Morrígan Reborn

I write letters - internet censorship

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:50:00 +0000

Minister Sherlock et al,

I wrote endless letters to members of the former government expressing my opinion on their lack of governance and thought when I voted in a Labour / Fine Gael government, I could focus on growing my small business and would not have to put so much effort into communicating with ministers. Alas I was wrong. I probably should not be surprised.

However, your move to introduce a Statutory Instrument and respond with legislation to the High Court Judgment in the case of EMI and Others Vs UPC. is misguided to say the least. Last week several international websites blacked themselves out because of the same sort of censorship that you are trying to cast over this country. You are on Twitter so I expect you know about it already. If not, do the research. The worldwide protest paused the political moves for the moment. I am bewildered that a Labour minister for innovation would pull such a backward move, especially someone who appears to be able to use a computer.

Let's look at your press release:

could not grant an injunction to prevent infringement of copyright against an information service provider in the context of a transient communication

Because it is against the law. IRMA has already forced one ISP to ban a peer to peer site which was deemed unlawful in another court in the EU and you wish to open the floodgates and support their tiny complaints at the expense of our economy, knowledge, civil and human rights.

the Government is proposing to introduce a Statutory Instrument, to redress the situation highlighted by Justice Charleton, by providing for injunctions for copyright owners against intermediaries whose services are used to infringe their copyright.

Except that's not the whole truth. It is not only those copyrighted items that your Instrument will block but all the tetrabytes of open source and legal material that are free to share. Will judges decide that Twitter is treasonous? Will Green Tea be taken as libel? I find it difficult to credit that you do not see the problem here.

In granting such injunctions the Courts must take account of Court of Justice of the European Union Judgements. They require that a fair balance be struck between the various fundamental rights protected by the Community legal order and the principle of proportionality. That would include, inter alia, the protection of the fundamental rights of individuals who are affected by such measures, the freedom to conduct a business enjoyed by operators such as Internet Service Providers, the protection of private data and right of freedom of expression and information'.

People said it was a terrible day when the troika forced Ireland to accept reality but I was grateful. At last there would be oversight and the government of the day would not get away with the foreign bank transfers and swiss bank accounts that had been the norm up till then. There was no trust in ministers that saved anglo for their personal investments and those of the grassroots of their party. For the same reasons, I am glad that the EU forces this country to uphold its citizens rights when you and your government would trample all over them just as Fianna Fáil always did.

Putting in place immense censorship to protect a minority of business interests is abhorrent. And if the government will do that for the few, what will it do when people want a change. The police already beat seated peaceful demonstrators bloody and repeated and continuously violate international human rights laws for an oil company. Additional overwhelming powers is the last thing we should be giving to the state.

I thought this government was supposed to be to our country's benefit. That you would work for the good of society but "In the Thick of it" you act like your predecessors, rail at them in an empty Dáil and drink with them afterwards in a subsidised bar. What fools we citizens are to believe you could be different. We voted you in and you played us for fools. You will be known as a shortsighted, reactionary, right wing government if you go ahead with this instrument. Aside from the serious issues of civil liberties and the violation of human rights, you will cost us employment, jobs and investment for a law that will not change anything. Anyone with tech savvy can bypass Eircom's supposed block of The Pirate Bay and anyone with google can find out how. You will make life mildly inconvenient for some and at such a price.

Read some legal documents and rulings before you stunt all technological development and innovation

Mór Rígan
Voter and citizen

morrigan.reborn@gmail.com
http://morrigan-reborn.blogspot.com

How much money did the Irish Government pay to the 7 wonders project?

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 08:28:00 +0000

I just read this piece New 7 Wonders of Nature Controversy by Red Hunt. He describes in detail, the licensing fees that governments have been required to pay to remain in the competition.

The Maldives

$350,000 for a platinum level sponsorship licensing fee,

two $210,000 requests for gold level licensing fees,

a $1million license fee to put the New 7 Wonders of Nature logo on planes,

a $1million license fee for their national telecom operator to participate for allowing phone voting and,

a request for a ‘World Tour’ stop in the Maldives for the New 7 Wonders delegates to party and enjoy the country at a cost of $500,000.

Indonsia

Indonesia’s Komodo Island entry created controversy when they revealed that New Open World Corporation was demanding $10million in licensing fees, plus $47million to host a World Tour finale for the competition. Apparently the $944,000 they budgeted to promoting and marketing their efforts in the competition wasn’t enough. Tourism officials in Indonesia had never signed any agreement that hinted at such additional, exorbitant costs. When they tried to contact New Open World Corporation by mail, everything bounced back as undeliverable. The disagreements continued for months and Indonesiawithdrew Komodo Island National Park from the competition in mid-August. However, faced with such pressure the New Open World Corporation backed down and Komodo remains as a finalist.

Ireland?

I wonder what licencing fees Ireland was required to pay. Anyone got more info on this?

I'm not one to begrudge spending on tourism projects but if Ireland did pay exorbitant fees, it was a poor investment. Project spending should be targetted not thrown at some private corporation with its own motivation. The lack of contact information on the 7wonders website certainly creeps me out.

I write letters

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 12:50:00 +0000

Dear Minister Smith,

I will try and restrain the depth of my anger at hearing that you did have permitted GM products into this country. It seems that either you do not understand what drives demand for Irish food products and tourism, or that the government wishes to corrupt the food industry, in the same manner as the economy.

Let me try to explain.

1. People pay a premium for Irish meat because the majority of Irish meat is grass fed, supplemented by hay in the winter. Feeding cattle on maize not only has significant impact on the health of the cattle, but also on the meat of humans. Maize fed cattle are not capable of killing e-coli in the stomach because of a change in acid regulation. E-coli and similar bacteria are passed on to humans, who then have to lie on hospital trolleys or die.

2. The US produces excess corn and no doubt there is pressure on the EU to buy their surplus. The quality of US beef has declined significantly since the switch to maize feeding. The rise in heart disease and obesity can be correlated to the excess maize consumed in American society through poor quality meat and corn syrup. It is an abhorrent system that you have sold the Irish people into.

3. Food tourists come to Ireland because Irish beef is grass fed and are generally free range. The minute you allow GM foods to enter the food chain, you lose significant tourist revenue. Ireland is promoting quality products which is why we have a food export system.

