DECEMBER, 2010.

The Cost of Living

NOEL FARRELL

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Bookers World November, 2010

Don Booker is a fictional character created in the Summer of 2009 by Irish writer, Noel Farrell. The character was created to show a side of Irish society under enormous pressure due to the political, social and economical mess in Ireland. These are month on month musings from that time which featured on the blog, The Writing Life & Other Absurdities The blog character deals with social issues relevant to Ireland in real-time as seen through Don Booker's eyes.

This Month

The worst austerity budget in Irelands history is condemned to the House. Meanwhile, Booker introduces Sonny Strange to the world.

!e W"ting Life & O#er Absur$ties

can be viewed @ www.fbooker.blogspot.com

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Gifts
December 1, 2010

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Interesting debate taking place on Vincent Browne tonight about the role of the mainstream media in the current debacle. On one hand, they feasted well from the Tiger with their glossy pull-outs promoting dreams to the masses. Now, they're in, 'we are in it together' mode for the most part. I'm literally shocked at the lack of real work being done in unmasking the truth behind our collapse by our own national broadcaster. All this on a day when Dermot Ahern announced he will not be running for the next Dil. He now walks away after being part of a government that ruined this country with an estimated pension fund that could reach 4million. Perhaps, I'm just an Irish begrudger. His lasting memory in my mind is when he laughed at the suggestion we were seeking an IMF bailout. Tough day at the office. Techy stuff. Not really my field. Definitely a learn-by-doing man. No choice anyway. As I froze, i think this time has definitely shaped what for myself. It's going to take time, I'm happy to put in the work and I'm glad of the little support I do get in some quarters. The future of this country will lie in those who don't give up, and even more so by those around us who refuse to let us. That's maybe the greatest gift of all. I've been throwing out some food for the birds. It's not often the little ones get to feast. Swarming from the sky come the crows. They remind me of The Failers - and I still continue to feed them. Have Freud think about that one!

Footnote : Fianna Fil are for the time being referred to as The Failers in these commentaries. Its almost as if they knew someday it was coming.

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Passwords
December 1, 2010

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I'm still astounded given the nature of the crisis that RTE News are doing so little coverage. The Euro seems to be in real trouble as the markets continue to pound on the doors of Portugal and Spain. The Spanish are selling off some of their state assets including their 30% stake in the national lottery. All sounds very familiar, doesn't it? There's something bigger at play here. When private financial corporations are practically running countries you know we are in a new age. A dangerous age if you ask me. Let's face it, it's doubtful we'll ever know what went on. Rogue bankers holding back passwords to files is blatant obstruction of justice - and it's not being acted upon. Bernie Madoff is doing 150 years in America. And that gangster was well into his seventies. If you want to change Ireland and build from the scrapheap up. THIS IS YOUR STARTING POINT. JAIL THEM ALL. Why are we, as a people, taking this? It defies belief and the silence is unsettling. Emigration is beginning to grip, mainly in the under-25 demographic, and it's mostly that, that sees a third straight fall in the unemployment figures. Therell be some claiming credit no doubt, putting their own brand of spin on it. I stuck a ruler into the snow in the garden earlier. Nine inches. It's on the rise. Talk about elements playing right into the hands of those least deserving. Still, it takes The Clown and co off the front pages for a day or two. Image Credit

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Snow People
December 4, 2010

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I took a few days away from writing. Sometimes I forget the business at hand and allow myself to be swallowed up by the sad nature of the times, the fraud being committed beneath our very eyes, the woeful lack of any sort of leadership and trying to find out just who, if any damn one, may provide a flicker of hope in the future. Touring around, it's easy to see who's not that man, and i may as well include women in that too. That's not being sexist, that's just the way I see it in political circles right now. Yes, there should be many, many more women in politics, and yes, they would, in my opinion, be better leaders for society. More women candidates need to be put forward for election come the New Year. Then the people need to elect them and widen our horizons when it comes to choosing who we let sit in Dil Eireann next time around. Best of a bad lot is Eamon Gilmore. I'm still skeptical of a leftist party that deals in right wing politics but theyre better than the rest. An interesting thought in recent days is if an aligning of the left was a possibility, then there may be an alternative to a Fine Gael led government. I guess it will all depend on the vote at the end of the day, but if it comes down to a strop over the taoiseach's job, then it could get interesting. A Red Sea Poll on Thursday put The Failers in fourth place, polling just 13%, behind Sinn Fein, who polled 16%. Labour remain behind Fine Gael by six percentage points, but alarmingly for Enda Kenny, Gilmore remains the populous choice to be the man who can restore the capitalization to the title. It's all very interesting and with the most devastating budget in the nations history just 3 days away, could it actually spell a wipe-out of a party so long embedded in the genetics of this once proud sovereign land. I suspect the Greens are finished. There last chance to save themselves was the atrocious way they handled the announcement they were pulling out of government.The simple fact of the matter is they lied when asked about talks taking place with the IMF. For one would have to deduce that if they were not party to what was going on, it made for grounds to pull the pin on the grenade that is government before now.

