her nothing is to be done but if it kills the mother then it can be. The falsehood is in the interprtation that is taken by the conservative element of Ireland still in existence. Ireland only brought in the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Act 2013 when A,B,C vs Ireland was referred to Ireland and this forced Irelands hand. Nothing to be proud of.<br />#Repealthe8th and stop the impasse..</span>..Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-23523029426935157972014-04-11T08:07:00.002-07:002014-04-11T08:08:50.733-07:00Irish Schools focus purely on academia - what about other skills? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em>“Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts; nothing else will ever be of any service to them.”</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A novel written in the 19th century, scarily things are the same a hundred and twenty years on. Schools now tend to focus on English, Maths, Irish and then four to five other subjects yet nothing prepares young people for the savage side society comes out with. There should be as much time on encouraging people to <br /><br />-Network with other people<br />-Cognitive behavioural therapy<br />-Develop empathy<br />-Good emotional intelligence<br /><br />Rather than creating an automoton , then again perhaps the status quo may find this goes against them....</span>Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-22047621599715699262014-04-11T08:05:00.000-07:002014-04-11T08:05:06.180-07:00Economic Treason - Time for a new law<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In 2010 the Green party suggested that a bill be introduced for economic treason. Consquently the legislation would have been zigged before it was zagged, an unruly mess as half of those they were in govt with could be done under it I reckon. . With Anglo being prosecuted under company law and illegal loans to directors, a more robust set of laws are needed to prevent an occurence of this again and a new law relating to economic treason be brought in. In scope it can be defined as a person whom knowingly benefits from a financial transaction which would see the economic infrastructure of a country be undermined be dealt punishable by up to twenty years in prison. Im unaware of any similar law in any other country. The current laws on treason are making war on the Irish state or aiding people who are waging war . Company law only targets specific degrees of irregularities on a smaller level, this new legislation would allow for it to be taken on a wider scope i.e. nationally.</span>Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-29339798995910009712014-04-11T08:04:00.003-07:002014-04-11T08:06:39.355-07:00Double Jobbing Councillor<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A friend of mine asked me to post this, tis an example of what can happen for those who get elected as county councillors. One councillor,Enda Flynn. running in the South Meath area is running for Fine Gael on a strong education platform. This leaflet was dropped through the door the other morning</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now there is nothing to stop people holding a job as a councillor and working at another job as far as I am aware. They must attend the meetings as non attendance for six months to my understanding results in the council having seen you as resigning your seat unless there are special conditions. The reason why I mention this, like others in Fine Gael, Enda Flynn is also a school principal in a school in Enfield in Co.Meath. (</span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Enda-Flynn/672814852761880" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">https://www.facebook.com/pages/Enda-...72814852761880</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> & </span><a href="http://www.stmaryspsenfield.scoilnet.ie/about.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.stmaryspsenfield.scoilnet.ie/about.html</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> )<br /><br />How much for being a councillor and a school principal were he to be elected?<br /><br />Any other examples of this? Of course if this double jobbing is not allowed maybe Im wrong but I couldnt find anything about it online.<br /><br />Curiously my friend said nothing was mentioned in the leaflet about him being the school principal in Enfield...</span>Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-32800925672965680082014-04-11T08:03:00.003-07:002014-04-11T08:03:46.762-07:00The Russian Hitlist - Who is next?<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Trans-Dniester is currently a part of Moldova with an overwhelming majority of ethnic Russians . Trans-Dniester has asked the Russian govt to investigate the possibility of joining back with Russia with the view of terminating ties with Moldova. Already Trans-Dniester has its own currency and border guard and tensions always run high with Moldova. May this very well be next on the Russian hitlist? Putin imperialist expansion could move quicker than the west thinks. <br /></span><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26662721" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26662721</span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Maybe Russia may annex the South and East of Ukraine now? Ethnic Russians feel under threat from a Ukranian government that has had its territory annexed. Would Putin use this as an excuse to invade under the pretext of protecthing ethnic Russians?<br /></span><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/17/ukraine-crisis-east-putin-idUSL6N0ME1WK20140317" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...0ME1WK20140317</span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kazakhstan is locked into a customs union with Russia, maybe Russia is eyeing them up?