Skibbereen native, Ger Hurley makes movie debut at LA Irish Film Festival and at Woodstock
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Sunday, December 21, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Libertas to fight 2009 Euro elections
Brussels, 11 December - Libertas will contest the European elections in 2009 on a Pan-European basis, its chairman Declan Ganley announced today.
Speaking to a packed Press Conference at Libertas’ newly opened European Headquarters in Brussels, Mr. Ganley said that Libertas would field candidates across the European Union on a common pro-European platform of democracy, accountability and transparency. Mr. Ganley stated that Europeans have reached a crossroads: “If people want a strong and healthy Europe that is democratic and answerable to them, they should vote for a Libertas candidate. If they do not want Europe to succeed or if they are happy with the current undemocratic practises, then they should vote for an incumbent party. For those who weren’t given a vote on the Lisbon Treaty, this will be their referendum”.
Libertas will run candidates in every country where the candidates are of a high standard, committed to the Libertas’s pro-European stance and its platform of democracy, accountability and transparency aimed at bringing European back to the people. A detailed policy document will be published in the coming months, and candidates’ names will be unveiled over a similar time frame. The Libertas announcement coincides with the European summit where the Irish government will announce a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
According to Mr. Ganley: “The Irish government and the powerful elite in Brussels are showing utter contempt for the democratic decision of the Irish people in rejecting the Lisbon Treaty. Not one sentence will change in a “new version”. Some non-legally binding texts will be added in an attempt to fool the people. They tried this with the French, they tried with the Dutch, they are trying with the Irish. It’s time to put a stop to this bullying.”
Patrick Fitzgerald - New York Irish lad
"Let's hear it for Patrick Fitzgerald, admirable public servant, lawyer extraordinaire and an inspiration to us all . . . educated by the Jesuits . . .
Patrick Fitzgerald was born in Brooklyn. His parents were from Clare. They met in New York, where Fitzgerald's father was a doorman. Fitzgerald remembers a working-class home of straightforward values of right and wrong. He got a scholarship and worked as a doorman and a janitor to put himself through college.
After three years in private practice, he became a prosecutor in New York, where he took on the Gambino crime family. He convicted the terrorists who bombed two US embassies, and he put away those who bombed the World Trade Centre in 1993. Long before 9/11, he had prepared a case against Osama bin Laden.
In 2001, at the urging of a Republican senator, Fitzgerald was brought to Illinois to tackle the state's notorious corruption. By 2002, Governor Ryan of Illinois, a Republican, stood down, knowing Fitzgerald was on his trail. Four years later, ex-governor Ryan was jailed for corruption. With a staff of 300, Fitzgerald knew no one in Illinois, and owed no favours.
Fitzgerald annoyed the White House when he investigated the leaking of the identity of a CIA agent. He convicted Scooter Libby, top aide to Dick Cheney. He also jailed business tycoon Conrad Black for using a company as his personal ATM.
Last week, Fitzgerald laid corruption charges against the current governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat. As governor, Blagojevich had the power to appoint a senate replacement for Barack Obama -- so, he set about finding out what kind of money he might get from likely candidates. Did anyone, he asked, want to give his wife a good job? And Fitzgerald got it all on tape.
We can be certain that any foibles or quirks in Fitzgerald's personal life have been ruthlessly hunted down and assessed for purposes of smearing or blackmail. It wouldn't be surprising if his phone was illegally tapped, his home covertly searched, his associates bribed for morsels of scandal.
Fortunately, he seems to be quite boring. A workaholic, he lives on takeaways (someone found a lasagne in his oven, some weeks after he forgot to eat it). He recently married for the first time, at 47.
In short, Fitzgerald seems to have no political ambition, no greed, no fear. He doesn't care what party a suspect belongs to, how powerful they are or how rich. He believes the law must be respected, and that money and power confer responsibility, not invulnerability. He's fond of saying, "the facts will lead us where they lead us". It's as well his parents emigrated -- we don't encourage that kind of carry-on in this country . . . " - Gene Kerrigan writing in The Sunday Independent
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