Smart Telecom

Well I eventually managed to change phone supplier from Smart to BT who do my broadband but I'm still without a phone (I can receive calls but can't make them) and will be lucky if I'm reconnected by the weekend. The process includes a very surreal Q & A session with an independent monitor to make sure that I really want to change my service provider, which in the circumstances is a bit much. Meanwhile Comreg (the telecoms regulator) has held intensive discussions with eircom in an effort to assist customers whose fixed-line services have been affected as a result of difficulties at Smart Telecom
What customers? It's been three days it'd be more useful to take action to expedite the process of switching. Smart is gone, I've already started to get the cold calls.

Terror in the Sky?

Why do I get the feeling that the latest plot to blow up ten planes from Heathrow using liquid explosives will turn out to be like the WMD which were going to strike the UK in 30 minutes - convenient for Blair who's in a spot of bother at home for being Bush's poodle but not true. This feeling was strengthened by hearing Prof Michael McGlinchey (direct real audio link) the head of Chemistry at UCD on RTE's News At One who was more then a little sceptical about both the effectiveness of liquid explosives and the practicality of smuggling them onto a plane and when I heard Bush actually say the words Islamic Facists I was convinced. Watch this space in about a years time.

That's it, Bush likes blogs - screw you guys ...

Time to pack it up, Bush has now personally endorsed blogs (and that after spoiling cocaine, drink and jesus for the rest of us)

Woman Asks Where People Can See Good Things In Iraq, Bush replies Blogs and the internet

via TCAL

Bebo madness

This Bebo thing's getting out of hand even the Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has a Bebo page now and I see Dave Fanning's trying to convince people that he's 26 years old on Myspace (use an old photo Dave!).

Spencer Tunick

An investigation is underway in Newcastle after surveillance camera footage of Spencer Tunick's Tyneside photoshoot involving 1700 nude volunteers were found to be on sale in local pubs.

Saving the Nazi Church

The Martin Luther Memorial Church in Berlin the last Nazi era church in Germany and the appeal to raise money to stop it falling down.

Kidneys for sale

A disturbing report in the Observer about the trade in the kidneys of executed Chinese prisoners. £23,000 gets you a kidney which to quote the website of the company responsible Transplants international "in the majority of cases in China, the dead people are prisoners, which allows for us to know at least two weeks ahead of time when the kidney will be ready". Globalisation at work.

100,000 on Dublin's Irish Ferries march

Between 80 and 100,000 marched in Dublin this afternoon in support of the Irish Ferries workers, marchers were applauded by bystanders as they passed. Once again the Irish people make their voice heard loud and clear but will this government listen and will the right wing media pundits accept that their master's voice is not after all that of the people?

Lithuanian Workers against exploitation there was also a big Polish contingent.

A view of the march at Parnell Square.

more from Indymedia

Irish Ferries & Dan McLaughlin

If you didn't catch Questions and Answers coverage of the Irish Ferries dispute it's worth checking out in particular for Dan McLaughlin's (Chief Economist with Bank of Ireland) scary performance - a performance so extreme that his employers issued a statement disassociating themselves from his views and he was forced to issue a personal statement clarifying the personal nature of his views - eek too right wing for the bank that likes to steal from it's customers! - and watch as Eamonn Delaney, editor of the comically right wing Magill magazine, gets increasingly agitated as he gets caught out on his factual errors and loses the crowd.
Christy Moore put the boot in on Wednesday's Pat Kenny (~14th minute), ahh Christy he's a national treasure when he's agin ya you might as well give up.

Still if Dan McLaughlin's job gets outsourced he could always become a Bela Lugosi imitator with Delanay as his Igor.

Katrina Dolphins considered armed and dangerous

In a bizarre twist to the Hurricane Katrina story 36 dolphins equipped with special harnesses containing 'poison dart guns' and trained by the US Navy to shoot divers are believed to have escaped to sea when their coastal compound was breached during the storm. Experts are now concerned that in addition to sharks, giant squid and drunken motor boat owners divers and windsurfers now have to fear killer dolphins with a grudge.