Image Credit

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With the weather keeping people outside the mainstream of Irish life confined, there is a tremendous show of community among them. They are hindered every step of the way by councils refusing to grit their roads. Some huddles for yaps in the local shop. A chance to stop and talk idly among themselves for a time about the state of the country. The country will be OK at a community level, never before have I seen it so informed though. Maybe that's the future power of the Internet, perhaps someday we may even vote in the new leaders of the day via the net, and make them accountable on it. People are more receptive to people they can engage with. The day of the smiling head with a suit on at the door promising all, and delivering little, may soon be a thing of the past. A lot of people are saying they will refuse to pay property taxes and water charges. I mean, a lot. Perhaps there may be a little something put away for the building of thousands of new prison places. I'm damn sure there is not enough room right now. Wouldn't it be ironic if the old excuse of 'not allowing the banks to fail' as it would lead to social meltdown, turn out to be the worst decision, as society melts due to a backlog of court dates, sentences and no-where to put 'offenders' who won't do as the State says. That's of course if you are buying the primary, government led stance. Most know, around here, we don't!

It's great to hear kids laugh as they enjoy thew snow, with idle parents showing mastery in the making of snowmen... and women! My own failure ended up looking like Beaker, the guy from Sesame Street in the land of my youth. But it was great to feel like a kid again. Even for just a day. Image Source

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B-Day
December 6, 2010

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The day before the budget. Just long enough away from Christmas to ruin it. I should be over the shock and awe of Lenihan's delivery by then. Am I being too hard on the guy, given where we are at? Absolutely not! These 'politicians' caused the damn debacle and now it's you and I that are going to pay for it. One way or another. I know American or UK readers will be saying they won't be, but let's face it, it wouldn't be the first time the Irish descend en-mass to foreign shores in search for work. All I can say is, I'll try and not be one of them, for the time being anyway. The protesters are out tomorrow. I'm sure the forces will be too. I'm relegated to a side view, hemmed in by the Arctic conditions, not seen ... since last year. I have a new view this year. A large tree paints the view to the sky. It's naked branches reach fearlessly out in all directions, painted in ice and frozen snow. There's an orange street lamp caught in some bushes nearby, and if I had the means to photograph it as it stands, I would have a fine print to share with the masses. I'm really not sure how Ireland is going to go. I'm sure we'd embrace Chopper as our supreme leader if he sent all the politicians, developers and banksters to the island to graze naked off the land and sea. OK, we may throw in some straw...if we must.The Indie's Lowry and Healy Rae signed up with the government tonight in a last gracing of the limelight before they pale off into political insignificance, assuming of course Labour and Fine Gael form a majority government with comfortable numbers. It was to be expected. Image Source Is there a twist in the tail of the last days of government? Have the Greens one more piece of spin in the bag to save their necks in political society? I doubt it. They've lacked bottle the whole way along. Renegaded on much, lied, and now will see in austerity measures for the betterment of society. Laughable! It's going to be an interesting day and few weeks ahead. Let's face it, it's a puppet government up next. Do any of us really care who it is, knowing what they individually stand for? It's impossible to find a leader among them, and even if one came around from no-where, he'd have to have some set of steel balls on him to take back any degree of power for the International Mother Fuckers. Sold down the Swanee to a private bank...who invent numbers, and live, -well- off the interest. Only in the darkest of pages could one contemplate where it is all going to end.

Tomorrow, The Budget.