</span>Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-89553575369599724082014-04-11T08:03:00.000-07:002014-04-11T08:03:03.164-07:00Inner Conflict - Reconciling your feminine and masculine side <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jungian school of psychoanalyses theorises human beings unconcious (the one we are unaware of) is constantly at conflict with itself. Men have a feminine side repressed so often that this conflict spews forth and can be seen as the basis for a lot of mental illness (sensetive men are viewed by society as being weak). Jung termed this the anima side of the man, in women the masculine side was termed animus. The modern male, the stereotypical metrosexual is more at ease with his feminine side, dressing in a way that for years would be typed as an effeminate quality, these men are much more at ease with themselves. Gay men I would theorise myself from experience have a much harder time of this one side enslaves itself to stereotype of campness and the other side jumps into this extreme macho butchness role. All of this representative of an inner conflict . It was an internal struggle for me personally for quite a long time but now I do believe Im at peace in terms of this conflict. Are fellow PW users aware of their opposing side? Do they believe it exists? Do they act on it? Are they comfortable with it?</span>Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-31593199363481756662014-04-11T08:02:00.000-07:002014-04-11T08:02:08.154-07:00Irish Rugby Culture<a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/painful-truths-about-rugby-culture-1.1729828?page=2"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/painful-truths-about-rugby-culture-1.1729828?page=2</span></a><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The image many of us males have of what it means to be a man, is disturbing and it doesn’t much differ from the rugby world’s ideal. One feature it surely does not include is homosexuality – the ideal man, hegemonic man, is certainly heterosexual, perhaps aggressively so. A bit prone to violence or at least “able to look after himself” – ie able to beat the bejasus out of anyone who challenges him. A capacity to drink enormous amounts of pints – sensibly of course – is almost de rigeur. And being a good man with the girls, lots of girls</span></em><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I tend to agree with Brownes points as regards the core argument as to how men view themselves, not too sure his point is borne out within the context of rugby though. Rugby has become more inclusive over the years but there is an element in Irish society that men must view themselves in a particular way. Brownes points may have been made better if he looked at two things. Firstly we have a male dominated hierarchial society, in government dictating to women what to do with their bodies and secondly there is this context that we men must not talk about our feelings, which has partially lead to a spike in suicides. Private schools encourage an elitest gentlemans club, a lot of these are the people who go on to be judges, civil servants etc. Maleness in general is consumed in Ireland with the pursuit of quarry in some cases when you go to Coppers or somewhere similar and yes as a red blooded (gay) male I have been like this in my younger years but grew out of it, some people never really do though do they? I have made the same argument about the effeminisation of gay men on the gay scene and the same point is also made about straight men feeling they have to butch because to be anything else is just not acceptable. Its more about being comfortable in who you are, not responding to peer pressure and if you want to drink ten pints in a night as I do, do it because you want to not because you feel you have to point out what some people think. There is a lot of men out there keeping up with the joneses, just be yourselves lads.</span>Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-55169842520901429682014-04-11T07:56:00.003-07:002014-04-11T07:56:42.410-07:00Economic Inequality and its link to Societal Problems <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ7LzE3u7Bw">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ7LzE3u7Bw</a><br />
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<iframe class="restrain" frameborder="0" height="390" id="yui-gen35" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/cZ7LzE3u7Bw?wmode=opaque" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Statistics present a strong argument when they are read into. If people are not familiar with them the Ted talks are a series of short talks given in Laymans terms for idiots like myself seeking a greater understanding of major problems. Above is one I linked to in which Richard Wilkinson,an epidemiologist gives evidence from his book, The Spirit level that there is a direct correleation between income gaps and social harm. The larger the income gap then the more problems there is at social level. Social harm was taken to mean things like infant mortality, obesity, drug use etc. In Sweden and Finland and Japan where income inequality between groups is less than those of Britan and the US, this has lead to lesser problems in Scandanavia and a hell of a lot of issues in the UK and USA.</span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Above is a sample of the graphs and how they relate. The x axis represents the Income Inequality going from left (low income inequality) to right (high income inequality). On the Y axis is social problems faced by those . The countries are plotted according to their income inequality and social problems. Ireland ranks about centre but US and UK and Singapore have large income inequality and thus large social issues.