Upcoming Events

National | Anti-War / Imperialism

no events match your query!

New Events

National

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link The Wholesome Photo of the Month Thu May 09, 2024 11:01 | Anti-Empire

offsite link In 3 War Years Russia Will Have Spent $3... Thu May 09, 2024 02:17 | Anti-Empire

offsite link UK Sending Missiles to Be Fired Into Rus... Tue May 07, 2024 14:17 | Marko Marjanović

offsite link US Gives Weapons to Taiwan for Free, The... Fri May 03, 2024 03:55 | Anti-Empire

offsite link Russia Has 17 Percent More Defense Jobs ... Tue Apr 30, 2024 11:56 | Marko Marjanović

Anti-Empire >>

The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.  We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below). 

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

The Saker >>

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Netanyahu soon to appear before the US Congress? It will be decisive for the suc... Thu Jul 04, 2024 04:44 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N°93 Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:49 | en

offsite link Will Israel succeed in attacking Lebanon and pushing the United States to nuke I... Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:40 | en

offsite link Will Netanyahu launch tactical nuclear bombs (sic) against Hezbollah, with US su... Thu Jun 27, 2024 12:09 | en

offsite link Will Israel provoke a cataclysm?, by Thierry Meyssan Tue Jun 25, 2024 06:59 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Gormley upset over bird death but not Iraqi death

category national | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis author Monday September 03, 2007 11:24author by Zippy Report this post to the editors

Green Minister John Gormley has express his upset and outrage over the shooting of a Red Kite in Wicklow. Meanwhile his government continues to back the US war effort in Iraq where human beings die.

Green party Environment Minister John Gormley is reported in the papers as being upset and angry over the shooting dead of a bird in Wicklow. The Red Kite was one of 30 released into the wild. A hunter shot it from the sky last week. This is a shocking act indeed, a rare bird killed for sport not for need. Gormley is rightly upset.

However seeing as he is part of a government that is actively aiding the US war effort in Iraq you have to take it that his urgent anger is somewhat misplaced. The US government is also sabre rattling over Iran. Emboldened no doubt that for all the opposition to their adventure in Iraq no one in Europe actually obstructed their war. As the British run out of Iraq in defeat and the US mounts its latest surge a friend of the american people would be making every effort to dissuade them from the awful vista they are openig up for the world.

Actually forget about that lets look after the red kites instead.

author by Nodinpublication date Mon Sep 03, 2007 11:47author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Presumably we can look forward to much rigteous anger concerning hunting in all its forms, as well as hare coursing from the Greens, as its far easier to love the "bunny rabbit" than ones fellow man, on a number of levels. Likewise chewing gum is obviously one of the issues they'll try to tackle, while letting a road be rammed up through the most important archealogical area in the country.

author by Co-optedpublication date Mon Sep 03, 2007 13:53author address author phone Report this post to the editors

People must stop looking at everything Gormley does in isolation, he is learning how
to utilise the spin machine which was so thoughtfully left to him by Roche. One indication
of the brains in DOE is that reprehensible TV and poster campaign about people behaving
'like a piece of filth'- this is called negative advertising. Gormley will focus on 'safe' green
issues to generate a middle class vote whilst denying the grass root of the Green Party
who have worked for years in eco and anti-war. Greens are co-opted and one of the
first indicators was their vote on the bin charges which allowed the imprisonment of
Joe Higgins. The Green Party are now part of the FF government and need not be
wasting the time of political campaigners who are dealing with the ten years of abuse
that FF have subjected this country to. Gormley will be playing the cards
and using the PR in a specific electorally directed manner in order to sustain his vote- a
bit like Mc Dowell was co-opted and played the racist card in his term of office.
They are not worthy of attention except in pointing out how they are utilising an inherited
system of corrupt media-spun political playacting. They are co-opted.

http://www.environ.ie (disneyland address)

author by bunnyrabbitpublication date Mon Sep 03, 2007 18:52author address author phone Report this post to the editors

it's not either the animals welfare or the humans welfare. it should be both and one does not preclude the other. I totally agree that gormley should get his ass in gear regarding shannon, but I also think the wildlife we are destroying is important too. And I don't believe for a second that gormley gives much of a shit about animals either.

