Dogs of War

Ever since I was a small child I have had a rather ambivalent relationship with dogs—but in those days at least where I lived dogs were treated differently than the general pampering they get now. Back then the dog assimilated into the family—they ran wild around the streets growing benignly with children. The dogs around our place took on the general likeness of the family and sitting at the garden gate—they often appeared allegorically to express the personality of the family who owned them. All our dogs adopted the surnames of their owners thus we had Kim Young a likable little mongrel who changed personality once you got by the front doorstep—and we had Darkie Larkin who was dark and a great barker but you might only pet him once—if you valued your hand. We also had the never to be petted Spot Heffernan and another little thing called Patch White who was white and that seemed to fit perfectly. We used to play games by opening and shutting gates corralling our dogs like the cattle in the cowboy films. Alas perhaps my new found problem relates to an incident when I was about four whilst riding my tricycle and a neighbouring dog took a bite of my thigh as I rode by—it was a horrible invasive feeling to feel his teeth break my skin. Yet years later we got our own little dog –he was called Sam a delightful little cross between a sheep dog and some mongrel that had made it false promises. He was a great little fella full of tail wags and affection. Sam was really intelligent also if I brought him for a walk to Killiney beach he would stop suddenly and investigate what turned out to be my mother’s car parked at the dart station. Years later when I moved to new estate near my mother’s he would suddenly appear looking in the window whilst I watched television—he was really my brothers dog but he knew us and he loved and was loyal to us all. There is a problem though you see when my mother moved house all those years ago—Sam moved to his new environment without fuss—but he took an instant dislike to the postman and when the poor fella came delivering our letters Sam would growl-that deep doggy growl that we all know comes directly from the wolf. Whoever was close by might tell him to stop and laughingly tell the uncomfortable postman—'that he is grand really and he would never bite.' In that last passage of play lies the problem with dogs-and the main problem with dogs is the stupidity and selfishness of the dog owner. Dogs are no longer the child’s best friend who go exploring the world alongside their beloved companions—as described so often literature the dog that swam lakes-or disarmed thugs to save the kid—no now with the advent of neo-liberal social dogma,the dog has become an adult plaything. I am convinced people use then to replace some sort of lost emotion-and it is not hard to figure really considering that our sole purpose is to create wealth and if we can’t do that for any reason we become the runts of society. Men and women have adopted different attitudes to dogs with women favouring the smaller cuddly dogs they can dance with or put clothes on and see if they fit. Men prefer the hunting companion and they like a good hound—and whilst the boxer breed is still popular I detect a worrying trend in the arrival of the Alaskan Husky whom I am sure would be more at home in Alaska but there you go. So where is my problem with all of this I hear you scream everyone loves dogs and so what if you need a companion---how bad is that? Well let me explain I will leave the disgusting and dangerous amount of dog shit left on our pathways, fields, beaches and parks and other amenities to share with you the crucial point of my thesis which is true to my own personal experience. I had a heart-by pass when I was 46 in 2005—and luckily for me I made a decent recovery I had also been diagnosed with type two diabetes so exercise was suggested as a cure—or at least as a good way of keeping this horrible disease under control. So walk I did in what was my beautiful local park in Shankill—this is before I moved to West Cork. So off I went gradually building up my confidence from a short worrisome walk to really power walking which helped me both re-build my mental and physical strength—I got really good at this walking lark until I could walk a few km’s in a very reasonable time. I was doing really well the only problem I experienced was that for some reason one of the medications I was taking made sound seem a little distorted—it was uncomfortable to hear the loud screech of an engine—or a bird calling to another-sometimes a leaf falling from a tree would be more like the sound of a bowling ball than a leaf. You guessed it—then I went to war with dogs, a particularly nasty little black thing that lived in St Anne’s park took a partial dislike to me and a complete dislike to my recovery. He would come a barking and a growling as I heroically walked by—but then even worse a boxer dog who couldn’t understand how such a an undeserving specimen as I had survived open heart surgery had a go also—till I had to stop one day—frozen by a sudden and explicable fear. I asked the lady owner to control her dog and she then lazily and only half apologising at the interruption of my power walk, said casually, ‘She doesn’t like your hat!’ I spent sometime later wondering firstly about hats and then about dog owners and the way they form logic—how could a human know for sure what a dog is thinking—do dogs think in that way—why wasn’t the dog on a lead? There are signs up at all the entrances to Shankill park regarding leads—they hadn’t then but they have their own dog walking area now. I digress, I now have a mental image of people walking the stupid mutts in these enclosures—perhaps if they put the owners in the pens and allowed the dogs open and close the gate? Here in Courtmacsherry there are not the same amount of dogs as you get in urban areas—indeed when I lived here first time round I rarely met any dogs whilst walking. Although the footpaths in Cobh are fouled with dog excrement I didn’t have any major run in with dogs when I lived there. Recently while out the walkway I met a limping stray dog who came towards me with great speed and purpose—of course I stopped my power-walking and went rigid. However this dog whom I can only describe as a cross between a brown bear and an Alsatian, took a shine to me and on the way back to the village for once I got a chance to tell a local female dog walker that he was alright and that his bark was worse than his bite— and that he wasn’t about to devour her and the two whippets she walked. So the dogs of war—each day a small dog attacks me from the stable yard beyond the hotel—but it is the beach car-park where I have most problems. People pull in here and lazily sit in their cars. They then allow Fido piss and crap with impunity in what is one of our beauty spots—three times I have been barked at growled upon and chased by dogs there, and on the beach itself. Maybe only fellow survivors of open heart surgery will fully understand the extent of the anxiety these invasive attacks on the person causes. Perhaps only true dog-lovers really want this nonsense to continue where dogs are more valued than people, as all of this is a true account. A little dog came a growling and a biting recently as I chilled out. Feeling the wind blow across the waves in one of the most beautiful places on earth, rigid me called to the owner wondering why her dog wasn’t under control.You got it her reply referred once more to my hat—and I have now declared war on dogs and their owners.

