text:
Order of Business.
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Dáil Eireann Debate
The Taoiseach: It is proposed to take No. 5, Financial Measures (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009, Order for Second Stage and Second and Remaining Stages; and No. a 10, Financial Measures (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009 — Financial Resolution, which is on the Supplementary Order Paper. It is proposed, notwithstanding Standing Orders, that the Dáil shall sit later than 8.30 p.m. and business shall be interrupted not later than 10 p.m.; and No. a 10 shall be moved immediately on the conclusion of Second Stage of No. 5 and shall be decided [440]without debate. The following arrangements shall apply on No. 5. — the proceedings on Second Stage shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion at 7 p.m. and a Minister or Minister of State shall be called upon to make a speech in reply which shall not exceed five minutes; the proceedings on the Committee and Remaining Stages shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion at 10 p.m. tonight by one question which shall be put from the Chair and which shall, in relation to amendments, include only those set down or accepted by the Minister for Finance. In the event a division is in progress at the time fixed for taking Private Members' business, which shall be No. 75 — motion re children's hospital funding, Standing Order 117(3) shall not apply and Private Members' business shall be adjourned after 90 minutes tonight. Parliamentary questions next for answer by the Taoiseach on EU matters shall be taken on the same day as the statements on the EU Council meeting in Brussels, scheduled to be taken on Wednesday, 24 June 2009, and shall be moved to be taken first as ordinary oral questions to the Taoiseach on that day.
An Ceann Comhairle: There are five proposals to be put to the House. Is the proposal that the Dáil shall sit later than 8.30 p.m. agreed to? Agreed. Is the proposal for dealing with No. a 10 agreed?
Deputy Richard Bruton: The Taoiseach and the Government propose to have a guillotine on this debate and there will be an hour and a half for Committee Stage with 19 amendments having been tabled. This is not trivial legislation; it currently involves a guarantee of €400 billion worth of assets being covered by the State. Few of the amendments will be reached or debated. Contrary to what the Taoiseach stated a moment ago, there has not been any review — or if there has it has not been made available to Members of the House who will be asked to vote on it. There has not been any report on the existing scheme. We have not been offered any guarantee, such as the Taoiseach outlined, that this would be confined to issues of the sort to which the Taoiseach referred. There is no sunset clause on these provisions.
We need to take ourselves seriously as a House. The Taoiseach will come here next week and bleat across the House that every time he comes up with something he is opposed, yet this serious legislation which he has brought to the House will almost inevitably be opposed tonight because most of the amendments seeking the protections that the House wants to debate and have included, if possible, will not have been reached. The Taoiseach must be reasonable with the House. We are attempting to deal with huge changes occurring in our community and are trying to debate them in a reasonable fashion. To be honest, I do not think the Government is interested in this debate. It has an aggrieved sense of self-righteousness. It pushes ahead with everything and dismisses this Chamber as a place to debate these important issues. I am getting fed up with it.
Deputy Joan Burton: I object to the way this Bill is being taken. The leader of the Labour Party has set out our concerns about the section of the Bill dealing with NAMA and the guarantee. In effect, it enables the establishment of NAMA and loans to be transferred at what will probably be very cheap prices. However, other parts of the Bill seriously deserve detailed scrutiny. Only in the past hour and a half I received from the Department of Finance — finally, after many requests — the schedule of the pension funds of the public bodies that will be transferred to and taken over by the State under this legislation. We will take over assets of €1.75 billion in those pensions funds but the liabilities, of which I have now been given a list, for the end of December 2008 run to more than €3 billion.
[441]Based on a quick reading in the time I have had to glance at it, in the case of FÁS the State will take over assets of €328 million and liabilities of €683 million; in the case of Trinity College Dublin — assets of €245 million and liabilities of €554 million; and in the case of the National University of Ireland- assets of €6 million and liabilities of €13 million. In what Parliament in the world would one find, along with very important banking matters, the taking over of assets of €1.75 billion to give the national balance sheet a bit of a boost under technical EU and ECB rules and, at the same time, the taking over of unexamined pension liabilities of more than €3 billion where some of the pensions funds have a deficit of more than 50%? Everybody knows pensions funds have fallen in the crash.
I am also told in the note that the IPA and the ESRI pension funds will be added on Committee Stage.
An Ceann Comhairle: The Deputy cannot go into detail on the legislation; she has made her point.
Deputy Joan Burton: The final section of the Bill has another very important provision to provide very important powers to the regulator on putting a life insurance company into administration. I asked the Department of Finance to explain what this provision is about. Is it about a particular life insurance company——
An Ceann Comhairle: The Deputy has made her point.
Deputy Joan Burton: ——or a company in this country working in life insurance?
An Ceann Comhairle: The Deputy must raise it later on.
Deputy Joan Burton: This is more use of the back door by a Government that is afraid to come in and face the people. Not only do we have one guillotine today, we have six this week. All I can say is that in terms of a functioning democracy if the Taoiseach wants to restore our credibility in the international financial markets this is not the way to do it. Members of the Opposition are not even given a proper briefing until an hour and a half prior to the Bill coming to the Chamber.
Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: Last Thursday, when the Taoiseach was not here, we had a proposition to apply a guillotine to the Broadcasting Bill and the Companies (Amendment) Bill. Representatives of the three Opposition parties appealed to the Tánaiste and the Chief Whip not to apply a guillotine because we did not have confidence that the Government had accurately measured the time required. Nevertheless, despite the Tánaiste chiding Opposition voices and the Government proceeding absolutely intent on its own purpose irrespective of what other opinion might be offered, the business of the House collapsed for more than three hours. How can we have confidence in a Government that cannot even measure the length of time required to address the passage of legislation let alone to govern?
Deputy Noel Dempsey: An Opposition that cannot fill the time it seeks.
Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: It cannot even govern the proposition——
An Ceann Comhairle: We will deal with this proposition here and now.
Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: ——of ordering business on any given day. Yet here we are again with guillotine after guillotine. We are being asked to rubber-stamp the serious measures contained in the Financial Measures (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill. The Government got it wrong last Thursday about the Broadcasting Bill and the Companies (Amendment) Bill and it [442]has it wrong again today about the Financial Measures (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill and we will not support the guillotine and this approach to very important matters.
The Taoiseach: I do not want to get into an argument or a match about it. Last Thursday we provided for too much time because the Broadcasting Bill finished an hour before——
Deputy Emmet Stagg: We said there was no need for a guillotine.
Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: It was explained repeatedly.
Deputy Emmet Stagg: The Government insisted on including a guillotine at time when it was unnecessary and we lost three and a half hours debating time.
The Taoiseach: The point is that the debate on the Bill ended an hour early. A guillotine becomes operable only if it is required. We had it on the Order Paper that if we reached a certain time, it would come to an end.
Deputy Emmet Stagg: It is only supposed to be for an emergency. That is the norm.
The Taoiseach: It did not come to that and, therefore, the guillotine did not become operative. In any event, that is not the issue under discussion.
Deputy Burton raised the question of the amendment of the Insurance (No. 2) Act 1983 and the Insurance Act 1989. This is being done to address a regulatory gap generally and it is not designed for any specific——
Deputy Joan Burton: To appoint an administrator to a life insurance business.
The Taoiseach: For the purpose of being helpful, I was explaining what it was. It is not being introduced for the reason given by the Deputy, which confirms a conspiracy theory she professes on all occasions. It relates to a regulatory gap in the Insurance Acts. Currently, the Financial Regulator can present a petition to the High Court for the administration of a non-life insurance undertaking and the appointment of an administrator, but there is no similar provision for life and reinsurance companies. This legislation will address that deficiency.
Deputy Joan Burton: Why the rush?
An Ceann Comhairle: Let the Taoiseach finish.
The Taoiseach: On the basis that we refer to the need to improve our regulatory provisions, this amendment will do so, and it is not being introduced for any other reason.
With regard to the other matters, it is necessary to proceed with this Bill. I take the point that there is much legislation to be gone through between now and the end of the term. Perhaps it would not be acceptable but if it would help in an effort to show good faith, the debate could be extended from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. but I cannot go beyond that.
Deputy Emmet Stagg: It needs another day.
Deputy Richard Bruton: On a point of order, is it not the case that action under the Bill the Taoiseach proposes to rush through tonight cannot be taken without the introduction of a scheme, which must be approved by the Oireachtas, and, therefore, there is absolutely no rush with this legislation because a scheme would have to follow it? The Government cannot act over the summer months without the scheme——
[443]An Ceann Comhairle: That is not a point of order.
The Taoiseach: As I stated in response to Deputy Gilmore earlier, we are providing for a means by which we can extend the State guarantee beyond 2010. The background to this is the ability to provide such a guarantee in respect of five-year securities that will become available on the money markets but which are not available to us at the moment.
A statutory instrument to facilitate eligible debt securities will have to be drafted and it will be presented to the Oireachtas shortly for approval under section 6(5) of the Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Act 2008. The Bill before the House must be enacted before the statutory instrument, subject to the prior approval of the Oireachtas, can be made. That is what we are doing. For us to get to the point for consideration to which the Deputy referred where the statutory instrument will have to be approved by the Oireachtas, we must amend this provision legislatively.
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: That is procedural rubbish.
The Taoiseach: No, it is not. These are the facts. Statutorily, we cannot provide a debt guarantee beyond September 2010. Issuing five-year money with a State guarantee to our banking system beyond 2010 will not be possible unless the legislation is amended.
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: Do it the right way and give the legislation a little time.
