Boot out Buttiglione
The vehemence of David Quinn's (today on RTE Radio 1) and Breda O Brien's (Irish Times Sat) defence of Mr Buttiglione's civil rights is a sight to behold. What is most interesting is to see such reaction dressed up in this manner as a defence of pluralism, multiculturalism, minority rights, and in Breda O Brien's article, democracy itself. We are told that Buttiglione's rights to freedom of belief and freedom of speech are being trampled on, and that this is an example of left/liberal intolerance and witch-hunting. And then O Brien has a rant about the democratic deficit, how the president of the commission should be elected etc.
A few thoughts. Buttiglione is not elected. The European Parliament is. A proposal to oversee his tenure as commissioner is not actually the imposition of orthodoxy, it is parliament doing its job of oversight and holding to account. Also we need to remember what the commission is charged to do. Devise new legislative proposals, and oversee the implementation of legislation already passed. According to Labour MEP Michael Cashman, Buttiglione opposed the inclusion of sexual orientation as an area of fundamental rights during negotiation of the new constitution. Is this commissioner likely to introduce innovative porposals under a fundamental right which he opposed?
Apparently, if my Italian serves, he also did his level best to water down workplace anti-discrimination sections in Directive 2000/78/CE. (http://www.unita.it/index.asp?SEZIONE_COD=LIBE&TOPIC_TIPO=&TOPIC_ID=38120) .
Is this the man we want making sure that anti-discrimination directives are implemented?
Apparently he had serious issues with a gay march in rome, saying it was a provocation, and an offence to catholics. Multicultural indeed.
Most bizarre in the Breda O Brien article was the implied comparison of the European Parliaments bringing-to-account and the holocaust. She quotes the famous Martin Niemöller?s lines 'First they came for the Communists...'
The "demotion" of Buttiglione she implies is the thin end of the wedge. What an offensive insult to the memory of those who the Nazis also came for, and who died in their thousands wearing pink triangles.
Tetra Pak reply on Spring Water packaging
Dear Daniel
Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding packing water in Tetra Pak cartons.
Certainly cartons have a number of environmental benefits over other packaging types and we are happy that you recognise this fact.
Spring water is packed in Tetra Pak cartons in other countries such as UK, France and other markets. We have discussed the possibility of using cartons with a number of Irish manufacturers. However, there are a number of factors that have affected any progress to date such as capital expenditure, consumer research, and marketing scale.
Your interest and support is very much appreciated and we will continue our efforts to bring spring water in cartons to the market.
best regards
Marie Kiernan
Communications & Environmental Affairs Director
Tetra Pak (Ireland) Ltd
Ireland should be honoured to welcome Mordechai Vanunu
Indymedia Ireland have a excellent story on Mordechai Vanunu, one of those individuals who has suffered much personal pain in the name of truth.
See
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=66917
Ireland would be honoured to have him in our midst.
Waste Headaches, Volcanic indeed
Apparently Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council do not collect plastic bottles for recycling. Hopefully the new powers that be on the council will get things moving in that direction soon. But the final destination of such waste for recycling is a concern, according to a report in the Sunday Times.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2091-1302638,00.html
Maybe I'm going through a conscientious stage, but I am feeling less and less at ease about drinking plastic bottled water from volcanic mountains in France. Glass is not offered at all as packaging these days as far as I can see. God bless the old days of refunds on bottles, and bottle collections to fund the new local scout hall. If one finds a bring centre that takes plastic bottles, where do they end up? Is some poor chinese worker sorting them, enveloped by noxious fumes.
Another question: why not use tetra packs for spring water? Do we really require the aesthetic joy of viewing our pure water through transparent PET.
Another thing, it seems that the curfuffle about the safety of reusing these bottles is based on a dubious urban legend. Some newspaper got the gist of an unscientific MA thesis, and the story spread like wildfire:
http://www.snopes.com/toxins/bottles.asp
I think I'll go back to tap water. On days when I'm not feeling selfish that is !
