Blogging from the Bog

   There is no provision within Irish law that enables "class action" lawsuits.  This is  a legal avenue in which two or more persons unite to take a common defendant to court because the facts and complaints are similar.  Our legal landscape is founded in British Common Law but this little gem was not included in the Irish scenary.  Why is that?  Edward McGarr poses this very question in one of his posts.  The answer?  Well maybe it was an oversite, or maybe it was deemed unneccessary at the time, or maybe it was something else?

   Whatever was in the minds of the men who drafted our constitution concerning this issue we’ll never know; but, neglecting to adopt this ability for citizens to band together to challenge possible legislative atrocities has had recent repercussions.

   There could be as many as 150 families, possible plaintiff’s, that have a personal interest in the case of the O’Cuananchain’s versus the Department of Education and Mary Hannafin.  Cian and Yvonne had to go it alone against the State in a test case instead of a class action.  This was not a frivolous action, it was not about money, it was a human rights issue, it was about getting special education for an autistic child.  The court costs in this case could have provided each of the 100 plus children concerned with one year of the special attention they need.

   In the area of family rights there is also a need for renewed legislation as the traditional views of "family" are changing.  The definition of the family, of marriage, and of cohabiting partners is undergoing a momentous re-evaluation.  Equally at issue here is not only the vague, and possibly outdated, view represented in the Constitution of what makes up the family unit; but, the losses to the government purse when the transfer of property occurs under the provisions of the Capital Acquisitions Tax.  Surely the government would prefer to beat down one claim at a time instead of facing hundreds, if not thousands, of coordinated litigants.

   The rights of the family are also a great concern in the outlook we take on Immigration, and any changes will impact heavily on families living in Ireland today.  One case in point is Latif Yahia.  Latif is an Iraqi native, author, husband and father, and married to an Irish woman, who make their home in Dublin.  For years he has been fighting to stay in Ireland, his latest book The Black Hole, is supposedly banned here and in America, and he has letters of advocacy from none other than Bertie Ahern displayed on his blog.  It seems Bertie had better luck with his friend from Manchester as a Cabinet Member than he had against Michael McDowell as Taoiseach.

   Not having the ability to bring class actions in these and other cases is severely detrimental to our legal system.

  Four Courts, Dublin

   The "European Data Protection Day" came and went yesterday without so much as a whisper or a whimper here in Ireland.  It was only last Saturday that Karlin Lillington’s (you may remember Damien’s encounter with her a few months ago), article appeared on the front page of the Irish Times declaring the governments rush to bring surveillance plans into action within a months time.  Very little noise since, and seeing as the Dail will only be recovening in a few days after a long layabout, this eavesdropping strategy proposed by our illustrious minders will hardly be a priority topic in the near future.

   This prying into personal data is really catching on, and as some would say inevitable.  Recently US President George W. Bush has ordered the NSA to snoop on domestic agencies, up until now that was against the NSA’s remit and unlawful.  Robert Mugabe, leader of Zimbabwe, and his dabblings in data watching were noted in this previous post on Freedom and Security.  The UK Telegraph reports on 1,000 phone calls a day being monitored, with plenty of "legitimate" reasons being offered by the politicians.  In the article James Kirkup writes, "Britain is in danger of becoming a ’surveillance state’", oops wrong!  There is no danger at all, Britain is an "endemic surveillance society" according to Privacy International, as are China, Russia, and the United States.  We will soon be joining them. 

   Where does Ireland stand in Privacy International’s eyes?  According to their site we have "systemic failure to uphold safeguards" and "leadership" is the worst stumbling block.  Imagine that!

   Established media outlets use "the News" as a commodity, a product, prepared and packaged like a mini-meal at a fast food restaurant.  Getting this product out to the consumer as quickly and accurately as possible pleases the financial backers, news after all is only information about an event, and the older it gets the staler it becomes.  Propaganda and mis-information distributed through the media channels, either by design or unwittingly, are an obvious infringement of the rules, and are enemies of the News, as are censorship and apathy.  It used to be that we had little choice about which event or how much information we were provided.  Sceptics would wonder if the news was filtered, or ask, "Why are they telling us this?"  Checks and balances in the media, as well as in government, are an integral part of its’ legitimacy.  A debate about which events make the headlines, and which do not, is a subjective exercise and totally irrelevent today as we can tailor the news to our liking.  The Internet has turned "mass media" into "me media" as events of personal importance can be picked up from hundreds of sources and delivered to our desktops.  Cross checking the facts, when needed, is only a matter of pushing a few buttons on your keyboard. 