The fact is capitalism is seriously bad for both people and animals. The greedy push for oil and other resources results in needless wars and human suffering and also destroys habitats through pollution and is quietly causing mass extinctions of many species both on land and sea.

Most people dont give two hoots that we are systematically emptying the seas and causing mass extinctions of animals and reading posts like the above only makes people begrudge the already pathetic efforts given over to animal welfare even more than they already do.

Gormley is in the pocket of the profiteering warmongers but lets be clear, about this, it is not anything to do with animals of any kind. They will get it up the ass from gormley and his ilk too!
(And I'm sure gormley has flattened plenty of poor unfortunate animals whilst speeding along in his new merc since coming into office.!)

Gormley will do fuck all for human welfare OR animal welfare while he is in office. You can be sure that there will still be needless fur farming in ireland, and US planes will still be landing here for the term of this government, and probably much longer.

He will, however use the excuse of the environment to levy more taxes on an already overburdened population. But all he and his fianna fail cronies will be selling is greenwash. They wont grasp any nettles they don't have to. Its just about money and power, nothing else.

because the fact of the matter is, animal welfare costs money and is a political hot potato. It is not in the interests of powerful businesses or "political animals" (as gormley likes to refer to himself as) that animal rights are strengthened because it will cost real money. Warmongers or people who profit from needless animal cruelty will not mend their ways and people like gormley will not try to make them.

The fact is animal suffering and human suffering are usually both sides of the same coin. And the things that bring suffering to humans often bring suffering to animals too.

author by Susan Isabella Sheehan-Repasky - Flicker Light Studiopublication date Mon Sep 03, 2007 20:06author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Apathy is the biggest slayer known today. I meet with apathy at every turn, whether it be inhumane issues associated with humans or animals, or the destructive infrastructure issues we are faced with.

No one is going anywhere very soon in Iraq. Here is a press release about the new U.S. Embassy in Iraq:

"Located in Baghdad's 4-square-mile Green Zone, the embassy will occupy 104 acres. It will be ... more than 10 times the size of the new U.S. Embassy being built in Beijing, which at 10 acres is America's second-largest mission. The Baghdad compound will be entirely self-sufficient ... composed of more than 20 buildings, including six apartment complexes. ... Two office blocks will accommodate about 1,000 employees." Carnegie Endowment for International Peace~

author by iosafpublication date Tue Sep 04, 2007 16:06author address author phone Report this post to the editors