The Evils of Democracy

I have been thinking about our sad little referendum and I search myself for answers as to why the majority of people voted the way they did. There are the obvious reasons like fear and greed –but are the yes voters anymore greedy or fearful than the no voters? By their action most of them are. Then if one studies humanity there are clues to be spotted—and as previously highlighted in my blogs the whole damn thing really comes down to whatever ideology a person indulges in. There is a huge movement in the USA—it is neoliberal Christian and right wing—it is also racist and anti-poor. These people look on welfare recipients as spongers and lazy—their ethic is to be hard working and rich—they also frown upon sexuality outside of the narrow frame of pro-creation,they are anti-womens rights and they are distinctly- anti gay. These people have inherited the world and they are spreading their poison across the Atlantic Ocean to a polling booth near you. They are aided and abetted by right wing politicians here who spread their neoliberal muck for them—people like Lucinda Creighton, Leo Varadkar---and Simon Coveney to name but a few. Fianna Fail have them also as do the Labour Party with their recent converts like Joan Burton and Eamonn Gilmore. Of course all is done by stealth if you asked anyone voting yes last week about neo-liberalism they would look at you incredulously and ask 'neo-liberal who?' So all stays fine for the pushers of this ideology as people won’t run unless they see the tsunami coming. Neo-liberalism comes gift wrapped in the form of economic sense versus the cloud cuckoo land madness espoused by the left. Whatever about the role that Christianity plays here [perhaps that is best left for another day]—democracy plays a leading role in this. Democracy is feted by the neoliberals basically because they can control it completely—as they own the media and if you own the media you have complete control. The lies and misinformation spouted leading up to the referendum were noting short of scandalous. Also the amount of bribery and the instillation of fear on the electorate was hugely decisive in raising the yes vote. 'People have fought wars and died for the right to vote,' is a quote one hears quite often, this is more neo-liberal nonsense as many of these said people were so poor that they fought wars for their political masters and the prospect of money—they had no ideology outside of this. Democracy is corrupted by the neo-liberal agenda and if you own everything you can convince the majority of people that what is blatantly wrong is good for them. If I present an issue to six people in a room—who are ignorant and the only source of information they can have is through channels that I control—all six will vote my way so what is so great about that system? The neo-liberals have control over mighty armies also—and if they feel threatened they will use them—they are at present restoring democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan they are on their way to Iran—anywhere they can victimise non-whites and non Christians they will. I sometimes wonder about it all—the fast cars and the nice clothes-the hard workers who can afford all of these things—remember these are people who get out of their beds in the morning—I wonder do they think of the unemployed father or the unmarried mother who live in some of their ideologically created ghetto’s? I doubt it as they work so hard for what they have-and they want this to be allegorically announced to the world. I am certain that in one stage of evolution people celebrated the end to autocracy—and neoliberals will tell us of mass murder and present the whole image as dark and dangerous—but the amount of humans killed both directly and indirectly by neo-liberalism is incalculable,how great our democracy is for the small few that control it!

