tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88023821324941037052024-02-21T05:22:43.358-08:00Stack SixEssays on science, politics, finance, the arts, belief and philosophy, often with an Irish flavourStackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-85824781129841615752023-01-15T03:20:00.014-08:002023-01-15T03:55:46.605-08:00Response to "Role of religion in school admissions" in Irish Times letters page, Saturday, Jan 14th.<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times;">In the best traditions of cynical political and corporate public
relations strategising, the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association
(CPSMA) wanted the Department of Education to carry out a survey ("<a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/2023/01/14/role-of-religion-in-school-admissions/">Role of religion in school admissions</a>", Irish Times letters page, Jan 14</span><sup style="font-family: times;">th</sup><span style="font-family: times;">). This would have taken
time to organise, to carry out, and aeons more time to debate when its predictably
ambiguous results would have come in. In the meantime, the status quo would
have been maintained, which is exactly what the CPSMA desires.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> They now
claim to have done a survey themselves. The validity of this, carried out as it
was by a party with a commitment to one side of the matter being examined, must
be questionable in the extreme. On top of all that, such a survey is irrelevant,
because if even a small number of children are obliged to remain exposed to
religious indoctrination as the price of a state-funded education when their
parents do not desire it, then we live in a country that simply cannot be
called a republic.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span style="font-size: large;">ENDS</span></span></p>StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-58771758777760192492014-08-24T09:52:00.000-07:002014-08-24T09:52:19.101-07:00The species imbalance in Dublin zoo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlqumTo36-dboX4oPO7bYAbql5kmH790MvMTQV9MqepQtX7vmBs_vR7N_GdNJOjPulD2oc0UnBURbYvsgd4blgGyn7zEETgV5QbFCAQNQDv22ciSmp1d_BHvtPsM9xfnQ0_ELWJUOkaOo/s1600/Tigers+in+Dublin+zoo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlqumTo36-dboX4oPO7bYAbql5kmH790MvMTQV9MqepQtX7vmBs_vR7N_GdNJOjPulD2oc0UnBURbYvsgd4blgGyn7zEETgV5QbFCAQNQDv22ciSmp1d_BHvtPsM9xfnQ0_ELWJUOkaOo/s1600/Tigers+in+Dublin+zoo.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;">Marilyn and I paid a visit to Dublin
zoo recently. This is a well organised place with friendly staff, much improved
enclosures emphasising spaciousness (my last visit was some years ago),
excellent, reasonably priced cafes and lots of clean, accessible toilets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;">The animals themselves were, of
course, the main attraction. My personal favourites are the big cats and I was
gratified to see a new arrival there in the form of a lion cub. Three tigers,
two females and a male, were magnificent. One of the she-cats let the big boy
know that his attentions were not welcome (she was not, apparently, in the
mood) by baring her fangs and sending a visceraly terrifying growl in his
direction. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;">The only grating part of the experience
was the glaring overabundance in the members of one particular species on the
day we were there. According to its website, when all the inmates are added up,
they amount to around 400 individuals. This includes everything from the Pantheras
leo, the lions, through the Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus) to the rose
tarantula (Grammostola rosa). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;">On the other hand, there must have
been very many thousands of the species Homo sapiens in attendance. During the
course of a year, over one million of this biped type take it upon themselves to
go to Dublin zoo to look at the other, captive animals. I like to think that
the more permanent occupants get at least some stimulation from observing the
observers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;">But the numbers are grossly
imbalanced, whatever way one looks at it. Three tigers, no matter how well
looked after, placed in the context of so many humans is very sad indeed. And
this feeling is not assuaged by the thought that Dublin zoo is not their
natural habitat because, in the wild, many of these superb examples of the
process of evolution are threatened with nothing short of extinction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;">The incredible explosion of the human
population on the planet is in the published data and one can debate the
sustainability or otherwise of this situation, the theories of Malthus and the
possible culpability of mankind in the Global Warming phenomenon, but the
juxtaposition of human visitors with the pathetically few members of a small
number of other species that can be seen in Dublin zoo brings home better than
anything else the terrible population imbalance that has taken place on earth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-42019326105333875592013-10-11T14:01:00.001-07:002013-10-11T14:21:59.071-07:00A TA lesson in trend change. Learn by doing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Recognising trends and, in particular, when a trend change takes place, is fundamental to trading.StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-90139412852526466172012-08-02T01:13:00.000-07:002012-09-03T15:51:03.670-07:00Sean Quinn and his place in history<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKFwYgxSXhF1G6vTXeSBE70df4G4_6CnJKKxPW6HWNs9sZr1YCRJRD73SScgiFtdsDmrCSW32CTMIsE0i4qeglmQCWCePCThlR8s4FW7JseaIRtdLO0UoNVGR4wCi0AIemNWJBaEdbeXk/s1600/Quinn+insurance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" eda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKFwYgxSXhF1G6vTXeSBE70df4G4_6CnJKKxPW6HWNs9sZr1YCRJRD73SScgiFtdsDmrCSW32CTMIsE0i4qeglmQCWCePCThlR8s4FW7JseaIRtdLO0UoNVGR4wCi0AIemNWJBaEdbeXk/s1600/Quinn+insurance.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We often like to laud the memory of the giants that bestrode the world stage, such as Napoleon Bonaparte and our own Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone. </span><span style="font-size: small;">The passage of time tends to eliminate the memory of certain of their typical characteristics, like, for example, a tendency to regard the law as something that can be safely ignored until it is rigidly enforced, or to be above serious consideration of the rights and feelings of others. It is the inspiration of their courage and daring that is valued, and whatever contributions they made as a beneficial side effect of their drive and ambition. </span></div>
<br />
The human condition has produced such examples in every generation, so why should we be surprised when they crop up in ours? <br />
<br />
In the meantime we have had the benefit of experience and, most significantly, the development of strong systems of government that owe nothing to wealthy individuals or groups, and everything to the mass of the people. These things should, in theory at least, result in regulation, <em>and its enforcement</em>, that would curb the excesses of those who stand out, whether in business or politics. <br />
<br />
So why do we not hear more of the one clearly identifiable failure of regulation that led to the Sean Quinn collapse: the totally irrational provision that allowed Contracts For Difference (CFDs) to be immune from the disclosure regulations on the acquisition of company shares? Imagine what the outcome might have been if the ordinary regulatory rules applied to these and other derivatives? Sean Quinn would have been saved from his hubris because he would not have been able to secretly acquire even a fraction of the 25% stake in Anglo Irish Bank he had reached when the bubble burst. He would now remain, albeit somewhat diminished, a national figure of whom we could all be proud as the man who broke the monopolies in cement manufacture and insurance in Ireland, and who brought very significant employment to those regions around the border where it was badly needed. <br />
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We would have had, in the modern parlance, a true win-win situation.<br />
<br />StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-11097980632813589662012-06-12T12:59:00.001-07:002012-06-15T02:49:13.996-07:00Can Europe help us fix our public health service?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQEiXzMKUFcN8ApUXbu_6q0gsMDiiiup5VugpgQyhre9OeiVFPG6FZSz6lZl4ZvIyt3Y78RlXoS1b0EAIzgQoPx3k7v3lDmDGFY3mVUIld_B7mLUSE8xZzyuRzxC7XXP5oaMQMwQUtVY4/s1600/Patients+on+trolleys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQEiXzMKUFcN8ApUXbu_6q0gsMDiiiup5VugpgQyhre9OeiVFPG6FZSz6lZl4ZvIyt3Y78RlXoS1b0EAIzgQoPx3k7v3lDmDGFY3mVUIld_B7mLUSE8xZzyuRzxC7XXP5oaMQMwQUtVY4/s1600/Patients+on+trolleys.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE"><span style="font-size: large;">Long waiting
lists for elective surgery, overworked A & E departments and in-patients
having to be accommodated for long periods on hospital trolleys are the kind of
stories we keep hearing about in relation to the Irish public health service.</span>
Of course these things are unacceptable. But bad as they are, a letter to the
editor of the Irish Times on May 27<sup>th</sup> 2012, from a GP, has described
a situation that should be made a criminal offence when and if a culprit can be
identified. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">The letter
indicates a level of inequality that simply should not exist in any country,
developed or otherwise. It illustrates that ability to pay and not need is the
criterion for hospital treatment here in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ireland</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/letters/2012/0529/1224316867069.html" target="_blank">Read it here</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">There are
also the inadequate care services in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ireland</st1:place></st1:country-region> for those who suffer from
Cystic Fibrosis, despite the fact that we are among the countries with the
highest incidence of this condition. These have been well documented on many
occasions by Orla Tinsley.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">The letter above
prompted me to do some research. I was able to locate a report on European
health services that seems detailed and is up-to-date. It’s from a Swedish
benchmarking group called the Health Consumer Powerhouse, it’s called “Euro
Health Consumer Index 2012”, it’s by Arne Björnberg, Ph.D., and it can be
accessed<a href="http://www.healthpowerhouse.com/files/Report-EHCI-2012.pdf" target="_blank"> here in .PDF format.</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">While
inequality of the type highlighted in the letter to the Irish Times as it
relates to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ireland</st1:place></st1:country-region>
is not dealt with specifically in the report, it does examine the issues of
waiting lists and the cost of health care on a per capita basis in a total of
34 countries, the majority of them within the EU. In relation to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ireland</st1:place></st1:country-region>, two
graphs stand out. The one for waiting list times shows <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ireland</st1:place></st1:country-region> six<sup>
</sup>places away from being the worst out of the total of 34. At the best end
of the list lie Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark,
France, Austria, Finland and Sweden, with the lowest waiting times. But here’s
the thing: In the graph that shows healthcare spend per capita, Ireland is
right up there near the top along with Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Austria, The Netherlands,
Switzerland, Norway and Luxemburg. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">The author of
the report has the following to say about waiting times:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">“</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">2.3 Major non-acute operations < 90 days<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">What is the interval between diagnosis and treatment
for a basket of coronary </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">bypass / PTCA and hip/knee joint? It is difficult to
avoid the observation that for countries, which <i>do </i>have official waiting
time statistics (<st1:country-region w:st="on">Ireland</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sweden</st1:place></st1:country-region>, UK etc),
this is in itself a not very flattering circumstance. Countries such as <st1:country-region w:st="on">Germany</st1:country-region>, where waiting times tend to vary in the
2 – 3 weeks range, have never felt the urge to produce waiting time data, for principally
the same type of reason that <st1:state w:st="on">Madrid</st1:state> has less
snow-ploughs than <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Helsinki</st1:city></st1:place></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">”.</span></div>
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A fair comment, but one is still left with the belief that
pure inequality, as opposed to typical waiting times, is unique to <st1:country-region w:st="on">Ireland</st1:country-region>, at
least within the EU. This is supported by anecdotal evidence from people who
have experienced public healthcare in <st1:country-region w:st="on">France</st1:country-region>, Belgium, The Netherlands and <st1:country-region w:st="on">Germany</st1:country-region>.
