Repeal the 8th Ammendment

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/doctors-told-they-can-withdraw-life-support-for-clinically-dead-pregnant-woman-30863340.html







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.
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.
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.
#Repealthe8th and stop the impasse....

Removing religious influence from Irish Hospitals - The Current Situation,History and How to remove it

Straight out of the Cork Independent comes the following quote, anecdotal perhaps but it illustrates a point that is big news.
http://corkindependent.com/20130808/...at-S70357.html

Admitted under her gynaecologist in a very well regarded religious-ethos hospital, she was in a serious condition and needed an emergency termination. A member of medical staff pulled the husband aside and advised him, in an undertone, to seek a transfer to another hospital in another part of the country, immediately, because he could not guarantee that she’d be given the lifesaving treatment she needed in this hospital, because of its religious ethos. She was transferred to a hospital three hours away by ambulance, and, after being treated as required, made a full recovery.

   

The hospital is not mentioned but with the hulabaloo in media reports one does not have to delve deep into the web to place where this might be (although a number of inferrences could be drawn as to what hospital it could be ). Some of Irelands medical and healthcare establishments are in the clutches of a predator, one that is dying a slow and thankfully agonising death, the catholic church. Fr Kevin Doran ,a priest on the board of governors at the Mater hospital has indicated that the Mater will not perform any abortions as to do so may clash with the ethos of the hospital
http://www.broadsheet.ie/2013/08/07/...really-maters/
(Quote via Irish Times)

“The Mater can’t carry out abortions because it goes against its ethos. I would be very concerned that the Minister [for Health, James Reilly] sees fit to make it impossible for hospitals to have their own ethos.”

   

Illustrating how far their Ethos goes

The three members of the board of Dublin’s Mater Hospital were key to the decision to stop trials of the drug for lung cancer patients.
They objected because female patients who get could get pregnant would have to take contraceptives under the treatment.
The subcommittee of the board – including Fr Kevin Doran – were delegated the task of examining the conditions attached to testing the drug.

Dorans comments come in the wake of the death of Savita Hallenpalavar and others not afforded the treatment. Savita's husband, Praveen was allegedly told that an abortion could not be performed as Ireland was a catholic country. Ireland has a bit of a history though on the topic.

1951 and the Fine Gael lead government collapsed as Dr Noel Browne attempted to pass a bill allowing free maternity care much to the chargrin of John Charles Mc Quaid who subsequently kicked up a storm on the issue. Mc Quaids stance was that firstly the government could not interfere with how a family raised its children and secondly the bill would then lead to the legalisation of contraception and abortion, two positions vehemently opposed by a church who at the time were widely abusing children. Religious influence has since sought to fight against the X Case, euthanasia and stem cell research amongst numerous other topics. The churches position on maternal care is ironic given that some Catholic hospitals supported symphysiotomies until relatively recent years.

The church fought tooth and nail to establish an influence in medical schools over the course of the 20th century (http://www.medicalindependent.ie/142...tough_medicine) seeing a Protestant influence as being contrary to the wishes of the population and being a danger to their position as top dog in society threatening their stranglehold on Ireland.

The Catholic Church’s increasing influence on the administration of hospital care lasted well into the 20th Century and during the 1930s, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Edward Byrne, demonstrated the extent of the Church’s power.

When he discovered that there were plans to merge Harcourt Street Hospital, which was under Protestant management, with St Ultan’s, a multi-denominational hospital for infants under one year, established by GP and political activist Kathleen Lynn in 1919, he “saw red”, according to Dr Margaret O’hOgartaigh, author of Kathleen Lynn: Irishwoman, Patriot, Doctor.

“He was convinced that they were up to something because they were not, for the most part, Catholic and he wanted a Catholic hospital,” she told MI.

The Archbishop informed John Charles McQuaid, who, at that time, was President of Blackrock College but would go on to become his successor, and together they led a campaign to sabotage the merger, paving the way for the establishment of a Catholic-run children’s hospital in Crumlin.

