As you may have noticed, I’ve been winding down That’s Ireland in recent weeks. During that time, I have been working on a new blog, which is now online.
MichaelNugent.com will be mostly about two issues that I’m very passionate about:
Understanding why and how people are happy, because happiness is the underlying reason that anybody wants anything, and
Promoting atheism, because I believe that the idea of gods is bad for society as it makes good people do bad things.
Ironically, my interest in happiness started when I wanted to be a success. I studied what very successful people have in common. Step one: to succeed in anything big, you must start with a passionate desire. So I did an exercise to help ignite that desire. For each aim, I asked ‘why do I want this?’ and for each answer, ‘why do I want that?’ I soon discovered my underlying motivation. Beneath all of the layers of sub-reasons, I wanted anything for exactly the same real reason: because I believed getting it would make me happier. But would it? Many people remain unhappy despite fabulous success. So I shifted my focus from seeking success to the reason I wanted it… happiness.
My interest in atheism is much simpler. I am an atheist because I reject the idea that gods exist, in the same way and for the same reasons that I reject the ideas that that the earth is balanced on the back of a sea turtle, that homeopathy is more useful than a heart transplant, that Rapunzel wove her hair into a ladder or Rumpelstiltskin wove straw into gold, that stepping on a pavement crack will break my mother’s back, that a deposed Nigerian prince wants to email me several million dollars, that Uri Geller can bend spoons with his mind, that I am in danger from vampires or zombies or broken mirrors, or that I am protected by angels or leprechauns or horseshoes.
You’ve probably seen the almost anonymous ‘No to Lisbon’ posters festooning the lamp posts of Dublin and probably elsewhere. If not, here are a couple of them:
Well, If they were anonymous, they would be illegal.
Section 140 of the Electoral Act 1992 makes it illegal to publish any notice, bill or poster promoting an election candidate without including the name and address of the printer and of the publisher. Section 6 of the Referendum Act 1994 applies this provision to referendums.
But these posters scrape into the legal category, because they have a tiny line of text, which is unreadable when the poster is high on a lamppost, that describes the publishers as Coir.
Coir is based at the same address as Youth Defence, and its spokesperson is Richard Greene.
Campaign against Lisbon if you want, but have the courage to let voters know who you are.
Senator Eoghan Harris has taken an early lead in the race for Eejit of the Year 2008. His article in today’s Sunday Independent both borrows a tactic perfected by last year’s winning Eejit John Waters (the famous ‘I am crying, writing this’ theme) and also ventures into unparalleled realms of eejitry of his own.
Just read this, and I defy you not to laugh: >>>(more…)
Some hilarious on-board commentary from driver Niall O’Connell and and co-driver John Liston as they try to overtake a slow car on a narrow straight road in the Irish National Rally Championship. It’s on YouTube via MotorSportMad.com.
As Bertie Ahern’s fate unfolded yesterday, I had this nagging feeling that I had seen it somewhere before. Then I remembered this old episode of Thomas the Tank Engine, in which Ringo Starr’s commentary is a surreally perfect allegory for the morality tale of Thomas the Tribunal versus Bertie the Bluffer.
“The cynics may point to the past but we live in the future.”
“The grass roots, or the rank and file, are now made from fibre optics.”
Number 9: The Drumcondra Mafia
Digout Des Richardson, who gives false invoices to stockbrokers for political donations then gives the money to Bertie Ahern as a personal gift.
Tim Nice-but-Dim Collins, the serial bank-account-opener who uses initials like B/T and D/T for his accounts, and who told the Tribunal that “figures aren’t my forte.”
Joe Burke, who, along with Tim Collins, supposedly lent Ahern’s girlfriend £30,000 of Fianna Fail money, for a house, without Bertie knowing.
Paddy the Plasterer, who Joe Higgins suggested should avoid Ivor Callaly’s house, as Callaly was in enough trouble already with the painters.
Number 8: His ethical philosophies
“We’re not gonna hang anyone on the guillotine.”
“I never condemn wrongdoing in any area.”
“There is a code of ethics whereby those who have been elected to the House try to remain elected. That is the code of ethics in this House.”
Number 7: His most secretly truthful answer ever
When Ahern was first asked about the allegations of receiving between €50,000 and €100,000, he told journalists that a lot of the report was correct but “the figures are off the wall.” This, of course, was true, because he got some of the money “off Michael Wall”.
Number 6: His peacemaking abilities
“There have been disputes between fractions.”
“We shouldn’t upset the apple tart.”
“I don’t think it helps people to start throwing white elephants and red herrings at each other.”
“At present, I have my hand in a whole lot of dykes, trying to keep them in and keep people together.”
Number 5: His tribunal evidence generally
He has a magic briefcase that turns random uncounted bundles of Irish and English money into large exact round-sum dollar and sterling amounts.
He once lodged £50,000, then took it out again, then converted it to Sterling, then kept in his safe for a few months, then converted it back to Irish money, then re-lodged it, in two separate amounts.
He believes that, in 1995, he gave somebody £30,000 to buy sterling with, but he can’t remember who he gave it to.
He bought his house from a philanthropic bus driver who attends dinners but doesn’t eat the dinners, and who had already given Ahern the house in his will anyway.
Number 4: His opinion of Charles Haughey
“I think Charlie Haughey is basically a very good man and unfortunately he got into things like the lifestyle, and the bills caused him to do some things that I feel very strongly about.”
