Blogging from the Bog

   After hearing on the radio this morning about the young patient in Mayo who was given a dose of MRSA at a hospital where she had surgery and then turfed out to Belfast for treatment I just had to check out the Health Service Executive website.  It seems that with the recent exposure of the transportation expenses incurred by the HSE this patient was abandoned and left to rely on her own resources to get back and forth between Castlebar and Belfast for the health care she requires.

   Is this an attempt to reduce the numbers of MRSA cases in the Republic by 30% as proposed by them?  The day will soon be upon us where insurance companies no longer cover these Health Care Associated Infections, and healthcare facilities and practitioners will be held liable.  Liamy MacNally writes recently in the Mayo News about the accountability, or lack thereof, in the HSE and he details the account of Shona’s plight with the after effects of our health system.

   Further items worth checking out on the HSE site is an up-to-date report of the waiting lists for all hospital Emergency Departments, the new name for A&E’s.  As of this writing 40% of the hospitals are backlogged.  Always finding new ways to expand the already overburdened non-essential staff positions the HSE has now appointed a group of Expert Advisors in four different areas.  I thought the HSE was supposed to be the "experts"?  On another area of the site you can find reports on Nursing Home Inspections conducted recently.  Without a doubt they all "sustain the highest standards" and are a preview of the Reports we can expect on the state of our hospitals.

   If you would like to compliment, condemn, or congratulate the HSE on their accomplishments you can contact them through their Your Service Your Say HSE Comments and Complaints Service.  Ask them about Shona!

CEO Brendan Drumm of the HSE. 

***PS: The A&E Activity "up to the minute" info has been altered and moved to an archived listing making it inaccurate and irrelevant, cute hoors.***

   George Dubya has not only invaded Afghanistan and Iraq but he is also making attacks on the U.S. Constitution.  In some alarming statements he makes reference to the document as "just a goddammed piece of paper", interestingly enough it is that same piece of paper that he is sworn by oath of office to protect.

   Written by men with minds far superior to his own over 220 years ago, this "piece of paper" anticipated despots and thugs internal or external who would abuse these inalienable rights, and seems that this has frustrated Bush to the point of the near treasonous language.  But you see it is in his blood, this streak of treason, and I will get to that in a minute.

   Freedom and security must live in a balance, you must give up one for the other; but, giving up too much of one in respect to the other will put us out of a comfort zone we have gotten used to since the French Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment.  During times of war or crisis we sometimes temporarily oblige our governments to tighten the security net for our protection.  Since the tragedy of September 11th there seems to be a trend towards limiting our freedoms for the sake of the war on terror.  It is soon approaching the limits of comfortability.

   According to Abraham Maslow and his hierarchy of needs, once we’ve had the spuds and got the leg over, then and only then are we looking for safety and security.  Once we have that security we can pursue our higher aspirations ie. social, ego, and fulfillment needs so that we can all become successful and happy individuals.  There is a trend now that is keeping us at this security stage (Big Brother) so it is a time to be watchful and vigilant.

   Some evidence of this trend can be seen in our own country’s pursuit of a DNA database, the new eavesdropping law signed by Mugabe of Zimbabwe, and back in the States there is a big push to get CCTV cameras on every street corner.  All in the name of protecting us.  We are all too familiar with them here, and as 99.8% of us are law-abiding citizens they hardly go unnoticed, right?

   This is a press release of the new law from Bush, it leaves open to interpretation who the perpetrators may be and seems like a license to incarcerate ordinary citizens into a Catch 22 predicament.  Kinda dodgey isn’t it?  It tranfers these rights of persecution to un-elected Secretaries who are in fact appointed by the President.  Unlike our system of appointing Ministers these Secretaries go through a vetting process, albeit a sometimes lame one.  Why would a President who has less that 523 days left in office want this kind of legislation?  Because the fecker works fast, see what he has already done!

