Oh Cyrus, how sad – this is unbelievable
On maltatoday.com.mt, yesterday:
Engerer says that whilst he and Opposition leader Joseph Muscat do not agree on issues such as same-sex marriage, Muscat is open to be convinced on the contrary:
“I see a fundamental difference between Lawrence Gonzi and the PN and Joseph Muscat and the PL on this issue… the good thing about Muscat is that although we disagree, he invited me to convince him that his opinion is wrong. He told me that he would even change his position if convinced. The difference between Labour and PN is that Labour listens to everyone.”
Can’t you see what’s wrong here, Cyrus?
Joseph Muscat is the party leader and future prime minister. It is YOU who should be telling HIM to convince you of his arguments, and not HE telling YOU to convince HIM.
Joseph Muscat wants Cyrus Engerer’s vote, not the other way round.
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There is a word that sums up the ginger magician:
Hubris.
Good riddance to bad rubbish I say. Another attention-seeking prima donna of the likes of JPO e bella companija that the local political scene can do without.
…….and the Lord said “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.”
Tajba din. In-naghga l-mitlufa thajjar lir-raghaj il-gdid taghha sabiex jigi jaqbez warajha minn fuq l-irdum ghax ta’ qablu ma riedx jaghmel hekk.
With all the lost sheep that Joe Muscat is collecting right now , he is in serious competition with Little Bo Peep.
In the meantime, it is hilarious watching Dr JPO, Mr Cyrus , Mr Manu and Dr.Joe Muscat in direct competition with each other for top billing during the evening news.
“In the meantime, it is hilarious watching Dr JPO, Mr Cyrus , Mr Manu and Dr.Joe Muscat in direct competition with each other for top billing during the evening news.”
They all give me the impression that they are very cocky.
This is going to be funny: Cyrus convincing Joseph about same-sex marriage.
How can Cyrus’s position in public be taken seriously if his Dear Leader is of a different opinion?
I can already see Lou Bondi in the Autumn edition of Bondi+ asking Joseph Muscat: Are you in favour of same-sex marriage?
And Joseph’s reply: Cyrus is still trying to convince me, Lou. Perhaps if you could join Labour and have a go at it with Cyrus I might be convinced.
Political opportunism at its best. Nothing new here.
Did you notice that Maltatoday and Maltastar are using the exact same pic of JPO?
This is the few times when Daphne got it wrong. Up to few weeks ago Daphne was saying that Engerer was the bright light of the PN, something which I could not see at all.
Il-partit taghna qed imexxi minn isfel ghal-fuq, naraw x’iridu n-nies u naghtu li jridu n-nies.
Is-sur Cyrus Engerer huwa bniedem ta’ l-affari tieghu , ta’ l-inqas hemm min irid jisimghu fuq iz-zwieg ta’ bejn l-irgiel (biex inpogguha bil-pulit).Ahna nisimugh , haddiehor qallu f’wiccu li adozzjoni LE…..mhux se nhallu tifel ma’ zewg pufti.
U ghad-dritt ghal-pensjoni ta’ xulxin naraw.
Il-lista ta’ l-irgiel li qed jitilqu mil-PN qed tikber sinjura tal-Bidnija: Nikki Dimech,Doctor David Gatt, Mario Farrugia Borg,Professur Edward Scicluna,Doctor Sandro Schembri Adami,Doctor Deborah Schembri, Cyrus Engerer, Kenneth Zammit Tabona,Marisa Micallef Leyson, John Bundy. … u issa jkollna lil Perit Robert Musumeci.
Jekk trid tinghaqad maghna ,il-bieb miftuh, Doctor Muscat lest biex jisimghek.
Kont ghoddni nsejt lil-Marlene Pullicino Orlando …forsi ggib lil-eks taghha wkoll !
Mela Deborah, Marisa u Marlene saru rgiel ukoll, Suldat?
Irgiel fis-sens t’irgulija jafu li GonziPN hadha ghal-s.. wiccu u qed jitilqu bil-gzuz mil-PN. Kif tellajna lil-Marlene intellghu lil-Cyrus u lil-Deborah , u nehilsu mill-Qormija wicc il-qrusa ta’ xaghrha misbugh isfar u minn dak il-bicca tabib mill-Imsida li jipposa bhall-perit bil-pipa.
Maghna gejjin nies ta’ stoffa bi hsibijiet liberali u progressivi.
Fl-2013 nhezzu lil-Malta mis-sisien u nehilsuha mill-ghanqbut tal-Medjuevu li dahhalna fih Gonzi u l-ipokrezija tan-Nazzi, kollox ghandna lest bir-reqqa u kullhadd jaf postu minn qabel.
Suldat ta’ l-azzar Guzeppin
Deborah Schembri u Marisa Micallef Leyson huma rgiel?!
Le, jien u Ciccio m’ahniex ir-right u l-left hemispheres tal-istess beautifully layered mind.