Number 3: His social life
“I’ve never met a socialist in my life, and if I do, I’ll tell you.”
“I can’t say that I have met any homosexuals.”
“I could certainly drink a fair few pints of Bass and be capable of driving.”
Number 2: The quadruple negative
“It is not correct, and if I said so, I was not correct, I cannot recall if I said it, but I did not say, or if I did, I did not mean to say it, that these issues could not be dealt with until the end of the Mahon tribunal. That is not what Revenue said.”
How much petrol could you buy for the same price as a litre of bottled water?
In a survey of teenagers in the midlands and north-east, what was the average age that they first got drunk? And how many said they had been drinking on at least six of the previous 30 days?
What was unusual about the decision that a former Circuit Court judge was to receive a lump sum payment from the State of €57,000, and an annual pension of €19,000?
Who arrived in Dublin and said: “I have to shake this man’s hand. I’ll give him a grip,” and who was he talking about?
What happened to former Fianna Fail Councillor, Michael Fahy, the day before he was due to begin a 12 month jail sentence for misappropriating funds from Galway County Council?
I’ve just noticed a very clever question from Tribunal barrister Des O’Neill, which exposes yet another plot hole in Bertie Ahern’s fairytale of Drumcondra. This one involves Tim ‘Nice-but-Dim’ Collins, the serial account opener who claims that figures are not his forte, contradicting a key element of Ahern’s sworn evidence. I’m sure this exchange will feature in the Tribunal’s final report. >>>(more…)
Which Green Party TD called for an end to ‘crass cronyism’ in the way appointments are made to public bodies, and added that if there is to be a change in Government, ‘there has to be a change of culture too’?
Which Green Party TD, a few months later, lost his seat in the General Election and was then appointed to the Senate by Bertie Ahern?
What proportion of Irish businesses did Office of Tobacco Control report were in breach of the smoking ban?
What proportion of public houses did Office of Tobacco Control report were in breach of the smoking ban?
Which former Fianna Fail Minister said on RTE that, after twenty years in office, he now had to ‘actually find where the Aer Lingus desk is and join the queue like everybody else’ at airports, and also ‘look at things that I didn’t know existed, which are monitors which show your arrivals and departures and the times and the boarding gates - that is all totally new, a totally new world.’
Here’s an interesting sight from yesterday on Drumcondra Road - a large-scale digout operation going on in front of Saint Luke’s, Bertie Ahern’s famous constituency office cum sleepover pad cum informal financing office.
So what is going on? Perhaps, as Ahern feared at the Tribunal, Saint Lukes is actually sliding into the Tolka (presumably underneath the several buildings in between it and the river)? Or perhaps the digout is an audacious tunnelling attempt to reach Ahern’s infamous ’safe safe’? You know, the one that turns random uncounted bundles of Irish and English money into large exact round-sum dollar and sterling amounts? Or a briefcase of £30,000 in cash left by Michael Wall for Ahern? Or an envelope with £20,000 in cash left by Tim Collins for Joe Burke?
Sadly, another week has passed during which real life has interrupted my blog posting. However, nothing can stop the Monday Quiz. On this week last year (Mar 17 to Mar 23, 2007):
Which Government Minister cost most to travel on their Saint Patrick’s Day junket - Martin Cullen going to San Francisco, Noel Dempsey going to Dallas and Houston, or Mary harney going to Scandinavia?
Which Junior Minister cost most to travel on their Saint Patrick’s Day Junket - Pat ‘the Cope’ Gallagher going to Atlanta and Philadelphia, Michael Ahern going to Kuala Lumpar and Singapore, or Tom Parlon going to South Africa?
Why was former Fianna Fail Councillor Michael ‘the Stroke’ Fahey of Galway jailed for twelve months and fined €75,000?
Whey were 400 prisoners or former prisoners suing the State?
What shock did passengers on two Aer Lingus flights to Rome get?
Every 10,000 houses less that are built knocks 1 per cent off growth and that takes a fair bit out [of the employment figures]. That’s the rule of thumb. It also takes a considerable amount of revenue out as well. We are not going to see bounce-back in that in the short term.
And I wondered, can this be the same man who said last July that he doesn’t know how people who crib and moan about the economy don’t commit suicide?
Here are some peculiar news items from this week, starring Pat Kenny, GV Wright, Kevin Myers and a stash of pornography (but, sadly, not all together). >>>(more…)
With Ian Paisley announcing his retirement, here are a few clips from YouTube of the Big Man in action. First, Paisley calls the Pope the Antichrist at the UN Assembly in 1988. Which is of course funny, but even funnier is the news commentary at the start, which reveals that a display of bronze nudes had been removed from the UN lobby for fear of offending the Papal entourage.
I am surprised that the media has not followed up on the report in Sunday’s Irish Mail that ‘Digout Des’ Richardson and Tim Collins had an account called the ‘D/T’ account in the same branch of the Irish Permanent as Bertie Ahern’s mysterious ‘B/T’ account. If this is true, it seems at least possible that the B/T account stands for ‘Bertie and Tim’ and not, as Ahern told the tribunal, ‘Building/Trust’.
I was at the Tribunal on the day that the Tribunal barrister, Mr O’Neill, was asking Ahern questions about the ‘B/T’ account, into which donations to Fianna Fail were lodged and from which £30,000 was withdrawn to enable Ahern’s girlfriend to buy a house. In light of the emergence of the ‘D/T’ account, Ahern’s evidence on that day makes fascinating reading. >>>(more…)
