Maltastar: read this and weep
Glenn Dangerfield and Jason plot another scoop for Maltastar
Desperate for a story to distract attention from their current eff-ups, the Labour Party’s media wizards have flipped out their megiks wands – oh dear – and turned an innocuous British former diplomat called Charles Crawford into the government’s new consultant and ‘spin doctor’.
This is because he flew to Malta to give diplomats a morning’s session in the proper use of English for official communication, and then flew back out again, having met nobody but civil servants and career diplomats.
Oh, and he quoted my blog. As soon as they saw that, the wizards at Maltastar sniffed the wind and said: “Ah, conspiracy theory – something is happening behind our backs. If he quotes the Bidnija blogger then he must be in league with her, and if he is in league with her then he is in league with the government.”
Well, they wouldn’t have put it quite like that, except for the Bidnija blogger bit. It would have been in primary school English-as-a-second-language. But you get my drift.
You can tell from Charles Crawford’s blog that he doesn’t know what hit him, and that the island is thick with loonies. He is completely perplexed by the fact that Maltastar (lucky for him he can’t read KullHadd or listen to One News) keeps repeating that he has refused to answer questions, when nobody has asked him any.
He doesn’t understand that this is the way the Malta Labour Party operates: they don’t ask you any questions so that they can then claim that you haven’t answered any.
We take this insanity from the Opposition party as a fact of life, because we have seen far, far worse from it and even this kind of deception has been normalised. But anybody sitting on the outside and looking in is going to be completely taken aback by the stupidity and audacity – unless, of course, they come from Uzbekistan.
Here’s Maltastar today, for example. It’s not just the poor, childish writing and the errors of grammar, spelling and syntax that make you weep. It’s the mangled thinking and the babyish attempts at what they like to call spinning (when they think it’s being done by others).
How exactly do these people reason, if they reason at all? Don’t they understand that internet is not like a newspaper – that anyone who is on the internet reading Maltastar can tap in a second into the original source – Charles Crawford’s blog – and find there not just his categorical denial of Maltastar’s lies, but also the facts and best of all, a gently mocking description of Glenn Dangerfield of One News.
Maltastar
Austin Sammut spoke first of a foreign consultant to PM
16 March 2010 16:38
Austin Sammut, Nationalist Party opinionist, confirmed that a foreign advisor was behind the parliamentary assistant proposal to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.
In an opinion piece penned for the Times of Malta dated 9 March, Mr Sammut said: “Yet, I for one, am not totally convinced with Dr Gonzi’s strategy (and it would be interesting to know who has advised him – we have heard of a foreigner; totally unnecessary in my opinion)”
He also said that this proposal, which will come to cost taxpayers well over 200,000 euro, has solved the trouble within the Gonzi administration. “The Prime Minister seems to have got his house somewhat in order recently. He seems (and I stress “seems”) to have rallied his troops. He seems to have placated his backbenchers by offering some sort of pairing with ministers.”
However, the news of the Prime Minister employing a foreign advisor was only revealed by newspaper Kullhadd on Sunday, saying that Charles Crawford had advised the Prime Minister to have backbenchers twinned with ministers.
Mr Crawford denied having a meeting with the Prime Minister or that he is giving any advises to the Gonzi administration.
So far he found all the time to answer to questions put forward to him by the Nationalist media, but has not been available to comment on One News because he was busy with Mother’s Day celebrations
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I’d like to ask a question to those who read this blog, people who in my opinion are more level-headed than the average Maltese who comment on websites. We have all seen and heard, in no small part thanks to Daphne, the scandals that lie beneath the surface of our political “elite”. We have also seen how the PL and, to a lesser extent, PN, media machines are complete arses. How can we, as citizens with more than half a brain cell each, improve the situation? I am starting to believe that the easy option — bailing and leaving for somewhere else in Europe where people think before they act and/or speak — is the only one, but I’d love to be proven wrong.
Don’t vote PL, for a start. And speak to and of them kindly and gently. It drives them nuts.
Well, over the past 20 years, being voted out of office has only made the PL more bitter, and being constantly in office has only made them more complacent. Hardly the ideal outcome, really.
Two years ago I used to get all worked up about how unprofessional and amateurish everything in Malta is, how MEPA is responsible for Malta’s defacement, how bad our infrastructure, transport and public services are, what bad value for money we get for all the taxes we pay, how ignorant and uncultured the average citizen is… Then I moved to London.