Go F**k yourself Mr Cheney

Video of ungrateful crackers heckling Cheney, no wonder Barbara Bush doesn't want them lowering the tone in Texas

New Orleans

Listening to the interview with the New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin makes you wonder what the hell is happening there, is it incompetence or just that they couldn't be bothered. If they'd asked Mexico or even Venzuela for aid I bet they'd have it by now.
Download this MP3 of Tom Barman's (of deus) version of the Randy Newman song Lousiana 1927 (MP3 link) which contains the immortal line President says...ain't it a shame what the river has done to this poor crackers land, seems little has changed.

New Orleans Flooded

I'm getting news from my mailing lists that the levees have broken in New Orleans and that up to 80% of the city is flooded and in the words of the Mayor 'devastated'. The city has been evacuated but New Orleans is a beautiful city and it sounds like the damage will be appalling.

Chavez offers cheap oil to US poor

President Chavez of Venezuela wants to give cheap oil to poor communities in the USA. He went on to say that Venezuela could supply gasoline to Americans at half the price they now pay if intermediaries who "speculated ... and exploited consumers" were cut out.
No wonder they want to assassinate him but I wonder now will Pat Robertson be excluded from the UK under their new anti terrorism rules for public speaking, writing or publishing that could foment, justify or glorify terrorist acts. or Misusing "a position of responsibility such as teacher, community or youth worker" to foster hatred will also provide grounds for deportation or exclusion.

London Bombing

There's nothing I can say that can possibly add to all the news comment on yesterday's bombs in London so I'll say nothing other then to say that my thoughts go out to all Londoners. I don't really understand the urge of bloggers to just say something, or to rehash the news even to the extent of capturing images from the telly and posting them online. I suppose for some it's an attempt to understand the unthinkable and for others an exaggerated sense of the value of their own opinions - the downside of the blogging phenomena. Less palatable but not surprising are those who use the bombing to score cheap political points.

Make Poverty History March

Get out this Thursday 6.30pm from Parnell Sq, Dublin to get your voice heard by G8 leaders. Go on don't make Bono tell you twice.

Dun Laoghaire Baths Update

The latest news about the Dun laoghaire Baths proposal; on Sunday Dun Laoghaire had the biggest march in it's history when over 3,000 marched to protest against the baths proposal. Yesterday evening the Council met to discuss the plans and postponed taking a vote. I've heard that they are to postpone the vote until July but I'll have to confirm that. So far people power is working, opposition is growing and local politicians are listening. When I know more I'll post it here, in the meantime check out Save our Seafront.

Dun Laoghaire baths swim in

The sign posted on the entrance to the Dun laoghaire Baths says swim in every Sunday noon. This is a bathing place for the public not a bedding place for the elite.
Anyone know any more about the swim in? Get in touch.

Dun Laoghaire Baths

As I mentioned earlier I attended a presentation by the Architects and planners behind the new development proposal for Dun Laoghaire Baths. After seeing the plans in more detail and hearing them address people's concerns I am now more concerned then I was before. Following are a few of the issues I find troubling.

1. The scale of the development with the eight storey apartment block is huge and will dominate the landscape blocking the view from Dun Laoghaire over to Sandycove and vice versa, it is completely inappropriate for this area. The architect's response to concerns about height was that 8 stories is not high and he went on to give many examples of 27 storey waterside developments in the north of England. I didn't find this reassuring.

2. The 5 acre infill is extensive and very little thought appears to have been given to the hydrological consequences of an infill that size. It was presented as the only solution to the problem of coastal erosion in the area between the baths and the back of the East Pier. Of course this area has fallen into disrepair in the last few years because the Council has failed to maintain it. With an infill this size the area to maintain will increase and it too will fall into disrepair if neglected.

3. The public amenities and public space proposed were very attractive but had an unrealistic air to them. Questions about how this amenities would be funded once built went unanswered. The Council can hardly afford to maintain what it has now. There was also a lack of clarity on who exactly would own the land the new seawall and the water facilities.

4. Credibility. Recent developments in Dun Laoghaire such as the Pavilion promised public amenities which were never delivered. The childrens library was even demolished to make way for a new carpark with the promise of a new state of the art library. The carpark was built but the children of Dun laoghaire never got their library. The Council can not be trusted to force developers to deliver on their promises and are quite expert at discovering loopholes to let them get away with it.There is considerable doubt as to whether any amenities will ever be built

5.Precedent. At the moment the seafront has no residential or commercial developments, there is a worry that this will open the floodgates.

