From my warm, clammy, live hands!

// August 17th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Uncategorized

So with all the focus in on-line commentary on the effect of the new blasphemy laws, a provision of the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009 managed to slip by most of us. That being the portion that deals with samurai swords, though they are not named specifically in the act and I guess this means such orders could include other weapons – ray guns and diamond tipped pencil sharpeners for instances.

Now, while I’ve never been seen, in public at least, naked with my swords nor have I been temped to run down the street with my steely weapons unsheathed I do as it happens possess a pair of samurai swords. And I’ve no intention of giving them up. Actually according to the Act I won’t be required to but if I’m in the humour for mock outrage then I’m not going to let the facts get in the way of things which is kind of how we’ve ended up here. How many people have suffered injuries as a result of being hit with glasses in pubs? Are we going to ban them? (Glasses I mean not pubs, I’m not going to completely lose the ran of myself.) Of course not.

Yet according to the minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern, “It is proposed to increase the maximum prison sentence for possessing a knife in a public place from one year to five years under section 39 and to extend the power of search without warrant in circumstances where a member of the Garda Síochána has reasonable grounds to suspect a person is carrying any article for unlawful purposes under section 41. We also intend to create a new firearms and offensive weapons order to deal with the issue of samurai swords.”

So there we are then, a ban will sort it all out. Just like the ban we currently have on handguns (outside of gun clubs) and the way we sorted out the north by banning machine guns.

Interestingly as we’re on the general subject of bills that pass us by in the night we managed to have a bill on the stockpiling of depleted uranium, it was entitled “an Act to give effect to the prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of weapons of depleted uranium” which as you all know was a massive problem there for a while. Parts of Longford were almost overrun with people stock piling depleted uranium while the people of Leitrim were crying out for people to stockpiling their spare depleted uranium there if only it would create some much needed employment.

You could hardly cross a county boundary within seen a sign for “depleted uranium stockpiled here” or “Muckross welcomes your depleted uranium”. Truly it was a massive and imminent problem so we had a bill on it. And I guess a debate too and perhaps some voting. Meanwhile, and i will admit nowhere nearly as important or pressing as the depleted uranium storage problem the wait for voting reform in the Seanad passed another deadline and the 30 yeatr plus wait for someone, anyone to slip a draft bill onto the order books goes on.

Spoofer’s guide to Lisbon Mark 2

// August 17th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Uncategorized

That breaded man is back again, after bringing us the insightful yet hilarious Spoofer’s guide to the Lisbon Treaty he has returned (much like the treaty itself) with a new and improved guide to the Lisbon Treaty. It will make you laugh and cry and go “Oh! So that’s what that is for”

Read it, distribute it, mention it in polite conversation at dinner parties, write the links to the files down on the walls of public toilets.

If you’re making a choice then at least make an informed one, and if you want to be informed why not have a little fun doing it?

Sure it’s about politics, but meaningful world changing politics and not just who gets to be Mayor of Killarney this year.

PS. My reason for including the files themselves on my site is that they are a bit sizeable and it’s only reasonable that some of the rest of us share the download burden. All credit to Jason O’ Mahony, even if he was a PD at one time.

Why not convert hotel beds into step-down beds?

// August 14th, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

The Irish Hoteliers Federation has in recent days called on the government to relieve some hoteliers of the tax penalties that would fall due should they exit the hospitality sector in order to reduce bed capacity. Meanwhile, many are concerned at the ability of our hospital sector to provide enough beds to deal with the pressures of swine flu.

We have a suggestion. Some of the excess bed capacity in the hotel industry can be cheaply and quickly recycled into step-down care for some of the elderly people in the acute hospitals. These are people who while no longer requiring the acute bed services of the hospital system lack the supports to immediately resume living independently. Short term leases could be quickly arranged to remove these excess hotel beds while providing us with non-acute beds in a relaxed communal environment. We believe this scheme could be further expanded should swine flu run rampant across the land, much as the passenger liner fleet was once converted in war time to serve as hospital ships.

On first reading this might sound like a joke but we believe simple practical solutions to practical problems don’t have to be dull.

PS. I’ve sent this to Madam to get the notion some sort of a profile. It sounds almost idiotic but it could well kill more than a single bird with the one stone.

The Puck Initiative, where our motto is “when all other solutions fail, try leaving your problem locked in a room with a wild mountain goat”
We do really need a good and proper name (a suggestion is the island to the the left of Iona) but for now the Puck Initiative will have to do to cover the various broad range of practical solutions to real practical problems we’re going to tackle.

‘Obvious solutions to Obvious Problems’ is another motto we’re toying with, and the concept behind that is that with some problems you just need to put your head down and take a right good run at it. The Catherine St. concept lab is still kept sparse but all we need for now is a pencil and paper (and needless amounts of computers and network connections will do for now.)