Part of me hates the idea that in Northern Ireland, a minister of the cloth, Rev. Ian Paisley is the First Minister, and that he has been politically active for so long. It always seemed wrong to me to mix politics and religion.
But after this story today, as reported by BBC News, it seems even more wrong now. The head of the church in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, has told catholic politicians who support abortion to rethink whether they should be accepting holy communion.
You know what he's really saying here, don't you? The translation that comes out of the Universal Translator and Decryptographical Analyser says, 'Recind your support for Abortion or you won't enter Heaven!'.
HOW DARE HE!
He is doing what I abhor seeing happen in newspapers, where the papers tell the readers what to think. In Christianity, the priest or vicar tells the congregation what to think, only they call it 'preaching'. In reality, it is brainwashing!
I am a human being, with a perfectly good mind of my own, one which I intend to use to the best of my ability, and I do NOT allow ANYONE to tell ME, what to think. It's called having an independent mind. I am a lone wolf who goes my own way and makes my own deicisions, not a sheep, who gets guided to his pen.
Thursday, 31 May 2007
Tuesday, 29 May 2007
News Roundup: Tuesday 29 May 2007
We start this roundup with coverage from the Big Apple...
WABC - Channel 7 Eyewitness News: Two coyotes have struck again in Leonardo, killing a pet dog.
WCBS - CBS 2 News: A man with a rare form of Tuberculosis has been quarantined at BelleVue Hospital.
WNBC - News Channel 4: Police in Long Island are warning people about a travelling group of scam artists targetting homeowners.
NY1: Invesitgators in Manhattan are searching for a robber who targets taxis.
1010 WINS: Former Mayor and current Republican Presidential Candidate Rudy Guiliani was accused by a protestor in the Bronx of being one of the "criminals of 9/11).
WCBS NewsRadio 880: Martha Stewart is attempting to copyright the name "Katonah", a move that is not doing a lot to increase her popularity.
And now, onto other news...
CBC News: A man has been found guilty of second-degree murder of his next door neighbour.
BBC News: A Dorset seaside town has been turned into California for a new movie.
RTE News: A suspicious device found by Gardai during a search in Dublin has turned out to be harmless.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Wet weather is hampering efforts to contain an incursion of exotic bees in Queensland.
Al Jazeera English: The Venuzelan Government has accused news channel Globovision of "inciting murder", just hours after taking opposition station Radio Caracas Television off the air.
France 24: French President Nicolas Sarkozy is threatening to veto farm trade negotiations if they hurt French farming interests.
WABC - Channel 7 Eyewitness News: Two coyotes have struck again in Leonardo, killing a pet dog.
WCBS - CBS 2 News: A man with a rare form of Tuberculosis has been quarantined at BelleVue Hospital.
WNBC - News Channel 4: Police in Long Island are warning people about a travelling group of scam artists targetting homeowners.
NY1: Invesitgators in Manhattan are searching for a robber who targets taxis.
1010 WINS: Former Mayor and current Republican Presidential Candidate Rudy Guiliani was accused by a protestor in the Bronx of being one of the "criminals of 9/11).
WCBS NewsRadio 880: Martha Stewart is attempting to copyright the name "Katonah", a move that is not doing a lot to increase her popularity.
And now, onto other news...
CBC News: A man has been found guilty of second-degree murder of his next door neighbour.
BBC News: A Dorset seaside town has been turned into California for a new movie.
RTE News: A suspicious device found by Gardai during a search in Dublin has turned out to be harmless.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Wet weather is hampering efforts to contain an incursion of exotic bees in Queensland.
Al Jazeera English: The Venuzelan Government has accused news channel Globovision of "inciting murder", just hours after taking opposition station Radio Caracas Television off the air.
France 24: French President Nicolas Sarkozy is threatening to veto farm trade negotiations if they hurt French farming interests.
Saturday, 26 May 2007
News Roundup: Friday 25th May 2007
Whilst Ireland has been learning the results of the General Election, other stories have broken, and the roundup reports on the more interesting stories of the day...
BBC News: Rhodri Morgan is elected as First Minister of Wales, as leader of a minority government.
MSNBC: Fans are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the original release of Star Wars.
KCBS All News 740AM: Another attempt to get two humpback whales back to the ocean has failed.
BBC Sport: Michael Vaughan marks his return to Test action with a century against the West Indies.
TVNZ: New Zealand’s government is accused of going too far, too fast on new rules for car emissions.
This is Cornwall: Sleepless in Penzance, with a new world record for lack of sleep.
BBC News: Rhodri Morgan is elected as First Minister of Wales, as leader of a minority government.
MSNBC: Fans are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the original release of Star Wars.
KCBS All News 740AM: Another attempt to get two humpback whales back to the ocean has failed.
BBC Sport: Michael Vaughan marks his return to Test action with a century against the West Indies.
TVNZ: New Zealand’s government is accused of going too far, too fast on new rules for car emissions.
This is Cornwall: Sleepless in Penzance, with a new world record for lack of sleep.
