A right to safety or privacy?

Human rights and civil liberties campaigners have reacted with their predicable sense of outrage to yesterday’s introduction of body scanners at two UK airports.


The scanners allow security officers at London Heathrow and Manchester to identify passengers carrying dangerous materials. A brilliant and welcome development ensuring the safety of thousands of passengers you might think.

However, human rights and civil liberties groups have lambasted airport authorities and the UK government, speaking of their “unease” regarding privacy infringement and the “disproportionate scrutiny” which they believe certain travellers will be subject to.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) believe the Muslim community will be deliberately targeted. UK Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis has stipulated that no passenger will be targeted because of their “gender, age, race or ethnic origin.”

Call me racist if you want, but I would certainly feel more comfortable if passengers were targeted because of these precise reasons. Let’s call a spade, a spade. Everyone knows the group of people who pose the biggest risk. This isn’t a racist or discriminatory statement. It is a fact. I applaud the UK authorities for introducing this long overdue measure. I think security officers should be left do their job instead of being constrained from carrying out their duties for fear of causing offence.

When the IRA was carrying out terrorist activities in the UK, Irish passengers travelling through UK airports were stopped and searched. Did we kick up an almighty fuss? The general consensus was that it was for the good of everybody. Nowadays, anybody who is stopped and questioned is immediately “offended” and the R and D words are quickly produced.

Who is standing up for my “human right” to travel safely? Do I have a “human right” to not be blown to shreds? Surely any right minded individual wouldn’t mind being subjected to security checks if it prevented them from danger? Unfortunately, these groups have gained such a strong hold in the media and society in general that any decision made to protect the majority is immediately met with distain.

Stepping away from the racism and discrimination debate, I can’t understand why there is so much of a debate surrounding privacy. You either have something to hide or you don’t. Fears regarding sexual privacy are unfounded. The image projected on the security officer’s screen is a white ghost like image of the body – no flesh or individual features can be seen. So unless a security officer has some weird fetish for ghost porn, then it’s hard to imagine all the security staff at Heathrow and Manchester suddenly becoming aroused.

A case of political correctness gone mad is destroying the travel experience for air passengers, and causing havoc for airport workers. I wonder will they be so vocal when the next lunatic suicide bomber blows up a plane and kills hundreds of people. Where will “human rights” be then?

These measures are here to protect the majority – those who want to travel safely and securely. Surely that should be all of us. KF
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8490860.stmhttp://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/0109/1224261954843.html?via=mostread

Helping Haiti - Everybody Hurts

http://www.amazon.co.uk/

As I write this, I listen with intrigue and sadness to the charity single released this morning by a number of popular and well-known artists to help the people of Haiti. For those who haven't heard of the destruction in Haiti, almost three million people have been hit by such a quick and heartbreaking event - an earthquake, and subsequent aftershocks. Almost 200,000 citizens are thought to have lost their lives, and more still hidden under the rubble.


Thanks to the brainchild of none other than Simon Cowell, many artists have come together to collaborate on one of REM's most recognised tracks - Everybody Hurts. Including contributions from Mariah Carey, Susan Boyle, X Factor judge Cheryl Cole, Take That, JLS, Leona Lewis, Westlife (to name but a few), the single premiered on British radio this morning, with all proceeds going immediately to the people of Haiti. It is assuring to hear that during this shocking time for those affected, music stars from all over the world were more than willing to help towards easing the truly shocking heartbreak for all people in Haiti.

One hopes that during such a tragic time for those suffering in Haiti, people will come together and see that our own troubles may not be so great after all. Please help towards such an important cause.

To purchase this single, please follow the link at the top.
 
SW

Cowen v Ahern

On the front page of The Irish Independent yesterday was a large picture of Bertie Ahern watching the Manchester Utd. V Arsenal game in 3D in a pub. While inside Brian Cowen is being bashed as per usual. Will we be as kind to BIFFO, as he was dubbed, when he finishes up? Now I am not for a moment claiming to be a fan of our current Taoiseach or his decisions but it just seems that, at least in the media, blame for our bleak financial time isn’t being equally shared.
I am no expert on politics and probably never will be but even from my limited knowledge of the political and economic goings on of Ireland in the last few years I am baffled by how Bertie Ahern has become an almost a loveable character in the eyes of the Irish Media.

Again, forgive me for my basic level of understanding but isn’t Cowen just attempting to fix the mess brought on by Bertie and the backlash of the Celtic Tiger? Maybe not in the most efficient or successful of ways but trying none the less. Yet Bertie is still appearing on TV shows and writing for sports pages and still earning over 98,000 Euro as a TD, according to the Independant.

No one seems to remember the tribunal or the accusations of less than above board goings on while Mr Ahern was in office. I know he got his fair share of bad press while in office but the nation, well the Irish media rather, seem all too forgiving.It’s as though he has become Irelands crazy old uncle Bertie, doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing but sure, you have to laugh at him.

Now I know Bertie had his own achievements with the peace process among other things however, this is the same man who apparently spent thousands on make up for appearences while in office. The man caught up in many a scandal after his resignation. It just seems as though people have short memories and it goes to show how fickle the media is and how they love you one day and hate you the next, the nature of the beast.

Perhaps if after his time in charge Cowen gets a sudden burst of charisma he’ll be given a rest by the media. It can be safely said that while Ireland is still in tough times and as long as he’s the man in charge Brian Cowen won’t being seeing any pleasant headlines anytime soon.



Nobody’s friends with the boss Brian.