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Once again one is prompted to ask why there is such an
antipathy to the EU on the part of the radical left wing here in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Ireland</st1:country-region>. If
they were real Socialists they would, surely, embrace <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place>
as an exemplar of equality and anti-discrimination, and not as something to be
viewed with suspicion. If they were doing their jobs on behalf of the users of
health services in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Ireland</st1:country-region>
they would be beating a path to <st1:city w:st="on">Brussels</st1:city>
to highlight the woeful inequalities that have been described here, and getting
all available help to remedy the situation.<span lang="EN-IE"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-60784755100589727082012-05-28T07:02:00.000-07:002012-07-07T06:28:14.086-07:00Vote YES on Thursday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO0WkZQJvaNXvBhyJ2jgRMtoN4n-7pOTqAKkO7eNJ70URHHa4wWKOtH-bHACh3ByHef-k79wewQm3HhBbv5Yn_hwB7YB-zSeaMuk5OMtCSwukA6Yt-Ounc1a4XlJvcCiw-kERHPsFqb4g/s1600/Vote+yes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO0WkZQJvaNXvBhyJ2jgRMtoN4n-7pOTqAKkO7eNJ70URHHa4wWKOtH-bHACh3ByHef-k79wewQm3HhBbv5Yn_hwB7YB-zSeaMuk5OMtCSwukA6Yt-Ounc1a4XlJvcCiw-kERHPsFqb4g/s320/Vote+yes.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Predictions about the effect the referendum on the Fiscal Compact this coming Thursday will have on austerity in Ireland are meaningless. </span><br />
<br />
Those who are trying to convince voters that it will have any bearing at all on household charges, septic tank inspection fees, water rates or anything else of that nature are either dangerously delusional or shockingly dishonest. <br />
<br />
What is objectively true is that Germany (Bunds [German government bonds] approaching negative yields), Finland, The Netherlands, Austria (unemployment: 4%) have taken control of their finances and are all in favour of the fiscal compact. They simply want other countries to agree to it so that when stimulus measures are put in place for the EU as a whole there will be no free riders. It's hard to blame them for that. <br />
<br />
And they're the countries I want to be aligned with in the EU - not the ones that allow UK and US commentators to put us into awful acronyms like PIIGS.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.solarwave.ie/">http://www.solarwave.ie/</a>StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-84559561690078270952012-05-25T08:54:00.001-07:002012-05-25T08:54:28.083-07:00What's the Irish left got against the EU?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQRvHjXdc8f-6zvMZ-5OsN5bpO0yEm_vjya6DD3YYPqm5BZLwc7xZwBSNcn5UuD-iX6pSpeN4fNw2Wzz9vGxU8OdAxyBmpK9pKCyucgNFZvuTNDOmgm3R6jSiLhLw8iwTKKL6rADz_W_c/s1600/The+left+against+the+EU.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQRvHjXdc8f-6zvMZ-5OsN5bpO0yEm_vjya6DD3YYPqm5BZLwc7xZwBSNcn5UuD-iX6pSpeN4fNw2Wzz9vGxU8OdAxyBmpK9pKCyucgNFZvuTNDOmgm3R6jSiLhLw8iwTKKL6rADz_W_c/s320/The+left+against+the+EU.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE"><span style="font-size: large;">It would
seem that a large part of the left wing in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Ireland</st1:country-region>
is really, when all is said and done, against the idea of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Ireland</st1:country-region></st1:place> belonging to the European
Union. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">Last week I took the left leaning members of the opposition to task for
not making a lot more of the proposals that have been put forward by the
Germans and the French for a Tobin tax. My point, which I do not seem to have
done enough to get across, was that it was preferable to work with the EU on
measures to raise revenue for economic stimulation instead of simply opposing
fiscal discipline, as they have been doing. After all, a transaction tax on
stocks and bond dealing should be close to the heart of any Socialist, and
money borrowed, even for spending in the hope (and it would be a hope – borrowing
and spending are not of themselves a guarantee of success) of generating
growth, has to be paid back. In any event borrowing, as we know to our costs
since the onset of the Great Financial Crisis, is dodgy under any
circumstances.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">Now I read
in the Irish Times that Sinn Fein, in particular, has campaigned against every
EU treaty that has been agreed to by <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ireland</st1:place></st1:country-region> over the last 25 years. Joe
Higgins has always given the strong impression of a man that only agreed to
become a member of the European Parliament so that he could work to undermine
it from within. A new survey has also found that even a large percentage of
traditional Labour party voters, 41%, intends to vote against the treaty,
despite the strong endorsement of it from all Labour ministers in the current
coalition government.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">So what’s
with the Irish left and the EU? In the <st1:country-region w:st="on">UK</st1:country-region>,
it’s the Conservatives who have the most Euro sceptic members, and the Labour
Party is the one that is committed to taking a full part in <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place>.
