Indymedia Regular running for President !!??

by paulc Mon Sep 20, 2004 21:43

ok sometimes publicity stunts work sometimes they discredit you further...?

by vs supporter Mon Sep 20, 2004 22:02

When was he discredited in the first place? Or you doin ff dirty work this evening?

by * Mon Sep 20, 2004 22:24

RTE News this evening at 9pm in a long report on the upcoming presidential election which dealt with Dana, Greenies and Labour and their various embarrasments and difficulties managed not to even mention that Vincent S. has put himself forward as a candidate and that he has begun seeking enough support to make a run possible. I wonder why? Cu Cullen and his partys candidate must be pleased.

Am going to await QUANDA and Morning Ireland with interest to see if there is a 'one party state broadcaster' across the board policy to kill his candidacy by pretending it does not exist.

by * Mon Sep 20, 2004 22:28

Salafia to seek nomination

In related news, the heritage protection campaigner, Vincent Salafia, has announced his intention to seek a nomination for the forthcoming presidential election, which will take place on 22 October.

Mr Salafia, a US-trained lawyer, is currently the PRO for the group campaigning against the construction of the M3 motorway in the Tara-Skryne valley in Co Meath.

He said he was confident of securing the necessary support because he was independent and not affiliated to any political party.

by vs supporter Mon Sep 20, 2004 22:32

The heritage protection campaigner Vincent Salafia has announced his intention to seek a nomination for the forthcoming presidential election on October 22nd.

Mr Salafia, a US-trained lawyer, is currently the public relations officer for the group campaigning against the construction of the M3 motorway in the Tara-Skryne valley in Co Meath.

He has also been involved in the campaigns to protect Carrickmines Castle in Co Dublin and Trim Castle in Co Meath.

Mr Salafia said today that he was seeking the support of 20 Oireachtas members to get his name on the ballot paper for the presidential election.

He said he was confident of securing the necessary support because he was independent and not affiliated to any political party.

Mr Salafia said he believed that, while heritage protection may seem like a narrow platform, it converged with a number of other important issues, including planning, corruption, economic policy, public transport, foreign investment and the democratic rights of citizens.

He also said he would be campaigning for a more compassionate society and a more equal distribution of wealth.

"Ireland is the most successful, capitalistic country in the world, but with that success and power should come compassion and duty," he said. "Sadly, we seem to be ignoring that, since Ireland now has the most uneven distribution of wealth in the EU."

by Michael Hennigan - Finfacts.com Mon Sep 20, 2004 23:32

Re attribution to Vincent: 'He said he was confident of securing the necessary support because he was independent and not affiliated to any political party.'

Most of the independent T.D's are one-issue constituency messengers. who cold shouldered a colleague, Eamon Ryan.

As this election should be no surprise to anyone, it's a pity that candidates didn't get in on the act earlier.

by Elaine Tue Sep 21, 2004 00:28

You got my vote. (Unfortunately I'm not a member of the oireachteas.)

by Tipser Tue Sep 21, 2004 12:51

'He said he was confident of securing the necessary support because he was independent and not affiliated to any political party.'

Shows how much he knows about politics. When you're not party affiliated, you have LESS chance of securing support. He should go look up the meaning of "political party" somewhere. It's as bad as Dana complaining that it's not fair that FF councillers aren't giving her support to run against their own candidate.

by redjade Tue Sep 21, 2004 13:38

...

by iosaf Tue Sep 21, 2004 14:30

sorry. I still hope Mary Kelly looks for a nomination, as she is the right sex, and has the right name - MARY.
she has reported to the Oireachtas select comitees on many occasions and has proved a wonderful presence in Irish politics for a really long time and is presently facing legal action for an act of civil disobedience.

MARY FOR PRESIDENT.
you know its the Irish way.

but if there isn't going to be a MK arás campaign oh well I suppose, we could risk losing Vincent for 7 years to the Phoenix park "above politics" vice regal lodge.

by % Wed Sep 22, 2004 18:59

I really hope this guy gets nominated somehow . He and his compadres fought the FF/PD government to a standstill at Carrickmines and look likely to do the same at Tara.

I have not seen any political party willing to fight the present undemocratic PD controlled Junta on any level in the last while. Especially on the level of ideas. Part Rabbit is the worst. He is a windbag who couldn't fight his way out of a bag of wind and is afraid to associate himself with any 'left' ideas beyond vapid and diffuse nods to 'fairness'. The Greens and so on are just as bad. They couldn't even keep an eye on the trees on O'Connell Street they made such a big deal of chaining themselves to on O'Connell Street

Talked to the friendly 'feet in mouth' Journo who answered the phone in the RTE newsroom about this yesterday. We were wondering round ours why VS's decision to seek nominations and run was being blanked by the RTE television news and by the Chair of QUANDA on the evening he had held a press conference saying he was running and looking for nominations etc. We wanted to know why? Despite the news being promptly and reasonably comprehensively reported on the RTE News Web pages it was not in the regular bulletins and was just about mentioned in passing - 'tvincent s- that carrickmines guy' on 57 live.

