Somebody's taken Jeffrey's marbles
Jeffrey's marbles - who has them?
I have never met Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando by chance in any restaurant at any time as long as I can remember. But as bad luck would have it, last night as I waited with my husband in an otherwise empty restaurant – I hasten to add that it was empty because it was late, and had been packed to the hilt before – for the rain to stop so that we could bolt to the car, Jeffrey, his companion Carmen and a couple of friends emerged from a side-room, giggling like 15-year-olds and apparently tipsy.
Carmen had the good sense to look at the floor as she walked past, but Jeffrey actually smiled at us and was cut dead by both.
They clearly felt the need to laugh and shout all the way to their car, to show us what a good time they were having and how they don’t care what anyone thinks.
We got home after 12.30pm, an important detail because unless Dr Pullicino Orlando is a particularly light and fitful sleeper, he must have carried on drinking at home or elsewhere.
Between 4.30am and 5am, he began uploading pieces of vengeful craziness on his Facebook wall. One is actually a picture of a man sitting on a lavatory holding a mobile phone. He captioned it ‘MY NAME IS BOND, LOO BOND. I’m calling to report what my host has said…’
Let’s leave aside the fact that I made a clear and categoric statement, on this website, that Lou Bondi did NOT ring me from Consuelo Herrera’s house, still less from her lavatory, and that Dr Pullicino Orlando read it and chose to ignore it.
The most salient issue here is that there are increasing levels of detail which tell us that the chairman of the Malta Council of Science and Technology, who has a seat in the House, might be losing his mind or have lost it already.
The time for appeasement is clearly over and his prime minister has to do something about it immediately, if for no other reason than for his own self-respect.
If he doesn’t discipline Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, because he thinks he is unstable and is worried that he might implode, then he can’t very well discipline anyone else either.
As chairman of the MCST, Dr Pullicino Orlando reports directly to the prime minister. If the prime minister is happy to have an MCST chairman who uploads slander and demonstrates evidence of poor mental health on his Facebook wall, which is completely open (and even if it were not), then so be it. The prime minister himself will pay the price for that.
As for Dr Pullicino Orlando’s seat in the House, the prime minister can leave that to us, Dr PO’s constituents. If it did not mean rendering our ballot-sheet invalid, most of us would vote for his party rivals then write a few choice words next to his name. As it is, we will just leave blank the box next to his name and recite a Mea Maxima Culpa for the part we played in inflicting him on the country.
Voting for liars is one thing. Voting for people who behave as though they’ve lost their marbles can only mean that we have lost ours.
Goodbye, Jeffrey, you’re finished. The only person in the cabinet who is qualified to deal with you is the minister of health.
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Quick action by the responsible person is called for immediately – even if it means callling an early election.
Huh? Your idea is ´interesting´.
Hell, no! Why should we forgo another one and a half years of relative prosperity for the sake of this man?
Exactly. Let’s not turn him into Labour’s hero, with the whole of Malta suffering the consequences of one man’s poor judgement.
Dr Gonzi needs to show leadership, especially after what Eddie Fenech Adami said last Thursday. Otherwise he might be seen to be weak.
It’s at times like this when I wish that Eddie were still at the helm.
I read what Eddie said and on the surface I agree with him 100%. But did Eddie ever face the same situation?
A one-seat majority does not give Dr Gonzi a lot of elbow room. As someone else has already said, why should the government take a risk by calling an early election before completing its electoral programme?
This has nothing to do with weakness; it has something to do with making do with what material Dr Gonzi has to work with.
Daphne nailed it nicely when she said, ‘leave JPO to us (at election time)’.
I wish there were four other Daphnes, strategically placed where other ‘clowns’ intend to run for the NP in the next election.
Win or lose, no party needs the likes of JPO.
Kelma wahda biss hemm ghalih: jaqq.
Isthi minn min ivvutalek, ja pulcinell.
Issa jekk inti ragel ohrog ghall-elezzjoni li jmiss u mhux ma tohrogx ghax tibza mit-tkaxkira.
Mela tahseb li d-dar centrali huma daqshekk cwiec li ser jergghu ihalluh johrog?
If the prime minister didn’t have enough of an issue with the Mistra disco debacle to do something about it (correction – he rewarded the farmer wannabe) he can’t possibly have a problem with teenage Facebook antics, don’t you see?
It is a bad sign that he didn’t sleep after a late night out. He sure has problems.