Sinn Féins Joan of Arc

I hear the anguished cries of middle Ireland as they watch over the marching Sinn Féin with trepidation. One can almost feel the shudder, how could such a crowd of thugs and bank robber’s rise from the fires of hell—to debate equally with our respectable suited neoliberals, on important matters too like the European fiscal treaty. What is more they send out their Joan of Arc—Mary Lou and she spreads her venomous message across the clothes lines of Ireland, and even Pat Kenny has to take her seriously. The neoliberals present us with a successful business woman who knows how to balance books; she is suitably serious if not a little out of her depth with Joan of Arc eyeing her contemptuously. They also have Eamonn the radical Eamonn that once stood for the Workers party and then Democratic Left, these radical left wing parties that sold their souls and were annexed by the Labour party. Eamonn is not convincing as he constantly gives the impression that the line he is spouting is beyond his comprehension, government politicians are all guilty of this, it is like they are reading from a script but the information is passionless and second hand. Eamonn needs to attend more neoliberal night classes as he has not yet mastered the technique. Declan Ganley that grand warrior of the right who gets to appear on national television because he is wealthy plays a stormer mainly because he agrees with Joan of Arc to a degree, and if you have St. Joan on your side you are on a winner. I wonder why they don’t ask other Declans to go on, like maybe the Declan from the St. Vincent de Paul, or all the Declans or Deirdre's out there in community groups. Back to the poor old middle Irelanders the shuddering wrecks who imagine the Northern Bank funds been divided out at every mention of the shinners. These are the same people mind you who think it was alright for a sovereign government to sit back and allow its citizens be torched out of their homes, and also allow them be systematically cleansed from their traditional areas by sectarian bigots. There were like all wars atrocities committed by all sides during the war in northern Ireland, yet according to middle-Ireland it was the Shinners who were responsible for all of it, these same shinners that were feted by the partitionists during the good Friday agreement—but you see they didn’t see it coming at all, the shinners have a vibrancy and as Joan of Arc said, Sinn Féin have a wealth of experience in tough negotiations unlike our middle –Ireland friends who were more worried about our living standards, than the welfare of their fellow citizens during the war in the north. Personally my only worry about Sinn Féin is that they are not radical enough—and I can see them taking part in future coalitions and perhaps Joan of Arc will have transformed into Joan Burton—a nightmare scenario. If they possess any stealth like plan or suspicious underbelly this is it—the worries as expressed by the neoliberal middle-Irelanders don’t exist. If Sinn Féin are anything they are pragmatists and don’t be surprised if that daft republican party Fianna Fail get very cosy with them in time. So what of the Fiscal treaty itself—I think it will be a narrow yes vote based on the conservative nature of this society, going forward I doubt if it will make any real difference as events are constantly changing. I welcome the election of Hollande in France as some sort of dart in the arse of neoliberalism, and also it gives me some hope that the federated Europe we are heading towards may not be totally dominated by the right. As I have pointed out much of the far right stuff been pushed on the citizens of Europe is based upon ideology that is new to Europe and thus has that distinct second hand feel to it. Politicians this side of the pond don’t understand it fully so they sell it very poorly, and the people will not have continued austerity without a major battle. So folks you heard it here first a future Fianna Fail and Sinn Féin coalition and a United states of Europe I hear lots of sighs, but don’t begin to tell me that we are still a nation. I am afraid our nationality was stolen by outside forces a long time ago and our natural resources were gifted to wealthy interests at a terrible price for our citizens, we as a people have allowed this happen. Remember we don’t do ideology we do personality and we still admire entrepreneurs despite the austerity. But let us not despair as we still have Joan of Arc and that has to be worth something.