In France, the newly elected President, Francois Hollande, a Socialist, might
have used rhetoric in his election that will cause him to look for growth
measures to go with the Fiscal Pact, but a Euro sceptic he most certainly is
not. And Angela Merkel and her party, while supporting balanced budgets, are
not afraid to put forward measures that will arouse the ire of capitalism (and
should therefore expect to be embraced by Socialism), a good example being the
aforementioned Tobin tax.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">Perhaps
opposition to <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place> is a means our Socialists
have decided on in order to differentiate themselves from other parties. This
might have its attractions in providing a quick fix to gain electoral support
in a deep recession, when voters are casting around for anything and everything
that represents the status quo so that it can be punished, but it is not in the
best interest of the country, nor, I would propose, even in the long term electoral
best interests of the politicians concerned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-29501087531002941972012-05-10T03:28:00.000-07:002012-05-10T08:42:22.144-07:00Is it right to be absolute?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc2zTWhivVdnh95JLK2C1Te_in9xfN4IH6f6MyLtNYeNbZW5aTEPVExnZIvh4ESako9UAtQLt3rTkSBfYofU8eQDykRdMetHOEgPxADQQordyW2GxZ5pDWj1vYEs4_jnSXF9oHMOyyX9c/s1600/Beno+and+Obama.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc2zTWhivVdnh95JLK2C1Te_in9xfN4IH6f6MyLtNYeNbZW5aTEPVExnZIvh4ESako9UAtQLt3rTkSBfYofU8eQDykRdMetHOEgPxADQQordyW2GxZ5pDWj1vYEs4_jnSXF9oHMOyyX9c/s320/Beno+and+Obama.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Pope Benedict XVI and President Barack Obama</div>
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<span lang="EN-IE"><span style="font-size: large;">President Obama
has come out in favour of same-sex marriage. Good for him.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">In an
article in the Irish Times last January (2011) that was inspired by the film
“The King’s Speech”, Fintan O’Toole wrote of the fact that he had once suffered
from a speech impediment. He was interested to hear that some people who had
such a problem also reported that, as children in school, they had been forced
as naturally left-handed people to do everything with their right hands. That also happened to him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">Over many
centuries, left-handedness has been seen by Christianity as being associated
with the devil, and was therefore regarded as something that had to be “cured”,
even if this meant using force and causing severe distress to the child
concerned. Apparently there are many references in the Bible that could be
interpreted as a condemnation of left-handedness, although no prominent church
leader is known to have come out and made anything like the pronouncements
against it that have been made against Gays and Lesbians by, among others,
various popes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">The current
pope is very fond of one particular word. He has condemned what he calls
“relativism” on many occasions. He sees it as something that is taking over the
world and as being closely allied to secularism. As used by the pope, it seems
to imply that, for him and the church, there are a number of basic truths that
can never, ever be challenged - they must remain absolute. This, of course,
immediately causes problems for those in the scientific community because the
scientific method is predicated on the idea of revising or even totally
rejecting anything that does not continue to accord with new evidence as it
becomes available. The pope’s defenders will say he is not concerned with
science (the church was proved so embarrassingly wrong with regard to
scientific pronouncements in the past that it has decided it is better to get
out of the field altogether). However, his condemnation of Gays and Lesbians
and his total rejection of same-sex marriage indicate that he is ignoring the
modern understanding that being gay is just another part of the diversity of
human nature, and is neither good nor bad – it just is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">As for the
idea that the church cannot change its beliefs – this fails to stand up to
scrutiny too. Can you imagine the uproar there would be if a teacher in any
school was found now tying a child’s hand behind his or her back and forcing
them, against their natural inclination, to write with their right hand? Here, at least, is one absolute belief that’s not so absolute any more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-11876972227390433762012-05-07T04:55:00.000-07:002012-05-07T04:55:16.706-07:00Another reason to vote Yes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipmsNkoEXAicG1N5tLymbQJ5V2ca9bvAjWGTQKdJ2JBSFiZJ5vCegCwVuwNUAAReHQJ5l2JmWAzpoLb74PVxV1GSiNQAXdjoX2cNKk_uQBzVoz2v-BIdHF7A2nYL5_x1vjTPjiGxgAAb0/s1600/F.+Hollande.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipmsNkoEXAicG1N5tLymbQJ5V2ca9bvAjWGTQKdJ2JBSFiZJ5vCegCwVuwNUAAReHQJ5l2JmWAzpoLb74PVxV1GSiNQAXdjoX2cNKk_uQBzVoz2v-BIdHF7A2nYL5_x1vjTPjiGxgAAb0/s1600/F.+Hollande.jpg" /></a></div>
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Francois Hollande</div>
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<span lang="EN-IE"><span style="font-size: large;">Socialist Francois Hollande has become the latest president of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Fifth</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">French</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Republic</st1:placetype></st1:place>. Much has been
made of his apparent attitude to the EU Fiscal Treaty, about which we in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ireland</st1:place></st1:country-region> will
have a referendum vote at the end of this month.</span> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">At this stage it is impossible
to know how much of M. Hollande’s words represented electioneering rhetoric and
how much will result in solid changes to the treaty, but there is reason to
believe that, while the austerity aspects of the treaty will not change, they
might now be accompanied by measures aimed at stimulating the economy of <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">This
represents just one more reason for <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ireland</st1:place></st1:country-region> to vote Yes in the
referendum. It was always a good idea to confirm our position as members in
good standing of both the EU and the Euro zone, and voting Yes is the means to
achieve that under current circumstances. Now we have an added incentive – as members
that are fully committed to fiscal responsibility, which is what the treaty is
about, we can take full advantage of whatever economic stimulus is brought into
being by the influence of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">France</st1:place></st1:country-region>
under its new leadership.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-65087788987185110782012-04-22T03:50:00.000-07:002012-04-22T04:59:14.598-07:00How a referendum can be anti-democratic<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivfehr8UFfW-o9nO4t3w5RjvHvOMJkP5kmamoBqaaZe1UMcn4dep6XreWloKPIJVaE3VRCGGuf7eEibHVtOVGw11nFdXDSvJ3E9_Zb_jUQoJFXndQaSjB1i06aD2UXOK1GEF7EhD9xJAk/s1600/democracy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivfehr8UFfW-o9nO4t3w5RjvHvOMJkP5kmamoBqaaZe1UMcn4dep6XreWloKPIJVaE3VRCGGuf7eEibHVtOVGw11nFdXDSvJ3E9_Zb_jUQoJFXndQaSjB1i06aD2UXOK1GEF7EhD9xJAk/s1600/democracy.jpg" /></a></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Winston Churchill is quoted as saying that </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">…democracy is the worst form of government - except for all the others that have been tried.</span>”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And democracy can indeed be frustrating. It’s difficult sometimes to understand why the majority cannot see things <i>your</i> way and vote in the candidates that <i>you</i> think will serve us best in parliament. </span></div>
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Referenda are, or at least should be, the ultimate item in the toolbox for the pursuit of true democracy. The Rolls Royce in the exercise of the right of every adult citizen of a country to have his or her say on the outcome of a proposal that will effect everybody. </div>
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We are facing an important referendum in Ireland on May 31st next, on whether or not we will sign up to the European Union Fiscal Treaty provisions. </div>
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While the idea of a referendum if attractive to anyone who is in favour of democracy, this one, and others in the past, have brought forward at least the suspicion that in practice such plebiscites can fall more than a little short of the democratic ideal. This has been discussed here before: <a href="http://stacksix.blogspot.com/2012/02/democracy-and-referendums-in-ireland.html" target="_blank">Democracy and a referendum on fiscal union in Ireland</a>. Here it was argued that as, on occasion, less than half the people who are eligible to vote in referenda actually do so, the majority are in fact saying they not want referenda at all and are happy to let others make these decisions. Unfortunately this can open the door for well organised groups that have separate agendas.</div>
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I now believe this situation has the potential to get even worse. The coming referendum is shaping up to be positively anti-democratic. This situation will arise because of two things: strong evidence from opinion polls that nearly half the voters are prepared to admit that they do not understand the treaty provisions, and the decision of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to instruct its members how to vote on the question. The admitted lack of understanding feeds into the idea that people are prepared to let others make the decision on their behalf - if not they would do whatever it takes to gain sufficient knowledge of the issues. The trade union involvement is more insidious. It suggests that, if enough of the people who vote are both trade union members and among those who do not understand the treaty provisions, the outcome could depend on the attitude to the treaty of policy makers in the trade union movement. </div>
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The problem is that these people do not have a mandate from the public at large. They have not put themselves up for election in front of anyone other than their own members. To put it another way - what’s the difference between abrogating, in practice if not in theory, a national decision to the leaders of trade unions on the one hand, and allowing the democratically elected members of Dail Eireann to bring forward a result after a full and transparent debate on the matter in the parliament of the country, on the other? Could the answer have something to do with the subverting of democracy?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-40887435960498125202012-04-12T03:00:00.000-07:002012-04-12T03:13:36.182-07:00Censorship, science and religion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOED0v2ST81203F_H21N-pFrYnpqKeSADw1wrXSZvy12SF3S5ceXoKw6glMMv7EGNvnsgLz3nk-U84ckpVozX-hy-nwHofXnpPtYys3UdtZGZ6V0oPp8wTPPxg9CU-4pKok7LJWyNrl6Y/s1600/Back+to+school.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOED0v2ST81203F_H21N-pFrYnpqKeSADw1wrXSZvy12SF3S5ceXoKw6glMMv7EGNvnsgLz3nk-U84ckpVozX-hy-nwHofXnpPtYys3UdtZGZ6V0oPp8wTPPxg9CU-4pKok7LJWyNrl6Y/s1600/Back+to+school.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE"><span style="font-size: large;">The recent
news about the banning, by the Vatican, of commentary and opinion being
published by a number of Catholic priests in Ireland initially invoked in your
blogger the reaction that it was an internal matter for the Church, with which
he wants nothing to do.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">A moment’s
reflection, of course, determined that the same church still impinges greatly
on the lives even of those who would shun it completely, nowhere more than in
the matter of the education of one’s children and eventual grandchildren. The Catholic
Church still controls and manages over 90% of state funded primary schools in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ireland</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Therefore citizens are often constrained to send their children to one of these
schools as the only means of them getting a primary education, as was the case
with our family when we lived in rural <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ireland</st1:place></st1:country-region>. You tend to take the view
that it will be all right - sure everyone is in the same boat, and this is not
