The Censor

Censorship is suppression of speech or other communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the general body of people as determined by a government, media outlet, or other controlling body. - Wikipedia

Trying to keep up efforts which now almost have an air of pi**ing against the wind about them, takes up way to much time. Learning as you go, few to rely on, the country melting around us as the power wannabes go on their whistle stop tour through the towns and villages of the land seeking the most attractive job in town at the moment.

You'd miss the comforts of the Celtic Tiger, the few extra bob in the pocket. No need to be pursuing other interests apart from living it up, and resting the weary body that goes along with working in the area of construction I did. I don't miss the conditions, be they authoritative figures with power gone to their heads, or the rain that seemed to fall for much of the year. But I do miss the craic with some of the characters I met over the years. There was always craic to be had even when we walked around with a permanent flu.

When you have time on your hands and you know the country is fecked, one tends to question everything that's going on around me. Gives me a chance to find out things about the system you trust not to screw you, but which always does.
The turnout in the coming election will tell us more about the level of apathy in the country. We don't get the media going out doing exposes on most things in Ireland so nobody really knows what everyone else is thinking. You can only gauge from those around us, or by those we converse with online at times.

I am on a few politicians Facebook pages, it's an opportunity for me to gauge what we have among us. There are a serious amount of them at present accepting any Tom, Dick or Sally, but they are deleting them as quick, when they ask 'awkward questions.'
I wasn't banned off any one's page until yesterday, when the taosieach in waiting removed me and a few dozen more, who were not sucking up to him the way he wanted.
Basically people who wanted a viewpoint on the main issues of the day. Questions about accountability for fraud, approaches to the IMF and ECB, but these questions are not welcome, hence the deletion.
For me a public figure using social media shouldn't be deleting people who ask questions concerning the future of the country. It's a form of censorship. That's my view.
I have the screenshots of the questions I asked Ireland's latest bluffer, the 'offending' ones. They'll make for good material when I pull them down from my cloud computer in the months ahead. This and the 2002 incident, both barely mentioned anywhere, acceptable behaviour in our esteemed democracy. Some leadership!

I'll be resigning my angry political views and exploring a more satirical approach in the weeks ahead, once GE11 is over. Give myself an outlet for a little fun, highlight the wrongs which may in the end make people finally realise once and for all that the majority of people elected to represent us are not up to the task. I don't know if it's delusion with some of them or the lack of brains in others, but it's a sorry state of affairs. It's an interesting time with thousands leaving every week. The way the young are treated in Ireland it feels like its forced on them. For those that leave behind children have a tougher break from the reality here. A nation that was founded on the strength of the family. Broken by our leaders many times now. To much for it to be 'just one of those things' I suspect. It's near the top of my 'to-do' list, not because i want it that way, but because there does not seem to be much of a choice. Ireland's leaders in the past have rarely thought about the majority of their people, just those punching for the party, looking for their easy ride. Probably the biggest single reason we find ourselves where we are in the second month of 2011.

Anglo chairman, Alan Dukes has said another €15 billion will be needed to bolster Anglo further. Bolstering zombie's. You wouldn't dream it up. Still nothing regarding the criminal investigation into the goings-on. They must be building a rock solid case.
But the history is there to be read by all. In these cases it's about 'what you know,' mostly about others, that will get you off the hook. There have been many breaches of justice in Ireland over the years. Judges, Politicians, Solicitors and even Gardaí. That tells me no one is going to be held to account for what has happened. When it does we might change Ireland for the better. The journey of this country and how it gets there has yet to be written. Given our past, it could be a tough story to write.

And as some write about life, others leave. In recent weeks, five-time Oscar-winning composer John Barry, who wrote music for many of the James Bond films passed away. He also wrote music for such classics as Midnight Cowboy, Dances With Wolves and Out of Africa. Married four-times, one would wonder where he got the time.
Former Thin Lizzy guitarist and one of our own, Gary Moore also died last weekend. 58. Makes you think, wouldn't it?
Unlike the politicians in this land these two gentlemen deserve their 'Booker Endorsement.' A reminder to us all that at the very least we are still breathing, and perhaps bring us back to a place where we can recognise all that is good in our lives, the good folk that are around us, people we should be grateful for.
It's easy to take the small things for granted when you try to worm your way out of a mess you had no hand in making, but when you realise just how quick 'the ride' actually is, making each day count for something is important. No matter how small.