Apparently at Labour, Pastor Muscat runs WomanNoMore “healing” sessions.
X’qed jghidu fuqna, Baxxter?
Fuqek ma nafx. Fuqi qed jghidu li jien Daphne stess, li jien wiehed mill-familja taghha, li jien imhallas minnha, li jien blue-eyed boy Nazzjonalist, u idjoziji ohra bhal dawn. Imbaghad xi horribly layered wad qed juza l-psewdonimu tieghi fuq il-comments board ta’ The Times.
Ir-rabja u frustrazzjoni repressa fil-Maltin qed tirrilaxxa ruhha fuq l-internet (ibda bija, ghax mhemmx forum iehor fejn nitkellem). Ghalhekk nghid 2012, bring it on.
Ghidilna min int, Baxxter!
Ibda biex, ragel jew mara?
Toqghod Malta jew barra?
Kont skola privata/tal-Knisja jew tal-Gvern?
Stat civili?
Sesswalita’: etero- jew omo- ?
Studji akkademici: xjenzi jew umanistika? (jew ligi?)
Impjegat jew ghal rasek?
(billi tikteb filghaxija, nissuspetta li int impjegat mal-Gvern)
Ecc ecc ecc
Ejja, Baxxter, invokalu il-protezzjoni tad-dejta lill Min Weber.
Jien taf x’nghid Baxxter? 2013, bring it on!
Milli jidher poggewna kollha bhala Caruana Galizias.
[Daphne – Vellas, you mean.]
Timmaginana kif gej?
Ciccio Caruana Galizia
Baxxter Caruana Galizia
Ghidilna min int, Baxxter!
Ibda biex, ragel jew mara? RAGEL, DUH! Kieku mara ma tohrogx dik il-vjolenza u dak id-deathwish.
Toqghod Malta jew barra? MALTA THE BEST!
Kont skola privata/tal-Knisja jew tal-Gvern? TAL-KNISJA IMMA HAMALLA
Stat civili? NAHSEB DIN OVVJA BIZZEJJED
Sesswalita’: etero- jew omo- ? ETERO, SFORTUNATAMENT
Studji akkademici: xjenzi jew umanistika? (jew ligi?) DIK TRICKY. EJJA NGHIDU LI JIEN RENAISSANCE MAN U AWTO-DIDATTA.
Impjegat jew ghal rasek? NAGHMEL ODD JOBS U XOGHOL TA’ STRAPAZZ.
(billi tikteb filghaxija, nissuspetta li int impjegat mal-Gvern)
DAK GHAX DAPHNE TAPPLOWDJAHOM (phew x’kelma!) FILGHAXIJA.
Ecc ecc ecc
Issa ma tarax li minhiex se nghidilkom min jien? Kieku nirrivela l-identità, nofskom jaharquli c-CV, u n-nofs l-iehor jigu jaharquli l-bieb tad-dar.
[Daphne – I’ve told you this before, Baxxter. If you were only to say who you are, you would be inundated with propositions and marriage proposals and would have reason to stop complaining that you’re still single. You are one of the main attractions on this website, and men have yet to understand that this kind of thing is far more appealing to women than a waxed chest or a muscle shot on Facebook.]
Sorry, Daphne, I think you’re right about Vella.
Ciccio Vella
OK Baxxter, pass kbir ‘il quddiem. Prosit!
Issa:
zewg mistoqsijiet ohra:
1. Soft Cell jew Iron Maiden?
2. Mat-Taljani jew mal-Inglizi?
Soft Cell qatt ma smajt bihom, mela Iron Maiden by default. Minhabba fihom qrajt Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.
Boring ghall-ahhar.
Rigward it-tieni mistoqsija, nirrifjuta li nwiegeb mistoqsijiet à la Xarabank.
[Daphne – Soft Cell. That makes Min Weber my contemporary. Human League, Tears for Fears, Depeche Mode, Frankie Goes to Hollywood….]
“Id-Depeche” huma timeless. Biex issir taf kemm ghandu zmien staqsih: perm, mullet, crew-cut, undercut, spinky, windswept, jew inkella emo?
HP Baxxter – dejjem jekk qed jghid il-verita’ – ghadu fl-early 30s tieghu.
Bilhaqq, HP, RIME of the Ancient Mariner, mhux RHYME.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rime_of_the_Ancient_Mariner_in_popular_culture
Iva, “Rime”. U Min Weber, int ossessjonat li tkun taf l-identità tieghi. Ghaliex? X’differenza taghmillek? Ghax semmejt nies b’isimhom f’pajjiz fejn l-offuskazzjoni u l-laghqizmu armonjuz huma r-regola?
Lanqas xejn. Kurjuz ghax kurjuz.
Ghandi kurzita’ dwar hafna nies. Per ezempju, ghandi kurzita’ jekk Matthew Vella hux dak tal-Malta Today. U kurzitajiet ohrajn.
