3 Do's and Don'ts for Election 2011

1. Do not vote along familial traditional civil war lines or on the basis that one candidate is offering more to your locality than the other ones. This election is about electing a government charged with the biggest responsibility of any administration since the foundation of the state. It's not overly dramatic to say that this is about saving the country from ruin. Well, perhaps ''further ruin'' is a more accurate term in this context. You will be electing those you feel can guide and direct us, as a country, out of this mess. Vote for the candidate you believe can contribute something constructive to this end. Even then this may not be enough such are the problems that beset the nation but if you feel that giving your support to a local Fine Gael candidate on the basis that Fine Gael have the best chance of securing the nations future then that is clearly the choice to make. If, however, you are voting based on the ''promises'' of those who have recently knocked on your doorstep then please first remove your head from your ass before casting a vote.

2. It may be too late for this one but its a salient point nonetheless. It may be just some kind of local, west of Ireland custom but almost every doorstep canvass is finished by the verbal agreement encapsulated in the phrase: ''you'll look after me, wont you?'' Remarkably, given the context, its the would-be parliamentarian that is asking to be looked after. Its a tiny snapshot of Irish life for the past 15 years. ''You''ll look after me'' is almost whispered, its almost like looking for some sort of illicit favour. Its the verbal version of a back hander. Its a creeping, slimy phrase. You feel as if it should be accompanied by an envelope full of cash and a Tony Soprano like look of acknowledgment of a under handed deed. Let this election be different. Let your door step retort to ''Youll look after me?'' be driven home with a firm ''And when have you lot ever looked after us?'' That is after all their job; public servants serving the nation. And while Michael Martin may talk about ''systems failure'' its the political classes who have failed this country. Don't let them forget it.

3. DO VOTE. I have wrestled with this one myself. But the question ''what is the point in voting?'' is not a profound enough political stance to take. Not this time. Things are too serious. Even if you go and end up spoiling your vote due to a spasm of rage at the lack of any decent candidate you simply must vote. The act of getting up and going to your polling station alone shows you care at least in this most important of elections. By the standards of Governance we have allowed in the last few decades its is clear we havent cared very much at all.

Ask the Audience

''You put it to the people. The new government should put to a referendum the question of making any further payments from the citizens to the bank creditors. This would give the new government a clear democratic mandate with which to negotiate. There is no democrat in Europe who would oppose the will of the people and it would get straight to the point where the political economy bulldozes the financial economy. It would also give the Government huge authority on the biggest issue facing us all''.-David McWilliams

It seems so simple yet it has been the elephant in the room throughout this current election campaign. Almost every single broadcaster, journalist and politcal presenter has asked the same question but rarely has it been engaged with in such a straightforward manner as David McWilliams has in the week just past. ''Why should the Irish people pay for debts that they have not incurred?'' Typically it has been Vincent Browne that has consistently posed that question, in a number of different ways, to those who are the perspective new administrators of the republic. And largely it has been the same stock answers from all. ''The wheels are in motion, the previous administrations has signed up to an IMF/EU bail out and everyone must take the pain that that commitment will bring although we will do our best to soften the blow''.

Yet McWilliam's suggestion is the most blindingly obvious. Lets ask the people and thus enfranchise the people in a process which they have had no say in. Voting in a new political elite, who have no clue how to solve the fiscal nightmare facing the country, solves nothing. It sides steps the biggest issue facing the country. McWilliam's idea is to face the issue head on and get the people to invoke the crisis measure article 27 of the Irish constitution and allow the people a say in their future that IS NOT going to be given by ticking the box for Deputy Paddy Bogger TD in Westmeath south central who is promising to ''get jobs back to this region, so I am''. Article 27 allows this provision for consulting the people in times where a crisis of such magnitude requires it.

''Yes, article 27 of the Constitution governs the circumstances where a decision which is of “such national importance that the will of the people thereon ought to be ascertained”. Article 27 has never been used for this purpose but there is provision in the Constitution for a referendum on something which is simply so important that the people should be able to vote on it.''

The party that offers this alternative, in the most steadfast terms, should be given the mandate to exceute it. Surely in this moment of reckoning for the country the Irish people deserve to have a real voice in the future of their country. So much damage has been done in their name, and without their consent, that anything less than McWilliam's proposed ''popular plebiscite'' is nothing more than further treachery.

(read David McWillia's proposal at http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2011/02/16/before-we-sell-the-country-we-should-ask-the-people )

Best Post Today. Courtesy of Football365.com

To Sir With LoveMediawatch enjoyed Bobby Charlton's glorious re-writing of history in the Daily Mirror, in which he pretty much claims that Manchester United are above all that 'spending money' lark. It's just so vulgar.

