Barack Obama has been a disappointment to many – apart of course from Goldman Sachs, his main campaign contributor. It was a dastardly plot; get hosts of idealistic young people excited about vacuous slogans - “hope”, “change”, “yes, we can” - and then reveal the protagonist as being a conservative of extreme dullness. It has worked brilliantly; feeling left out of the fun, the young people 's parents formed a “Tea party” and will guarantee Republican control of all 3 branches of government from 2012. Barack had the power to disillusion a whole generation and inspire another – to fight against him.
It was perhaps de trop of Barack to put the system in place that saved Goldman and their fellow banksters; they were allowed borrow treasuries at 0% and then invest them at 2% or so – with the treasury department. After a few months, Goldman and their peers did not even obey B's summons to come to DC; it was apparently too cold, and nobody could tell them where the train station was. B. had a New Deal scale chance to introduce a more equitable system, but instead used the resources of the state to destroy working and middle class families and buttress the banksters.
B's true greatness, however, is manifest in his support of BP. Lest we forget, the disaster happened mainly because B had suggested 3 weeks earlier that this kind of drilling was safe! Remarkably, no-one has pointed out that Steve Chu, his energy secretary, was the shill who brought BP to UC Berkeley. Indeed, Chu's scenario was DCU-like; whole labs, funded with public money, assigned to BP with no public access. Tenure in the UC system is a great deal more tenuous than is realized; it is held for each academic in the smallest dept in which one teaches. If that dept is abolished, so is one's tenure.
Not so with Brian Cowen, not so. Those who believe that he was constructed from various parts of farm animals only have part of the truth. That happened only after the soviets ran out of money after constructing his mind; the use of a horse's posterior as the hox genes for the face is too well known to rehearse here (I eschewed the glaring pun). . Their funds already had been well spent on a brilliant plan to take down globalized corporatism, now unfolding.
First of all, allow Anglo-Irish bank to perpetrate a scam that would make Bernie Madoff blush; surely the greatest financial fraud in European history. It is rather piquant that the criminal investigation has stalled due to encrypted files in a country that taught decryption of British SIGINT as part of a DCU undergrad course. Then get the other Irish banks to imitate it (as if they could! - but they did try) with Biffo as finance minister overseeing it with a leer.
The true brilliance of the plot has become clear only in late November, 2010. Surely the sensible thing would be to open the books to Fine Gael, FF's good twin – and equally dependent on an overpaid middle class – and “Labour” whose funds mainly derive from union “dues” paid by civil servants? Posing as an incoherent alcoholic, Cowen knew that he could keep the international financial markets in turmoil by appealing to the atavistic instincts of his party. Remember the 77, boys! And Labour can wait!
So there is NO possibility of a budget passing on December 7, 2010, as the IMF has demanded. Whenever “good sense” (read – world government) is proposed, Biffo can simply wrap the green flag around himself. The fact that very few in FF have any family connections to the “War of independence” or the “Civil War” does not matter - it is their narrative.
I salute the brilliance of the soviets in 1959 as they implanted this specimen in an unsuspecting female somewhere in the Irish midlands
Ps Mannion's cross roads is in Co. Offaly
PPS The prediction about the budget was of course wromg but let's see how the finance bill goes 26 eanair 2011
PPPS I was wrong again - the finance Bill passed, with many FF TDS guaranteeing their own political demise. Immediately, the Irish political landscape fractured into right and left, with FF's new leader "burying the hatchet" with Fine Gael, and Sinn Fein leading the agenda with an anti-IMF line with which Labour will have to keep up. IMO, at least
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
Ireland; a colony once again
From 2004-7, I had a set of papers accepted at Irish studies conferences, some of which financial considerations stopped me from attending. I also spoke at some of the better American universities during this period on the same subject; what I predicted was the imminent financial, moral, and cultural collapse of the ethnic project we call the “republic of Ireland”. On foot of this, I wrote a book called “Ireland; a colony once again” whose publication has been delayed mainly because of having to deal in my professional life with the fetid, yet gargantuan corruption at the core of the Irish state. En route, I have come to see this state as not just a colonial force directed against the Irish people in the name of various ideas like neoliberalism, but as effectively genocidal.
Both seem radical contentions, unless of course the latter seems simply ridiculous and downright barmy. For a first line of defence, I could perhaps point to the fact that Dublin has been a colonial centre for much of its recent history; first, undoubtedly, for the British and now – with well over 70% of our “native” legislation actually comprised by EU directives – for the neoliberal dispensation authored by the EU, WTO, and other such bodies. One could also point to the theocratic experiment from c. 1935-1970 that we are still recovering from, and the brief flirtation with neoconservatism from 2002to 2004. Yet it is the genocidal idea that attracts me more.
