Jim Corr - Moron or marketing genius?

Jim Corr. Remember him? It took me a few minutes, but then I remembered who he was. He's the brother of the three attractive sisters and they were a nice pop band a good few years ago, if you like that sort of thing. Anyway, Jim was the one nobody took much notice of.

Until today. Today all the papers here feature Jim because he said some ridiculously stupid things.

Corrs guitarist Jim Corr has claimed that there was overwhelming evidence that the 9/11 attacks in America were carried out by "rogue elements" of US President George Bush's "neo-con administration".

In a rare intervention into the political arena, the male singer with The Corrs band also came out against the Lisbon Treaty claiming that it is " tip-toe totalitarianism in the West".

In an interview with Matt Cooper on Ireland's Today FM's 'Last Word', Corr made the case for voting 'No' to Lisbon, claiming it could introduce the death penalty to Ireland and contribute to a "new world order".

Corr's opposition is based on his three years "studying the New World Order which the European Union is a part of".

This is sheer lunacy or idiocy, right? But wait. What if you're a member of a band, one that hasn't sold a lot of records lately? What if you find yourself troubled by the fall-off in income?

Well, saying stupid things and getting in the news is better than not being in the news at all, right? And, let's face it, even the truthers have money to spend and there are probably enough of them to make it worthwhile to be their favorite band, right?

I hope Corr is cynically playing for those chumps' change because morons are a dime a dozen these days.

Maybe try a different pitch?

The Ireland Tourist Board is advertising during the Mets' radio broadcasts. The ads are pretty standard fare, but I think if the tourist board got creative they could come up with some great ads for use during Met games this season.

First of all, it's a little odd that the ads are so female oriented when I'm guessing that the audience for Mets baseball on the radio is predominantly male. And, given the Mets play so far this year, not just male but either hopelessly optimistic or masochistic. Maybe a bit of both.

Anyway, if I was going to advertise Ireland during Met games, I'd promote Ireland as a peaceful refuge, where news and conversation about the Mets is non-existent (so long as they don't run into me).

I'd try something like, "You know, in Ireland nobody cares that Delgado's not hitting or that Pelfrey can't get anyone out or that Perez is walking half the National League". Or maybe try, "Nothing else seems to be working, so we're going to try and get every Met fan to come to Ireland and kiss the Blarney Stone. Everyone knows that's good luck". Or, "Instead of suffering through another two weeks of Met games, why not come to Ireland. Ireland has a long history of men flagellating themselves as part of spiritual, cleansing rituals". Or what if they show a couple of guys in a field on a rainy day singing "I'm gonna wash those Mets right out of my hair". Okay that last one probably doesn't work, but you get the idea.

Just trying to help out during these tough times for the Irish tourism industry.

Second child allowed

The Chinese government has said that parents who lost a child in the earthquake can apply to the government for permission to have another child. I've been surprised by how open China's government has been following the earthquake, but it's still a tyranny as this decision shows.

According to the policy, local governments can levy steep fines on couples who have more than one child; the children of those who defy the rules are sometimes denied government benefits, including access to a free education.

The committee announced Monday that if a couple's legally born child was killed in the earthquake, an illegal child under 18 years could be registered as a legal replacement. If the dead child was illegal, it said the family would no longer be responsible for outstanding fines, although parents would not be reimbursed for penalties already paid.

The one-child policy is an obscenity and this ham-fisted attempt to help grieving parents is an obscenity piled on obscenity.

It serves as a reminder that although we in the west have issues with our governments the people of China have far bigger problems with theirs.

The EU go-slow

There's little real enthusiasm for the Lisbon vote and that's just how the EU wants it. They want the voters to simply trudge to the polls, shrug their shoulders and vote 'Yes' without paying too much attention to what the EU is doing (rather than what has been done). There's no other way to interpret the reports that the EU is basically hibernating until after the vote.

According to both the Financial Times and the International Herald Tribune the EU is putting off doing anything, anything at all, for fear it will tip the balance in the referendum to the 'No' side.