So people have found another reason to have a go at gummy Gormley, I applaud that - highlighting moral relativism & ethical hypocrisy is a must, is it not? But I'd go for the financial & international co-operation angle. In late May 2007, the last minister for the environment announced an iniative in partnership with the Welsh charitable institution "The Welsh Kite Trust" to allow them bring a number of Milvus milvus more commonly known in the British isles as the "red Kite" from Cymru where it had succesfully been reintroduced to Ireland where it suffered extinction in the middle century when most peoples' attention was on either An Gort Mhór (The Great Famine) or William Hamilton's discovery of the quaternion algebraic formula. (It really depended on their class outlook). Yes it did. & the really fab news was these Welsh people could do this without filling in complex forms and paying excessive stamp duty.
http://www.environ.ie/en/Heritage/NationalParksandWildl...n.htm
Environmentalists back then (in the mid 19th century when we lost half our human population) were already rueing the introduction of black eared hares and grey squirrels to our island. They still pose a problem to our native critters. Now if we examine the deal by which the good ornithological folk of Cymru http://www.welshkitetrust.org/ sent us a bunch of their red kites (who lay 2-3 eggs a year) we see an all Ireland dimension. yes indeed. For the good Reverend first minister of Ulster Dr Paisley was getting a clutch of red kites too....... obvious political undertones These things don't come cheap, but once hte webcam is set up and the team sweatshirts paid for - they are fairly inexpensive to keep considering they live quite happily on small dead animals or vermin - which we've plenty off & you can persuade radical student birdwatchers to keep an eye on them for free as a sort of Junior Cert work-practise thing.
I've just returned from a walking & trekking holiday up the Pyrennes during which I saw all sorts of vermin, critters, roadkill, wingéd creatures & slithering things. Besides those rabidly independent anti-bourbon locals who talk of little else but a Basque referendum on independence in 2010 and a Catalan referendum in 2014 I also saw lots of wild-life.
Wild-life is cool. I am sincerely impressed at how edible it mostly is and how easy it is to hunt as well, since its feral instinct of self-preservation has been bred out long ago by the good folk who reintroduce wild-life next to picnic table garbage cans. I am also very impressed at how much more a bit of wildlife in a jar with a rudimentary "local food for local people" label can so easily fetch hefty prices. Of course Ireland does none of this. A land which doesn't even regulate its air-soft marksmen and markswomen lags far behind a country like Scotland (also looking forward to a referendum) where Red Hawks are as common a sight to the rambler as a RAF harrier jet - except when they're on loan to Mr Paisley. & for good reason....
For let us not forget that Ireland unique in the moderately pretty islands still hasn't organised a decent roadkill industry or rambling routeway rural tourism thing. The whole "right to wander" being blocked by the IFA who demanded something in the order of 2 squillion euro for every yard of signposted right of way.
I suppose the Red Hawk was insured, & I hope Gummy Gormley doesn't lose sleep over it, coz in truth it is one of the easiest birds of the whole raptor range to reintroduce.Like it's not an Auk, Dodo, Golden Eagle or Phoenix, is it? No it isn't. It's a small thing that eats vermin. Very pretty on the wing & in only 3 years Barcelona managed to reintroduce a population of 150. In an urban setting - the only problem it had was Seagulls. Nasty things Seagulls. You wouldn't need to read the Quran or know your list of Kosher Purdah's to know you don't eat Seagulls.

:-)
Gummy Gormley should come clean on the RoadKill issue!
We need figures....facts....regulation of firearms......

author by Nodinpublication date Tue Sep 04, 2007 22:31author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Apart from the usual jobs for the boys, why on earth would you regulate (the already technically illegal) soft-air "marksmen" and "markswomen" as soft-air "weapons" are essentially kids toys? Arent we legislated enough?

Or are you stoned, in which case carry on and don't mind me at all......................

author by iosafpublication date Wed Sep 05, 2007 08:10author address author phone Report this post to the editors

This mornings English Times newspaper reports how "walkies" is endagering wild-life
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/articl...3.ece
"The Telegraph" agree & invite readers to take part in an online poll on walkies http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/...5.xml
The BBC is confident that scientific evidence conclusively proves that take a muppet out of his usual smokey environment and send him up the hills with dogs on walkies you're doing more damage than agent Orange on the Viet Cong http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6978272.stm
The Guardian true to lefty sentiments reminds readers that though this research might be ok for Oz it's not relevent to the UK http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/sep/05/dogs
& lastly a little bit on the splendid reintroduction of the Red Kite (described as a British bird) to a Tesco supermarket carpark. Which I suppose is as close the media gets to the wildlife picnic table garbage can I alluded to yesterday - http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/sep/04/conse...tion1

Now less talk of the old druggies & more tackling of the real issues. Pretty soon all the regulars with their incisive analysis and unrivalled media monitoring talent will be back from holliers & we've a new a generation of radicals & anarchists to recruit. & of course a minister Gummy Gormley to ridicule week in and week out for being a traitor.

:-)

Number of comments per page
  
 
© 2001-2024 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy