Today it rains...great spits from the heavens. But the people plod on through the puddles and the splashes. Life goes on. The routine of existence. Sartre was right. The enemy to true freedom is being a slave to others. The weight of living and expectation drag us down. Hands up those who doesn't see joy any more, only sorrow and suffering.
Dublin is the greyest city in the world even in the blue shimmer of summer.
An apt backdrop for crime reporting - my raison d'etre.
Today, I am in a glum district court where a broken man, who once had it all, is charged with the murder of his wife. She was strangled with the flex of a hoover on Fenruary 28, 2006.
A moment of madness on his birthday. He took life away - a fit of rage.
And now he must pay the penalty. He pleads not guilty. He chews gum. He wears sandals. He slouches and yawns.
The murdered woman's six sisters sit a few yards away from him. They sob quietly to themselves. The proceedings only last 60 seconds. This is not real life. I feel utterly removed sitting in that dark court room. I am here to do a job - recording what is said for the lurid consumption of the sots who read tabloids.
I feel dead inside. I can barely raise my head and cross my legs without feeling nauseous.
Fellow reporters joke and smile before the Judge arrives. Cops with moustaches and careers mapped out look satisfied. They've got their man. Young attractive female barristers try to look businesslike. They are fooling only themselves.
I leave the court numb to what has transpired inside. I travel back to the office alone. A memory of childhood comes to mind. I miss that time. 1978. I smile for the first time today.
Now I sit in the newspaper's offices writing this blog having penned my court report. It will be read tomorrow by 500,000 people, or so my bosses boast.
I feel nothing for those who rely on the misery of others to add meaning to their lives.
Yours Truly,
The Black Dwarf
May 30, 2007
Wednesday, 30 May 2007
Tuesday, 29 May 2007
Bertie - the master of deception
Doesn't it stink to high heaven that the Mahon Tribunal's investigation into Bertie Ahern's web-like finances was postponed for the duration of the General Election campaign so as not to "interfere" with the democratic process.
Because there was no public dissection of the cash donations Bertie received while Minister for Finance in the 1990s, the people were HOODWINKED into voting the master of deception back in for another five years.
It's all coming out in the wash now at Dublin Castle as the Tribunal details Ahern's murky financial arrangements.
£116,000 pounds in two years to a man who had NO bank account. Strange indeed?
But the startling revelations being heard at Mahon have come three weeks too late.
If the people knew BEFORE Thursday 24th May what they know now about Ahern, it is unlikely, to say the least, that he would have been re-elected.
Ahern's deceptions have now been laid bare. But Bertie doesn't care. And, astonishingly the vast majority of Irish people don't care.
Wake up you fools. Bertie's made a mockery of us all. He lied about the money he got. He cried on national TV to solicit sympathy. He even attacked the media for telling the truth.
And you bought it all.
Ah, poor Bertie, the man of the people, you collectively said. Poor, down-on-his heel Bertie. Sure he couldn't be on the take. Isn't he just like me - a mere mortal struggling to pay the mortgatge, who likes a pint and can't string a sentence together without getting in a muddle.
Hasn't he done the country proud.
He made you richer in pocket and that's all you care about.
Your message to the world when you voted Fianna Fail was: To hell with other people. I've got my SUV, my big house, my nice clean clothes and my few pints on a Friday night. To hell with other people.
Who cares about appalling public services, or a health service that puts old people on trolleys and plastic chairs for 40 hours. Couldn't care less, me. I've got my money, I'm having my fun. That's all that matters.
Who cares that I'm spending three hours a day sitting in traffic to get to work. Aren't I in a nice new 07 D?
Who cares that 20 per cent of Irish children live in constant poverty. I can eat in a fancy restaurant when I like.
In fact, I enjoy living up to my eyes in debt. I revel in not knowing any of my neighbours. I thoroughly enjoy paying through the nose to live day to day.
I don't mind that I never see my kids because both me and the wife have to work all the hours god sends just to pay the Building Society the 2,000 a month mortgage.
What do I care.
Bertie never done nothing to me.
So what if he's corrupt. So what if Fianna Fail are in the back pockets of the builders and the multinationals.
I don't care. All I care about is what's in MY pocket.
Sure, I'm corrupt to the core. So why wouldn't I vote for a corrupt party to lead the next government.
On May 24 we elected a blind man to show us the way. The next five years will be the toughest in our recent history and we chose the wrong man to lead us.
This will become apparent in the months ahead when the money in your pocket begins to dry up; when your jobs start to go east to China; when houses and cars start to be repossessed; when construction projects are abandoned because costs are too high to continue.
Youy only have yourselves to blame. You voted with your pockets, not with your hearts.
There are 78 people, led by one man, who are laughing at you all today.
Yours Truly,
The Black Dwarf
29 May, 2007
Because there was no public dissection of the cash donations Bertie received while Minister for Finance in the 1990s, the people were HOODWINKED into voting the master of deception back in for another five years.
It's all coming out in the wash now at Dublin Castle as the Tribunal details Ahern's murky financial arrangements.
£116,000 pounds in two years to a man who had NO bank account. Strange indeed?
But the startling revelations being heard at Mahon have come three weeks too late.
If the people knew BEFORE Thursday 24th May what they know now about Ahern, it is unlikely, to say the least, that he would have been re-elected.
Ahern's deceptions have now been laid bare. But Bertie doesn't care. And, astonishingly the vast majority of Irish people don't care.
Wake up you fools. Bertie's made a mockery of us all. He lied about the money he got. He cried on national TV to solicit sympathy. He even attacked the media for telling the truth.
And you bought it all.
Ah, poor Bertie, the man of the people, you collectively said. Poor, down-on-his heel Bertie. Sure he couldn't be on the take. Isn't he just like me - a mere mortal struggling to pay the mortgatge, who likes a pint and can't string a sentence together without getting in a muddle.
Hasn't he done the country proud.
He made you richer in pocket and that's all you care about.
Your message to the world when you voted Fianna Fail was: To hell with other people. I've got my SUV, my big house, my nice clean clothes and my few pints on a Friday night. To hell with other people.
Who cares about appalling public services, or a health service that puts old people on trolleys and plastic chairs for 40 hours. Couldn't care less, me. I've got my money, I'm having my fun. That's all that matters.
Who cares that I'm spending three hours a day sitting in traffic to get to work. Aren't I in a nice new 07 D?
Who cares that 20 per cent of Irish children live in constant poverty. I can eat in a fancy restaurant when I like.
In fact, I enjoy living up to my eyes in debt. I revel in not knowing any of my neighbours. I thoroughly enjoy paying through the nose to live day to day.
I don't mind that I never see my kids because both me and the wife have to work all the hours god sends just to pay the Building Society the 2,000 a month mortgage.
What do I care.
Bertie never done nothing to me.
So what if he's corrupt. So what if Fianna Fail are in the back pockets of the builders and the multinationals.
I don't care. All I care about is what's in MY pocket.
Sure, I'm corrupt to the core. So why wouldn't I vote for a corrupt party to lead the next government.
On May 24 we elected a blind man to show us the way. The next five years will be the toughest in our recent history and we chose the wrong man to lead us.
This will become apparent in the months ahead when the money in your pocket begins to dry up; when your jobs start to go east to China; when houses and cars start to be repossessed; when construction projects are abandoned because costs are too high to continue.
Youy only have yourselves to blame. You voted with your pockets, not with your hearts.
There are 78 people, led by one man, who are laughing at you all today.
Yours Truly,
The Black Dwarf
29 May, 2007
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