The thing is, it is beginning to dawn on many Lib Dems that AV, even if the referendum is won, may actually do more harm to the party than first past the post, whereas PR would actually allow the party to lose votes and still get its fair share of seats.

The problem is, AV has been agreed to in the coalition programme, and surely the only people who can change that are the two parties. But supposing a group of Lib Dem and Tory MPs jointly wrote to their leaders calling for a referendum on PR (for the Lib Dems) and EU membership (for the eurosceptic Tories)? Something for both sides, and something that may actually create two referendums that the public may be enthused about. Both parties will take different sides, but there’s no harm in that. The key factor for both groups of backbenchers is that although they may disagree with the central propositions, both agree that it would be up to the British people to decide.

Cameron really would not like it, as he would have to come out on a Vote Yes to Stay platform, but so what? It resolves the issue.

What would be interesting will be how Labour would respond to an EU referendum?

“How is it that in a single year we have signed up 42,000 workers at a membership fee of €150 per annum? I’ll tell you how. Because WorkRights stands up for all its members, not just the ones who work in the public sector. And I’ll tell you another thing. WorkRights executives don’t have anywhere near the feathernested packages of ICTU and SIPTU big cheese! We put our membership fees into providing services for our staff.”

Since opening business in 2019, WorkRights has provided employment law advice to or represented over 12,000 non-unionised workers at the Labour Court, Rights Commissioners and Labour Relations Commission, as well as negotiated special pension, health insurance and other benefits for its members. O’Leary famously received a salary of €1 for his time as CEO, having promised that he could represent ordinary Irish workers better than “that crowd of hairy Hoxhas in Liberty Hall.”

SIPTU and ICTU delegates could not be reached for comment.

In fairness, it’s not Gormley’s fault. Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour have all conspired to keep the status quo because A) They don’t trust their own councillors to make good decisions, and B) In a very Irish way, their own councillors oppose been given the powers because they then will be blamed for (the cheek!) using them. That’s not Gormley’s fault.

However, if the upcoming Dublin Mayor does not have the power to bend the county managers to his democratic will, that will be John Gormley’s fault, and he could find himself being humiliated by a newly elected Dublin Mayor demanding more powers, and JG finding himself in the surreal situation of defending the overcentralised political system he went into politics to change. Shades of minister Jim Hacker rejecting a petition started by a young MP named, eh, Jim Hacker?

As for the demonstrators outside: They included that group that opposes the Good Friday Agreement and condoned the Omagh bomb: Is there anyone Richard Boyd Barrett will not enter a Von Ribbentrop style pact with against his People’s Enemy du Jour? I also enjoyed being “shamed” by them, and really enjoy the far left/right telling me that I “should not want to read Blair’s book”. One always enjoys annoying the book burners.

Additional: Can’t say for certain, but it looked to me like there were far more people buying the book than protesting.

President Nixon: Tragically Slain in Dallas, 1963.

PRESIDENT NIXON DEAD. SHOT IN DALLAS. VICE PRESIDENT CABOT LODGE SWORN IN AS PRESIDENT.

The murder of Richard M. Nixon on the 22nd November 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald brought a meteoric political career to a cruelly abrupt end. The man who had risen from entering Congress in 1946 to defeating Senator John F. Kennedy in the razor thin election of 1960 was almost certain to be re-elected in 1964, given his adroit handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis, tough line on Vietnam (remembering Truman’s “losing China”) and his hard-line on civil rights solidifying black votes into the Republican column. The death of the young, cheerful and endearingly awkward war hero president stunned America.

Vice President Henry Cabot Lodge easily defeated Senator Lyndon Baines Johnson, running on a thinly veiled racist (against his own better judgement, he admitted years later) states rights campaign the following year. As history now shows, the Republican landslide of 1964 was the last good thing to happen to the former Massachusetts senator.

By 1968 The US was wading through the nightmare of the Vietnam war, the Republican party bitterly divided with Cabot Lodge despised in his native New England, and the Democratic party united in opposition to the Republican wars abroad and the imposition of civil rights at home. The return to active politics of former senator John F. Kennedy, seeking the Democratic nomination in 1968, cast a contrast as the slightly older but still handsome Kennedy addressed a united Democratic convention in Chicago where he pledged to “bring the nation, the great silent majority, together”. At the Republican Convention in Miami beach, on the other hand, antiwar protestors battled with police, live on television, and President Cabot Lodge was reluctantly re-nominated.

