The tapes that have started a firestorm this week in Ireland do more than reveal the attitudes of the senior bankers involved in the destruction of Ireland’s financial system during the 2008 financial meltdown. They also show why the recommendations of the UK Parliament on legal standards of conduct for
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Accidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Andrew Jackson rightly questions Greg Mankiw’s faith-based assertion that increasing wealth accumulation is based solely on merit and contribution to society rather than hoarding and rent-seeking. And Martin Lobel highlights a few of the distortionary policies that have served to exacerbate inequality in
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Justin Ling writes that the Cons’ aversion to accountability isn’t limited to their own government, as they’re one of the few holdouts against transparency in resource-sector reporting of payments to governments abroad. – Meanwhile, Stuart Trew discusses an international citizens’ initiative to
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Atheist For Christmas, Christian For St.Paddy’s
Most atheists are as irrational as those who believe in religion. And perhaps even more hypocritical. There’s no greater example of this than those vocal opponents of religion who criticize Christmas but in just a few months time celebrate St.Patrick’s Day and other religious holidays with unrivaled enthusiasm. St.Patrick’s Day
Continue readingThings Are Good: In Ireland, Carbon Tax Means Less Waste and More Revenue
Modern economies indirectly subsidize environmentally damaging corporate practices by ignoring the environmental costs ( younger generations have to deal with the environmental damage), this can be seen in everything from the tar sands in Alberta to ewaste in electronics. In Ireland they have started a carbon tax to deal with
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: ‘This is a Catholic Country’: Birth, Death and Abortion in Ireland
Savita Halappanavar is dead. She joins millions of women who die every year from complications with their pregnancies. What makes her case particularly tragic is that it that she was refused a medical procedure that may have saved her life. Why? Because the procedure was an abortion and she had the misfortune of being […]
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Ireland Bike Tour – Post Bike Tour Slide Shows
After the bike tour we stayed in Ennis for a few days and took a bus to Limerick for a day tour. The most interesting observation we made was that while Ennis had narrow streets with one lane one way traffic and narrow sidewalks, much of Limerick had wide streets
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Ireland Bike Tour – Cycling Day 6 Slide Show
This was the longest ride of the tour but not too bad as far as hills go, except for the last ride into Westport, up and down and then back up and down again. Lots of scenery but not too many photo stops because of the long ride and then
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Ireland Bike Tour – Break Day Slide Show
We took today easy, went for a walk near the lodge on Lough Inagh in the morning and managed to talk Jeff into driving us to the Kylemore Abbey in the afternoon where we explored the grounds and the remarkable gardens. There is some real interesting history about this place.
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Ireland Bike Tour – Cycling Day 5, Sheep Shearing, Flowers and More Slide Shows
If you’ve ever been to a county fair or watched a movie about Australia you have seen sheep sheering, but usually with electric shears. In this part of Ireland they use hand shears and probably sheer the sheep faster and cleaner than with the electric ones. This was a great
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Ireland Bike Tour – Cycling Day 4, Discovering Ireland’s Sheep Slide Show
Today was a day at the beach as we stopped at a wonderful little beach along the route, as well as made a visit to the lovely town of Clifden. More scenery, and did I mention the sheep. The sheep in Ireland seem to have priority over the roads, followed
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Ireland Bike Tour – Cycling Day 3, The Aran Islands Slide Show
Most of the day was spent on one of the Aran Islands. It was a great day for photography as it was actually sunny and there was so much to photograph, from a remarkable fort to literally hundreds (maybe thousands) of stone fences from millions of stones dividing up the
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Ireland Bike Tour – Cycling Day 2, To The Burren Slide Show
Today we did a circle route through the remarkable Burren, a landscape that almost defies description, although parts of Ottawa’s Lime Kiln Trail with it’s underlying Limestone hints at it. And, of course it’s Ireland so there were more ruins. This was the second hardest climbing day of the tour.
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Ireland Bike Tour – Cycling Day 1, The Irish Landscape Slide Show
Today we got setup on our bikes with our self-guiding instructions so we could ride on our own while Jeff went ahead with the van and then would mysteriously appear on his bike cycling towards us to make sure we were not lost. We rode to the Cliffs of Moher
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Ireland Bike Tour – Ennis Slide Show
We arrived a few days early and got to know the town of Ennis which was full of stone walls, first thing we noticed, and lots of local shops and pubs – no Walmarts or big box stores. The only chain store we noticed was a large Irish department store,
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Ireland Bike Tour Overview
In recalling our wonderful bike tour of Ireland at first it seems like one long uphill ride in the rain, the green being the only constant. But actually every day was different with many different landscapes and varied geography throughout the over 300 kilometre route. We even had some dry
Continue readingDrive-by Planet: Sinn Féin warns Irish against EU treaty ‘yes’ vote
The Irish face a referendum this week on the new EU fiscal treaty. Yet another EU referendum in an Ireland now under-the-gun of austerity. The signs are that the voters will give the edge to the German-centric austerity juggernaut, in part because the political elite has been scaring people into
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