Anonymous Coward, if you do like the Europeans who “think before they act and/or speak,” you may find that “the easy option” is not always the BEST option, although it is an option.
Why scandals – specifically – has Daphne “revealed”?
(Note: lokking like “the back of a buss” doesn qualify as a scanda; except aesthetically)
[Daphne – There are none so blind as those who will not read.]
….and are so eager to defend the indefensible that they forget how to spell……….or maybe they never knew how!
David, instead of nitpicking about typos (caused through haste), why not try to answer my question?
Twanny, are you being serious? If so, why did you mention the back of the bus? It was Magistrate Herrera who told the Court under oath that being compared to the back of a bus is a scandal.
Here are a few:
1. consorting with parties to cases being heard in her court (at least 7 pending cases were mentioned on this blog)
2. lying under oath at least twice in the same hearing
3. consorting with policemen, particularly with one of dubious reputation whose criminal case is still pending in her court
4. pinning the blame on the one policeman whose integrity is doubted by no one
5. trying to influence a potential witness in a case she instigated herself, thereby perverting the course of justice
6. sitting in judgement over a criminal case involving her lover’s brother
7. flaunting her personal attributes, such as they are, in a manner unbecoming in any woman, let alone one who occupies a supposedly respectable position in authority and in public life
8. using her considerable influence with the police – for they too, must have plenty to hide – to bully, intimidate and harass someone who publicly questions her behaviour and motives.
No, I didn’t think you’d consider these things to be scandalous. But thankfully yours is not the only view that matters.
Jason and Dangerfield would do well to take some advises and stop gnashing their teethies together.
I.
After combat and naval battle,
The great Neptune in his highest belfry:
Red adversary will become pale with fear,
Putting the great Ocean in dread.
II.
An earthquake foretold, a season new
The Star of the Knights’ Island:
Blue adversary will abound with theories,
Of great conspiracies and mire.
– Nostradamus, He-Who-Sharon-Is-Not
Neptune in a belfry? Looking for sea-belles, perhaps?
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2419/1908531649_ca634be0ac.jpg
I have been following this blog for quite some time now. Often tempted to post a few lines in response to certain individuals, but did not want to get involved in this type of communication. Politics and gossiping about individuals is not my cup of tea. So smiled switched off my p.c. and went to bed.
Today here I am against all odds due to a business trip and have nothing better to do away from home. So I’m being bored just like you waiting for sleep to kick in. Today I concluded what most of you have in common. Hatred towards over half the population, that are leftist and happen to vote Labour. That is there only sin. It seems that half the population is dumb, less intellectual and they have no right for their opinion and belief. They seem to have no right to vote either as some even question having a vote in the first place. Maybe their mothers should have aborted them all. Oh, you lot would have loved that. Maybe you can propose sterilization for the south.
Sorry to disappoint you but I know many much worse people then the ones being exposed here who unbelievably vote for the same party you all love so much.
You are all blinded and brainwashed by cheap propaganda over the years fed to you by both political parties media machinery. You are simply on the other side of the fence. Your nauseating comments are a field day from an anthropological point of view. There is enough material on this blog to analyze this segment of society. You feel superior beings behind your monitors and act as blue blood is running though your veins. You feel you have the divine right to mock others.
You honestly think that the people you write about envy you and yearn for your life style. How wrong you are in this assumption. Did it ever cross your mind to change your bored lifestyle. You all must be yearning to do something different in life, as it became a boring routine for you day after day after day after day. Even this blog has become part of your daily chores. You’re realizing the clock is ticking and you’re still doing what you used to do 20 years ago. You’re getting a fix and feeling better about yourselves by trying to ridicule other people.
I have a collection of 3 voting documents which I am proud of, as I did not want to form part of any decision making in this country due to both parties offering same of same and try and feed me same bullshit. One is white the other one black.
You are tempting me that this time round to vote PL. Not that I would enjoy doing so, but for the simple reason to see most of you here suffer the humiliation of a Labour government. To wake up the next morning and read what all of you have to say. Because you definitely do not mirror a christian upbringing. As for me, I will survive any government as I don’t give a damn who’s running this country. I will wake up to the same party machinery with a few changed faces offering same of same.