exactly the middle ages.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">But it
wasn’t all right. Our daughter, who dearly loves her father, for all his faults,
was made to suffer serious anguish in the belief that he was destined to hell
because, as she was aware, he had decided that there was no god. Her mother
seems to have eased her mind by getting her to agree that, even though Dad
didn’t believe, he was still a good man, so he would avoid hell. The whole
episode generates great anger, even now. Thinking about it, it’s lucky she
wasn’t in a Lutheran school. Martin Luther taught that good works were not
enough. The only way to he ‘saved’, for him, was to believe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">There are
other reasons why religion in schools is pernicious. It has the capacity to undermine the teaching
of scientific principles, for one. In the words of Richard Dawkins, in his book
“The God Delusion”:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">“<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Fundamentalist
religion is hell-bent on ruining the scientific education of countless
thousands of innocent, well-meaning, eager young minds. Non-fundamentalist,
‘sensible’ religion may not be doing that. But it is making the world safe for
fundamentalism by teaching children, from their earliest years, that
unquestioning faith is a virtue</span>”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">And how far
away is the Catholic Church from fundamentalism when we are hearing that the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region> has
taken steps to curtail freedom of expression on the part of some of its
priests? This has to mean that the same culture of repression will pervade the
state schools that the Church manages. For someone who sees the ability to
criticise and to bring forward new ideas as an essential part of living, this
is bad news indeed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">Richard
Dawkins’s book is well worth reading, for anyone. However, it is especially
relevant to those priests that have been silenced by the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Dawkins is a world class intellectual. At the very least, priests, such as
those who have been victims of <st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place>
authoritarianism, should be able to address the points he makes. It is
available from <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-God-Delusion-Richard-Dawkins/dp/055277331X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334224737&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Amazon.co.uk, here</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-86935081873311685952012-04-06T02:41:00.001-07:002012-04-09T04:18:29.825-07:00It might be economics, but it's not science<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVk7HgBeuR7hqcvK8Po1rPRSFuuHXuAfn_1kST3gXGRIl-LpiAXtIHWBUO_Rxah9dkEZ0DBgkVNH87Ma0J1UPaC6q4jg5Y76mPPipNlxjNrAHI5UfPczz-73UM55TG6LgMvocaRCVEFzY/s1600/Economist+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVk7HgBeuR7hqcvK8Po1rPRSFuuHXuAfn_1kST3gXGRIl-LpiAXtIHWBUO_Rxah9dkEZ0DBgkVNH87Ma0J1UPaC6q4jg5Y76mPPipNlxjNrAHI5UfPczz-73UM55TG6LgMvocaRCVEFzY/s1600/Economist+pic.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">No sooner do I coin a well-received definition of economists, to wit: </span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> “…the study of economics is not a science. Note that I did not write “exact science”.It is not a science at all. It is a set of beliefs that are held by individual practitioners and invoked under any and all conditions. Economists are Keynesians, Monetarists or follow the Austrian School in the same way as the devout adhere unquestionably to Mohammed or Christ or L.Ron Hubbard. Economists cannot agree among themselves on the right course of action under any given set of circumstances and they most certainly cannot predict what will happen in the future”. <a href="http://stacksix.blogspot.com/2012/01/vincent-browne-and-euro.html" target="_blank">(See "Vincent Browne and the Euro) </a></span><br />
<br />
than a group of them comes along and seems to make every effort, in the pages of The Irish Times, to support my thesis.<br />
<br />
An article in the paper of record on Friday 6th April and signed by no less than 43 academics, many in economics positions, is entitled “<a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0406/1224314438666.html" target="_blank">Austerity without growth a guarantee of stagnation</a>”. It points out that a subset of the same group argued, two years ago, against spending cuts and tax rises as a means of dealing with the economic crisis on the grounds that it would kill growth and create high unemployment and debt. The current article seems to be claiming that this prediction has been proved correct, 24 months later. But two years is a mere blip in terms of the time required to create the economic conditions that would come close to being defined as normality.<br />
<br />
“The evidence is clear”, they say, “contractionary fiscal policy does indeed restrict economic activity and employment”. This is an example of the kind of wooly thinking that's indulged in by those who have misappropriated scientific terminology. The statement is certainly reasonable, and one could even be persuaded to base policy upon it in certain circumstances. There is however no evidence, never mind clear evidence, in this opinion piece to support it.<br />
<br />
The article is unscientific in that it never addresses other, feasible, hypotheses. For example, the proposition that taxes on high income groups actually reduce the tax take because they make it economically viable for the rich to simply remove themselves to another tax jurisdiction. Or that the EU / ECB / IMF solution to current woes - austerity now (but nothing like what the global financial markets would impose on countries like Greece and Ireland if they were to have a disordered sovereign default) to repair and consolidate Euro-zone peripheral economies so that the E-zone as a whole can prosper and grow in the future – might be the correct course of action.<br />
<br />
The article could conceivably contain contradiction. At the start it is arguing against tax increases on low and average earners as the means of raising the funds for growth in infrastructure and other labour intensive projects. Less than 800 words later it’s calling for …”taxation targeting high-income groups, property assets, unproductive activity and passive income…”, “…stronger local taxation…”, “…the potential of social insurance and local taxation to broaden the tax base…” and claiming that “…PRSI [another form of taxation] can be expanded and combined with general taxation to provide free (sic) universal healthcare and earnings-related pensions”. Many hold that all these measures simply trickle down as costs to middle and low earners through market forces. <br />
<br />
Definitely not science. The scientific method has no room for ideology, for expediency or for plain, old fashioned, wishful thinking.StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-55004029737204975022012-03-28T12:23:00.003-07:002012-03-28T12:41:40.873-07:00A little bit of James Bond nostalgia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-m0tuG_r9Mr6mFcJ1P3Ygy5ynSB-ebeJ2EHvp0EKq_EVe6NrYv73xxz0O0LXVZBIdOU1hyj21rOWzA1Q9ZHOBMJfn69lwyqOPTuR1_jafCCWjwcF_A-7-AyPQTwWR7_2AtbbqlcUIayQ/s1600/OHMSS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-m0tuG_r9Mr6mFcJ1P3Ygy5ynSB-ebeJ2EHvp0EKq_EVe6NrYv73xxz0O0LXVZBIdOU1hyj21rOWzA1Q9ZHOBMJfn69lwyqOPTuR1_jafCCWjwcF_A-7-AyPQTwWR7_2AtbbqlcUIayQ/s320/OHMSS.jpg" width="267" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE"><span style="font-size: large;">Recently, I
found a title in a second hand book stall that I first read when I was a
teenager: “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, by Ian Fleming, one of the incomparable
James Bond series.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">As anyone of
a certain age will know, the James Bond books were a phenomenon when they first
appeared in about the 1960s. Since then, they’ve been made familiar to
countless movie goers through the films that were made of them starring,
initially, Sean Connory as Bond, and later such worthies as Roger Moore, George
Lazenby and Pierse Brosnan, to name but some. Even David Niven had a go at it
at one stage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-IE">But it was
the written word in Fleming’s books that did it for me, and many others. Bond
was a connoisseur of only the very best, and Fleming dropped brand names like
mad. Everything from Hermes bags and other products, Aston Martin cars, Mouton
Rothschild ’53 with the most routine of meals and even, on at least one
occasion, Waterford Crystal glassware – James came across them all, and many,
many more, in the course of his travels.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-IE">And there
was more than a hint of sulphur about James Bond books. For my part, it was necessary
to hide them, often in the garden hedge, as to be found reading them by parents
in the early sixties was to invite trouble.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-IE">So it was
nice to be able to dip into “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”. James is up to
all his old tricks, smoking his head off, drinking only the best and gambling
for huge stakes at a really stylish casino. By the end of chapter three he has,
as expected, partaken of some serious rogering, even before he gets into the
adventure proper.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-IE">But the quaintest
paragraph of all comes in chapter six:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-IE"><i>“It was at
this moment that the Syncraphone in his trouser pocket began to bleep…The
Synchraphone had recently been introduced and was issued to all officers attached
to headquarters. It was a light plastic radio receiver about the size of a
pocket watch. When an officer was somewhere in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place></st1:city>, within a range of ten miles of
Headquarters, he could be bleeped on the receiver. When this happened, it was
his duty to go at once to the nearest telephone and contact his office. He was
urgently needed”.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">Whatever
would Ian Fleming have done with the Internet?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-35783294177088810742012-03-07T07:47:00.000-08:002012-10-05T09:12:56.071-07:00The swan takeoff - what a pilot<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwywYjYYNHg" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9P_zEXah49zoK_XFDdVgigVDolQeA5uudUvTD0pnI3NbzZZ6eWFe0pjQ2J8zME5r5r292-9n5oNWXMHvB-ZU2wHNdeabLNQlgzZVR4vmRhh1na0AANEw0YflsXE3_6GTAEviFnGTtXR8/s400/Swans+taking+off.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Click on the image for the video</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I was walking alongside the Grand Canal in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Dublin</st1:place></st1:city> towards the LUAS tram line bridge at the Charlemont stop, which is also close to the Sixth Lock canal gate on the other side, and I stopped to watch a swan swimming strongly towards me. Hello, I said, this bird is going somewhere. Her speed through the water made a prow wave either side of the swan’s breast and a wash behind. There was a real sense of purpose here.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Then the swan turned in. To feed, I thought. No, it went slightly into reverse, legs maneuvering underwater, and I realized that it was making a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn, to face in the direction I was walking. Then, without any further ado, it started to take off. I was right beside it. Wings flapping so that the tips actually beat the surface of the water, it rose slightly. Then the webbed feet gave additional forward thrust by seeming to run along the surface of the water. Slowly, it rose, but was also heading for the LUAS tramway bridge. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It got gradually higher, wings working away, but swans are not pigeons – because of their weight they’re ponderous in the air. In fact, I believe they are the largest bird that can still fly. The ostrich and some penguins are bigger but they’re water or earth bound. Now it was rapidly approaching the bridge and for a second it looked like it might collide with it - and that was even before it had gained enough height to clear the overhead cables that power the tram. But then there was a last, powerful surge from the wings and it was high enough to be above everything in its way. A few seconds later I saw it landing on the other side of the canal lock.</div>
