Letter to the Irish Prime Minister with advice about resurrecting the Irish music art/industry

"A Thaoisigh, a chara,

I am using this channel to inform you of issues that you may later choose to delegate to your ministers.

You probably know that the Irish music industry is in crisis. From where we were in the 1990's, with several acts like Enya selling in the tens of millions, we have descended to the point that Iceland is doing better than us with many bands including Sigur Ros and “Of monsters and Men” getting primetime US TV and selling in the millions. In the meantime. South Korea spends $300 million annually promoting its “K-Pop” which even has its own US TV channel.

The disaster that befell Irish music is not just lack of investment; it is in fact mainly a story of Fianna Fail/Green corruption, which you can read in the attached file (see my "Ireland in crisis" book for details - editor). In any case, we don't have $300 million. Here I'm going to outline a set of solutions. Some of them are large-scale, but some are simply related to what it will take on the ground to establish an Irish presence in the markets that other countries like south Korea have kicked us out of.

First of all, a very simple basic example of how it works here. Having met you at the UICC in san Fran  with Melanie O'Reilly, I know you like jazz - or at least the idea of jazz .On Wed last (June/Meitheamh 25 2014), we did a gig in the very prestigious Angelique's in Redwood city featuring our songs which include Irish lyrics by Sean O Riordain and Nuala ni Dhomhnaill set to jazz. The owner liked it so much that he asked Melanie back to do her show, premiered at the Edinburgh festival in 2010, in tribute to the great jazz singer Anita O'Day. (Note that  this indeed took place http://events.sfgate.com/redwood_city_ca/events/show/371052799-jazz-on-a-summers-day-a-tribute-to-jazz-vocal-legend-anita-oday - edito

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A Thaoisigh, that's what it will take; apparently small gigs done by hundreds of Irish acts. The state should also support small venues like the Starry Plough in Berkeley, which has had an Irish dance session every Monday night for 35 years to which the cream of America's youth come, and the “”Lark camp” educational summer project. By support, I mean at least sending a diplomat once to acknowledge the contribution.

However, this should be complemented by the following;

1. IMRO is a hopelessly corrupt Fianna Fail gazebo. It should be closed down, with its functions transferred to a well-regulated state institution. IMRO's revenue is around $50 million per year. Much of that is profit. Venues and radio/TV playing quality music could have their “licensing” paid to IMRO reduced by 75% as this money never makes it to the musicians, but rather goes on administration. Even if the income is cut to $25 million, it will still be plenty for the following steps;
2. In particular, IMRO's claim that it OWNS all of Irish traditional music, as an arts council report exposed, should be refuted and the property should be held in trust.
3. All the theft done by IMRO and its companion MCPS should be reimbursed to the musicians. Between 1999 and 2003, the Gardai collected much evidence on IMRO and only a blatant interference with the DPP prevented their being prosecuted. The case was resolved in 2010 in US federal court instead but the musicians cannot enforce the verdict for lack of funds and it is in Ireland's interest that the state should help them do so perhaps through the WTO;
4. The state should emulate the French and introduce an “intermittent” system. This would mean that, instead of going on the dole and trying to hide their gigs, full=time artist/musicians who do over 50 concerts a year at state-recognized venues should get a grant;
5. The state should reimburse all the musicians who had their CD's illegally licensed through an enterprise Ireland trade stand in midem in France at 1998. That will pay many outstanding bills, as we found through our successful federal court action that the sales through Walmart in particular were in the millions;
6. The state should return the copyrights taken by IMRO to the musicians
7. The state should return the money due to musicians from U2's use of dissolved “distribution” companies like Record services Ltd to destroy independent labels. This was done with FF connivance, and while we won a lawsuit against U2 on this, Paul Appleby refused to act even after we met him one-on-one at his request in 2006;
8. The state should investigate the use of fake tune titles in Irish by IMRO – the Gardai believed this indicated massive fraud as these could launder money;
9. The state should use existing media like the “Today's Ireland” program in the USA to introduce the American public to quality Irish music, not bad country music as now;
10. The state should stop the FF dominance of the festivals that Ireland will get every year like Celtic connections and Lorient and ensure new bands get a break there
11. If there is any grant money for tours in the USA, it would best be used by ensuring safe transport and accommodation.