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Smashwords
December 7, 2010

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On a lighter note, it is time to rally on the 'creating a job for oneself' front. I guess all people put off what they don't like doing, until they reach a point where they know that no-one is going to do it for them. Then they do it. So early this morning, I pulled the Sonny Strange file out of storage and went to work on formatting it via the Smashwords formatting guide. To start with, although user friendly, it does not cover all versions of Microsoft Word, so the tutorials can be hard to follow. I spent much of the day scouring through the ebook and becoming aware of my many faults in the formatting stakes. There are people out there who will do it for you. But you need cash for that. When one says they are building it from the bottom up, one would not be lying. Im not tech savvy. In truth I easily get discouraged when it comes to doing things of a technical nature. Where I've balked, I've stopped, get caught up in the situation the country finds itself in, and then somehow return to what's important. The result of my 12 hour effort won't be known until morning as I stand in a queue with 189 before me. It's a pretty stringent process, in order to get the file converted for suitable reader devices, one has to be pretty much on the money. I tried the 'learn-by-flying-through-it' way in the afternoon. The results were appalling.

I'm not sure who out there knows more about ebooks than what I've managed to muster myself as i looked into the whole area of self-publishing, but any suggestions are more than welcome, or advice and tips of new companies and publishers out there who take some of the work from the writer and leaves them more time for the actual writing. That would be a perfect world and sure, as we are all well aware, this ol' world is far from perfect. I expect a long few weeks ahead as I put in place all the necessary things to give it a good bash next year. Plenty of writing. It's great to be busy in times of woe, or have the times played into my hands. It's going to be scary finding out.

On wind with no prayer. Image Source

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The Big Bad Budget

December 7, 2010

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I like looking back through the blog sometimes to see how far off I do be with some of my out-pourings. Here's one I wrote months back, where I tipped the Greens to walk from government, but then again, I was only voicing 3 billion in cuts. In the interim, that's doubled. You can't call it right all the time. But for now the budget is in. The smell of doom and gloom about the place did not extend into Dil chambers when the leaders question time turned into a little bit of a giggle-fest. I wonder what had them laughing? Cowen gave a good account of himself defending the implementation of the most brutal budgets in the country's history. Enda was poor again, Eamon a little better. It wouldn't surprise me if they back the budget now just to get The Failers out of the place. New Dil member, Pearse Doherty gave an excellent account of himself when he spoke with a passion devoid elsewhere on what this budget means for the most venerable in our society. I mean you almost believe the man. He spoke like a Statesman, not heard in recent years. The people of Donegal must be proud to have them him on their side. Shortly after 3-45, Lenihan rose to deliver the devastation to the masses. The roars and drum beats from the assembled crowd outside didn't manage to make it into the Chamber, but as darkness fell and the crowd became deeper, Lenihan announced cuts to everything but the state pension. Well at least they remain on the side of the elderly, a demographic they really can't do without, if they have ambitions to survive as a political party. There were savage cuts to social welfare, child benefit, education and health care. The minimum wage is down to 7-65, and all people now have been brought into the tax net, with middle earners getting particular harsh treatment. Petrol and diesel took a hike too. To keep the classes happy there was no added price to drink or tobacco products. Sorted Image Source Cowen took a hit of 14k and chopped his minsters to the tune of 10k. I'm sure they'll survive. It's over now for another year. No turning corners, but warnings of further austerity in the time to come. The ship has sunk, having run rudderless and now she's finding her way to the bottom of the sea. This budget will do nothing but cause further implosion of the economy. All this, with mounting debts running into the hundreds of billions.

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No coverage from the streets, so I assume everything is OK, a budget over for another year, more pain, more austerity, no longer Irish, but Iris. The IMF have taken the 'h' until we pay them back! Funnily enough though, I'm OK. I don't know why, but there you go! Strange Days!