“They said that you couldn’t trust Dr Lynn, and that they [doctors in St Ultan’s] were in communication with doctors in Germany. They accused them of sterilisation, that kind of nonsense,” according to Dr O’hOgartaigh.

“And they also had powerful friends in the government, including people like Sean T O’Ceallaigh, who was Minister for Local Government and Public Health. In the 1930s and early 1940s it was one department and he was basically an ecclesiastical minister. He wanted Catholics in the top jobs and it was about getting your own people in to crucial places. So they got at people and it worked.”

   

In the 90's the church also fought tooth and nail against the needle exchange programmes for HIV positive drug addicts.

Gay Doctors Ireland are looking for a repeal of a section of the Employment Equality Act which allowed religious emmployers to discriminate legally (http://www.imt.ie/news/latest-news/2...ck-repeal.html) . it is expected that this will be repealed in the next while.

Information on the ethos of other hospitals is quite scant but the following article from the Indo offers some fair opinionhttp://www.independent.ie/opinion/an...-26250526.html

This might be acceptable if there were an alternative. But there are no secular hospitals in this country. There is no longer even an Anglican much less a multi-denominational ethos in any of our hospitals (except, of course, for the Rotunda). The liberal (Protestant) ethos of the Adelaide Hospital is supposed to have been preserved as part of the ethos of Tallaght Hospital, but many people, not least members of the Protestant churches, fear for its survival.

The selling off by the Sisters of Mercy of St Michael's Private Hospital in Dun Laoghaire and the Mater Private Clinic in Dublin, is indeed proof, as Mr Sheehan pointed out, that the Sisters are not in medicine for the good of their health: they need to make money. So the Catholic ethos is not necessarily one of high-minded and selfless charity.

Moving forward, there is no harm in being blunt, Irish hospitals are there to treat people and act on the basis of what is factual and not what is of a religious opinion. Ireland has nearly severed the chord of the monster of the catholic church, it needs to take a hammer and smash the head in to ensure its brain dead (although judging by church actions this has already been done). Reilly should remove funding from any hospital or establishment that refuses to treat people based on religious ethos or religious opinion, religious ideals are a personal opinion, not something to be inflicted on the sick and dying. Legislation should be robust to charge those that do not comply with the law and jail time for those who refuse to treat on the basis of religious superstition....

Youth Defence and the Far Right

Was going to prepare a long thread on this but thankfully some other sources do it for me. Enter into the fray two notable names from the far right scene - Justin Barrett and Michael Quinn, both Irish nationalists and both leaning to the far right. Look Left contains a copy of the Magill article which exposed Justin Barrett
http://www.lookleftonline.org/2012/12/sinster-shadows/

Near the front of the hall, Justin Barrett, the diminutive Longford-based representative of the Youth Defence organisation, took his seat among the 30 or so “honoured guests”. Included in their number, according to the official NPD newspaper, were some of the leading lights of the extreme far- right in Europe ‹ neo-fascist icon Florentine Rost van Tonningen from the Netherlands, Udo Voigt, leader of the NPD, and Derek Holland of the International Third Position, listed as the second delegate representing Ireland.

   

Barrett would go on to claim that his poor language skills meant that he was unaware of what was being said. Barrett had attended a meeting of 'Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands', a party that has deep roots in fascism. Poor Barrett inadvertently Im sure ended up at a meeting of Forza Nuova another far right Italian party. His language skills must have needed a lot of brushing up !

In the article a noted historian

According to historian Brian Hanley, Youth Defence can be placed in the context of right-wing movements on the fringes of Irish nationalism that have been evident for generations.

“There is a militant Catholic activist tradition stretching back to the 1920s,” he says. “Groups such as An Rioghacht (Catholic Action) and Maria Duce, which was particularly active in the 1950s, combined a fundamentalist approach to Catholic social teaching with often-violent street activity. In the 1930s they were particularly influenced by Salazar’s Portugal and fascist Italy. Later, Franco’s Spain was a source of inspiration.”