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It was a magnificent spectacle. But for me the wonderful part was the obvious confidence the swan had in the distance from the bridge it knew it had to allow so that it could get over it. It seemed to know exactly where to turn after swimming away from the bridge in order to create an adequate runway for itself. Does it make that judgment every time, or has it, through trial and error in the past, established a landmark on the bank? I think the latter, because when I saw it swimming it never once looked behind – it just stopped at a certain point and turned.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I have been able to find videos of swans taking off and there is a link to one above. For me this is one of the many wonders of nature, but most times they have lots of space in which to get airborne. The takeoff I saw was special.</span><br />
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<br />StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-67347377237995376502012-02-20T08:08:00.000-08:002012-02-20T08:08:23.630-08:00Science, Magic and Religion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://academicearth.org/lectures/intro-science-magic-religion" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgitj2uMCvpgyrVv4_qbHC0J8q_AqYQQCec0ZYeTOfVmjvPgKB19NJIZTHbFKfpERtm2nRhdueVbMb8o-CD-3BVppfXPYg4gUcSaQdhWWVVHiNz-A3CXJ8JHmCP2BnOYJ105Dn12t4v-gc/s320/Cours+intro+Science+magic+and+religion.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The
Internet truly is wonderful. Today I’d like to introduce readers to the
possibility of viewing a complete undergraduate course at the <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">California</st1:placename>
at <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Los Angeles</st1:place></st1:city>
(UCLA), entitled “Science, Magic and Religion”, which is presented to us by Professor
Courtenay Raia.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">One would
need to have a deep interest in the subject and/or rather a lot of time at his
or her disposal in order to watch the whole course. However, the introduction
video is well worth viewing, all by itself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">It is easy
to imagine that it is only in relatively recent times that a clear distinction
has arisen between the three elements in the title of this course: Isaac
Newton, who discovered gravity, who defined mechanics and the laws of motion
that bear his name, and who invented the Calculus, was an ordained clergyman
who spent a good deal of his time practicing alchemy, the means by which many
people of his day believed base metal could be turned into gold. Johann Kepler,
who developed the laws that define the motion of the planets in their orbits
around the Sun, had a steady sideline in the preparation of astrological charts
which were supposed to tell the fortune of the person who commissioned them. In
the Middle Ages astrology was taken so seriously that it was made a capital
offence for anyone to attempt to tell the fortune of the King of England.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">These
videos have an added bonus in that Professor Raia is a joy to watch. She’s a
supremely confident lecturer who uses her hands, in particular, to beautiful
effect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-65944136070918956132012-02-18T06:18:00.000-08:002012-02-18T06:28:40.429-08:00An Irish honorary consul for the Vatican?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDSUevZlm8K-lS5V0LVtgmROj7B7Kns9puEGbs2egkoQVkwJsQmxoCWvt7MWUbuP6AwNNYpWkVzg-kb7inNsywgQ-Oq7DkAl-onqjxwnFH8PZ7H3_hA8WxloW7qdnbahBz8XaVE6ytyV4/s1600/Irish+Vatican+embassy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDSUevZlm8K-lS5V0LVtgmROj7B7Kns9puEGbs2egkoQVkwJsQmxoCWvt7MWUbuP6AwNNYpWkVzg-kb7inNsywgQ-Oq7DkAl-onqjxwnFH8PZ7H3_hA8WxloW7qdnbahBz8XaVE6ytyV4/s320/Irish+Vatican+embassy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">The Irish embassy to the Vatican, Via Giacomo Medici, Rome</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The Irish
government has decided to close its embassy to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region>, ostensibly for reasons of
cost. Supporters of the Catholic church claim that it is, instead, a gesture of
defiance on the part of the Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister), Eamonn Gilmore, who
is on record as being a secularist, and made possible from a political point of
view by the wholesale cover up of child sexual abuse by the Catholic church
authorities, which had gone on for many years but has only come to light in
relatively recent times.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><span lang="EN-GB">Ireland</span></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-GB"> has another embassy in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Rome</st1:place></st1:city>, to the Italian
government. The <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region>
has insisted that it should have a separate diplomatic mission on the grounds
that it has been recognised by, among others, the United Nations, as a
sovereign state. The totality of its territory is, of course, enclosed within
the limits of the City of <st1:city w:st="on">Rome</st1:city> and, to add
anomaly to anomaly, the existing Irish embassy to the <st1:country-region w:st="on">Vatican</st1:country-region> has always been situated, not in <st1:state w:st="on">Vatican City</st1:state>, but in another part of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Rome</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Many Roman
Catholics in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ireland</st1:place></st1:country-region>
are not pleased about the closure of the embassy. This is reflected in the
belated opposition of a number of Fine Gael back benchers, who are no doubt
reflecting the views of their constituents. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Even those
of us who have been campaigning for many years for the separation of church and
state in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ireland</st1:place></st1:country-region>
can, of course, appreciate that Catholicism has been a major influence in Irish
history and therefore a part of our culture, for better or worse. That cultural
link will always be reflected in, for example, the names of certain notable
times of the year, such as Christmas. After all, we have no problem in
commemorating other, earlier, gods in some of the days of the week, such as
Woden (Wednesday) and Thor, (Thursday). Maintaining an embassy to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region> for
cultural reasons is in a different league, however. There is the cost, which is
a duplication of the expense of maintaining that other Irish embassy in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Rome</st1:place></st1:city>. There is the fact
that Catholicism is a religion, not actually another country, no matter what it
may like to believe itself to be in this regard, and there is the little detail
that the Irish embassy was never actually within Vatican City, indicating that
all concerned were playing diplomatic games at the time of its inception.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The <st1:country-region w:st="on">Vatican</st1:country-region> (population 860) is not unique in having
an existence as a small, semi-autonomous entity in <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place>.
There are also The Principality of Monaco (population 35,000), The Republic of
San Marino (population 32,000), and The Principality of Andorra (population 84,000),
as examples. I owe this information to my son, Shane, who has politics in his
degree and who works in Public Relations, as I do the fact that, in the case of
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Monaco</st1:country-region>, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Ireland</st1:country-region></st1:place> is represented by an
Honorary Consul. We currently have no representation in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Andorra</st1:country-region> or <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">San Marino</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Wouldn’t
the <st1:country-region w:st="on">Monaco</st1:country-region> example be an
excellent resolution to the current controversy with regard to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region>? An honorary consul to the Vatican. As Shane
says, one of the cardinals could do it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Sources: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.dfa.ie/home/index.aspx" target="_blank">Irish Department of Foreign Affairs</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/" target="_blank">US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) World Factbook</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=59809346&locale=en_US&trk=tyah" target="_blank">Shane McKenna BA PRII</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-38706711816615904852012-02-07T03:25:00.000-08:002012-02-07T03:26:55.155-08:00Democracy and a referendum on fiscal union in Ireland<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm1dReXjoZmovH4NnEr-f__7Tv2yw8BeF4zh3nKft3_I8FRvzNnKxLc2UFJQz4H9HX6O30s8XxHNUUtsnByDdpRxzy-KSwALhPjgfbifRpdUyfn4CALLAbyjh_ZgMv1rnPem_BLee8FqE/s1600/Referendum+voter+turnout+chart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm1dReXjoZmovH4NnEr-f__7Tv2yw8BeF4zh3nKft3_I8FRvzNnKxLc2UFJQz4H9HX6O30s8XxHNUUtsnByDdpRxzy-KSwALhPjgfbifRpdUyfn4CALLAbyjh_ZgMv1rnPem_BLee8FqE/s320/Referendum+voter+turnout+chart.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="js-singlecommenttextjsk-itembodytext"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Many people understand democracy only in terms
of the will and dominance of the majority. However, as was well recognised by
Thomas Jefferson and many others, majorities can be just as tyrannical as the
worst dictators. That is why the free world operates under a system of
constitutional democracy, which has other elements in the mix, like
parliamentary representation and a constitution that guarantees the rights, not
only of minorities, but of the individual. </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
<span class="js-singlecommenttextjsk-itembodytext"> </span><br />
<span class="js-singlecommenttextjsk-itembodytext">A referendum in Ireland on EU fiscal
union will, almost certainly, be bedeviled by euro skeptic campaigners who will
be quite happy to condemn the Irish people to all the very significant
disadvantages of having to operate, in a globalised marketplace, outside of the
membership of a major monetary unit, so long as they can strike a blow against
abortion / the end of neutrality / the perceived defects of current government
/ whatever you're having yourself. </span><br />
<span class="js-singlecommenttextjsk-itembodytext"> </span><br />
<span class="js-singlecommenttextjsk-itembodytext">At the end of the process it
will be discovered, yet again, that half or less of those entitled to do so
will have actually voted. Therefore the outcome will go to the faction that is
best able to mobilise its troops. </span><br />
<span class="js-singlecommenttextjsk-itembodytext"> </span><br />
<span class="js-singlecommenttextjsk-itembodytext">In the referendums on the
constitution that were held in the years in the chart at the top, on no less
than four occasions the turnout was below 50%. For what it’s worth, at those
times a majority of the people was saying, in effect, that it did not want
referendums. On no occasion was the turnout greater than 60% and in many cases
it just managed to pull above the 50% level. In the 17<sup>th</sup> amendment
referendum, on cabinet confidentiality, the number in favour was 52.6% of those
who voted, but this was a mere 23.5% of all registered voters. Significantly less
than a quarter of the eligible voters in the state were thus able to have the
constitution changed. This was not really a good exercise in democracy.</span><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
<br />StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-69294296656329775592012-02-01T03:22:00.000-08:002012-02-01T03:33:52.658-08:00The Internet sheriff is coming to town<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY02Pk-5yiFTpQVgi32Ya2jOd0PJrbD0U506biGR7Rp3zp4TfNwtF5aaOLpaRR2i1aF3lOtSoDj-HwZGCsoSiU9eLp2-gcRzgOFf3tc79VrCcm_J8d2rf18eluPcnN0d2mL0AvCt6g74c/s1600/Wild+west+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY02Pk-5yiFTpQVgi32Ya2jOd0PJrbD0U506biGR7Rp3zp4TfNwtF5aaOLpaRR2i1aF3lOtSoDj-HwZGCsoSiU9eLp2-gcRzgOFf3tc79VrCcm_J8d2rf18eluPcnN0d2mL0AvCt6g74c/s320/Wild+west+pic.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The
Internet is about to be policed. In the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">USA</st1:place></st1:country-region> there are government proposals
under the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) to restrain
those web sites that allow users to download material that is subject to
copyright. In the EU there has been a requirement on all member states to
strengthen their copyright legislation in order to bring about the same result.