After that, leave it up to the market; many Irish musicians are in my experience very hard-working and able. Under FF, they experienced nothing but state collusion with criminals. I know you are better than that.

DCU's Prondzynski went into Leinster House to offer a bribe

 Over the next few weeks I will publish excerpts from letters I sent to the Irish authorities over the past few months Given the level of media spin against academic freedom in Ireland  up to Prondzynski's departure, and the very odd coverage of mine, Cahill's and Fanning's cases, which required several apologies from the Irish Times, we need to look further

 It does rather look as though Ronnie Ryan of the dept of Ed and others were expecting a massive payday from privatization. Here is one letter I sent;

"In January 2003 Rights commissioner Gerry Fleming ruled that I be reinstated with full backpay

Of course, DCU had a right to appeal - though the ECHR may see things differently, particularly the use of taxpayers' money ensuring disparity of representation

In any case, Ferdinand von Prondzynski decided, ar eagle na heagla, to head off the situation. He (unsolicited) visited my local TD, John Gormley, in Leinster House in Feb/March 2003. In that meeting, he offered to pay my salary until I got a new job if I dropped my appeal. Gormley put the deal to me and I refused. These were many moral issues.....

I believe that's called bribery. I have had no contact with Gormley since 2006,"

FoM seminars on a break as we finish the proceedings book

We have a lot to be
proud of; a proceedings with a book forthcoming and this very well
attended seminar series, with record audiences for a not-for-credit
seminar. It is therefore all the more regrettable that an ex-member of
our discussion group sullied the level of discourse in an incident
currently playing out in the media of a $1 million reward for
“solving” the so-called  “hard problem”.

Such challenges are often deliberately attention-seeking, for example
proposing a reward for a perpetual motion machine which the laws of
physics expressly forbid. Some are genuine, and as such often see the
rewards rejected, as Grisha Perleman did after solving the Poincare
conjecture on the grounds that science should be its own edifying
reward.

 Some others, however, display a cynical nihilism and show a refusal
to accept any evidence. It is like saying that someone did not jump
seven feet because a foot is now a meter. This incident is likely to
become notorious. For the record, a full solution to the problem as
stated was given to Deepak Chopra within 48 hours of his announcing it
in the SF Chronicle. The $1 million was claimed, and we look forward
to receiving it to amplify the activities of our group.



The talks

Terry Deacon confronted the issue of information, a concept which is
variously being used to explain consciousness, the emergence of order
in evolution, and much else. Len Talmy adduced evidence to show that
certain linguistic features presented themselves to consciousness more
than others. As was pointed out, this is remarkable work, particularly
if combined with his attack on embodiment as a universal panacea,
epitomized by spatial prepositions like “along” which are defined in
Euclidean space

June 2014 seminars at UC Berkeley

Foundations of Mind
UC Berkeley
3105 Tolman June 27 2pm

2:00 pm Terry Deacon (UC Berkeley):

How information lost its meaning (and how to recover it).

Professor Terrence W. Deacon

Abstract:
   The technical concept of information developed after Shannon (1948)
and those who have followed has fueled advances in many fields, from
fundamental physics to bioinfomatics, but its quantitative precision
and its breadth of application have come at a cost. It has undermined
its usefulness in fields distinguished by the need to explain function
and reference, such as evolutionary biology, cognitive neuroscience,
and the social sciences. And it may even be relevant to interpretive

problems arising in quantum physics.

