Monthly Archives: November 2010
Frozen wastes
So Dermot Ahern is not contesting the next election. Instead he’s joining the World Darts tour. Dermot ‘The Blasphemer’ Ahern will be throwing double-tops and 180s in Citywest as giant foam hands wiggle up and down to that bloody song … Continue reading
Wikileaks on Ireland
Some incredible stuff in the Wikileaks … erm … leaks. Rendition flights through Shannon were commonplace. Suspected terrorists were taken to an Ibis Hotel in West Dublin and forced to live there for weeks at a time until they could … Continue reading
Enough
Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, Tubridy is going to sing. With any luck he might get Joe Duffy up to do a duet. The Ballyfermot Blusterer can tut and make that contrived sad sigh he does … Continue reading
A short link
Tony Dixon, who worked for just about every radio station in Dublin at some stage, died last night. I used to work with him a bit, back in the day. He was always trying to play his R&B stuff, sneaking … Continue reading
The lies of Brians
Read ‘em and weep. Send that link to as many people as you can. Hat tip 19. Plus, read this.
“A quarter of a trillion” …
This, if you haven’t watched it, is essential viewing. This, thanks to FG, is scary reading. This is what we’re in. The Guardian are live blogging our misery. Let me save them the hassle. 10am – fucked 11am – fucked … Continue reading
A cop knelt and kissed the feet of a priest
Can we assume that this four year plan, this upcoming budget, this eagerly awaited rightening of our wrongs, will not ignore the politicians? See, I know the ‘common’ man is going to take a pasting, those with mortgages and bills … Continue reading
Brian Damaged
I assume most of you watched Cowen and Lenihan last night (if not part 1 and part 2). They stood up and spoke about the IMF and Ireland’s bailout as if it were nothing more than a run of the … Continue reading
Ireland has been betrayed by its leaders
Painful but essential reading in The Guardian: The relationships between developers, their financiers and the officials who authorised the building spree were usually cosy, often corrupt. The government, in turn, became dependent on tax revenues – and in some cases … Continue reading
Accountability
Pat Rabbitte sticking it to Pat Carey. Impossible to argue with it really. Now it seems the banks are accused of trying to cheat the exchequer out of billions. Billions. A word thrown around so often it loses meaning but … Continue reading
Pat Rabbitte sticking it to Pat Carey. Impossible to argue with it really.
Now it seems the banks are accused of trying to cheat the exchequer out of billions. Billions. A word thrown around so often it loses meaning but enormous sums of money by any standards.
If you or I were to try and do the revenue out of a tiny percentage of that we’d find ourselves in a world of shit. Audits, fines, possible jail, a big black mark next to our names forever and ever, no question.
The figures [from the banks] were certainly misleading. You can speculate as to what was behind it.
It’s easy to speculate as to the why but it’s more telling to look at the fact that they did it in the first place, that the culture of greed and the thinking they had the right to screw as much money out of whoever they could still prevailed at a time when all good sense and decency said it should not.
They did it because for as long as anyone can remember there’s been no accountability, white collar crime is not dealt with properly in this country. Fraud, tax evasion, cheating, back handers, brown envelopes, all the cute hoorism that has been accepted means those who perpetrate such acts have, for the most part, gotten away with it.
We have no Bernie Madoff here. Jail, for white collar crime? No sir. When the crimes are sanctioned at government level? No chance. And remember the Dept of Finance knew about dodgy interbank loans well before the shit hit the fan. They are complicit.
We have to change our ways and realise that criminals come in all shapes and sizes – not just the fanciful Paul Williams comic book charicatures. Some of the bankers and politicians have done more damage to this country than any Viper or General, yet they remain unpunished.
And as long as they do we learn nothing, we change nothing, we tactictly condone and accept what they’ve done.
Send them to jail. Make an example of them. As many of them as you can. Introduce a culture where even the slightest hint of fraud from those in public office or in high profile financial institutions is punishable with dismissal, at the very least.
Just don’t let them away it.