   Citizen journalists or grassroot reporters of the "new media" are complimenting our news sevices.  Through the Internet they can submit stories, photos, and videos of timely events to interactive news sites or to their own blogs and have an instantaneous world-wide audience.  Many long established corporate news agencies, like MSNBC, are actively soliciting these stories from on-the-street reporters, on the other hand the French government have approved laws making the publication of these news articles, by non "professional journalists", illegal, with fines of €75,000 and 5 years in jail!  Kristine Lowe poses some questions and relates in her post two instances of bloggers affecting resignations of politicians in Sweden and the UK.  Daniel Shorr, a US newsman for over 60 years, is against this form of journalism.  His justification?  He says that it is too easy because all you need is a keyboard!

   Throughout the hot zones of the world stories dribble in from the "old media" if and when someone in a company office deems it newsworthy.  A wide audience, graphic evidence, a correspondent at the scene, and the ability to package the story in time are all considered before going ahead and running the item.  Editors, analysts and "experts" are needed to form raw footage into a media event.  Once the piece is finished it is prioritized, labelled, and slotted for showing.  Maybe.  News items can be canned for many reasons, viewer sensitivity, corporate politics, or time restraints to name a few.  Some news stories never see the light of day, when was the last time you saw a lead story about the Democratic Republic of the Congo? 

   With the help of the Internet those who were once the audience are now the reporters.  Listed below are some of these citizen journalists who are telling their stories.   All they ask is for you to look in on them and see what is happening on their streets, in their neighbourhoods, and to their friends.  Apathy is the enemy of News.

   Afghanistan: Sanjar, The Rumi

   Palestine: Laila, Dr. El-Farra, Rafah today, Heba

   (DR) Congo: Congo Girl, This way please!

   Zimbabwe: Sokwanele, Kubatana

   Iraq: Neurotic Wife, Mohammed, I.T.M.

   Lebanon:  Riemer

   Pakistan: Pashto Point, Voice for Peace

   Kenya: Mica Halbert

   ***If you find other blogs that should be on this list please let me know***

   Information on the upcoming referendum here in Ireland for the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty issue is scarce, even the date when voters are expected to cast their informed decision has not been declared.  From a broad perspective it appears that the major political parties are all in favour of a "Yes" vote to the proposal; but, then again, why wouldn’t they?  Politicians want more government like children want more ice cream.  The Green Party is 63% for the Treaty, Sinn Fein and the Socialists are against it.

   It would seem that what we need is less government intervention from Dublin and Brussels, not more.  John Gormley, Minister for Rural Affairs and Local government has called for reforms to enhance the responsibilities of local authorities, and yet he favours the upcoming Treaty referendum.   Mariann Fisher-Boels, the EU Commissioner for Agriculture, also supports local reform from an agrarian/economic standpoint as 60% of the population of the 27 Member States live in rural areas.  If no reform is forthcoming from these two, then what guarantees are there from Brussels that creating more political entities will be any more responsive to the needs of us EuroCitizens?

   Over the weekend we heard of the Irish governments big hurry to implement the EU directive regarding personal electronic data collection  without legislative due process, yet they are delinquent in following dozens of other EU orders that could cost us billions!  If this is the way our government interacts with the EU government, or in fact fails to do the business, why on earth should we give them any more to do?   See the People’s Movement site for current activities.

   Margot Wallstrom is the EU’s Vice-President of Communications and has the responsibility of keeping European citizens informed of the machinations of government in Brussels and keeping the public "at the heart of European policies."  It is on her blog that you may find some enlightenment and debate on the pro’s and con’s of the Treaty.  I suggest she get on to Bertie and "communicate" the need for the wide-spread dispersal of relevant information to the Irish voters.  Libertas.org President Declan Ganley, who hired ex-Minister of Justice Michael McDowell as legal advisor for the project, has stated on their site that his organisation will be sending out an information booklet to every Irish household because the government is "afraid" to tackle the issues.

   ***Update:  You can vote, YES or NO at the Free Europe website!***

More information:  EU Referendum Blog   Ralf Grahn’s Blog

   The beauty of blogging is in it’s diversity, irreverance, honesty and accessibility.  It is a new art form that is only beginning to crawl from the cradle of keyboards the world over.  Whether they are written from a humourous point of view, a sarcastic one, or an informative one, the fact that voices from around the blogosphere have instant publishing capabilities is fascinating. 

