Obama's New Presidency

Five days into Obama's presidency and I must say that it has been interesting. The reactions of many people to his inauguration have given me some faith in the man ( I supported John McCain). He will bring hope to America and hopefully to the world. He is charismatic, intelligent and seems to be competant. All things that I could not have said about out going president George W Bush. The biggest factor that makes Obama's election such a deal is that he is not just the first black president of America but the fist non WASP president since the Kennedy. He is completely different to what we have had in the past few terms and McCain unfortunately, demographically anyway, was the same. While I do not believe that Obama will bring about change, looks like he is rerunning the Clinton era, a lot of people do and that is what is important. He brings hope.

While I do not think that he will bring about drastic change like he promised, if he is simply competant it will be such a change from Bush that the people's appetite for altering the status quo will be sated. He will certainly be a step up from Bush but whether he actually does anything will remain perennially in the back seat to appearances.

He managed to get through the gruelling election process without being tied down on any issues and even his backroom staff seem to be perfectly picked to avoid being tied down to any particular school of thought. Also the extremely polarised face of American politics with the surge in the Democrat's popularity has made it incredibly hard for him to fulfill his promises of bi-partisanship as moderate Republicans that still have seats being few and far between. This popularity, or the Republican's unpopularity depending on how you look at it, has also meant that there are many Democrat's in congress who are not all that open to Obama which was shown in Obama's difficulty in getting his financial stimulus passed anywhere near as quickly as he would have liked.

Basically it would appear that Obama is style over substance (but at least he has some substance) but that in the end this won't matter as he brings hope and that can only be a positive thing.

Why Ché Guevara is no hero of mine...

With the new Steven Soderburgh film about the life of South America's famous revolutionary a new wave of Che Guevara hysteria has swept the youth. Che always bugged me, mainly for his communistic ideals but after seeing the film I decided to look up on the topic a bit more and to develop a more educated opinion on the man.

Che Guevara was undoubtably a great revolutionary in terms of his command, his charisma and planning. His book on the subject is probably one of the most influential treatises on the subject and his ability to defeat standing standing armies with only a bunch of rag-tag rebels is undisputed. My problem arises with his ideals.

No one will argue that removing Batista was a bad thing, if I was a Cuban I would probably have ended up supporting the 26th July Movement (led by Castro). However is Castro really much better? There are over three thousand political prisoners in Cuba, imprisoned for opposing Castro's regime. Civil liberties in Cuba are laughable and there is not even a semblance of democracy in the country. You see that is the problem with Che Guevara. He sparked a continent wide revolution that deposed of many despots and dictators who were oppressing the people alright but were replaced by just another batch of dictators. This time though the dictators pretended to be democratic, at least for a while. All that Guevara's revolution achieved was to replace one evil with an , arguably, lesser one.

In my view, true freedom for a people can only come through democracy. Freedom requires the lifting of restrictions upon a people. A free people govern themselves and a free people are not under anybody's rule. Democracy a government for, by and of the people has been central to all major revolutions that truly succeeded in bringing freedom to their people. The American revolution which founded a nation has projected its free democratic values across the world, the French revolution with its values of Liberty, Fraternity and equality, the crucial elements in a truly free society and our own Irish war of Independance in which we set up democratic institutions before the war was even won.

Communist societies and the dictatorships that came about as a result of Che's revolution lack this crucial element. If we go by the French revolution's proclamations as being the keys to freedom (noting that they themselves did not fulfill their own requirements) you will see that Castro's Cuba and any communist society is not equal. Their is a two tier system. The party and those who oppose the party. If you re in the party or support (or even pretend that you do...) you can live a reasonable existence but once you oppose the regime you are an enemy of the state and will likely face imprisonment, like the poor three thousand people rotting in Castro's prisons as we speak. That my friends is not freedom. Then even those that do their best to live up to communist ideals are constrained by a society that does not even recognize the individual. It may be true that I have little time for a lot of the individualistic rubbish spouted regularly today but each person is different and should be treated as such. Each person should be allowed to conduct their own lives, they should not be forced to sacrifice their lives for the good of the state and that, unfortunately, is a fundamental fact in communist regimes and that is also fundamentally controlling and is not freedom.