The Taoiseach: The reason we are amending the legislation is that we have been more prudent by issuing a state debt guarantee for only two years compared to others who issued such guarantees for far longer.
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: The Government knew this in April.
The Taoiseach: That is how bank guarantee schemes developed in other countries following the precedent we set, which was only for two years but with which the Deputy disagrees in principle in any event.
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: We were right.
The Taoiseach: That is the Deputy's position, but the fact is it provided us with financial stability at that time.
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: The Government has done nothing but pour money into the banks since.
The Taoiseach: The facts will prove that in due course.
Deputy Joan Burton: It did not work.
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: How much has it cost us so far? How many billion euro? It did not work.
The Taoiseach: It worked. Had we followed the Deputy's proposed line of action, we would not have a banking system and, therefore, we would not be having this discussion.
Deputy Michael D. Higgins: That is nonsense.
The Taoiseach: That is the answer to Deputy Bruton's point of order.
[444]Deputy Richard Bruton: The Government cannot have the statutory instrument without a positive resolution of the House.
The Taoiseach: That relates to the statutory instrument. We also have to amend this provision.
Deputy Richard Bruton: The Government could do the two together.
The Taoiseach: We are taking the opportunity of this miscellaneous provisions Bill to do that now. The further debate the Deputy wishes to have regarding the detail of the statutory instrument can be had because, as he said, prior approval of the Oireachtas is required for that to become operative.
We are advised by the Bills Office that a financial resolution must be moved on conclusion of Second Stage of this Bill to allow for discussion on amendments that may incur a cost to the public. Those are the arrangements we have. If it would be helpful in an act of good faith to the House, given the level of work to be done by the House and the importance parties are ascribing to this measure, we can undertake to extend the debate until 11 p.m. If not, we can leave it as it is.
Question put: "That the proposal for dealing with No. a 10 be agreed to."
The Dáil divided: Tá, 73; Níl, 67.
|Ahern, Dermot.
|Ahern, Michael.
|Ahern, Noel.
|Andrews, Barry.
|Andrews, Chris.
|Ardagh, Seán.
|Aylward, Bobby.
|Blaney, Niall.
|Brady, Áine.
|Brady, Cyprian.
|Brady, Johnny.
|Browne, John.
|Byrne, Thomas.
|Calleary, Dara.
|Carey, Pat.
|Collins, Niall.
|Conlon, Margaret.
|Connick, Seán.
|Coughlan, Mary.
|Cowen, Brian.
|Cregan, John.
|Cuffe, Ciarán.
|Cullen, Martin.
|Curran, John.
|Dempsey, Noel.
|Devins, Jimmy.
|Dooley, Timmy.
|Finneran, Michael.
|Fitzpatrick, Michael.
|Fleming, Seán.
|Flynn, Beverley.
|Gogarty, Paul.
|Gormley, John.
|Grealish, Noel.
|Hanafin, Mary.
|Harney, Mary.
|Haughey, Seán.
|Hoctor, Máire.
|Kelleher, Billy.
|Kenneally, Brendan.
|Kennedy, Michael.
|Kirk, Seamus.
|Kitt, Michael P.
|Kitt, Tom.
|Lenihan, Brian.
|Lenihan, Conor.
|McEllistrim, Thomas.
|McGrath, Mattie.
|McGrath, Michael.
|McGuinness, John.
|Martin, Micheál.
|Moloney, John.
|Moynihan, Michael.
|Nolan, M. J.
|Ó Fearghaíl, Seán.
|O'Brien, Darragh.
|O'Connor, Charlie.
|O'Dea, Willie.
|O'Flynn, Noel.
|O'Hanlon, Rory.
|O'Keeffe, Edward.
|O'Rourke, Mary.
|O'Sullivan, Christy.
|Power, Seán.
|Roche, Dick.
|Ryan, Eamon.
|Sargent, Trevor.
|Scanlon, Eamon.
|Smith, Brendan.
|Treacy, Noel.
|Wallace, Mary.
|White, Mary Alexandra.
|Woods, Michael.
|Bannon, James.
|Barrett, Seán.
|Behan, Joe.
|Broughan, Thomas P.
|Bruton, Richard.
|Burke, Ulick.
|Burton, Joan.
|Byrne, Catherine.
|Clune, Deirdre.
|Coonan, Noel J.
|Crawford, Seymour.
|Creed, Michael.
|Creighton, Lucinda.
|D'Arcy, Michael.
|Deasy, John.
|Deenihan, Jimmy.
|Doyle, Andrew.
|Durkan, Bernard J.
|English, Damien.
|Feighan, Frank.
|Ferris, Martin.
|Flanagan, Terence.
|Gilmore, Eamon.
|Hayes, Brian.
|Hayes, Tom.
|Higgins, Michael D.
|Hogan, Phil.
|Kehoe, Paul.
|Kenny, Enda.
|Lee, George.
|Lynch, Ciarán.
|Lynch, Kathleen.
|McCormack, Pádraic.
|McGinley, Dinny.
|McGrath, Finian.
|McHugh, Joe.
|McManus, Liz.
|Mitchell, Olivia.
|Morgan, Arthur.
|Neville, Dan.
|Noonan, Michael.
|Ó Caoláin, Caoimhghín.
|Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
|O'Donnell, Kieran.
|O'Dowd, Fergus.
|O'Keeffe, Jim.
|O'Mahony, John.
|O'Shea, Brian.
|O'Sullivan, Jan.
|O'Sullivan, Maureen.
|Penrose, Willie.
|Perry, John.
|Quinn, Ruairí.
|Rabbitte, Pat.
|Ring, Michael.
|Shatter, Alan.
|Sheahan, Tom.
|Sheehan, P. J.
|Sherlock, Seán.
|Shortall, Róisín.
|Stagg, Emmet.
|Stanton, David.
|Timmins, Billy.
|Tuffy, Joanna.
|Upton, Mary.
|Varadkar, Leo.
|Wall, Jack.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Pat Carey and John Cregan; Níl, Deputies Paul Kehoe and Emmet Stagg.
An Ceann Comhairle: Is the proposal for dealing with No. 5, Order for Second Stage and Second and Remaining Stages of the Financial Measures (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009 agreed to?
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: I want to make a proposal to the Taoiseach on this item. He proposes to guillotine Second Stage of the Bill at 7 p.m. and Committee and Remaining Stages at 10 p.m. I know the Taoiseach has offered to extend the sitting until 11 p.m and he will guillotine it at that time instead. That, unfortunately, does not meet the requirements. This Bill, for the reasons we stated before and which Deputy Burton has outlined, has a range of issue that require attention.
There is also the critical issue of the proposal to give the Minister for Finance the power to extend the life of the bank guarantee scheme. I suggest to the Taoiseach that we agree to take Second State of the Bill today, take Committee Stage after statements on the European Council tomorrow and take Report Stage on Thursday. That way we would have the opportunity to properly examine the Bill.
I heard what the Taoiseach had to say about access to money and so on. The timeframe to which I referred would allow for proper parliamentary scrutiny of the Bill and would not compromise the need to deal with the Bill reasonably quickly. It would be done this week. I [446]am sure there can be co-operation in the House on the taking of the Bill and this would be a reasonable way to deal with it. Otherwise, the Labour Party will have to oppose the proposal before us, that is, to guillotine Second Stage at 7 p.m. and Committee and Remaining Stages at 10 p.m.
An Ceann Comhairle: I have to advise Deputy Gilmore that the ordering of business is the prerogative of the Taoiseach and Government. Deputy Gilmore, under Standing Orders, is not entitled to introduce a new matter now. It is up to the Taoiseach to reply to Deputy Gilmore.
Deputy Emmet Stagg: Surely a Deputy is entitled to amend the time allocated, which is what is proposed.
An Ceann Comhairle: Yes, but Deputy Gilmore is seeking to bring in a new matter for Wednesday and Thursday, which would not be in order.
Deputy Emmet Stagg: It is a time motion.
An Ceann Comhairle: That is not what Deputy Gilmore stated.
The Taoiseach: I am guided by the Whip in these matters and I have to be fair to him. He has outlined detailed business for the House during the course of this week, and from now until the recess the schedule is chock-a-block in terms of the business that has to conducted. I am not in a position to improve the offer I have made, unfortunately.
Question put: "That the proposal for dealing with No. 5 be agreed to."