Sadattant, imma, niehu l-opporunita’ biex nghidlek li l-Iron Maiden jaghtuk l-iskuza taqra mhux biss lil Coleridge, imma, mill-ewwel 4 albums taghhom:
(i) Sun and Steel (Miyamoto Musashi, u Mishima)
(ii) Murders in the Rue Morgue (Edgar Allan Poe)
(iii) Phantom of the Opera (Gaston Leroux)
(iv) Charge of the Light Brigade (Tennyson)
(v) Dune (Frank Herbert).
Naturalment, f’albums ohrajn insibu Sillitoe, Golding, Conrad, Huxley, Eco, u ohrajn.
Anki din alpha-male challenge?
Le din mhix. Int ghandek split personalities skond is-suggett tat-thread. Kwalita’ li tista’ tkun tajba. Ara li fic-CV titfa “Adaptable” u “Shows leadership qualities”. U minhiex qed inkun sarkastiku.
Iva, hemm izjed kultura f’erba’ albums ta’ Iron Maiden milli f’40 sena ta’ Meander, jew kemm ilu jezisti. That should ruffle a few feathers in that direction.
P.S. Poe huwa HEMM FUQ. Sorry, imma Anton Grasso lanqas joqghod hdejn full stop minn tieghu.
Psikologu Baxxter?
@suldat msaddad
you are wrong: .dig deeper for more precise info. Check your list. Xorta zommuhom kollha dawk li semmejt.
“naraw x’iridu n-nies u naghtu li jridu n-nies”
1. M’intomx ‘taghtu’ li jridu n-nies, imma ‘tweghdu’ jew vagament taghtu x’tifhmu li ‘forsi’ xi darba sa taghtu.
2. Jekk vera taghtu dak li jridu n-nies (li jridu kollox mill-AHJAR u B’XEJN) allura qeghdin tfasslu ricetta ta’ FALLIMENT totali ghall-pajjiz taghna.
Nittama f’Alla li jekk dan il-pulcinell ikun Prim Ministru ta’ Malta jintebah li l-weghdiet kollha li ghamel ma jistghux jitwettqu u jimxi ghall-gid tal-pajjiz u mhux ghall-gid tal-partit.
Ghall-voti lest li jitqahhab dan il-bniedem. L-uniku ghan tieghu u li jasal sa Kastilja u mbaghad il-Bambin wahdu jaf x’sa jhawwad!
Mohhu kwiet ghax ghandu advisors gwappi: Debono Grech; Sceberras Trigona; Grima; Leo Brincat ; Mario Vella; Anglu Farrugia u the cherry on the cake Jose Herrera plus sintendi Consuelo
Insejt lil Jo DUX Meli tal-Belt.
Feels like Cyrus was thrust into the limelight too soon. He could have become a good politician had he learnt to take a step back and not take rash decisions without thinking of the wider, longer term, consequences.
Ever heard the Maltese saying about the “Qattusa ghaggelija li taghmel frieh ghomja”?
Labour will not win the elections because Dr Joseph Muscat BA, MA, Ph.D is prime-ministerial stuff, but because The People (a fickle creature if ever there was one) are fed up with the Nationalist government.
too true – oppostions do not usually “win” elections. Tired “governments” lose elections.
This makes me feel that Cyrus is just trying to find something to justify his behaviour.
The notion that the leader of government should necessarily be right and know the answer to all things is indicative of a peasant society mentality, in which feudal lord is the absolute ruler, ordained by God. Is that the view of government that the PN now holds?
I would rather by led by a pragmatic leader who is open to change his opinion in our dynamic times than a doctrinaire dictator. Cyrus left your party because Gonzi slammed the door on discussion, his way or the highway. This can only lead to intellectual bankruptcy.
[Daphne – Zachary, you don’t even have Maltese citizenship and your words are doubly ridiculous because you are from New York state, where same-sex marriage became legal TODAY. Manhattan had no same-sex marriage right up until yesterday, but you’re up in arms because Malta hasn’t got it yet. If you would rather be led by a ‘pragmatic leader who is open to change his opinion’, I’m wouldn’t. I prefer my middle-aged adults, especially when they are party leaders, to have fully formed opinions about crucial matters. By the time I was Muscat’s age I knew exactly what I thought about same-sex marriage and I haven’t changed my opinion since. You should be worried about the fact that Muscat says he is against same-sex marriage and yet refuses to explain why. It’s because his reply wouldn’t be palatable: his electorate is conservative and speaks in terms of ‘pufti’. I know this because, unlike you, I live here and this is my field: politics in Malta. I don’t think you have your head screwed on straight if you are prepared to argue with and insult somebody who favours your cause – me – to celebrate somebody who is against it – Joseph Muscat.]
Mr Stewert, your “pragmatic leader who is open to change “keeps close to him the same old faces that date back from the seventies and early eighties well before the Berlin wall was torn down.
