Au revoir ! Paris, me voilà...

It was only yesterday that I started my very well-earned week of winter holidays, and to celebrate, I am returning to Paris tomorrow. This is my first time back in the city that I called home from September 2006 to June 2007 since I moved back to Ireland over two years ago. The city, and the country, that I grew to love nearly as much as my homeland. There's a bit of anticipation, and also some trepidation, about my return. What will have changed? Will the old faces still be there? And more importantly, will it be raining the whole time?!

Marché Bastille... Sacré-Coeur... Louvre... Champs-Elysées... Montmartre... Saint-Michel and the Abbey Bookshop... Saint-Germain and the Rue de Rennes... Odéon... Quartier Latin... Pere Lachaise... Place de la Concorde... Ile de la Cité... so much to see, so little time.

I am taking a few weeks off and so my blog will be falling silent for a while. No, no, it's OK. Dry those tears; stop gnashing your teeth in sorrow; put away that bottle of whiskey you were saving for a sad occasion. I will be back, before Christmas, with photos of my trip to Paris as well as the usual acerbic political commentary/drunken rants you've come to expect from The Connolly Column.

In the meantime, I'll still be publishing your comments and replying to them, so if you see any article you'd like to praise/get angry about, don't hesitate to drop me a line. I'd particularly welcome recommendations of things to see and do in Paris.

Der Mauerfall: one empire crumbles, another rises

How sadly apposite it is that twenty years after the fall of a Wall which symbolised imperialistic tyranny and failed ideology, Europe (and not just the East) is heading back towards the folly of bureaucratic centralisation led by grey men who brook little resistance to their carefully laid plans. I speak, of course, of the impending adoption of the Lisbon Treaty on December 1st 2009, a little over two decades after the collapse of a previous secular octopus at the hands of masses of proletarians who had grown tired of saying "Yes" to every socialist diktat. The EU is far more subtle in its methods, but no less determined than the Politburos of former communist states, to impose its will over hundreds of millions of people.

I was only four years old when the Berlin Wall came crashing down around the ears of Egon Krenz and the leadership of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR). I wonder how old my own children will be when the European Nation being forged in Brussels is torn down by the "awkward squad" dissidents who can no longer bear to see national sovereignty eroded.

December 1st, 2009

That's the date on which the Lisbon Treaty will enter into force, barring some popular revolt or legal challenge, now that the treaty has been ratified by the Czech Republic. The pre-ordained will happen... though we Irish did give the eurocrats a bloody nose with the No vote in 2008, from which it took them some time to recover. Historians of the future may come to regard it as our last gasp of pride and independence.

Bruton's our boy

(Left: the first President of the European Council? Dream on, John...)

John Bruton, former Taoiseach and slimy toad who fawns at the feet of any foreign power that will deign him a royal nod, has received the backing of our current Taoiseach and Dear Leader Brian Cowen to become the President of the European Council, a post created when/if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified. This at a time when the likes of Tony Blair, Jean-Claude Juncker and other former heads of European governments are vying for the position.

Bruton is currently EU ambassador to Washington DC (yes, the EU has ambassadors) where last year he had to explain to Americans "in a personal capacity" as to why his Irish compatriots had had the sheer gall to vote No in the first Lisbon Treaty referendum. Before that he had implied that Ireland would be a "pariah" if it rejected Lisbon. And long before that, when Bruton was Taoiseach, his welcome of British aristocrat Prince Charles to Ireland was regarded as "embarrassingly effusive"... by The Times, a British newspaper. There are few political figures in Ireland I find more distasteful than John Bruton. He belongs in much the same league as Peter Sutherland, the reptilian Bilderberger.

From RTÉ:

Taoiseach Brian Cowen says he supports the surprise candidacy of John Bruton for the position of President of the European Council.

But Mr Cowen has been criticised by Enda Kenny for his earlier support for Tony Blair, whose candidacy is attracting increasing opposition.

In other words, our chief-in-chief did not have Bruton in mind as his first choice. Quelle surprise.

Tonight's EU summit in Brussels will not make the appointment, as the Czech President has still not signed the Lisbon Treaty - which creates the new job.

Will Klaus sign Lisbon? It's unclear at the moment.

A few weeks ago the Government was warning about being excluded from the heart of Europe, but today it was all smiles and congratulations after the Lisbon Treaty referendum win.