Gaza

Today marks the ninth day of the Israeli offensive upon the Gaza strip amidst widespread public disgust. Yesterday, our own fair Dublin bore witness to a sizeable march in solidarity with the palestinians, drawing together members from a huge range of (mainly left leaning) political groups- from Labour to the Irish Communist Party. There were signs calling this an "ethnic cleansing" and painting a portrait of the Israel as the new Nazi Germany!

This I believe is a terribly unfair analysis of the complex situation.

I would like to draw your attention to a number of facts surrounding this incident. Since Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza in 2005, over 6,300 rockets were fired into Israel from Hamas operated missile sites in the Gaza Strip. How can any nation allow this to continue? As Barack Obama has said “If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I would do everything to stop that, and would expect Israel to do the same thing”.

Israel have the right to defend themselves and I believe that not only are they justified in doing what they have done but this offensive was the one and only course of action left open to them. Israel has sent in over 700 rockets aimed at Hamas targets (as opposed to the citizen targets that Hamas themselves chose) and have killed numerous high ranking Hamas operatives and seemingly, Hamas Chief of Staff Ahmed Ja'abri. The death toll has reached 400 at least 300 being Hamas operatives according to the BBC who along with many news reporters have been accused of exaggerating the number of civilian casualties! These 100 were killed not because of Israel's evil but because of Hamas' policy of using Palestinians as human shields and considering that Hamas are sacrifice their own people, this seems to be a rather low figure. Civilian casualties are an unfortunate fact of war and it would appear that Israel are doing what they can to keep the casualties at a minimum. My question to those who condemn the Israeli action is what would they do in Israel's shoes?

Now people will likely point to the fact that only four Israeli's have been killed by this barrage of Hamas missilry. What I would like to make clear is that Human life does not have a value. Whether 4 are killed or 400 should not be the issue but the simple fact that civilians are being killed. The difference between civilians being killed by Hamas and those killed by the Israeli's is simple. For Hamas, citizens are the targets. For the Israeli's Hamas is the target and civilians are unfortunate collateral damage resulting from Hamas use of them as human shields.

So you have heard me justify the current Israeli military operation and are likely thinking that I am some description of pro-war zionist who cares little about the palestinians. That would be untrue. Israel may be justified in their current action but they are not blameless. I have previously said that they had to do this, that they had no other option and that is sadly the case. However it is also my opinion that this sad fact has come to be due to short sighted and selfish policies pursued by Israel with regards to Palestine. Their ill treatment of the Palestinian people has engendered a hatred of the Zionist state and given rise to Hamas and seriously weakened the democratic wing of the Palestinian movement, FETA. This coupled with their uncompromising attitude in previous attempts to seek peace has backed them into a corner where they must fight. A fight that Hamas are only to happy to fight regardless of the human tragedy.

American Presdential Election 2008; Final Thoughts

Wow, Obama actually looks set for the White House. Most people, especially young European types love him, why then am I so disappointed?

Strangely good auld Arnold Schwarzenegger summed it up pretty well when describing how he would cure Obama of his scrawny little arms and legs before adding, "but how will we put some meat on his ideas?"

The chances of Obama actually implementing most of his ideas are slim. Most of them being simply ludicrous. Odd as this feels to say but Obama's policies are anti-American. They simply do not fit into the, often times glorified, American Dream. "Spread the wealth around" he says, those earning less than 100,000 (according to his latest statement) will be actually penalised by Obama's Tax system. That is under €80,000, Upper Middle income range. Less than what a senior lecturer would earn in an Irish University.

