only in the G.O.P.

Only a republican would have a racial campaign only to use the racial card for the up coming one.

Great stuff from the New Continent.

U Obama me, I Obama U

What the heck, you might say? Indeed, it is.

a penny for your thoughts

Haven’t really been blogging much. Other things on my mind. Though, Ryanair’s latest idea, to squeeze that extra penny out of the low-cost passenger, has of the absurd.

Ryanair’s chief executive said Europe’s largest budget carrier might start charging passengers for using the toilet while flying, but his spokesman cautioned Michael O’Leary often just made things up at will.

“One thing we have looked at in the past and are looking at again is the possibility of maybe putting a coin slot on the toilet door so that people might actually have to spend one pound (1.12 euro) to spend a penny in future,” O’Leary told BBC television.

So,  how far are we from travelling nude ?

Those who want to destabilize the government

A lot of nonsense has been written on Astrid Vella and the FAA. The impression that we have been given on the FAA, is that it is some kind of an anarchist movement with the sole purpose in life to destabilize the government (soon enough comparisons with le brigade Rosse will be drawn). I believe the sensible person can distinguish the reasonable argument from the hysterical one. (Can they?)

The FAA is an environmental NGO, which based its concern on a report, compiled by a number of experts in their own field, which was not made public by the Cathedral foundation. The report is now on the FAA website. Had the FAA gone all freaky wild because they would have preferred pink to blue curtains, then the hysteria would have been somehow justified but the FAA were right to complain.

Indeed, the FAA was not alone with its reservation. Several PN MPs did not agree with the project, among them two former ministers. If this was not enough, the Archbishop had also shown his reservation on the excavations; so much so that the motives behind the u-turn (because it is a u-turn) was precisely because the Archbishop objected to such a project.

The list goes on: Valletta Local Council was advised by its architect that the proposals may pose an “unacceptable risk”. The Catholic Heritage Commission and the Chapter of St John’s Co-Cathedral also voiced their concern on the project with MEPA.

So really, why all this hate on the FAA and on Astrid? I suspect because after all, they are easy-target. The vile can’t be addressed to the Archbishop – that would be nasty. It can’t be directed to the PN mp’s either – that would continue to accentuate how divisive the government actually is. The Labour? Even so, what the Labour did was to move a motion for the government to withdraw its support (which brings the questions, is the co-Cathedral an independent foundation? Is it an NGO after all?). Hardly dramatic. If it became dramatic it was because the project is in itself controversial. The sceptical person is bound to raise an eyebrow on such a project.

So let us face it, the FAA did not stop the project, it was a widespread perception that the project was wrong. Think about it, it is an excavation beneath the St. John’s square.

So isn’t this a clear case of an NGO being intimidated to either toe the line or shut up?

After everything was said and done, it comes down to a waste of time. Now, the next big project which the government has in mind is to house the House of Parliament on the ruins of the Old Opera House.

the kingmaker

It is a sad day for Israel and for anyone who hoped for peace and a solution to the Gaza tragedy. The right-wing parties will clearly form a coalition and set the pace for more war.

Avigdor Lieberman, is the kingmaker, his far-right party finished in third place.

Lieberman who promised to bomb Iran, attack Gaza with greater force, stop negotiations, once said ‘if it were up to me I would notify the Palestinian Authority that tomorrow at ten in the morning we would bomb all their places of business in Ramallah …’

It is all very disappointed when after all, we hoped, because indeed we had to hope into something, that the November U.S. election will bring about a change. For Obama, change is not easy. His first 100 days were marked by resistance to his stimulus package from Republican and democratic ranks. Four of his newly appointed advisories resigned, while more people are losing their jobs.

And it seems with a military oriented Israeli government; it won’t be easy to bring to the tables the main parties in the tragic saga of Gaza. His foreign policy might after all, resemble that of his predecessor. We doubt it. We doubt that anyone can ever be as Bush.

In all of this, it is the Palestinian people of Gaza, trapped by their own vote and doomed to a miserable existence, that will again suffer the most. Used by the Hamas as shields, used by the militant Arab countries as pawn in their anti-Americanism and anti-Israel war, used by the Israeli as targets and perceived as little less than rubbish by them.

gold for bread

Zimbabwe’s new Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, has vowed to stabilise the country’s shattered economy and end political violence.

The former opposition leader addressed thousands of cheering supporters after being sworn-in under a power-sharing deal with President Robert Mugabe.

Mr Mugabe, who administered the oath to his long-standing rival, has promised to co-operate in the unity government.

Zimbabwe faces rampant inflation, a cholera epidemic and 90% unemployment.

BBC report

Zimbabwe is in crisis, very few will doubt that. The post-elections had more to do with setting up a functioning parliament rather than with fixing the economy.

The above video is a touching documentary about the situation these people are living into.

who will build a coalition?

The leaders of Israel’s two main parties, the centrist and right-wing party, have both claimed victory in an early general election.

The governing centrist Kadima has 28 seats and the right-wing Likud opposition 27, election officials said.

Kadima’s Tzipi Livni told supporters she was ready to lead the country. But Likud’s Benjamin Netanyahu said the ‘nationalist camp’ had won.

Both need coalition partners. Ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu came third.

The Labour party, had a dismissal performance by coming fourth, leaving a few, like Psychology professor Herba Alexander asking where is the left?

“I am by instinct a leftist but I think the leftists failed completely and it is time to recognise that we need really to be strong and somewhat aggressive in the way in which we live or we have no hope.”

The Kadima party seems to have won by a slim margin – a party which was doomed from the start but gained considerable  in the polls with its three week attack on the Gaza strip.

According to the Guardian, under Israel’s proportional representation system no one party is likely to win a majority, meaning weeks of negotiation will now follow to form a coalition government.

Next week the Israeli president, Shimon Peres, will call on the leader of the party he thinks most likely to form a coalition, regardless of whether that is the largest party, and give him or her 42 days to complete the task.

So now, who will built a coalition?And if a (far) right-wing government is given the mandate where does it leave Obama? Even so, is a Centre-Left party credible?

We’ll wait.

… no komment …

david briffa (2 hours, 15 minutes ago)

shame on you mr president[birdlies of cours]who’s lieying ;Its not true when you say that govment negotiations sad fasing out trapping.Its sad that there has to be done a xientifec stuty to see haw many wild birds can be couth from the wild to support the genetics of the spieces;and there are other countrys in the E.U that permit legal trapping its in black and white now no body can deny this anymore now please

on BirdLife insists MEPA committed to anti-trapping campaign

Hats off to Captain Sullenberger

… and this is what happened …

Closing Guantanamo Bay detention camp

Liberal Democrat Sarah Ludford rightly called Guantanamo Bay detention camp a ‘hell hole’. She also said that the EU had to practice what it preaches by providing ‘practical assistance’.

542 MEPs voted in support to a resolution urging the EU states to take in prisoners from Guantanamo Bay if the US asks them to.

Only 55 MEPs voted against it.