Image Source

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Sonny Strange Launch

December 11, 2010

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If I'm to be honest, I could have rushed things a bit more this year. Having put off the release of Booker's World until funds allow in January, I would have been disappointed if I didn't have something out for people to read apart from the blog. I started writing Sonny Strange at the end of August. It's taken me until today to finish it. Nearly three and a half months for a 12,000 word novella. It's fair to say I spent a bit of time on it. Part of the slowness is nerves as well. It's one thing asking friends and family to read things, you kind of expect them to be kind. But it's a different thing putting something out into the big bad world. Should people stumble across it sometime, and don't like, well, they are free to critique as they see pleased. That's the bargain you strike with people when you put something out and ask them to read it. But all going well, those that do read it, find something between it's digital pages to come back when Booker's World comes out in print. I think there are a lot of areas in Irish life right now that may need a lot more support in the years ahead. Depression, alcohol and drug abuse to name just three. So hopefully, as time goes by, a small difference and contribution can be made toward helping out in these particular areas. It has over time become my belief that artistic endeavor in any small way can be of great benefit to people struggling in some areas of their lives. It will be my long term challenge to support one to beat the other. If that makes sense. Having flirted around some scenes in this country it became increasingly obvious to me that Ireland is awash with some fine actors, directors and writers not getting an even crack of the whip. With Ireland in the state it is in right now, perhaps there is an opportunity for many of them to utilize the digital age and further their own dreams and ambitions.

The eBook and digital readers have seen a massive upsurge in popularity over the past year. Some say within years all school textbooks will be replaced with digital options when education embraces fully the digital age. The day of the print book will never end and mainstream publishing will always be there. I'll always like tradition and will always attempt to get work published that way. But there is no excuse anymore for Indie Artists to sit around waiting on approval and for me personally, that is a great thing. So if you are a reader or just want to start reading again, but find books to expensive, just download a reader and read as much as you want. Digital publishing is here, and it's here to stay.

Sonny Strange can be download here.

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Personal Politics
December 14, 2010

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I've been having thoughts about getting off politics for a while in the New Year. I'm never going to affiliate myself with any of the present parties. I've looked into them all. None appeal. Perhaps I should just separate the blog, but then again if I was to look for absurdity to happen on a gigantic scale it would be hard to step out of this particular subject matter to find it in bigger quantity. Barring a cosmic intervention, I think with the passing of the IMF bailout bill tomorrow in Dil Eireann the time spent feeling angry about it now has to evolve into something else. There's no point fighting against a system that does not want to change itself. There's probably 'more entertaining' ways to make one's point next year than political ravings. I'm very much of the opinion Ireland still stands on a knife edge with regards how to go about sorting out our economic future while restricting the obvious social consequences that come with any form of austerity. It's very worrying when you look at other societies who have continued to grind the ones at the lower end of the human scale here in the Western World. The further down the tube we let the venerable go, the further away we go from the ideal laid down by our forefathers in 1916. There is no way back for Ireland without the implementation of all that our constitution stands for. Alternatively we need a new one, a national referendum day to decide on all our problems and how to handle them moving forward. Everything on the table, based on intelligent debate cross many-fora, over a number of years if necessary. How great would it be to have a new Constitution in place in time for the centenary of the Rising, with the majority of all Irish citizens on board on the back of it. Where people can't agree we have progressive means to continue the debate and engagement through a mutual respect.

In two years I'd like to know where my future may lie. I thought I knew. 'Till all went FUBAR. 'Not taking things so seriously,' seems a tougher mantra at the moment. Even a bit of humor finds it hard to seep through. The New Year will have to change that. Books in Winter and films in Summer. How hard could it be?

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81 Men & Women

December 15,2010

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The 15th of December. The day the 'bailout' was finally forced upon the Irish people, most would say against their will. Sold to external forces in what I reckon will become a fire sale of all that was once ours. It's hard to imagine a bigger vote taken in this country in recent decades which will have so much impact on ordinary people's lives. A vote won by 81 votes to 75. 81 names now forever etched in the history of this country as having allowed our sovereignty be sold, so bankers and developers and God knows who else, can get off the hook for their wheeling and dealing and sometimes corrupt lines of business. 81 Patriots. Don't make me sick! On a day that it was announced that leading civil servants within the Department of Finance are to receive bonuses, some in the region of huge. A Department that has been the central figure for all of Ireland's woes in recent years. A Department whose head ranks as the worst Finance Minister in Europe. It all quite sickening really. The Greeks once again took to the streets in a national day of strike action and there was running battles between police and protesters. Tear Gas and petrol bombs. One Greek Politician was rounded on by the baying crowd and was left bloodied as he left Parliament. EU leaders won't be happy looking in. Add last weeks clashes in London and the recent French actions and it appears to be a time of revolt among the citizens of countries currently undergoing ruthless austerity measures. Meanwhile Iceland continues to march in defiance to the world. Not just the IMF, but they are also doing battle with major credit card brands in an alliance with Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, currently in jail facing extradition to Sweden on charges including rape. They are drafting a new constitution and holding some of their politicians fully accountable for their own economic collapse. A lot to be admired when it comes to national pride.Where to now? Well, with an election looming after the Christmas 'break,' we won't be turning any corners any time soon. An election. It's almost laughable that we would even contemplate voting in these fools again. Speaking of percentages... A poll in tomorrow's Irish Times will show The Failers and Brian Clown with the lowest percentage points ever in the history of Irish Times polls. Will it reflect when it comes to the crunch at the polling station. Anything but a whitewash, well, it may be time to dessert the sinking ship and head for warmer climes. Whos with me? Image Source
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The Cost of Living