   

NPD youth member is quoted as saying

Sascha Rossmuller, leader of the NPD’s youth wing, told the same newspaper that he considered Youth Defence “an important part of our international network.”

    

Michael Quinn needs no further introduction having been covered extensively in the pages of PW and a great thread here by SgD which goes into a lot of detail on Quinn and his splits from other far right parties he had started
http://www.politicalworld.org/showth...otherhood-quot


How far is Quinns and Barrets involvement in YD?

In 2000, the Irish Indo reports that six members of YD had convictions overturned for obstructing gardai and breaching the peace under the Public Order Act. The convictions were over turned successfully but again the two names crop up...
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news...-26113478.html

Maurice Colgan, Justin Barrett, Christopher Palin, Ciara Ni Aodain, Esme Caulfield and Michael Quinn had appealed against convictions and sentences ranging from fines to orders to carry out community work.

http://www.wsm.ie/c/pro-life-mass-mu...ascist-belfast

Michael Quinn has attended marches in recent years

There was also controversy over Quinn's presence on last years anti-choice march in Dublin - in short there is no excuse for claiming not to know who and what he is. Quinn is certainly a nut, but after the Breivik massacre in which 76 people were killed, many of them teenagers, nuts cannot be simply dismissed as harmless. The fact that Quinn was not only tolerated but protected by stewards exposes the lie that is the entire 'Pro-Life' label. Those on the pro-choice counter rally were chanting "Pro Life, that's a lie, they don't care of women die" as the march passed. The continued toleration and protection of Quinn reveal that the fundamental truth of that slogan is much deeper than many of those chanting it probably realized. (Watch a copy of Quinn's post massacre youtube video)

   

Financial support for YD has been a bit of a mystery for years and for those of us with an interest in it, it may be far easier to ascertain as to who killed JFK rather than find any info on their financing. Some info has been covered here: http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2012...oney-shot.html . One name that stands out from the crowd is that of Scott Schittl , now president of Life House Ireland who are described as :

American, tax-exempt organization... [whose] purpose is to help make sure Ireland remains pro-life and abortion-free – and make it easier for Americans to support Ireland's pro-life success story."

Schittl wrote an article on abortion for none other than - the Ancient Order of Hibernia.
http://www.nyaoh.com/2012/06/06/irish-for-life/

AOH would make not very strange bedfellows when you look at their history. Schittl was successful in getting a donation:

So far, we have visited many AOH Divisions and Boards – where the men have shown great interest and support as demonstrated in the attached photo from Summit County St. Brendan’s Division 3. Following our presentation, the brothers of St. Brendan’s unanimously approved a $500 donation plus committed all their 50/50 proceeds from their St. Patrick’s day celebrations. We would like to visit as many more as possible, and are eager to travel to visit you.

   

Ancident Order of Hibernians are of course against letting "dem gays" march in the Paddys Day parade
http://www.mamanpoulet.com/another-identity-altogether/

.....

Does the Bible Permit Abortion?..

 

Hosea 9:11-16


Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird—
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.
12 Even if they rear children,
I will bereave them of every one.
Woe to them
when I turn away from them!
13 I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre,
planted in a pleasant place.
But Ephraim will bring out
their children to the slayer.”
14 Give them, Lord—
what will you give them?
Give them wombs that miscarry
and breasts that are dry.


    Numbers 5:11-21

11 Then the Lord said to Moses, 12 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him 13 so that another man has sexual relations with her, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act), 14 and if feelings of jealousy come over her husband and he suspects his wife and she is impure—or if he is jealous and suspects her even though she is not impure— 15 then he is to take his wife to the priest. He must also take an offering of a tenth of an ephah[a] of barley flour on her behalf. He must not pour olive oil on it or put incense on it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a reminder-offering to draw attention to wrongdoing.