Are these really the people that we want to be targeting? McCain proposes tax cuts on everyone up to $200,000, the over €150,000 bracket. The top brass businessmen who, let's be honest, can afford tax increases and still live very comfortably. Like our friends back home in Fianna Fáil, Obama targets the Middle Class. The convenient scapegoats for everything. The backbone of society and the one's who worked hardest towards the boom and benefited least are the one's that he plans to attack with his ridiculous tax plans.

Boost Capitals gains tax, Investment taxes, place a 55% inheritance tax.

All these ideas increase taxes, reduce incomes and importantly reduce the value of investments in an already violent economic climate. Capital investment is needed to stabilize Amierican markets but Obama's tax policies actually discourage such investment.

What really bothers me however is how, like Libertas over here, Obama managed to buy an election. He has spent nearly $600million so far while McCain has yet to spend $300. Both obscene amounts of money but Obama's camp dared to criticise Palin for her $125,000 Wardrobe. With the excess money that Obama has spent over McCain, 2,400 people could have been outfitted like Palin and to add insult to injury, he spends $5m on an add just days after critisising Palin. The press of course remain silent.

Obama received a free ride in the press, they say that FOX is Republican through and through, well if that is the case then the Economist, LATimes, NYTimes and even the Sindo and Irish Independant are all Obama rags.

If the Americans have any sense they will elect John McCain on Wednesday.

American Presdential Election 2009

Well, a chairde,

At the moment the political headlines are swamped with talk of the American Presidential Election. We have been given an interesting choice of candidates this year with McCain, the republican candidate being the more centrist as opposed to Obama, the extremely liberal Democratic candidate.

Now I would have always supported Democratic candidates in the past, Clinton, Gore, Kennedy and I believe that Hillary had a lot more to her than either candidate we are left with today. I now find myself however supporting John McCain.



Now, this first started with my extreme dislike of Obama. In my eyes, he is all talk. Fantastic rhetoric but no real substance. I mean, who is he? He also seems to believe that he has a divine right to the presidency, treating with contempt any who stand in his way. Clinton, McCain, Palin. What disgusts me is the hypocrisy of his campaign. Belittling Palin for her lack of experience when she is in fact a heck of a lot more experienced than Obama himself and besides he is going up as president, she as VP and I think that I speak for most people when I say that experience is more important in a presidential candidate than in his running mate.



Anyway despite my intense dislike for Obama, I decided that I should not make any political decisions based on personality alone, so I started investigating the issues. The first one to catch my eye was Obama's opposition to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act in 2002. This protected the lives of babies who were left alive after a failed abortion attempt and outlawed the barbaric process of "shelving" where such babies were left in a jar in storage until they died of starvation. This passed with great support on a federal level and in nearly all senates however it encountered fierce opposition in Illinois where one Sen. Barack Hussein Obama launched fierce opposition to the bill.



Then I started looking on their websites for their views. Obama's slick looking "Blue book for change" and McCain's various briefings. What immediatly struck me was the lack of detail in Obama's publication. His whole Blue Book which outlines all his policies, is smaller than McCain's briefing on Economics alone and Obama uses mush fancier formatting!!

Obama is full of fantastic rhetoric and quotes from his speeches but lacks substance. We are given a whole lot of waffle about protecting this and strengthening that. McCain however seems to have many novel ideas.Including his great Summer Tax relief scheme, which “Could save motorists up to $6.8 billion in taxes during the summer" (Kathy Kiely, USA Today, 16/04/08). McCain simply seems to know what he is doing more than Obama does.

Then we come to Obama's "Change you can believe in" slogan. Frankly, I believe more in change from McCain, the "maverick" of Republican politics. Obama says that he agreed to 90% of Bush's proposals, ergo he disagreed with 10%! That is a huge number when you consider that they are both from the same party and if you take into account the number of these bills that were inconsequential and supported by nearly everyone.