Kennedy swept the nation in a landslide, carrying not just the solidly Democratic south but everywhere save the mid west and the slain president’s home state of California, where loyalty to her fallen son remained strong.

Kennedy had no longer been a senator when the Voting Rights Act of 1965 had passed, and he had kept his remarks (Or “Remmarrks” as Vaughn Meader, America’s most popular TV presenter, alluded) limited to concerns about the federal government imposing its will on the states. He surprised and disappointed many supporters in the south, nevertheless, by refusing to consider repealing voting rights. Instead, he concentrated on ending the war in Vietnam, repairing the economy, restoring law and order and setting out a goal for the United States to land a man on the Moon before 1980.

In 1972, the US now out of Vietnam, Kennedy found himself challenged in the south by Governor George Wallace of Alabama and Senator Barry Goldwater for the Republicans, a close fought race that resulted in Kennedy narrowly being re-elected after Wallace and Goldwater split the anti-Civil rights vote in the south.

Kennedy’s second term was less eventful, given his refusal to open negotiations to recognise Red China (“Only someone like Nixon could have done that!” He told advisors.) although he did get to witness Commander Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin set foot on the lunar surface in June 1976.

The Republican party, recovering from its defeats of 1968 and 1972, turned in a new direction with its selection of former California Governor Ronald Reagan as its nominee for the 1976 election. Reagan’s anti-federal government, low tax, tough on communism approach, combined with his extraordinary communication skills, allowed him to narrowly defeat Vice President Connolly, Kennedy’s handpicked successor. As with Cabot Lodge, the election was to be the highlight of Reagan’s career.

By 1980, America had serious doubts about the ability of the former actor to manage the economic and energy crisis, and when the Shah’s regime collapsed in Iran, 52 US citizens were held hostage by Iranian militants. A botched rescue attempt by US special forces sealed the president’s fate, and Reagan just barely managed to defeat former Texas congressman George H. Bush’s primary challenge. In the presidential debates, the president looked tired against his charismatic Democratic opponent, who gave quips as good as he got them.

On November 4th 1980, exactly one year after the seizing of the hostages, President Reagan was overwhelmingly defeated, with establishment Republicans openly asking themselves “What were we thinking with this guy?”

The following January 20th, 1981, the president elect of the United States nodded at former President Kennedy, sitting beside the broken looking Presidents Reagan and Cabot Lodge, and took the bible in his hand.

“ I, Robert Francis Kennedy, do solemnly swear…”   

What is truly scary about this is the Goebbels-size lie that it is, that no matter how much light is thrown on this nonsense it continues to grow, against all rational thought. It is hard enough trying to convince people of real things in the world, but for the President of the United States to actually have to expend time, energy and effort dealing with this nonsense is quite extraordinary. The other aspect of this thing is what a media created story this is. If you ran a poll asking whether Glenn Beck had once strangled a male prostitute to death (which he hasn’t, by the way) you will get a small percentage who will say that he has. If you then report that story, that creates attention for the ludicrous proposition, which almost guarantees that the next poll will show an even higher number of people believe that Glenn Beck once strangled a male prostitute to death. Then people start googling as to whether Glenn Beck strangled a male prostitute to death. Go on, do it now. Which now means that there is a media story that says that a growing number of people believe that Glenn Beck strangled a male prostitute to death, even though he didn’t, and the proposition is outrageous. This is how this crap gets traction. 

The one hope is the argument made by some pollsters that many voters tend to make an emotional call about a candidate, and then look for a rational reason to justify that belief. The fact is, the sort of people who believe that the President is Muslim regardless of the facts are people who will probably never vote for the guy even if he personally put a bullet ino the back of Osama Bin Laden’s head.  

Coming soon to Carnsore.

Wexford 2020: Despite a series of opinion polls predicting defeat by a 10 point margin, Wexford County today voted by 57.1% in favour of the ESB proposal to build a nuclear power plant at Carnsore Point. Leaders of the NO campaign were quick to condemn the result, pointing out that the voters had been bribed by the Community Gain package that had been promised by the government if the proposal was ratified by the voters of the county.