16 “‘The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the Lord. 17 Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. 18 After the priest has had the woman stand before the Lord, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder-offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse. 19 Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, “If no other man has had sexual relations with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. 20 But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have made yourself impure by having sexual relations with a man other than your husband”— 21 here the priest is to put the woman under this curse—“may the Lord cause you to become a curse among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell

 

 

Numbers 31:17-18

Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.

18 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.

 

   

Few more knocking about though surely those of religious convictions cannot turn on the carte blanche catholcism now and claim that they are against abortion for religious reasons? The bible allowed it (from my reading of it) so to disagree with it are you going against your religious belief? Discuss that little hand grenade amongst yourselves...

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013

The New Maternity Bill 2013 makes no reference to what consitutes the mothers life being in danger...all open ambigious bollocks...


http://www.merrionstreet.ie/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Protection-of-Life-During-Pregnancy-Bill-PLP-30.04.13-10.30.pdf



the PDF link above, this is where there is a case of uncertainty and people will shift uncomfortably in their seats




there is a real and substantial risk of loss of the pregnant woman’s life other
than by way of self-destruction,


By way of another definition, this means to be clarified or it will risk the mothers life further. The lack of definition will result in doctors conferring when a mothers life is in danger, time is precious and if doctors differ patients will die. Lack of certainty over this will result in more doctors being worried in case they are brought before ethics committees or even worse before a court of law to answer for a decision they felt at the time they may have made in good faith. The contents in a way may lay out the terms for abortion but in a very ambigious and unclear way and its going to confuse a lot of medical practitioners. Its an Irish solution to an Irish problem...

Fudging on the X Case Legislation - Savitas Law

Im not going to beat around the bush but the evidence from the professionals for why Savita needed a termination and subsequent fudging on the legislation - quick pointers...

In a letter to the Irish Times, Peter Boylan, one of the countries top obstetricians said

http://www.irishtimes.com/debate/letters/savita-halappanavar-inquest-1.1379305

 I clearly stated that “on the balance of probabilities” Ms Halappanavar would still be alive today had her pregnancy been terminated on either the Monday or the Tuesday. It is indeed impossible for any doctor to predict any clinical outcome with absolute certainty.

Katherine Astbury, Savita's consultants reports the Irish Times...

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/savita-eventually-told-termination-was-only-option-consultant-obstetrician-says-1.1355316

The consultant obstetrician who treated Savita Halappanavar told her she could not have a termination due to the “legal position in Ireland”, but the following day said there was no option but to perform one, she has told the inquest.

On the psychiatrists and the whole pro life shite coming out.I'll just link to the broadsheet, explains it adequately...

http://www.broadsheet.ie/2013/04/26/straw-clutching-latest/

How equal are women in Irish society?

---

Today marks International Womens Day around the world. Women in Ireland are constitutionally guaranteed equal rights to that of their male counterparts but has Irish society atually come that far? On paper its all well and good but in practice are Irish women still suffering from lack of equality in practice?

PW users and members have documented the grave injustices in the Irish courts and the difference in sentences for perpetrators of sexual violence and those whom carry out what society would deem less serious offences (http://www.politicalworld.org/showthread.php?t=13220). Some attackers have been asked to pay a fine in lieu of a custodial sentence and others have been given community service all without a second thought from the judge on the ramifications on the decisions and how they would affect the victims as a whole.

Twenty One years on, days after the X Case anniversary, a women still does not have the right to decide the fate of a foetus in her womb merci a la influence from a staunch Catholic set up and conservative coffin dodger politicians whose notion of womens rights come straight out of Misogny for idiots. Each year thousands of women are forced to 'get the boat' as the expression has become known because of a lack of adequate options for women to decide how they live their lives.

The Civil Service still sees a lot of the top positions dominated by a male hierarchy (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...311048868.html) keeping women down the pecking order. All a person has to do is to look at the Dail to see that most of the positions are taken up by men and the political appointments are particularly male dominated , is politics a male only pursuit?

I could go on and talk about the Magdalene Laundries and the men like Neary whom were removing wombs unchecked in the HSE whilst he was a medical practitioner. Ireland still has a long way to go, we are doing the minimum but its just not good enough...