“Genocide” was coined by Lemkin as a term to describe, not necessarily the physical extinction of a people, but wiping away by any means necessary all trace of them from the earth. According to its adoption in international law in 1948, no-one need be killed; the core notion in the term “genocide” is wiping the footprint of a people from the earth. Up to this point in 1948, international law allowed a state treat its people like a farmer treats his chickens. Now there is a really high mountain to climb; I am going to argue that a state whose highest levels consist almost entirely of Irish indigenes are nevertheless actively conniving in the genocide of the Irish.
However, consider the following recent developments;
1.Since 2008, the government's policies have been carefully calibrated to ensure massive emigration (due to unemployment) of the native Irish, while maintaining the failed neoliberal experiment incarnated above all in a disastrously corrupt banking sector.
2.At the same time, massive immigration has been encouraged, with the immigrants receiving many benefits denied to the native Irish.
3.An assault has been performed on sites of enormous archaeological significance like Tara, with the govt showing a willingness to destroy any protectors, both legally and physically.
4.Natural resources are being privatized , as exemplified by shell in Mayo, with the state's armed forces acting as Shell's private army
5.The Irish establishment profit enormously from all these developments; indeed the current minister for transport allowed the the private firm behind the most controversial road development (beside Tara) to share office space with his dept.
6.Historically, revisionism has become de rigeur. Indeed, our foreign-born current President (who learned Spanish at the expense of Gaelic at school) spends a great deal of her time debauching the military projects of the Irish like the anti-Tudor uprising
7.An assault on the musical culture of Ireland culminated in a suspended privatization attempt in the 1990's In the meantime, the government and national broadcaster has adduced boy bands and chick lit as official national culture. Also in the meantime, scam artists are preferred over genuine musical artists, and - exemplified by a recent US federal court case – the Irish state is the only state that allows dissolved companies to continue to steal copyrights, as well as trade openly with the approval of the state's export bodies
8.The major media disproportionately put foreign-born models on their covers to exemplify a changing of the guard
Am I over-reacting? I really hope so. In the meantime, there are indigenous rights declarations (like that of 1993) lodged that the UN to which we are surely entitled to have recourse
Both seem radical contentions, unless of course the latter seems simply ridiculous and downright barmy. For a first line of defence, I could perhaps point to the fact that Dublin has been a colonial centre for much of its recent history; first, undoubtedly, for the British and now – with well over 70% of our “native” legislation actually comprised by EU directives – for the neoliberal dispensation authored by the EU, WTO, and other such bodies. One could also point to the theocratic experiment from c. 1935-1970 that we are still recovering from, and the brief flirtation with neoconservatism from 2002to 2004. Yet it is the genocidal idea that attracts me more.
“Genocide” was coined by Lemkin as a term to describe, not necessarily the physical extinction of a people, but wiping away by any means necessary all trace of them from the earth. According to its adoption in international law in 1948, no-one need be killed; the core notion in the term “genocide” is wiping the footprint of a people from the earth. Up to this point in 1948, international law allowed a state treat its people like a farmer treats his chickens. Now there is a really high mountain to climb; I am going to argue that a state whose highest levels consist almost entirely of Irish indigenes are nevertheless actively conniving in the genocide of the Irish.
However, consider the following recent developments;
1.Since 2008, the government's policies have been carefully calibrated to ensure massive emigration (due to unemployment) of the native Irish, while maintaining the failed neoliberal experiment incarnated above all in a disastrously corrupt banking sector.
2.At the same time, massive immigration has been encouraged, with the immigrants receiving many benefits denied to the native Irish.
3.An assault has been performed on sites of enormous archaeological significance like Tara, with the govt showing a willingness to destroy any protectors, both legally and physically.
4.Natural resources are being privatized , as exemplified by shell in Mayo, with the state's armed forces acting as Shell's private army
5.The Irish establishment profit enormously from all these developments; indeed the current minister for transport allowed the the private firm behind the most controversial road development (beside Tara) to share office space with his dept.