December 16, 2010

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Last week, Minister for Austerity Brian Lenihan justified the across the board cuts to the social welfare spend on the fact that the cost of living had dropped significantly over the past number of years. Hardly surprising then today when Eurostat published a report stating Irish prices were 31% higher than then the EU average. That's almost a third. OK, I know. You can do the math. But I felt I had to write it. The man's tongue must be as black as a black jack addicts. Of course they'll throw figures to argue certain points, and forgive me for being blunt, but it all just bullsh#t. The long held and working belief that they can throw a comment out there somewhere and the good sports of Ireland will buy it. Debate it over a few pints perhaps. But 'the times they are a changin' to borrow from the great man. Whatever about the able-bodied among us, what they have done to carers and those they care for is beyond forgiveness in any decent man's terms. A slamming indictment into what The Failers and those that back them stand for. On a brighter note for those looking for a shift in the way the state handles white collar crime, Dermot Ahern announced today 2 files are to be sent to the DPP relating to four people who moved billions to and fro between Anglo and Irish Life & Permanent banks. There is also a separate file relating to the so-called Golden Circle of 10, who bought shares in Anglo using money from the zombie institution. The DPP will now decide if there is a case to answer. I would expect the decision to be an easy one. So now begins the momentum needed to make an example of those who gambled with our country. Who knows what - about whom? One of the great questions of our time. Jeff Archer would have a field day.

The wind down to the Christmas break now. Rumour has it there could be anything up to 300 government appointments to state boards before Clown drives to the ras. I hope President McAleese asks him if he is proud of himself. But they'll probably just have tea before Clown heads to Offaly to face his own. Of course that's if he stays in Ireland - there is nothing about the man that says anything to the contrary. I wonder if he does stay and is re-elected will his attendance in the next Dil be any better than that other great Statesman of the past decade, Bertie 'I won it on the horses' Ahern. And with Enda just around the corner, well the next Dil should keep this commentator happy as he moves into a few new things. I wonder will Clown write his own memoir or will he hire a gun. He might regret dropping that Artists Exemption yet!

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* I suspect though there maybe one more sting in the tail before we know the next government of this country. Kenny wants a mandate. He must think he's a shoe-in. Most Failers just want a seat. Gilmore maybe regretting he didn't take his fight to the street. It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that we could have a left leaning rainbow government, propped up by the 'if the price is right politics of Jackie Haely-Rae and Mike Lowry. It would probably fold within months too, which of course will only mean one thing. Pearse Doherty and Joe Higgins going toe-to-toe in a bare knuckle white collar event televised live on TV3. To see who will lead us toward the Second Republik. We are Europeans after all.