Under the package, every existing home will be entitled to a a tax free lump sum of €5000 each year, as a recognition of the county’s willingness to “bear the burden” of hosting the nation’s sole nuclear power plant. It is hoped that the scheme, which will last for 20 years, and cost the ESB approximately €28 million per annum, will protect property prices in the county.

The leader of the NO campaign, Sebastian Wilcox-Smyth, speaking at the count, said that the people of Wexford had no right to impose nuclear power on the “ordinary people”, and would be taking the matter to the High Court. Wilcox-Smyth was involved in a controversy during the campaign when it emerged that his group, People Before Everything, had previously campaigned against the building of wind farms near anywhere “where human beings dwell.” The YES campaign suggested building them on Mars.  

Speaking from secret cave lair no. 345, Bin Laden is quoted as saying: “I have spent a lifetime trying to convince young Muslims that the United States is prejudiced against  Islam. Then they go and elect Obama, a man who has some actual knowledge of Islam, and treat Muslim soldiers in the US army as equals. They even have a Muslim in Congress! This is what I’m up against, so I really appreciate Newt and Sarah stirring up bigotry over the Islamic Centre two blocks from Ground Zero. Seriously, I could not have written it better myself, well, other than “We surrender, Praise Allah!” But now I can go to young American Muslims fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, who laud the US, and go “In your face, over here, working for the honky man!”. If I’m not trying to raise money to put Newt and Sarah into the White House in 2012, then my uncle’s a rabbi! It’s not as much a donation as an investment.”

The Gingrich/Palin approach to the proposed centre, thus ensuring that US Muslims know their place, is part of a radical new Republican approach to hot button issues the GOP hopes to showcase in the November midterm elections. Another issue is that of attitudes towards homosexuality, where Republican members of congress and formers chairs of the RNC are having gay sex regularly so as to be able to lecture family values voters on the evils of a hot gay banging with a buff intern named Chad. Repeatedly.

Who creates it, and who wants to spend it?

Let’s be honest with ourselves. Most political disputes, indeed most social disputes, come down to money. Yes, we can have issues over gay rights and what flag who flies where and who apologises to whom, but when it comes down to it, it’s cash that dominates. Curiously, as a society, we don’t debate that reality much, preferring to debate how we would like to spend it (more Resources!) and being pretty uncomfortable as to how it is created.
We have in our society, more or less, four economic classes, and it would do us no harm to pay a bit more attention to their roles in how we live our lives.

The Creators.
These are the people who create wealth. Whether it is writing a song that others buy, or inventing a product or service that others will pay for. It’s true, they need the framework of a state about them which protects their investment and their right to benefit from it, but broadly speaking, they create more wealth than they use up. Some are crooks, and use corrupt practices, but broadly, they bring more Euro to society’s table then was there beforehand. They’re not all millionaires either. Some own corner shops and drive taxis and write chick lit novels. The important thing is that the create money out of pretty much nothing.  

The Value Adders.
This would be the biggest group, covering most of us. We work for someone else, taking their wealth and adding value to it, whether as lawyers drafting contracts or putting cans of beans into cardboard boxes. We don’t create wealth, but add a bit on. Again, our key attribute is that we bring more to the table than we take. 

The Takers.
This is, ironically, the most socially diverse group, from big farmers receiving CAP payments to dodgy bankers to guys making millions merely by rezoning land, to people permanently on the state payroll or social welfare. They bring little to the table, in that most of them pay taxes but take more money from society (and the state) than they bring to it. The key is that their wealth is primarily as a result of the tangible efforts of others.

The Utilised.
These are the weak, and again, not necessarily the poorest in society. They are the exploited, underpaid workers or consumers, the people big business and the unions and the state roll over. The difference between them and The Takers on welfare is that they can actually add value, and bring more to the collective pot, if only they were helped.  

Here’s the problem: In Ireland, only The Value Adders and The Takers are regarded as legitimate. The Creators are despised by the jealous, and The Utilised are just ignored, with what might help them instead going to the better organised Takers.