4. If even one GM seed is allowed to grow, it can contaminate the country and all the organic farms.

5. It does not matter whether the GM feed is for a day or all year around. One feed of GM causes the reputational damage.

6. It is this kind of thinking that led to the destruction of Irish railways in the 50s. That also was courtesy of a Fianna Fáil government. Even after the economy meltdown and the cruelty inflicted on this country by your government, I am still amazed that you took such a regressive and economically ignorant decision. It is a kick in the teeth to food producers and towns dependent on tourist trade. It also belies your party's manifesto, because no one will want to buy meat fed on GM maize.

7. I promise my vote to the party that will reverse this decision and will canvass on their behalf. I have CCed party leaders in this email. I want this decision revoked.

I would appreciate the courtesy of a real reply, rather than the standard automatic reply.

A day is a long time in politics

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 12:05:00 +0000

I wrote another piece for GlobalComment and it was really difficult to reconstruct the sequence of events! The draft version was over 3000 words.

__________________

As long as I am running this Government, I will run it as I see fit and as I believe, based on my philosophy.

Brian Cowen, Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) thundered in the Irish Parliament in January 2009. Two years later, he is still Taoiseach but just a shadow of his former self. His personal approval rating is 8%. Many find it amazing that there are still 8% of people who approve of the job he is doing.

January 2011 was a very strange month in Ireland. It kicked off with the publication of a secret book – The Fitzpatrick Tapes by Tom Lyons and Brian Carey, proofed and published in complete secrecy. Sean Fitzpatrick had been one of the poster boys for the boom. As chairman of Anglo Irish Bank, he was friend to politician and property developer alike, dishing out the money with an even hand. But he was also a gambler – Anglo was a festering mountain of debt that has been referred to as the worst bank in the world. As the house of cards was toppling, the Irish Government first guaranteed and then nationalised Anglo. This bankrupted the country. Fitzpatrick was declared bankrupt.

The politicians with whom Fitzpatrick had intermingled so easily, sought to distance themselves from this pariah. Cowen, who was Finance Minister at the time sought to minimise the links between himself and the former banker. Maybe Fitzpatrick was annoyed or vengeful when in interviews for The Fitzpatrick Tapes he revealed that he had had more contact with Cowen than Cowen disclosed to the Dáil (Irish parliament). The meeting that sparked political upheaval was a round of golf and dinner at Druids Glen in Wicklow.

There was uproar. What had Cowen known when Anglo was nationalised? What was discussed during the game? How did the Taoiseach come to be playing golf with the devil of Irish banking?
When the Dáil finally returned to work on 12 January. Golfgate was the issue of the day. The opposition had a field day. There were accusations of cozy and improper relationships with bankers, economic treason and even questions on the golf handicap of the Taoiseach. The government benches were silent. There was no heckling or eye contact or aspersions cast on the characters of members of the opposition. Questions were flung at the Taoiseach which he batted back with the ever ready bat of I-did-nothing-wrong with a side order of bluster.

He might have gotten away with it too but as it happens, there was another TD (MP) at present at Druid’s Glen that day. Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin of Sinn Féin had been attending a wedding at Druid’s Glen that day. He pinned the Taoiseach with the simple question of who else had been in the company.
Cowen was forced to reveal that in addition to Fitzpatrick, Alan Gray – a member of the Board of the Central Bank and Gary McGann – former Anglo director, had joined them for dinner. Cowen maintained that there was no discussion of the bank or its financial difficulties. He was not taken at his word.

Government backbenchers were furious. The Green Party, junior coalition partners stated that it was not Sherlock Holmes, and would to continue in Government. The Minister for Tourism was trice asked whether she had confidence in Cowen and trice did she dodge the question.

For a few hours, Cowen looked sure to resign. There was a Fianna Fáil (majority coalition party of which Cowen was the president) parliamentary party meeting the next day and when it was postponed by a few hours, rumours were rife that Ireland would finally be rid of the most unpopular Taoiseach in its history. Reports that TDs were packing stationary into their cars surfaced which is apparently a sign of an imminent election.

But it was another false dawn. Cowen would spend some time consulting with the party, catharsis indefinitely postponed while Fianna Fáil navelgazed. Labour tabled a motion of no confidence in the Government but timing ensured that it could not be taken for another week.

After consulting with the parliamentary party, Cowen came out fighting. To quell doubt, he proposed a motion of confidence in himself as leader of the party, to be taken in the following days. Just three hours after Cowen’s announcement, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin declared his intention to vote against Cowen because “very survival of the party is at stake”.

And it is always all about the party. The motion of confidence was not about the state of the nation but about the state of one political party. Most of the Fianna Fáil Party did not declare one way or another but Martin’s position had support.

The day of the vote of confidence dragged for what seemed like forever. Even the staid media outlets were repeating speculation and rumours. Finally the doors to Leinster House opened to declare that the party was now united behind Mr Cowen and that the issue of his leadership and been “clearly and definitively” dealt with. It was like a body blow. How could even the Fianna Fáil TDs support this man? Martin resigned as Minister for Foreign Affairs.

It seemed we were stuck with Cowen for another while at least but the next two days brought a few developments. A total of seven senior ministers resigned and the situation came to a head on “Unholy Thursday” when the Tánaiste (Deputy Leader) could not say who lead the Ministery for Justice. The Dáil had to be suspended following rowdy protests from the opposition leaders, until Cowen could be found to explain what was going on. Article 28 of Bunreacht na hEireann (the Irish Constitution) states that the Government must not be smaller than 7 members or larger than 15 members and Ministers were rapidly disappearing.

Finish reading here

Pure motives? "Even wisdom has to yield to self-interest"

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 08:04:00 +0000

It seems that just about every member of government is claiming the virtue of pure motives, unsullied by dirty self-interest. From Conor Lenihan's uncontrolled outburst on Vincent Browne last Thursday to Paul Gogarty on Morning Ireland.

I don't buy it obviously. Not only because both the maFFia and the Greens have used the financial crisis to advance their own interests but also because we have been consistently lied to. If you cry wolf...

Napoleon said "men are moved by two levers only: fear and self interest"; G'Kar said "the galaxy is run by enlightened self interest"; but I think de la Rochefoucauld said it best “Self-interest speaks all sorts of tongues, and plays all sorts of roles, even that of disinterestedness”.