   Freedom of thought and expression is wonderful to see and to read.  Although the quality of the writing varies, as do the topics, each voice has a place in the chaotic choir that is the web, and regardless of the grammar and punctuation, the sentence structure, or the spelling, to criticize the blogging art form is an attempt to crush the free exchange of ideas.  It is a shallow and petty pursuit.

   A psuedo-intellectual columnist from the Irish Times, and "That’s Ireland’s" pick for "Eejit of the Year 2007", John Waters is just the kind of shallow and petty pundit who would consider blogger bashing, if only to get the spotlight to shine on himself for a time, something that his writing usually fails to do.  No word wizard himself, his frequent dicacious diatribes demeaning blogs and bloggers in particular, and the internet in general, is in character coming from this bellicose bellows.  It is without a doubt a farcical attempt at free publicity.

   Journalists of every ilk and order have never before been so open to criticism and commentary.  Some can take it, some can not.  No longer are the readers limited to the small spaces of the Letters to the Editor page for their expressions of congratulations or contempt.  Blogging has arrived. 

Blog On!

   It is estimated that 80% of the world’s population will live in urban areas by the year 2020, another prediction has the population of the planet approaching 10 billion, a 150% increase over today’s numbers, by the year 2050.  Today, we can all see that the unsustainable use of critical resources, ie. water, food, and energy, can no longer be taken for granted and that we will need changes in our behaviour, thinking, and practices to enable future generations some chance of survival. 

   Change will also be needed in the way we build and inhabit the cities of the future.  Food, clothing and shelter (the big three), employment, services and entertainment must be readily available and within easy reach of the future city citizen.  The success of these futuristic cities will be measured by the voluntary abandonment of the automobile, the efficient use of resources, waste management, and co-operation between the crowded individual and the needs of the masses.

   William McDonough designed the first solar powered house in Ireland in 1977 and was named Time magazines "Hero of the Planet" in 1999 for his ecological design concepts.  With three decades of imaginative thinking, creative architecture, and re-inventing the box (never mind thinking outside of it) behind him, McDonough’s team has recently come up with a "living" structure that will, according to them, do everything but replicate itself.  A mixed use building, the "Tower of Tomorrow" uses bio-mimicry, in that it will create oxygen, distill water, produce energy, change with the seasons and provide shelter for housing, work and entertainment! 

   Norman Foster, another architect, and his company Foster & Partners, are the creative geniuses behind the 6 million square metre walled city of Masdar, to be built in Abu Dhabi, that is a carbon neutral, zero waste, and an automobile free community.   Foster and McDonough will both unveil their projects next week at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.  This monumental event is being shunned by the Irish government.  Why is that?

   Dickson Despommier a microbiologist from Columbia University is ploughing ahead with his ideas of vertical farming.  In these cities of the future there will need to exist an easily accessible supply of food.  The Vertical Farm Project plans to do just that by building high rise gardens of Eden for the city dwellers to "grow locally" all their dietary needs.  A firm in the Netherlands, MVRDV, has envisioned a Pig City in the sky; but, if raising chickens for food in confined factories is causing a lot of drama at the moment I can’t imagine that pigs using elevators is going to catch on.  Maybe there is less meat in our future?  Things are looking up!

   As a follow up on yesterday’s article , “One World, One Dream“, I would like to continue in the effort to publicize China’s human rights violations before the start of the 2008 Olympic Games in August.

   This graphic, called “Dancing Beijing Man (in chains) Olympic Logo”, and the concept were created by Faithmouse.  The idea is to post this graphic on your site and to link to all the others (or as many as you can) who do the same.  This crosslinking should boost the graphics’ rating on Google and other search engines thereby raising awareness to the suffering caused by the Chinese government.

   Below are the blogs that are joining together for this cause and I will be adding more when others let me know of their participation.  Visit Faithmouse for the image and to sign on to the list of bloggers who are trying to make the world a better place.  Let me know when you post it!

   Faithmouse, Leticia, SFO Mom, Blogs4Brownback, 50 Days After, Kaj, The Good Life, Cooper, Lina Lamont Fan Club, Kaj la hundo, Scarlett Crusader, Makina, Team-Swap, Berlin Wall, WorD, Faith…, Jana, Get Aware, Cao’s Blog, extra! extra!, 4Points, Candy Minx, The Sudanese Thinker, Daja, TIBETSPACE, Loraleigh, Ashin Mettacara, Your blog here!   See this extensive list for government contacts to voice your objections to this human suffering!