6.Historically, revisionism has become de rigeur. Indeed, our foreign-born current President (who learned Spanish at the expense of Gaelic at school) spends a great deal of her time debauching the military projects of the Irish like the anti-Tudor uprising
7.An assault on the musical culture of Ireland culminated in a suspended privatization attempt in the 1990's In the meantime, the government and national broadcaster has adduced boy bands and chick lit as official national culture. Also in the meantime, scam artists are preferred over genuine musical artists, and - exemplified by a recent US federal court case – the Irish state is the only state that allows dissolved companies to continue to steal copyrights, as well as trade openly with the approval of the state's export bodies
8.The major media disproportionately put foreign-born models on their covers to exemplify a changing of the guard
Am I over-reacting? I really hope so. In the meantime, there are indigenous rights declarations (like that of 1993) lodged that the UN to which we are surely entitled to have recourse
Monday, March 22, 2010
The new Irish cultural campaign/offensive
Many of we Irish living involuntarily in exile in the USA laughed long and hard at the latest scam – the appointment of the other gay Byrne as cultural ambassador (since the original one is after all doing the roads);
Byrne's appointment
This Irish government has for over a decade sustained an offensive targeting any creative artists who queered the pitch of their beloved westlife, cecilia ahern etc. Clearly, the money has run out – from having one of ahern's garbage productions on primetime network TV, they are now realistically looking at whether they can stream video from 300-seater venues in the USA
When they were still virtuous and pure, mar dhea, the “Greens” asked many questions about nefarious activities in the music biz from which FF were benefitting mightily. It involved also Enterprise Ireland; briefly, what was happening was that artists would be “signed” by Ffers, their copyrights stolen with collusion from Ffers at IMRO, and trade fairs like Midem (where the Irish stand was controlled by FF's Shay Hennessy) would be used to export millions of units The artits never got paid
We got the cops involved, and IMRO is now a much cleaner body. A federal court case is in the offing for recovery of royalties
That case, again
and the judge ordered a mediation meeting after an unsuccessful attempt to dismiss by Valley, who responded with another motion to dismiss which is to be heard, appropriately, on April Fools' Day, 2010
Details are on bottom of http://seanonuallain.com/id2.html
in what is admittedly a long narrative, appended. The “greens” need to go before they allow and indeed assist FF in destroying this part of our heritage as well
Valley entertainment has recently in 2009 been sued by an independent Irish singer-songwriter Melanie O'Reilly for copyright violation. To date Valley has paid all royalties due to Ms O'Reilly to an individual with no legitimate claim on Ms O'Reilly's material, and having agreed through its lawyers in 2000 not to do so. Furthermore, it has continued to do so having been furnished with documentation that the "company" it got the license from in 1998 is not a valid business entity in Ireland or anywhere
Valley continues to steal from Irish musicians, and its bravado in "standing up" to ex-President Bush has to be seen for the fraud that it is. Its own website (checked 3/9/10) confirms that "Seven labels collaborated for the original release of Celtic Woman by Ireland's Excellent Music"
In that, it shares a dubious distinction with Quebec's St Clair (now owned by the private investment firm Pouschine Cook Capital Management, LLC) However, Excellent music was struck off the Irish register of companies in 2000 - and again, in the case of Valley, Ms O'Reilly's putative license came from another source. Both Valley and St Clair can look forward to many years of lawsuits from Irish musicians, having their misdeeds exposed, and boycotts of their products - the boycott is after all an Irish invention.
What is stunning about this is the gall of this Irish government in attempting to domesticate artists, having victimized them for so long. The truth of the matter is that the colonial effort which involved also traducing the universities and the native science enterprise itself in the manner described in the companion blog has now run aground due to lack of funds. Now, having funded garbage like “Celtic thunder “ in the USA (omnipresent on public TV at one stage; the screams of protest still reverberate), they are trying to move up the value chain.
