Wednesday, February 2, 2011
One year of travel already done!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Blog - Tuesday 1st Feb 2011 - Banks, Spys, & Politics!
Location: Voy Voy Beach Bar, Cabarete Beach, Dominican Republic
Time: 12.30pm
Good morning from the Caribbean, although I realize its past noon and no longer morning in the true sense - it is still morning to me as I only fell out of bed about an hour ago and no before you career purists sitting at your desks reading this start to think that I am boasting about my present easy life - I am not at all, quite the opposite in-fact! You see apparently banks do not like when you dont tell them that you are going on holidays and then freeze your account because of suspicious activity hen you attempt to use it in a foreign country, in my case - Bank Of America - took serious offense to the fact that I did not send a personal letter seeking permission from them to leave the US and travel to my current abode - The Dominican Republic!!! Granted thats a little tongue-in-cheek but none the less the end result was that when I attempted to withdraw cash from the ATM on Sunday evening it automatically froze my account and it is only this morning - YES TUESDAY morning that it is now resolved.... thus I was feeling a little peckish to be honest having not eaten alot yesterday and my staying in bed was an attempt to fend off the hunger monster until midday when the nice lady at Bank Of America "suspicious activity department" had informed me my account would be back to normal...... all is now restored thankfully and I did throw a rye smile at my bank balance this morning as it makes me feel rich considering there are 37 Dominican pesos to every $1!
Anyways that rant over I need to explain that todays blog is more a natural blog of reaction to the news I have been reading over my Omelet, Passion fruit and coffee breakfast rather than the usual "Travel" blog I write. You see while perusing through the rte.ie website two stories caught my attention. Firstly the news story of the Irish government expelling a Russian diplomat for obtaining and forging 10 Irish passports for use in a Russian spy ring!!! How James Bond is that! The thing is however is that I being very happy to travel anywhere at present would have happily done the job for them for free and they wouldn't have had to forge my passport at all!! Its refreshing to read that us Irish are seen as not very threatening at all and the country of choice for passports for spys.... are us Irish that cool??!! I doubt we will ever see a James Bond movie in which Daniel Craig is issued an Irish passport in the name of Paddy O'Reilly... but he probably would do a better Irish accent than Peirce Brosnan who is ACTUALLY Irish! I cant help but notice that the real shame in this story is not that Irish passports were forged but that the government didn't properly capitalize on this new found industry! The Department of Foreign affairs in an effort to reduce the national debt should have been auctioning Irish passports to the highest bidder and so the CIA, MI6, Moo-sad and the Russians could all kill "bad guys" while pretending to be Irish! and sure where would be the harm in that as to stay in character they would probably have to get the poor sod waiting to be "whacked" drunk first!!! Indeed an easier way for everyone me thinks!!!
Secondly and more seriously I read with intrigue and distain the news that the 30th Dail is today being dissolved. I need to stress that I am not political and not aligned to any party and strive to avoid while traveling the two "Donts" of conversation with others ie Religion & Politics. However my observations today are more human than political...... Yes Ireland is a tough place economically right now but whose fault is that??... In my opinion the answer is ALL OF OURS! and not just the government and particularly Fianna Faile, granted the so called Green party were more "Yellow" than green in most of their actions and "non" actions but the so called opposition parties would have in my opinion done nothing different in government than Fianna Fail did and so we are left today with a collective blame game with the end result being that all that will actually change is people will sit in seats on the opposite side of the house and likewise the blame game will simply switch sides and so it goes and so it goes...... The media will pander about and create a fuss about a "New" Ireland with "New" Vision and a "New" generation of leaders ect ect ect....... and yes all of that is fantastic but lets ask ourselves ..... when was the last time a new young candidate as elected to the Dail who made a real difference?.... well in my opinion it was a man who at the age of just 24 was elected as a TD for Laois-Offily... and resigned today as Taoiseach to a standing ovation from the dail!!! So my point is why has Ireland become a country which is very quick to forget the good work and service people have done and given to it?? Granted most people wont agree with me that Brian Cowan has been a good servant to Ireland but in my opinion that is just the easy option, we all need someone to blame and someone to be the scape goat.... and yes if you did not avail of that second credit card, an additional over draft, a second car, a second annual holiday, a second or simply unaffordable mortgage... then yes sure YOU have the right to criticize but if you did then kindly put a sock in it..... Politicians do not exist to give US a better standard of living, only WE can do that for ourselfs and the sooner we start to take responsibility for our own actions the better as its Ireland that needs to change not just the people in government. And no I am not preaching from afar as I hold my hand up and say I am just as much to blame as anybody else but I admire Brian Cowan for his life long service to Ireland as he retires today and not just look for his head as so many others seem to be doing. He was a man who had balls to make the hard decisions when it as needed and when others would have wilted, he did what he could and I believe he did everything he did with Ireland best interests at heart and I believe history ill judge him as so, he served impeccably for 27 years.... he didn't suddenly become a bad politician after a quarter of a century now did he??!! I wont be there to go to the polls and vote later this month but if I was I would be voting as always for the candidate I believed would serve the country best and not just because they represented a particular party, and to me those are the people who can make the tough decisions, take the rough with the smooth and stay in the game for the long haul and until the job is done.... we all mistakes but integrity, honesty and leadership will always prevail.... if given the chance!
Daniel O'Connell was imprisoned, Wolfe Tone exiled and Michael Collins assassinated for their respective attempts to make Ireland a better place and while I make no comparison of Brian Cowan to these three champions of the Irish nation it is important to note that only in Cowan's case were the Irish people themselves directly responsible for his down fall through what can only be described as our selfish quest for greed........... so in our 90 years of Independence have we really progressed that much as a nation??? In my opinion it remains to be seen!