Taking the Bollix out of Bollixology

I have sorted it out in my head, and there is no need to worry about austerity or fiscal treaties or politics in general I have it sorted and in the end it was a very simple process. No longer will I need to sit up all night worrying about our future, my nightmares have been replaced by bouts of restful sleep full of twitting birds, and meadows awash with wild flowers. I have found the secret folks and it came upon me at 4.02 am this very morning, in an instant my life has changed, as I have found the key to unlock the madness and mayhem that surrounds me. If I was a mathematical person I would describe it as a simple formula one that can be applied to many things in life, but particularly when it comes to media and spin and our perceptions of same. This formula doesn’t require serious issues it works just as well with ordinary things, such as a visit to the shops. You are probably unable to contain your excitement so I will let you have it people it is the simple awakening that comes to all jaded men and woman at 4.02am after another sleepless night, the dawning realisation as to what is wrong with the world and how does one go about fixing it, well? We start with the very simple term ‘bollix,’ hah I hear, he is resorting to vulgarity not true my friends as when I complete the sentence you will see, ‘Taking the bollix out of bollixology.’ I will allow you a moment to digest the importance of this statement, and I will take a little of your time to explain from where the said term has come from, and how my mental state at 4.02am was just about perfect for this Eureka moment. We could just about take anything you wish but let us start with something ordinary, like do we really believe things like ‘every little helps,’ or that a certain supermarket chain want us to spend less, like why would they want us to spend less? It doesn’t make any sense, yet they actually use this in their advertisement. It is hardly crucial or important but all of this nonsense has to start somewhere, and in the early hours the mind ponders many a small matter and allows them a pride of place they hardly deserve. I guess there is a room somewhere where the practitioners’ of bollix from the school of bollixology make up their routines. These guys are so successful they can more or less make us believe whatever they want. They claim that a two party state which is the natural home of capitalism is an example of true democracy at work—this country fights war after war to inflict its brand of democracy on other societies. These victims are rarely white they are usually Asian,or African—or Arab in ethnicity. Thus they spread the great capitalist virus around the globe and boy are we seeing it now in the Eurozone. These people have managed to put the bollix into the European union also, what started out as an economic and social revolution has been annexed by the power of the capitalist markets to the extent that it has become dangerous. The school of bollixology have gone to great lengths to turn even the most innocuous event into a competition—the recent Tv3 debate on the forthcoming treaty is a classic example. The empire holds its games and in the most recent debate it was Martin and Coveney 2—Higgins and Mary Lou 0. But what were they scored on, certainly not ideology Higgins was berated for not answering a question that he wasn’t allowed answer. Joe Higgins is not great on TV people say, but that’s because he is not a performer Joe deals in ideology—Martin and Coveney deal in spin and rhetoric but according to the public they won—how is this or more importantly why is this? Of course the bollix goes well beyond political debates and it goes into every area of our lives—people just won’t face the truth, the choice is there to be made, do we want to be citizens of a nation or consumers in an economy? Are we willing to allow self serving political parties forge the future for us, or will we as citizens reclaim what is indeed ours—can we take the bollix from the bollixology.

Irelands Stolen Red Flag

When James Connolly died the Irish labour movement died with him. It can be argued that following the sacrifices made in 1916, that Ireland entered a crucial period in its history. As we moved forward two distinct models presented themselves, one of course was Home Rule and the other was to further the aims of the men and women of 1916 and seek an Irish republic.