I now bid you goodnight and bless you all.
[Daphne – Welcome. You can be our token nihilist. We needed one of those.]
….and I was tempted not to vote too in the next election but recent developments and thanks to what is emerging from this blog, I will be voting PN again as it is better the devil you know than the one who smiles at you then hits you. I have lived the “humiliation of two Labour governments”, thus another humiliation would not make a difference to me but it will to my children.
It’s a pity that thanks to a Labour government I and many others of my age did not have the opportunities this administration gave and is giving to our children. I am no businessman, thus have to work hard for a living, and I do care about who is best to lead this country despite its weakness, so as to offer decent education and job security for my children. There are loads to criticise the PN and believe me I DO as I am no YES MAN.
Oranges and lemons – which of the two?
Please fall for the temptation to vote for the Labour Party as soon as possible. By the way, may I remind you that the right of free speech is fundamental to democracy.
I hope you had a good night’s rest and may the Divine enlighten you to a more profound sense of patriotism.
“Hatred towards over half the population, that are leftist and happen to vote Labour. That is there only sin.”
Actually you are so far off the mark it’s scary! THEIR sin is that they refuse to acknowledge and keep on blindly voting for a party that trampled upon human rights and was intent on bringing down everybody’s level rather then raising it! We have yet to hear an apology for those years of desperation and all we here are justifications by apologists.
Finally, somebody speaks some sense….
Thanks Mr.Orangy Lemony.
And btw, you can NOT publish my comment, like the previous two i sent…. But it’s ok :)
I’ll survive anyways!
Hatred – not quite, dear oranges and lemons. It’s just that many of us lived through three Labour administrations and worry constantly that our children may have to suffer the same bullying and fear. Now trot along and admire your collection of voting documents.
I don’t quite agree with you here Oranges and Lemons ……….. I have no hatred for anyone at all …………… I just love expressing my view which can be wrong but can be right as well ………………. have a good day
III.
An architect, a mayor, a book of face
The scales of justices corrupted:
An island swept by a wind of ire
Seeking the return to dignity.
For a minute I was wondering where my Nostradamus got to. LOL
Pic reminds me of Roger Dangerfield and Charly McCarthy.
IV.
Sitting in council, opposition loyal
The son of the judge, the brother:
He screams at the Prince of the Land,
Seeing in him a mother.
V.
A capital city, for gentlmen by gentlmen built
Elects the son of the judge, the brother
His hopes for the Ministry of Justice
Are dashed by the Commission.
VI.
From the Far East a couple returns
They had been there to inquire:
Silent they are before the crowds
for justice is what the crowds require.
VII.
Two-score-five was the celebration
Dozens the flashes, many the friends:
Some will expect the Bench to remember
their friendship when sentence is deliver’d.
Well, I find it very unprofessional of Labour’s media chasing foreigners in matters of local politics. I believe that they should be directing their questions on matters of political controversy to the Prime Minister or his Ministers. No consultant would ever disclose details of client relationships to the media anyway.
Another comment “deleted in error”?
[Daphne – No, Twanny, it was deleted intentionally. I have told you already that you can’t use this site to push Maltastar’s false stories and agenda. I’m beginning to think that you people are a bit sick. The way for maltastar to earn respect for its coverage is to do some serious reporting.]
Elections are decided by the floating voters. Will they want Gonzi or Muscat? They preferred Gonzi to Sant last time but a dead hamster could have beaten Sant. Muscat has appeal to the floaters.
Like spacemen?
Sorry, spacepersons.
Interested Bystander or should it be prophetic bystander –
Sant lost the previous elections as a result of a number of flawed strategies made by the likes of Jason Micallef.
As regards to Muscat’s appeal, one can easily decipher that the hand of the master is still in play.
A case of the blind leading the blind!
XII.
An ambassador of yore to Poland
Goes to lecture on the Knights’ Island:
But the earthquake foretold, the Star of the land
Mistakes him for a Consultant.
XIII.
The spinning machine, the funny elves
Make out a story when none there is
And report No Answer
Where Questions are not made.
XIV.
The One of A Thousand Teeth
And the One of Look Intelligent
Want to distract the angry crowd
From the Fall of the Magistrate.
@Anonymous Coward
It is the option I took because I grew sick of this festering situation, but that doesn’t mean that leaving for somewhere else is the easy option. Believe me, it isn’t. I understand that fighting or fleeing are equally valid options, but require different strategies. There’s a time for fighting and there’s a time for fleeing. What other options are there? If you can’t beat them, join them? Giving up due to a growing sense of helplessness in the face of such a situation? The latter leads to frustration and the former (i.e., if you can’t beat them, join them) is probably what many choose to do to make sure that they survive. But at what price?
.” As for me, I will survive any government as I don’t give a damn who’s running this country.”
And in the previous sentence you had the gall to mention our Christian upbringing. It is very Christian to be selfish u tigi taqa’ u tqum.
We survived the Mintoff era and so we have already suffered ‘the humiliation of a Labour government’ (as you put it). Were you born yet?
Glen and Jason – two lovers reminiscing on their past failures – bye bye to becoming an MEP and bye bye to the reinstatement to Secretary General – thank you so very much Marisa for short-changing Jason to Super One.
Dear Daphne (if I may),
I have mentioned this posting and some other issues to do with some unhappy Maltese journalism at:
http://charlescrawford.biz/blog/malta-read-these-and-weep
As you can see, I also invite you to issue a small clarification.
I have read. My salty tears splosh on to my keyboard…
Regards,
Charles Crawford
[Daphne – Yes, I noticed that too.]
Erm – I think you deleted my comment in error again.
[Daphne – No, I didn’t delete it in error. I deleted it intentionally. I will not allow you to use this space to promote Maltastar’s agenda and to insult others who have already made themselves clear about the facts, and that Maltastar is twisting them. Promote Maltastar’s agenda on Maltastar. The fact that they have a much lower readership than this blog is their problem, not mine. If they imagine they’re going to use their trolls and elves to ride piggy-back with their rumours and insinuations on my readership rankings, they are seriously mistaken. You’re not amusing, Twanny. It’s about time you grew up and stopped trying to be twee.]
Another labour candidate of integrity in the news
http://docs.justice.gov.mt/SENTENZI2000_PDF/GOZO/CIVILI,%20PRIM%20AWLA/2010/2010-03-16_28-2009_60063.PDF
Dear Daphne, Could you please keep Nostradamus`s quatrains and publish them in book form? They are hilarious and I am now trying to compose myself and fix my make up before our manager`s meeting.
X’faqgha ta’ nuccali ghandu Dangerfield!
Sorry Mandy but I just couldn’t help it – I mean look at them!
No offence taken. At least you’ve come up with a decent comment or two since the “tie” one.
It matches Iljunfant’s tie
Indeed I weep every time I read maltastar, but I have to, it’s part of my work.
Following yesterday’s childish bit of nonsense, I asked them to publish my comment which of course showed their foolishness in their persistence of trying to involve a respected person in something he was never involved in. But the comment never appeared.
That’s freedom of expression for Labour.
Mr.Felice Pace, what did you expect? Sometimes people tend to forget the past—- even the recent past.
@David Buttigieg – That is your perception David, and like PL supporters you have every right to it. I don’t blame you as the indoctrination through your party over the years worked well. I can mention as many arguments as you wish to justify what I’m saying. The people you talk about reason in the same manner you do, as the same bull was fed to them by their party as well. You are one of them simply on the other side. It is a vicious circle my friend to keep the faithful hardcore.
Both political parties managed to improve our country and both managed to f#$@%k it up over the years.
[Daphne – Oh my, that’s a really balanced view. I trust you are neither a management consultant nor a historian.]
I’m sure you find it quite hard to point out a fault or condemn your own party for wrong doings. You would feel you are betraying your own party. On the other hand I don’t feel I owe any alliance to anyone.
@Maryanne – I survived the Mintoff era just as much as I survived Fenech Adami’s and Gonzi’s no big deal. After every election I wake up and continue what I was doing like any other day. I don’t care who’s running the country not because I’m selfish but because I have long realized that they are both offering the same thing. That is why for the last three elections I did not even bother to go and vote. Both parties rang and rang for my vote and both parties got the same answer.
Previous to that in my years I voted for both according to what I thought was right. In 1987 I voted PN as I thought they would fix our roads and Labour MP’s became too arrogant. How wrong I was. 23 years later look at the state of our roads. I think a change would do no harm this time round but not because Joseph Muscat is offering something better. It’s just like trying a new CEO.