   The current technical version of the concept has been so successful
in part because it is consistent with a tacit metaphysical principle
assumed ubiquitously in the contemporary physical sciences: that any
and all mentalistic properties should be excluded from playing
explanatory roles. But in order to provide the foundation for a
scientific theory of information that is sufficiently precise and
formal to serve fields as diverse as molecular biology and cognitive
neuroscience it is necessary to expand and slightly reformulate the
technical concept of information in a way that accounts for these
attributes that are not intrinsic to the conveying medium.
   The key to formulating a more adequate concept of information that
includes these most distinctive properties is to be found, ironically,
in more carefully attending to the physicality of information media. A
hint that this is important is captured in two distinctively different
uses of the concept of entropy (informational and thermodynamic). I
will demonstrate how referential information is based upon the
constraints generated by physical work introduced by thermodynamic
openness of an information medium and its susceptibility to contextual
modification. Physical work is also the relevant measure when it comes
to assessing the usefulness of information. In general, I argue that
it is the amount of work “saved” as a result of access to information
that determines its significance or usefulness.
   In this way the previously set aside properties of reference and
significance can be re-incorporated into a rigorous analysis of
information suitable for use in both the physical (e.g. quantum
theory, cosmology, computation theory) and semiotic sciences (e.g.

biology, cognitive science, economics).

3:30 pm Len Talmy (State University of New York at Buffalo):

Aspects of language differ in their accessibility to consciousness

Dr. Talmy will discuss the observable phenomenon that different aspects or components of language have different degrees of availability in consciousness. For example, we are generally more conscious of the meaning of a lexical form than of a grammatical form, of the use of a word than of the conditions of its use, of the meaning of a word or discourse than of the form, and of asserted content than of implied content. The general principle seems to be that consciousness is more associated with that portion or granularity of linguistic phenomena that is more relevant to current goals and concerns. The same pattern of differential consciousness seems to hold for other cognitive systems, such as visual perception and motor control.

Friday, June 20, 2014, 2:00 p.m., Beach Room, 3105 Tolman Hall

Jacob Needleman (San Francisco State University):

The metaphysics of consciousness A discussion of the primordial idea of man as microcosm: What is the relationship between the actual and potential levels of human consciousness and the vision of levels of consciousness and being in the universal world? What are the implications of this question concerning the idea of “state-specific” knowledge and the implied epistemological limitations of modern science vis-à-vis the fundamental questions of human life and understanding? The relationship between outer and inner knowledge of the mind will be explored.

Michael Ranney (UC Berkeley):

Boosting climate change wisdom, and maybe ethics, in a quasi-polarized era: www.HowGlobalWarmingWorks.org (now in Mandarin!) and empirical findings Prior work showed massive ignorance about global warming’s basic mechanism, yet a 400-word explanation (a) hugely improves readers’ understandings and (b) increases climate change concern and acceptance (Ranney et al., 2012; Clark, Ranney, & Felipe, 2013) — disconfirming “stasis theory,” which suggested futility in increasing public climate wisdom. Dr. Ranney now reports (1) replications/extensions of (a) and (b), (2) a study showing that seven apt statistics increase one’s global warming acceptance (Clark, 2013), and (3) the recently introduced www.HowGlobalWarmingWorks.org — a now-popular website including five short videos (0.9 to 4.7 min.). For Mandarin, see here. Dr. Ranney also analyzes public and non-public comments about the website/videos. Results will be situated with respect to various historical, societal, and perhaps even ethical dimensions.

Prondzynski's reputation and extreme hacking

I have little doubt that a web search on fvp will reveal accolade after accolade , - so, aware of what it is to enter that darkness,  I have never done one.

In my recent communication with the Taoiseach, which featured the allegation that fvp attempted to bribe me in 2003 to drop my case, I had to do some research. For example, Ferdie decided to GO INTO LEINSTER HOUSE, WHERE THE IRISH PARLIAMENT SITS,  to offer the bribe. A mistake; there now is a record that in early 2003, he went to see John Gormley, who had not yet become one of the more corrupt ministers in Irish history

Ferdie's offer was this; if I walked away, he would pay my full salary until I got a new job. I refused, as I also refused the two years' salary offered via siptu by DCU's notorious conry. I should note that I have had no dealings with Gormley since 2006, when he again disappointed conventional decency and morality.