Off to La Bocco today to do some jumping off waterfalls with the locals.... until tomorrow!
Time: 12.30pm
Good morning from the Caribbean, although I realize its past noon and no longer morning in the true sense - it is still morning to me as I only fell out of bed about an hour ago and no before you career purists sitting at your desks reading this start to think that I am boasting about my present easy life - I am not at all, quite the opposite in-fact! You see apparently banks do not like when you dont tell them that you are going on holidays and then freeze your account because of suspicious activity hen you attempt to use it in a foreign country, in my case - Bank Of America - took serious offense to the fact that I did not send a personal letter seeking permission from them to leave the US and travel to my current abode - The Dominican Republic!!! Granted thats a little tongue-in-cheek but none the less the end result was that when I attempted to withdraw cash from the ATM on Sunday evening it automatically froze my account and it is only this morning - YES TUESDAY morning that it is now resolved.... thus I was feeling a little peckish to be honest having not eaten alot yesterday and my staying in bed was an attempt to fend off the hunger monster until midday when the nice lady at Bank Of America "suspicious activity department" had informed me my account would be back to normal...... all is now restored thankfully and I did throw a rye smile at my bank balance this morning as it makes me feel rich considering there are 37 Dominican pesos to every $1!
Anyways that rant over I need to explain that todays blog is more a natural blog of reaction to the news I have been reading over my Omelet, Passion fruit and coffee breakfast rather than the usual "Travel" blog I write. You see while perusing through the rte.ie website two stories caught my attention. Firstly the news story of the Irish government expelling a Russian diplomat for obtaining and forging 10 Irish passports for use in a Russian spy ring!!! How James Bond is that! The thing is however is that I being very happy to travel anywhere at present would have happily done the job for them for free and they wouldn't have had to forge my passport at all!! Its refreshing to read that us Irish are seen as not very threatening at all and the country of choice for passports for spys.... are us Irish that cool??!! I doubt we will ever see a James Bond movie in which Daniel Craig is issued an Irish passport in the name of Paddy O'Reilly... but he probably would do a better Irish accent than Peirce Brosnan who is ACTUALLY Irish! I cant help but notice that the real shame in this story is not that Irish passports were forged but that the government didn't properly capitalize on this new found industry! The Department of Foreign affairs in an effort to reduce the national debt should have been auctioning Irish passports to the highest bidder and so the CIA, MI6, Moo-sad and the Russians could all kill "bad guys" while pretending to be Irish! and sure where would be the harm in that as to stay in character they would probably have to get the poor sod waiting to be "whacked" drunk first!!! Indeed an easier way for everyone me thinks!!!
Secondly and more seriously I read with intrigue and distain the news that the 30th Dail is today being dissolved. I need to stress that I am not political and not aligned to any party and strive to avoid while traveling the two "Donts" of conversation with others ie Religion & Politics. However my observations today are more human than political...... Yes Ireland is a tough place economically right now but whose fault is that??... In my opinion the answer is ALL OF OURS! and not just the government and particularly Fianna Faile, granted the so called Green party were more "Yellow" than green in most of their actions and "non" actions but the so called opposition parties would have in my opinion done nothing different in government than Fianna Fail did and so we are left today with a collective blame game with the end result being that all that will actually change is people will sit in seats on the opposite side of the house and likewise the blame game will simply switch sides and so it goes and so it goes...... The media will pander about and create a fuss about a "New" Ireland with "New" Vision and a "New" generation of leaders ect ect ect....... and yes all of that is fantastic but lets ask ourselves ..... when was the last time a new young candidate as elected to the Dail who made a real difference?.... well in my opinion it was a man who at the age of just 24 was elected as a TD for Laois-Offily... and resigned today as Taoiseach to a standing ovation from the dail!!! So my point is why has Ireland become a country which is very quick to forget the good work and service people have done and given to it?? Granted most people wont agree with me that Brian Cowan has been a good servant to Ireland but in my opinion that is just the easy option, we all need someone to blame and someone to be the scape goat.... and yes if you did not avail of that second credit card, an additional over draft, a second car, a second annual holiday, a second or simply unaffordable mortgage... then yes sure YOU have the right to criticize but if you did then kindly put a sock in it..... Politicians do not exist to give US a better standard of living, only WE can do that for ourselfs and the sooner we start to take responsibility for our own actions the better as its Ireland that needs to change not just the people in government. And no I am not preaching from afar as I hold my hand up and say I am just as much to blame as anybody else but I admire Brian Cowan for his life long service to Ireland as he retires today and not just look for his head as so many others seem to be doing. He was a man who had balls to make the hard decisions when it as needed and when others would have wilted, he did what he could and I believe he did everything he did with Ireland best interests at heart and I believe history ill judge him as so, he served impeccably for 27 years.... he didn't suddenly become a bad politician after a quarter of a century now did he??!! I wont be there to go to the polls and vote later this month but if I was I would be voting as always for the candidate I believed would serve the country best and not just because they represented a particular party, and to me those are the people who can make the tough decisions, take the rough with the smooth and stay in the game for the long haul and until the job is done.... we all mistakes but integrity, honesty and leadership will always prevail.... if given the chance!
Daniel O'Connell was imprisoned, Wolfe Tone exiled and Michael Collins assassinated for their respective attempts to make Ireland a better place and while I make no comparison of Brian Cowan to these three champions of the Irish nation it is important to note that only in Cowan's case were the Irish people themselves directly responsible for his down fall through what can only be described as our selfish quest for greed........... so in our 90 years of Independence have we really progressed that much as a nation??? In my opinion it remains to be seen!
Off to La Bocco today to do some jumping off waterfalls with the locals.... until tomorrow!
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