In his previous posts on Facebook he even commented, indirectly and very negatively, on what Eddie Fenech Adami said with regards to party discipline. He even uploaded a photo of Mao Tse Tung. Not even Labour did that.
I have just been to his Facebook page and I am speechless.
All this from a MP.
Whilst attacking Lou Bondi, he allows comments like these:
Christian Cauchi: ifhem dan issa ta qabad jitkessah ghax meta kien hawn mintoff fil gvern kellu jemigra
And he says nothing. This w**ker really needs to be thrown out of the PN. Scum like him are the last thing any political party needs – and I mean any political party. If need be, call an early election. It is better to lose with dignity than win without self respect.
Unfortunately between losing with dignity while condemning Malta to years of problems and winning without self respect but keeping Malta’s progress on track, I would choose the second option.
@ old timer
It’s obvious that Jeffrey wants his party to lose the election.
Dear Daphne, allow me to wish you well and sincere blessing for sticking your neck out against what we all know it is not proper.
Why is it these things do not get on the news or in the papers? These things are unbecoming from a member of parliament, much less from a member calling himself a Christian a representative tal-Partit Nazzjonalista.
Dr. Gonzi this is not what we voted for or except from our representatives.
JPO should have never ever been allowed to contest the elections in the first place. Is anybody aware of the antics in the Zebbug Local Council when he was councillor? Infantile, puerile, childish, immature, juvenile, are all terms you might wish to pick from.
JPO’s outpour on his Facebook is typical Labour hatred.
Dr Gonzi, please take action. The dishonourable gentleman’s frolics on Facebook and elsewhere are an embarrassment.
JPO is exceeding all limits of decency.
Someone in the Nationalist Party and the government hierarchy (PM please note) must immediately call the shots – JPO must go, the sooner the better.
He is a disgrace to himself, to his constituents, to those who voted for him, to the party he says he still represents (I say, he does not) and to the Malta Council of Science and Technology through his chairmanship. He should be stripped of this chairmanship forthwith, as a start.
JPO, please go and take with you other “honourable” gentlemen who are trying to compete with you for “fame”. And, we shall all say “Thank God for that”.
Daphne, I don’t agree with you here, as an altercation between Dr. M.Gonzi and J.P.O. shall certainly end up with a call for an early election.
An early election is quite dicey for the present ruling party.
I mean, we have put up with J.P.O.’s antics for what, the last three years? Another 18 months shall certainly not make a difference to me or to Dr. Gonzi.
After all, J.P.O. the clown (a sad one) has been sitting perilously on the edge of his own little ‘world’. All he needs now in the coming 18 months is just a slight push forward.
I completely agree with you, Brian.
I will not be in the least surprised if we eventually learn that the good dentist is acting the way he is expressly to have an early election called.
For a small reward from Joseph and Co. of course. Why else would he be acting in such a puerile and vulgar manner, knowing full well that his own constituents will shun him?
Mil-mitluf, jiehu li jista’.
The fact he insists on doing this implies one thing;
He’s consumed by the memory of the deal snatched from him at the last minute.
There’s no other explanation.
His mistake is to blame everyone except the ones who had a vested interest in seeing the deal flounder.
And he keeps blaming the PM for not making him a minister.
The prime minister knew perfectly well what sort of person he was dealing with when he made this disgraceful appointment.
Splendid. Il-hmar rega’ mar jorqod. A whole post on JPO’s marbles should be a far more interesting read than the designed collapse of the global financial system before global war is unleashed by the overlords of the West.
Kevvy, from your exalted position on the pedestal of the all knowing, please save us from such an ignominious fate.
Although we live in very serious global circumstances which require anything but, I believe the Prime Minister should call an early election.
Why not treat politicians like sportsmen and have them tested for banned substance abuse? If found positive they get replaced and government can get along with business .
Now, he was a gentleman that I really did admire and still do. I did not agree with him politically, but when it came to decision taking, he was it. I am writing on no one else but Alfred Sant.
He did not shrink from taking the decision to face Mintoff head on, and risk losing the govt ,which of couirse he did, because he knew that he couldn’t function with one of his members giving him “gambetti” all the time.
Dr.Gonzi must rise to the occasion and prove himself a leader worth following. He should meet J.P.O’s bluff and show him the door. He will of course lose his Govt,b ut it would put an end to this ridiculous situation.
[Daphne – I don’t agree with you at all. You don’t put an end to a ridiculous situation by creating a worse one. It’s like advising somebody to jump off a tall building to solve the problem of chronic leg pain.]
