At last the government are on the right track
At last the government has seen the light.
For months now, they have been criticised to not hitting the wealthy, and have been accused of penalising single sectors of society.
A report on the front page of yesterday’s Irish Times has finally given me hope. They have identified that sector of society that is leeching our finances while sitting on millions in unclaimed taxes. They have found that drain on our resources that has brought the country to its knees.
The Elderly.
The government were nearly there when they proposed withdrawing the medical card, but for some unknown reason they did a U-turn and modified it.
This time they are launching an all out attack, and I for one am fully behind them. It is about time something was done about the elderly. They are unproductive. They demand all sorts of allowances and payments which frankly are a farce. They are a drain on the resources of the country and contribute absolutely nothing in return.
The first move is a nice one.
Withdraw their entitlement to a free television licence. Why the fuck should these people be allowed watch television for nothing? They sit there all day, doing feck all except watching television at our expense, when they should be out there doing something productive.
Next, there is the fuel allowance. Why in the name of all that is holy should we pay for them to heat their homes? If they are so worried about heating, then they can damned well get up the mountains and dig some turf. Not only will that provide them with their fuel requirements, but they will get good exercise too.
Electricity allowances? For fuck’s sake! We are paying their electricity bills? Why? Can someone give me one solid reason why I should pay taxes so that some old fart can boil his kettle?
They get phone allowances too! Holy God, but it gets worse. For a start, it is a well known fact that the elderly have no friends, so they spend their time on the phone to sex chat lines and we all know how expensive they are, and we have to foot the bill so they can get their jollies?
They even get allowances for living alone. God give me strength! This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of. They should all be moved into Old Folks’ Homes and their houses given to those that really need them.
Of course there will be some Bleeding Hearts and Tree Huggers who will come up with pathetic excuses, saying that the elderly are the ones that made the country what it is, but I say that is exactly the point. It is those elderly fuckers who reared the builders and bankers of today, and filled their heads with ideas of making money on the quick. It isn’t the builders or the bankers fault – it is the fault of those that brought them up.
The government is being really clever about this. By bringing in cuts in fuel allowances and the like, there is a good chance most of the elderly will freeze to death. This is a good thing, as it will free up valuable resources for the young.
I urge you to read the article. If nothing else it will persuade you to back our government in their time of need. They have had a bad press lately, but at last they have seen the light.
I’m off now to cull myself.
I have done my bit, and the time has come for me to go.
I don’t see why I should be a drain on resources that are so badly needed to support the work-shy, the idle, the knackers, the skobies and all the others who so desperately need my cash.
I know my duty.
Just as I was thinking that they were finally getting somewhere after reading about Gormless’s plans to ban political donations they come up with this. *Sigh*
Hey I have an idea– after all the old people freeze to death in their homes, we could process them at the slaughterhouses and sell them as mince at Tesco for a euro a pound. All of us who’ve been laid off our jobs and trying to make our mortgage payments need cheaper groceries after all.
Lord, I was on about this earlier this morning. Special needs teachers taken away, medical cards taken from old people, and meanwhile Gerry Freakin’ Ryan refuses a cut in his huuuuge paycheck while Pat Kenny’s on the Indo’s front page moaning about losses to his pension. Pension? you HAVE a pension Paddy cheer up! Look at the rest of us. But hey, while we starve and shiver through the rest of winter we can at least listen to our old pal Gerry Ryan on the wireless and know *he’s* feeling no pinch. Won’t that make up for it all?
(ok, ok, I’m finished now… *sigh*)
What else might one expect from the outstanding minister for older people?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrKuCw15lCo
Entitlements!
See this is where we disagree. The Nanny State has you all duped into believeing that it will take care of you from cradle to grave. Here we have what we call, “The welfare cycle”. Kids have been raised by parents who suck off the governments tit and then they become leeches also. It is a slippery slope that Ireland has been doing for quite a bit longer than us. A few years ago President Reagan changed the way we give out Welfare so that people who received it were required to be trained and seek work so as to get off the welfare roles. That has worked. It was finally acting as it was designed. It is a hand up not a hand out! I don’t mind saying that I received food stamps and medicare insurance for awhile. I needed it at the time but I also busted my ass to find work and get off it. Again I say, It was a hand up not a hand out. I could have taken cash assistance and LIHEAP (Low Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program) and rent suppliments and on and on and on. I didn’t because I don’t think it’s right. Our new prez. Comrade the Messiah is currently working to bail out everyone who is behind on their mortgage and to institute Gub’mint run health care. I wonder if Mary Harney is on her way here to advise him!
Hey, why should I bother paying my mortgage when the gub’mint will just pay it for me? Why bother working? I’ll just go on the dole. If I get sick the gub’mint will pay for my medical services! I’m going to stop buying fuel oil and paying my electric bills. LIHEAP will do that for me! The food stamp program will keep me fat too.
Come to think of it, I’m going to take some of my cash assistance and buy some Red Bull and Vodka!!!
Entitlements and Collectivism is WRONG!!
Robert – You should know bt now, that any time they lull the population into thinking they are being sensible, they will come up with something else that is so ludicrous that we wonder what planet they are on.
Susan – You have to feel sorry for Ryan and Plank, surely? It is very difficult to live on €500,000 or €800,000 a year these days and their jobs are so vital to the economy of the country? Plank in particular has an awful lot of legal bills to pay.
Ian – I saw that go out! Another class example of the eloquence and understanding that our ministers have for the facts?
Brianf – But we do agree. Anyone who is ill, incapacitated or who is leeching off society should be immediately sent off to The Camps. It is apparently a given right in the modern world to accumulate wealth at the expense of others, so those that fail to keep up should be penalised the heaviest. Why not go the whole hog, and exterminate anyone who a) hasn’t a highly paid job, b) is too old to work and c) who is earning less than the average wage. That way you end up with a society were everyone is wealthy?
Well I have a very simple notion that any country that cannot take care of its elderly and its sick is not a civilised country at all.
What is the bloody point of organising ourselves into a society and then behaving like mere animals?
There’s plenty of fat in Quango Ireland that could be trimmed long before we start pushing our old people under the poverty line. There’s plenty of fat in Fianna Fail bank accounts we could trim as well.
The last people to suffer in a crisis should be the poorest, the sickest or the oldest.
I like the idea of voluntary execution at 65 years of age. Run that for a few years and then make it mandatory except for those who wish to, and are proven capable of, working for a living until the age of 70. Then that’s it.
At that point they can just shoot ’em and send the remains to be processed for fertilizer.
You’re in rare form today, Grandad.
The thing about “entitlements” in this country is that that’s what they are – entitlements. As insurance contributors we are entitled to claim on our policies when something goes wrong or when the conditions of the policy are fulfilled.
As contributors to Social Insurance we are entitled to claim when we’re sick, unemployed or old. That’s the way it is here and unless the FFers change the terms of our policies they cannot legally refuse to pay.
Captain – You should have realised that there are some elements of society that are untouchable. I refer of course to the government themselves, the Seanad, quangos, consultancy firms, builders, horse breeders, the wealthy, the Catholic Church and in fact anyone who has contributed to the FF coffers. That leaves the poor, the sick, the young, the elderly and the special needs. Guess which group the government are hammering????????
Kirk M – That should be extended to anyone who is not actively contributing to society. Everyone under the age of 21 and over the age of 65 should be shot on sight.
King’s Bard [your highness] – That is exactly what they are trying to do. They are talking of withdrawing priviledges that have been there for generations. They seem to be able to change the terms of any policy unless of course it is something like their entitlements to allowances.