You delivered the "Yes" surrender of sovereignty that Brussels needed, Cowen. You can be proud of that. Not that any patriotic person would be.

Not only do the Irish appear to be back in Brussels, they seem to fancy their chances for one of the big jobs created by the Lisbon Treaty.

They can fancy on. John Bruton won't come within an ass's roar of the EU presidency. Not even the bureaucrats and provincial satraps of the EU are that obtuse. Are they?

Former Taoiseach John Bruton, who is current EU ambassador to Washington, was one of the architects of the latest EU treaty, and has previously been president of the council.

Granted, he has a foot in the door. But...

But he is up against the Former British Prime Minister's increasingly controversial candidacy, which is being backed at the summit by Gordon Brown ...

... Officially there will be no talk about names tonight, as the Czechs have still not fully ratified the treaty - they hope to sort that issue out tonight.

But the Czechs will not sign until next week at the earliest, so there will probably be a special summit next month to make the appointments.

"Appointments". The word doesn't really cry "democracy" now does it. Where's "election"? Where's "plebiscite"?

In the meantime the corridor politics are in full swing, with the Swedish presidency tasked with finding out which potential candidates have support among the 27 governments, and who should quietly withdraw.

The wonderfully Byzantine politics of the New EU.

William the racist... five year old

This is a very long report from the UK, but well worth your time. Disclaimer: While I doubt that the details of this story are invented, they may be. It is hard to find incidents like these report much in the "mainstream" media, hence verification can be difficult.

Special Report by Guy Leven-Torres

29th October 2009

Let me tell you about William. He is a very bright child and comes from a nice home. William is extremely polite, courteous and a very normal healthy child. William has a friend called Zoe. She is Asian but William and Zoe are inseparable in the Surrey school they go to near Bagshot.

However last week, Zoe and William had an argument in which William used the term "Zoe Bin Laden". Zoe is not a Moslem but a Thomasian Christian, one of the oldest Christian sects in the world alongside the Copts in Egypt ...

... Zoe’s mother, Maria, received a phone call about "a very serious matter indeed and it could not be discussed on the phone and the Police might be involved, subject to our discussions today- that is if you come right now?" William’s mother Carol also received a phone call about "a very serious matter".

Almost panicking, both mothers rushed to the local school. I have changed the locations because the matter is still being investigated. Be content that it is somewhere in Surrey close to where I live. I know both women personally and both are well educated and well balanced. At the school they were almost frogmarched into the presence of the School Manager who sat behind a desk accompanied by a Police Officer - in fact I learned later there were two of them.

William’s mother was already there but her son had been isolated in a special room away from all other children. The school refused to allow his mother access to him. She complained but was only allowed to see a very frightened and tearful little boy after she had been "interrogated" (in her own words) by the officers and the Manager.

Zoe’s mother was made to wait while William’s mother was seen first. It was obvious the school were interested in William’s mother’s attitudes and that of his father, a car dealer. Eventually she was asked to wait outside and Zoe’s mother was asked to go in, where it was explained that the "very serious matter" concerned her daughter being called "Zoe Bin Laden".

Trying not to laugh, Maria asked why should such a trivial childish bit of name calling result in such excessive behaviour by the school? The Manager replied that the school took racist incidents very seriously. The Police were not officially involved at that moment dependent upon their "preliminary inquiries."

Maria asked the School Manager if this was "some kind of prank or perhaps a surprise birthday gram" as it was her 43 birthday? It soon dawned upon her that the school was quite serious.

Maria is rather fiery by nature and does not suffer fools gladly. She like a lot of Indians is quite plain spoken.

"Are you telling me that my daughter’s best friend is being accused of racism?"

"Yes!"

"Are you sick in the head Head Mistress - two five year old children for heaven’s sake? A child cannot differentiate between one race and another - he probably heard it on the radio or TV! Please tell me this is not a wind up?"

"No it is not!"

Maria demanded to see her daughter immediately and despite refusals, the child was eventually brought to her. She took her daughter’s hand and removed her from the school. She told the school that she had no intention of returning her and that she would continue to play with William. The school said she could not do this and that matters might be made worse if she did so.

She asked if they were threatening her?

"No but we might have to bring in the social services!"

It was then that she noticed her friend and William’s mother in the room with a crying child.