Friday, 25 May 2007
Ireland Votes 2007: Declarations
Well, we have full declarations in Wexford, where Fianna Fail has 2 seats, Fine Gael has 2 seats and Labour has 1.
We also have a full declaration in Sligo-North Leitrim and in Roscommon-South Leitrim, which seems to be pretty well split straight between FF and FG.
The more you look at the fully declared results, as there are others too, the more you realise that, as I said earlier, this was a polarised election, rather than a diversified one. Labour, in third place at the moment with 11 seats, could well be the balance of power in Ireland, but as we have seen in Elections in Scotland and Wales, deal-making between political parties is extremely difficult, and it would not surprise me if we had a minority government situation.
Don't forget though that there are constituencies where counts continue as they have yet to fill all the available seats, and some of these will go into Saturday, so we won't know the full story for a while yet.
Just to prove the point, Dublin Central is going into it's seventh count!
We also have a full declaration in Sligo-North Leitrim and in Roscommon-South Leitrim, which seems to be pretty well split straight between FF and FG.
The more you look at the fully declared results, as there are others too, the more you realise that, as I said earlier, this was a polarised election, rather than a diversified one. Labour, in third place at the moment with 11 seats, could well be the balance of power in Ireland, but as we have seen in Elections in Scotland and Wales, deal-making between political parties is extremely difficult, and it would not surprise me if we had a minority government situation.
Don't forget though that there are constituencies where counts continue as they have yet to fill all the available seats, and some of these will go into Saturday, so we won't know the full story for a while yet.
Just to prove the point, Dublin Central is going into it's seventh count!
Ireland Votes 2007: Coverage
Oh dear. RTE has pretty much been the sole provider of coverage, both in broadcast and online. BBC Parliament planned to relay coverage from 1900 to 2130. They didn't start properly until 1915, and finished at 2055, and just left a slide on screen for the whole duration of the RTE News: Nine O'Clock bulletin.
TV3 has no ability to provide online coverage, as it has no news section on it's website. And the only other Irish news provider is Independent Network News, which has no website of it's own.
Outside of Ireland, BBC News seems to be the only other news provider to have covered the election at all, and that is mainly online.
Sky News seems to have barely touched on it at all, and not so long ago, they would have had their own coverage anchored from Dublin on Sky News Ireland. Now, barely anything. It's disappointing.
TV3 has no ability to provide online coverage, as it has no news section on it's website. And the only other Irish news provider is Independent Network News, which has no website of it's own.
Outside of Ireland, BBC News seems to be the only other news provider to have covered the election at all, and that is mainly online.
Sky News seems to have barely touched on it at all, and not so long ago, they would have had their own coverage anchored from Dublin on Sky News Ireland. Now, barely anything. It's disappointing.
Ireland Votes 2007: First wheelchair user TD
RTE News is reporting that Sean Connick (FF) has been elected to Wexford on the fifth count. This is significant because Sean has been in a wheelchair since he was 12 years old, and is the first wheelchair user ever elected as TD.
Ireland Votes 2007: Update
Well, the results so far are looking promising for Bertie Ahern who looks like gaining a third term as the Taoiseach. Currently the state of the parties is...
Fianna Fail - 54
Fine Gael - 25
Labour - 10
Green Party - 3
Sinn Fein - 2
Progressive Democrats - 1
Others - 2
Fianna Fail - 54
Fine Gael - 25
Labour - 10
Green Party - 3
Sinn Fein - 2
Progressive Democrats - 1
Others - 2
Ireland Votes 2007: The Taoiseach is Re-elected
In the Dublin Central constituency, they are on their 3rd count, but elected after the first count was the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, so he is safe and at the moment,looks like returning to the equivalent position of Prime Minister, after this election.
Nearby in Dublin South East, another Progressive Democrat TD, Michael McDowell has been ousted, and he has announced that he is leaving politics as a result. The polarisation of Irish Politics continues, as Fianna Fail and Fine Gael gain the seats that smaller parties would normally have gotten. It looks like Ireland is returning to what was known as the "2 and a half party system".
Nearby in Dublin South East, another Progressive Democrat TD, Michael McDowell has been ousted, and he has announced that he is leaving politics as a result. The polarisation of Irish Politics continues, as Fianna Fail and Fine Gael gain the seats that smaller parties would normally have gotten. It looks like Ireland is returning to what was known as the "2 and a half party system".
Ireland Votes 2007: Cork North West
Well,it took them 5 counts to determine their 3 seats. Together with Clare going to a 4th count without electing a single TD, it does seem that the Single Transferable Vote system does takes a long time to sort out what under First Past The Post, would be a relatively simple task.
Ireland Votes 2007: Quirks of Single Tranferable Vote
In the Single Transferable Vote system there is a certain quota of votes that you need to be elected. Now in the Clare constituency, they are into their 4th count, for the 4 seats that are up for grabs. But so far, nobody has made it over the quota for that seat of 11,278. One candidate is within 5 votes of being elected, but hasn't made it yet.
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