</span>Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-56499505993441332282014-04-11T07:54:00.004-07:002014-04-11T07:54:32.614-07:00Correlation between human migration and language evolution<a href="http://esciencenews.com/articles/2014/03/13/language.evolution.may.shed.light.human.migration.out.beringia" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://esciencenews.com/articles/201...n.out.beringia</span></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Linguists have studied the grammar and vocabulary of both languages and have concluded there may be evidence of migration from Eastern Russia back to Central Asia and others into North America. The scientists used a technique called phylogenetic analysis where a tree is drawn up which shows the shared traits that some languages may have with others and then this can be used to trace back a languages development.This model was then compared to migration patters of ancient peoples from various sub groups. </span><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Results show an early dispersal of Na-Dene along the North American coast with a Yeniseian back migration through Siberia and a later dispersal of North American interior Na-Dene languages. Sicoli explained, "we used computational phylogenetic methods to impose constraints on possible family tree relationships modeling both an Out-of-Beringia hypothesis and an Out-of-Asia hypothesis and tested these against the linguistic data. We found substantial support for the out-of-Beringia dispersal adding to a growing body of evidence for an ancestral population in Beringia before the land bridge was inundated by rising sea levels at the end of the last ice age."</span></em>Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-37469981217874909982014-04-11T07:53:00.002-07:002014-04-11T07:53:29.973-07:00Unions are the cornerstone of fighting Austerity<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img alt="Default" src="http://www.politicalworld.org/images/icons/icon1.png" title="Default" /> Unions are the cornerstone of any movement against austerity... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> James Larkin's character was that of a man who was raised in a tough part of Liverpool. Larkins father died when he was eleven and he took a succession of jobs. From butchers assistant to docker, Larkins early life and experiences moulded him into becoming the successful trade unionist that he was. The ITWGU was formed by Larkin when he came to Dublin and fought against the dreadful conditions that employees had to endure at the time and he won concessions for employees.<br /><br />SIPTU, the progeny of this union has now in the modern day no backbone along with most of the other unions in existence. Through the subs that go to Labour, the Quislings who dropped us into austerity to signing up for Haddington Road and a leader like Jack O Connor at helm, SIPTU have ultimately failed in their current existence to agitate for better conditions for the majority of wokers in Ireland. When pen was put to paper on Haddington Road, this was the signalling of the downfall for most trade unions in Ireland.<br /><br /><img alt="" border="0" src="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:JamesConnollyPainting.JPG" /><br /><br />(A picture above of Jack O Connor receiving a portrait of James Larkin, have a glass of milk just in case your stomach churns)<br /><br />SIPTU leadership and its connections with the Labour party effectively makes them part of the problem of ineffective unions in Ireland . <br /><br />Unions abroad are not tied to the government as much and if they are, still have no fear of bringing the country to a halt. COATSU in South Africa has ridden on the coat tails of the current South African Administration with a massive public sector strike and they fought off Walmart who had an interest in South Africa through a group called Massmart. Confederation Generale du Travail from France caused massive consternation when protests erupted in Paris as Sarkozy aimed at introducing zero hour contracts for students. Others that come to mind are Solidarity in Poland etc. <br /><br /><br />Trade Unions need effective leadership to achieve successful goals of equality, fairness and progress for all in society. Irish trade unions have done very little of this. There is a cure for this malaise, the members change the in efftive leadership and change the dynamics in a union so that a Union <br /><br />-Can lobby for change, better laws and more social and economic equality for the upper classes.<br />-Creating better pay and conditions for workers.<br />-Ensuring better structures in society to protect the most vunerable.<br /><br />The only person of note in the Irish trade union landscape with any balls is Brendan Ogle. The man who the Indo described as a 'firebrand negotiator' stood up to the corporate elite.<br /><br />All of this is borne out of personal experience for me. I have been sold out I feel by CPSU as I imagine numerous others feel about trade unions. <br /><br />Does anyone feel the same?</span></blockquote>
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Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-68591080488778335762014-04-11T07:52:00.003-07:002014-04-11T07:52:34.464-07:005 Harbourmaster Place..<a href="http://www.daft.ie/searchcommercial.daft?id=62090" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.daft.ie/searchcommercial.daft?id=62090</span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thats the second floor (part of it) for rent...doesnt look that big really.<br /><br />Yet there are 776 companies all registered there or were registered there (thanks to Young Activist Network lecture on it)<br /><br />One director has 60+ directorships here (all available on CRO records)</span>Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-70532323484041781322014-02-12T07:54:00.004-08:002014-02-12T07:54:41.320-08:00Dublin for foodies!