Had Connolly lived there is little doubt that he would have fought on to achieve the Irish Republic but of course in Connolly’s vision this was to be a 32 county socialist republic. When one revises the history of the period it is little wonder that Irelands possible first leader a committed Marxist was tied to a chair in 1916 and shot---it is important to remind people that at this time Ireland was one of the poorest countries in Europe—and Dublin housed some of the biggest disease infested slums in the World. Connolly and Jim Larkin had led the workers in a vicious fight against the employers during the great lockout of 1913-14, Connolly founder of the Irish citizen army was as they say a marked man.

But what of his ideology can one imagine an Ireland where Connolly’s thesis had risen to the fore—how different a place we would live in now, of course our entire history would be different and if it were not in the light of what is taking place in Ireland today, it would be a fruitless exercise to even consider its implications.

Yet what concerns me as an individual and as a citizen of this state is the roaring question as to why within a supposedly democratic system did Connolly’s doctrine go unheard, or if heard then why unheeded. Historians may point to a very conservative church dominated society the very church who were persecuted in other socialist regimes, is it understandable that the church should have feared talk of equality and the individual taking a stake in the collective?

Again if one uses a casual revisionist approach could there have been any institution more totalitarian than the catholic church alright they didn’t take people out and shoot them [not in Ireland anyway.] but how many people suffered horrendous abuse at the hands of these clerics—to whom the state mindlessly handed over power in areas of health and education and in the area of imprisonment such as in the industrial schools.

Other reasons that Connolly thesis was ignored after his death was the advent of the Irish ruling class. There was always an Irish upper class whom were educated at the best schools either here or in England. These people saw themselves as the natural inheritors of fiscal power--they included both the catholic and protestant ascendency, and were mainly composed of professionals like lawyers and Doctors and medical consultants.

The war of independence made the option of home rule redundant and the watered down version gave us the Anglo Irish Treaty of 1921. As a result this was probably the only time in Irish history that ideology over pragmatism set the agenda---many on the republican side still believed in the all Ireland 32 county socialist republic—but shamefully and with the help and support of their former British masters the free state as it was now called, entered into a bloody civil war—whereby 3000, people were killed. In all wars there are atrocities carried out by all sides—but the systematic executions of over 77-republicans in 1922-23, tells its own tale.

So the new state evolved in the most divisive of circumstance but not on the grounds of ideology –the differences were easily categorised as one side yearning for a united Ireland and the other wanting to go with what was conceded and make a fight for it later—with this simplistic explanation many an Irish child passed through our educational system.

Nobody asked the relevant question what the hell happened to socialism or even social justice, the labour party minus a leader like Connolly became the conscience of the centre right—and Ireland grew as basically a two party state—both with centre right leanings and one which even had some far right elements in the mid – 1930’s.

The modern labour party under Eamonn Gilmore had an opportunity never before trusted on to the Irish left. After the last general election it had won the most seats to Dail Eireann in its history. Faced with a critical choice that was to enter government in coalition with the neoliberal Fine Gael—or align with fellow 'left wing' elected TD,’s and Sinn Féin and form a decent and noisy opposition to the criminal monetarism that is enslaving our citizens. They chose to enter government and I as a committed disciple of social justice wonder why?

Perhaps when we examine the labour party and seek to understand their motives we would best take a long hard look at ourselves. Who votes for labour is it the working person on low income who lives in social housing or who maybe is out of work and is actively seeking same—or is it the retired school teacher who started life modestly but now can sit back each morning with a copy of the Irish Times—and spout armchair socialism to anyone who might listen.

The labour vote has changed, and in essence labour is in fact representing those that voted for them by staying in coalition with the neoliberals. The average labour voter is middle-class or on the fringes of the merchant class—[By class I am not only referring to financial status but even more so to a specific mind-set]these people do not do ideology as they were not raised or educated to do so, they solely exist to maintain an acceptable standard, many of these people did come from humble origins—but it is not out of any loyalty to a miserable childhood that they vote labour over FF OR FG. They vote labour because they see no difference between the three and if there is no ideological difference then the only thing separating them is spin and personality.

