New Events

International

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Is Facebook Really Committed to Free Speech? Fri Jan 10, 2025 18:25 | Rebekah Barnett
Depending on which echo chamber you get your news from, this week Mark Zuckerberg took steps to either save democracy or to end it. But how far is he really going in his new commitment to free speech, asks Rebekah Barnett.
The post Is Facebook Really Committed to Free Speech? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Reform Candidate ?Sacked? by Housing Association for Reposting ?Racist? Daily Telegraph Cartoon Fri Jan 10, 2025 15:10 | Will Jones
A housing officer was sacked for being a Reform UK candidate and reposting a Daily Telegraph cartoon after being told Reform?s policies on immigration and Net Zero were "in direct conflict" with his employer's "values".
The post Reform Candidate “Sacked” by Housing Association for Reposting “Racist” Daily Telegraph Cartoon appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Trudeau?s Prorogation of Parliament is a Mistake He Must Be Allowed to Make Fri Jan 10, 2025 13:18 | Dr James Allan
Justin Trudeau wants to prorogue Parliament to buy time before the election. Voters will punish him for it, says Prof James Allan, but it's a mistake he must be allowed to make without activist judges getting in the way.
The post Trudeau’s Prorogation of Parliament is a Mistake He Must Be Allowed to Make appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Significance of Jordan Peterson Fri Jan 10, 2025 11:00 | James Alexander
Jordan Peterson should make his mind up about Christianity, critics say. Prof James Alexander disagrees: he's a profound Jungian explorer who wants to help a secularised world see why Christianity still matters.
The post The Significance of Jordan Peterson appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Massive Recovery in Antarctica Sea Ice Unreported by Net Zero-Obsessed Mainstream Media Fri Jan 10, 2025 09:00 | Chris Morrison
There's been a massive recovery in Antarctica sea ice this year. But you won't hear about it in our Net Zero-obsessed mainstream media, says Chris Morrison.
The post Massive Recovery in Antarctica Sea Ice Unreported by Net Zero-Obsessed Mainstream Media appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?114-115 Fri Jan 10, 2025 14:04 | en

offsite link End of Russian gas transit via Ukraine to the EU Fri Jan 10, 2025 13:45 | en

offsite link After Iraq, Libya, Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, the Pentagon attacks Yemen, by Thier... Tue Jan 07, 2025 06:58 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?113 Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:42 | en

offsite link Pentagon could create a second Kurdish state Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

The Terror of Holy Water

category international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press author Thursday August 30, 2007 13:07author by + Report this post to the editors

Many Irish people will have missed the pomp & ceremony, smells and bells which launched Europe's latest lowcost airline on ¨Monday. Despite its obvious competition with two of our most cherished little earners & institutions. The Holy See is offering cheap flights from Rome to Lourdes which I need not tell you will surely undermine both Ryanair and Knock. The Vatican is promoting the service as an opportunity for the faithful to maintain a proper atmosphere conducive to such religious devotion and prevent their journey falling into some Chaucer like tale. Needless to say unlike Ryanair they won't be charging wheelchair users any extra money either. But already it has run into TERROR problems.

read on & learn -

They estimate 150,000 people will use the service in its first year and though the tickets are lowcost the budget for setting the whole thing up stands at five million euros. Part of that was spent on painting the plane yellow and white (the papal colours) and providing headrests with an inspiring "I search for your face oh Lord" slogan. Ah yes- I hear the average reader moan, what has this to do with our globalised socialist concerns iosaf? Simple laides and gentlemen - for only two days after launching the service passengers have been hauled off for carrying Holy Water. You know the rules. No Liquids means NO LIQUIDS. and yes sirree in the time of Bush's war on terror - we'll have no easy pilgrimages either.

Read an english language report from the uttterly protestant Daily Telegraph which scoffs at one passenger who rather than surrender his Holy Water decided to drink it instead.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/20...9.xml
Indeed, that could be the way round this whole liquid thing couldn't it? I doubt anyone would remain standing at check-in if they downed a mouthful of liquid explosive compound.

and the reports in Italian.
http://www.iltempo.it/approfondimenti/index.aspx?id=1268682

I hope Knock airport (or whatever it's called) keeps to the guidelines. But if you think communicants of the church of Rome's Marian traditions have it bad, spare a thought for the muslim pilgrims of Iraq who aren't even allowed wheelbarrows, carts or wheelchairs.

Related Link: http://www.tgcom.mediaset.it/mondo/articoli/articolo377059.shtml
author by +publication date Wed Sep 05, 2007 21:30author address author phone Report this post to the editors

A lot of people underestimate the compelling power of the holy water lobby & indignation at the plight of the Vatican's pilgrims who had their sacred homeopathic liquids confiscated as if they were terror suspects. God, christian democrats & indignation are just the recipe to bring out the disinformative or "non-starter" element in the Irish media's spin coverage. Thus you wouldn't be surprised to see that this afternoon RTE announced the EU parliament was to rethink the ban on liquids. http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0905/liquids.html nor that the Irish Times would follow up on this in their breaking news section assuring us that FG MEP Avril Doyle was the Bernadette of our age http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2007/0905/bre...7.htm But within an hour of the resolution being passed thanks to the majority held by the EPP-ED group of christian democrat right wingers whose German MEP Manfred Weber had tabled it as part of a wider discussion of counter-terrorism http://www.epp-ed.eu/Activities/pday07/day112_en.asp only the BBC thought to clarify that the EU commission had utterly dished the whole thing http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6980208.stm
reporting :- ""The understanding and the readiness with which the vast majority of our citizens have accepted this measure and the inconvenience it brings are the best proof that they consider it to be adequate and necessary," EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot said.He added "Europe must not show any sign of weakness" in the face of terrorist threats. "It must not lower its guard but on the contrary reinforce its vigilance and maintain the full range of prevention instruments it has adopted," Mr Barrot said in a statement. ""

Meanwhile the story of the Lourdes incident travelled further across the world than the ban on all vehicles ranging from vans to handcarts in Karbala destiny of about a million Shiite pilgrims near Baghdad every year in the same week.

And as this comment gets written, all over European christendom people are still going on about the Grotto water Lourdes thing and hoping the glory and credit goes neither to Avril Doyle or Manfred Weber but Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert who was the MEP who wrote to the Commission in indignation in the first place.

Compelling stuff.

Now, I'm not in this for the thaumaturgy. I just think life would be simpler for many workers if the ban is rethought, and also ahem - cough cough - it would be easier to move certain other liquids of near magical effect & potency about the shop.
:-) Let's see how it spins.

author by chrissiepublication date Wed Sep 05, 2007 13:28author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Is it security guards/occupying armies who won't allow Muslim pilgrims of Iraq to use wheelchairs or barrows?

 
© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy