Fabulous photoshop from Jennifer Farley depicting that paragon of Irish patriotism, Brian Lenihan.

I’ll say nothing more about the budget though other than recount a little tale.

“Once upon a time, in a green and magical kingdom called Wicklow, a citizen of that fair land had reason to ask the prince about how he was spending public money. The prince had decreed that should any citizen have a question about how he and his servants were spending money, they should just ask him. The prince called this his “Freedom of Information” initiative.

So the citizen dispatched a messenger to the prince’s castle to seek some information. This request caused such a flurry of excitement among all the prince’s staff, that no fewer than four of his staff dispatched messages in reply to the citizens request. The messengers all gave the same answer, which the citizen was happy with.

But the citizen was perturbed. He began to wonder if, perhaps, the prince had not got far too many staff that four of them could all take the time to dispatch those messages. He wondered how this could be when people from his own clan were losing their jobs to citizens of other, far far distant lands. The citizen was realistic though. Although he would give his life for his clan, he knew the forces affecting them were part of a bigger picture. Far outside the boundaries of his own land, there were other people hungry for work. People who could do the job his clan did, and do it cheaper. Although it pained him, he had to accept it because there was nothing he could do. He knew it wasn’t only his clan that was affected. A lot more clans were feeling the pain too.

But the prince’s men and women seemed to be immune from this pain. To the citizen, the world inside the prince’s castle was very different from the world outside. The prince’s staff did not have to worry about such things as those far distant lands. They did not need to worry about losing their job, or suffering cutback, even though it was clear to the citizen that the castle had too many people working in it.

And so it came to pass that the high king announced a review of spending all over the land. The citizen rejoiced, believing the high king to be a fair man, and a man with vision. He would surely see that the prince had far too many staff. Although the citizen would not wish misfortune on another, he believed that everyone needed to justify their place in the court of the prince.

But the citizen was disappointed after the high king revealed his spending plans. The high king turned out to be a man with little vision and even less backbone.

The citizen did not sleep well, and had a heavy heart.”

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Been working on this project for a while, putting off ‘going public’ until I had everthing perfect. Well, I don’t have everything perfect but it’s time it saw the light of day. So here it is, the project I mentioned in this blog post, and taken to this point with the help of kind assistance of these lovely people, who helped enormously. Thanks again you guys.

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111 years ago, an 8 year old child wrote a letter to the editor the New York Sun asking a very simple and direct question.

“Dear Editor: I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’. Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O’Hanlon, 115 West Ninety-Fifth Street”

The response published by the newspaper was wonderful and uplifting, answering an innocent child’s question in an imaginative way. It has become the most reprinted newspaper editorial in history. This extract gives a flavour of that answer:

“Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.”

Now, 111 years later, you are being asked to answer the earnest questions of children from around the world in a similarly imaginative way.

This time, the children aren’t asking if there is a Santa Claus. They didn’t send their questions to the editor of the New York Sun. They asked God the questions and a new website has been set up to allow you to put yourself in God’s shoes in support of the Children’s Sunshine Home and the fundraising effort to build Ireland’s first children’s hospice.

Everyone, believer and non and in between, is asked to visit What Would God Say? and answer some questions that Children have asked of God. The questions are all taken from the book ‘Dear God’ by Carmel Reilly. Each one is a genuine question a child somewhere in the world has asked of God. They ranging from the difficult ones such as “Why do people die” to really difficult ones such as “Why we have cauliflower”!.

All that is required to take part is a good imagination and an open heart to enter into the spirit of the children’s questions, just like the New York Sun did in answering Virginia’s question 111 years ago.

The best answers received via the website will then be published on a set of postcards going on sale early in 2009. All of the proceeds from the sale of the cards will go to the Children’s Sunshine Home, an extremely worthy cause.

Click on over What Would God Say? to take part in this really unique project. Today’s Virginia’s are waiting for your answer…

This just made me smile. Wonderful moment of family life captured. Great wooly jumper and hat combo..

Love it

Photo owned by mdx and used under the terms of a CC License.

That odd comment by McCain in the last presidential debate called out for some photoshopping. Really, it did. The more I read about and listen to him and his running candidate, the more I hope and pray that the good citizens of the United States will give Obama a resounding endorsement.

Hopefully the website Sorry Everybody won’t have to become active again when the votes are all tallied and a winner announced.

(For anyone not familiar with who is in the photograph. It is Lou and Andy from a TV Series called Little Britain which airs on the BBC in the UK, and now on HBO in the USA. Andy is the guy sitting down (now McCain!) and is wheeled around by his friend Lou. Andy’s catchphrase is “I want that one”. Now you know!)

This weeks header image was taken at Eyre Square in Galway and shows some of the flags of the 14 tribes of Galway.

The O’Flaherty crest should be there but we were driven out to the wilds of Connemara and all these usurpers were drafted in to the town to take our place.

Galway town was walled off from the natives, and it is said that over one of the entrances an inscription read :

“From the ferocious O’Flaherty’s O Lord deliver us.”

It’s a phrase that pops into my head when I head west. I always feel like I’m home.

Photograph owned by Boocal and used under the terms of a CC License.

The latest buzz in the Irish blog scene is the news that Twenty Major took off his blogging socks to concentrate on other, possibly more lucrative, things to do with his time.  It sparked off a very interesting and thoughtful post by Darragh Doyle over at The Blog Pound.

I took some time out this evening to have a good read of his post, and the comments people left.

Was going to make a comment over there, but I have a blog so I’m posting here instead.

Darren Byrne’s comment in particular said it all for me, in just one short paragraph.

“The great thing about blogs is that they defy labelling. From day to day a single blog can be a personal ranting space, a political commentary, a photo gallery, a place to advertise a service, a meeting point for the masses. There is no right, no wrong and nothing to solve”

This very post basically demonstrates exactly what Darren is talking about. I wanted to tip my hat to what Darren said, and my way of doing that tonight is some photoshopping.

As for tomorrow? Hey, maybe I’ll post a Youtube video or something. And if I do, it won’t be just a case of doing it for “sake of it”. I genuinely post something because a) I found it interesting and b) I think others might too. Beyond that, I don’t think there’s a lot more anyone can say about blogs or blogging.

Really, there is no need for 200 mistakes a day on the M50. Definitely no need for 1,000 cars going through and not being charged.

Just some simple modifications to everyones car and sure, it’ll all go grand like

Dragons’ Den here I come - must get Barry Scott’s number though. It would really help to have some celebrity endorsement.

le craic - bringing you simple solutions to everyday problems!

This jumped out off the flickr pages. It’s a view of Belfast from the Cavehill Country Park, the largest open space in Belfast. A magnificent vista.

There’s a really nifty 3D view from the same spot on ispyni.com

Photo by etrusia_uk and used under the terms of a CC license.