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My favourite spots to eat</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lemon Jelly – Millenium Walkway </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Excellent banana hot chocolate, crepes are massive and the best service of any cafe. Tad expensive but worth the money</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Wok u Like – North Earl St </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cheap eats! Love the noodles, big box for a fiver!</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Viet Pho – Dorset St </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Currys are amazing, BYOB (fiver corking charge but keep cost down with bottle of wine from Lidl, some nice wines for under a fiver)</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thai Spice – Behind Bus Aras </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Real Thai food! Gang dang (yep thats what its called!) and satay chicken are paradise. Nice beers</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Black Sheep – Capel St</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The beer selection is massive. Food is good sized portions and tastes great. Club sandwiches are the dogs bollox</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">KC Peaches</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Massive plate of food for a tenner or salad for eight quid. Love their white hot chocolate</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Boojum – Italian Quarter </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Massive burritos and Samuel Adams beer (dont make me crave one!</span>Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-20861281644023714532014-01-27T06:16:00.000-08:002014-01-27T07:53:56.152-08:00Homophobia - Its simple really<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A straight catholic (note I flatly to ever refuse to use a capital letter for that religion) patriarchial society has taken it upon itself to dictate to me whom I can and cannot marry. Famous drag act, Panti (aka Rory Neill) was sent solicitors letters after comments he made recently on the Saturday night show but its very easy to see why Rory felt aggrieved at the comments that are directed at the gay community in Dublin. For too long the gay community has been seen as being freaks, second class citizens and slightly eccentric (perhaps the latter ;) ). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Iona Institute as has been covered on this blog are a catholic research institute. Numerous commentators and media personalities are members of this institute while others are not. What do they have in common though? The common denominator is a lot of them believe that gay marriage should not be legalised for reasons that its different to other marriages through to it is not the correct environment for a child to be raised in. Im not going to bother posting the links to papers which show the first point on gay marriage being different as utter tosh (read them on google scholar). The research from the catholic right is from faith based institutions in a lot of cases, institutions who if they had even bothered to understand in researching that any faith makes their research impossible as biases must be checked at the door. Secondly, there are a lot of single parent families whom have raised children single handedly to become upstanding citizens of society which puts paid to the myth that a father or a mother are needed. A gay couple will adapt to the role of mother or father with both of these being a social construct anyways. Once a child will be brought into a loving home its what really matters. So that is the research bulldozed what about the belief?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Any belief that a homosexual person is less capable of being a member of society based on their sexuality is inherently a judgement and henceforth homophobic, its really that easy to see. The word homophobe is not being thrown around lightly here, its being used to address what is the last great fundamental civil rights movement in humanity. Apartheid era South Africa banned inter racial marriage under the Afrikaaner government as they viewed black people to be lesser people based on their skin colour, a similar judgement has been passed but note we replace the words South Africa with Ireland, inter racial/black with gay ,Afrikaaner with Irish conservative society and skin colour with sexuality and how does the sentence read? Not much of a difference if I was to be asked . The apartheid government fell and laws were repealed as they did a severe injustice to those whom they affected. Ireland is now at this point. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The belief that I am somehow lesser a person than others and therefore cannot get married is an outdated concept. catholicism is at a crossroads in Ireland and its going to cross and get ploughed out of it by a massive artic rigid truck and go splat hopefully…</span>Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-25538915906861339322014-01-17T05:00:00.003-08:002014-01-17T05:01:01.200-08:00A New Beginning<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Im falling victim to Haddington Road agreement, the agreement where all the unions bent right over and got their arses torn apart as they went bottom for the government to go top. Notwithstanding the very Quisling-esqu stance they took, the jobs they have been redeploying people to reads like jobs no one wants. Being stuck in a back office photocopying documents all day and not seeing the light of day? Erm no thanks Im not interested. I want somewhere where Im dealing with the public and not some plank screaming at me for post to be scanned in, Im more interested in dealing with the public. Redeployment is stressing me out big time, Im happy ish in my current position but just want to be left alone to do my job and get on with life, I do my job as Im not a career sorted type, Im more orientatied to a 5-9 lifestyle where I can do my own silly little side projects.