ODA and SSIA
Instead of over-heating the economy in 2006 when the SSIAs begin to pay out, maybe the government would consider upping our ODA contribution. Also, maybe they could set up a scheme for folks to donate say, 20% of the 20% they got from the exchequer towards development co-operation.
The graph at
www.dochas.ie shows how little progress this government has made. I hate to be party political, but we usually see better progress in coalitions in which Labour is a member. But all parties should budget in the long term to take this out of the annual budget estimates horse trading.
FF may argue that they have increased the size of the cake, but the whole point is that it is a percentage target we have committed ourselves to -way back in 1972.
We drink more and more wine and pollute the planet with our SUVs, while africans lead short and desperate lives. Where is that Inchydoney spirit Bertie, where is the social-democratic wing of Fianna fáil. Look at Sweden who surpassed their committment years ago, and due to austerity measures had to
reduce to a level of 0.7% GNP.
Not forgetting trade and debt. See Bono's recent speech and other info at
http://www.data.org/.
Book Review: How We Can Save the Planet
Mayer Hillman's book is a sobering update on the current state of play with global warming. Hillman outlines the seriousness of the sitiuation. Did you know that we don't have to worry about oil reserves: the global warming will get us before we use it all anyway. The remedy is a global setup involving "contraction and convergence". This means we gradually end up generating less co2 per person, and also gradually move to a situation where there is an even distribution across the worlds population, in other words rationing per individual. This is only fair, but the collective political action required seems unlikely. Look at how the fairly minimalist Kyoto agreement was unceremoniously dumped by the US a few years back [ kyoto has been saved in recent days; Gordon Brown playing his part offering WTO membership in exchange for Russia's signature of Kyoto]. Global warming is just one more area where issues of global governance [ and lack thereof] come into sharp relief. Hillman doesn't really offer a roadmap to new institutions, but is just buildng the consitituency. Relying on individual conscientiousness will not be enough for this issue - however plenty of advice to individuals on lifestyle is proffered. This is one of those issues that requires individual and social action. In my own view, political activists need work hard to nurture the nascent "global civil society" which builds the pressure for reformed and accountable institutions necessary for dealing with such common global concerns.
Reflecting on the recent reversal of plans for a carbon tax here on the basis of cost, one wonders if it would not have been better to at least make a start, just to get climate change on the agenda. We need to start getting people acclimatised to thinking in terms of their fossil fuel use. Cultural learning has to start, and tax is the only tool that works on some people (remember the plastic bag tax). Another issue being conveniently ducked by the government is our national energy self sufficiency. We will soon have another "Irish solution to an Irish problem". We will rail against Sellafield and keep Ireland nuclear free, while connecting in with the UK electricity grid to feed the growing needs of the Celtic Tiger.
This book is not fun, but to avoid this issue is to bury one's head in the sand. One goes through stages of being environmentally conscientious, followed by stages of a sense of powerlessness. We drift in and out of denial. But a book like this is a wake up call.
I bought my copy in Dubray in Grafton Street. Also available from
this link at Amazon.co.uk
Book Review: Rough Justice, autobiography of Maurice Bobo Ward
This is a very sad book indeed, filled with poverty, abuse, violence, incarceration and little light relief. It's author, gangland robber Bobo Ward, was gunned down shortly after its completion. Even all the more sad as he was beginning to gain insight into himself, and some of his actions. The States of Fear documentary triggered off dealing with his childhood abuse in a reform school for young offenders. While it does not absolve him of responsibility for his actions, one can cannot fail to draw the links between the abuse of the child and the man's violent rage and ongoing hatred of authority. Bobo is a paradigm of extreme macho toughness, but at points in the book there are touching displays of sheer naivety. In the last years of his life, the man who once gaurded Larry Dunne's Drug store, and at a later stage beat up heroin pushers in his home area of Clondalkin, now put his energies into Survivors of Child abuse. While the gardaí are routinely called "the filth" in passages of the book, individual guards who helped him in reporting his abuse are thanked very deeply and sincerely. When his young son is handicapped for life in a brutal accident in a coporation flats lift, the tragedy of this life is heaped upon heap. One heart goes out to this mans partners and children.