   Bock the Robber wrote a great post about a judge who exhibited the kind of reason we are looking for, and should be read by all.  However, not all people placed in positions of authority are burdened with this gift of reason as evidenced by this Aussie.  It is therefore very important that any changes in laws or constitutions be carefully monitored by us before they are enacted.

   George W. Bush does not possess "reason" unless of course you put a "t" in front of the word.  Now that you have waited a minute I will let you in on another recently published finding that discovered there was a plot to overthrow the then President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930’s by wealthy businessmen.  Among the conspirators was George Dubya’s grandfather Prescott Bush!  I just do not trust this gobshite do you?

   To highlight the ongoing contamination of the Galway drinking water supply, local politician Councillor Padraig "Crypto" Conneely, in protest of the long bureaucratic delays with city politicians in rectifying the situation, has begun drinking the unfiltered water in his own campaign to bring more media interest to the issue.

   Una Sinnott writes in the Galway Advertiser that Conneely will continue to drink the water containing Cryptosporidium until the city managers solve this five month old problem and restore a clean water supply to the 70,000 people in the city who still must boil water prior to consumption.  Conneely says he will drink the water and take the responsibility should he get sick despite the HSE warnings, and he includes a "don’t you try this at home" warning in his statements.

   Galway is probably not the only area that is affected by a government that has it’s hands tied in bureaucracy and red tape.  But, for this problem to persist for such a duration really must be distressing for all concerned. 

   There are many levels of failure at work to create this long standing health menace to continue in the water supply.  Since the previous Minister for the Environment (who was sacked) visited the area in April, and denied any responsibility, this crisis has had national attention.  Yet there is also the Minister of State for the Environment (what is that position for anyway?), there is the Environmental Protection Agency, the HSE, there is a Mayor of Galway County and a Mayor of Galway City (what do they do?), County and City Councillors, a whole rake of amadons employed by us to prevent or at least fix these things, yet nothing gets done by anyone!

   Now the new Minister for the Environment, Green Party TD from Dublin John Gormley, has the audacity to ask for opinions from the public at large, about how to reform local government according to the blog Political Quote.  Since that blog wants the ideas sent to them and not to Gormley (why is that I wonder?), well you can tell Johnny boy for me, we have all the positions filled that we need only they can’t DO anything!  Sort that out from the top why don’t ya?

   All I can say is Good on Ya Padraig, ya "Crypto" boyo, I’ll raise a glass to ya and hope you don’t get the dreaded Claddagh Ring!

   The truth is coming out tonight of yet another example of the pillaging of our former National Airline.  Agreements with pilots are to be withdrawn concerning the current staff based in Dublin and the new pilots in Belfast will not be offered employment packages that equal previous contracts. 

   In a bid to further reduce operating costs, by hiring new pilots at lower wages, this is turning our former national asset into a blatant embarassment! 

   Aer Lingus pilots are now planning a 48 hour walk out in protest of the company’s plans to leave Shannon.  The "crew flu" is scheduled for early next week, with as many as 480 pilots partaking of this industrial action, most flights will be grounded on Tuesday and Wednesday.

   Will this be enough to get the attention of our absentee politicians?

   The rain has been relentless this summer here in the bog; but, the upside to all this is that at least there is no danger of the well running dry.  There doesn’t seem to be any danger of the Green Party making any significant or memorable impact while in their term of government either.  Finding it difficult to adjust from being an Environmental Lobby group to a member of a sitting government the Greens have already played the excuse card for the Tara archaelogical site and the M3 motorway controversy.  John Gormley of course blames the previous government along with his own team of experts who cannot seem to provide him with any advice.

   Hopefully the Tara Watch crowd will succeed in saving the area of this precious site.  The rank and file of the Greens also seem to have given up on Tara and are all strangely silent as they mutely and sheepishly follow their leader and Minister. 

   Shame on those who forget so easily!

 Minister Gormley?

What about answering the letter from Kathy Sinnott, MEP?