The friendly Journo claimed first of all that RTE HAD covered the story on 5/7 live. He was asked if he was referring in this to the passing mention on 5/7 live. He was. When further pressed as to why this info was pretty blatantly being kept out of the public eye he claimed that a number of other people were seeking nominations to run and that in the interests of some kind of consistency they were not covering all of these people. He was then challenged to name anyone of these 'other' people he was referring to - no joy - he couldn't name any of them.

Then he was asked about DANA - why when she had no nominations was she getting such wall to wall coverage? The awnser boiled down to Dana being Different because she had previously run in elections.

All of this as readers may appreciate seems quite anti-democratic - on the part of Labour and greens for shirking, FG for lining up with the government, and worst of all and most questionable - RTE deliberately trying and largely succeeding in creating a public impression that DANA is the only possible alternative and the only person seeking nominations.

So good on me Salafia for standing up and fighting as this Examiner news report shows him to be doing.

"Presidential candidate Vincent Salafia has said he will seek legal advice over the alleged agreement between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael on the forthcoming election.
He has questioned whether the political parties are acting illegally by preventing candidates from contesting the presidential election, which is scheduled for October 22.
Mr Salafia has taken court action to prevent work taking place on the M50 motorway at Carrickmines in Dublin and is seeking 20 Oireachtas signatures to run for president.
Fine Gael is already putting its weight behind Mary McAleese. Candidates like Mr Salafia and Dana Rosemary Scallon are finding it difficult to get backing in order to enter the race. With 10 days left before nominations close, Mr Salafia has said he is getting legal advice on the rules for entering the presidency."

by newstalk 106 listener Thu Sep 23, 2004 11:33

Orla Barry openly dismisses Salafia saying hes doing a 'publicity stunt' and 'elections cost money'

as if democracy was supposed to happen on a small budget and wasnt supposed to bring publicity to issues!

Orla get a clue!

but fairplay to Orla and 106 for at least covering Salafia's presidential attempt.

by sniper Thu Sep 23, 2004 23:17

QUOTE:""Ireland is the most successful, capitalistic country in the world, but with that success and power should come compassion and duty," he said. "Sadly, we seem to be ignoring that, since Ireland now has the most uneven distribution of wealth in the EU.""

Why doesn't he cut out the waffle and gibberish ? Wouldn't it be a lot easier and more to the point to say:
"Ireland is the most successful, capitalistic country in the world. Ireland now has the most uneven distribution of wealth in the EU."

Where the f**k did anyone ever see "compassion and duty" coming with "success and power" ?
What planet is he on ... ?

The guy seems to spout as much nonsensical verbiage as your average party politician ...

Who would want to trust a US-trained lawyer anyway ......... ?
Better off voting for your local used car salesman ......

by iosaf Fri Sep 24, 2004 15:57

the office of President replaced that of Governer General in the Free State.
The Governer General replacing the Vice Roy or (King's representative).
During the Free State, the office was reduced in symbolism and "pomp" and no official residency was given.
De Valera's constitution and regime saw the Presidency replace Governer General (and the prescribing sovreignty changed from British monarchy to Irish people) and the office holder housed (at our expense) in the former Vice Regal Lodge. When De Valera finally left the Dail, he moved to Aras an hUachtaran where he lived out another two (seven year) terms as "symbolic final authority of the Irish legislature and chief of staff of the Irish defence forces".
This all seemed wonderfully democratic, but it would have been more honest if we had just called him "el caudillo" and let him wear his volunteer uniform till the last bloody day.

The office (created by DeValera for DeValera) has only once attempted to exercise it's power and not ratify a decision made by the Dail (DeValera's party). The resulting crises saw the president in question resign.

For the last twenty years the office has been held by a woman named Mary, and become associated with feeble attempts to symbolise reconciliation with northern unionists.

However please note - The president of Ireland has never received an official welcome by the sovreign of England.
The holder of the governer general's office has met with that monarch, but without state flying of Irish flags (on government buildings or the Mall) and without proper protocol and thus without proper respect or due recognition.

I'm with Joe Higgins.
Abolish it.
or...
move the office holder back to a council estate. Tim Healy seemed happy enough there.








read it at the link-

by radiorenter Fri Sep 24, 2004 21:14

yeah abolish the arse an t-uachtaran, it may take sometime boys, in the meantime before mc aleese gets it handed on a platter, salafia is good for a good ol' debate on worthwhile issues, surely this is the better option!
Maybe we could convince him to sack himself and abolish the position once he's there and we'll have a joint hooly in the phoenix park, for reclaiming it and vincents retirement......yaahoo