</span>Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-29100118499042424432014-01-17T04:57:00.001-08:002014-01-17T05:01:13.169-08:00Dont get your Panti in a twist...<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As the point I made on twitter this morning to Richard Waghorne and Panti is that in Apartheid South Africa, inter racial marriage was banned by the Afrikaaner government and this policy was racially driven, it treated black citizens as second class citizens . This policy was driven by the belief that Afrikaaners were superior to others and this was reinforced by the ex presidents of South Africa. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Back in November 2013 – David Quinn published an article in the Indo enttitled </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Denying a child’s right to have a mother has become state policy</span></i><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In it he says</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The ‘right’ of two men or two women to have a child is a purely invented legal right, not a natural one. It is a simple fact of life that they will find it impossible to have a child unless they can find a member of the opposite sex who is willing to facilitate them</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The right of citizens to be treated equally under the is not an invented legal right, it is the natural right of any society that people be treated just and fairly and not as second class citizens. Just as the black population of South Africa was banned from marrying who they like, the Iona Insitute does not want to see same sex marriage or same sex adoption for gay couples and the following is proof of that</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.thejournal.ie/david-norris-iona-institute-constitutional-convention-875170-Apr2013/" rel="nofollow"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.thejournal.ie/david-norris-iona-institute-constitutional-convention-875170-Apr2013/</span></a><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">THERE HAVE BEEN calls for an investigation into allegations that the Iona Institute tried to mislead last weekend’s Constitutional Convention hearings on same-sex marriage.</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Senator David Norris has sought an inquiry into whether the conservative think-tank deliberately cited an academic paper arguing in favour of a child being raised by its biological parents, presenting it as an argument in favour of excluding same-sex couples from civil marriage.</span></em><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Iona Institute’s submission to the convention summarised the paper as follows:</span></em><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Research clearly demonstrates that family structure matters for children, and the family structure that helps the most is a family headed by two biological parents in a low-conflict marriage… There is thus value in promoting strong, stable marriage between biological parents.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When accessed online now, however, the study carries a disclaimer on the front page from its authors – saying the research summarised surveys in 2002 which identified neither same-sex nor adoptive parents.</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On a personal note I feel that the Iona Institute is an organisation with a prejudicial attitude and in the defence of fair comment as above I believe that this and other evidence is reasonable belief. You cannot sue someone for having an opinion. The Iona Institute really need to repair their time machine and go back to Victorian times where they may be lauded as heros and David Quinn can be hero worshipped ….</span>Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-36610217474535134912013-11-28T08:14:00.005-08:002013-11-28T08:14:36.181-08:00Workers Rights and Walmart<a href="http://www.redpepper.org.uk/a-black-thursday-for-walmart/" target="_blank">http://www.redpepper.org.uk/a-black-...y-for-walmart/</a><br /><br />Red Pepper this month is carrying a report on Walmart and touches upon its employee record. Some of their great achievements<br /><br />-Union busting , they outsourced a lot of their butcher shops after one shop formed a union<br />-Breaking labour laws on the employment of children<br />-No breaks and working unpaid beyond rostered times.<br /><br />The worst perhaps was this:<br />
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<em>The zenith, or rather nadir, of the corporation’s disregard for its staff was exposed in its ‘Dead Peasants Insurance’; policies taken out on a number of low level workers in an attempt to profit from their deaths</em><br />
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Other criticisms from here, goes into some details:<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Walmart" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Walmart</a>Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-12011839461507751832013-11-28T08:13:00.003-08:002013-11-28T08:13:35.242-08:00Public Sector Outsourcing<a href="http://www.arthurcox.com/uploadedFiles/Publications/Publication_List/Public%20Sector%20Outsourcing%20in%20Ireland%20Pearse%20Ryan%20July%202013.