You’re right Daphne: I’m not a Maltese citizen and I don’t live there. But isn’t that what is so tragic about this situation? You ARE a Maltese citizen, you do live there, you are paid for your political opinions and you’re still wrong.
[Daphne – Exactly how am I wrong? Because I agree with same-sex marriage? Because I disagree with the amateurish, hysterical and ultimate self-defeating methods of lobbying for it?]
It seems to me that political experience in Malta has a deleterious effect on one’s ability to think rationally. Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici and Eddie Fenech Adami are arguable the two most “experienced” political minds in Malta today. Yet has all that “experience” made their judgement any less questionable? Look back on the events of the last few months and you’ll see I’m right, even though I’m not a Maltese citizen.
[Daphne – Please understand that you cannot be taken seriously if you call Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici a ‘political mind’. The man is nuts. He was already nuts when he was prime minister. Zachary, you are not right ‘even though you are not a Maltese citizen’. You are wrong and uninformed precisely because you are not one and are relying on third-hand information from dubious sources.]
Of course, I do intend to become a Maltese citizen some time. My fiance and I see a lot better prospect for that under Muscat’s promised civil unions than Gonzi’s promised nothing.
[Daphne – Didn’t you and Paul tell me you were married? So how is he now your fiance?]
I’m proud to have been part of the push for same-sex marriage in the state of New York. We did not get here by kowtowing to the Democratic Party. Rather, we zeroed-in on our detractors within that party and voted them out of office.
[Daphne – Funny then, that your fiance has said he will vote for somebody who has categorically declared he is AGAINST same-sex unions. I heard him myself, on television.]
We made ourselves visible in the media and we came out to our friends and families, bringing them on board as well. We got in people’s faces (including the President of the United States), made noise, and got our rights.
Andrew Cuomo doesn’t support same-sex marriage because it is the right thing to do: he supports it because it has become politically irresistible, a litmus test for Democrats. The same will soon be true of President Obama, who also does not support same-sex marriage, but has described his opinion on this matter as “evolving.” Would you describe Obama (whose position is almost identical to Muscat’s) as a poor leader?
[Daphne – I do not assess Muscat’s leadership qualities on the matter of his opinion on same-sex marriage, but on close observation of him over at least 13 years. What you describe here is a frightening form of political terrorism rooted in totalitarian reasoning, and you can’t even see it. You want politicians to do things not out of conviction but out of fear. The methods are different but the thinking is identical to that of ‘activists’ who murder abortion doctors and attack women who wear fur coats, also in the United States I believe. I prefer my politicians to do things because they believe in them. It’s more honest.]
When I voted for President Obama I did so because I believed that, even in the absence of support for same-sex marriage, the prospect of real movement on LGBT civil rights was so much better under him than John McCain. I was right. Surely in Malta you must know that voting in a two party system is often choosing the lesser of two evils.
[Daphne – Ho hum, Zachary. That is my constant refrain, the difference being that I don’t think the Nationalist Party is an evil but Labour certainly is. Its track record on basic freedoms is beyond horrendous.]
I’m quite sure you’re right: your party leader is absolutely convinced that he knows EVERYTHING and his knowledge and opinions have likely been unwavering since his mid-thirties. But look at what that has gotten you: an ineffectual leader, out of touch with his people, who votes in the minority on a major piece of legislation like divorce. Enjoy the rest of your know-it-all PM’s term in office. You helped him get here.
[Daphne – And you have no idea how proud I am to have done so. Because if I and so many thousand of others hadn’t done that, Alfred Sant would be prime minister today. Joseph Muscat, too, is beyond thrilled and grateful that Gonzi was elected in 2008. After all, that’s how he got to be party leader and how he will get to be prime minister. Had Sant been elected PM in 2008, Muscat would be just another MEP in Brussels.]
Well I think we cannot conform and be like everybody else as gays because we are not, we have been doing that for too long.
[Daphne – Conform to what, Paul? My closest (gay) friends live lives remarkably similar to my own. In every social group there are people who wish to live differently, and that includes heteros of both genders. You can’t exactly accuse all those middle-aged people posing on Facebook at Gianpula parties with cocktails and shirts open to the waist of ‘conforming’, though they are beginning to come across as very much the norm, while the ‘act your age’ brigade, including me, begin to look like the odd ones out.]
I also don’t think we should ghettoize ourselves either, and I don’t think we are doing that because all we want is equal rights to be exactly like the main society. If we wanted to ghettoize ourselves we wouldn’t choose to fight for equal rights, but rather form a community and shutting everybody out.
I am not a single-issue voter but the issue of gay rights and equal rights for gay spouses are at the top of my list because they affect me everyday. Here we are still fighting and we are close to equal rights because of the fervent campaigning we do. I would love to have the opportunity to live there, as I miss it a lot but I can’t for now at least.
[Daphne – You know, Paul, you would make a good spokesman for the cause because when you leave out the ‘your party’ bits you ‘talk’ in a way that makes people listen.]
He is my husband and he should have Maltese citizenship.
[Daphne – In which jurisdiction did you and Zachary marry, Paul, given that you are Maltese and he is from New York state and same-sex marriage wasn’t available in either place until the day before yesterday? Some other American state? The point is that he wasn’t your husband in New York until last Saturday and he is not your husband under Maltese law now. Incidentally, I wrote something about the practicalities of the issue a couple of years (I think) back. My argument was that if same-sex civil unions cannot be countenanced by the electorate, which means that neither party will propose the law, then some interim measure is going to become necessary eventually – something like we had with divorce, where the divorce/civil union/same-sex marriage contracted elsewhere is registered and recognised in Malta.]
Your party has been in power for 20 years and has done nothing for me.
[Daphne – Spoken like a true Laburist, but I’ll let that go. So blind. ‘My party’ (which it isn’t) gave you the most valuable thing you have, and which YOUR party tried to deprive you of for life: an EU passport. And that’s not to consider everything else that MY party did which brought this country from the broken, desperate Iron Curtain mess it was in 1987 to a vibrant economy by the early 1990s. But then I forget that those who are born and raised Laburisti – and you were, weren’t you, I can tell – think in terms of what is done for them ‘personally’: il-flett, il-gopp u l-plott jew il-bozza fit-triq. Just like Manu Maltes. But don’t get me started on this. It’s amazing: you travel, you live in the States, you marry a US citizen, you mix with different people, u tibqghu bl-istess mentalita miskina. Iftah mohhok ftit, jahasra. Mela l-ftuh tal-mohh ghandu x’jaqsam mal-omosesswalita biss, u biss meta int stess omosesswali?]
They call themselves the logical and practical party while they are not. They keep denying me equal rights which keep me out of the country, because I can’t bring my spouse.
[Daphne – Please set me straight on this one, and it’s a genuine question: what was your legal position in New York state before last Saturday? In the United States in general, do you have an automatic right to a green card because you are married to a US citizen, or do you only have freedom of movement/the right to work in those states which recognise same-sex marriage? I ask because the US immigration authorities are notoriously tough, and getting in through JFK can be a nightmare.]
Muscat is not perfect and I finds lot of things to disagree about with him, but like Obama he is open for change while the PN is not.
[Daphne – ‘Like Obama’…oh please. Tal-biki. Mank kellu terz ta’ mohh Obama ghax il-vera waste of space. I’m beginning to think that Joseph Muscat’s main attraction for certain gay men is that he flirts with them and they end up fancying him without even being aware of what’s happening. I can’t help noticing that the majority of lesbians I know find him totally unappealing. This is very smart strategy by Muscat – Obama won lots of the vote because he’s sexy and appealing. But sadly for Muscat, he seems to be sexy and appealing only to a particular type of gay man. Actually, I remember writing about this three years ago, when I noticed exactly the same phenomenon.]
You can spin it as much you want the PN will still be homophobic. Besides why would I want to vote for a party that is denying the majority (who voted mind you) divorse. If they don’t respect the majority they will certainly not respect the minority.
[Daphne – Paul, the next time a senior Labour politician is found by the police tied up in his bedroom in compromising circumstances and feels the need to say that it was young men who broke in (using the front door key, the security cameras revealed) and robbed him, then tell me that it’s the Nationalist Party which is homophobic. The Nationalist Party’s gay men are right there living their lives as gay men in full view though not – because they have better manners and more sense – posting ridiculous pictures on Facebook and wearing camp clothes. For that, they are punished by people like you. Labour’s gay men, on the other hand, are busy pretending and some of them are even married (to women). Exactly what do you think Jason is? And exactly why do you think Super One is packed with tight-pants-wearing, Vaseline-browed boys?]
To answer your many questions, all the times I have voted In Malta it has been for the PN. I didn’t like Sant and I didn’t like Labour’s stance on the EU. I am not a Labour supporter, and neither am I a Nationalist.
I have always voted and will always vote for what makes sense to me and for a long time the PN was the only party that made sense to me.
That said I think they lost their legitimacy through this whole divorce thing. They have an unhealthy relationship with the church and civil rights like divorce and gay rights (issues that should a no-brainer for the PN) are pushed aside and demonized.
[Daphne – I agree with you completely on this one, but you would know that already if you’d been reading what I write on a regular basis. Where we part company is on the fact that I am not a single-issue voter or a ‘take that’ voter. No matter how cross I am at any point between one general election and another, when polling-day rolls round I look at the options on offer and decide which of the two options I want to see running the country, because there is no third option called ‘neither of them’ and in my case, no fourth option called ‘I don’t give a damn’. Unless there is some deus ex machina, the 2013 options are already on parade, and I have made my choice at this point. I am angry at the PN because of the issues you mention, but I am actually frightened of the totally unprincipled incompetence and absence of policies of the Labour Party, and the shallowness of its leader. Fortunately, divorce is done and dusted. The Nationalist Party was stupid to handle the aftermath so very badly, that’s all. It doesn’t follow that I want Joseph Muscat to become prime minister.]