PS 5u aibrean 2010; We won both parts of the case, with St Clair having a default judgement lodged against them, and Valley agreeing a financial settlement, with our tracks taken off their album
Byrne's appointment
This Irish government has for over a decade sustained an offensive targeting any creative artists who queered the pitch of their beloved westlife, cecilia ahern etc. Clearly, the money has run out – from having one of ahern's garbage productions on primetime network TV, they are now realistically looking at whether they can stream video from 300-seater venues in the USA
When they were still virtuous and pure, mar dhea, the “Greens” asked many questions about nefarious activities in the music biz from which FF were benefitting mightily. It involved also Enterprise Ireland; briefly, what was happening was that artists would be “signed” by Ffers, their copyrights stolen with collusion from Ffers at IMRO, and trade fairs like Midem (where the Irish stand was controlled by FF's Shay Hennessy) would be used to export millions of units The artits never got paid
We got the cops involved, and IMRO is now a much cleaner body. A federal court case is in the offing for recovery of royalties
That case, again
and the judge ordered a mediation meeting after an unsuccessful attempt to dismiss by Valley, who responded with another motion to dismiss which is to be heard, appropriately, on April Fools' Day, 2010
Details are on bottom of http://seanonuallain.com/id2.html
in what is admittedly a long narrative, appended. The “greens” need to go before they allow and indeed assist FF in destroying this part of our heritage as well
Valley entertainment has recently in 2009 been sued by an independent Irish singer-songwriter Melanie O'Reilly for copyright violation. To date Valley has paid all royalties due to Ms O'Reilly to an individual with no legitimate claim on Ms O'Reilly's material, and having agreed through its lawyers in 2000 not to do so. Furthermore, it has continued to do so having been furnished with documentation that the "company" it got the license from in 1998 is not a valid business entity in Ireland or anywhere
Valley continues to steal from Irish musicians, and its bravado in "standing up" to ex-President Bush has to be seen for the fraud that it is. Its own website (checked 3/9/10) confirms that "Seven labels collaborated for the original release of Celtic Woman by Ireland's Excellent Music"
In that, it shares a dubious distinction with Quebec's St Clair (now owned by the private investment firm Pouschine Cook Capital Management, LLC) However, Excellent music was struck off the Irish register of companies in 2000 - and again, in the case of Valley, Ms O'Reilly's putative license came from another source. Both Valley and St Clair can look forward to many years of lawsuits from Irish musicians, having their misdeeds exposed, and boycotts of their products - the boycott is after all an Irish invention.
What is stunning about this is the gall of this Irish government in attempting to domesticate artists, having victimized them for so long. The truth of the matter is that the colonial effort which involved also traducing the universities and the native science enterprise itself in the manner described in the companion blog has now run aground due to lack of funds. Now, having funded garbage like “Celtic thunder “ in the USA (omnipresent on public TV at one stage; the screams of protest still reverberate), they are trying to move up the value chain.
PS 5u aibrean 2010; We won both parts of the case, with St Clair having a default judgement lodged against them, and Valley agreeing a financial settlement, with our tracks taken off their album
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
The “greens” and climate change
It may be hard to believe, but less than a decade ago the “greens” were an avowedly leftwing party (and described as such by Gormley himself at national convention). Every effort was made by the volunteer
(and elected) national council to reflect as much of Irish society as possible in a wide range of policies; most of us who served thereon have very warm memories of our colleagues there. A warning signal was that the current bunch of elected reps showed up perhaps once each over a five-year period; Gormley's contempt for policy is best attested by the fact he lived less than a mile away from the hotel where meetings took place, and only showed up once – ironically for an incinerator discussion
There is much controversy about climate change, largely because the “hockey stick” model – let's be patriotic(!) and call it the “hurley” - is a palpable fake to anyone who knows even the most minor aspects of time series prediction. Any attempt to come to conclusions as broad of Al Gore does would need massively more evidence, and the hurley was done without any reference to the wide community of statisticians. That is not to say that climate change is not occurring, and indeed it may be partly anthropogenic. However, it is its political and financial uses which are more significant
Wrt gore, it could be argued that Gore got the Nobel and his currently lucrative career for staying quiet like a good little boy while Bush stole the 2000 election. Gormley had similar problems. He wanted to be a minister, but hated the idea of an independent set of policies acting as constraints, particularly as he is by no means a real green of any sort. So farewell integrity, truth, respect for the law – let alone the policies we used pass on national council about the Arts, waste, GMOS, and so on. Gormley first tried a policy coup – all policies could be summarily changed by the elected reps, utterly in defiance of the will of the members. When this was turned down, he looked into the void – and liked what he saw
FF were never going to allow him interfere with their sacred scams, many of which he had exposed in the Dail – the music biz/IMRO, DCU, banking and so on – let alone shell, Tara, etc. Why not just tear up all the policies and find a new utterly controversial and apparently urgent issue for stupid kids to get excited about? Therein lies the true genius of climate change as a political tool; it is rather like transubstantiation and life after death in that non-one can possibly disprove it, no-one really need do anything except shout down all who oppose it, and it gives a free pass to finished narcissists like Gormley and his colleagues as they destroy 25 years' hard work by activists committed to the sanctity not just of the physical environment, but forms of human life that inform our time on earth with purpose and meaning.