We should take a long and hard look at ourselves we the citizen the inheritors of a state that was formed dubiously with outside influence from God knows where—we have arrived at a very difficult place and what we choose to do now, will have a major impact on our children and their children. I am not bowing to economics here but I am pointing to an examination of what it is we are—us the citizens of the Irish Republic what values do we hold—what is it that we cherish, are we willing to sacrifice things to create a more equal society.Are we willing to act like citizens within a state that in its definition is a collective for the common good. Or as this present government insists –are we going to promote individualism—greed, and base our prosperity on the volatility of the market place—the question remains and all that is left is our choice of ideology.

Enda Kenny's Ghost Writer Lacks Substance

There are some out there that think this government are doing a good job in what are extremely difficult times. These are people to whom the body of politics is still about personalities and localism they have no realisation that due to neoliberalism, politics is now global without personality, and very often devoid of substance.

Enda Kenny is the CEO of Ireland Ink [sic] self appointed I may add, as far as I knew he was Taoiseach of a very small country with around 4.5 million people—I wonder can he do both like be a Taoiseach and a CEO, at he same time. This is where the substance comes in—Enda Kenny has no qualifications or even experience to be CEO, of Ireland Ink, [sic], in fact what is he actually, he is just the leader of Irelands most right wing party- Fine Gael.

Enda is nothing if he is not dapper—he likes to pull up his pants before he sits down, straighten his blazer when he is standing, Enda is a fast walker immaculately groomed his stylists have him looking ten years younger than he is—this is learned political behaviour and learned from you guess where? That is right you are correct! The spin is in the appearance and the substance is unimportant.

Take his interview with Sean O’ Rourke at the weekend—the man is so busy he hasn’t time to make it to the studio to discuss the matters in question regarding Denis O’ Brien—the household tax, and the Fiscal treaty-leave all that to the hacks, this is the CEO-of Ireland Ink [sic] we don’t mix it with the rabble. So Sean respectful of your title O’ Rourke- interviewed the impeccable Enda on his own turf and entirely within the no substance agenda.

Enda of course had a bucket load of excuses about Denis O’ Brien and how he as CEO, of Ireland Ink [sic] wasn’t responsible for who was invited and who was not, he then waffled on about the household tax and the Fiscal treaty and he urged us all to put our differences aside and protect the generations to come by voting yes. On the jobs front he assured us that the entrepreneurs will deliver- and only as they can, the jobs will flow and the people will soon see the promised land. Sean reverential O’ Rourke didn’t ask him a hard question and that was it.

I wonder about all of this, and as I said recently in a tweet, that I always get the impression that Enda Kenny is speaking from a script rather than from the heart. It is like he is possessed by a Ghost writer who in a previous life wrote inspirational verse for gift cards. When one examines what Enda is actually saying, you come up with the awful realisation that he is saying nothing sustainable. His usual rant about entrepreneurs for example –what does this mean? Who are these people he refers to—are they waiting somewhere to be called to action.

Lets examine the substance, the Banks are still operating a credit embargo, and as the CEO admits there has been no progress on upward only rent review reforms. So let’s allow that Enda parts the Irish sea -and the entrepreneurial hordes are set free to create these illusive jobs, the conditions that Enda’s government have set for them are restrictive, and many would be slain and counted as statistics within the first two years, and any jobs created would drown with them. So what has this government achieved—well the austerity measures they introduced have deflated the economy, the measures they have put forward to aid their entrepreneurial crusaders are negligible- so what have we left ,more austerity because the country is spending more than it earns etc.

In summation Enda Kenny’s government should resign—they are a failure of epic proportions, they rely on one single element of economic stimulus that is to attract multi-national investment mainly from you know where? That’s right you have guessed correctly—this whilst providing some jobs only assists our economy rather than allows it to flourish.

Enda is redundant on plans outside of his Ghost writers brief—as leader of this state and not Ireland Ink [sick] he should be aggressively introducing action by the state in areas of job creation using the state owned sector in areas like forestry, fishing, agriculture and our natural resources, to assist in the growth of this economy.

State is the collective of all of us citizens—right now we need a CEO—like we need kick in the face, what we need is leadership-not lazy scripted words devoid of substance.