[Daphne – IN 1987 YOU VOTED PN TO FIX OUR ROADS? Enough said.]
On a regular basis I receive recommendations from MPs to employ one of their flock. They go straight to my shredder. That is the pitiful state of this country. In 2010 people are still going to their MP to find a job. So things have not changed much Maryanne from the era you’re talking about.
Oranges and Lemons or should it be simply lemons – survival is not what the Maltese people want but a decent standard of living. The Nationalist government, has, by far, amply proved to be the best at achieving this.
I presume you are sleepwalking at the moment so dream on.
Oranges and Lemons
See what I mean? It is not a perception, I lived through the eighties, I remember well when my school was closed down and I had to study in hiding, I remember not being able to utter a word against the government outdoors. And that’s not even the tip of the iceberg!
“I can mention as many arguments as you wish to justify what I’m saying.”
What’s stopping you?
“The people you talk about reason in the same manner you do, as the same bull was fed to them by their party as well.”
Nobody fed me any bull, I lived through almost every single year of that period and recall it all too well.
“I’m sure you find it quite hard to point out a fault or condemn your own party for wrong doings. You would feel you are betraying your own party”
Spoken like a true labour elf, measuring others with their own yardstick. I don’t have a party, I am not even a member of ANY political party, and don’t give two hoots about “betraying any party”.
Hard to point out faults? Very funny, actually I find it very easy, however compared to the bunch of clowns in opposition PN is by far the best government Malta could have. If you look beyond the end of your nose and see the big picture you will see how well Malta did in this recession, and how close we came to disaster in 2003 and 2008!
David, but do you work in the private or public sector?
Oranges and Lemons said something very important: that MPs still send him recommendations to employ people.
O&L’s point of view is of someone who works in the private sector. It oozes disillusionment.
To my mind, it is worth analyzing.
Oranges and lemons? No, just bananas.
And if you really did vote for road repairs, you’re a total fruitcake.
@Oranges and Lemons: Not to belittle your achievements, but everyone survived the Mintoff, Fenech Adami, Sant and Gonzi years. Just because we survived them doesn’t mean we cannot choose who ruled better than the others. I still woke up every day and did the same things I did the day before, but that doesn’t mean that the decisions taken by the gevernment did not affect my everyday life.
I don’t remember much of the Mintoff era, because I was very little then; my parents come one from each party, and they never speak about politics so as not to influence me, however, I informed myself about those times. And I do remember the short stint in government of Sant, and believe me, in those two short years his government’s decisions still managed to affect my life in a negative way. I’m not saying that the PN never took decisions that are difficult for the population to digest, no one’s perfect. But they are the better of the two options.
Yes, I voted PN in all the elections I had the joy to vote in, and I’ll be more than happy to vote PN again, because there simply is no other option available. After all, the vote is our RIGHT in a democracy, and a right we should never take for granted.
In 1987 you should have voted PN because Raymond Caruana had just been killed and not because of the state of the roads.
I only wrote that I had heard that the PM had engaged a foreign consultant re Parliamentary Secretaries. I never confirmed, because I am not in a position to do so. Further, may I say that I am not a “Nationalist Party opinionist”. I will only say that I am an independent thinker with my views like everybody else, and have criticised the PN when I deemed fit.
Dr. Sammut – i understand that you heard that Lawrence Gonzi engaged a private consultant to contain a backbench rebellion.
This is not a matter of free-thinking yet a matter of confirming facts before going to print.
The fact is that Dr Sammut was reporting what he heard. That much must be true. Whether what he heard is true is another matter. I do not remember that in his article Dr Sammut said that that rumour was true.
Yet it seems that it is a fact that there was a rumour.
The idiots are those at KullHadd, One, MaltaStar who based a story on a rumour.
[Daphne – A rumour they probably started themselves.]
I had to visit Maltastar!
seriously… WTF?
“I am not a “Nationalist Party opinionist”.
And I am the ghost of Christmas past.
lol @ “any ‘advises’ to the Gonzi administration”
Daphne, I was not impressed by the lingo of Xoghol, Gustizzja u Liberta neither with staying out of parliament and everything else that came with it. That was all part of a planned campaign, which worked well in those days.