Throughout the divorce process I kept hoping that the PN would resist but come around and honour individual rights and practicality, and I was left disappointed. Not only did the majority of the PN so far vote against divorce they are proceeding to attack the gay community with Austin GATT at the forefront of my example.
[Daphne – The majority of the PN MPs did not vote against divorce. The majority abstained/voted Yes. The significance, I agree, is that all the cabinet except two voted against. I see nobody attacking the gay community. If you’re talking Austin Gatt you might as well talk Adrian Vassallo. Neither will be there after 2013 in any case. My own personal view on the use of the words ‘gay community’ is that it is ill-advised. If gay people really want to integrate with the rest of society and be like everyone else, as so many claim, then the first step is to stop taking the oxymoronic stance of thinking in terms of a ‘gay community’. It’s separatist and isolationist, you know, like Mennonites. If gay people want to stop being regarded by some others as a sort of secret network or masonic lodge, they’ve got to stop talking and behaving like one. Don’t put yourselves in a ghetto if you don’t want others to do it. There are many people who are gay and who see this exactly as I do, and they are alienated by all this talk of ‘gay community’. One of my friends was even told, because he doesn’t like mixing in exclusively gay society (he finds it boring and limiting) “You’ll soon lose your membership of the gay community.” That went down well.]
To answer your other question we are considered married only in the states that recognize it, because there is a law at the federal level that proclaims marriage between a man and a women.
[Daphne – So why are you taking out your anger on Malta, when the situation is the same in Zachary’s home country, where you live now? This is what I don’t understand.]
( DOMA- defense of marriage act is being challenge in federal county’s right now.)
So I can’t move much with Zach and we can’t come to my home country because he can’t stay.
I can stay here because my mother is a US citizen and so she sponsored me, which will get me a green card soon.
I love the United States but I love Malta too and Zach and I want to come live there. I think economically it would beneficial for Malta to be attractive enough to bring back the talented Maltese back to Malta, it would enrich the business, art and intellectual environment in Malta, making it an even more successful country.
[Daphne – Yes and no, Paul. It’s practically impossible to grow and develop to your full potential in Malta, because you quickly reach the level where you have no peers and the professional stimulus and exchange is just not there. So while ‘coming back home’ is good for the country, it is professionally unwise for the individual. I’ve thought and thought about this and there really seems to be no way out that is good for Malta and good for the individual as well. Even when people develop themselves in a challenging environment elsewhere and then return to Malta and try to carry on here, they end up getting seriously frustrated and you notice their standards fall rapidly. Anyway, this is a side-discussion.]
I also want to let you know that I give full credit to the PN for making Malta a developed country. I tell anyone who asks me that the PN party modernized the country. For that reason and their forward thinking in the past I voted for them.
Now however Malta is at a point where we need more. We are developed and in a developed country the next step is always civil rights like gay rights and divorce. A country and its parties have to always be evolving and that is where I think the PN has a problem. It seems to be stuck and not aware of the momentum of the future.
The PN for the very first time seems to want to hold us in place instead of progressing.
The church is the biggest problem in the PN. The church should be a part of society not the government and until the PN realizes that I am afraid it has nothing to offer me.
I might be wrong and I hope they do prove me wrong before the next general election.
I like your writings. I like how you dare to write about what is not conventional. I totally disagree with you on most of the gay issues and the way you talk about them and I hope your views will change one day.
[Daphne – We do agree on those issues. We disagree only on how they should be tackled.]
I also hope you understand my point of view as a gay man in exile. I need concrete plans of introducing civil union or civil partnership not the hope or dream of the PN changing their minds. Labour for all the numerous faults is the only party that is daring to even acknowledge me and the gay community.
[Daphne – It’s the other way round, Paul. It’s the Labour leader who is holding out the dream and carrot that he might change his mind. He won’t until the polls tell him to do so. Ask yourself why nobody is planning to put forward a private member’s bill for same-sex marriage, the way Pullicino Orlando did with divorce. What’s stop all those Labour MPs from doing it?]
Yes, Muscat might disappoint me, but how will I know if I don’t give him a chance.
[Daphne – This is the sort of argument that I find really distressing. You don’t have to try him as prime minister to know what his qualities are. They have been on display for years. I remember becoming embroiled in discussions with people pre 1996 about just this with Alfred Sant. I remember telling one ‘People don’t change when they become prime minister, just as they don’t change when they marry, but some people think both are possible.’]
I would love to hear Gonzi giving the gay community support, but he doesn’t even acknowledge us.