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.arthurcox.com/uploadedFil...uly%202013.pdf</span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Arthur Cox article with some views on outsourcing. Having gotten bogged down in the document and eventually reading some of it, the document is an account of sorts and where possible outsourcing <em>might happen. </em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em>s per the Public Service Reform Plan,<br />in relation to outsourcing a series of<br />timelined steps are outlined, which relate<br />to overall identification of opportunities,<br />development of business plans and,<br />importantly, strengthening of public<br />service “commercial capability” in the area,<br />which should include the challenging<br />area of project structure and supplier<br />management. It is an essential feature<br />of outsourcing that a strong customer<br />commercial function is needed to manage<br />suppliers. This area of historical public<br />sector weakness is, we understand, under<br />review by DPER. Overall, the outsourcing<br />industry has taken up the challenge<br />of presenting suitably compelling<br />arguments for outsourcing in appropriate<br />circumstances and with reference to the<br />stipulations of the Croke Park Agreement</em> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One company that may have an interest in this is South Western Business Services, an Irish company . On their website it says :<br /></span><a href="http://www.southwestern.ie/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.southwestern.ie/</span></a><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">SouthWestern is a market leader in the provision of integrated front and back office services. Our key focus areas are Finance & Accounting, HR and Payroll, Customer Relationship Management and integrated front and back office services. <b>Our sector focus is in our key markets of Public Sector</b>, Financial Services, Travel, Media and Food and Drink. We provide business services to leading public and private sector clients in Ireland, the UK and Europe.</span></em><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of their directors is one Joe Walsh whom may be familiar as the once Irish minster for Agriculture .<br /><br />When you look at outsourcing over all, cost effectively it does not really play out. Patricia King from SIPTU last year concluded that after a study that there is very little cost benefit from outsourcing of the Health Service and in the long term that this may even cost the state more. <br /><br />KPMG's Paul Toner however takes a different attitude, getting all excited about the opportunities afforded by outsourcing<br /></span><a href="http://www.eolasmagazine.ie/outsourcing-irish-insights/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.eolasmagazine.ie/outsourcing-irish-insights/</span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are already many good examples of this:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em>• the HSE now has a legal outsourcing framework that governs the outsourcing of legal services that has improved the effectiveness of the service while driving down costs;<br /><br />• a number of the financial services institutions have outsourced special servicing to third parties who bring more effective technology solutions and skills to support a more effective process offering increased performance at a lower cost;<br /><br />• numerous utility and public service companies have outsourced selected customer servicing processes to third parties who have ‘best in class’ customer servicing platforms that would be prohibitive in terms of time and cost for those entities to put in place themselves</em>.</span>Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-20481068004342411242013-11-28T08:11:00.003-08:002013-11-28T08:11:32.522-08:00Manup.ie - Sexist or fair? <a href="http://www.manup.ie/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.manup.ie/</span></a><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">men protect and care for children. With MAN UP, men and women are proudly standing up and declaring zero tolerance on violence against women in Ireland.<br /><br />To end violence against women we all need to be part of the solution.<br /><br />We are looking for MAN UP heroes – people like you – to help us expose, challenge and change the face of violence against women.</span></em><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cant swing a cat on the Luas without hitting this poster. Man Up is a new initiative to eradicate voilence against women (an issue present all across the stratas of society) but this ad specifically targets men and those who hit women. Statistically the ad is correct, there is a hell of a lot more voilence against women than is the opposting situation by why did this campaign have to focus on just men? <br /><br />Statistics from Amen (charity involved in fighting abuse against men)<br /></span><a href="http://www.amen.ie/reports.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.amen.ie/reports.html</span></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.amen.ie/reports/research_on_domestic_violence.doc" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.amen.ie/reports/research_...c_violence.doc</span></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">• 15% of women and 6% of men suffer severe domestic abuse<br />• 29% of women and 26% of men suffer domestic abuse when severe and<br />minor abuse are combined<br /><br /><br />In proposing an alternative there should be a campaign to eradicate all forms of domestic voilence that is targetted at all those whom are perpetrators. Shock tactics as used in the eradication of drink driving in Australia is one approach that could be taken. A video with various victims in various states after being beaten up could shock people into thinking. People could be forgiven with this manup campaign that somehow domestic violence was specifically a problem that only applies to male perpetrators who attack female victims....</span>Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-66869075574892060522013-11-28T08:10:00.000-08:002013-11-28T08:10:02.241-08:00Is the Belfast Telegraph using the Liam Adams case to attack Gerry Adams? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://cf.broadsheet.ie/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Wednesday-front-Oct-2-page-0011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://cf.broadsheet.ie/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Wednesday-front-Oct-2-page-0011.jpg" width="264" /></a></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Like a banner headline screaming "Liam Adams guilty.... " and the headline underneath "Unfit for Office" . The subline goes into the "terrible abuse secret he knew for twenty years". It should come as no surprise that the perhaps the level of ennui in the offices must have been high to have come up with such a sensationalist headline. The paper is owned by Independent News and Media,who are not amicable towards Republicanism. Users here will know I have little time for Gerry Adams but it is very unfair to use his brothers conviction to paint him as being unfit for office, the two issues are completely seperate.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Update :</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/news-analysis/sinn-fein-leader-gerry-adams-failings-over-his-brother-leave-him-devoid-of-credibility-29791365.html"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/news-analysis/sinn-fein-leader-gerry-adams-failings-over-his-brother-leave-him-devoid-of-credibility-29791365.html</span></a>Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652006041074456998.post-20858724043729665032013-10-11T08:52:00.002-07:002013-10-11T08:52:53.294-07:00The funny side of being gay...A post for National Coming Out Day<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The first thought that enters any mans head when they hear that someone is gay is the image of a skinny guy with designer gear and the infamous 'fag hags' hanging out of him and yes, this is an acceptable image as it is quite common place but for those of us who do not fit the stereotype where do we fit in?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rewind twenty years ago, I was on holidays in France with two of my best friends camping, both typical lads and two of my best friends amongst others. The weather was roasting as we sat in the tent that evening as the sun had been blazing all day. After about two bottles of cheap wine (steak and onions were cooked in said wine..some for me, some for the pan you get the picture), a conversation moved towards being gay etc. Inadverdently I came out with it (being half cut was always something I did and but not so much now!) and told my friends I was bisexual, a phrase that gay men use as a bridging so as not to offend their masculine peers but just enough to soften the blow so they can come out as gay later on. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cut back now about eleven or twleve years later. Those lads are still my best friends and now I am in a loving relationship with a man who I cannot speak more highly of, whom I love to bits and who treats me as an opposite equal. My parents have been fantastic about it all as have my family and my friends. My mother enquires as to the future of her 'son in law' messing and my father being a taxi driver, proudly tells people about me without a shadow of a doubt. The idea that their son is gay was a shock to them in the first place but its something that they got used to , I make it out to be like riding a bike, watching the football or drinking a beer with my aul lad or chatting to my mother. Its just an every day thing. My brother is brilliant about it (I think he thinks it might help him pick up women ;) )</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">National Coming Out Day marks for most people a day to celebrate being themselves and its handled wonderfully. Its an opportunity for those who may be struggling to come out and tell their loved ones yes I do like the same gender or I may want to change gender but I am the same person. This is in stark contrast to the whole flip side of the coin which I wanna mention.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Referring back to my earlier point in regards to the images of gay men. There is the usual 'twink' with their hair neartly combed, in skinny jeans and camper than a row of tents, some of whom would make Liberace look like Arnie in Predator. Men of a particular generation have this image emblazoned on their mind as a stereotype of these men. On the flip side are those that try to hard to be butch and something in my earlier years I did myself to distance myself from the stereotypes but then I reached a point where I discovered that this was in reality utter bollix, its nothing to do with how I act, its about being me. My range of interest goes from the extremely camp (Eurovision Song Contest, dance and pop music) to the very butch (football, heavy beer drinker, politics) with an array of various other interests in between that oft would be classed as camp or butch but all of these to me are just interests .</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the end of the day just do what makes you happy. Personally speaking (as we had argued before on here and was plastered all over blogs in Australia for some reason) things like Pride (which I loathe with a passion) and faux butchery (which I also loathe) impinge on a persons being, they dont give people a chance to be themselves. Dont listen to any of that crap, be yourself and just be what you are, a decent honest bloke or bird, one who will stand up for themselves and others and is most importantly happy in themselves.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To my readers and friends and family, Happy Coming Out Day.... :)</span>Crusty Lesbian Custardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02265402970061539368noreply@blogger.com1