She entered the "quiet room" where little William was incarcerated. The Manager tried to stop the friends having contact.

Mary told the woman to "shut up" and went into see Carol and William. The little boy crying like mad hanging on to his mother for life and clearly terrified said, "I didn’t mean to be naughty mummy and auntie Carol, please tell the teacher that! Please mummy … I didn’t mean to be nasty to Zoe!"

The women immediately took the children despite protests of the school- the Police were clearly embarrassed apparently when it was clear the school was exaggerating - and the women left the school. Neither William or Zoe will be returning.

Yesterday, both mothers received letters from Social Services to make an appointment to see the families concerned and both are now "under investigation". The school also wrote a letter to Zoe stating that William’s remarks would "remain on his school record".

In English Law a child under 10 years is incapable of committing a crime.

This is the UK 2009.

Disgusting!

I cannot speak for my readers, but I am becoming increasingly disturbed by the politicisation of State education towards a left-wing agenda whose rules and regulations sometimes beggar belief. This is not just happening in the UK. It is widespread in France and the US, too, and I don't doubt that our own bien-pensants and quango acolytes will encourage the government to follow their lead. We will some day have an education system where young people are told what to think by Big Brother, and will be punished for their beliefs (and the beliefs of their parents) rather than their actions.

If possible, I intend to send any future offspring of mine to a school where proper values are taught and where politically correct nonsense is not shoved down their throats by some zealous liberal commissar. Failing that, I would consider the option of homeschooling, despite the challenges that brings.

City Hall shenanigans

Friend of the blog Kerdasi Amaq brought the following site to my attention: Concerned Irish Citizens . The focus of the site is legal challenges to the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland. I have added it to my links.

Scrolling down, I found this video, which I had seen before but forgotten to add. It's well worth a watch; footage of suspicious activity at Cork City Hall on the night of the Lisbon-2 count (October 2nd last).

Lutherans against Luther

Looks like the Lutheran Church of Sweden are even wetter than their liberal counterparts in the Church of England. From the AFP:

Sweden's Lutheran Church decided Thursday to allow gay marriages in its places of worship, five months after they became legal.

Nearly 70 percent of the 250 members of the Church of Sweden's synod voted to allow same-sex couples to marry in its congregations from November 1 and adopted a marriage rite for gay weddings, the church said in a statement.

The Church of Sweden, which was the state church until 2000, had backed the parliament's adoption of the gay marriage law, which took effect on May 1. But it deferred its synod's decision on church weddings until now ...

Hmmm. Let's see what the Swedish Lutheran Church's historical namesake, Martin Luther, had to say about homosexuality:

... Luther refers to:

"the heinous conduct of the people of Sodom" as "extraordinary, inasmuch as they departed from the natural passion and longing of the male for the female, which is implanted into nature by God, and desired what is altogether contrary to nature. Whence comes this perversity? Undoubtedly from Satan, who after people have once turned away from the fear of God, so powerfully suppresses nature that he blots out the natural desire and stirs up a desire that is contrary to nature." (Luther’s Works, Vol. 3, 255)

The Altar of Choice

(Right: How many pro-choice parents could look into the eyes of the children that they "allowed to live" and tell them that they should have had the right to kill them?)

Good news from Spain, where well over a million people recently rallied against the further "liberalisation" of the abortion laws. These pro-life marches are becoming more regular in both Europe and North America. From Deutsche-Welle:

More than a million people streamed through the streets of Madrid to protest against a loosening of Spain's abortion laws on Saturday, one of the largest demonstrations since anti-war rallies held in 2003 and 2004.

The Madrid regional government estimated the crowd at 1.2 million. A spokesman for one of the rally organizers, HazteOir (Make Yourself Heard), told Agence France Presse that 1.5 million people had attended.

"The presence of each of you here today in this demonstration is a commitment to fight for life," Benigno Blanco, head of a group called Forum on the Family," told the crowd. "Those of you who govern us must listen to the voice from the streets."

Marchers held signs reading "For Life, Women and Motherhood," "Women Against Abortion" and "Madrid 2009, Capital of Life."

Current Spanish abortion laws, introduced in 1985, prohibit abortion except in cases of rape, fetal malformation, or where the continuation of the pregnancy would cause physical or mental harm to the mother. The reform's supporters say that the status quo unfairly turns women and their doctors into criminals...

