Brian Cowan - Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) resigns

[OliviaDee]

all right then let's bring the thread back round - cos it is a good one - and since i can't get my Irish friends (in Ireland) to discuss the FUTURE of Irish politics maybe we can get something going here. I am utterly intrigued as to the absolutely incessant discussion about how rubbish FF are - yes they are but they are on their way out so let's move on - and so little willingness to discuss who we (i use 'we' liberally since i too will not get to vote) are going to put in the Dail (that's Irish Parliament for all you of the rubbish-at-eurovision-nation). I suspect it is because the options are not particularly inspiring. And they're not. But that can't be ignored in the way it seems to be. No great white hope is going to miraculously appear on the ballot box. Who would you vote for if you could vote in Ireland?

[acumenman]

Terry Wogan as prime minister, and Jack Charlton as deputy.

[Ladymuck]

Ed Byrne

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Might as well get Mick McCarthy.

[Ladymuck]

Graham Norton?

[SeanMacGabhann]

nice try Olivia -

like this country, I think there is little merit in blaming most of the politicians in power until there is a unified idea of what people want, OR an acceptance that leading a country is a horrible, horrible job which involves much compromise to keep as many people as happy as possible. I really do believe that people get the politicians they deserve (unlike the sense I get from others which is more "what have we done to deserve this shower"?)

Having said that you do get some genuinely unpleasant and downright dangerous people in power - but at least in democracies we get a chance of jettisoning those people every few years

[OliviaDee]

i too 'believe that people get the politicians they deserve.' And that's what scares me - i think we are about to empty the Dail of one load of gobshites only to fill it up with another load. if i had a vote at home - for the first time in my life i really do not know who i would vote for. and anyone i ask who they are voting for, avoids answering - I can only assume that is becuase everyone feels the same, and feels the utter despondency of that. Still, I find it hard to believe that after everything Ireland has been through, and considering we are quite a politicised nation, that no leader or even flurry of independents has emerged from all the mess. There is a lot of talk and little action. and as a result we are going to end to up with a party in power who are as entrenched in the failed political machinery, the cronyism, the fear of the banks and builders etc... as FF. If not, sweet jesus, FF themselves again. that would not particularly surprise me. nor would the assent of Sinn Fein as a knee-jerk vote or a vote in the void. and personally, i think that is a terrifing prospect.

(keeping an eye on this ULA outfit - they might shape up)

[Narnia]

Perhaps we should ask to rejoin the Union?

[OliviaDee]

eh?

[OliviaDee]

http://fintanotoole.ie/petition/

check this out. heart fintan i do. fintan for taoiseach!

[OliviaDee]

http://www.unitedleftalliance.org/

promising

[Narnia]

OliviaDee Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> eh?

Well this independence is way overestimated. We never had these problems when Westminster ran things for us. Besides how the hell are we supposed to know what's going on over there when we are over here. They wont even give us a vote. Given that the BBC is completely impartial, they would soon tell us if another Cromwell was let loose across the sea.

I say vote for the Union and lets get back to the pub.

[OliviaDee]

I can only surmise you are trying to get a rise...

[Narnia]

Well sort of. Basically you say there is no hope whoever gets in. Maybe we should ask to be taken in by the Chinese.

[Narnia]

This sounds about right........

Paddy was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in County Galway when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced toward him out of a cloud of dust..

The driver, a young man in a Saville Row suit, Gucci shoes, RayBans and YSL tie, leaned out the window and asked the farmer, "If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?"

Paddy looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure, why not?"

The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.

The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg , Germany ..

Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.

Finally, he prints out a full-colour, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer, turns to the farmer and says, "You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves."

"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says Paddy.

He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man stuffs it into the boot of his car.

Then Paddy says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my animal?"

The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, "Okay, why not?"

"You're a T.D. for the Irish Government", says Paddy .

"That's correct," says the yuppie, "but how did you guess that?"

"No guessing required." answered the farmer. "You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of euros worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a thing about how working people make a living - or about cows, for that matter. This is a herd of sheep... Now give me back my feckin' dog"

[OliviaDee]

love it!

[Ladymuck]

That is hilarious - even though I don't know what you mean by "T.D."!

[OliviaDee]

minister

[Ladymuck]

Thanks OD, but how can TD stand for minister?

[OliviaDee]

it's Irish. Teachta D?ila. Means Member of Parliament. Recently known as GB. (Gob shite).

[Ladymuck]

AH! I don't feel quite so stupid now! Thanks.

[OliviaDee]

for anyone who needs a three and a half minute crash course in all of irish history, religion, politics and culture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veWJr4BiIkM

[Narnia]

You're not the 'Irish Girl' in the other one OD?

[OliviaDee]

in the other what narnia?

[Narnia]

When the one you posted finishes you will notice a variety of other clips which could be selected.