Why stop at the elderly? We just keep going until we have killed, I mean liberated, enough people that the rest can survive in the manner in which we have become accustom. Let me see add 5 subtract 3, carry the 1, ah here is the answer, we kill, err liberate, everyone over the age 12. The 0-11 year olds will have enough money and jobs to support themselves.
Umm, you could eliminate entire future populations that way. Of course, that would solve the whole problem of entitlements and moronic governmental decisions rather nicely in a pragmatic sort of way. Remove the human factor by removing the humans and everything falls back into harmonious balance.
@Jim C. – I sense a “Children of the Corn” scenario here seasoned with a dash of “Lord of the Flies”.
“And the Children Will Lead”?
Ok I feel better after my rant. If memory serves me correctly I was the one who posed the idea of rounding up all the skobies and skangers, in Croke Park, by offering them free track suits and Addidas sneakers and then either bombing them or use artillery to cull their numbers.
You guys could do something similar for Old Folks, Yummy Mummies, Travelers, Ian Paisley, People from Cavan, D4 kids who use rhyming slang, Drug Addicts, SUV drivers, Poles, Politicians, Cat Owners, Brits, Muslims, People who drink Coors Light, Tea Totalers, Norn Iron Loyalists, Enviornmental Whackos, Commies, Bono, Shane McGowan, Daniel O’Donnell, Techo-Peasants, Enya, Celtic Woman (they may need to be the first against the wall), Accountants, Boy Racers, Lawyers, Teenage Moms, Insurance Salesmen and Pollsters for a start!
I do believe that Social Welfare should be very carefully scrutinised to make savings but Jesus, leave the elderly the fuck alone. There’s gotta be something fundamentally wrong with a social welfare system when immigrants can claim child support for their children even if those children have never been to Ireland.
Jack
Your point is valid but on the other hand if foreign nationals can’t claim the full range of benefits they should have a reduced rate of PRSI contribution.
Ya make me glad that my Irish Grandad died before being allowed to spout off such Celtic Crap as yourself on this http://WWW….
An indeed, Granpaw, what tit did you suck on that gives you such power to pontificate on the state of your nation…no doubt a pension you enjoy by back then just showing up and running your mouth. Tis no wonder Ireland and its pundents are so irrelevent in the world today…pissing and moaning about what to to do with your socially irrelevant elderly….At least the builders upstairs are doing somethin productive while you sit at your desk and scratch your balls while waiting for the next great rant to come and make you the media star you know you are…or were…If you are Irelands greatest blogger then Brendan Behan should indeed rise from his grave and bust your balls in a fit of empassioned engagement. We can only wonder reading you vs him who got/has more balls. An, have a nice day, make a killing, kill a commie for Christ, take a banker to lunch, the parish priest to task, a politician to your vision. Who knows, you may be the last best hope for Erie to sink back into the shit hole it was before the Celtic Tiger arose and sold its souls to the capitalist demands. An did they build a Intel plant over you grandmas pete bog so’s ya cant stay warm through this great coming cold depression ? Would ya rather have sheep in the meadow or in the Dail, on your block ?
Wake up Erie ! When all politic is corrupt and your culture is in decline, look to your clan/tribe to survive. Will there be a potato to share at the next Finnigans wake ? We pray, yes ,an a bit of mutton stew too.
@Kings Bard: Of course they shouldn’t. I don’t claim child support yet I pay full PRSI. If those children were living in Ireland then I wouldn’t have a problem with it but they’re not and we’re picking up the tab for them.
Robert WG – I…. That is to say…… I mean….. What?