Does J.P.O think he can fool everybody? We (at least I) know the price he is asking to shut up, but Gonzi can never meet what he is asking for, and neither will Muscat. It would surely send the people down in the streets.
THE PRICE IS MISTRA.
No Daphne, it’s like advising somebody to have his leg amputated to stop the gangrene from spreading all over the body.
We cannot see eye too eye on this, because you still are not convinced that the P.N. can win the next election.
I don’t agree. The PN can win if Gonzi takes the right decision, now.
What would be the right decision? Forcing Pullicino Orlando to resign from PN and give up his seat, and end up with a minority in parliament?
Gonzi’s between a rock and hard place. It’s his party’s fault for putting popularity before brains.
When you conduct politics at village band club level you cannot expect to attract quality.
Daphne you are right. The situation is hurting the PM more than it is hurting JPO. People are angry at JPO, but the percoption out there is that Gonzi is non confrontational, and the Maltese seem to prefer a strong willed prime minister.
H.P.Baxxter,
When an M.P. resigns, another is elected in his place (I stand to be corrected).
[Daphne – It depends on what’s he’s resigning, Silvio, his seat or his party membership and party whip. The Nationalist Party can only remove the whip and kick him out of the party. The seat remains his until the next election. But that’s academic anyway, because if he resigns from the party but not his seat, the government loses its majority.]
Just like magistrates are now banned from social networking sites, why doesn’t the PM do the same to his cabinet and elected MPs? Like this, JPO might continue to think what he ‘thinks’, but at least his displays of stupidity won’t be AS exposed to the public.
[Daphne – For Maltese politicians, Facebook is a major electioneering tool, allowing them to reach parts of the electorate that are otherwise unreachable. Members of the judiciary are banned only because they are not allowed to get familiar with people in that way. As for politicians, you can’t have a law against stupidity.]
Matt, I would not blame the tool. Properly used Facebook can be very useful. It is certainly not Zuckenberg’s fault that some morons use it.
In JPO’s case I really think it’s useful, that is, for showing his true colours.
It seems to me that the language he’s using, the imagery he choses to use, the inane comments he uploads on his “wall” and that of others are a very clear sign of whom the infantile man is trying to endear himself to, and a clear sign of under which party ticket he’ll contest the next elections.
It’s like he’s become the Facebook version of tasteyourownmedicine, and with the same people commenting too, except that on Facebook they can’t really be anonymous.
What makes you think that he wasn’t one of the contributors there? With the way he’s going on now …
I can foresee other tantrums by JPO, like Alfred Sant did last week in parliament.
Today we know that Joseph Muscat did not appear in parliament for the whole session last Monday while Dr Sant was putting spokes in the wheels for the approval of the funding of the debt crisis.
The government and the opposition agreed beforehand that the bill was to pass swiftly through all the stages in parliament.
JPO has problems and an early election is surely not the best solution for our country. One false move and we’re done. You don’t switch horses midstream, even if the fresh horse you’ll change is the best horse, let alone changing your horse for an ass.
Joseph jaf juza il-paraventi, waqt li hu joqghod ghall-kenn. Alfred Sant kien jakkuza lil haddiehor bihom.
Huwa iktar minn ovvju li Joseph m’ghandux kontrol tal-partit. Nahseb li Gonzi ta’ xieh li hu jaf b’dan, u akkuzah li kien miftiehem ma’ Sant fuq din il-bicca.
L-istess gara fuq it-tickets tal-wardens fejn Buontempo jghid li jrid iharrax is-sistema filwaqt li l-partit jghid li huma forma ta’ taxxa fuq il-poplu.
L-ohra hi tal-kelliem ghal-Imhallfin Jose’ Herrera li qal li l-imhalfin ghandhom bzonn iz-zieda, filwaqt li Joseph qed jghid li issa mhux il-waqt.
Dejjem itaqtqu xi tmexxija hazina ghandu l-pajjiz u issa Mr Terrimoti qed jghidilna li se jkompli miexi fuq l-istess linja meta jitla fil-gvern.
Hawwaddni ha nifhmek.
Isthi JPO. Tghid ghandek zejt f’wiccek biex terga tikkontesta l-elezzjoni mal-Partit Nazzjonalista? Nsomma qed nghid bejni u bejn ruhi mhux haga kbira ta………after all qisek Laburist diga.