But that is not the focus here. When I attempted to look for the Irish supreme court case, the following reference emerged;

Cahill -v- DCU, [2009] IESC 80 (2009)


I googled it, without quotes; no results

Yet

Cahill -v- DCU, [2009] 80 (2009)

* 25 June 2014 - please note that quoting it  "Cahill -v- DCU, [2009] IESC 80 (2009)" and you get resullts including this blog*

gives results, indicating  the IESC, is what throws it off........means Irish supreme court. I am aware that "-" has a meaning of exclusion, but that is not the problem here This is lmost impossible to do by accident  and indicates that some extreme hacking has been done, perhaps to hide von Prondzynski's history as they prepare him to try the same trick in Scotland ie privatizing a state university with summary dismissal

 I have a PhD in computer science and have never seen this before. Remarkably, throw it into vlex, the legal database, and the same happens

http://ie.vlex.com/sources/3256/search?filters_order=source&textolibre=Cahill+-v-+DCU%2C+[2009]+IESC+80+%282009%29&translated_textolibre=



The document with the Supreme court verdict can be found by circuitous means . All costs  - at least 2 million- were awarded to Cahill, who was reinstated.

It is my view that much brilliant work in Ireland was stopped by an international cabal of scumbags who worked with the collusion of filthy free state bureaucrats. It has been the misfortune of me and mine to be subjected to this.

Please check out my "Ireland in crisis" book for further details

The death-throes of the Irish “green “ party

I was a member of the Irish Green party from 1983-3, when I let my membership lapse, and 1997-2003. I was a member of national council, the policy body, 1998-2003 and science and tech head 1997-2003. I resigned at that point because of an incident where a TD for the greens  turned out to be  an oil millionaire, money inherited from his Yank granda.

What was particularly worrying was the lack of reflection about the party and its direction. A dystopia ensued; points of principle were to be used as bargaining chips. Shell, Tara etc are well-known and are arguably politics as usual, if of a craven, immoral and short-sighted-variety; what is not so well-known is the numerous incidents of criminal activity by the 2007-2011 "greens" in government.

The “greens “ began to use issues on which they had privileged info (see below) in a way that was downright evil. They had inside info on bribing of students by DCU management , with one of the students coming to parliament to give evidence to Paul Gogarty who brought tenure up as an adjournment debate; the latter then did nothing in government , and got 20k a year extra for being education chair in parliament. The state lost many millions from the litigation that ensued; G's famous outburst was the day after this defeat. The current leader, Eamon Ryan, who just lost a bid for redemption in the EU, is a worse case

First of all, two points;

1. Ryan's defeat is probably the end of the Irish greens. My sense is that they bet the house on his winning.
2. There is no trouble creating another “green” party; fis nua did so in a short time. The problem is attracting people from a wide range of backgrounds, like the 1997-2002 Greens had, from cultural nationalists to (retired) physical force republicans like the late Frank Gallagher, to fundamentalist greens who were very emotional in the period 2006-2007 about the destruction of their party. (Soubresauts aka Joe Thornton comes to mind. )

We are going to rebuild Ireland; we have no choice, bar emigration. We need to get culture and tech back and the Greens refused to act in any way other than to support Fianna Fail in their “policies” on these aspects (essentially, steal all the IP and destroy the competition)

What is interesting for me in particular about Ryan is his refusal to act on several aspects of Irish culture on which he had privileged information. One such piece of info was given to him personally at his own behest in his ministerial office in 2007. It showed that the chair of IMRO had been involved in copyright theft and illegal licensing of Irish music abroad.

One phone call and Ryan could have resurrected the now moribund music industry. A delicious karmic irony, one that younger readers of this site might attend to, is that he probably would have won the EU seat had he done so. The person who handed him the documents is very well connected in Dublin (certainly worth over 504 votes) and should not have had to go to US federal court to sort this out;

http://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/candce/4:2009cv03580/228656

I will leave it at that for now unless we get yet another defense of the indefensible; there is much, much more about these scum and their time in government that can be said.