6. Privatisation of the Seafront. Much was made of the fact that a public-private partnership was the only way to fund this development and that the alternative is for the baths to continue to deteriorate. But local TD Eamonn Gilmore, the Labour Party's spokesman on the Environment, who is against this proposal is proposing a smaller scale public amenity funded by the development levy which has now been widened to include the provision of community and recreational amenities. Click here to read his full statement.

More information about the Public display of the plans here and here for the Save Our Seafront campaign of action

Dun Laoghaire Baths

Just to be very parochial for a moment. Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council have launched a major redevelopment proposal for the Dun Laoghaire baths. No surprises it's an eight storey complex with 180 apartments with retail units and will involve reclaiming 5 acres of the sea. Needless to say there is huge opposition to the proposal which is effectively a privatisation of one of the most special areas of seafront in Dublin. There are, of course, many sweetners but experience has taught us in Dun Laoghaire that developers tend to promise the world and when the apartments are built they find some reason not to deliver those extras which made it seem so attractive in the first place.

Still the proposals are going on display and you can have your say at the following dates:
County Hall,Marine Road (Monday – Friday 9.00am – 7.00pm) and the
Council's Dundrum Office (Monday – Friday 9.30am - 12.30 pm and 1.30pm – 4.30pm).
Members of the Design Team will be available in County Hall at
3.00pm and 6.30pm on Wednesday 25 th May, 1st June, 8th June.

I'm attending a presentation on the proposal tomorrow evening and I suspect I'll be mentioning this again.

George Galloway

The BBC have a video of George Galloway's testimony in front of the US Senate subcommittee for homeland security and governmental affairs, I've got to admit that I'm not a big fan of Galloway but I found it quite extraordinary that they would make such a serious accusation against him with evidence that couldn't even be called flimsy with glaring factual errors and to do so without even asking him to defend himself. Well he's well able to defend himself and demolished their case against him, watch the video and judge for yourself.

While you're at it have a look at these documents about Donald Rumsfeld's meeting with Saddam. The documents show that during this period of renewed U.S. support for Saddam, he had invaded his neighbor (Iran), had long-range nuclear aspirations that would "probably" include "an eventual nuclear weapon capability," harbored known terrorists in Baghdad, abused the human rights of his citizens, and possessed and used chemical weapons on Iranians and his own people. The U.S. response was to renew ties, to provide intelligence and aid to ensure Iraq would not be defeated by Iran, and to send a high-level presidential envoy named Donald Rumsfeld to shake hands with Saddam (20 December 1983). All declassified US Government documents obtained by George Washington University under the freedom of information act.

Atlantic Blog & Dr Sachs

A quite bizarre post Bad journalism, disguised protectionism on Atlantic blog about Dr Michael Sachs the New York plastic surgeon in the news because of the death of Irishwoman Kay Cregan (or Kelly as he calls her) after he operated on her. The author thinks that efforts to bring him to Ireland to operate on disfigured children was blocked because of protectionism and that RTE were remiss in not pointing this out. Presumably the author hasn't read this article on the New York Times about Dr Sachs or this article in the Irish Times which mentions that Dr Sachs was banned by the New York Board of Professional Medical Conduct from carrying out complex "revisionist" surgery on patients without outside medical supervision or even heard this interview with NY Times journalist Warren St John about his investigation into Dr Sachs. But I guess you don't want to let facts get in the way of a ideological position, sounds like mindless partisan noises to me.

Coke in India

A disturbing account by Alexander Cockburn of a Coca Cola plant in Plachimada, Kerala in India which drained the groundwater reserves leaving drinking water wells unfit for human consumption, dumped toxic sludge on local land passing it off as a good fertiliser and when the water ran out upped and left leaving locals to pick up the pieces.

Pope Benedict

I'm sure you couldn't be bothered to hear my opinion on the new pope, but you might like this link about a previous Benedict, Benedict IX who was Pope on three separate occasions and who was ....ahemm well one of the less reputable Popes.