(and elected) national council to reflect as much of Irish society as possible in a wide range of policies; most of us who served thereon have very warm memories of our colleagues there. A warning signal was that the current bunch of elected reps showed up perhaps once each over a five-year period; Gormley's contempt for policy is best attested by the fact he lived less than a mile away from the hotel where meetings took place, and only showed up once – ironically for an incinerator discussion
There is much controversy about climate change, largely because the “hockey stick” model – let's be patriotic(!) and call it the “hurley” - is a palpable fake to anyone who knows even the most minor aspects of time series prediction. Any attempt to come to conclusions as broad of Al Gore does would need massively more evidence, and the hurley was done without any reference to the wide community of statisticians. That is not to say that climate change is not occurring, and indeed it may be partly anthropogenic. However, it is its political and financial uses which are more significant
Wrt gore, it could be argued that Gore got the Nobel and his currently lucrative career for staying quiet like a good little boy while Bush stole the 2000 election. Gormley had similar problems. He wanted to be a minister, but hated the idea of an independent set of policies acting as constraints, particularly as he is by no means a real green of any sort. So farewell integrity, truth, respect for the law – let alone the policies we used pass on national council about the Arts, waste, GMOS, and so on. Gormley first tried a policy coup – all policies could be summarily changed by the elected reps, utterly in defiance of the will of the members. When this was turned down, he looked into the void – and liked what he saw
FF were never going to allow him interfere with their sacred scams, many of which he had exposed in the Dail – the music biz/IMRO, DCU, banking and so on – let alone shell, Tara, etc. Why not just tear up all the policies and find a new utterly controversial and apparently urgent issue for stupid kids to get excited about? Therein lies the true genius of climate change as a political tool; it is rather like transubstantiation and life after death in that non-one can possibly disprove it, no-one really need do anything except shout down all who oppose it, and it gives a free pass to finished narcissists like Gormley and his colleagues as they destroy 25 years' hard work by activists committed to the sanctity not just of the physical environment, but forms of human life that inform our time on earth with purpose and meaning.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Property and U2; the old rock'n'roll
Some time ago, I started a music company with my partner Melanie O'Reilly
Free downloads!
It has been successful beyond our expectations, with sales in the hundreds of thousands, and many award nominations. The only problem is this; we have been paid royalties for only about 2% of our earnings, and this is the subject of an ongoing federal case in the USA;
Anatomy of the music scam
We cut our litigation teeth on U2's dissolved “Record services” which the Irish corporate enforcement authorities allowed to continue to trade for years after its dissolution. U2's links with property development in Ireland continued to the point that they thanked the “builders” McKillen, Mulryan and Qunilan on their 2009 album. Imagine our lack of surprise when all 3 names ended up on the list of the miscreants whose reckless trading has sunk the Irish economy;
The taxpayer gets the bill for Deborah Harry etc
To safeguard their privileges for the next world after this one, all three contributed, Borgia style, to a Vatican refurbishment;
Sicut fuit in saecula saeculorum
Is it not about time that someone thoroughly investigated U2?
27u nollag 2011 - The good news; Dave Marsh has now taken up the story
http://davemarsh.us/?p=951
The bad; Looks like bono has successfully angled to replace Gabriel Byrne as cultural ambassador for Ireland
Free downloads!
It has been successful beyond our expectations, with sales in the hundreds of thousands, and many award nominations. The only problem is this; we have been paid royalties for only about 2% of our earnings, and this is the subject of an ongoing federal case in the USA;
Anatomy of the music scam
We cut our litigation teeth on U2's dissolved “Record services” which the Irish corporate enforcement authorities allowed to continue to trade for years after its dissolution. U2's links with property development in Ireland continued to the point that they thanked the “builders” McKillen, Mulryan and Qunilan on their 2009 album. Imagine our lack of surprise when all 3 names ended up on the list of the miscreants whose reckless trading has sunk the Irish economy;
The taxpayer gets the bill for Deborah Harry etc
To safeguard their privileges for the next world after this one, all three contributed, Borgia style, to a Vatican refurbishment;
Sicut fuit in saecula saeculorum
Is it not about time that someone thoroughly investigated U2?
27u nollag 2011 - The good news; Dave Marsh has now taken up the story
http://davemarsh.us/?p=951
The bad; Looks like bono has successfully angled to replace Gabriel Byrne as cultural ambassador for Ireland
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Ireland's narrow escape; the failure of e-voting
In early 2004, as until 2008, Ireland had many of the ingredients for that type of corporate governance we call fascism; a largely unaccountable police force (as the 2006 Morris report has attested), union of labor unions and employers under the auspices of the state in “ social partnership” agreements, a charismatic power-hungry prime minister (P. “Bertie” Ahern), and continual encroachment by a powerful state into aspects of civil society that started with the domestication of the trade unions. Massive privatizations were being contemplated, starting with the universities; of those actually achieved, that of the telecommunications sector has left Ireland in the third world with respect to broadband. The universities' privatizations were presaged by attempted manipulation of the quasi-Orwellian “social partnership” agreements to destroy academic tenure, with the death of at least one young academic as a result, and the destruction of academic freedom.