However, I did think they were serious enough when they used to hype up the roads issue. I naively believed the new regime would want to drive on good roads with their new branded cars from the open market. But I was mistaken. Apart from that, I also stated that the MPs became too arrogant and there was a need for change. All things under the sun has an expiry date and they were all passed it.
[Daphne – You wanted roads, but some of us wanted democracy and screw the roads. You really have your priorities in a twist. What sort of person are you, anyway? One who ranks roads as a higher priority than democracy and basic human rights. But we know that already, because you don’t vote.]
I’m no historian and don’t need to be one to understand that history is written by biased individuals. There is always two sides of a story to write about. Rest assured I’m no management consultant either.
What you write about today was happening in the 80’s and MPs from both sides used to dine and wine each other il-Fekruna and Marsaxlokk. The next day they went back to parliament calling each other names and pretending to be political enemies. Nothing changed. They are all made from the same feathers.
You have your opinion, and I have mine. Let’s stop here and agree to disagree unless you want endless correspondence about the subject.
@ Austin Sammut – did you bang your head my friend? Since when did you transform yourself into an independent thinker. You might as well ended your post with, That’s all folks!
Mr oranges and lemons…….what a cute nom-de-plume!
Enough is enough! To compare the ugly days of Mintoffian et al rule with today’s manner of governance is close to sacrilege. I also am disappointed at many decisions of today’s government but to compare today to yesteryear is abominable. In the eighties I attended the mass meetings and like others remember the ‘Wasps’ ie the SMU with their shields and truncheons.
I remember being attacked in Merchants Street during the protest held against the water shortages. I remember tal-Barrani. I remember the havoc caused by uncontrolled Labour supporters after elections which they had won. I remember the police shootings after the Rabat mass meeting.
I remember stones thrown at carcades organised by the PN. I remember the Blue Sisters being kicked out of Malta. I remember the thugs accompanying certain well known ministers of those infamous days. I remember when you had to pay a bribe to get a television. I remember when the word ‘consultation’ was erased from our vocabulary….. and the list could go on and on.
And yes once more this government of today needs to show some humility and be more in touch with today’s voters’ needs to stand any chance of being returned to govern at the next elections.
But please do not insult my or other readers’ intelligence by insinuating that today we are governed the same way as in the eighties. Some of us do not need to read our history. WE LIVED IT!
Twanny get a life or a wife.
Do ghosts have sex?
@David Buttigieg – I am no labour elf, do not assume as you make an ass of yourself. I only voted Labour once in my life. The difference is I was brought up by parents with opposing views, so had to listen to both of them growing up. When I was old enough I formed my own opinion.
However, I do live on the same Island and also lived those years, and I too remember well. Who are you trying to kid. You’re saying you could not utter a word against the government in the 80’s wow, your imagination does run wild. I think you must be referring to the 50’s and 60’s when people could not read a Labour leaning newspaper or otherwise they end up excommunicated from the church and discriminated against.
In the 80’s every Sunday the Nationalist party had mass meetings and you could have gone to them and chant as much as you like. Thousands participated at that time and were not afraid of doing so.
You had to study in hiding? My God, did you just read Anne Frank ? Did your parents had a bookcase as well with a hiding room behind it. I lived those years too and know many who were off school for sometime. Big deal, dealt with and moved on. Could the school issue have been handled better. Yes definitely.
Democracy and human rights were in place, nothing changed. Today same things are happening 25 years later in the name of democracy.
Both parties are messing up people’s lives. People tend to believe fairytales and they depend on their party to help them out. Until the people realise that there’s no difference between them and cut the umbilical cord the mentality will not change. And that is what political parties are afraid of, that people one day will finally wake up and realise they don’t need them anymore.
“I am no labour elf, do not assume as you make an ass of yourself. I only voted Labour once in my life. The difference is I was brought up by parents with opposing views, so had to listen to both of them growing up. When I was old enough I formed my own opinion.”
Oh come on! It is very clear that you ARE Labour! Or a floating voter at the very least! Are you sure you’re not developing selective dementia? Or maybe you already have it and therefore can’t really distinguish good from bad.
The parties already know that we don’t need them, and that’s why they do all they can to try and get our vote in their favour – am talking about all of them.
The fact that you voted Labour once (basing on what you said), PN once (for road improvements) and rejected your right to vote 3 times makes you a person without a backbone. Of course you say li tigi taqa u tqum min ikun fil-Gvern! If you bothered, you would have exercised your right to vote!
