THE RICHMANS MEDIA PAY HEED TO CASTRO …(WHEN IT SUITS THEIR AGENDA THAT IS !)

Is the Irish Times gone all soft on Fidel Castro, or does he just get publicity when he calls on North Korea to stop all the nonsense. So Castro “tells North Korea it is time to remember its duties to others”  and the ‘lamestream media’ gets all lovey dovey with Castro. However, I was amused to see that it was only at the very end of the article, that we are informed that Castro also said that “the US had a responsibility to prevent war, which he said if unleashed would make US president Barack Obama look like “the most sinister person in the history of the United States”. I presume that one would be expecting too much if that were to be the headline, instead of being just casually mentioned at the end of the article!

I wonder will the Irish Times now feature some of Castro’s other concerns…. I will even provide them with the headline picture!

PROOF OF ANTI-CHAVEZ ACTIVITY BY US GOVT IN VENEZUELA

Recently released secret cables from wikileaks have indicated high level interference by the US government in the affairs of Venezuela. A “S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 04 CARACAS 003356 ” in the US Embassy in Caracas was charged with carrying out the  following objectives in another sovereign democratic state

 ”In August of 2004, Ambassador outlined the country team’s 5 point strategy to guide embassy activities in Venezuela for the period 2004 ) 2006 (specifically, from the referendum to the 2006 presidential elections).  The strategy’s focus is:  1) Strengthening Democratic  Institutions, 2) Penetrating Chavez’ Political Base, 3) Dividing Chavismo, 4) Protecting Vital US business, and 5) Isolating Chavez internationally”.

The cable details how the US had made available ” financial support upwards of $15 million” for the purpose of achieving its objectives. The cable gives detail of US financial support for many NGO’s including “Freedom House” [received  $1.1 million] which describes itself as “an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom around the world”. Simultaneously through “Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI), OTI had also provided 22 grants to human rights organizations, totaling $726,000″.

The cable marked ‘secret’ clearly illustrates its ambition to demonize Chavez internationally and also raises serious questions about the ‘independent’ nature of many NGO’S.

*For more on this story and other Chavez stories this is an interesting site  http://leaksource.wordpress.com/?s=CHAVEZ

THE ‘VILE PRODUCT’ IS THE ‘MOUTHPIECE MEDIA OF THE RICH’?

Many have been disgusted by the Daily Mail headline and it has sparked numerous media comment . I wonder why so many people are surprised, the fact that the mouthpiece media of wealthy elites uses the tragic deaths of children to make an ideological statement is nothing new. Capitalists know that for capitalism to operate there is need for certain amounts of welfare, back in the 1800′s that welfare was in the form of the poorhouse. Their recognition for the need for welfare is not generated by their concern for the unemployed, of course not, they know that in order to preserve the status quo and prevent the risk of class revolution, a certain amount of welfare is necessary.

But capitalists are a crafty bunch, while they know there must be welfare, they try to use it to their advantage….hence they always try to keep welfare as low as possible…..low welfare rates always have the ‘nice’ effect of lowering wages also. There is also the big plus of the carrott and stick effect…..if one does not work for the capitalists, one is left to rot on welfare. So it is evident that it is in the best interests of capitalists to demonize the unemployed and the welfare system that supports them, the fact that they use the tragic deaths of children to promote their ideological agenda in ‘their media’is par for the course.

After all they have form in that department, did not a recently departed newspaper also use the death of a child to boost profits….

SOME ‘POSITIVE PROPAGANDA’ FOR THE ‘POOR AULD DUNNER’?

Nice of the SINDO to publish the ‘Dunner’s' public apology “People of Ireland I am truly sorry… former ‘Baron of Ballsbridge’ Sean Dunne has filed for bankruptcy in the United States”  A summary of the piece could be ” sorry about leaving all the debts but  I paid loads of taxes before and Ireland should be nice to people like me!

Interesting how the article seems to highlight all the positives of Sean’s career in the property sector, first we have all the positive figures…the 100 million euro  of personal taxes, the 350 million euro in other taxes, that Sean believes allows him to state that ‘my debt is paid’. No mention though of the other figures….like “ his “estimated liabilities” at USD 500m-1bn (€390-780m)”. Incidently there is no mention either of  the breakdown of creditors  which include state owned and state supported banks (no prizes for guessing who will pick up the tab there!) , nor is there any mention of the fact that the great taxpaying Sean also has the revenue commissioners on his creditor list!

What is truly mind boggling though is the neck on these people, the ‘poster boy’ (and who made him the ‘poster boy’only the cheerleading media during the boom) delivers a lecture in the final few lines. Basically admonishes Ireland for treating property speculators as ‘pariahs’ and insisting that such actions will inhibit people from investing in Ireland, says the man that is running away and leaving a pile of debts behind him!

Update [1]….follow up article in Independent 01/04/2013…..

It seems the 100 million euro in personal taxes is now “ ”close on €100m in personal taxes”.

As for the headline figure of 350 million euro, the figure on which Sean insisted “‘my debt is paid” , well “Mr Dunne [has now] added: “I estimate that I employed over 200 people annually over a 25-year-period in the Irish economy and contributed €250m to the Irish exchequer”.