Then there is the element of his patriotism. McCain is a war hero who sacrificed a lot for America. Whatever else it is hard to argue against the fact that McCain is a true American patriot. Obama however, not so much. On the day he officially received the Democratic Party nomination, his wife came out with the disgraceful comment that "For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback." So she was not a proud American before that? Pretty bad coming from someone hoping to be America's First Lady. Then there is the issue of Jeremiah Wright, a life long friend and spiritual advisor to Mr Obama. He is quite simply racist and saying things like "God Damn America" hardly makes him very patriotic. What puzzles me is that the public accepted Obama's cutting of ties with this man so easily. Do you really think that that was the first time that Wright spoke like that with anti-American and anti-white slogans? I think not. Obama likes people to see him as a new Dr M L King figure but I think that he is more reminiscent of Malcolm X.

Georgia: Cold War II

A chairde, yesterday Russian officials announced that South Ossetia would be annexed and become part of Russia(). This comes after the much publicized Georgio-Russian Conflict. Many people I have talked to on this issue over the week believed that Russia's military action was justified and that Georgia was to blame. These same people constantly rant and rave about the evil of America and their "Imperialism".

Now to get some things straight. South Ossetia and Abkhazia are two rogue regions in Georgia run by rebels and anarchists. They have been supported by Russia in their rebellions and a week before Russia invaded they gave the citizens Russian passports which, in my opinion, were only given as an excuse for the invasion.

Saakashvili a well educated Harvard Graduate has done what he can to bring Georgia into the future. Imagine how hard this is when you have two rebel region comprising about a third of your landmass being supported by the hugely powerful Russia. He was provoked on to entering South Ossetia and remember that the region is still part of Georgia. Russian troops had been preparing for weeks for the invasion so they had planned for this to happen.

We also saw how Medvedev is only a puppet to the puppet master of all puppet masters, Vladimir Putin. Putin now is an ex-KGB and it would seem that he wants nothing more than conquest for the motherland and to make her a Superpower again.

The invasion of Georgia was all about territory and military presence as well as being a great tour de force from what used to be a world superpower. We saw how NATO and the UN were powerless to do anything. How even the mighty US were forced to stand still while their ally who needed their help was being ravaged by Russians.

In the immediate aftermath of the conflict a truce was signed. Great, you say until you read the terms, Russia is to be allowed patrol Georgia with her troops!! If that is not a violation of a country's sovereignity, then what is? It gets even worse, as you have seen South Ossetia has now been annexed by Russia and is going to be the site of Russian military bases, Abkhazia will also be the site of two military bases.

I personally am fed up with the "anti-war" protesters. Where were they when Tskhinvali burned? Organisations like irelandantiwar.org and Galway Alliance Against War using this as an opportunity to spread lies about the Lisbon Treaty and to say how evil America is. America is not the one forcing its patrols on a Democratic country and forcefully setting up military bases within her borders. America is not the country who threatened a nuclear strike on Poland if they set up a Missile Defense System. Ladies an Gentlemen, it is time to get a grip on reality. America and the Eu are not the ones who are undermining Democracy and invading sovereign nations for territorial gains. Why are people only concerned with a war if America start it?

A dhaoine Uaisle, I am personally digusted with most of the ractions I have gotten to the conflict. Russia is the Imperialist one here. Russia is the aggressor and Putin needs to be stopped before he starts another Cold War.

Go raibh maith agaibh.

Anti-Catholic Homosexuals

"TWO Sydney activists have won a Federal Court challenge to special World Youth Day laws carrying $5500 fines for protesters who "annoyed" pilgrims.

NoToPope Coalition members Rachel Evans and Amber Pike took the New South Wales Government to court over the police powers granted for the month of July, seeking a declaration that they were unconstitutional."(http://www.news.com.au/comments/0,23600,24022955-5016937,00.html)


"Anti-pope activists urge safe sex, toss condoms at Catholic pilgrims in Australia
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/19/asia/AS-Australia-Pope-Protest.php ^

Posted on 19 Iúil 2008 11:47:35 by marthemaria

More than 500 anti-pope activists faced off against happy pilgrims Saturday, shouting their distaste at papal policies as thousands of Catholic youth streamed past on their way to an evening address by Pope Benedict XVI.