It allows me to call bullshite on you and you on me…I mean Grandad that what an old American Negro said to me many years ago was, ” Money talks, bullshit walks”. Now it dont mean to say that money is the answer to our ills but that if you have some its a blessing to be exploited. Through your pension and my American Social Security we are allowed to rant an rave on this medium without supplication to the powers that be in the Old medium. What da fuck ! We are blessed with this medium of self expression without the filters of the Old Media…Now, we can fuckin rant without the high priests of the Old Media censoring our words with their priestly prouncements of our erroronious ways. So, Fuck em,we have now a medium that allows us to be the lunatics that have a place across from the Church where we can rant an rave to our hearts delight. Tis indeed delightful to be a ranter and raver to such a world wide audience such as you’ve acquired, eh ? Whats me point ? You an me have a pulpit on which to pimp our point. ‘Whats the point ? I would hope that its to move our politic and our culture beyond the culture of today and into a more meaningful discussion on how we deal with the issues of Tomorrow. I would like to think as I go to me grave that I left my world a bit more better then we lived it because I was there and had a say in it.
Now, if your blog is worth anything its to say to the future, this is what it was, this is what we would wish it to be, this is the where we would wish, dream you to be…I wonder Grandad, do we have it within us to be an outline for the future or just another shadow of the past ?
Thoughfully,
RWG
Hmmm, this thread is getting more interesting than usual. The site that RWG links to especially.
Either you have inherited yourself a troll, one of your regulars is having a bit of fun or the man is genuine and should consider starting his own blog judging by his unique style of writing.
Maybe all three?
Tis nice to be acknowledged by me beers, er, peers, Grandad is the Medium, whats the message ? RWG
I am hearing voices from Beyond the Divide……..
RWG – I have loads of message for the future generations. That is my problem – to much to say. I cite as my qualitication the fact that I have lived here for sixty [very] odd years and know what this country was like, is like and what it could be. If I stir the shit in the process then so much the better.
Kirk M – This was an unplanned piece that I wrote entirely off the cuff. That link is RWG’s site. He is genuine [in that he has posted before] and it is beyond me why he doesn’t start his own blog.
Are you still listening RWG?
Grandad – Unplanned piece? My, how bloggish of you. That’s where some of the best (and occasionally worst) stuff comes from. 😛
Yup, he needs his own blog…definitely. Guess I hadn’t come across his comments before but no one ever said I was the sharpest guy on the block.
Lucky for me that I dont have jack shit else to do but respond to this blog…Yeah, I shouuld shave off this beard and get a job as me mother told me too, years ago.
Now I’m stuck in a desert oasis with nothing to do but respond to me critics across the pond.
Granpaw is indeed a fine Muse for us Irish out here in the wilderness that is our America, Arizona today where we wake up every morning to sunshine and the scent of sagebrush, the howl of coyotes down the canyon. Indeed it beats the shit out of crawling the Malls for horny widows. (But thats not to say we would not welcome a horny widow to our oasis)
Ah yes, me own Blog. Why not, why so ? What if we lost our Net Connect as we have lost so many connections before ?
Kids, wives, loved ones, people back down the road of life that said they loved ya, Whats love got to do with it ?, as Tina sang, she say, “its a second hand emotion”…Dah ?
That Grandpaw is a presence on this WWW is a blessed distraction from the boredom of being Old today in America
We have no pretensions, no nothing to sell, thus, why would we want to Blog with anyone except for the joy of connecting with a world beyond our borders in fraternal brother/sister hood ? If their is a brother or sister out there who thinks
that they have something to say then we can say it, right here, in real time…Thank Dog, er, God, er Grandpa for that.
I saw a big billboard the other day in Tempe, Arizona, it said,
“Need Help,
Call Jesus
1 800 Yo Mamma” (or something like that)
So I called the number an later a Mexican with a tow truck showed up.
Go figger , opportunity
Please do encourage us to expand our borders…There is life beyond these Arizona cliffs, we are not so isolated that we can not communicate with the unknown, the “others” who would/could inform our waining days.
To all, a good day’
RWG
RWG,
You really need to learn, “The Lizards Rule of Life”!
I think you’ve been out in the sun too long.
Stay out of the Sun
Move little during the day.
Live at night.
This bit of free advice brought to you by a former Tucsonian.
