RTE Censor Comments about Martin

by Akrasia Sun Dec 19, 2004 13:18

Are mental. If anyone sues RTE and wins over this then we might as well give up on this island and move to sweden.

by iosaf of the memes Sun Dec 19, 2004 15:08

1)
drugs are valued in different ways. Gore Vidal once pointed out in his column that the police over in engurlund had a tendancy to overvalue the drugs they confiscated, publishing their value @ "street level" and minimum purity. This of course meant that caches of drugs of the magnitude of a ton, or more would be calculated on the basis of little packets being passed around by poor dealers of the neighbourhoods so belovèd of the cringing liberals and their often well heeled well educated and well housed pals so belovèd of the cringing conservatives.
Of course the trans-national drug trade doesn't work that way, your kids buy drugs in small amounts, they don't take a boat out into the Atlantic and negotiate deals for a few hundred kilos. "I have trouble sleeping your honour / I have trouble staying awake your honour".
Thus in a way, do the police globally "up their successes" and keep the focus on attention on the street dealer/user and not on the really big wholesale dealers. It might be more useful to general social understanding if the Gardaí were to actually inform us how much is paid for a 100kilos of cocaine, or 100 kilos of hashish or 100 kilos of heroin, and then we could work it out using our slide rules and think- oooooo what bad value for money.
2)
Many people worry about the safety of Colombia. There are millions of people living there, and believe it or not, most don't have a good breakfast, don't have a mortgage, and don't take an active part in the militias who are fighting wars "on their behalf".
3)
The Vatican has offered legal assistance to the man with the red moustache who is blamed with chemical weaponing the Kurds.
***********************************
Now felatio used to be "no-no", just like "cunilingus", if we all were leviticus types, we'd be using little sheets with a small holes, and incidently not reading any shakespeare or cervantes. RTE were quite right though to censor this type of thing, and ought be installing some type of guidelines against this type of "trolling". It would be very bad for the political image of Ireland at home and abroad, if the idea of our elected representatives dealing with the swallow or spit question were aired.

Bravo! RTé!

by Cats Whiskers Sun Dec 19, 2004 21:15

I heard the programme.

Apart from being obscene the remark was defamatory in character.

I will not be surprised if RTE are sued for libel. If the plaintiff wins TV licence holders will fund this thanks to the muppet who uttered the remark.

Whilst agreeing that our defamation laws need to be loosened up to facilitate free speech I don't think we can liberalise to the point that people can say whatever the hell that they like about someone else and wantonly damage a good reputation.

Incidentally, I don't think that RTE are engaging in censorship by pulling the programme from the archive. To leave the programme in the public archive would be to continue to "publish" the remark and that could ratchet up the level of damages.

by John McDermott - www.soldiersofdestiny.org Sun Dec 19, 2004 21:53 jmcd444 at yahoo dot com

I hope that my previously published christmas poem was not the cause of such awful commotion in the body politic. It seems to me that a mature broadcasting company such as R.T.E. must be aware that they cannot control anything said on the airwaves if the broadcast is spontaneous...
So if a libel suit is successful,have R.T.E.who garner so much of our money in licencing fees,been ill advised by their legal guardians up to now.?

Monica Leech you are truly a peech,
lovely Soldier of Destiny:
You spin and you win,
and new votes you bring in;
and your loyalty is only to me.

Thee, I must surely reward,
so your tender, put forward,
as I have many coins to disburse;
accompany me, over land and sea,
and together we will empty the citizen,s purse.!

Some people speculate,
if we both sleep in late;
on some junket in far off lands.
What they do not realise,
A cigarette is my prize,
and all of the gossip is lies.

We have travelled afar
and seen many a star;
In the heavens of far off lands.
Soul mates we may be,
in our Destiny,
In truth we have never held hands.

Roughshod I may ride,
crush Heritage with Pride;
For my highways traverse Erin,s land.
Royal Tara may disappear,
neath my tyrannous sneer;
as I mix new cement with the sand.

But my love affair,
when I leave my lair;
is a lady named "Waterford"
And a highway or two,
plus a local hospital new,
To this end all my schemings are toward.!

Monica Leech,
you I beseech;-
to be always by my side.
You cost twice as much,
as other some sutch;-
but Carr is a faithless spin-bride.

For Monica Lewinsky
I dont give a shinsky.!
Only voters suck up to me.
My Monica Leech
is a precious peech;
A true Soldier of Destiny.!

Merry Christmas dear mugs,
from all of us thugs,-
I,m off to the Fianna Fail bash.!
And a happy Yuletide,
From my new P.R. bride,
whose banked all your hard earned cash.!
(P.S. ...I had nothing to do with this.!)

by iosaf moniker monkey tribe Mon Dec 20, 2004 11:11

Bertie, I have to follow John on this one with the disclaimer, and despite my comments which followed the publication on our open network of his christmas poem, I too had nothing to do with the anonymous caller. We are closely associated in cyber space but not the same person. His poem first appeared here-
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=67916
& my comment in which I did refer to the act of felatio celebrated by former President Clinton and another Monica, and I did use the "vulgar expression" -
"I somehow prefer a President who gets his dick sucked to one who invades Iraq.
Maybe I'm a moral relativist, but Monica's stained dress never brought terror to my neighbours." I did not mean any muppets to phone in and "save" the ministerial career of Deputy Cullen the man who's doing his best to put a motorway through Tara.

Now naturally we over in indymedia are very worried about this "Bertie's shocked and looking further into it", and as you must know by now, our system allows for anonymous contributions, and not even the FBI have won the right to bring our "ISP list" into evidence c/f
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=66966
We call this "stickiness"
This means we often have to put up with lots of wankers (who we call trolls) and your pal mc Dowell gets see lots of "background noise" as they say in the intelligence community, but no-one ever really gets fingered.

Of course using a conditional expression might have got the anonymous caller into the permanant record, "if Minister Cullen is engaging in acts of felatio with a close associate, and not returning the joy of cunilingus, he mightn't have enough time to worry about the ancient cultural value of Tara"

by - Mon Dec 20, 2004 11:22

is worth many a Monica in the Bush.

by Akrasia Mon Dec 20, 2004 13:03

Doesn't that only happen if people believe the defamation? Just because one anonymous person says "maybe she sucks his cock" doesn't suddenly defame his character because it wouldn't influence any intelligent person to believe this if they otherwise would not.

Before this program i heard many media comentators speculate as to whether or not there was a personal relationship between Mr Cullen and Ms leeche (great name btw)
This is just polite speak for "maybe she wsa sucking his cock" and to be fair, Cullen's actions towards this woman do lead people to quiery this possibility. If it is not libel to imply that there is a 'personal relationship' then why is it libelous to say "maybe she was sucking his cock". It means the same thing.

If the this goes to the courts and RTE either plead no contest or lose, then his is a very sad time for freedom of press and the possibility that any tough questions may be asked in the future.

by Marco Mon Dec 20, 2004 16:24

Hello,
I did not hear the incident but from reading the quotes I dont see anything wrong (other than the inappropiate language). He used the term "if" so its wild speculation and should be viewed that way. This talk of a libel case sounds like Ms. Leeche's skills as a PR girl coming to the fore and blowing (excuse me) this minor incident out of all proportions, thus pushing the real matter under the carpet. If this case does go to court will they have to prove nothing ever happened between them? How is this possible? Maybe the gardi could search her wardrobe for black dresses.

Martin has to go though - and I think all taxpayer monies paid to individuals for 'consultancy' work should be disclosed, here, now.

by John McDermott - removefiannafail Mon Dec 20, 2004 21:49 jmcd444 at yahoo dot com Blowing in the wind...

The Taoiseach last week ,announced his willingness to permit an investigation into the “Monicagate affair”,to quell rising public anger.
He stated ;
“The main and only issue was whether the Minister was within his rights to make the appointment of Ms Leech in a single tender process”
However the main issue for most citizens is that Fianna Fail Ministers would reward their close cronies and supporters,with a veritable kings ransom,for doing a clerical officer,s work under a sexed up “public relations”pretext.
Also,how many more such “golden handshakes”,lie buried in the long grass,where the Soldiers of Destiny,daily stalk the taxpayers of Ireland.?

by John McDermott - Removefiannafail Wed Dec 22, 2004 13:28 jmcd444 at yahoo dot com

