Something wrong with Easter?

Don't get me wrong I love Easter time when the temperature rises ( well on the Fiji islands it does..) as we all get more into life, but can never understand why the baby Jesus who was born a few months ago is now brown bread? Isn't there a bit of a problem with the time gap? And another thing, not that I am into whinging, how comes the Christian church can't get their bloody act together to agree a common day for the events? The 400 million strong Orthodox church and the 800 million Catholics can't agree to have the same day? Yet the God damn Xmas is on the 25 of December for everyone? Why can't they sort it out? Wouldn't care but flights are more expensive to the south when the days are different? ( same day every 4 years though??) Can someone write to the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Pope?

Cruelty to elephants

Bulldozing a building, even one as small as a shack, takes a lot of work. It requires the power to crack through metal, wood, and concrete, which is why most people use heavy machinery. A bulldozer can't feel the pain that comes from a jagged piece of metal -- but an animal can. So why are Indian officials using elephants to tear down illegally built shacks?

Elephants are intelligent, sensitive animals who mourn their dead and show compassion for other living creatures, including humans. They may be strong, but they're no match for iron and cement -- and they can feel incredible pain when things go wrong, unlike a tractor.
The elephants in the hilly region once were forced to tow lumber for people, but the government made it illegal because of similar concerns for the animals' well-being. But asking them to face up against sturdy man-made structures isn't much better. Even if the region is too hilly to bring traditional heavy machinery to the shacks, Indian officials must find another alternative to using the elephants like this. Tell them that elephants aren't bulldozers!

Thank you for taking action,

EU Cyprus experiment. Testing the water?

The Cyprus economy amounts to something like 0.5% of the EU total so it was easy for the Troika to experiment with the new method favoured by Berlin in terms of dealing with deficit problems. Instead of going for huge long term bail outs those with savings in deposit accounts of the affected state would pay a massive contribution towards the problem. So people who have been encouraged to save by successive government are forced to pay for the mistakes made by bankers.

In Cyprus there are around 60,000 Brits who retired there they will now be forced to pay a huge tax to bail out the fucked up bankers who have messed the whole economy up.

Worth noting that an EU official went public on Sunday saying  that what the Troika are doing in Cyprus is a future model for Europe. No smoke without fire then. It it certain that Portugal, Spain and Greece will soon be following the Cyprus punishment and of course others will follow after that! Why the hell is anyone ion favour of the Euro any more?

Bring back wages councils

 

A return to wages councils that could set legally enforceable minimum wages in different sectors should be included in Labour Party policy as a means of tackling pay inequality and the crisis in living standards.
The call came from Frances O'Grady as she addressed the Unions 21 conference early in March, alongside Jon Cruddas, co-ordinator of Labour's policy review.
More on this @
http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-21995-f0.cfm

Cyprus crisis. A lesson in how to avoid opportunist politicians

The greatest factor that contributed to the relative death of the Cyprus economy is to do with the existence of career and opportunist politicians. There has been a succession of them on the island who have continued to bury their heads in the sand for years ignoring warnings and avoiding making any decisions. Ex President Dimitri Cristofia ( he left office 4 weeks ago ) had warnings about the collapsing of the banking system for 3 years but deliberately avoided making decisions knowing that he would be able to pass the problem on to those who followed him something that has of course been done now. This is criminal and completely irresponsible.

The phenomenon in Cyprus is of course not unique to the island as we face the same issues here in Britain where people who have never done any other job in their life pursue a 'career' in politics only because they know how to play the system. The way to remove these sort of person from politics is to reduce MP's salaries and bring them down to the minimum wage level that way we will get people who don't go into politics because they want to by a house in Notting Hill but because they want to serve the country. The ancient Athenians did this why can't we do the same? Take away the carrot from these buffoons!!

Cyprus crisis. A matter for oil?

The big boys are out to bully a small country like Cyprus into submission. Note that Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Greece have had very similar problems but were not singled out for the punishment reserved for little Cyprus.

So many ask why this is? Well the reason is clearly one to do with the vast oil reserves found on the south coast of the Republic. The race is on to get drilling rights. The Russians, Germans, French, Americans they all want to have a large portion of this cake not to mention Turkeys ludicrous claim that they should have rights and control  over what Cyprus has! So many are saying that the crisis has been created to ensure that the Cypriots know their place and give in as much as they can and are not tempted to let the Russians in.

This is international bullying and it shows us that nothing has changed. Power and military might reign over small states. Unacceptable and unethical!

Cyprus crisis. The true facts

The Cyprus economy was relatively speaking in a good state but the Bank of Cyprus bought a large amount of bonds from the Greek government in an effort to help. The EU cut about 40% of the Greek debt last year leaving Small countries like Cyprus exposed to heavy loses. So the reality is the current crisis is a result of the knock on affect.

Now we have the EU going to the Cypriot government saying that despite having created the problem they expect the ordinary citizen on the island to pay for the mistake so up to 10% of savings will have to be paid in tax to bail out the bankers huge mistake. The difficulty with this formula is that it has never been done before and of course the real fear is that Spain, Portugal and Greece will follow.

The government was right to reject the so called proposal but I think the best thing (if you can use such a term under the circumstances) to have come out of this situation is that the opinion polls show that more than 67% of the population want to exit the Euro. It is now a fact that the Euro experiment has failed.

In addition to all the background issues we also have the huge problem of the Germans and other EU countries not being happy with the increasing influence that the Russians have on the island. More than one third of all deposits in the banks there are from Russian investors. Russia is also looking for an opportunity to have a base in the Mediterranean and I personally see no reason as to why they should not be given one, at the end of the day if the British have a base why shouldn't the Russians be given one also? The western allies better sort their ideas out, either they want Cyprus to be close to them, in which case they treat them as equals, or their influence should be removed. Bring the Russians in I say!