[Daphne – That’s because he relies on every one to choose a government for him. Imagine if we all did the same and refused to vote – anarchy.]
First of all, please use the ‘reply’ feature. I know computers were banned under Labour but still, try to keep up!
“I am no Labour elf, do not assume as you make an ass of yourself”
If it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, chances are it’s a duck.
“You’re saying you could not utter a word against the government in the 80’s wow, your imagination does run wild. I think you must be referring to the 50’s and 60’s when people could not read a Labour leaning newspaper or otherwise they end up excommunicated from the church and discriminated against. ”
The Church is not the government. If you choose to you can go against the churches teachings but don’t whine if they kick you out.
“Thousands participated at that time and were not afraid of doing so. ”
Yes, thousands upon thousands participated protected by the anonymity of said masses. If anyone criticised the government openly like you do (well you hide behind a nome de plume) the results were violent. Ask Daphne who suffered it first hand, even at the hands of Malta’s next deputy PM and minister for justice.
“You had to study in hiding? My God, did you just read Anne Frank”
Yes I did, again justifying the unjustifiable. The fact is that in a supposedly democratic country my right to education was brutally trampled upon by the government. I moved on, sure, but I’ll never forget.
“Democracy and human rights were in place”
Of course they were, and the North Korea is really the DEMOCRATIC Republic of Korea, and it was Raymond Caruana’s fault for getting in the way of a bullet, and Pietru Pawl Busuttil should have volunteered not to make the Police look like fools, and il-Fusellu was an innocent man who used to help people overcome bureaucracy and WHY should people have a choice as to what goods to buy?
“Both parties are messing up people’s lives. People tend to believe fairytales and they depend on their party to help them out. Until the people realise that there’s no difference between them and cut the umbilical cord the mentality will not change. And that is what political parties are afraid of, that people one day will finally wake up and realise they don’t need them anymore.”
And your alternative to political parties is….?
David, your answers are too emotional.
O&L’s opinion are rational. That does not mean that he’s right. But he is presenting a very rational analysis – which strikes me, to be frank.
One would expect the “respondents” to be rational too.
Sorry to say, David, but your replies are an educated variant of tony.
I would like to see an exchange of rational arguments.
You’re deliberately confusing the Catholic Church with the state. It is the Catholic Church that excommunicates its members and not the state in which those people live.
“Democracy and human rights were in place, nothing changed.”
Really? When was the last time an independent newspaper’s offices were set on fire while the staff were still inside?
Enough said.
In the sixties there was a saying going something like this – “Ahjar gvern nazzjonalista hazin milli gvern laburista tajjeb”. How true! Do you have to burn your finger again to realise it’s hot?
@Oranges and Lemons
Stick to the lemons.
@La Redoute – You should know better about the church and the PN. Pull my other leg please.
@ Angele – You can also exercise your right by not voting. In order to vote you have to trust the party or the individual you’re voting for. I do not.
On the contrary, in Malta it takes a strong backbone not to vote. It is easier to go to the polling booth and put some numbers over some names as they leave you in peace. Come election time I have representatives from both parties begging me for my vote like hyenas. And some come out with really good jokes. Ah ha, what if you need a favour my friend, they will know you did not vote as they have records.
I don’t ask for any favours and I know what my rights are as a citizen. They don’t even realise that keeping such data is illegal. But we live in a democratic country now, right?
[Daphne – You really have turned the concepts of rights, democracy and what constitutes a strong backbone firmly on their head.]
Better than what ‘Oranges and Lemons’ says?
Spare yourself any further embarassment, and admit that your politics are nothing short of a desperate joke.
@ Oranges and Lemons
” Come election time I have representatives from both parties begging me for my vote like hyenas”.
Obviously neither party knows how the wheels and gears in your thinking system are all jammed up.
“:… in Malta it takes a strong backbone not to vote”. Are you describing your backbone? It’s more likely that you are describing a bowl of jelly. No wonder you cannot stand up and be counted!
They’ve done it again. Super One’s scoop tonight was that Charles Crawford was PAID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And that he still hasn’t denied meeting PM Gonzi. Oh and Minister Tonio Borg has not answered all the parliamentary questions including the one about what meetings Crawford had while in Malta.
Now you can really lie down and weep.