[Daphne – Gay community? Don’t make it sound like apartheid. This is where you and I have different views. You think it is a good thing if political leaders make a special case of gay people. I don’t, because I know that psychologically any such talk has the reverse effect of MAKING THEM a special case, and it is actually patronising. I really used to bristle and bridle when politicians had the habit of ‘celebrating women’.]
Now Austin Gatt is running around talking about how the PN needs to make sure its MPs don’t support abortion and gay rights. I didn’t and don’t ostracize the PN, they ostracized me.
[Daphne – Austin Gatt is not the Nationalist Party. He will not even be in the Nationalist Party post 2013. You might as well say you’re not voting Labour because of Adrian Vassallo.]
As a fervent PN supporter you should realize this problem and hammer it home to your party, because equality and rights will eventually win, and your party should not miss the boat. I hope the PN will prove me wrong but I highly doubt it.
[Daphne – I am not a ‘fervent PN supporter’. I vote PN on the basis of logic and reason, not emotion. I have no PN background and it was and still is a decision based on reflection, just as yours was. Talk of ‘your party’ comes across really badly. I am not even a member of the PN. The efforts at depicting me as some mindless supporter of a football team are deliberate, because the Labour Party cannot stomach the fact that somebody who is sharp, can think, and wasn’t raised in a Nationalist family rejects them out of hand. It is precisely because my opinion is credible and worth a great deal that attempts are made to discredit it in this fashion. At least you have not joined the ranks – at least as far as I can make out – of ‘stupid mad sad bitter bitch what does she know’. Because that really is progressive and liberal.]
I typed the response on my iPhone and for some reason I couldn’t scroll up and edit, sorry for the typos.
[Daphne – No problem. I do lots of correcting all the time.]
“It’s practically impossible to grow and develop to your full potential in Malta…[and the rest of the paragraph]”
Daphne, I worship your magnificent brain.
Manhattan by itself cannot have gay marriage. Manhattan is one of the five boroughs that make up the state of New York. Referring to the syate of Ny as Manhattan is just as pathetic as the empire STATION. So there you go :-)
[Daphne – Bit of a dullard, aren’t you? Read the piece again. “Same-sex marriage became legal in New York state TODAY. Yes, today.” I mentioned Manhattan because it’s the world’s most avant-garde city unlike, say, Buffalo. Also, the first ceremonies were performed there and not in, say, Buffalo.]
john? I’ve come across this name somewhere before.
[Daphne – Yes, it’s another John. He appears to be a Malti ta’ New York, or so he claims.]
You’re in for a long haul, Cyrus. It took several years for your new-found hero to work out that the ‘Yes’ vote won the EU referendum. If it takes him years to accept a fact how long do you think it will take him to accept an opinion?
Muscat is coming across as a snake-oil merchant who sells potions for all ills with guaranteed cures. With Gonzi I know that what he stands for whilst with Muscat pie in the sky is always available .
A rising star eh?
It was a short-lived star. It’s already become a black hole.
I am increasingly convinced that the ‘defection’ to the MLP was not an emotional and instant decision. Cyrus had decided to join the MLP long before the day he announced the move. He does not strike me as the irrational and emotional type.
These kind of negotiations take a while, and I am sure that when Cyrus spoke at the PN General Conference he had already negotioated his move with Muscat (or rather Nikita Alamango of Forum Zaghzagh Laburisti).
However, I am still perplexed at his naivite. He did not disappoint me for the move per se, but rather at the willingness to believe Muscat, who is so very manipulative.
“…he invited me to convince him that his opinion is wrong…”
It is obvious from this segment, that he is bereft of linguistic skill and nuance. Cyrus, please explain how an indvidual can have a wrong opinion.
It was only an invitation. Probably he was hoping Cyrus would not accept it. But being politically naive, Cyrus did accept it. He probably even feels an obligation towards Joseph for the “kind invitation”.
Joseph Cuschieri has already waited over two years for his prize after he handed his parliamentary seat to Joseph Muscat. Let’s see how long Cyrus will have to wait for his.
Cyrus is still young and perhaps inexperienced, and maybe he does not know Labour well enough.
Politics is about making collective decisions and one cannot focus only on gay marriages and ignore glaring difference in behaviour on violence, discrimination, intolerance, freedom of speech, employment, standard of living, economic growth and Malta’s international reputation and trust.
The divide is immense on all fronts.
But it is so clear to see – Muscat NEVER says a definite “yes” or “no”.
He waits to see which one is likely to bring him an extra vote.
Cyrus in in the net; wait and see who will be next.
Just wait – be patient – up to now his only hope is that the PN keeps (in the PL opinion) bungling things and by stating some popular stupid non-sequitur.
Our leider is pragmetic like DR Alfred Sant, Gonzi PN is a hard hat.
That makes Gonzi PN very safe.