The best we can hope for is enlightened self interest and neither Gogarty or Lenihan junior strike me as being particularly enlightened.

Brady, the paedophile protector, condemns abortion

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:45:00 +0000

From the IT

In a statement tonight, Cardinal Seán Brady said the judgment "leaves future policy in Ireland on protecting the lives of unborn children in the hands of the Irish people and does not oblige Ireland to introduce legislation authorising abortion".

He said profound moral and legal issues were raised by the ruling. "The direct destruction of an innocent human life can never be justified, however difficult the circumstances. . . . No law which subordinates the rights of any human being to those of other human beings can be regarded as a just law."

Says the man who covered up child rape and protected serial paedophile Brendan Smith. I think we've heard enough from you Brady. You do not get to have an opinion on this.

Am amazed that as a celibate male you seem to think your view on this issue matters. Fuck off already.

As for

The direct destruction of an innocent human life can never be justified, however difficult the circumstances

except, it seems when priests rape children and people like you cover it up.

Pro choice forever!

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 12:26:00 +0000

Between newspapers, economists, television, job, stress, depression, I haven't had a lot of time to blog. It's not for want of topics but there is a listlessness to writing about Ireland. The people are shackled to a four year plan negotiated by an illegitimate government known to be corrupt. I can barely afford heating since the last budget and everything seems hopeless. There needs to be a new way but vested interests maintain the status quo. But today there is an issue that I still feel passionate about - a woman's right to choose to terminate her pregnancy.

Women have been terminating pregnancies for centuries. There are a number of fascinating books on the subject and one truth emerges in all societies studies, both ancient and modern is that prohibition of abortion does not lower the number of actual abortions. Prohibition of abortion just drives people into debt, illness and death.

So why can't government inject a soupcon of pragmatism into the debate. Legalising abortion saves lives - real lives, the lives of humans already in existence. Exchanging one life for a potential life is a bad deal. Why gamble with life already in existance?

I'm pro choice. It's my body and my health. But pro choice is so much more than just pro abortion. It's sex education. It's birth control. It's the price of condoms. It's that forced pregnancy is a human rights violation. Ireland has some of most expensive condoms in Europe. In 96, I got my first sex ed class, wherein the lecturer declared that men would only marry virgins, and spent the rest of the time talking at yes about our first periods. At the age of 17 this was six years too late.

A Red C poll in January of this year found out that

Some 60% of young people want abortion legalised here, it has emerged.

According to a Red C poll in today's Irish Examiner, 10% of 18-34 year olds have been involved in a relationship where an abortion took place.

It pays to be pragmatic. Legalising abortion saves women's lives. The thing is that women will have abortions regardless of the law because each person knows what is best for their situation.

Adding spice to the conversion

Ireland claims to be pro-life but Ireland isn't pro life. Ireland is caught in a Catholic ethos despite the revelations of those pulpit preachers. It's the old story of keeping up appearances. Isn't that why so many girls and women ended up in Magdalene laundries where they worked without pay until they died. No boys or men were similarly imprisoned for the crime of having sex or getting raped or being considered too pretty.

Ireland doesn't care about children. That much is clear from the Ryan Report, the Murphy Report, and the revelations about "care" of children by the HSE. Hundreds of children were buried in unmarked graves after being beaten to death. Where is the outcry? Hundreds of thousands of children were sent to hell in the industrial schools. People knew and did nothing. Doctors, nurses, gardaí and families knew what happened and did nothing. Everyone is shocked now that denial is no longer an option. But the state continues to negotiate with the 18 orders. They negotiate with child abusers and rapists. Few criminal charges have been brought.

I've been raped twice. If I had fallen pregnant you can be damned sure that I would have made sure that I had the choice whether to continue the pregnancy. If I would have to, I would beg, borrow or steal the money to travel to France to get an abortion.

One in every four children will experience sexual abuse. One in every three women under the age of 40 will be raped. To force these women and children to continue a pregnancy through rape is to retraumatise her and re-enforces the commonly held view that women and girl's lives are of lesser importance than a fetus. Forced pregnancy is a human rights violation.

Today's ruling, at least, forces the government to legislate for the Supreme Court decision in the X case. So little by little we chip away at misogynistic old laws. Maybe, eventually, we can value women and our decisions.

Brandon in November

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 17:45:00 +0000

I, for one, welcome our new ECB overlords

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 14:18:00 +0000

Last weekend, it was painful to watch government ministers lie through their teeth. Everybody knows they lied. Everybody knows that Ireland needs assistance from the EU. Everybody knows the government is corrupt and incompetent.

This week, I continue to be flabbergasted at the maFFia's response to being caught out lying. Reducing the debate to technicalities is obfuscating the issue. There are two types of lies - commission and omission. Commission is saying an untruth. Omission is hiding a truth. Perhaps they technically did not tell untruths but they have been continually hiding the truth. That is lying.

Instead they aggressively ask members of the opposition what would they do. That's totally irrelevant. It doesn't matter. The issue is that the Cabinet has conspired to cover up criminal activity. How much did they know and when? They will not answer. How much personal money did the Cabinet have in Anglo Irish Bank? That has not been answered. We need justice. But the DPP will not act. The president will not act.

The feeling in my belly is repugnance. I feel the darkness inside threatening to come out. Every time I hear another FFer lie, I have to stop myself from flinging the radio across the room. I know they are unshameable. I know a guillotine would bounce off their necks. And despite all they have done, I know there are people in Ireland who will always vote locally not matter what the Party does. I know the Greens have sold out. I know the Director of Public Prosecutions is a political office. I know the DPP never prosecutes FFers even when they lie under oath. So what can I do? I march. I question. I talk to ministers but none of that changes anything.

I hate violence. I've survived violence. I've seen the results on violence - one of my jobs included organising documents and photographs of human rights violations. I have had guns pulled on me. I hate violence but I am being to wonder about the application of violence. The government will not resign. The DPP will not prosecute current and former members of the government that are directly responsible for the economic crisis. Peaceful public protests resulted in brutal retaliation by riot police. I don't think violence but ultimately solve anything but it is the only way to unembed these disgusting corrupt gombeens?