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Ireland</st1:country-region></st1:place>
has implemented this but there was an oversight in the legislation that has to
be rectified.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">There’s
been a lot of protest to these proposed measures, especially in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>, by Internet
companies such as Google and Wikipedia as well as by private individuals. A
more sinister development has been the “denial of service” attacks that have
been made on US government and other agencies connected with the piracy
prevention proposals. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">When it
announced that it was about to enact further legislation to fix the problem in
the EU mandated legislation, the Irish government was faced with the outrage of
Internet users. In the circumstances this seems like a copycat reaction to the
situation that has arisen in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">USA</st1:place></st1:country-region>, because there wasn’t a murmur
from anyone when the original law was passed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Many
opponents of the new moves have characterised them as an attempt to censor the
Internet. That allegation needs careful examination in the light of the First Amendment
to the US Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression and the defence,
almost to a fault, by the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">USA</st1:place></st1:country-region>
courts of this principle. For example, the US Supreme Court has ruled that
protests by anti-gay religious fundamentalists at the funerals of soldiers that
had been killed in Iraq, which create serious further anguish for the relatives
of the dead person and which often include posters saying such things as “Thank
God for Dead Soldiers”, are allowed under the First Amendment provisions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Internet
piracy involves the distribution, over the net, of material such as songs,
films or written works without paying the person who created it in the first
place. Preventing piracy is an extension of the principle that has allowed
authors, performers and producers to make records, CDs, books and films in the
knowledge that anyone who tries to rip them off will be prevented from doing
so. It’s a vital incentive for people to work at being creative.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">The
protests have a certain irony. In the past, many performers, especially in the
music industry, complained that they were being seriously exploited by the
record companies, who are now among the biggest supporters of SOPA et al. Then
technology improved to the point where most of them could set up their own
recording studios, often at their homes. Now we’ve moved on further, to where
additional technological advancement, i.e. the Internet, is facilitating another
generation of rip-off merchants.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">There is a
difference between freedom of expression and the protection of intellectual
material. The Internet will have to be policed in order to ensure that
copyright law is observed. To attempt to leave it in its current Wild West
state is naïve. To refuse to recognise the principle of copyright protection is
unfair to the world of creative endeavour. Those who organised and signed
petitions against SOPA, and the web sites that blacked themselves out in
protest, would be doing a much better job if they put their time into helping create
meaningful legislation rather than preventing it altogether. The “denial of service”
attackers are bullies and intimidators – their attitude is “do what we want or
we’ll prevent you from operating at all”. Even the word they use to describe
themselves, “Anonymous”, is indicative of a group that has something to be
ashamed of. They must be resisted at all costs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-21886140412401498632012-01-10T07:02:00.000-08:002012-01-12T07:46:40.821-08:00Certainty<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Recently a good friend posted a link on facebook to a TED talk by one Brene Brown, of whom I had never heard, although I was familiar with TED. This is a website that contains talks on various subjects either by well known people, such as Jane Fonda and Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, or by lesser known but nevertheless well qualified specialists in their fields. TED is worth a browse at any time, just for its own sake.</span></div>
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Brene Brown’s talk, <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html" target="_blank">which is linked here</a>, was well worth watching. I found that when I listened to it again, I got more from it. A key point of the presentation was that absolute certainty, in anything, is a major problem and a big mistake.</div>
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On December 15th last we woke up to the news that Christopher Hitchens had died. It was not unexpected as he had been battling with a serious form of cancer for about 18 months and it was known that he was not likely to survive. I have read most, if not all, of his books and I recently revisited the one for which he is perhaps best known, called “God is not great” (my copy is signed by the author, who I had the pleasure of briefly meeting when he debated religion with John Waters in the Gate Theatre in Dublin in 2008).</div>
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The following is an excerpt from the book:</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">‘Religion is man made. Even the men who made it cannot agree on what their prophets or redeemers or gurus actually said or did. Still less can they hope to tell us the “meaning” of later discoveries and developments which were, when they began, either obstructed by their religions or denounced by them. And yet – the believers still claim to know! Not just to know, but to know everything. Not just to know that god exists, and that he created and supervised the whole enterprise, but also to know what “he” demands of us – from our diet to our observances to our sexual morality. In other words, in a vast and complicated discussion where we know more and more about less and less, yet can still hope for some enlightenment as we proceed, one faction – itself composed of mutually warring factions – has the sheer arrogance to tell us that we already have all the information we need. Such stupidity, combined with such pride, should be enough to exclude “belief” from the debate. The person who is certain, and who claims divine warrant for his certainty, belongs to the infancy of our species. It may be a long farewell but it has begun and, like all farewells, should not be protracted”.</span></div>
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After such words, nobody can be under any illusion that Christopher Hitchens or those, such as myself, who agree with him, can themselves be certain about their positions. All we can do is maintain that an explanation of how the world came into being that does not rely on a supreme creator is one that works for us. </div>
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I have come across many who are deeply religious and who use this as the backdrop for living exemplary lives. These tend to be the religious people who do not attempt to persuade me to their way of thinking, and I’m more than happy to recognise that theirs is the solution to life’s complexity that works for them. I certainly have no interest in winning them over to my position on the matter. Where problems arise is where believers feel they have to <span class="st">proselytize</span> – where they arrogantly think, for whatever reason, that everyone they meet should be “given the opportunity” to conform to their philosophy. Is this because they're insecure in their beliefs and need the reassurance that numbers of like-minded people can give? Do they feel threatened by those who insist on rational explanations and who hold, as Cicero did, that what is incapable of happening never happened, and what is capable of happening is not a miracle?</div>
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And there are those people of religion who would insist that they are not proselytizers, such as the RC Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, but whose actions do not match their words. The Archbishop certainly comes across as a reasonable man. He is on record as saying that lapsed Catholics “should have the maturity” to leave the church. He is, one might think, the acceptable face of Irish Catholicism. That is until we realise that he and his colleagues insist on having what is known as the integrated curriculum in Irish state funded national schools, of which, for historical reasons, they manage well over 90%. The integrated curriculum means that Catholic doctrine is not just confined to religion classes but permeates all subjects throughout the school day. The end result is that parents who do not want their children indoctrinated but who have no alternative primary school to which to send them and who are, after all, part of the body of taxpayers who provide the funding for the schools, are forced to put up with what is a totally unacceptable situation. It means that not only does the Catholic Church proselytize, but it insists on having as its target audience those who, because they are children, are by definition immature, with their critical and cognitive faculties still only in formation.</div>
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It must come to an end. The only certainty should be that there are no certainties.</div>
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<br />StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-37259195867362126882012-01-04T04:52:00.000-08:002012-01-05T03:35:11.777-08:00Vincent Browne and the Euro<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">Vincent Browne is one of Ireland's most venerable journalists. He and I will agree on some things and not on others. One
area of accord is probably (based on Vincent’s writings to date) the belief that
the study of economics is not a science. Note that I did not write “exact
science”. It is not a science at all. It is a set of beliefs that are held by
individual practitioners and invoked under any and all conditions. Economists
are Keynesians, Monetarists or follow the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Austrian</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">School</st1:placetype></st1:place> in the same way as the devout adhere
unquestionably to Mohammed or Christ or L. Ron Hubbard. Economists cannot agree
among themselves on the right course of action under any given set of
circumstances and they most certainly cannot predict what will happen in the
future.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">Vincent doesn’t claim, of course, to be an economist although I
understand he has standing as a lawyer. His piece (<a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0104/1224309778569.html">Irish Times Wed Jan 4th 2012</a>), on the possible upcoming referendum on fiscal measures that have been
mooted in the context of resolving the debt crises of certain members of the
Eurozone, seems to rely on a legal interpretation of the relevant treaties, especially when
he claims that no country can be expelled from the Euro zone, and also when he
implies that Ireland can veto the proposals and thereby do a “</span>service to
all the people of Europe”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Taking
the last point first, we need only look back a short number of weeks to when the
British attempted to use their veto to block EU Tobin tax proposals. In short
order they found themselves completely circumvented by the other EU states and