JM

A hole lot of love

You won't be Zeppelin up and down the back roads anytime soon. Funding for national roads is down 20% this year. The 'Big Freeze' must have frozen the Government's assets and funding too. Yes we are in a recession, in the red, but surely we can keep our roads in order. Perhaps Dempsey will bring back some tar and cement the next time he dodges the crisis. Galway is getting €179 million, while Limerick City Council receives a measly €379,000. The Galway race tent must have worked its last magic. In foresight, it will stop them boy/girl racers floating around.

Do we not pay taxes for the upkeep of our roads anyway? At least it’s an excuse for not driving a moped. Pizza delivery guy-You've been warned!!!

Here is the link: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0201/breaking64.htm
Until next time,

D.K

Have some sense...

The capital’s streets are strewn with rotting bodies. The buildings and roads are crushed beyond familiarity. The once proud and pompous palace is nothing but fallen bricks. Overnight, Port-au Prince became a whole city of livelihoods and homes beyond repair. Unfortunately, this snapshot is but a microcosm of Haiti as a country today. A country whose position on the list of the world’s poorest countries was hardly a prosperous one, suffered one of the largest earthquakes recorded by mankind on the 12th of January, 2010. An earthquake of the unbelievable measurement of 7.0 on the Richter Scale shot down all attempts of the country’s poor chances of survival.



Aid flocked from worldwide, however helpless or disorganised it was at the beginning of the chaos, the intentions were meaningful. Governments around the world donated money and aid to the disaster, charities and non-governmental organisations organised transport for food, water and medical assistance to the Caribbean island. Housewives hosted coffee mornings to raise cash for charities and children were encouraged by their parents to donate their week’s or month’s pocket money to those less fortunate than themselves.


And the host of a Christian Broadcasting Network show, The 700 Club, Pat Robertson, sat on his comfortable couch in a television studio in the United States of America and claimed that the Haitian earthquake was, in fact (I mean, how did we not know this ourselves already?), a consequence of the ‘Haitian Curse’. This curse, just so we all know the proper facts, was initiated when the founding fathers of Haiti made a ‘pact with the devil’ in exchange for Haiti’s independence from France. ‘Oh, ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other…’ Pat Robertson said knowingly.


Have I gone crazy?

How can a man who claims to be a man of God, a man of the twenty-first century even, sit there and say so confidentially, so all-knowingly, that the reason people lost their homes, their jobs, their livelihoods, their families and the reason that men, women and children are all wandering the streets of Haiti alone, hungry, tired, thirsty and grasping onto their last photograph of a loved one or their last piece of sustinance is because they deserved this earthquake as a result of the ‘pact with the devil’ that their founding fathers made years beforehand?


I need to know I am not the one going mad….


Until next time (as to quote DK),


DC

After the dust settles

Am I the only person from Kerry who doesn't want to be on the recieving end of duster flung by Paul Galvin? Because it seems that, instead of being appalled, everyone is jealous of the lad who ended up with seven stitches.

Just because it's Paul Galvin.Oh wait, Paul Galvin: Player of the Year.

Certain members of a Bebo group entitled "Paul Galvin's supporter's page" would be "delighted" and "honoured" if they had the privilege of getting a belt from a duster thrown by Galvin. Since when is an injury recieved from him regarded as a privilege?

Ok, so the duster ricocheted off the wall and onto the misfortunate student's head. It might not have been a malicious attack on a student, but why was Galvin  throwing classroom items around the place?

At the end of the day, a student was injured due to misconduct on Galvin's part.

St. Brendan's college has remained tip-lipped over the matter. However, it is rumoured that the parent's of the 15-year-old student are taking legal action against Galvin.

Somehow, I believe that Galvin will survive Dustergate '10 ( He is Player of the Year after all). But what message does this send out about celebrity? Is it acceptable that public figures can get away with things that us ordinary folk can't? Or has this incident been blown out of proportion by the media (and me).

AH

Can Brendan O Connor fill Tubridys shoes?

The journalist and sometimes presenter had his first taste of a Saturday night talk show on RTE this weekend imaginatively named The Saturday Night Show. For me it was just so uncomfortable to watch, even forgiving his terrible accent which even I, a fellow Corconian, cannot defend. O Connor, a former comedian is known for his straight talking, opinion and analysis in The Independent and as ‘Mr. Nasty’ from his stint on You’re are Star and appeared again on You’re Fired where he quizzed failed apprentice applicants. Like him or not he had a clear manner and style, albeit a bit irritating, you knew what you were getting with Brendan O Connor.

Saturday night however a whole different character was on display, a smiley, suit wearing stranger. As the show opened the show he stood awkwardly with arms dangling stumbling over punch lines, but the audience seemed to eat it up. I however felt so uncomfortable even watching him. “Isn’t this exciting?” he asked the audience through gritted teeth.

He was reunited with Linda Martin, one of his guests and former You’re Star judge where a bit of the old Brendan O Connor banter crept its way in and in one or two one liners throughout the show. The other guests – Twink, Peaches Geldof and Jim Corr weren’t exactly dazzling either. Brendan didn’t even challenge the fact that Jim Corr thinks that climate change is a fairy tale and that earthquakes are purposely created by “the elite” with fancy guns. Throughout Corrs ramblings Brendan was smiling and nodding asking people to keep an open mind. I thought, hey Brendan where is Mr. Nasty? Even Tubridy wouldn’t listen to this nonsense.

Personally I just don’t think he belongs in this friendly Saturday night host role. He tried the Tubridy style of friendly and light with the tough questions still asked but it fitted him as badly has his three piece suit worn on the night and ultimately he forgot the tough questions. In his defence what important question could you ask Peaches Geldof? Even his physical traits stop him as coming across as friendly. His low brow line fixing his face into a permanent frown is not what I want to see on a Saturday night.

He might surprise me and have a great show next week but I doubt it.

JM