I am glad the ECB is here. I am glad the IMF is here. I am glad that we finally have some adults in charge of the books - adults that have not been infected with parish pump politics and gombeenism; adults who won't be here long enough to be corrupted by the vested interests; adults who can take mature decisions; and adults who did not have to censor the media and lie to the public.

I don't mourn for our loss of sovereignty. Sovereignty is worth jack shit when the country is broke. I mourn the loss our values in our society. I mourn that people voted Fianna Fáil and thus allowed the FFers to squander the country's wealth by buying the last two elections. I mourn that Irish people voted in a government that always put their party first. And when people reply about there not being any alternative, I want to scream. First of all, we don't know how an opposition coalition would have acted in their place and secondly it is irrelevant. Why continue to vote for someone you know to be corrupt when there are other candidates on the ballot paper?

We need an election. And then we need to overhaul the entire government and senior civil servant institutions. When that is done maybe we can grow up as a country, have politicians who stand for something besides self-interest; and leave civil war politics behind for good.

Students protested, gardaí brutalised and the media covered it up

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 16:48:00 +0000

Last Wednesday 25 000 students marched on the Dept of Finance to protest the proposed doubling of "registration" fees. Various news outlets reported that Eirigi and extreme lefty organisations attacked gardaí and spoiled the day for everyone. Gardaí reported injuries.

Irish Times

Gardaí began removing protesters they had previously trapped in the lobby. There were physical altercations between them and a female garda was struck. Some protesters put up strong resistance to gardaí, kicking out as they sought to remove them. Some of the protesters exited the building with evidence of a beating on their faces... One hoodie-clad youth alongside picked up a piece of timber and threw it at the foyer, from where the protesters were being removed

Independent

When those pensioners stood up to a Government threatening them with cuts they were regarded as being brave and merry. Yet when students embark upon the same journey they are branded as disgraceful and violent.

RTE

A number of people were injured during scuffles with gardaí on Merrion Row, while three gardaí received medical attention after being injured by objects thrown by protestors. One garda was admitted to hospital with a broken nose, the other two gardaí were treated at the scene for minor injuries.

TV3

Witnesses said a brick and eggs were thrown at the building and that a group of about 15 students made it inside. Gardaí later ejected them.

USI president Gary Redmond condemned the violence loudly and on every media outlet he could get on. And the whole thing was dismissed.

Until modern technology showed what actually happened. YouTube videos show the excessive violence used by the gardaí. Violence starts about 3:00

If you don't want to watch them all, here are some stills

There are plenty of questions that need answering.

Why did the riot police advance on a peaceful crowd?
Why did gardaí bludgeon people sitting on the ground?
Why were horses raced into a departing crowd?
Why did the media not mention the police brutality?
Why did the media focus only on the eggs thrown by the students?
Who authorised excessive force?
Who is making the incompetent decisions?

Who seriously sends riot police, K9 units, mounted gardaí and guards on wheels into a non attacking crowd? That often lead to deaths and serious injuries. Clearly the powers that be have been anticipating a rioting populace. This time it was students protests hikes in registration costs. What will happen when it is a group of people who have nothing left to lose, can't feed their families and have been evicted?

Fachtna Murphy should not be allowed to retire. He should be fired by the Minister for Justice. But the Irish government does not read the writing on the wall. The fundamentalist Minister for Justice is too busy passing restrictive, mediaeval blasphemy laws.

In Thud, Terry Pratchett, now the adjunct professor in the School of English in TCD, wrote quite a bit on the relationship between the police force and the people

You see your people looking at you and wondering whose side you're on, yes? Well, you're on the side of the people, which is where the law ought to be. All the people, I mean, who're out there beyond the mob, who're fearful and puzzled and scared to go out at night. Now, funnily enough, the idiots who're out there right in front of you getting their self-defence in first are also the people

The people that the gardaí were battering and brutalising are the same people whose human rights they are supposed to uphold, at least according to section 2 paragraph 7.1(c) of the Garda Síochána Act of 2005. So much for the Guardians of the Peace.

ETA: Obviously, this does not refer to all the gardaí who upload the law and work with people.

Does the maFFia speak to our tribal heritage?

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 15:41:00 +0000

I find it amazing that Kevin Myers of the Indo claims that Fianna Fáil aka Those Assholes aka The MaFFia speaks to a tribal memory and that is why we'll never be rid of them. Indeed Myarse compares their potential loss to the holocaust. For that remark Myarse earns an automatic Godwin obviously.

I want to challenge the idea that the maFFia speak to tribal memory. The Soldiers of Destiny made a conscious decision to appropriate the imagery of the ancient warriors the Fianna. It's why Dev chose the name Fianna Fáil. He wanted to harken back to the good old days when the fianna consisted of bands of landless men for hire as mercenaries or bandits. The myths surrounding the fianna are mythical - full of hyperbole. Amazing feats of strength and magic etc were part of the membership criteria. What is less known is the candidate also had to be a skilled poet.

Most Irish people have heard the legends and there is something romantic about the notion of highly fit and learned demi gods running around hunting in the ancient forests of Fál (leaving aside for the moment that these skilled killers were led by man who forced a woman to flee to escape repeated rape through marriage).

After centuries of colonialism, Dev and his cronies wanted an image that invoked the image of a proud and strong country and Fianna Fáil became the name of the new political party. The Soldiers of ~~Density~~ Destiny were born.

The Soldiers' Song, which had been around for a while before Dev raided the past, became the national anthem, despite some initial confusion

Yes I know this is Alan Rickman and not Dev

Mr. HUGHES: I am not aware that at recent State functions Army bands have played two different tunes purporting to be the National Anthem.

Mr. ESMONDE: Does the Minister refuse to answer the last part of my question? Does he refuse to state what is the National Anthem, or if the matter is not finally settled what tune should be provisionally accepted as such pending a final decision?

Mr. JOHNSON: Can the Minister give us any definition of what is a National Anthem?

Mr. ESMONDE: There is considerable hilarity in the House which I think is not creditable. I would ask the Minister if, in his own Department solely as regards the Army, seeing that the President is not here, for reasons for which we have all respect, he would [2198] state, at any rate as far as the Army is concerned, what is considered to be the National Anthem?