The Dáil divided: Tá, 73; Níl, 67.
|Ahern, Dermot.
|Ahern, Michael.
|Ahern, Noel.
|Andrews, Barry.
|Andrews, Chris.
|Ardagh, Seán.
|Aylward, Bobby.
|Blaney, Niall.
|Brady, Áine.
|Brady, Cyprian.
|Brady, Johnny.
|Browne, John.
|Byrne, Thomas.
|Calleary, Dara.
|Carey, Pat.
|Collins, Niall.
|Conlon, Margaret.
|Connick, Seán.
|Coughlan, Mary.
|Cowen, Brian.
|Cregan, John.
|Cuffe, Ciarán.
|Cullen, Martin.
|Curran, John.
|Dempsey, Noel.
|Devins, Jimmy.
|Dooley, Timmy.
|Finneran, Michael.
|Fitzpatrick, Michael.
|Fleming, Seán.
|Flynn, Beverley.
|Gogarty, Paul.
|Gormley, John.
|Grealish, Noel.
|Hanafin, Mary.
|Harney, Mary.
|Haughey, Seán.
|Hoctor, Máire.
|Kelleher, Billy.
|Kenneally, Brendan.
|Kennedy, Michael.
|Kirk, Seamus.
|Kitt, Michael P.
|Kitt, Tom.
|Lenihan, Brian.
|Lenihan, Conor.
|McEllistrim, Thomas.
|McGrath, Mattie.
|McGrath, Michael.
|McGuinness, John.
|Martin, Micheál.
|Moloney, John.
|Moynihan, Michael.
|Nolan, M. J.
|Ó Fearghaíl, Seán.
|O'Brien, Darragh.
|O'Connor, Charlie.
|O'Dea, Willie.
|O'Flynn, Noel.
|O'Hanlon, Rory.
|O'Keeffe, Edward.
|O'Rourke, Mary.
|O'Sullivan, Christy.
|Power, Seán.
|Roche, Dick.
|Ryan, Eamon.
|Sargent, Trevor.
|Scanlon, Eamon.
|Smith, Brendan.
|Treacy, Noel.
|Wallace, Mary.
|White, Mary Alexandra.
|Woods, Michael.
|Bannon, James.
|Barrett, Seán.
|Behan, Joe.
|Broughan, Thomas P.
|Bruton, Richard.
|Burke, Ulick.
|Burton, Joan.
|Byrne, Catherine.
|Clune, Deirdre.
|Coonan, Noel J..
|Crawford, Seymour.
|Creed, Michael.
|Creighton, Lucinda.
|D'Arcy, Michael.
|Deasy, John.
|Deenihan, Jimmy.
|Doyle, Andrew.
|Durkan, Bernard J.
|English, Damien.
|Feighan, Frank.
|Ferris, Martin.
|Flanagan, Terence.
|Gilmore, Eamon.
|Hayes, Brian.
|Hayes, Tom.
|Higgins, Michael D.
|Hogan, Phil.
|Kehoe, Paul.
|Kenny, Enda.
|Lee, George.
|Lynch, Ciarán.
|Lynch, Kathleen.
|McCormack, Pádraic.
|McGinley, Dinny.
|McGrath, Finian.
|McHugh, Joe.
|McManus, Liz.
|Mitchell, Olivia.
|Morgan, Arthur.
|Neville, Dan.
|Noonan, Michael.
|Ó Caoláin, Caoimhghín.
|Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
|O'Donnell, Kieran.
|O'Dowd, Fergus.
|O'Keeffe, Jim.
|O'Mahony, John.
|O'Shea, Brian.
|O'Sullivan, Jan.
|O'Sullivan, Maureen.
|Penrose, Willie.
|Perry, John.
|Quinn, Ruairí.
|Rabbitte, Pat.
|Ring, Michael.
|Shatter, Alan.
|Sheahan, Tom.
|Sheehan, P. J.
|Sherlock, Seán.
|Shortall, Róisín.
|Stagg, Emmet.
|Stanton, David.
|Timmins, Billy.
|Tuffy, Joanna.
|Upton, Mary.
|Varadkar, Leo.
|Wall, Jack.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Pat Carey and John Cregan; Níl, Deputies Paul Kehoe and Emmet Stagg.
An Ceann Comhairle: Is the proposal for dealing with Private Members' business agreed to? Agreed. Is the proposal for dealing with parliamentary questions next for answer by the Taoiseach on EU matters agreed to?
Deputy Enda Kenny: I do not want to object to this, but it is a matter relevant to European affairs and I will ask a question on it on the Order of Business. I want to ask the Taoiseach if the Cabinet agreed today to nominate a date for the referendum on the Lisbon treaty.
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: I object to this proposal because it cuts across the suggestion I made to the Taoiseach in respect of dealing with the Financial Measures (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, which provides for the extension of the bank guarantee scheme. The explanation the Taoiseach has given us as to why the Government wants to have this Bill dealt with in one sitting today does not stand up. The idea, for example, that it has to be dealt with this [448]evening because the statutory instruments legislation must be dealt with before the statutory instruments are ready does not stand up when it can be dealt with at a more reasonable pace tomorrow and Thursday. The final argument that he put, namely, that somehow he was going to inconvenience the Chief Whip if he agreed to our request and that his hands were tied, is farcical.
We are in a situation where the Government is deciding, as it often does at the end of a parliamentary session, to use its parliamentary majority to force certain measures through the House in a short period of time. There are two reasons this is not appropriate on this occasion.
Deputy Billy Kelleher: It is called democracy.
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: I am coming to that, Deputy. First, the measure that is proposed to be dealt with here is no ordinary measure. It is to extend a guarantee that the taxpayer is providing for approximately €440 billion beyond the original date. Second — here is the democracy point — the Government now enjoys an approval rating of all of 10%. Whatever authority——
Deputy Thomas Byrne: This is nonsense.
Deputy Billy Kelleher: Should we tear up the Constitution?
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: Whatever authority the Government may have had in the past to ram through legislation and to use the guillotine, it certainly does not have the moral and political authority to do it in those circumstances.
An Ceann Comhairle: Deputy Gilmore——
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: Whatever this hurry is about, it is not about parliamentary procedure and it is not about the Taoiseach being kind to the Chief Whip.
A Deputy: What is your answer to that, Deputy Kelleher?
Deputy Billy Kelleher: The Deputy should read the Constitution.
Deputy Jim O'Keeffe: You are making a lot of noise considering you are on just 10%.
An Ceann Comhairle: This proposal has to do with dealing with parliamentary questions next for answer by the Taoiseach on EU matters. If the Taoiseach wishes to reply, I will give him that prerogative.
The Taoiseach: To answer Deputy Kenny on the question of the legislation being taken, I have indicated that early October is the date. We should bring the Bill to the House to enact the legislation and, at that stage, we can state clearly what is the date and the reasons relating to how referenda operate.
Deputy Joan Burton: It is related to NAMA. That legislation will be at the same time.
The Taoiseach: In regard to Deputy Gilmore's point, the Minister, Deputy Brian Lenihan——
[449]Deputy Enda Kenny: Can I clarify that the Cabinet did not actually decide on a date today? Is that correct?
An Ceann Comhairle: There can only be one intervention. The Taoiseach, without interruption.
The Taoiseach: I have explained that we will first bring forward the legislation to the House. In regard to the second matter raised by Deputy Gilmore, the Minister, Deputy Brian Lenihan, will outline the case for the legislation to the House in accurate terms which are not in line with the contention made by the Deputy.
Question, "That the proposal for dealing with No. 5 be agreed to", put and declared carried.
An Ceann Comhairle: I call Deputy Kenny on the Order of Business.
Deputy Enda Kenny: First, arising from the Taoiseach's comment, when does he expect the House will be presented with the Bill to deal with the referendum on the Lisbon treaty? Will it be next week or the week after? Is there a conclusion on this and when can we expect the Bill to come to the House?
Second, has the Taoiseach any further detail on whether the Dáil will be recalled in September to deal specifically with the NAMA legislation? That seemed to be the indication last week.
Third, on 20 March last, the then Minister of State with responsibility for fisheries, Deputy Seán Power, made an announcement to the effect that the Government had decided to restructure the inland fisheries sector, which I support. He also said at the time of that announcement that the Government had made a decision to prioritise the legislation dealing with the amalgamation of the various elements of that sector. What is the situation with regard to the production of that legislation which the then Minister of State said would be given priority by the Government?
The Taoiseach: Regarding the legislation, I understand the heads were approved in March and the detailed legislation should be later this year. On the other question, I expect we would take that Bill in the House the week after next.
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: When I raised earlier the matter of the Financial Measures (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, the Taoiseach in reply told me the Bill must be enacted tonight in order for the relevant statutory instruments to be made. Will the statutory instruments arising from this Bill be laid before the House tomorrow?
The Taoiseach: I understand this Bill goes to the Seanad tomorrow. The statutory instruments which were envisaged by Deputy Bruton will be presented to the House in due course and will have to be approved by the House.
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: We have just had a number of exchanges about the great rush to take all Stages of this Bill today. The Taoiseach's explanation for this is that it is to facilitate the presenting of the statutory instruments. When will the statutory instruments be laid before the House?
The Taoiseach: As soon as possible.
The Taoiseach: Sorry, Deputy, if I may——
[450]Deputy Eamon Gilmore: The Taoiseach said he wanted the legislation passed by 10 p.m. today and now he——
The Taoiseach: I have explained on a number of occasions the position with miscellaneous provisions Bills and I have explained the meaning of the particular section to which Deputy Gilmore refers. I have explained why the Bill must be enacted, namely, it must be enacted before a statutory instrument under section 6(5) of the other Act, to which I referred in a previous intervention and which will set out the issues in detail, can be brought to the House for approval. This section by way of introduction enables the statutory instrument to be brought to the House in a way that is statutorily compliant.
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: My question——
An Ceann Comhairle: The Standing Orders are very clear in regard to this matter. The Taoiseach is entitled under Standing Orders to defer answering any question in regard to the making of secondary legislation to another day.
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: I asked when the secondary legislation will be laid before the House.
An Ceann Comhairle: The Taoiseach made a fair answer.
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: No, he told us——
An Ceann Comhairle: They are the rules. I can only implement the rules.
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: I know the Ceann Comhairle must observe the rules and I will try to help him with that. However, the Taoiseach has during the course of our exchanges kept telling us that the reason the legislation must be passed by 10 p.m. today is to facilitate the bringing before the House of the statutory instruments. When will the statutory instruments be brought forward? Clearly, this is a matter of considerable urgency. I would have thought that if the legislation has to be passed tonight, we would see the statutory instruments tomorrow. All I asked for in my proposals earlier——
Deputy Noel Dempsey: Which were voted down.
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: ——was that we would take the week to deal with the Bill, with Committee Stage tomorrow and Report Stage on Thursday. Clearly, there is such an urgency in getting these statutory instruments before us that even that reasonable proposal was not acceptable. When will we see the statutory instruments? Terms such as "as soon as possible" and "in due course" or any of that old waffle is not the answer I am looking for.
An Ceann Comhairle: That does not accord with the Standing Order.
The Taoiseach: In respect of arrangements such as this which provide a state aid, state aid rules must be adhered to by the EU, with which discussions must also take place, and the statutory instrument that is brought to the House will be in compliance with all of those issues——
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: So what is the hurry this evening?
The Taoiseach: It is because we need to get on with it. We need to make sure that we have a statutory basis.
[451]Deputy Eamon Gilmore: This has been around since 7 April. What has the Taoiseach been up to?
The Taoiseach: We have a fundamental difference of opinion here. It is the Deputy's belief that we do not need State guarantees for anything and that we should never have had them. That is the Deputy's position and he claimed he was right in that position.
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: That is not it.
The Taoiseach: It is the Government's position that what it did in September was correct and that it was prudent in issuing them for a two year period.
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: That is why the Taoiseach is changing it now.
Deputy Joan Burton: It did not work either.
The Taoiseach: It is also the belief of the Minister for Finance that the situation now, in line with developments in the EU states subsequent to the initiative taken by the Government, for which the Deputy gives it no credit, requires change. In due course it will require a statutory instrument that gets approval in the House and which is approved by the EU under state aid rules in the same way as we enacted legislation in the House on 29 September and subsequently got state aid approval.
The Taoiseach: It is the very same procedure. If the Deputy wants simple A, B and C answers to what are complex issues he cannot get them but he is being advised of very clear procedures outlined by the Minister, Deputy Lenihan, at the time of the supplementary budget. Consistent with that and with which he is proceeding this evening, a statutory instrument requiring the approval of the Oireachtas in compliance with EU state aid rules will be required. It is something that will require further consultation with the Commission in due course as with previous schemes which met with its approval.
An Ceann Comhairle: I call Deputy McManus. I have set out the ruling and I must adhere to it.
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: It is not. I will not detain the Ceann Comhairle.
An Ceann Comhairle: The Deputy must adhere to the rules the same as I or anybody else.
The Taoiseach: I do not want to get into an argument.
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: This was announced on 7 April. It is now 23 June and we are told it has to be done immediately to facilitate the introduction of statutory instruments. I asked the Taoiseach what was not a complicated question but simply when the statutory instruments will appear and he cannot tell me. This is not about the position the Labour Party took in September. We know that and I am quite happy to defend that anywhere. This is about whether the Taoiseach and the Government knows what it is doing in this whole area and if it is up to doing it.
The Taoiseach: We know exactly what we are doing.
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: The Government is now introducing a legislative measure announced in April.
[452]An Ceann Comhairle: I call Deputy McManus. Deputy Gilmore is engaging in repetition which I cannot allow.
The Taoiseach: The Deputy should get a little responsibility.
Deputy Eamon Gilmore: The left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. It is pure incompetence.
Deputy Liz McManus: One year ago while introducing the Broadcasting Bill the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources made a commitment that there would be provisions to deal with premium rate phone and text services.
An Ceann Comhairle: We cannot deal with that now.
Deputy Liz McManus: These are the subject of many scams and thousands of complaints have been made on behalf of customers who have been scammed. A commitment was made by this Government and I am entitled to ask about legislation.
An Ceann Comhairle: The Deputy will have to take up the matter with the line Minister.
Deputy Liz McManus: It relates to legislation.
An Ceann Comhairle: I realise it does, but the content of the legislation is a problem and we cannot discuss it.
Deputy Liz McManus: The Broadcasting Bill was to have introduced these provisions and that did not take place. It has now been passed into law.
An Ceann Comhairle: I cannot discuss that now.
Deputy Liz McManus: I am asking the Taoiseach about the legislation which will now deal with this issue and which we welcome. We do not oppose the Bill, we simply wish to see it published. However, we also wish to ensure there is provision in the Bill for refunds to be made to customers.
An Ceann Comhairle: The Deputy will have to raise the matter when the times comes.
Deputy Liz McManus: The Taoiseach can provide such an assurance and allay many fears related to the legislation.
An Ceann Comhairle: He cannot do so because it is a matter for the line Minister. We have been clear enough about the matter and the Deputy cannot bring this any further.
Deputy Liz McManus: I am sorry but I can do so.
An Ceann Comhairle: The Deputy is dealing with the content of the legislation which is out of order.
Deputy Liz McManus: The Ceann Comhairle should have listened to what I said.
An Ceann Comhairle: I listened very carefully and the Deputy is talking about the content of the legislation.
Deputy Liz McManus: I asked specifically about legislation.
An Ceann Comhairle: I know exactly about what the Deputy asked and I listened carefully.
[453]Deputy Liz McManus: About what did I ask?
An Ceann Comhairle: The Deputy talked about the content of the legislation as opposed to the coming into being of the legislation.
Deputy Liz McManus: No, that is not it. I will give the Ceann Comhairle another chance.
An Ceann Comhairle: The Deputy wanted an assurance that the Taoiseach would introduce an amendment in respect to the issues raised. I have it fully off and it is out of order.
Deputy Liz McManus: I asked about legislation.
An Ceann Comhairle: The Deputy should ask about different legislation.
Deputy Liz McManus: Will I tell the Ceann Comhairle what it is?
An Ceann Comhairle: Do, please; that would be wonderful.
Deputy Liz McManus: I will do so. I was asking about the communications regulation (amendment) Bill.
An Ceann Comhairle: Now the hare is up the field.
Deputy Liz McManus: We are both happy now.
The Taoiseach: To continue the metaphor, on the red collar. We expect it to be produced during this session.
Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: There is a scandalous situation applying to child protection and family support services within the State, as revealed in an article in The Irish Examiner last week, in which internal HSE documents were published citing a litany of inadequate supports, including a situation in which children could have been at risk. The issue of children at risk is one of the most serious and one with which we should be concerned today. I refer not only to the historic situation but the current situation. Will the Government bring forward the Child Care Bill and progress the content of the Bill and the serious deficiencies in the current arrangements?
On a second matter, we have now signalled significant cuts in respect of Bus Éireann and Bus Átha Cliath fleet and staff numbers with some 320 redundancies in the coming weeks——
An Ceann Comhairle: Is this about legislation? I must move on.
Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: Will the Government recognise the importance of addressing this matter on the floor of the Dáil before the summer recess?
An Ceann Comhairle: We cannot deal with that because it is a matter for the Whips.
Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: Will the Government introduce the public transport regulation Bill to facilitate the address of the serious steps now being taken?
The Taoiseach: The public transport regulation Bill will not be taken until later this year as it will not be ready until then. The first Bill is expected shortly.
Deputy Ruairí Quinn: I refer to three items of legislation. First, the student support Bill which passed on Second Stage this month last year. The reason for the delay in its re-introduction to the House is, we are told by the Minister for Education and Science, that there are certain [454]amendments he wishes to be made. Have these amendments been passed by the Cabinet? I refer to third level fees which are on the boil, but we have yet to be told whether a memorandum has been brought to Government. Two primary schools in north Dublin, completing their first year at the end of this month, have no legal basis on which to function because the legislation to provide for the VECs to become a patron at primary school level has not been introduced.
The Taoiseach: Approval was given to the drafting legislation in respect to the third matter. There is no decision on the question of the second matter. On the first issue, I am not aware of whether the amendments have come before the Cabinet. I do not believe they have but I will check.
Deputy Michael Creed: On the public airwaves this morning the Tánaiste responded to the crisis in the food and drink industry and job losses in the sector by indicating her Department was planning an initiative to curb the power of the multiples, which are giving a bad deal to both the private producer and to consumers. Will this involve a legislative initiative or a voluntary code?
An Ceann Comhairle: Is legislation promised in this area?
The Taoiseach: No legislation is promised yet in that area.
Deputy Michael Creed: Nothing is to be done?
The Tánaiste: That is not the case.
Deputy Michael Creed: Are a further 2,000 jobs to be lost in the sector?
The Tánaiste: The Deputy can ask a parliamentary question on the matter.
Deputy David Stanton: I refer to No. 83 in the Order Paper which calls for the restoration of a practice which allowed Members to ask a supplementary question on the Adjournment. This would make the process more realistic. Will the Government allow time to allow this to be debated? The matter would take approximately five minutes to pass.
An Ceann Comhairle: I suspect that is a matter for the Whips.
The Taoiseach: It is a matter for the Whips but I encourage Deputy Stanton's position to be supported.
Deputy David Stanton: It is on the Order Paper today. Is this not a point for the Taoiseach to decide?
The Taoiseach: If it were left up to me alone there would be no problem.
Deputy Kathleen Lynch: Will the Taoiseach ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs to take over the handling of the inter-country adoption agreement between Vietnam and Ireland before the summer is out? I realise I am being bold and that I am trying the patience of the Ceann Comhairle but the Ceann Comhairle is aware as well as I am that hundreds of people——
An Ceann Comhairle: The problem is if I allow Deputy Lynch to make a point on this matter everyone else must be allowed the same opportunity.