__________________

Irish Human Rights and the UN

http://www.broadsheet.ie/2013/03/05/...ers-and-denis/




. Im not going to post links to the decisions but just give a brief outline.

-Legal action being used to intimidate and stifle journalism.
-The open nature of the law on blasphemy.
-Evidence of Garda Harassement.
-Guidelines on people who give info on abortions is not clear.
-Non consultation with groups representing travellers and the Roma communities.
-No protection of whistleblowers.
-Unfair treatment of asylum seekers.
-Issues at St Pats Institution.
-Irish prison service shambles.

Margaret Sekaggya, the rapporteur for the UN made a number of recommendations which can be viewed on the link on the Broadsheets website. Damning indictment again of failed government policies.

The Death of Savita Halappanavar - An Indictment of Irish Society

The death of Savita Halappanavar brings into the fray urgent legislation to legislate for the X Case but not only that raises a number of issue at the centre of Irish society most notably religious extremism, lack of adequate governance from the ruling coalition, a failed health system and the oppression of women in Irish society. All four of these aspects are featured from this case and this blog post will explore all four aspects in some detail.









Savita Halappanavar died in October 2012 in Galway Roscommon Univerisity Hospital as a result of scepetcimia which she contracted. Three days earlier Savita had visited the hospital in pain and to seek the termination of the foetus which had been causing pain . Doctors listened to the heartbeat of the foetus and as it had a heartbeat it was deemed to be alive and therefore no medical procedure could be carried out. Three days later, after several examinations of the foetus it was found to have died and the resulting body was removed. During this it had been found that Mrs Halappanavar had a dilated cervix and was leaking animotic fluid . The Guardian takes up the story here (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/14/savita-halappanavar-medically-unnecessary-death) and summarises what happened:









She died of septicaemia and E Coli. She died after three and a half days of excruciating pain. She died after repeatedly begging for an end to the pregnancy that was poisoning her. Her death would have been avoided if she had been given an abortion when she asked for it – when it was clear she was miscarrying, and that non-intervention would put her at risk.








Savita Halappanavar did not have to die in vain. The government and past successive governments since the X Case have failed to legislate adequately for such an occasion . The X Case was brought before the courts when a 14 year old girl, known only as X, was brought to court to prevent her going to England for an abortion due to a pregnancy from being raped by a neighbour. The Attorney General at the time,Harry Whelehan successfully got an injunction at the high court but this was turned over on appeal at the Supreme Court by a majority of four to one. It was ruled that a woman was entitled to an abortion if there was risk to her life but not to her health. As X was suicidal, this criteria was deemed to be constituting a risk to her life so X was allowed to go to England for an abortion. Since this, the governments of successive years have failed to legislate for the case and as such may be in breach of European law.









Part of the reason that the government has not legislated for it is that there is a certain conservative element within the Irish government, most notably in Fine Gael whom are still rooted in old school conservative Ireland in their politics. Only recently 15 TD’s spoke out against any proposals by the government to liberalise any of the laws on abortion and sought assurances from the government that such legislation would never pass. There is no question over certain members attitudes to abortion within the party when you consider that people like Gay Mitchell have made remarks (which they later say they regretted) which compared abortions to the Holocaust. In statements that were again brought under the microscope before the recent presidential elections, Mitchell was reminded of remarks he had made in 1998 in which he said (speaking of concentration camps) “children [were] poisoned by educated physicians, infants killed by trained nurses” to which was added ““could easily apply to the millions of abortions which needlessly take place year after year”. This religious element is not only to be found in the government. Savida’s husband told the media that when his wife sought an abortion, he was told that they could not give one as Ireland was a Catholic country. Youth Defence even at the time of writing this article are quick enough to hop on the bandwagon, according to thejournal.ie (http://www.thejournal.ie/savita-youth-defence-abortion-674078-Nov2012/) (in what surely must be a fairly ironic)









Youth Defence said that journalists – whom they did not identify – had been “rushing to pre-empt those investigations when they are not in full possession of the facts”.