Mr. HUGHES: The “Soldier's Song.”

Indeed the official version is in English. It was only in the 30s that the Irish version became the norm. The first line of the Irish translation written by Liam Ó Rinn, was Sinne fianna fáil as we all know. This was controversial way back when though because it politicised the national anthem.

Much controversy has surrounded this but Dev was not involved in the translation of the song. By all accounts, his Irish was pretty hit and miss when it came to accuracy. Fianna Fáil and Sinne fianna fáil was a coincidence. In fact, it caused some embarrassment to the new FF party, which leads one to conclude that their necks were not always made of brass.

Steps were taken to change it to Sinne laochra fáil which means the same thing but without the tacit endorsement of the Dev party. It was an attempt to separate the institution of the state from political opportunism.

At the next opportunity, Dev changed the first line back Sinne fianna fáil . Fine Gael made two other attempts with laochra but each time Dev would change the words again.

I think that might have something to do with Myarse's doubtful assertions of a tribal call. Also I think the Irish Press, propaganda machine extraordinaire might have played a role too.

Sinne fianna fáil - We are the soldiers of destiny
Sinne Fianna Fáil - We are Fianna Fail

Can anyone name another country that has an identifiable political party's name in the first line of its national anthem? I know I can't.

The maFFia stole and appropriated our heritage and legends. And an experienced journo like Myarse states that the maFFia speaks to our tribal heritage on national radio. Ooopsies Myarse.

Boot out the FFers. They failed this country in every way.

They say pain. They are wrong.

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 15:27:00 +0000

I just sent this vid to Cowen, Lenihan and Gormley.

The Watson Institute presents Mark Blyth on Austerity from The Global Conversation on Vimeo.

Won't make a difference I bet but just in case

Cowengate

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 08:57:00 +0000

Behold our glorious leader

After reading this from the Indo

But Leno's comments were condemned by the head of the Oireachtas Communications Committee, Fianna Fail TD MJ Nolan. He said Leno had a responsibility to have "fair comment" on his show." Politicians these days are the butt of a lot of entertainers' comments. I would prefer if the comment wasn't made," he said.

I wrote this to Nolan

Asking for Jay Leno to withdraw his remarks re drunken moron, was an exercise in idiocy. It was an invitation for Leno to continue, in fact. Leno is a racist, sexist moron and you provided more ammunition.

Have you actually got any communications training or did you just haul your response from the affronted rack?

Contemptuously,
Mór Rígan

While I hold Cowen and Leno both in contempt, I am amused that Cowen can be outrageously affronted when asked if he was drunk. Of course, he was drunk. He had consumed enough alcohol to still be drunk a mere five hours later. This is not conjecture or defamation. It is the simple fact of the effect of alcohol on the human body. Maybe he felt fine but that does not change the number of pints he consumed. If even one drink can impair judgment (as the RSA are forever reminding us), steady drinking for hours impairs judgment too. If he were sober, he would not have done the Morning Ireland interview.

But what can we expect? In Ireland, it seems that facts are negotiable. Otherwise Cowen would have been laughed off the podium. It seems like being a politician is all about keeping a straight face when swearing blue is yellow.

It remains me of a particular Frontline episode where the beards were arguing with the private sector about whether public service pensions are contributory or not. I don't know the answer but there is a single answer. It is not a topic for debate and especially not when the same argument was played across the boards for a couple of months.

Or the Lisbon Treaty. We can argue about the interpretation of the clauses but they are set down, in stone as it were.

Facts are not debatable, anymore than one can be slightly pregnant or slightly dead.

I demand clarity and definitions. I wish broadcasters would go to interview school and learn to spot the techniques of evasive. At least it would require public sphere commentators to up their game a little.

Sometimes I wish that the Vikings had conquered all of Ireland because the national character might not possess its two fatal flaws.

Lack of title

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 08:33:00 +0000

I've been starting and deleting posts for a while now. The truth is that real life has been v stressful. I don't really blog about personal stuff because it feels naked in headlights. I'm getting back on the horse and shrugging off. Why examine when I can repress. La la la (tune of Smurfs)

Is this really our country?

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:57:00 +0000

Is there no end to the crimes committed by the Church and State? The horror of the institutionalised rape, slavery and crimes against children carried out in Ireland is almost too much. Few read the reports of the investigations finally carried out on what actually happened to survivors of child abuse and the children interned in industrial schools. Since the foundation of the Republic of Ireland in 1921, Church and State have treated certain children as disposable, as less than human.

Since the publication of the Ryan report on industrial schools and the Murphy report on child sexual abuse within the diocese of Dublin, revelations on the treatment of Irish citizens in the twentieth century by the Church and State have undermined everything we believed about ourselves. And the revelations keep coming.

The Primate of All Ireland Sean Brady covered up the rape of children by paedophile Brendan Smyth allowing him to continue raping children for a further nineteen years. The publication of this information has not led to his resignation but rather to his adopting the persona of a “wounded healer”. This persona allows him to continue in his position and treat survivors of the Catholic Church’s brutality with utter contempt. His "wounding" is the discovery of his coverup.

Then there is the systematic mutilation of women by doctors both through symphysiotomy and corrupt individuals wielding a scalpel. There was no oversight because doctors were “self-regulating”. And the medical scandals have not ceased - unread x rays, trolleys, cancer misdiagnosis, surgeons removing the wrong kidney.

Now, we find out that children were used in medical experiments. These children were not those living at home with parents. These were children in mother and baby homes and industrial schools. Members of religious orders gave "consent", violating numerous ethical codes including that of Nuremberg, which was drawn up in the aftermath of the Nazi behaviour in concentration camps.

All of this was done by Irish people, ordinary Joe and Jane Soap. Our uncles, aunts, friends, parents participated or knew what was going on. We are all complicit. What sort of a fucked up country is this? The human rights violations continue on - children in care left on the street, rat infested schools, children in adult psychiatric wards and the children in care disappearing by the hundreds.

Something has to be done. The Murphy inquiry needs to be expanded to cover all dioeses. Victims who did not survive the industrial schools need to be identified and cause of death established. Serious reform or possible abolition of the HSE. The state needs to acknowledge ALL the human rights violations. Offering resignations is not enough. Firing, followed by criminal charges is a beginning.