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Momentum
December 17, 2010

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Over the past six months there have been many efforts to open up lines of communication in order to advance some of my writing and perhaps business ideals moving forward. Up until about six weeks ago all efforts were answered in a polite but negative way. The working status which is currently unemployed, means one can do little but continue nonetheless until something clicks into place. I happened to be in a house one evening when i came across a lady who was speaking on behalf the Dockland Innovation Park and as a result I contacted her. I was lucky to secure a place on their start-up programme. The course has been great, covering many aspects of start-up business, many of which are extremely helpful. There also lies within the course some twenty five similar people to myself, all cutting a path forward in their own entrepreneurial way and the support that offers in terms of motivation can't be sourced from the words of a manual. Today I got talking to a facilitator of the Back to Work Enterprise Scheme and that was very positive. All going to plan, I should be in a position to hit the New Year running and start expanding and building on the work put in to date. Entrepreneurship with a social conscious has been something that not only inspires me, but also adds an added dimension to an ideal moving forward. I hope to structure whatever business model I land on based around the ideals of social entrepreneurship, something which will serve a great purpose here in Ireland moving forward considering the draconian measures implemented of late here in Ireland. There's an election in the New Year and perhaps a chance of a New Beginning. Let's face it, the country is tied with its borders behind its back at the moment and the only way out of it will be from the ground up. Ireland is not short on ideas, it's just short of it's overall ideal as a nation moving into the second decade of the new century. Yet so many things hang in the balance. The future of the Euro, A struggling America, freedom of press issues and the increasingly limitations of democracy. The challenge of dealing within Asian markets as well as the unfolding drama in Korea. To comment, one must be informed. To ignore would be ignorant. Image Source It's a positive end to a year that even in my most absurd imagination I would not have foreseen. Free from the shackles of being unemployed there is an opportunity now to attempt and build something from the ground up and be able to go out and progress, provoke debate and make a small contribution before I swan off as a tax-exile to some warmer clime. It's OK to think aloud sometimes, isn't it?
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Monday Morning Meanderings

December 20, 2010

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I've about as much energy as a snail riddled with laziness these past few days. It's Christmas week and still lots to do. I find myself looking forward to just writing, as so much time of late is taken up doing stuff that wouldn't be the number one choice. I definitely have to get working with an editor in the coming year. I could double my time at the keyboard in more productive ways if I could find someone willing to work alongside me with my writing. It's only when you have to do all the work yourself that you truly appreciate all that goes into producing a book from start to finish. If I'd known at the very start I doubt I'd have started at all. It's hard to believe how fast the year has flown by. In days to come everyone will wind down for a few days, happy to have made it through what has been a difficult year of sorts for many of us. For others it will be a time to remember loved one. It feels like Christmas with the snow and ice all around. It touched -18 in Tyrone last night. That's incredible for this land. It's like the government have thrown their heart across the country. It may be a time for the climate 'experts' to have a little think about things. This has been the coldest December on record. First there was the danger of us all being blistered by acid rain, then global warming and now it's climate change. For the past two years it's felt like global chilling. There's a shift in climate patterns that's for sure. We Irish, are definitely not equipped for weather in the extreme. It may be time to get a citizen swap program going with some Canadians so we can send people over there to ruin their economy, while they send people here to show us how to deal with snow. If a fella had a bit of cach he'd start investing in salt stock and snow ploughs. Had a chat with a publisher today regarding the print run of Booker's World and will be doing the cover over the Christmas. I have tiny bits of work to do on the manuscript, and fingers crossed all will be passed over to them in the first week of January. I found this year difficult having to split myself between writing and all that goes with that. Trying to find people who you can work with is not particularly hard, but going for what I want to go for, maybe a little more difficult. Especially with the country in economic decline. I guess I'm looking for idealistic people or people who think even further outside the box that most. I don't want to rely on graphs or trends, i want to rely on gut. Two-brain theory - but that's another story... Week on...