From January to June 2004, Ireland through Ahern held both the presidency of the EU (which rotates) and that of the European Parliament, through a rightwing elected parliamentarian. Having violated the practice of Irish neutrality in allowing both rendition flights and US troops through Shannon airport, one of the themes of the Irish dual presidency was to debauch the status of interlocutor of France/Germany and the Anglo-Saxon military alliance by unambiguous support by Ireland of the Iraq adventure. Dutch Nedap e-voting machines were chosen to implement the final stage of the takeover by globalized corporatism; a report was commissioned with political hacks and appointees forming a majority in the committee.
However, problems began immediately. The initial reaction of the committee to the proposed e-voting process was so severe that the Dutch threatened libel action. The report, as released a month before the machines were meant to be used in European and local elections, is at www.cev.ie/htm/report/V02.pdf. It made clear that there was no debugged version of the software available even at that late stage, so voting proceeded in time-honored Irish fashion. This includes informal checking by “tallymen” from each party, and formal public counting by civil servants. The government was trounced, with Ahern's party suffering their worst result since entering the democratic realm from their wilderness years as the proto-IRA.
An intriguing aspect of the proposed software is the use of Microsoft access as the database program, which few responsible consultants would have urged. Blackbox voting, among others, have shown how access can be exploited to set up a double accounting system, with election officials acting in good faith likely to be duped. After controversies about the storage of the machines on the property of his political supporters, Ahern ordered a second report which came out in 2006. It can be found at evoting.cs.may.ie/. Despite frantic attempts by Ahern to spin it as a resounding endorsement, on the extraordinary basis that it said that only the software was at fault, it is now clear that e-voting would not be used in our general election in 2007. When his popularity blipped upward, as in October 2006, Ahern attempted to reintroduce the topic, with the plan being use of e-voting in 2009 local and European elections, with storage by the army. This was abandoned, and the machines are now being junked.
The Irish case strongly suggests that e-voting is critical to the neocon agenda; it is vitally important to keep the pressure up so that this proposal never again sees the light of day.
From January to June 2004, Ireland through Ahern held both the presidency of the EU (which rotates) and that of the European Parliament, through a rightwing elected parliamentarian. Having violated the practice of Irish neutrality in allowing both rendition flights and US troops through Shannon airport, one of the themes of the Irish dual presidency was to debauch the status of interlocutor of France/Germany and the Anglo-Saxon military alliance by unambiguous support by Ireland of the Iraq adventure. Dutch Nedap e-voting machines were chosen to implement the final stage of the takeover by globalized corporatism; a report was commissioned with political hacks and appointees forming a majority in the committee.
However, problems began immediately. The initial reaction of the committee to the proposed e-voting process was so severe that the Dutch threatened libel action. The report, as released a month before the machines were meant to be used in European and local elections, is at www.cev.ie/htm/report/V02.pdf. It made clear that there was no debugged version of the software available even at that late stage, so voting proceeded in time-honored Irish fashion. This includes informal checking by “tallymen” from each party, and formal public counting by civil servants. The government was trounced, with Ahern's party suffering their worst result since entering the democratic realm from their wilderness years as the proto-IRA.
An intriguing aspect of the proposed software is the use of Microsoft access as the database program, which few responsible consultants would have urged. Blackbox voting, among others, have shown how access can be exploited to set up a double accounting system, with election officials acting in good faith likely to be duped. After controversies about the storage of the machines on the property of his political supporters, Ahern ordered a second report which came out in 2006. It can be found at evoting.cs.may.ie/. Despite frantic attempts by Ahern to spin it as a resounding endorsement, on the extraordinary basis that it said that only the software was at fault, it is now clear that e-voting would not be used in our general election in 2007. When his popularity blipped upward, as in October 2006, Ahern attempted to reintroduce the topic, with the plan being use of e-voting in 2009 local and European elections, with storage by the army. This was abandoned, and the machines are now being junked.
The Irish case strongly suggests that e-voting is critical to the neocon agenda; it is vitally important to keep the pressure up so that this proposal never again sees the light of day.
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