at the same time pushed </span>noticeably<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> closer to the EU exit door than even the most
rabid Euroskeptic could have wished for.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">With
regard to the existing treaties not allowing a state to be expelled from the
Euro, no nations have better illustrated, through history, the adage that there
are many ways to skin a cat than the Germans and the French. In the limit, both
of these (along with other fiscally responsible states such as <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Finland</st1:country-region></st1:place>
and The Netherlands), could themselves opt to leave the single currency and put
in place an alternative that would satisfy their requirements. For those left in
the rump Euro the effect would be just as devastating as if they were expelled
from the original. I cannot tell the future any more than Vincent or an
economist can, but history has indicated a high probability that they would be
subjected to very high interest rates, including on home mortgages, speculative
attacks on the currency that they would not be in a position to defend, an
inability to borrow internationally to repay either the amounts owing as a
result of the bailouts or for current requirements, and a fall off in Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI) due to uncertainty and a lack of confidence in the
currency. The rump Euro would also be subject to significant devaluation, which
Vincent and others would probably welcome as an aid to exports and tourism, but this also
carries a price, and that price is excessive inflation. We would be back, at best, to the situation
that pertained in Ireland in the 1970s, when savings and pensions were destroyed and when
profiteering was rampant.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Vincent
Browne, and all the rest of us, should be very concerned that he might just get
what he has wished for.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br />StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-35029770613273770002011-12-13T04:26:00.000-08:002011-12-13T04:33:03.027-08:00The sovereignty myth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Walk down any high street in Ireland and you will see the outlets of large companies that have their head offices in the UK, and who regard their Irish shops as nothing more than elements of their domestic chains. Some English Premiership teams have more Irish support than all home soccer clubs put together.</span><br />
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92% of Irish primary schools are under the management of an organisation that has its headquarters, and the formulation of its philosophy, in Vatican City, which is in the middle of another nation’s capital. Not too long ago a senior Irish politician could start a debate about whether, spiritually, Ireland was closer to Boston or Berlin.<br />
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It’s not entirely fanciful to believe that if “Coronation Street” were to be abruptly discontinued on Irish TV we would have rioting in the streets. Almost one hundred thousand Irish people receive their salaries from US companies established here, in return for which they happily embrace US corporate culture. This includes the understanding that they are expected to work without Trade Union representation, unlike their compatriots in indigenous industries, many of whom are forced to acquiesce to exactly the opposite condition in return for being vouchsafed a job.<br />
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None of the above facts has ever given rise to as much as a murmur about the fear of Ireland’s identity being undermined. Yet, when it looks like we are about to be the recipients of necessary fiscal discipline by certain countries with whom we freely entered into a monetary union, and who now want to save that union in order for it to continue in operation for our mutual benefit, we hear no end of bleating about how our sovereignty, no less, is being attacked and undermined.<br />
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As my American friends might say - give me a break.<br />
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<br /></div>StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-68307556805096021442011-12-04T04:37:00.001-08:002011-12-04T05:27:08.393-08:00OMG! A new referendum<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4vzYx-JlxDbWSF4yLmawQcEiDTzfiQMZ9wgIp7vDpW5tKhNnbSaIwMRjSAmk3z9Jo8KvfhZSJHSgPAj6DaWEb-4WkAuxGhYAHqTBC-uz2YcKb5a3LMJwKrJ3qh-1KPB2qEcayZTg_Q9k/s1600/EU+referendum+pic.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4vzYx-JlxDbWSF4yLmawQcEiDTzfiQMZ9wgIp7vDpW5tKhNnbSaIwMRjSAmk3z9Jo8KvfhZSJHSgPAj6DaWEb-4WkAuxGhYAHqTBC-uz2YcKb5a3LMJwKrJ3qh-1KPB2qEcayZTg_Q9k/s320/EU+referendum+pic.jpg" /></a><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">There is a growing expectation that there will have to be a referendum in Ireland on EU treaty change, to allow for shared decision making on budgets and taxation by the countries within the Euro zone, which is known as fiscal union. Up to now the Euro zone has only had monetary union, which has meant that member countries have ceded their powers to set interest rates or regulate the money supply to the European Central Bank, but were left free to decide on such matters as taxation rates and whether or not the national budget should be balanced.</span><br />
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For some, like the current government, the need for a new referendum is unwelcome news. It is likely to be divisive and there is no guarantee it will be passed. Because of the attitude of certain of our Euro zone partners, most notably Germany and France, it is looking likely that Ireland’s not agreeing to fiscal union could create serious issues about the actual survival of the Euro as a hard currency and / or the part that Ireland might play in a re-designed European single currency system.</div>
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Readers of Stack Six will be aware that we follow an enthusiastic European line here. It is not too much to claim that the development of the European Union and Ireland’s place in it have been the most significant macro events that have occurred during this writer’s lifetime, having been born just a few short years after the end of World War II.</div>
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It is easy now to forget the changes that were forced upon the Irish Republic as a condition of entry to what was then known as the Common Market, and which evolved into the European Union. Some examples include: the end of the rule that meant that women had to resign from all Civil Service and many other jobs on getting married; the repeal of legalised discrimination that existed against gays; an end to corporal punishment in schools; a ban on capital punishment; and a general requirement to abide by the anti-discrimination measures of the Treaty of Rome, which set the whole thing off.</div>
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Even the NCT car test, which has contributed, along with a zero tolerance for drunk driving, to a halving of the annual rate of road deaths in Ireland since it was introduced in January 2000 [the actual reduction between 1999 (413 deaths) and 2010 (211 deaths), is 49%], was only established in Ireland because of an EU directive. It is easy to argue that we would have moved with the times in regard to these matters anyway but our history does not give any scope for comfort in this regard – we needed that external stimulus.</div>
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All relationships suffer from time to time. Those that are worth keeping are also the ones that are worth working on when difficulties arise. Ireland’s membership of the EU falls squarely into this category. An important element of our association with Europe, and a highly desirable facility in its own right, is our use of the Euro as the unit of currency. It has given us significant trade benefits, a defense against speculative attack on what would be our own ‘soft’ currency if we were not part of a currency bloc, very low mortgage rates, elimination of currency exchange costs and risk for travelers and businesses in the rest of the Eurozone, pricing transparency for same, and an additional incentive for US and other foreign direct investment into Ireland.</div>
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All of that is worth holding onto.</div>StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-58640392466348361972011-12-01T00:26:00.001-08:002011-12-01T00:43:32.243-08:00Martin Wolf on The Great Economic Crisis<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSrHLKAzw4WViFQhxRN_b2Jrx2ihuLEEKaj-slBvE9HPiQLuqBSFs7Xa_Yx5BlqLvFMmHzuNzaPB417E8mYmsdeAWYTeVVvQ64g8w3-Ycfx3ONBPyJ78_C9IPzMjyR6bfH4F9w9AbHR7U/s1600/Martin+Wolf+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSrHLKAzw4WViFQhxRN_b2Jrx2ihuLEEKaj-slBvE9HPiQLuqBSFs7Xa_Yx5BlqLvFMmHzuNzaPB417E8mYmsdeAWYTeVVvQ64g8w3-Ycfx3ONBPyJ78_C9IPzMjyR6bfH4F9w9AbHR7U/s1600/Martin+Wolf+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSrHLKAzw4WViFQhxRN_b2Jrx2ihuLEEKaj-slBvE9HPiQLuqBSFs7Xa_Yx5BlqLvFMmHzuNzaPB417E8mYmsdeAWYTeVVvQ64g8w3-Ycfx3ONBPyJ78_C9IPzMjyR6bfH4F9w9AbHR7U/s400/Martin+Wolf+pic.jpg" width="269" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSrHLKAzw4WViFQhxRN_b2Jrx2ihuLEEKaj-slBvE9HPiQLuqBSFs7Xa_Yx5BlqLvFMmHzuNzaPB417E8mYmsdeAWYTeVVvQ64g8w3-Ycfx3ONBPyJ78_C9IPzMjyR6bfH4F9w9AbHR7U/s1600/Martin+Wolf+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSrHLKAzw4WViFQhxRN_b2Jrx2ihuLEEKaj-slBvE9HPiQLuqBSFs7Xa_Yx5BlqLvFMmHzuNzaPB417E8mYmsdeAWYTeVVvQ64g8w3-Ycfx3ONBPyJ78_C9IPzMjyR6bfH4F9w9AbHR7U/s1600/Martin+Wolf+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSrHLKAzw4WViFQhxRN_b2Jrx2ihuLEEKaj-slBvE9HPiQLuqBSFs7Xa_Yx5BlqLvFMmHzuNzaPB417E8mYmsdeAWYTeVVvQ64g8w3-Ycfx3ONBPyJ78_C9IPzMjyR6bfH4F9w9AbHR7U/s1600/Martin+Wolf+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSrHLKAzw4WViFQhxRN_b2Jrx2ihuLEEKaj-slBvE9HPiQLuqBSFs7Xa_Yx5BlqLvFMmHzuNzaPB417E8mYmsdeAWYTeVVvQ64g8w3-Ycfx3ONBPyJ78_C9IPzMjyR6bfH4F9w9AbHR7U/s1600/Martin+Wolf+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSrHLKAzw4WViFQhxRN_b2Jrx2ihuLEEKaj-slBvE9HPiQLuqBSFs7Xa_Yx5BlqLvFMmHzuNzaPB417E8mYmsdeAWYTeVVvQ64g8w3-Ycfx3ONBPyJ78_C9IPzMjyR6bfH4F9w9AbHR7U/s1600/Martin+Wolf+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><br />
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Martin Wolf<br />
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I would
like to share an <a href="http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/IMF-eurozone-debt-crisis-Germany-OECD-economy-pd20111201-P4V3W?OpenDocument&src=pmm">article</a> that appears in yesterday’s (Nov 30<sup>th</sup> 2011)
Financial Times, by Martin Wolf, that paper’s chief economics commentator, and
an associate editor.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">To my
thinking, this article encapsulates well where we are at the moment in terms of
both <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ireland</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and the global economy. Those whose job or inclination it is to look out for their
particular national interests, especially politicians, need to understand that,
no matter what their ideological position, we now live and work in a global
economy, for better or worse. Actions that are taken or advocated without that
in mind cannot make a useful contribution.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Two
comments by Wolf stand out. They are<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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“<span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>Fiscal indiscipline did not cause this crisis.