   In just about two weeks and two hundred days the opening ceremonies of the XXIX Olympic Games will take place in Beijing, China.  It is a great opportunity for the Chinese government to show itself on the world stage as a nation, a people, and a leading world power.

   There is a simmering undercurrent of activism however, among many groups and organisations, that is calling for a boycott of these games as a protest to the human rights atrocities, by the Chinese leadership, in their own country and around the globe.  This sentiment is being highlighted in the blogs of Jana and Makina, two expatriates living in Australia and Canada respectively.

   Senator David Norris spoke in Dublin back in October, with Senator Joe O’Toole, about the persecution of the Falun Gong and of the organ harvesting going on in the prisons. This was brought up in the Dail in November. We all have heard about the tragedy of Darfur but do we realise what China’s involvement is?  What of their Tibetan policies?  Why does Justin Kilcullen from TROCAIRE ask for a boycott of Ireland’s participation in these games because of Burma?  Inside China itself they harass, imprison, or evict bloggers who report on the pre-Olympic mischief going on there, before the worlds’ cameras show up.  John O’Shea from GOAL, an independent aid-agency from Ireland, is in agreement with a boycott and with the use of the term "Genocide Olympics" as opposed to the ironic official slogan "One World, One Dream".

   Ireland is hoping to do big business with the People’s Republic in the near future and Coca-Cola, Visa, McDonald’s, General Electric and Microsoft are among the sponsors of the event.  What are the odds of Ireland boycotting these games?  20-1 is my guess.  We complain about Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Iraq and Afghanistan; but, we don’t dare buck the buck$, never have, never will.

   The lads from Reporters Without Borders, based in Paris, have found that there are borders (for them) surrounding China.  They were denied entry and in protest displayed their version of the Olympic flag, with five handcuffs instead of rings, in Hong Kong for the world to see.  These reporters should be allowed into China don’t you think?

     from Makina’s site.

   Three things can happen when you do research into a subject for background material and substantiating information: one, you can discover that your thesis was way off track to start with and you learn something new, or two, you find the relevant data and go on to write a brilliant article, or three, you happen across something else in your investigations that is even more interesting than your original idea.  

   Initially, I had intended doing a piece on the causes and effects of binge drinking, considering the day that’s in it, and the possible relationship it has to substance abuse, boy racers, eating disorders, and other forms of addiction, risk-taking, and anti-social behaviour.  As binge drinking, binge borrowing, and binge whinging seem to be only a part of our new lust for over-the-top activities and thrill seeking, I wondered if there was an easy explanation, or something that linked these activities under one hypothesis.  There isn’t.

   Although Ireland is head of the class when it comes to binge drinking, and Sarah has a great post about the ladies getting into the action, this bingeing and all ’round impulsiveness, is a world-wide phenomenon.  From Boston to Bangkok to Balbriggan and back again this over-indulgent, spontaneous, novelty seeking behaviour is a cause for concern with health and social workers, educators, and law enforcement agencies.

   In my search for studies that may have been done to satisfy my curiousity, I found this article entitled "Impulsive behavior may be relic of hunter-gatherer past", in which the authors state, "Animals, I think, come with a hardwired rule that says, ‘Don’t look too far in the future’".  That made sense to me.  Impulsive behaviour inherited from our ancestors, and re-awakened by the "Live for Today" philosophy since the invention of the Atomic Bomb, can lead us to a "grab for the gusto" type personality.  Sure it could!

   When I looked at other research into Impulsive Control Disorders and Personality Disorders I read about some substance in the environment that I never heard of before: Bisphenol-A, or (BPA).  Damn!  This is the stuff they make plastic out of!  Apparently even low levels of this environmental estrogen has potentially harmful effects as it has endocrine disruptive compounds, EDC’s which can cause these problems.  These BPA’s have been in all our plastic products for the past 50 years!

   You can not avoid plastic in our world today, it is everywhere, our food is packaged in it, our water bottles are made from it, and the State of California published a list of manufacturers who use these BPA’s in the production of baby bottles!  Where are the Green’s when you need them?  There are substitute materials today that can be used instead of this poison; but, are there any label warnings, laws, bans or restrictions on the use of Bisphenol-A in plastics that come into contact with food?  I couldn’t find any! 

 Baby toys are a particular worry!