[455]Deputy Kathleen Lynch: We need the clout of the Minister for Foreign Affairs because the Minister responsible does not appear to be doing anything about the matter.
An Ceann Comhairle: We cannot deal with that now.
Deputy Kathleen Lynch: I simply seek an answer to where it is or whether there is any possibility of it being concluded.
The Taoiseach: A request has been made to the Vietnamese Government to enter into an interim international adoption agreement and we are awaiting a reply. That request is now a matter for the Vietnamese Government and as such it would be improper for the Irish Government to seek to influence or to interfere with that decision-making process. However, the Minister of State with responsibility for children and youth affairs and the Minister for Foreign Affairs are working through diplomatic channels to progress the matter and to bring greater clarity to the situation.
The Government is most aware of the concern and anxiety which this process is causing to prospective adoptive parents but it is firmly committed to ensuring that arrangements between Ireland and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam protect the best interests of children, their families and prospective adoptive parents.
Deputy Richard Bruton: I wish to raise two issues. The Master of the High Court has talked of an avalanche of new cases of home repossessions happening in October. He has said that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform should be considering changing the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court to prevent those cases going through an expensive High Court procedure which, as we have already seen, is being abused. Is it the Government's intention to make this change before the summer recess?
On foot of raising a hare, the issue of the statutory instruments is not a trivial one. I am sure the Taoiseach has had the experience of his daughter asking to go to a concert and asking for a loan of his credit card. Technically one can deny the bills when they come back a month later. However, the difficulty is that we will be presented with a scheme which will be afait accompli because commitments will have been made in the intervening period. This is why the foreclosure of this debate is a mistake.
The Taoiseach: I have dealt with this matter on a number of occasions this evening. It is not a mistake to ensure we have a statutory basis to take up debt securities over a period which puts us in line with our competitors. There is nothing wrong with that.
Deputy Richard Bruton: It is not a mistake.
The Taoiseach: This is what we are considering tonight in respect of that part of the legislation. In respect of subsequent statutory instruments that require EU state-aid rules approval from the Commission and must be brought before the House, there will of course be an opportunity to discuss that detail in that context at that time. The problem at present is that we need to give a proper statutory basis in primary legislation to enable this to happen and that is all that is happening this evening.
It would never be a view of mine that Deputy Bruton would run unsighted — to use coursing parlance — but a short slip in this case would be more appropriate.
Deputy Richard Bruton: Is there any proposal to deal with the issue of the High Court jurisdiction?
[456]The Taoiseach: The Deputy has brought to my attention that some statements have been made but I am sure the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, will consider what appropriate action he can take in this matter.
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So you picked up your next-gen console on Black Friday, then got yourself a piece of the newness for Christmas. We're all muddling through some blah-meh-whatever launch titles with our greedy eyes firmly fixed on Spring, anticipating Titanfall, Watch Dogs, or even Mad Max. I know you're already sick of the shit you got for Christmas, I'm sick of it too, but with every new week there is new hope for something that will tide us over until the big ones drop.
This week, however, is probably not your week. The best the industry could manage is a free helping of permadeath on the PS4, Raiden hacks his way onto the PC, and a Mid-East loser gets a second lease on life.
Don't Starve (PS4)
Don't Starve is a single player survival horror cartoony game that has been free to play on the PC for almost a year now, and will be a free download on the PSN for PS4 players. Don't get killed by hostiles, don't forget to eat, and don't go insane, because death in this game is permanent and levels progress in difficulty. Good luck with that, amigo. Next gen Playstationers can download this freebie starting January 7th.
Metal Gear Rising Revengeance (PC)
Metal Gear's other protagonist, the oft-maligned Raiden, has been ported to PC in all of his goofy glory. It may look better on the PC, but it's still Raiden. Wake me up when Snake decides to show up...and get that jaw looked at by a real doctor. Raiden may be a weenie, but he has a pretty cool sword. PC players can download this awesome collection of cutscenes starting January 9th.
Unearthed: Trail of Ibn Battuta (PC)
At last, Steam users will be able to download the almost universally hated episodic Uncharted rip-off, set in the Middle East. Who knows? Maybe they fixed it or something...but don't count on it. Saudi dev, Semaphore, has also made Unearthed available for iOS, but scrapped plans for XBL and Wii. Expect to not be blown away. Available now for PC.

subset: commoncrawl


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Spiritual Growth / Suffering
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Reporting from Santa Fe, N.M.—"Oldest house," panted Robert Chavez, steering his pedicab past a 17th century adobe.
"Oldest church," he added a moment later, nodding left toward the 17th century San Miguel Mission Church.
When I visited recently, my mission wasn't really to chase after old buildings, odd galleries and new restaurants. I wanted a look at Santa Fe's newest downtown neighborhood, a once-blighted railroad zone whose revival is nearly complete. But in the middle of such history and atmosphere, a tourist gets distracted.
Before long, I was seated in Chavez's pedicab, hurtling down a historic alley near the ditch that carried the city's original water supply.
And then I was in front of a jewelry shop on San Francisco Street, where a cowboy guitarist named Wily Jim yodeled like a coyote who'd put in a semester at Juilliard. A few blocks over on Marcy Avenue, the Mira! Boutique was offering a stylish patio chair, crafted in Togo from an old oil barrel — only $250. In the front yard of a gallery on Canyon Road, a woman with a blue scarf daubed white spots on a painting of a dancing pig.
Planning your trip
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"I'm just putting dots on her panties while the artist goes and gets a cigarette," explained Deborah A. Higgs, director of All My Relations gallery. A moment later, artist Robert Anderson returned, took back the brush and regarded the pig anew.
"She represents to me a sort of welcoming, motherly femininity," Anderson said.
So goes the good life in Santa Fe, and much of it is conducted among the city's beloved earth-toned adobe and faux-adobe buildings (because the real adobes can melt like mocha ice cream in the rain). At their roof lines, carefully carved wood vigas — the ceiling beams — protrude, and red-pepper ristras dangle. The handsome blue doors and window frames look nice too, but their first purpose (so the folk wisdom goes) is to repel evil spirits.
If only there were a color that tourists could wear to repel high prices. But because there isn't, be grateful that fall is here and room rates are falling.
If you visit in October — when the aspens and cottonwoods put on golden displays of fall foliage — you'll probably pay 15% less for your room than the August hordes (who paid $144 nightly on average last year). In November, you might pay 30% less, but you will need a heavier jacket; Santa Fe is about 7,000 feet above sea level, and the average November high/low is 52/26.
No matter when you arrive, you'll want to check out the dozens of galleries along Canyon Road, where landscapes, portraits, American pottery and Australian aboriginal abstracts abound, at price points of $100 to $10,000. You'll also want to pay respects at the Palace of the Governors, the long, low structure that faces the plaza, where the Native American merchants lay out their wares along the shaded walkway.
It's not only the oldest building in town (and a genuine adobe that requires careful maintenance), but it's also billed as the oldest continuously occupied public building in the United States. Inside, you can browse historical exhibits. Just behind the palace stands the New Mexico History Museum, which opened last year.
The palace has been tweaked and renovated over the years, but this is where the Spanish set up headquarters when they showed up around 1610. When Native Americans rose up and chased the Spanish out of town in 1680, this building was here. When the Spanish retook the town in 1693, it was still here.
And in the late 1870s, when New Mexico territorial governor Lew Wallace turned away from his day job to scribble, of all things, a novel about a chariot-racing Jewish slave/prince named Ben-Hur, this is where he did it. (Long before the Charlton Heston movie, "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ" was a 19th century bestseller.)


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John Flury's Deliverance of the Luminous People
Photographer John Flury of Zurich, Switzerland takes us through his own wonderful account of how he created the below final image, from concept to final crew wrap photo.
Telling a Story with a Single Picture
Hello, fellow photon hunters, my name is John Flury, I'm a photographer/photo designer from Zurich, Switzerland, and this is my very first article for the PocketWizard blog. My professional background is in commercial and fine art photography, with the occasional wedding gig. But I've always had a passion for stories, especially fictional ones. As a kid, I loved to draw, paint, write stories and record them on tape. The love for creation of alternative worlds, where you could slip off to and go on imaginary adventures, has never quite left me. Which is why in every photo project I work on, I try to keep true to myself and what I most love to do, telling stories.


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In this write-up we go over the simple installation process of adding a locking gas cap to your 1994-2009 Ford Mustang. Protect your car from gas thieves and pranksters with this simple, inexpensive modification. This install is very simple and straight forward. The only tool needed is a pair of pliers, total install time is less than 15 minutes.
Begin the install process by removing the OEM gas cap which is held onto the fuel door with a push pin. Take your needle nose pliers and gently pull out the push pin as shown below.
Once you have the factory gas cap freed, simply unscrew the cap as you normally would. The new gas cap is attached to the fuel door in the same manner as the OEM one. Simply take the push pin and use your finger to re-insert it into the hole on the fuel door as shown below.
Once the push pin is in, put the gas cap on and turn it clockwise until you hear it lock and you are done! IMPORTANT: It's a good idea to keep a spare key inside your car as well as one on your keychain so you'll be able to unlock the cap when you get to the gas station.
Thank you for taking the time to view our blog. If you are in the market for a locking gas cap look no further than StangMods.com. Everything ships free and customer satisfaction is our highest priority. You can find our selection of Ford locking gas caps here: Locking Gas Caps for 94-09 Mustangs


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Unprocessed recording of park/forest ambience in a small town. Church bells in distance. Can also be used as front in 4-ch surround together with "park birds church bells atmo XY.WAV" file.