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Stink
December 20, 2010

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Prime Time Investigates, one of RTE's few gems, launched into the developers who owe billions in debts tonight and exposed the lifestyles these gamblers still live at the expense of our country. In recent times the countries top developers have been busy signing over assets to their significant others. Properties worth hundreds of millions. Properties now out of the hands of NAMA, the agency set up to sort out the property debacle and supposed to free up credit for the banks to lend to businesses. Businesses that continue to fold, dozens by the week. Most still swan around in cars that would be the envy of even a government minister. Some even by helicopters. Some have yachts.The properties they move to their wives, spectacular. Most, if not all, being paid six-figure sums for delivering austerity to the land. The Irish, even among ourselves, have a reputation for begrudging. But when one watches this sort of thing being allowed to go on, is it not a warranted response? I don't think most want blood, but they yearn a certain fairness. We know we're screwed for the short term. But if this is allowed to continue then it will turn into the mid-term and even long-term. The problems, lets face it, seem unmanageable. Under the current regime of politics in this country, and that's how it feels at time, it most certain feels that way. Enda Kenny looms in the wings, I feel Gilmore blew it when he accepted the bailout without taking to the streets but you never know, who's going to capture the minds of a weary public, some still benign to where we are at. There's a lot of talk about being positive. Well give us something to be positive about first. If there's not significant chants for change, and in the realm of the immediate in the upcoming campaign, well keep your mouths closed. We've listened to all the rhetoric, delivered verbatim by people who speak a different language than the ordinary people of the country. The very people who now must pay for all this, under pressures that life should be about. I've said it before, it's almost as if they are being fed by the same spin 'guru.' So many travesties seem to be on the back burner now. Moriarty for one. They deliver with the same speed as a bowler with a crippled hand. Crimes against society by the Church have not even in token gesture begun to deliver the partial closure so many desperately long for. For without it, they can't heal. It's time to make those responsible accountable. They should feel like a turkey in a farmyard now instead of swanning the land living like Lords at our expense. How in any decent persons terms can that be right? Some continue to dismiss all this as 'incompetence.' I'm sorry, but there's more at play than simple incompetence here. With every revelation, the stink that emanates from all that has happened here over the past number of years, resembles that the soil releases as it thaws from a paralyzing frost in a country field. Pretty it ain't. Journalist now need to step up to the plate. Honour their own profession. Change Ireland while we can still call her so.

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Genesis II
December 21, 2010

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Did you ever have one of those days where you tried everything, but it got you no-where? Like a cheating husband begging for one more chance, but knowing on this occasion, it will be fifth time unlucky for him. It was one of those days. I may as well have stayed in bed, such was the output that stemmed from the input. And perhaps, there lies the problem. Techy speak, even of an infantile nature, hurts my head. I bet the day of the quill was a much more pleasurable affair. Maybe tomorrow it will click into place, but wouldn't it be great if we had the benefit of hindsight. We could have put Cowen in an orphanage at birth. Put Haughey straight into the Joy. Or we could have bet on one of Bertie's horses. I mean, I could have watched movies all day instead of putting myself at risk of a night of teeth grinding, such was the fury at times. If I watch TV, it's always in the witching hours. With movies largely being in a shite state of affairs and TV in general in decline, I find myself tuned into the Documentary Channel to see what a budget of a half a million production budget can deliver nowadays. Anything from Egypt to Crime, from ancient aliens to real men fishing the Bering Sea. With little arguments that the planet is in fairly bad shape and weather patterns peculiar, the hunt for taxes may go by the wayside in preference of just mere survival. An iceage over the coming decades will drive us all South. Toward land masses we stop people coming here from. The crush and fight for space will send the Chuck Norris' among us living on the ice cap, while the elite head off to the rapidly expanding newly built space station, Genesis II, to ride out the storm. Those left had a simple choice, become chummy with Bear Grylls on the ice to the North or a Yeti to the South, or scorch as a surviving member of Middle Earth after the Great War and Crush of 2041. Image Source

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I must get around to writing that book sometime. But feel free to nick the idea and run with it. I probably won't find the time. Just send me a cheque. Make sure there's a few zero's on it. Zero's get you to the space station, none gets you ate by a walrus. You see my haste? The silence today following the revelations on Prime Time last night tells me how much the mainstream media in Ireland much be held partly culpable in the shaping of our society. I'm surprised they are not out for blood. There are those trying, offering something by way of radical comment and calling it as it is. Newspapers like The Star and occasionally The Irish Daily Mail. TV3 seem hungry - but how far can they go? How far can they push the boundary without risking revenue? I hope the electorate give all politicians welly at the doors come the election. Find out what they stand for and how they intend on delivering what they stand on. If nothing changes, and soon, it won't take an ice age to drive a lot of us South. By the looks of things, the ones who own the world are the ones going into orbit. It's a custy little arrangement. Adding new sways of meaning to things absurd. It's hard to tell sometimes anymore. It defies logic, well mine anyway. Image Source