Ireland has been a republic for less than 100 years and already we have violated human rights on an unprecedented scale. What sort of people are we?

Banks refusing to deal in fiddling small change

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 08:51:00 +0000

I went into AIB with €200 to lodge into my account. AIB refused to take my money. The teller informed me that this was company policy. AIB will only accept coins in specific numbers ie

€50 in €2 euro coins
€25 in €1 or 5c coins
€10 in 20c or 10c coins
€5 in 5c coins
€2 in 2c coins
€1 in 1c coins

I qualified for €10 in 10c coins and €2 in 2c coins and so managed to lodge €12 to my account. You'd think that a bank that is so close to failing would accept any deposit, especially after copious bailouts from the Irish taxpayer. I had no idea that banks could have a policy to refuse legal tender. When I looked it up, it turns out that according to the Economic and Monetary Union Act, 1998

No person, other than the Central Bank of Ireland and such persons as may be designated by the Minister by order, shall be obliged to accept more than 50 coins denominated in euro or in cent in any single transaction.

Does that mean I have to spend money on a ticket to Dublin to lodge my money? Anyone else think that this is idiotic? Maybe during the "Tiger" years people might have been embarrassed to pay with 2c coins. In the current depression, I think that'd probably changed. In Lidl the other day, I bought a few bottles of olive oil with 10c, 5c, 2c and 1c coins. The cashier had no problem with it. Those coins do add up.

I've been saving my change for a while now. I thought that it could be a rainy day fund and €200 is nothing to sneeze at. But, according to AIB it's fiddling small change. I wanted to pay my rent and the bank refused to accept my money. Strange times to live in.

Why are we paying for private sector investment?

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 22:27:00 +0000

There is an astonishing story in today's IT. The public is being charged for investment in two private sector energy companies and two ESB plants in Offaly.

the Commission for Energy Regulation intends adding an extra €157 million to the Republic’s electricity bills from October...

The charge is being imposed to pay for Government policy. The cash will be used to pay for market supports for peat-fired power plants, renewable energy and two private sector players, Tynagh Energy and Aughinish Alumina, which provide power to the national network under public service deals agreed in 2005...

Peat will get the largest slice of cake, with three plants, the ESB-owned Lough Ree and West Offaly and Bord na Móna-owned Edenderry, sharing €78 million...

Wind farms will get €43 million, while Tynagh and Aughinish will share €14 million. The balance, over €20 million, will go to administration and other costs.

This seems really dodgy.

1. Why are we paying to invest in the private sector? Do I misunderstand the term "private sector"?

2. Are the two plants in Offaly just pork barrel projects for a sinking Taoiseach?

3. Why are we investing in peat, a non renewable resource?

4. Why is the public being levied to fund a semi state that announced profits of €580 million in 2009?

5. If the government is so concerned about energy in Ireland then why is the state gifting our gas to Shell and buying back at premium prices? The deal was negotiated by Ray Burke, jailed for corruption, and Bertie Ahern, state thief.

6. What about nuclear power?

I can barely afford to pay my electricity as it is. What the hell is wrong with the government?

Justice for Cambodia? The Kaing Guek Eav verdict

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:16:00 +0000

I have a new post on GlobalComment about the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. I lived in Cambodia for three years and know most of the people involved. My other blog Foreign Affairs is about my life there.

The verdict is in. Kaing Guek Eav, aka Comrade Duch (68) of the Khmer Rouge was convicted of war crimes, crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions by the trial chamber of The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia on 26 July 2010.

It has been a long time coming. The communist Khmer Rouge regime murdered, tortured and starved millions of their own people. The majority of current government ministers were part of the regime. The tribunal at the ECCC has been subject to political interference, incompetence, legal ploys, confessions and retractions. What makes the process more difficult is the hybrid nature of the ECCC, which made any convictions doubtful.

Continue Reading »

Civil partnerships – Ireland’s answer to gay marriage

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 09:27:00 +0000

I have a new post up on Global Comment

“Will you partner me civilly?” is a question thousands of Irish people may be able to ask their same sex partner next year. It does not have the same ring as the more conventional phrase, but what it lacks in tradition it makes up in ambiguity.
While a civil partnership does not confer equality or full civil rights, but it shuffles in the right direction. The State will finally recognise the existence of gay and lesbian relationships. True equality, however, would involve gay marriage, adoption rights, and a host of other changes to existing legislation, which are not part of the Civil Partnership Bill.

There are many positive aspects of the Civil Partnership Bill. Financial arrangements will be more in line with the standard marriage contract. Partners will be able to benefit from the other’s pension rights. Joint income will be recognised when calculating tax benefits and a civil partner may be named on the other’s travel pass for the over 65s. Partners may now claim rights in areas such as inheritance, social welfare and a shared home.

After the Bill is passed in the Senate and has the autograph of the President For Life, gay marriages, civil partnerships and civil marriages from other jurisdictions will be recognised in Irish law. Recognised as civil partnerships that is, provided that the Minister for Justice approves of the legislation of the state in question. He has thirty days to rule on the decision.

However, there are significant gaps in the legislation, particularly with regard to the rights of children and adoption. The Irish Constitution regards the family “as the necessary basis of social order and as indispensable to the welfare of the Nation and the State” (Art. 41.1.1) but the legislation does not confer family status on same sex couples. As a result, you can love and care for the child of your partner from the moment of hir birth but you have no legal relationship with that child. You cannot adopt your own child. You cannot visit your child in hospital without the express permission of the bio parent. You probably will not even be permitted to attend parent-teacher meetings. If your partner predeceases you, your child loses both hir parents.

At some point in the future, there will be a referendum on the rights of the child, and perhaps the children of gay and lesbian couples will receive their rights at that point. For now, they remain in legal limbo.

Anything that is remotely connected with Catholicism brings out the extremist element in Irish society. Catholic extremists never seem to remember that Leviticus is in the Old Testament and that marriage predates Christianity. The hatemongers mount protests and engage in threatening behaviour outside the parliament.

Statements about the sanctity of marriage are hurled at passersby and politicians alike. There is a lot of gobbledegook about the special status of marriage and how civil partnership will destroy it. Re-interpretations of the words of Jesus Christ are being flung dunglike at an innocent public, distorting and misrepresenting words of a great social revolutionary.