"If a club spends a lot of money quickly, it takes time for the team to settle down," he said. "You might criticise City, Chelsea or Liverpool for the money they've spent, but they're only interested in winning the big prize, which is the Premier League.

"Yet it can be won by a club [United] that produces their own young players and brings them through.

"You get a bit of an affiliation with a football club when this sort of thing is taking place, and not just piling loads and loads of money in.

"That's our philosophy at United, but we don't know what happens with City and Chelsea - they have their own way."

So we must have misunderstood what was happening when United spent £30m on Dimitar Berbatov, £30m on Rio Ferdinand, £25m on Wayne Rooney, £17m on Owen Hargreaves, £30m on the combined services of Nani and Anderson, £18m on Michael Carrick, £16m on Luis Antonio Valencia, £10m on Chris Smalling and various smaller figures on Ji-Sung Park, Nemanja Vidic, Edwin Van der Sar, Patrice Evra, Javier Hernandez, the Da Silva brothers and Anders Lindegaard.

And that's only the current first-team squad. You can also add over £7m on Bebe and £3m on Gabriel Obertan purely to play in the Carling Cup.

Basically, barring Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, of the current 'young players brought through' in and around the first team we have 'young' Jonny Evans (23), 'young' Darron Gibson (23), John O'Shea (30 in two months), Wes Brown (30) and Darren Fletcher (27), who are all setting the football world on fire and without whom Man United could not win any trophy. Obviously.

U Conn Quarter Back tricks his way to Youtube fame

He isnt even the University of Connecticut starting QB but Johnny McEntee has shot to fame on the internet with his incredible ''trick shot'' skill which has seen him exceed 2 million hits on youtube.
McEntee, with some friends, claim to have shot the video in just one day which sees the quarter back demonstrate a range of tricks which vary from the sublime to the ridiculous. McEntee uses his accuracy with the oval ball to open doors, shoot baskets from atop the bleachers of the U Conn basketball arena, find a friend with a blind folded pass and even to shoot pool. This is the most remarkable showcase of individual skill possible outside of the confines of the grid iron and has propelled the little known ''Johnny Mac Trick Shot Quarter Back'' to viral internet stardom. Of course the naysayers have been out in force to sugggest the ''stunts'' are not real so, please, judge for yourself. He obviously didnt execute these moves first time, but, the fact he can do this at all is testament to the skill the boy clearly has. Judge for yourself. Click below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0WMd0Y6hIw

Republic of Ireland 3 Wales 0

Carling Nations Cup, First Round.

Ireland 3 Wales 0

Ireland ran out comfortable winners against their Celtic counterparts Wales in a comprehensive start to the inaugural Carling Nations cup at the Aviva stadium.

Neither side really got into a game that failed to sparkle in the first half as the wet and windy conditions added to a rather flat atmosphere in a half full Dublin venue. Man of the Match Damien Duff came closest in the first half with a shot come cross that shaved the outside of Wales keeper Wayne Hennessey's upright.

Ireland produced a second half performance that was more than enough to brush aside a Welsh side bereft of ideas in attack and defensively unorganised. With Damien Duff puling the strings in midfield it was Manchester United's Darren Gibson who opened the scoring right on the hour mark with another one from his growing repetoire of scorching strikes. Ireland doubled their advantage after Welsh defender Gunther blundered unforgiveably in the penalty box allowing Wilson to rob him and square for Damien Duff who fired home.
Keith Fahey completed the scoring with a curling free kick which he bent around the Welsh wall and past the hapless Hennessey. Ireland now top the group with the other contenders Northern Ireland and Scotland set to battle it out tomorrow night in Dublin.

Seamus Coleman and Ciaran Clarke to make Ireland debuts

Despite some high profile withdrawals from tonight's Carling Nations Cup opener at the Aviva stadium Ireland manager Giovanni Trappatonni will give debuts to Everton's Seamus Coleman and Aston Villa starlet Ciaran Clarke.

Clarke and Coleman will line up for an Irish side that has been hit by the withdrawal of captain Robbie Keane. Shay Given will take the captain's armband in the absence of the West Ham man.

Gary Speed's Welsh team will be without the influential Gareth Bale and Cardiff's Craig Bellamy for tonight's match. James Collins will take the captain's arm band from Bellamy who has travelled with the team for Speed's first game in charge.

Kick off at 745pm, Sky Sports 1. Match report to follow.