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Mad World
December 23, 2010

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Technology has defeated me, and after a mind numbing couple of days I've been reduced to little more than a pale bearded servant to the yawn. It's much easier being a writer of sorts. As the hours rifle down toward Christmas, all will go quiet for a day before the madness of the festive period resumes unabated for most until a New Year rolls into the time line of history. I'll do my review of a 'unique' year in terms of national absurdity in the coming days. Will we ever witness one like it again. Next year, perhaps? My news feed and sources have thrown up some interesting articles and news stories in the past few weeks. First we had the arrest of Julian Assange, the Wikileaks CEO on charges including rape in London. Jailed, then bailed, Assange couldn't have bought the publicity this bring to him and his organization. Some people who engage in full-time conspiracy has even thrown light on Assange and have suggested he's a front so world leaders can cut down on the freedom of information available on the Internet. If I was Assange I'd be looking over my shoulder for men with umbrellas, and I certainly wouldn't be getting on any planes. Since the turn of the decade, war continues to rage and freedoms of travel restricted because of 9-11, yet Osama Bin-laden can not be tracked down. The Euro remains in grave danger. The Chinese have offered support. Yet, many would agree, China is in a bubble and as we all know, bubbles burst. The U.S print bailout money for failures. At the expense of their burdened tax payer. We do it here except we don't print for failure. We get others to print for us and pay the interest on it. Double whammy! Obama's Presidency to date has been a false dawn. He may get a second term when it seems that it may be Sarah Palin who provides the 2012 challenge. Could you imagine, Sarah Palin with her finger on the button? I can almost picture the scene, as she tucks into Bison she felled herself, crisp, with fries and a great big Diet Coke. And all in the name of God of course... It's a funny old world sometimes...

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Discoveries
December 24, 2010

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So the wind down to the quietest day of the year begins in earnest in a few hours. A time for family, the excitement in kids faces as they await the arrival of Santa, a chance to forget the harshness of life in Ireland at present and get back to basics when reminded by the smiles what life really should be about. The year has just zipped by. I'm convinced at this stage that time speeds up as one gets older. There will be scientific distractors to the theory based on how we humans measure time, but perhaps it's our perception of time that makes it feel like the years don't take as long to zip by with each passing one. I've met a lot of new writers this year and I've learned a lot from them. It was nice to engage with people, each pursuing their own path in writing.

I got two reviews this week for Sonny Strange. It really is great of people to take the time to not only read it, but to leave thoughts about it for others to see. I truly appreciate it the time and effort.

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Dystopian Engines
December 30, 2010

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You definitely lose track of the days over the Christmas and New year period. It's a pity that's not always the way. One more day and we sing in another year. The 2011th, if modern day calendars are really anything to go by. What does it hold in store for us all? After this year, that's anyones guess. I was going to do a review of the year, but well, I'm not going to bother. Let's shut it away where it belongs. In the search engines of the world, to be stumbled upon in future dystopian day dissenters. With an election looming and another chance to highlight all that has been done to this country means politics probably won't be off the agenda of the blog anytime soon. Though I do sense a distancing thereafter - if Enda Kenny is elected. It will be just more of the same. Who was it that once said Fine Gael were just like Fianna Fil, the only difference being that The Failers do it better. Until now that is. If, as expected by nearly all political commentators, Enda does lead us, it may be time to let the man get on with it. Whoever talks like a leader and talks about change will get my vote. Simple as that.

Now that there is new opportunities afoot, some small, some a little bigger, maybe the time spent getting to a decent point to build from won't have been all a waste of time. Not if I have learned anything along the way. 'If all else fails... emigrate,' as Leon used to say!

New year New Doors Image Source

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Bookers World - December 2010

This ebook series is a comment on issues facing Ireland, covered in real-time against the backdrop of what is really happening in Ireland at that time. The series cover events as they happen through the eyes of the ctional Don Booker, an unemployed recluse as he attempts to write himself through his personal woes and an Ireland in decline. The novel, Booker's World is separate from this series of ebooks, though both worlds do cross at certain juncture as the months go by. An ebook version of the novel will be available soon. All ebooks in this series may be used for reference and may be distributed freely once adhering to Creative Commons License and crediting the author.
With cuts to depression & addiction services being implemented please consider these when making a charitable donation in the future.

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Also in this series - click to read

5 Days in September Deathly Quotes November Nightmares Absurdities Purjurious Times Forgetful Directions Chillax Dark The Loaded Taoiseach Independence International Mutha-F*ckrz

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Novel by Noel Farrell Booker's World

www.fbooker.blogspot.com

Novella Sonny Strange Free Download Here

Contact :jasepub@gmail.com
Noel Farrell 2010

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The Failers
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