On a different but tangential topic, Boris Johnson, the Tory mayor of London, wrote an opinion piece about the conquistador defeat of the Aztec Empire in the 16th century. What relevance does this have to the subject of abortion? One individual commenting on Mr. Johnson's article made the point that we modern sophisticates are in no moral position to criticise the Aztecs' pagan death-culture:

Human sacrifice is performed daily. Still. Right under our noses.

Instead of Templo Mayor, the gynae theatre.

Instead of a stone block, a surgical table.

Instead of persuading the sun to rise, the career to advance.

Instead of Tenochtitlan, any city in Britain/Europe/North America etc .

Instead of Tlatoanic priests, pro-choice activists.

Instead of hopeless slaves, helpless babies.

Instead of Aztec culture, Postmodern "civilisation".

Sterilised in vocabulary and sanitised in sociology, abortion is nothing less than modern-day human sacrifice.

Sacrificed to the post-modern goddess of feminism and the ancient gods of selfishness & sexual immorality.

Pity no museums in the world has yet the stomach to display the bloody decapitation, amputation & disposal of the unborn.

Not too sure if this generation can lecture that of the Aztec's for its inability & impotence to tell right from wrong.

Reject Christ at your worsening peril; even worse than that which befell Moctezuma.

Instead of the altar of the Sun Temple, we postmodern Westerners have the Altar of Choice in the shape of a surgical table. Who the hell are we to preach against the extinct Aztec civilisation when we allow such violence against the defenceless to happen on a daily basis?

The consequences of industrial abortion - for the frightened pregnant women told that they have no other choice, for the moral decency of the medical profession, and most of all for the murdered infants themselves - have been horrendous.

There is a real holocaust going on right now, hidden away from public view by grubby profiteers and left-wing fanatics. For all its gleaming wealth and technology, our society is profoundly ill. Until a majority accept this, nothing will change for the better. But the recent march for life in Spain, along with similar protest movements elsewhere, give the promising hint of a long-awaited turnaround.

Joyeux anniversaire, Astérix !

A happy fiftieth birthday to Astérix the Gaul from a fellow Celt and former inhabitant of Lutetia...

Winter of discontent

Tough times ahead for everyone - government, unions, public servants and ordinary citizens. From RTÉ:

The Government has told unions that its €4bn savings package will include €1.3bn to be cut from social welfare, and a similar amount from public sector pay.

The balance of the €4bn will be achieved by axing public services.

It is understood that union negotiators who met the Taoiseach Brian Cowen and the Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, were told that the €4bn would have to be secured equally from public sector pay, welfare and service cuts.

€1.3bn would equate to a cut in the public sector pay bill of just under 7%.

However, public sector unions and employers are to meet next week to explore alternatives to direct pay cuts.

Meanwhile, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions is organising mass rallies in eight locations around the country on 6 November in protest at the Government's economic strategies.

ICTU General Secretary David Begg appealed to all workers and citizens to join the protests in support of their economic strategy entitled 'There Is A Better, Fairer Way'.

Mr Begg criticised the Government's intention to restore the public finances by 2013, saying this brutal action in this short period could be deflationary.

The protests will take place in Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Sligo, Galway, Dublin, Tullamore and Dundalk.

There are also plans to do a mail drop to 1.9m households in the State, as well as distributing 1.9m sheets of stickers. The union will also commence a press campaign from Tuesday.

The hard fact of the matter is that we are in an extremely difficult and precarious economic situation. There is simply no way that the State can afford the public sector wage bill or staffing at its current levels. Much as one might despise the government, they are absolutely right that the bloated and overpaid public sector needs a serious trimming. The unions are insane to think otherwise: the harsh economic facts, and the reality that they will worsen, are facing us all with unblinking certainty.

However, we must carefully avoid demonising public and State servants. Many of my own relatives proudly fulfil duties for the nation, ranging from Gardaí to nurses to teachers and customs officials. They are real people - not walking media targets - with families, experience and dignity. In our genuine need to control national finances, I hope that the Minister for Finance does not decide to simply take an axe to the public sector. Necessary wage cuts must be combined with justice: let the higher-paid mandarins shoulder more of the burden than the frontline troop; let the useless quango be targeted before the hospital and school.