PS I probably should have included this context;

1. While in opposition in late 2003, Ryan contacted the musician above to say that his friend Eleanor Blah..., lawyer for Ireland's national state-funded broadcaster (RTE), urgently need help as IMRO were trying to extort them

2. Both the musician above and Donal Lunny agreed to give evidence; IMRO backed down

3. Ryan was also aware of the Irish music scam, a system that impoverished Irish musicians and destroyed that industry

4. In 2007, HE WAS THE MINISTER RESPONSIBLE FOR REGULATING IMRO AND RTE

5. Everything suggests he did indeed make a phone call - and please note his still sumptuous lifestyle on one full income.......

6. apart from the numerous official perks they got while in government simply for selling out everything we ,Greens believed in, there is good reason the believe they got bonuses for being good little whores with
 NAMA etc

7. I would not be at all surprised to find that 100k was lodged in a Cayman islands account and wasted in this failed Euro run

A“visitor” for Dublin City “University”?

The unwillingness of successive Irish governments to send a “visitor” to Dublin City “University”-  as required by the 1997 universities act when there is suspicion of illegal activity, confirmed and documented at length is this case - is extraordinary. I argue here that the reason may have to do with the planned privatization of the place, with big pay-offs all around. The inertia in the Irish state bureaucracy is such that we recently saw a Minister for Justice take his own government down 10 points in te opinion polls by failing to tackle very common garden police corruption before being forced to resign . This may be happening again; in any case, the blog post has also been sent to the relevant ministers

This is my analysis of the  DC “U”. situation, an  analysis that but for the irresponsibility/criminality of various administrations since 1989 would have been performed by a formal university visitor. It will eventually probably form the backbone of yet another costly report.

First of all, there never was any serious attempt to create a recognizable university in the old Albert college site, now DC “U”. In the mid 1970's, an attempt to merge Kevin St and DIT techs into a new NIHE was stopped and the creation of a new college at the old Albert college site was initiated, after a crisis in which Danny O'Hare was otherwise going to find himself without a job. He was thus open to persuasion, and the evidence suggest that he succumbed.

NIHED was moderately successful; sufficient at least to follow the rash of Brit polytechs under Thatcher into university status. The accreditation was cankered, but the calculation was correct that with thousands of graduands every year, no government would take action. That started the criminality; illegal contracts in 1995; an  illegal disciplinary procedure 2001-2010 followed by another such; egregious behavior as the MO.

O'Hare's response, after the mysterious gift from Chuck Feeney's consortium in 1995, a  consortium recently in action in the shafting of Stanford in NY, was to appeal on American TV for the end of tenure. The hem of the dress had indeed been lifted; Danny O'Hare was most recently seen at the Hoover institute at Stanford “Writing” a book about how privatization helps universities. We can take it that the book will duly appear if and when  privatization occurs at DC “U”.

The DCU formula is still in place. What was interesting was how the scion of a Nazi slave labor cement factory chose to interpret the disciplinary procedures to be brought  in by statute;

1.summary dismissal for anyone appointed after 1995, as he made clear at Ireland's supreme court;
2.for the rest., a truly Kafkaesque situation wherein to be accused of outrageous (even if  untrue) violations of contract immediately put them under the new  disciplinary procedure and rescinded their previous rights. Otherwise, they were ruled as frustrating their contract and as having resigned
3.all intellectual property generated was to be assigned 100% to DC “U”. If that needed to be enforced, simply fire the academic, kick her off campus, and use state resources to fight every claim.



In fact, the evidence suggests that the plan was always to privatize the institution; we middle class idiots were brought in to set things up in the 1980's and given a teaching load that prevented us doing much research. Then (after 1995 with the tenure-free contracts) we were to be replaced by a new class of superdrone with better research records than us retards who had been teaching about three times the classes of our rivals.

The fact these new people replaced us in the departments we had set up was a bonus; but even they were pawns. The ultimate goal was a “university” with summary dismissal, no academic freedom/tenure, and the students whored out to corporations. All the shots were to be called through a single “chief officer” who, already well-paid, was doing very nicely from various campus spin-offs.

None of the above could have been implemented without collusion from successive governments, the “union” SIPTU, and greedy corporations. My conclusion is that  DC “U” is a basket case and should be forced into a more reliable accreditation, with a massive overhaul ensuing, or merged with the national universities