NO CHRISTMAS CHEERS ,AS OLD FOLKS CASH DISAPPEARS;
SCROOGE,-TRICKS COULD LEARN-FROM BERTIE AHERN.
While Fianna Fail could spend 200,000 taxpayers Euros on a one day propaganda blitz in the media to justify the destruction of Royal Tara and the beautiful Dalgan Park Demesne,
with a new motorway;-the same week,they rush in emergency legislation to deprive the poorest of the poor, of what is rightfully owed to them.
A rampaging gang of heartless Soldiers have been mugging medical card holding, old age pensioners,asleep in their nursing home beds.
The so called “Soldiers of Destiny gang have also stolen a cool 11 billion Euros from Irish taxpayers in the past year alone.
Some of the money has been “laundered’ by Fianna Fail Councillors countrywide who heretofore supervised remote fiefdoms such as Cavan Hospital,where idle administrators,nurses,and feuding consultants have been roaming the empty corridors and wards for years!
The leader of the “Soldiers” Bertie Ahern has confessed his inability to contain the excesses of the most unruly elements under his control,and has appointed a special High Envoy,one Mata Harney,who has been granted unlimited powers,to deal with the crisis .
The powerful public service unions are gearing up to combat this arrogant interference with their members cushy jobs-as are the disgruntled local councilors who face losing massive perks,such as travel expenses, etc etc.
Heartless Bertie has however announced a complete amnesty for those of his soldiers who stole from the poorest of the poor,the medical card holding, old age pensioners.They will keep the bulk of their ill gotten gains.
“This is a once off amnesty for my men”,he declared from the back of his reindeer drawn state Mercedes car,as he distributed the crumbs and morsels from the T.D.s Annual Leinster House Christmas Banquet,to the stray dogs and mangy curs foraging for scraps,in the rubbish bins on the side lanes,near Kildare Street.
He was dressed in red for the occasion,as befitted his new socialist credentials.
A long white false beard was wrapped around his hard neck.A troublesome T.D. named Joe Higgins,had to be removed by police.He accused Bertie of stealing not only his cape,but his credentials,passport and good name,besides.
Bertie added “ It’s a load of rubbish .As for refunding the cold folk their money,eaten bread is soon forgotten,(we hope) .At any rate my Ministers have already spent all that old age pension money, on spin doctors,and beautiful P.R. consultants.!
Merry Christmas all,from Leinster House.Scrooge is alive and well .
From your great Socialist Leader, Bertee-scru-yu.
www.soldiersofdestiny.org

by John McDermott - www.soldiersofdestiny.org Thu Dec 23, 2004 11:19 jmcd444 at yahoo dot com

Glad to see my poetic masterpieces,literary gems and cutting political analysis still intact on Indymedia.
Guard your hard drives and discs diligently.!
It would seem that following a raid (or complaint)on a rival Irish website for budding young students of politics,and precocious pimply young Soldiers of Destiny,- by agents of the Fianna Fail Truth Censorship Board (formerly known as the “ Five Pee’s Board”(Prevention of Paedophile Priests , Pregnancies, and Prophylactics), all discussion on the lovely young peech from Waterford,Monica; has ceased abruptly, and my contributions disappeared into the great galactic black hole of silence and secrecy that has been a feature of the Fianna Fail/Catholic Church/G.A.A. Axis of Evil, Body , Mind ,and Press,Control Program, for many decades.
I am old enough to remember that its not long ago since the mention of a Prominent Personage/Politician’s misdeeds, brought greedy willing lawyers knocking on the door of ‘The Irish Independent’or similar newspapers, for 50,000 old Irish pounds plus costs,please.
The Internet does much for free unfettered discourse.
Merry Christmas, to those unseen, dedicated workers in Indymedia who make it happen.

by pc Thu Dec 23, 2004 14:05

its probably still here probably cause nobody read it, i didn't.

by John McDermott - removefiannafail Thu Dec 23, 2004 21:59 jmcd444 at yahoo dot com Sometimes here,sometimes elswhere

Judging by the traffic jams in Dublin,since I returned here for a brief sojourn,it would be a miracle if anyone else had the time to read it either.!
How do people even find time to work anymore-if anyone does.

by äà€ñ·othêrºª Fri Dec 24, 2004 10:40

and i'm not home, i got the character set to prove it.
merry christmas to all those "seen" and "unseen".
let's all be more pleasant to each other next year.

by John McDermott - removefiannafail Fri Dec 24, 2004 20:00 jmcd444 at yagoo dot com

According to the Phoenix magazine this week the Monicagate affair went completely unreported by the local media,both radio and press,in the Waterford area.!
None so blind as those who don't want to see.?

by pc Fri Dec 31, 2004 21:41

"RTE were quite right though to censor this type of thing, and ought be installing some type of guidelines against this type of "trolling". " sharp comment there iosaf but REt didn't need to remove the whole show just beep the offfending comment which we all know now anyway or could read in the newswire list...

by maggotbrain Sun Jan 09, 2005 17:19

for damages in six figures - ie hundreds of thousands - just because some guy blurted out the above which I believe is more construeanble as a smutty joke than as a libel or slander. Upwards of half the adult population of the country were thinking and talking along similar lines when the story broke initially.

Politicks - many bloodsucking insects.

RTE are a bunch of craven ff bootlickers if they give master of political sleaze Cu Cullen a penny of our hard earned dollers because of this. Worse if they pursue the (cork?) joker for punitive damages to pay off the Hound and his B****.