The NoToPope coalition — some costumed as nuns, devils and priests — lined the edge of a park on the route of the pilgrims' march, tightly ringed by police on foot, bicycles and horseback. "The pope is wrong, put a condom on!" they shouted through megaphones. Some threw red-packaged condoms at the passing pilgrims. But the young Catholics were at first merely curious, then smiled and waved and began their own singsong chant that carried down the ranks: "Benedicto! We love you!"

The two crowds became testy at one point, and police grabbed and led away one protester who had been throwing condoms toward pilgrims.The activists — fresh from a court win this week that overturned a temporary state regulation against "annoying" the pilgrims — followed a mock popemobile to the park after an hourlong rally. "We want to make it clear that we are not anti-religious, and we welcome the Catholic youth to our country," said Rachel Evans, a leader of the coalition. "Our gripe is with Pope Benedict and the hierarchy of the church." The coalition condemns the pope's policies against homosexuality, contraception and abortion. At the rally, costumed activists gave impassioned speeches on safe sex and held a contest for the T-shirt slogan most likely to annoy Roman Catholics. The winner — judged by crowd applause — was a crude reference to Mary, Christ's mother. The runner-up: "So many right-wing Christians, so few lions." The burlesque, boisterous protest in central Sydney included wigged drag queens and others draped in rainbow flags, and was in sharp contrast to the ..

(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ..."

A dhaoine uaisle,

This is a sad inditement on the modern world. A group of young pilgrims cannot celebrate their religion without getting attacked by a bunch of disgraceful thugs. I am disgusted that Gays who are constantly moaning about "discrimination" and a "lack of rights" would participate in a hate crime of this nature.

For years we have had to hear them whine and moan about "hate crimes" and "Gay bashing". Now we see how hypocritical the community is. I am not of course saying that every Gay is a hypocritical and sectarian pig but I have yet to hear a Gay condemn the acts of these thugs. World Youth Day is about celebrating a religion amongst the youth of the Catholic Church. These young people came to celebrate peace and a life of goodness. They were spending their weekend praying and enjoying the sense of well being that comes from faith in a higher purpose as opposed to a band of gays who came out to disrupt a peaceful and joyous occasion

I would think that the young Catholics there would have been a lot more tolerant of homosexuals than older generations. Not anymore I'm guessing!!

Imagine the reaction from the gay community is a bunch of Catholics disrupted the Dublin Gay Pride Parade by throwing paper crosses at the Gays and wielding placards sporting slogans such as "Sodom, the city of Sin" or "Condemn all Gays". The populace would be in uproar. Now because of the fact that these young people are Catholic you can do whatever you want to them. This is Sectarian and what these people did was a Hate Crime. A kind of gay-bashing where the gays do the bashing...

What of the gesture of throwing condoms at largely underage youths. What kind of message is this promoting? Underage sex is grand once you use a condom? At least the pilgrims did the Church proud by not reacting to this outrage in the true Christian fashion of peace.

Whatever complaints that you may have against the church, it is not right to attack any people because of their faith. I wonder whether any LGBT activists would assault the pilgrims to Mecca? Surely executing any practitioners of Homosexuality (as is done in Islamic countries) is worse than anything that the Catholic Church has ever done to that community.

I find this kind of behavior unforgivable and akin to Jews putting, hypothetically, palestinians into gas chambers or concentration camps.
I call on the world to wake up and realise that this kind of Hate Crime is not acceptable. Just because you have deviant sexual practices should not entitle you to attack young people who just want to spend a weekend in prayer. In my opinion this is what comes from giving too much to minority groups. Yes, they should be held as equals but now being a member of a minority group grants you many privileges at the expense of those who just want to live good lives.

Go raibh maith agat as bhur eisteacht.