The FT's John Murray Brown says that the pending referendum forced the the EU to (a) push back the date for budget reform proposals (agricultural matters in particular) and (b) silence any talk on harmonised EU corporate tax rates. Murray Brown also speculates that the choice of a June date for the referendum "may have been influenced by concern that France would unveil a bold defence initiative as a centre-piece of its presidency of the EU in the second half of the year".

Stephen Castle in the IHT has much the same story to tell.

The view that Brussels has been gripped by a go-slow is shared widely. "We all know this is happening, but we are all denying it - so you won't get me saying anything on the record," one EU diplomat said.

But the evidence is all around. In March, the European Union's 27 heads of government held one of their least eventful meetings in recent memory. By contrast, their summit meeting next month - which starts June 19, after the Irish vote - has a crowded agenda including climate change, biofuels, food price increases, planned laws on cars' carbon dioxide emissions and the role of the new European president.

Initiatives likely to worry or annoy Irish voters are being played down or delayed.

This is odd. Nearly every political party in Ireland is in favor of this treaty yet the EU is going out of its way to put off doing what it wants to do. Why? Why should they fear a 'No' vote when the political parties calling for a 'Yes' comprise 94% of the elected members of the Dail? If 94% of our elected representatives believe a 'Yes' is good for Ireland, why is there even a shred of doubt about achieving 50% in the referendum?

It's times like this that make the term 'representative government' seems a little, well, misrepresentative.

Defaced

Someone in this part of Wicklow really doesn't like Dick Roche, our local TD and Minister for European Affairs. Roche has erected a number of large, ground-level posters calling for a 'Yes' vote. On every one of these posters I've seen Roche's face has been cut away or painted over.

This protest seems somewhat sinister, but I'd like to think that this is just some 'No' campaigner's way of letting us know that Roche is the chief advocate for the faceless Eurocrats who control our lives.

UPDATE: I noticed last night that the Roche posters had been repaired. Some very enterprising individual has fixed new faces on all the damaged posters.

Referenda – what are they good for?

Well, not absolutely nothing. Not if you're an elected official anyway.

I think every elected official has a poster up urging a 'Yes' (or occasional 'No'). It's clear that our elected officials believe the referendum is a great opportunity to remind the voters who they are. Some of the MEP's, TD's and Councillors have have allocated virtually no poster space to convey a virtually unreadable message of 'Vote Yes to Europe' (or 'Vote No') while their mugs and names are unmissable. EU referenda are clearly all about building the brand name.

Euro-Johnny loses his head

RTE should be embarrassed after what happened at the Eurovision semi-finals on Tuesday night, which is what Johnny Logan should have said. Instead, he kind of lost his head on the radio the other day when he called into talk about it on Newstalk. Obviously Eurovision is more important to Johnny Logan than it is to, well, nearly everyone in Ireland.

Logan was okay at first, criticizing RTE, but the longer the interview went on the more irate he became and the more he lost me. Eurovision might have been (might have been) important once, but it's not any more. Not in Ireland, anyway. Logan needs to maintain perspective. His audience is older, people who remember when Eurovision mattered. He should just count his lucky stars that he came along when he did because he probably wouldn't win today.

What's up with the Irish Independent's web site?

Everyday this week the Independent's web site has been a day behind. Maybe they're updating it later in the day? I don't know, but I usually check early and where I used to be able to see today's paper, now I only see yesterday's.

1:35am Thursday morning

Baseball fans on the east coast of America often complain about how the World Series games often end after midnight. I've always thought that was wrong, but tonight watching as the Champions League Final in Moscow finished at 25 to 2 in the morning local time I thought Muscovites and others in the east would probably be a welcome finish time of around midnight.
…

I just heard that starting next year the final will be played on a Saturday, which at least means more kids across Europe will be able to see the final, which is a great idea. Still, the game should start an hour or two earlier too, but that doesn't seem to be in the plans.

Supreme Court? Now that makes sense

James Andrew Miller suggests that Hillary Clinton could be offered the first vacancy on the Court by Obama. This makes more sense to me than Vice President. I can't see her being Obama's understudy, but on the Court she'd be able to be her own woman - independent of Obama and Bill (no more elections). Yes I can see this as a real carrot for her.