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Across the whole of Europe and especially in Germany, this period saw a return to a realistic representation of things as a counter movement to the abstract trends of the 1910s. In Austria the greatest exponents of this style known as Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) included Rudolf Wacker, Herbert Ploberger, Marie-Louise Motesiczky, and Franz Sedlacek.
The majority of Austrian artists tended to paint in a lyrical, predominantly naturalistic style, focusing on traditional subjects in painting such as landscape, portrait, and still life. A center of this representational style was established by a group of artists in Carinthia known as the Nötsch Circle.
Even in the first three decades of the twentieth century, many Austrian artists had emigrated to other countries, for example the USA or France, in anticipation of better working conditions and career prospects. As of 1938, however, the growing powers of the dictatorial Nazi regime forced many artists to flee into exile, among them Max Oppenheimer, Joseph Floch, Franz Lerch, Wolfgang Paalen, Hans Boehler, Fritz Wotruba, and Georg Ehrlich. Others, who could not escape, were persecuted and murdered after having been banned from painting and practicing their profession. Émigré artists encountered fresh inspiration and new networks thus arose.
The Belvedere's collection includes Village Landscape (1912–13) by Fernand Léger, one of the few examples from the early period of French Cubism. Alfred Wickenburg, from Graz, had studied with Jean-Paul Laurens at the Académie Julian in Paris from 1906 to 1909 and his work Rinaldo and Armida (1923) is one of the most significant examples of Cubist figure painting in Austria at this time.
Czech artists had already adopted the formal language of Cubism in their compositions prior to 1914. Outstanding representatives of this style include Emil Filla and Antonin Procházka. Works by both of these artists, in addition to numerous other Czech masterpieces, were given to the museum on permanent loan from the Rotter Collection in 2012 and they shed new light on the relationship between Czech artists and their Viennese colleagues. Masterpieces from the Thyssen Collection, also on permanent loan to the Belvedere, round off this representation of links to abstraction in Vienna. Viennese Kineticism, Czech Cubism, and Russian Constructivism are thus presented together for the first time.
From the mid-1920s, Neue Sachlichkeit was one of the few reference points within an art scene made up of somewhat disparate styles. The leading master of this style in Austria was Rudolf Wacker from Vorarlberg. His painting Two Heads (1932) has a matter-of-fact precision that hints at something demonic and menacing, so typical of many works in this style. Similarly, the art of Franz Sedlacek has a fantastical narrative style that often appears bizarre. Comparing these with works by the Czech Surrealists has also presented new perspectives in the appraisal of their mutual influences.
Franz Wiegele, Anton Kolig, Sebastian Isepp, and Anton Mahringer all belonged to the artist group known as the Nötsch Circle in Carinthia, who concentrated mainly on the genres of figure and landscape painting. However, many Austrian painters working between the two world wars cannot be categorized as belonging to one particular style as they found their own individual mode of expression.
The work of Wilhelm Thöny from Graz is a case in point. He worked in an extraordinary, non-academic style, rendering his images with a pared down fragility and often a touch of irony. Oskar Laske adopted a narrative, anecdotal style, sometimes – as in his painting Ship of Fools (1923) – resembling caricature. Other artists, such as Josef Dobrowsky in Vienna or Jean Egger from Carinthia, placed an emphasis on gestural brushwork. Egger's work in particular pushed the boundaries of representational art.
In addition, the Belvedere houses important examples of post-1918 German painting. Among these highlights are a series of late works by Lovis Corinth. These include The Herzogstand at Walchensee in the Snow (1922), a striking reflection of how the artist's works were dissolving into a painterly and gestural style. The picture Reclining Woman with Book and Irises (1931) is a masterpiece by Max Beckmann that achieves a balance between expressive line, symbolic content, and harmonious colors.
Fritz Wotruba was, besides Anton Hanak, Austria's greatest sculptor of the twentieth century. Wotruba's late work reveals elements of Cubism and a strong tendency toward abstract block-like forms. Yet the human figure always remained at the heart of his art, as his stone sculpture Large Seated Figure (Cathedral) (1945) reveals.
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The following is the thirty-fifth of a series of excerpts from The Rowan Tree: A Novel by Robert W. Fuller. The complete novel is available in paperback, in various ebook formats including Kindle, and as an audiobook at Amazon, iTunes, and audible.com. If you enjoy The Rowan Tree, please write a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or your own blog! The author also welcomes your comments.
Adam's flight from Israel to India flew over the route of the original human migration from the near Middle East to the Fertile Crescent, across Persia, and to the Indus River Valley.
A taxi driver deposited him at a small hotel in New Delhi, and for a few days, he wandered around in a daze, glad for the temperate winter weather. He made himself take in some of the principal tourist sites, but felt disconnected and isolated. Getting his pocket picked at the Red Fort didn't help. He only lost about twenty dollars worth of rupees, but it made him feel like a naïve tourist.
Remembering his promise to François, Adam wrote his mother to let her and Rowan know where he was, and to give his letter a little heft, he included his out-of-Africa ruminations.
As he wrote Easter's address on the envelope, the baobab bracelet on his wrist caught his eye. It was ragged and dirty, but so far, so good.
On his way to the train station for the day-long trip down the Ganges to Banaras—where he hoped to find Vishu's guru—he stopped one last time at American Express to check for mail. There was a letter from Marisol, and in an envelope postmarked Moscow were separate letters from his mother and Rowan. He immediately opened and read these two.
December 31, 1992
Dear Adam,
On the spur of the moment, we decided to fly to Moscow for our wedding.
Moscow is where we first realized we might be able to give our story a different ending. We returned to a park on the Moscow River outside the city where we'd picnicked during the summer of 1990. Back then, we sat on the riverbank amid the flowers, drinking champagne and watching the boats drift by. This afternoon we huddled in a shelter, drinking vodka and watching boys play ice hockey. Rowan, who still has friends at the Embassy, had the chef make us a lovely little wedding cake.
In marrying Rowan, I feel I've closed an open wound and come back to myself. But I want you to know that I have no regrets about my life with François. I don't need to tell you that he is a fine man, but perhaps I do need to let you know that he will always have a place in my heart.
Your loving mother
Adam folded his mother's letter and put it back in the envelope. Then he opened Rowan's.
Dear Adam,
I knew the dollar was strong in Russia, but I didn't realize it was this strong! On short notice, I managed to rent an entire church—complete with a Russian Orthodox priest—for just two hundred dollars cash. The ceremony was conducted in old Russian, an archaic language that's no longer understood by anyone, including a former Russian colleague who stood in for you as best man.
After consenting to the vows—we had no idea what we were agreeing to, by the way—the priest sang a soulful dirge, presented us with icons of Russian saints, and topped it off with shots of hundred-proof plum brandy. Then, waving a pot of incense, he led us around the beautiful old church and out onto Sparrow Hill, from which Moscow could be seen under a blanket of snow. It was a glorious day.
As you know, your mother's and my relationship has not been an ordinary one (if such exist). So we wanted to do something extraordinary to mark this milestone. We also wanted an unassailable excuse for not inviting any of our friends to the wedding. A Moscow marriage filled the bill. Your mother tells me that she mentioned our return to Fili Park in her letter to you. Yes, that's where we first realized that our love had persisted through the years of separation. The result is that you and I both get to know each other as adults. I'd never have planned it this way, but I couldn't be happier about how things have turned out.
I love you, Adam.
He stuffed Marisol's unopened letter in his pocket and raced off to the train station.
Boarding the train at the last minute, he discovered that every seat was taken and he'd have to stand in the aisle for hours. But hearing from his parents, who'd obviously forgiven him for what he'd said in anger before he left, had the happy effect of rendering him oblivious to physical discomfort. People were huddled in the spaces between cars, teenage boys swarmed over the roof with the agility of spiders, and bicycles were strapped to the train's sides. At every stop, wiry men sold thimble-sized earthen cups of milky tea that were passed up through the windows, consumed in one sip, then dashed on the ground below.
In Banaras Adam found a pension that for a pittance provided room and board by the week. From that base, he set off every morning to explore the city on the west bank of the Ganges River, sometimes heading north toward the confluence of the Varana River, and sometimes toward the Asi River that marks the city's southern boundary. These tributaries gave the city its modern name—Varanasi.
The city itself was a web of narrow lanes teeming with vehicles, pedestrians, animals, and rickshaws. He wanted to capture its soul on film, and shot several rolls of film every day. He vowed he'd never ride in a rickshaw, that ancient mode of transportation in which one human being, in harness like a draft animal, tows another through the streets.
A few days later, several miles from his pension, he had a severe intestinal attack and had to rescind his vow. He gave the fellow who hauled him home in a rickshaw a big tip to assuage his guilt. Later that afternoon, he stumbled ashen-faced into a local pharmacy and, before he could speak, the man at the counter seemed to know he was looking for anti-diarrheal medicine.
He spent the next day in his room. His weakened condition opened him to the sounds of the ancient city: birds chirping, cows mooing, humans talking and singing, cars honking, scooters revving, awnings flapping, and his landlady sweeping the courtyard. Banaras was slowing him down, making him listen and inviting him to widen his gaze. In contrast to Jerusalem, which had jangled his nerves, this ancient city cooed a lullaby. The illness humbled him and left him content to do nothing, expect nothing, and want nothing more than an end to his nausea.