RWG – D’you mean to say that you spend your days in the middle of the desert doing nothing but reading this shite? Weird.
Why not start your own blog? And who cares if your Net Connect goes down? We can wait for a week or two. What we need is an Irish perspective on Ireland from the viewpoint of someone living in the desert in Arizona, with occasional input from a horny widow or a coyote. I think it could be a best seller?
I’ll add my own vote on that. Why not start a blog? All it costs is hosting (cheap) and a bit of learning on your part which idiots like myself can help with. From there it’s all fun and games…
…more or less.
Besides, there’s a sad lack of unique voices out there. And the majority of those hang around here so you can count ’em.
I’ll save you a spot in my sidebar just in case.
Bloody Hell! All we need is Sixty adding his voice and we would have a full quorum?
Cheap hosting? If cash is an issue, there is even free hosting at WordPress. No excuses accepted, or hostages taken.
He’s probably in bed by now. All that worrying about the economy tires him out.
All the more reason to add to The Old Fart’s Committee. We are all too prone to dozing off in times of emergency. Anyway, it’s my bedtime too.. 😐
In bed!?!!?! It’s nearly 7pm there!
C’mon RWG! where are ya’?
Indeed, the whiskey took it toll and I’m back up from the nap delighted that I’ve roused some ire in Erie and beyond.
So, its a sunset cup of tea for me and a mind to answering the mail accumulated as I snoozed.
Ya’ll are on to something I’ve been contemplating for awhile now…To Blog or not to Blog, is that a question ? Grandad, it does work for you but I’m not sure yet that I’ve anything to say that anyone in their right mind would like to hear. I’m seventy one years on this planet and am in wonder of what ta fuck I’m still doing here after so many years of self abuse.
Or, as the Nuns would say, “Bobby is such a jack off”.
Married four times to Herself, Her Selfish, Her Shitfaced and Her Sweetheartself that the Alzheimers took, we are well aware of how relationships shape our days and send boogiemen to haunt our dreams of today and tomorrow. An yes, Grandpaw, after a lifetime of living on this great stinking of sagebrush desert we have become furtive creatures like the fox and coyotes that pass through our camp on their way down the canyon to a better hunting ground. There is nothing worse then being up a creek without a bottle or some smoke , grub and gas, thus we
have to decend into the Phoenix rising and pay our due to the culture that informed our earlier productive days. Yup, I was once a Producer of rock n roll shows, brought the Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, Jethro Tull an others to our stinking desert in the 1960’s, hung out with the radio guys who cut our sixtie second spots and never demanded head from a Honey for a backstage pass. Sucker !
So for now its back to the bunk to sleep, perchance to dream of a skinny assed Irish lass sitting on me chest peeling an apple an singing a low sweet song..Ah, we should be so lucky, blessed, cursed.
Thank you one and all for the encouragement…Indeed, we have a lady working on getting me blog template established and I am looking forward to posting me own rants, reflections and bobservations.
Grandad, we did open a blog account somewhere and will be delighted to join the Old Farts Gasbag Review…From what I’ve followed in your blog you are for sure giving the future generations the great gift of, “Arsehole Attitude” that will be needed to survive the coming dark daze. And, I’m not just sitting up here dicking around reading obsecure blogs all day but seriously writing my biography which I intend to serialize on the blog. Its titled, “Showing Up” after Woody Allens line, “80% of life is just showing up” and indeed I have shown up in some pretty interesting places with some wild and weird characters over my 50+ years of rock n roll an saloons.
Brian, Yes we have learned to be as the critters hereabouts and hole up in the heat of the day and come out to hunt in the coolHot of the evenings…We are expecting the Buzzworms (rattlesnakes) to be out any day now as its been in the 80’s If you’ve lived in the Old Pueblo you know to watch where you step and to shake out your boots in the morning least a scorpion has taken up residence overnignt.
With a tip of me hat, thats that….
RWG