Charter of Fundamental Rights

Not only is the Lisbon Treaty unmanageably long and ponderous, but it also contains this:

The Union recognises the rights, freedoms and principles set out in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union of 7 December 2000, as adapted at Strasbourg, on 12 December 2007, which shall have the same legal value as the Treaties.

The provisions of the Charter shall not extend in any way the competences of the Union as defined in the Treaties.

The rights, freedoms and principles in the Charter shall be interpreted in accordance with the general provisions in Title VII of the Charter governing its interpretation and application and with due regard to the explanations referred to in the Charter, that set out the sources of those provisions.

That means you have to read – and understand – the Charter of Fundamental Rights too before you can pass judgment on the Treaty. Being an informed voter is just too big a job.

Reading the treaty

Dick Roche, my local TD & Europhile in chief for the government, berates Irish Independent columnist Bruce Arnold for misrepresenting the Lisbon Treaty in his column from May 3. Roche asserts this to be the case because Arnold misread parts of Article 93 in the treaty.

Roche writes:

Mr Arnold makes much of an amendment to Article 93 of the treaty. He is correct when he says that the words "and to avoid distortion of competition" are to be added to the article.

But he is ignorant of two essential points. The first point is that the amended treaty article contains the words "The Council shall, acting unanimously".

This means every member state has the right to veto any proposal.

The second fundamental gaffe in Mr Arnold's article is his contention that the change he refers to would allow the Court of Justice to outlaw our current corporation tax rate.

The revised article refers to indirect taxes not corporation or any other form of direct taxation.

Well, this is how Article 93 will read after the Lisbon Treaty has been implemented:

The Council shall, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commission and after consulting the European Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee, adopt provisions for the harmonisation of legislation concerning turnover taxes, excise duties and other forms of indirect taxation to the extent that such harmonisation is necessary to ensure the establishment and the functioning of the internal market and to avoid distortion of competition.

Okay, maybe Roche is right and this change cannot alter our corporate tax rates. BUT, the phrase turnover taxes is in there and they can no be changed (imposed?) in order "to avoid distortion of competition".

I'm no tax scholar or lawyer (which is the biggest problem with this treaty nonsense), so maybe I'm way off, but my layman's interpretation of turnover taxes is that they are imposed during the various stages of production. So, maybe the EU cannot change our corporate tax rates, but they can do equal amounts of damage with taxes imposed on production.

The Court of Justice might decide that we're 'distorting competition' by NOT taxing software or financial services partly produced and/or provided here. Such a ruling could have the same effect as changing the corporate tax rates. Maybe? I don't know, but perhaps Mr. Roche will honor me by showing me where in the Lisbon Treaty this is ruled out.

Dutch baseball

Johan Cruyff, yeah I've heard of him. Before my time (soccer wise, anyway), but I know he was one of the greats. Hadn't realized he was once a catcher too - before he played soccer. Baseball in Holland goes back to WWII, when Dutch kids took it up in defiance of the Nazi occupiers. There are a couple of major leaguers from Holland and a few others from the Dutch Antilles, where baseball is very popular. Curaçao has become one of the powerhouses of Little League baseball.

Consultant's report better than throwing money away

You often hear how the government wastes money on consultants. And, I'm sure that many of the consultants are paid for stating the obvious, but even so sometimes the government needs to hear the obvious. And, if the obvious can be stated and acted on at a cost much less than the cost of behaving stupidly thanks to a consultant's report, then I'm all for more consultants' reports.

What am I talking about? Well, yesterday the government decided not to provide Waterford Crystal with the guarantee they were seeking. This was following advice from a consultant. And as long as the consultant didn't charge €39m, we've got a good result.

Tip of the cap

Amazing performance by Jon Lester of the Boston Red Sox last night. Lester pitched a no-hitter against the Kansas City Royals. These are rare feats in baseball, but that's only part of the story.

One day in August of 2006 Lester couldn't play due to soreness in his back. 4 days later Lester was diagnosed as having anaplastic large cell lymphoma. Cancer.

Lester underwent treatments and his disease went into remission. By the middle of the 2007 season he was back with the Red Sox and he pitched the last game of last year's World Series, won by his Red Sox.

Last night he achieved individual baseball immortality with his no-hitter. Amazing.