While temperatures regularly reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer, the balmy January weather helped him recover. On the third day, after a light breakfast of bread and tea, he sidestepped his way through the churning streets to the dusty calm of a neighborhood bookstore.
Though the window display featured travel books, novels, and comics, inside he found a vast collection in philosophy and religion. One wall was devoted to Hinduism, another to Buddhism. At least half the books were in English, India's second language. No distinction was made between new and secondhand books. A back room was full of comics of epic Hindu myths.
He soon tired of standing and, in addition to a map of the city, he chose a fat book entitled Philosophies of India and a thin one called The Great Equation, which the elderly gentleman at the counter assured him would explain the fat one. When Adam asked him if that meant he could dispense with the fat one, he recommended that he take it too, as it would answer any questions left unanswered by the thin one.
Adam realized that he'd been drawn to The Great Equation because its title evoked the elegance and certainty of mathematics. If Indian philosophy could be expressed as an equation, he might be able to understand it. He hurried back to his room to read it.
The equation of the title was "Atman = Brahman." As best he could make out, this meant that the Soul is not different from absolute, divine, cosmic reality. The equation was simpler-looking than those he'd studied in higher math, but like many of those, its meaning was not immediately apparent.
Read the complete novel on Kindle and other ebook formats. The print edition is available at Amazon, and the audiobook can be ordered at Amazon, iTunes, and audible.com.


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I recently came across an application, I forget what it was. It has a recorder so when the user finds a bug or solves one but does'nt know what he or she did exactly in the script writing to find or fix the bug. They could go back to the log recording and see exactly what it is they did right or wrong. I think that's great, does windows have or has any such feature or is there some kind of download for such a thing?
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Giant Microbes!
They produce small, plush germs
in 15 different categories - everything from Venereals (like gonorrhea)
to Tropicals (like West
The most common size (and the ones I'm reviewing tonight) are in a 5 -
7" size, but they also make 'minis' that come in a petri dish, and some
of the microbes can be had in a larger 15 - 20" size.
Tonight I'm checking out Rabies,
Chagas, Gangrene, and Anthrax in the
regular microbes, along with a tick (they make several insects that
carry these microbes as well) and a human nerve cell. They make a
of other human cells as well under the "Corporeal" category, including
a human
sperm cell who is just too damn cute.
that's not enough, they've also started producing these in a vinyl
style, which I think has even more potential with the adult market than
the plush. Check out the page for the brain
cell to see an example of 'Noodle'.
The 5 - 7" plush run about $9 each, with the other styles going up in
price from there.
Packaging - ***
This size doesn't come packaged, but does come with a very nice hang
tag. The tag shows the actual microbe for comparison, and has
of facts about the pest/cell/germ on the inside.
Some of the smaller versions
come in little petri dishes, which is mighty cute.
Design/Quality - ****
It's clear that the creator had two goals in mind when designing these
make them cute, but make them recognizable. They've succeeded
both counts.
I'll compare these to beanie babies a number of times in the review,
please understand there are no beans involved - these are straight
plush, soft and squishy all the way through.
The quality of the
materials is top notch, as is the stitching and eyes. The large
cardboard hang tag and smaller cloth hang tag should stand up to normal
wear quite easily.
While every one of these is
cuter than a bug's
ear, they are all clearly the microbe they're supposed to be. Any
microbiologist worth his cytoplasm would instantly recognize the
anthrax bug, even with the sweet, soulful eyes.
Fun Factor - ***1/2
These aren't exactly your mommy's beanie babies, but kids might find
science a whole lot more fun with these guys.
if you are forced to have one of those awkward
conversations, how
much more fun would it be to tell your significant other you gave
them gonorrhea
by handing them one of these little cuties? Then again, the coroner
would probably find it shoved down your throat when they recovered your
Value - **1/2
At that $8 - $9 price point, you're getting
an average small plush value, considering the market. Long gone are the
days of the $5 beanie baby, which is part of the reason that beanie
babies are almost long gone themselves.
Add in that these are a
niche market sort of item, with far less production than some silly
little pig or dog you'd find at Toys R Us, and the price point seems
Things to Watch Out For -
Giving the wrong one to the wrong person.
Overall - ***1/2
I gotta say, these things really speak to the science nerd inside me.
They're well made, can be used for educational purposes, and they are
cute as Hell on top of it. These things make the perfect gift for the
scientist - or science teacher - in the family.
I just have to figure out who I'm going to give Anthrax too...the sheer
act of typing that sentence out has landed me on a dozen watch
Score Recap:
Packaging - ***
Design/Quality - ****
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Value - **1/2
Overall - ***1/2
Where to Buy -
Your best bet is to go straight to the manufacturer and get them off
their website,
where you can also find the vinyl figures and other merchandise.
Links -
You'll want to check out the GIANTmicrobes
web site, where you can find a ton more of these guys.
Want to chat about this
review? Try out one of these terrific
forums where I'll be
discussing it!
Enjoyed this review? Be sure to head back to the main page to find
thousands more just like it!
this review with others!
This product was provided free for the review by the manufacturer.
Photos and text by Michael Crawford.


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Member Since:
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About Suzanne Tynes
As a native of Montana I find myself surrounded with endless possibilities for paintings of landscapes and wildlife. As a dreamer I am drawn to different cultures and landscapes around the world. I never know where my paintings will take me.
I have been interested and involved with some sort of Art from a very young age. This evolved to owning 4 of my own Gallery/ Gift shops over the years locally, selling my work to travelers from all over the world.
I am a self taught artist working in several mediums focusing on Oils and Acrylics right now. Every day and every painting is a learning experience for me. I am endlessly studying and refining my work and hope that you find some sort of joy from what I am meant to do.
Originally starting my art life in pencil and pen and ink, color has been the most exciting and most challenging to work with. I Love what I am able to do, to create and share my experiences on canvas with the world. I Love to share this incredible place I call home. I never take it for granted.
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Two men, one psychopathic cure for boredom! Based on the popular board game of the same name. Stars Jonah Ray, Mr. Show's Jay Johnston, and Cheap Seats' Jason and Randy Sklar.
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Antitrust, Letter from London, Litigators, Magic Circle, Money, United Kingdom / Great Britain
Be careful what you write when you're young and idealistic.
In 2003, David Wolfe, a lawyer who works alongside Cherie Blair at top London human rights shop Matrix Chambers, decided he was unhappy with the way the British legal hierarchy works. So he co-signed an open letter criticising the Queen's Counsel (QC) system –- a process that sees a handful of barristers (British trial lawyers) promoted to the elite QC rank each year, enabling them to charge clients more money. "The QC system cannot be justified as being in the public interest or promoting competition," the letter stated.
Nine years on, and last week Wolfe found himself made up to QC — an honour which, despite the name, involves no input from the Queen or her family members. He didn't decline. Indeed, all QCs have to actively apply in order to gain the title. Unfortunately for Wolfe, someone mentioned his youthful letter to RollOnFriday, a widely read U.K. legal blog.
When contacted about the letter, Wolfe responded….
"Thanks for the opportunity to restate my personal views on the QC system. I applied this time when it was clear that lack of 'QC' meant I was losing work and could not service my clients fully. But I will not be putting my fees up as a result of it, and I continue vigorously to push for effective quality assurance systems for all advocates, which the QC system is not. Lack of mandatory periodic re-accreditation, and the lack of any real linkage to area of practice remain just two of the fundamental problems. So no 'youthful indiscretion' here — sorry to disappoint."
Wolfe is by no means the only British lawyer to have publicly criticised the QC system (which dates back to the 1500s, when it was first used as a way to highlight the U.K.'s best lawyers). Other leading barristers with the QC designation, including Clare Montgomery, Tim Owen, and Rhodri Thompson, have also expressed their unease with what they believe to be an unfair and anti-competitive "quality mark". A high court judge, Sir Gavin Lightman, has even gone so far as to describe the tag QC as "a licence to print money".
Of course, how much money depends on the area a lawyer practices in. Wolfe, who specialises in publicly-funded work, will never pull in anything close to the sums made by top commercial barristers like Jonathan Sumption QC — who apparently gets paid £1,500 an hour by his Russian oligarch clients — or indeed Piers Warburton, the finance partner at London Biglaw firm Ashurst who co-owns the aforementioned RollOnFriday blog.
Elsewhere, recent research has shown that six top British law firms would make the FTSE 100 if they went public –- as the U.K's freshly implemented Legal Services Act (LSA) allows firms to do. According to the study, by Europa Partners, Allen & Overy, Freshfields, Linklaters, Hogan Lovells, Clifford Chance and DLA Piper would all make the elite list, with each nominally valued at over £2bn if they floated. The survey added that partners at Slaughter and May –- long believed to be the most profitable law firm in London — would stand to make more than £8m each if the firm went public.
However, few expect these firms to list anytime soon, with the interest in going public limited, to date, to smaller firms. Commenting on the figures, A&O's managing partner Wim Dejonghe said: "These valuations show there has been a quiet revolution over the last 10 years in the UK legal sector. The leading UK law firms are now big businesses. All of this is good for jobs and value creation. However, we still see partnership, rather than flotation, as the best model for our business."
Alex Aldridge is Above the Law's U.K. correspondent. He also writes a weekly column for The Guardian and is the Editor of Legal Cheek. Previously Alex was Associate Editor of Legal Week, having begun his career with The Times. Follow Alex on Twitter @AlexAldridgeUK or email him at email@example.com.
