A little taste of home

My father has taken up photography since he retired , and I have to say , it suits him ! Here are some pictures which explain why some days , I find the desert particularly hard work!

unbelievable...

It is with great disgust that I have to report the total disregard that my mother ship's government seems to have with its peoples wishes . Ireland is supposedly democratic. Europe does not like that the Irish people have voted " No" to the Lisbon Treaty .

Its my understanding that many other European governments did not even put this Treaty to referendum. I was quite proud to learn that the Irish people would exercise their democratic right to vote on the future of their country , while other nations were not given the choice. Alas , it seems we were dooped!

The Irish public voted " No" to the treaty, and whether we , the government , or the EU parliment like it or not , the people have spoken . End of story , right? Its a democracy , right?

Apparently not ! Our Taoiseach ( prime minister ) , Mr. Cowen , depicted in the graffiti above, has decided to override the democratic wishes of the Irish public, by asking us to vote again. we now have two choices , vote "yes" , or , vote " yes " .

I am thoroughly ashamed of our government. BIFFO , ( Big Ignorant F$&*ker From Offaly) as our taoiseach is affectionately known, has decided to put it to vote again - wonder what kind of scaremongering lies ahead in order to produce the desired vote. Oh , the shame of it !

Ignorance is bliss ...

Lawmakers slam calls to introduce sex-clinics in Bahrain

I am gritting my teeth on this one. Having come from a society where, not too long ago , the method du jour of informing people about sexual health was based on scare mongering and a restriction on solid information , I can unequivocally state - THIS WONT WORK!
The results of a lack of open information in Ireland gave rise to such things as the Magdalene Laundries, the legacy of which has been long documented in films and in books. Entry into these institutions was prompted by anything from being flirtatious , too attractive , to the ultimate faux pas of being pregnant out of wedlock.

Far be it from me to start to preach about the evils of sexual activity outside of marriage, but I think that looking at the Irish example, a lack of information can have disastrous effects on a society . For a pious and god fearing country such as Ireland in the 50's, 60's 70's and so on, would a sex clinic have encouraged unmarried citizens to engage in the ultimate of sins? Doubtful, it wouldn't change their awareness that their activity was considered a sin. At least , would it have done a better job of keeping things in check than the old laundry tactics?

Thankfully , the Gulf countries , to the best of my knowledge ,dont provide institutions akin to the Irish phenomenon, however, who is to say that informing young people about sexual health is in effect calling on youth to engage in sexual relations? It looks like this clinic will not go ahead - and so be it , but its a shame that in this day and age information is still equated with intent !