I am confused now…..so is the man claiming credit for the taxes paid by 200 other people over a 25 year period?

So the 350 million euro figure is ‘pie in the sky’? Will the Independent clarify if the opening line in the article “But says Dunne ‘I paid €350m in tax to Irish economy… my debt is paid” should come with a health warning? Sloppy journalism or favours for a friend????

Update [2] It seems the Indo can’t let go of it, the latest instalment tells us “Dunne’s not a bad guy, he’s just completely cut off from reality”

At least we get an answer to one of the questions I asked earlier, it seems the ‘Dunner’ is taking the credit for other people’s taxes

“ Mr Dunne tells us that between his own taxes and those of his employees, he has paid €350m to the State over a quarter of a century.

“Therefore, I am personally happy that my debt to the State is clear,” Mr Dunne, the onetime ‘Baron of Ballsbridge’, wrote.

While the latest article does mildly attack the ‘Dunner’ , it still fails to point out that the 350million euro figure is pure fantasy and at the end of the day he is still a “nice guy”…….maybe that was Ireland’s problem ….we had too many “nice guys” and an obedient media that pushed that image…then and now!

 

TIME TO OUST THE ‘CHAMPAGNE SOCIALISTS’ AND RECLAIM ‘CONNOLLYS LABOUR’!

Disaster day for Labour, but then again Labour today has ignored its core principles, it has ignored its core supporter, it even has ignored the founder of the party…..Connolly proclaimed that “Yes, friends, governments in capitalist society are but committees of the rich to manage the affairs of the capitalist class” Not only do they ignore him , they have collaborated with the ‘committees of the rich’ , implemented their austerity, sold the soul of a once great party for the thirty pieces of silver that makes up the gold plated ministerial pension.

Connolly’s prophecy stands, he stated that “If you remove the English army tomorrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle, unless you set about the organization of the Socialist Republic your efforts would be in vain. England would still rule you. She would rule you through her capitalists, through her landlords, through her financiers, through the whole array of commercial and individualist institutions she has planted in this country and watered with the tears of our mothers and the blood of our martyrs”

It is obvious who runs Ireland now, no matter what flag is flying above the castle , it is the capitalists, financiers and the whole array of commercial and individualist institutions. Not only have Labour not resisted , they have ‘lay down with the dogs’, the party that Connolly founded has been hijacked by a pension seeking political bourgeoise aided by a similar thinking bourgeoise union leadership, is it not time to show the ‘champagne socialists’ the door??

LAUGHING AT US ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK WHILE THEY ATTACK OTHERS

Great news for Brendan O’Connor as he  is the newest edition to the RTÉ top 10, earning €228,500 in 2011, reduced to €158,000 last year for the Saturday Night Show. Amazingly Brendan forgot to mention that when he was advising (complaining) that “ Whatever way you look at the Magda ‘scandal’, and whatever about mistranslations, the bottom line remains that for a bankrupt country, we offer a fairly good lifestyle to some people from Poland.

Of course Brendan would never advise us that perhaps a bankrupt country can’t afford to be paying wages of 228,500 to a person for one nights work a week, especially if the host organisation is losing money and is being subsidised by the citizens.

But then again by attacking others in the newspapers, it is probably good propaganda that keeps himself and others out of the limelight while they laugh all the way to the bank! It seems we are NOT “all in this together” and that even in a bankrupt country some can still command a ” fairly good [nay a great] lifestyle!!

 

THE ‘CLASS WAR’ ELEMENT OF THE ‘CYPRUS SAGA’

What has gone under the radar and of course what will not get any discussion in the mainstream media is the idea that there is a  ’class war’ ongoing in Cyprus. The original deal, and it must be stressed that the original deal to hit depositers under 100,000 euro had the full backing of the Cypriot government and the Troika was only rejected because of fear of rebellion in the streets. However, it must not be forgotten that the original deal attempted to hit the ‘middle class’ just as hard as it was going to hit ‘wealthy elites’.

The mainstay of capitalism is the ‘middle class’ , it is they that keep it in place, because they [wrongly?] believe that it benefits them and more-so they also believe that capitalism is meant to benefit them. The saga in Cyprus has exposed that assumption is built on rather shaky ground. It could be argued that the small depositer was in no way responsible for the casino capitalism that has led to the recession. Yet when it was obvious that some one had to take a big hit, the representatives of the rich (Trioka/Cypriot Gov) attempted to shift most of the burden of the wealthy elites on to the small saver.

It was only because of the backlash from the Cypriot people that they decided to change course. The fact that the  fear of revolt frightened the rich elites more than the fear of paying a higher levy on their cash is a very interesting point. So far the rich elites have been very successful at ‘socializing’ their gambling debts, they have even given the process a fancy name, AUSTERITY ! The attempt to hit small savers in Cyprus was in effect the representatives of wealthy elites pushing it……pushing the agenda of the wealthy, to see how much they could get away with.

So why did they back down? The main reason they backed down was the wealthy elites realised that had the whole Cypriot economy gone belly up, they knew that they stood to lose so much more. Of course the Troika feared an even bigger catastrophy…..contagion, and not contagion of the financial crisis but the contagion of people power!