Financial and broader private sector indiscipline, including by lenders in the
core countries, was even more important</i></span>”<span style="font-family: Arial;">.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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and<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">“</span><i><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Ireland</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Arial;"> can adjust as a small, open economy by displacing
tradeable output elsewhere, where necessary. If Italy and Spain both tried to
do this, they would be engaging in a costly and probably hopeless effort at
beggaring their neighbours: costly, because the main way to do so would be to
drive down wages via yet higher unemployment; and now hopeless, because the
competitive advantage of Germany is so strong</span></i>”<span style="font-family: Arial;">.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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These stand out not
because they allow us to further castigate bankers, builders and regulators,
there’s been enough of that, but because they should provide confidence for
those politicians and civil servants who are charged with guiding us through
these stormy waters.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Wolf has convinced
this writer that there is no easy answer to the current crisis. However, an
understanding of what’s going on is a good place to start when looking for the
solution.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Martin Wolf’s article
can be read <a href="http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/IMF-eurozone-debt-crisis-Germany-OECD-economy-pd20111201-P4V3W?OpenDocument&src=pmm">here</a>. The link is to an online magazine in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Australia</st1:place></st1:country-region> (Business
Spectator) which carries it. The Financial Times website sometimes requires
registration, which will deter at least some potential readers. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This is an
important article.<span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></div>StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-53060401528262826262011-11-14T07:08:00.000-08:002011-11-14T08:02:51.301-08:00Nouriel Roubini thinks Ireland 'has a chance'<a href="http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Roubini-eurozone-bailout-fund-EFSF-euro-austerity--pd20111111-NGW33?OpenDocument&src=sph"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 228px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5674870637087817730" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnfaxb8q3jdjdwVnXrYIh7DbA7s-vqdY8XcXV_UXDCWKJWgySDVPAX_tuJ8M3Y4905AHjEb_29JyZpH20CU5c7V_UoA38_A2OphOQaHzPF0dQtv73avVIGB2ySlYl3nXrVAgbivYQvMew/s400/Nuriel+Roubini.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Nouriel Roubini, the US Economics professor who has gained fame for predicting the housing bubble, the disaster that would come of poorly understood mortgage backed securities and the eventual recession, and who is now best known for his brutally frank judgements on current economic matters, actually had some kind words for Ireland recently. He believes that we are “in with a chance” because of our long standing policy of attracting high-tech foreign direct investment.<br /></span><br />You can hear what the professor has to say in the video above, which was recorded during a discussion on the margins of an economic conference in Australia.<br /><br />For what it’s worth, the Dutch far right also seems to give Ireland the benefit of the doubt, even if by default. They have been quoted as calling for the expulsion of Greece, Italy and France from the Eurozone, the first two because they have blotted their copybooks and France because Nicholas Sarkozy is seen by them to be interfering too much in the economic affairs of other nations. To illustrate that logic or consistency was never a far-right area of strength, they say nothing about Germany, whose Chancellor has, if anything, been even more prescriptive to her Euro neighbours than the French president.<br /><br />Should we be worried that the Dutch far right has not singled out Ireland? What are we doing that would please them, or can we hope that they just forgot we were members of the GIIPS group (this is the format I will be using for this group of countries – acronyms that make up pejorative terms are not only intellectually lazy but also fail to add anything helpful to the debate)?<br /><br />One way or another, the Euro story keeps on rolling.StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802382132494103705.post-43973047729625829312011-11-11T04:04:00.000-08:002011-11-11T04:24:21.591-08:0018 yo boy racers get control of Ferrari<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtmam4F2wYQ1NtPhIUYbqu_CIhyphenhyphenWb1E2CUPTWHkKRZh2qu77UzZW6nFmk-BYNhZIvZJ1HJEPeJt5DgEf0paz5wYkR80yifrxrIcSxsl_8vLlzP1kxJCrcOQqsN5nyA2GfpIF3uAFqFZDM/s1600/Euro+ferrari.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 218px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5673708263033611554" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtmam4F2wYQ1NtPhIUYbqu_CIhyphenhyphenWb1E2CUPTWHkKRZh2qu77UzZW6nFmk-BYNhZIvZJ1HJEPeJt5DgEf0paz5wYkR80yifrxrIcSxsl_8vLlzP1kxJCrcOQqsN5nyA2GfpIF3uAFqFZDM/s400/Euro+ferrari.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">A piece by John Waters in <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2011/1111/1224307370565.html">today’s Irish Times </a>seems to claim that Ireland’s acceptance of the Maastricht treaty, which gave us Euro entry along with low interest rates and which tied our economy to those of Germany and France, is the root cause of the fiscal and monetary problems we suffer from at present.<br /></span><br />This is a nonsensical, disingenuous argument. France still enjoys triple A ratings on its government debt and Germany has one of the strongest economies on the planet. For a while Ireland, too, had money to burn. Unfortunately, burn it we did.<br /><br />John is right, though, when he talks of collective amnesia. If we didn’t suffer from it we would remember that, at the time of Euro entry, each country joining had to convince the EU that it had its finances in proper order, by having national debt and budget deficits within set boundaries. It is reasonable to presume that they were meant to stay that way. That the common currency meant we no longer had the ability to devalue our way out of high inflation is not new news. It was drilled into us, over and over again at the time, that this was going to be the case.<br /><br />It seems central Europe took it for granted, or was convinced by our negotiators, that the Irish government, its Finance department and their economic advisors understood these fundamental economic principles. But it appears they did not.<br /><br />What happened in practice was that the good old Republic of Ireland went ahead and took advantage of all the nice things that Euro entry had to offer, such as significant trade benefits, defense against speculative attack on our currency, very low mortgage rates (which we abused), elimination of currency exchange costs and risk for travelers to the rest of the Eurozone, pricing transparency for same, an additional incentive for US foreign direct investment into Ireland - and ignored the responsibilities it brought, the most important of which was to control our inflation.<br /><br />To illustrate the point, imagine what it might be like if a group of eighteen year old boy racers were given control of a souped up sports car, for example a Masarati or a Ferrari, after having convinced the provider that they were actually mature, fully trained, experienced professional drivers.<br /><br />The sports car in this analogy is the highly tuned European economy that German (and Dutch, and Nordic) prudence and efficiency had nourished over the years since the last war, and which was well known to be predicated on the control of inflation so that it is positive (deflation is also bad) but low.<br /><br />The supplier is the European Union and you can work out for yourself who the boy racers are.<br /><br />We broke every rule in the book. 120% mortgages, lending for everything from property development to foreign homes to whatever you’re having yourself. Spending went completely out of control. State capital projects routinely came in so far over budget that the numbers were shocking. We had a banking compliance system that became a global joke. We had a government that bought its way through successive elections without any regard for, and it seems now, no understanding of what an inflation differential between us and central Europe would eventually lead to.<br /><br />All is not lost, however. We do seem to have woken up and, as everything is relative, we actually now start to look good by comparison to the most errant Euro member, Greece. With a bit of luck this present crisis will allow us to learn by bitter experience.<br /><br />With a bit more luck we will be allowed to stay in the Euro, despite our demonstration of an embarrassing immaturity when it comes to the most basic economic principles.<br /><br />And by the way - entering into a mutually beneficial multinational, legally binding agreement, that the other parties expect your country to adhere to, does not constitute loss of national sovereignty, no matter what the venerable Olivia O'Leary says, as quoted in John Waters’s article.StackSixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01114431722238031960noreply@blogger.com0