Its statement said: “According to the information that is available, it seems that a delay in administering antibiotics may have been the cause of the septicaemia which tragically led to her death.









In other words they are telling us that journalists are not in full possession of the facts and they must be by telling us that it seems the antibiotics not being administered may have been the cause? Do Youth Defence not think they should have the full facts also?









The health system itself, being badly managed due to lack of clear direction and grey areas over the law could have done a lot more to address the situation that Savida found herself in. Doctors in similar situations in Ireland may be worried about the possible legal implications regarding carrying out such an abortion in the country. With no legislation or guidance in place, doctors are more or less left in legal limbo as to what direction to take on the matter. A young woman lost her life as there was no clear instructions in what to do in such a situation, which brings me to my last point.









Savida was denied the opportunity to be in control of her own body. The state has no business telling a woman what she can or cannot do with her body up to a certain point when it is carrying a foetus. Savida has requested a termination of the foetus to alleviate her suffering but this was ignored and in retrospect, this was a breach of her rights as a woman to do what she wanted with her body. Considering the gender quota that is in place at the moment in government, it is mostly men that are making the decisions,scary thought that men are mostly making the decisions for a woman and how she should live her life .









It is quite clear that the government, the health services and other agents of society that are meant to protect a womans life failed. To what extent is not quite clear but what is clear is this, there is one grieving husband looking for answers.









Sources







http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2012/1114/1224326575203.html?via=mr


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney_General_v._X


http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0719/1224320380991.html


http://www.thejournal.ie/gay-mitchell-regrets-saying-abortion-was-like-the-holocaust-203063-Aug2011/


http://www.thejournal.ie/gay-mitchell-press-officer-surprised-by-abortion-article-206582-Aug2011/

http://www.thejournal.ie/savita-youth-defence-abortion-674078-Nov2012/

Does the strife and tension in the world at the moment a sign Capitalism is not working?

Capitalism favours a system where there is a hierarchy of people gaining profit on the back of people whom are paid enough to keep them in a job however whom cannot move from one job to another easily enough. You pay a man a wage and also control him with the net result that corporations and large business gain power. Capitalism may have some benefits but by and large is it not the largest contributor to the issues we have at the moment in the world in terms of strife? No one need look any closer than to the US where there has been an inequal health care system, social welfare system and where minorities were treated like second class citizens for years. Large insurance companies own the vast tract of the health care market, social welfare is cut off after a year as people are expected to be wage slaves and large business is predominantly white. Capitalism itself has contributed to the cause of divisions within society with African Americans, Latinos and other minorities all being treated with disdain by large corporations in the pursuit of materialistic wealth. Access to housing, employment, education and other benefits is restricted to a large swathe of white America whom are intent on oppressing those whom they cant make a quick buck from. Israel has seized land from Palestinians in the hope of expanding to make a larger country, more resources means more profit and the pursuit of financial goals inflicts more misery on the people of Palestine.

The divisions that afflict such groups can be seen as to be beneficial to capitalists and their ilk. The worker that is not united is the worker that will not fight, that will not empower themselves and rise up and fight for the rights they are entitled to.

A Reason to change the law on abortion?

http://www.independent.ie/unsorted/migration/ireland-has-worlds-highest-number-of-anencephaly-cases-669196.html

This is a case where there should perhaps be legal abortion. The child would have been carried to full term suffering from a condition called anencephaly in which the child is born with a brain stem and some parts of the brain but the rest is missing. At most the child can just carry out basic functions such as breathe and is just existing on the very peripherals of life. Morally for a situation like this to exist is completely wrong, this is the doing of the church and other fringe groups whom are intent on keeping the status quo. The child is suffering and the mother is suffering until she reaches England for the termination. This is not a case to further the pro choice cause in Ireland but to make a point that in even the most limiting of circumstances, issues like these warrant legal abortion here in Ireland.