Please allow me:
1) L-E-A-D-E-R
2) P-R-A-G-M-A-T-I-C
Greece is bankrupt and Europe (including Malta) is giving it eye-watering amounts of money in order to keep it technically solvent – with the condition that Greece privatises everything from still-government-owned telecoms and banks (Malta did that almost two decades ago) to islands;
governments across many countries – many of them just north of us in the Med – are savagely reducing wages, social benefits and subsidies and kicking people out of public sector jobs in order to reduce their huge deficits;
America is discussing how to increase its debt limit – now at $ 14 trillion ie $ 14 million million – otherwise it can default and several branches of government just shut down;
Spain might soon be the next on the bailout list as it protests against 21% unemployment with youths joining marches from many cities to converge on Madrid in the next few days – youth unemployment in Spain is 43%;
Norway mourns 100 Norwegians killed by a madman fixated on the ‘Moslem invasion of Europe’ – the same narrative we’ve been hearing in Malta as well from far right groups whose bandwagon is proving attractive even for mainstream politicians like Joseph Muscat;
the new government in Portugal is grappling with a double whammy of austerity measures AND long-overdue economic reforms they have been procrastinating on for far too long;
Italy is in and out of the eye of the financial storm and may need help from Europe (though admittedly not on the scale of Greece) with a Prime Minister involved in sexual scandals and getting a huge fine on his Fininvest group;
below us in the Med peoples are protesting against and overthrowing Arab regimes all professing socialism and equality yet burdening their peoples with gross poverty, corruption, unemployment and authoritarianism;
and in Malta
the press cannot have enough of Emanuel Cini aka Manu Maltes, Cyrus Engerer and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando.
I’m quite sure you’re aware of this Daphne, but here you go anyway…….
http://www.maltastar.com/pages/r1/ms10dart.asp?a=16188
[Daphne – Another incidence of Malta Today/Maltastar cross-reporting. Perhaps now Cyrus has begun to understand that what he thinks is the politically friendly press sees him as just a tool in their lanzit war against the prime minister. They are perfectly happy to reveal him as the son of a long-time heroin addict and current user of illegal soft drugs, as long as it helps their cause (they think). They don’t give a flying wotsit that to the majority of their readers the story will be Mr Engerer Snr’s drug problems and not the police busting him. Also, to say that the police bust was timed as an act of revenge is like saying that the police hassled me that way to notify me illegally of the Herrera court sitting because I’d been writing against the prime minister’s stance on divorce. They don’t seem to realise that the ‘logical’ extension of their argument is that Chris Engerer DIDN’T get busted BEFORE because Cyrus was in with the Nationalists.]
Precisely. I don’t know Cyrus Engerer, apart from what I read in the news, and I don’t know his father. So obviously I had no idea of any drug habit (soft or hardcore). But guess what – now I do!
[Daphne – I’ve known for 30 years and that is exactly why I think Cyrus is a success story and that it is tragic that he is pressing the self-sabotage button. Not only are Saviour Balzan, Matthew Vella and Julia Farrugia the pits, but it is bloody obvious that they are childless (one baby at 50 doesn’t count) and have no ‘parental compassion’.]
Look how quickly these pillars of Maltese journalism were ready and willing to hang out the new boy’s dirty linen, all for the sake of having a dig at the PN, and in doing so garner a few more votes – the kind that no self-respecting party would want in a million years.
Engerer Jr. has already been hung out to dry too it would seem, even before getting the chance to prove himself in the national, rather than local arena.
If that was sad and unbelievable, then what is this? http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110726/local/Deputy-mayor-facing-porn-computer-misuse-charges.377402
It is such a shame that the political scene in Malta has been reduced to divorce, gay rights, same-sex marriages, Gay Pride and more of the same when we have so much more to be getting on with.
We have a welfare state that is bleeding the taxpayer dry, politicians who are squeezing the public coffers with astronomic wage increases while the nation and business community in general is suffering liquidity problems due to the unforseen overheads imposed by government overnight.
We have institutionalized corruption such as the 4 million in warden tickets which have gone unaccounted for but meticulosly hidden by the administration.
We have authorities sprouting out on a daily basis in the endless effort to create jobs for the boys at a massive cost to our taxpayer and yet we waste our time in divorce and gay marriages and sympathize with a group of homosexuals marching down republic street with placards calling for equal rights joined by a handful of members of parliament!
is this what the country needs?
@ Neil Dent
Since the other charges relate to distribution of pornography, please refrain from using the words “softcore” and “hardcore”.
Eehh? To quote myself:
‘…..drug habit (soft or hardcore)’
Any confusion with a reference to porn here would be due to your not reading my post properly I think Jack. The terms soft and hardcore are certainly not exclusive to porn-speak!
Joseph Muscat is the party leader and future prime minister. It is YOU who should be telling HIM to convince you of his arguments, and not HE telling YOU to convince HIM.
Tajtu parir tajjeb. La jikber ha jinduna kemm kellek ragun. Hadd m’hu se jghallem lil ommu tbennen.
Who’s Baxxter?
Two clues: He’s from Gozo.
He drives a Land Rover.