Highlights of the game here. And a good video taken by a fan from behind home plate here.

Learning English outside

One thing that strikes me with regards to the issues teachers are having with immigrant children is that children start school too young here. If children didn't go to school until they were 6 (rather than 4) that would give the children of immigrants 2 years of being out 'on the road' learning to communicate in English. As it is, kids being raised by parents who can't speak English are too young to have made friends before they head off to school. And in Ireland there's a real emphasis on learning even when the kids are only 4 (unlike what I remember of nursery school & kindergarten in New York). Rightly or wrongly school for 4-year-olds is a lot more than finger-painting, etc.

When I started first grade in New York many of my classmates came from homes where their parents didn't speak much English. But, they were 6 years old and had absorbed enough English from playing outside or whatever to get by in school. That's not the case here.

Bishop gets on parents - again

At the end of February it was Archbishop Martin. This week it's Bishop Willie Walsh who's letting parents have it for caring more about their children then some nebulous societal goals.

Accepting that it was natural for parents to try to enrol their child in what they regard as the most suitable school, Bishop Walsh said he had observed occasionally that there was a moving out to a country school from a town where immigrants were living.

"I would certainly try to discourage that as much as possible," he said. "Particular exclusivity in relation to class is not part of the Catholic ethos of our school system."

Archbishop Martin was concerned about Dublin's secondary schools, but Bishop Walsh is worried that parents are opting out of certain primary schools because some schools have a large percentage of (a) immigrants or (b) children of a lower social class. (Can't tell which he meant from what's in the Independent).

If it's the latter well, that's been going on forever here from what I can tell. If it's the former, what does he expect? Every parent has heard stories of (or even from ) teachers that they find it a struggle to teach children with whom they can't communicate and how this takes up an inordinate amount of class time.

I take it back

A couple of weeks back I may have implied that the government was wastefully adding to my recycling pile with its Preparing For Major Emergencies booklet (80 pages). I want to make a full retraction. In the right circumstances, with the right gathering of people around you can get a lot of fun out of this little gem. I recommend reading it aloud and asking the one question that the booklet itself repeatedly poses: What should I do in the event of a ...? (Fill in a disaster/emergency covered in the book.)

Basically the answer is call 999, although if it's a nuclear accident (presumably in Britain) you don't even have to do that. Just stay in, kick back, relax and put the t.v. on. And now that I've absorbed those sage bits of advice the booklet is in the recycling pile.

"Alarmist"

The Labour Party's Joe Costello has criticized one of the groups campaigning against the Lisbon Treaty. Costello says the tactics used by COIR – I never heard of them – are 'alarmist'.

Coir, campaigning against the treaty, erected posters bearing messages such as "People died for your freedom – don't throw it all away". Another says "Lisbon: it will cost you more tax – less power".

Okay, maybe those slogans are a bit 'alarmist'. But, I wonder if Joe Costello will criticize any alarmism from the 'Yes' side in the treaty debate. Maybe he could have a word with the Minister for Finance?

"A no vote would be a step into isolation and would send an extraordinary signal. We should be at the vanguard of Europe and not turning our back on the project," he said.

What makes Lenihan's comments amusing is that he made his remarks to an audience of the American Chamber of Commerce. And you can infer from the Examiner's report that the members of the Chamber are at least concerned that a 'Yes' vote will open the door to changes in the tax regime here. It seems to me that the Chamber's members are sending a subtle signal that a 'No' – no changes necessary – would not be all that unwelcome.

Front page of the Irish Times

The picture on the front of today's Irish Times is too much. The picture shows a mother overwhelmed with grief kneeling next to the body of her dead child, one of hundreds killed when a school collapsed in the earthquake in China.

I think the picture's too intrusive. The woman is too identifiable and even though she's on a city street she deserves a little privacy. We're crowding her when she needs space.

It's a tough one because the picture is an effective summary of the suffering of the people of China, particularly the parents who've lost children. Nearly all the parents who've lost a child have lost all their children due to China's one child policy.

I'm curious to see what other people have to say about it because I think it's a fine line and I'm not certain that my sense that the Irish Times has crossed that line is right.