In a desperate attempt to remain relevant, the Irish bishops have jumped on the bandwagon and released a pamphlet on why marriage matters. It is misleading and seeks to undermine the legislation while superficially ‘supporting’ gay and lesbian coupes. Perhaps, their contribution to the debate was to distract from the revelations of child abuse by any means necessary. Maybe the Catholic bishops have spotted the irony of the Church defending morality. However, all their words simply reassure the extremist elements of the congregations and alienate the majority.

Everywhere backbenchers sniff the wind, ever wary of controversy and potential elections. They whisper in the ears of party colleagues, perhaps make a few “no offense…” ‘jokes’ to test the lay of the land. The Government, which consistently leans into the prevailing wind, found “an Irish solution to an Irish problem”. In much the same way as the troublesome issues in the past, the Government equivocated, side stepped the issues and proved once again that some Irish people are more equal than others.

One positive outcome of the protests and whisperings is the refusal of the Minister for Justice to allow for a conscience clause. Such a clause was proposed by an opposition deputy but as Junior Minister at the Department of Finance, Martin Mansergh said

My view is that if one takes up a public appointment, one must carry out the duties that the law prescribes and those duties will change from time to time as the law changes. We should not give sanction effectively to homophobia for conscientious reasons

Public servants will not have the right to ‘morally’ object to performing civil partnership ceremonies. The notion of including such a clause would be impractical as well as ethically wrong. Imagine the precedent such a clause would require. Claims for moral injury by public servants would spread like blight.

Finish reading here

Fine Gael

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 07:48:00 +0000

It's time to worry

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Sat, 29 May 2010 12:46:00 +0000

Eircom has been a disaster since Mammy O Rourke privatised it. It's been laden with debt and the services are expensive, unreliable and do not reach all areas of the country. To make matters worse, the company has crumbled before IRMA at the first hurdle in violation of a ruling of the ECJ and will hand over IP addresses to an interest group.

Eircom is spying for IRMA. The offline equivalent might be the NRA reporting car speeding to the Gardaí for penalty points except in this scenario the NRA have a faulty speed camera and have lost the instruction manual which was written in Japanese to begin with. For one thing, someone downloading a piece of music from [sic] The Pirate Bay may be totally legal. Many groups publish online music for free and torrent software is great because if the connection is dropped the download can resume from that point rather than having to begin all over again. That holds true for all file types.

IP addresses are not the same as physical addresses as anyone with an internet dongle can testify. I can connect and the IP address may be one in Cork or Dublin or Limerick. It seems like techno fail to me.

Anyway what's worrying me today is this from the Irish Times

Mr Magee (56) left Eircom in February after 15 years with the company. As acting chief executive of the company last year, he set the wheels in motion for a major restructuring of Eircom’s cost base and helped to scuttle Australian financier Rob Topfer’s attempt to capture the business

The HSE is a "Frankenstein['s monster] stalking our land" and now Eircom's acting chief executive is going to take over from Brendan Drumm. Anyone else felt a cold shiver at hearing that news?

A different sort of female genital mutilation

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Mon, 24 May 2010 23:20:00 +0000

I've a new post on GlobalComment

About thirty years ago, there was an informal secret society in the city of Cork. Perhaps a loose net of those with a shared interest might be more accurate. This group passed the names of certain professionals around – who could be trusted, previous experiences, and religious beliefs. The information was gathered from many sources. It was shared among women of childbearing age because none wanted a fervently Catholic gynecologist.

A fervently Catholic gynecologist might put his beliefs into practice on the delivery table. He might choose to save the life of the child over the mother, or regardless of consequences make sure the woman would conceive again, or choose to mutilate a woman’s body rather than allow the idea that the woman might choose contraception in the future.

In the grand tradition of submission to the catholic church, Irish doctors used the surgical technique of symphysiotomy, long after the rest of the developed world had discredited its practice. Symphysiotomy was developed in 1597 and was routinely used to widen the pelvis during childbirth. By dividing the cartilage of the symphysis pubis, the pelvis can be widened by up to two centimetres.

Known complications include haemorrhage, injury to the urethra or bladder, vesicovaginal or urethrovaginal fistula, stress incontinence, sepsis, and pelvic osteoarthropathy. In some cases women experienced difficulty in walking and an unstable pelvis.

The technique was largely abandoned in the late nineteenth century after improvements in the hygiene and clinical practice of Caesarean section. It is still practiced in developing countries when Caesarean section is too risky and it can save the life of the mother and/or that of the child.

However, in Ireland, women were subjected to symphysiotomy without consent for religious reasons, even though Caesarean sections were relatively safe. It was thought that women subjected to repeated Caesareans might be tempted to use contraception and that could not be allowed to happen.

[Dr] Alex Spain was the champion of symphysiotomy at the National Maternity Hospital. In 1944, he revived the technique because Caesarean sections might lead to “contraception, the mutilating operation of sterilisation, and marital difficulty.” At that time Caesarean sections were perfectly safe and symphysiotomy had fallen into disrepute. Spain admitted his decision went against the weight of the entire English-speaking obstetrical world’.

From 1944 to 1983, 1,500 women underwent this unnecessary and traumatic surgical procedure leaving many in pain for the rest of their lives because of the religious beliefs of a few men. Many survivors have spoken of feeling the saw cut through the public bone and seeing horrific injuries on their newborns. These are just two stories:

“I’ve been in pain ever since. I’ve still attending hospitals with back pain and kidney problems. I’d go to bed one night and would be ok but the next day I would not be able to get out of the bed, I wouldn’t be able to put my feet to the ground, all because of the operation, and I didn’t know at the time. I had x-rays taken of my legs to see what was wrong but they couldn’t find anything wrong.”

and

“They gave me hardly any information, whatsoever, until I got to the theatre. The only thing I remember is the nurses saying I had lovely red hair. They showed me the saw. It was an ordinary hand saw, they showed me where they were going to open the pelvic bone. They didn’t explain — they said: “You are going to have your baby now.” It was such agony, a terrible severe pain.”

Women were subject to this outdated practice because Catholic doctors believed that women would not choose to undergo multiple Caesarean sections. Such women might turn to contraception, the idea of which was unacceptable to those doctors at the time. These doctors saw themselves as upholding the laws of the Catholic church and those who are still alive show no remorse. They deny the damage they inflicted.

Continue reading here

The Ryan report - a year later

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Sun, 23 May 2010 10:38:00 +0000

I've a new post on GlobalComment

Thursday was the first anniversary of the publication of the Commission of Inquiry into Child Abuse. Commonly called the Ryan Report, its publication cumulated in the realisation of the extent of the violence, rape and sexual assault that children suffered in the care of the Catholic Church. I have written more here. Eight organisations (Barnardos, CARI, Children’s Rights Alliance, Irish Association of Young People in Care, ISPCC, One in Four, Rape Crisis Network of Ireland and Dublin Rape Crisis Centre) met to discuss progress on the implementation of the Ryan Report.

To this day not a single additional penny has been paid by the eighteen religious congregations that committed crimes against children. I say additional because the Irish Government struck a shameful deal with the religious orders in 2002. The then Minister for Education Michael Woods and Attorney General Michael McDowell struck a secret deal. It was never put before parliament and there was no vote. In short, religious orders were awarded indemnity against all legal claims provided they supplied €128m in cash and property. The idea was that if there was a shortfall, the taxpayer would provide. Woods expected around 2000 claimants and a total cost of around €300m.

Fast forward to 2010, and 14 000 claimants have come forward. The bill is expected to be around €1.3bn. And the religious orders have not contributed a single additional penny. The congregations claim that the Irish Government had not yet provided the details of what further contributions are required.

In addition, the Catholic Church, which runs 92% of the primary schools in Ireland have ordered the schools to pay €4.75 per pupil to the church each year to begin at the end of May. There is no reason given for the charge and the church requires immediate payment. Given that many primary schools in politically-disadvantaged areas are in dire conditions, this demand for money is particularly egregious. Students were requested to bring tolls of toilet paper from home because of budget cutbacks in one Cork school. Several schools have repeated rat infestations. 50 000 students are being educated in prefabs – some for over twenty years. Granted, that these failings are also due to the indifference of successive Education Ministers.

However, this is the same government that promised €2 million for the funding of counselling services for the survivors of institutional rape and torture. Organisations like the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and One in Four have received no extra funding to date and have had their budgets cut by 5.8% despite a government commitment not to do so. Organisations that provide counselling services have been and remain overwhelmed. There is now a nine-month waiting list for one to one counselling at One in Four.

Numerous reports have come out about the cover-up of the sexual abuse of children, yet bishops named in the Murphy report remain patrons of primary schools. The primate of all Ireland, Seán Brady engaged in a conspiracy to cover up serial child rape and refuses to resign. He still holds that position. The leader of the Catholic Church in the Vatican covered up child rape. Benedict XVI was revealed to have ordered bishops not to report child sexual abuse to the correct authorities – the civil authorities – yet he is still lauded by millions.

There has been no information about the children who died in care and were allegedly buried in mass graves. The only information in the public domain is that in 1993 an order of nuns in Dublin sold part of their convent to a real estate developer. The remains of 155 inmates, who had been buried in unmarked graves on the property, were exhumed and, except for one body, cremated and reburied in a mass grave. There has been no other information. Children were murdered, starved and worked to death but we do not even know their names.

Finish reading here

Fellatio and fruit bats: sexual harassment vs. academic freedom

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Fri, 21 May 2010 21:11:00 +0000

I've a new post on GlobalComment

When is sexual harassment not sexual harassment? When it pertains to the rights of an academic to discuss the sex life of fruit bats with a colleague. Add a cry for understanding, a wail of academic censorship and a quick online petition and the academic community is up in metaphorical arms.

This is the tale of Dylan Evans and his online fight to prove himself innocent of sexual harassment and to place himself as the victim of a politically correct university regime determined to undermine his academic freedom. In a presumably desperate act, he transmitted his story to the HuffingtonPost who obligingly printed his point of view, started a petition about his academic persecution and began to stir up what was to become #fruitbatgate.

His fight was undermined, however, by his publication of the relevant correspondence allowing all denizens of the internet to judge for themselves, and more recently by his lack of respect for the confidentiality of the disciplinary proceedings. In fact, it has all blown up in his face.

The online affair began as a simple claim that Evans’ academic freedom was being limited because he was unable to discuss the sex life of fruit bats with a colleague without being accused of sexual harassment. Plenty of academics all over the world enthusiastically signed the petition, probably without reading the details. As Evans’ said

If we cannot discuss scientific articles about topics directly related to our own research, published in leading peer-reviewed international journals with colleagues in the same department, this bodes very ill for informed inquiry and debate.

What Evans fails to add is that he is an evolutionary psychologist and the woman he harassed is an expert nutritionist. Fellatio in fruit bats would not seem to be a topic directly related to the research of either party.

Evans seems to have a couple of major gripes. Firstly, he did not mean to offend her. Secondly, she did not tell him she was offended. Thirdly, he wants to be allowed to discuss fellatio with anyone is chooses.

Not meaning to offend someone is neither here nor there. An offender does not get to justify hir offense. An offender gets to apologise and to not repeat the words. Instead, Evans has created the biggest “I didn’t mean to” cry by casting his plea all over the internet. If he truly did not mean to offend, then he needs to learn what can cause offence and the university-imposed monitoring and counselling can only aid with his understanding.

Finish reading here

Academic freedom is not limited when discussion about oral sex is not on the menu

noreply@blogger.com (Mór Rígan) — Mon, 17 May 2010 11:56:00 +0000

Been reading the documents on #fruitbatgate and my conclusions are that that Evans is a spoiled little boy who believes his academic freedom is limited because he can't talk about oral sex with his colleagues.

In addition to his cries of limiting academic research, he finds the time to complain about the sensitivity of his colleagues who do not like to talk about oral sex with an annoying colleague in the morning.

demurelemur makes the valid point that harassment procedures are there for a reason. People rarely start them without cause.

It's great that UCC has finally started doing something about harassment. When I was there, I could name four full professors who regularly harassed undergrads. No one complained because dislodging a tenured professor in a "he said/she said" debate seemed impossible at the tender age of 19 especially since oversight on exam papers was virtually absent.