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In typical Toby Keith fashion, 'I Like Girls That Drink Beer' starts off with the attitude of, "I'm Toby Keith. I do what I want and you have to live with that." The first few lines of the song are a strong indication of that attitude. "Bye bye, baby I'm leavin'/You can keep your mansion and your money/Your boat and your Benz and your uptown friends/And your country club that ain't really country." It seems that Keith has found the formula for what country fans want to hear. With the success of 'Red Solo Cup' and 'Beers Ago' from his 2011 album, 'Clancy's Tavern', and the new release of 'I Like Girls That Drink Beer', it would be safe to assume that Toby Keith fans are fillin' up on some suds. His recent songs about beer, mixed with that attitude that has made him famous, has given fans some instant classics. With his new single being the follow-up to 'Beers Ago' and 'Red Solo Cup' (which to-date is one of the most successful songs from Keith), 'I Like Girls That Drink Beer' has some very large shoes to fill. However, given the recipe for success from 'Red Solo Cup' and 'Beers Ago', I think that Toby Keith has another hit on his hands.
There's still no news on the name or release date of Toby Keith's upcoming 17th studio album. 'I Like Girls That Drink Beer' is available for digital download now. Fans can hear the song on AOL Radio's New Country First.


text:
The Blog
The oil market is increasingly dominated by state-run entities pursuing geopolitical objectives that have nothing to do with profit.
11:00 PM, Jan 8, 2006 • By IRWIN M. STELZER
UKRAINE is the West writ small. Its confrontation with Russia over energy supplies, during the course of which Vladimir Putin gave "cold war" a new definition, is a warning to major energy-consuming countries that their long-term prosperity is in the hands of very dangerous people.
It's no news that the OPEC oil cartel is not the most reliable supplier of the oil that advanced economies need to keep their trucks and cars moving, their planes flying, and some of their homes heated. These oil-producing countries have combined to keep prices above competitive levels and have not hesitated to "unsheathe the oil weapon"--read, boycott consuming countries--when dissatisfied with American foreign policy, as they were in 1973 and 1974. That includes, most notably, Saudi Arabia which nevertheless attempts to pass itself off as a reliable supplier of energy.
As does Vladimir Putin, who kept a straight face when announcing that his willingness to end his cutoff of gas supplies to Europe--a supply shutdown that included refusing to allow gas from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan to flow through Russian pipes--proves that Russia is a reliable supplier. Never mind that it was on his orders that Gazprom cut off supplies to Ukraine, and by extension to Germany, France, and other countries--despite existing contracts that run until 2009. Remember: This dispute was not only about prices. Belarus, the former Soviet republic that has elected to stay in Russia's sphere of influence, has not been faced with the massive price increases Gazprom has imposed on more Western-oriented Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova.
Putin's message is clear: Russia's energy resources, now completely under the control of the state, provide it with a new weapon, petropower. And Putin is willing to use it to restore Russia's influence to levels that existed when it was a superpower. That's what the destruction of Yukos was all about and that's what the renationalization of Russia's energy infrastructure is all about. Putin reasons that if oil could be used for decades to mute American criticism of Saudi domestic policies, Russian oil and gas can be used to shut down Western criticism of his increasingly dictatorial policies at home.
THE SUPPLY CUTOFF to Europe had no direct effect on America. But it served as a warning that what is left of the nation's energy security strategy is in tatters. The Bush administration had hoped that Iraq would return to world markets as a major, and American-friendly, oil producer. The Pentagon predicted that Iraq would ratchet up its production to over twice the prewar level of about 2 million barrels per day. In the event, production is stalled at only a bit more than 1 million barrels per day, as sabotage and decades of underinvestment have combined to limit production and virtually free gas for Iraqis keeps domestic consumption so high that there is little left to export.
The second strand of the administration's policy was to persuade Congress to open up parts of Alaska for drilling. Congress refused. Finally, the White House sought to reduce its exposure to OPEC by increasing purchases from Russia. That plan, too, has come a cropper: Putin has invited OPEC representatives to a meeting to coordinate their policies with his.
There's worse. Venezuela, one of America's top crude oil suppliers, has always been a reliable business partner, even honoring its supply contracts when the Arab members of OPEC instituted their boycott. Now, however, that country is run by the rabidly anti-American, pro-Castro, Hugo Chávez. He has raised taxes, sued for massive back taxes (shades of Putin's assault on Yukos), forced the major international oil companies to give state-owned PDVSA majority ownership of their oil concessions, and forged an anti-Yankee alliance with other Latin American oil producers such as Bolivia's Evo Morales.
All of this is bad news for countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom where major companies--BP, Exxon, and others--operate within the constraints of shareholder-imposed requirements to maximize profits. They are private-sector players in a game increasingly dominated by state-run entities pursuing geopolitical objectives that have nothing to do with mere profit maximization.
Putin keeps prices to favored allies below market levels; Chavez makes cheap oil available to Cuba; Middle Eastern countries, with the possible exception of Kuwait, refuse to allow Western oil companies to invest capital and expertise to develop new reserves although the host countries would benefit from such development; China pumps $1.2 billion into Sinopec, a listed company, to cover its losses. These are the acts of power-maximizers, not profit-maximizers.


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Denby Halo rimmed cereal bowl
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With Denby comes great quality and in this black rimmed cereal bowl with inner dispersed stone halo design, we find gorgeous design for everyday use, that all will admire.
Item description
Denby cereal bowl with dispersed stone design.
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Sunday, March 11, 2012
© Copyright 2015 Albany Herald
I recently attended a county commission meeting to ask Dougherty County Chairman Jeff Sinyard to represent me and others in our county on bringing the city and county consolidation issue back to life. Chairman Sinyard did the right thing and promptly sent a letter to Mayor Dorothy Hubbard to consider taking action. Asking the mayor to get involved was necessary because the consolidation plan had a vote of 5 to 2 by the city commissioners in favor of moving forward with a charter. The county had voted 4 to 3 to not even let the public have a vote on consolidation.
My purpose for making this request on behalf of myself and others in our community was to bring attention to the fact that our property taxes are extremely high. It seemed no one was taking any action on this already approved tax-saving initiative by the City Commission. We need to find ways to cut government expenses, and the consolidation plan was one of those alternatives to accomplish this. Another purpose was to bring attention to the fact that some of our elected commissioners had voted to not even let the citizens of this county have a vote on how their government is run. This was the point that was most disturbing. When our elected officials do not want us to express our views, then it is time to vote them out of office.
When others were interviewed by the media about their views on consolidation, it appeared they were making generalized statements on one aspect without taking into account the full details of the past studies. These studies were not cheap, and both the city and county had approved significant taxpayer funding for these plans. Now it seems that some commissioners do not want to discuss the issue again, even though many others had unanimously approved moving forward with the plans, including a grand jury.
What is also disturbing is that it seems a few commissioners do not understand the details of the transition plan. Comments have been made about there not being any savings. One example was bringing the Dougherty County Police salaries up to the level of the Albany Police officers. So I did my own calculation. According to (Dougherty Police Chief) Don Cheek, there are 55 county police officers. If there is an adjustment of $4 to $5 dollars per hour, the annual impact could be in a range of $457,600 to $572,000. This could potentially be more than offset by reducing the inefficiencies with several duplicated departments between the city and county. The previous consolidation transition plans indicated a high level projection for an annual savings of $370,000 up to $3 million, with one of the studies projecting $2 million in annual savings. However, the actual savings would not be known until there are decisions made related to how consolidation would be implemented. There are also other efficiency benefits that could be achieved by having a consolidated government, such as quicker decisions, less negotiations and payments between the city and county, and being more competitive.
So I bring this to the public to be sure they are aware of the facts. Taking generalized opposition statements from some of our commissioners can prevent us from taking the appropriate steps in making our government much more efficient. I decided to get involved, research the facts and then to express my opinion. I ask others to also get involved and speak out. It seems there are some irresponsible officials who think if there is not a large group of people showing up at these commission meetings, then it is not important. They fail to realize one or two may be representing many others that could not attend. They are also watching their actions. The citizens of Albany and Dougherty County should be asking, if the commissioners do not want to pursue consolidation, then what are they going to do to reduce property taxes, and how are they going to make our local government more efficient?
Charles Westbrook has been a resident of Albany for the past 10 years and has 25 years of experience in bank operations management. He is a past vice president and president of the River Pointe Neighborhood Association.
More like this story
- Citizens revive discussion on consolidation ( March 5, 2012 )
- Consolidation creeps back into Dougherty County Commission conversation ( March 8, 2014 )
- LAMAR HUDGINS: Dougherty County Commission is meeting fiscal challenges ( March 17, 2014 )
- Jeff Sinyard: Coming changes cannot detract from County Commission's focus ( February 21, 2014 )
- Dougherty Commission kills consolidation charter ( December 16, 2009 )


text:
Glow Party ft Zumba Fitness
Saturday, May 10th 6:00 - 7:30pm - Burn calories, tone up and have fun working out on a Saturday night. Wear white or neon so you can GLOW! Glow sticks, snacks and drinks are provided. $15 per Person Reservations MUST be made by Thursday 8th May Call 239 227 4222 to reserve NOW!!
Occurs once: May 10, 2014 (6:00 PM to 7:30 PM)
Contact Name: Michael Pollara
Contact Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Contact Phone: 239 227 4222
Paramount Fitness
Paramount Fitness
91 9th Street South, Naples, FL 34102
Ticket Price: $15 per person
Ticketing Phone: 239 227 4222
Ticketing URL: https://www.pfnaples.com