Several things

Yes the Church is a Monarchy. Stop apologising for it.

This was mostly during the election of Pope Francis but I was immensely frustrated with my fellow Catholics on religious blogs (mostly commenters) insisting on calling the abdication of Pope Benedict a retirement or some other suitably modern and republican sounding name. And some even going so far as to call the installation of Pope Francis an Inauguration. Which I guess we have no choice as no Pope since the council has dared be coronated. But it still annoys me and bogels my mind.

No I don't care how the world will react if we crown the Popes with the Tiara. No i do not care how 'out of date' it sounds. No I do not care if you accuse me of caeseropapism. Christ is a King. He is THE King, the Church is His body, and the Pope a most priestly, princely and holy regent who rules in His stead on Earth. You are subjects of a kingdom, not citizens of a republic, stop giving the liberals fuel to their most unholy fire by caving in on the monarchist aspects of our Faith because of some superstitious, modern and protestant fear of 'the alliance of throne and altar' as if it were unnatural. It isn't. Now give over.


If Britain leaves, the Republic must leave with it.

Anyone who is following British politics knows of the stupendous uproar over the Gay Marriage Bill, the Queen's speech neglecting the inclusion of a promise for an in/out referendum. The Tory party's internal revolt, UKIP's usurpation of traditionally held sectors of the demographic across the political spectrum, Labour making noise, and a radicalisation and increase in popularity of the English Defense League in the wake of the despicable murder of Drummer Lee Rigby.

Every day is a party in London it seems.

No matter which way you look at it, the in/out referendum is inevitable. If not by 2017, then at least before 2021. If Labour takes power they will do everything in their vicious little power to prevent a referendum, which is only going to stoke the fires of revolt still further. And we all know no one in Europe is truly interested in a 'reform' of the Gordian Knot that is the European Union. And even if they were, no one agrees on exactly what needs reforming and how far the reform needs to go and it will most likely ultimately end in even greater centralisation and bureaucracy anyway.

Now how it affects Ireland.

Britain is, if not the biggest, then certainly one of our biggest trade partners, and if suddenly they were to leave the union, all those lovely little trade restrictions on trading with partners outside the Union would suddenly apply to trading with Britain.

I'll just leave the knock-on affects that has with Ireland's economy to your imagination. Nevermind what will become of the North/South Border should is suddenly represent a Union land Border in Western Europe with a 'foreign power'.

Even putting aside my own euroscepticism and desire for secession from the Union that has done nothing but coerce us, keep us drunk and punish us as if we were Hitlerite criminals. Ireland would need to leave the Eurozone after Britain. It has to, the downside of remaining in the EU after a British exit far outweighs the positives on a brutal realpolitik viewpoint. The problem is of course debts. Europe would never let us go because of the debt. However if Britain leaves, and other countries start leaving (crucially, if Germany herself leaves) then the EU collapses in on itself rather peacefully and the debts dissipate.

This of course has wider implications for the world economy and bond market, which means America and China wouldn't look too fondly on the countries that 'killed Europe'

Well, too bad. We should not be ashamed of refusing to be a slave to prop up someone else's estates.


Meanwhile, in Dublin

Justice minister Shatter is a disgrace to statesmanhood and should be removed. Fine Gael is not winning any favors by backing him up on this Gardai tapes and penalty point scandals and his, oh-so-cunningly-veiled threats of using Gardai acquired information against political enemies. He is a disgrace to Irish politics and anything to do with the concept of law and justice. For that matter, get Fine Gael and that cancerous, unrepresentative ulcer that is the Labor party out of the Dail. Fine Fail failed in a great many aspects over the long period of their rule, but never did I imagine they could be the lesser of two beast. Fine Gael has broken every promise in their campaign,allowed Labor scandalous leeway in governance and pushing abortion like there's no tomorrow. I appeal to goodly and kindly TDs within the party to revolt against the leadership and reform the party before its too late to salvage Fine Gael's name, and before the Irish left capitalise on this rift in the government for the own, boundlessly unscrupulous ends.


Meanwhile, in the Carpathian Basin

Hungary continues to impress.

Readers may remember when I commented on Hungary's impressive, manful and out-and-out ballsy reform of its constitution, utilising the stunning popular mandate its nationalist government achieved, which kicked out all manner of European domination of its institutions, political, media or otherwise and removed the title of 'Republic' from the nation's official name. Monarchists such as I were immensely hopeful this means a friendlier regime to monarchist sympathisers if nothing else.

Meanwhile Europe and America called bloody murder.

You see, Hungary did all this while remaining within the European Union, dancing carefully about the laws of which it could not directly contravene and many many people accused the government of Hungary of being fascists (as always) and threatened to bring Hungary to court over its unlawful and unjust referendum and attention to the democratic will of its country. (Hehe, hypocrisy much?)

Indeed in the wake of the reform of Hungary, I heard news of popular protests and hints at the eventual capitulation of Hungary to reform again. Obviously because Europe believed they had reformed wrongly the first time around. Just like how Ireland voted wrong in two referendums. This union is shameful.

Several years later and I have not heard much of a peep, either because I am reading the wrong news, missed the memo of Hungary actually capitulated to Europe or because Europe had failed in all its bluster to threaten the Magyars.

Then I heard Hungary had banned GM crop corporations and burned many hectars worth of genetically modified crops.

Now, I am rather uneducated about GM crops myself. Having said that, as someone who has lived almost his whole life int he countryside, worked in a meat packing plant, and is well educated on the duplicity of 'mass-food' corporations. I always buy local foodstuffs whenever possible and encourage others to do likewise. As such I treat anyone 'genetically modifing the food I am about to consume with a great deal of suspicion. "Hello sir, I have messed about with the potato you are about to eat. It now has 99.9% less chance of giving you a disease and 45% more nutrition. Whats that? How can you be sure that what I have said is true and that it is the only alterations I have made to your food? Haha! Shut up and eat you peasant, I have scientists in my company. Do you want to disagree with my scientists? Didn't think so, now eat."

Other then that I am not aware of the moral, ethical and medical concerns of GM crops and would appreciate if some commenters could illuminate me. I do, however, appreciate a great many people are concerned to a great deal about GM crops, and there is always the slippery slope arguement. "First crops, then animals, then our children, then we have a Gattaca future and then after that, a Brave New World Future."

That said, what impresses me about Hungary's action is that it was Hungary's action. A government, in good faith, acting in the best interests of its people as far as it and its people were concerned. That is a rare thing indeed.


Its a long way to Damascus

WILL PEOPLE STOP POKING THE BLOODY BEAR!? Putin doesn't bluff! Russia doesn't bluff! I'd rather not see the levant go up in flames because the Israelis are foolhardy enough to bomb Russian citizens delivering weapons to the government forces in Syria. Not that I don't doubt Israel could hold its own in a defensive war with Russia, just... You don't want to meet the bloody mindedness of the Russians on the battlefield. You just don't.

Look, lets get one thing straight here: I do not support the opposition forces in Syria. Why? because they are not a single force, they are not all fighting for democracy and they are just as duplicitous, callous, untrustworthy and dangerous as the government. Or worse. They are a hodge-podge collection of independent factions, many of whom are radicalised Islamists, that are targeting minorities, particularly the ancient Christian sects in Syria. The political 'opposition government' that appeals to the west has no real influence or control over any of them. The governemnt meanwhile, is a cohesive force, with an established leadership and seeks to overall protect its civilians, minorities or otherwise, despite the brutality of the war causing many civilian deaths. And even on the issue of chemical weapons use, the only thing we can confirm is that the weapons were used and many conflicting reports that either the Government or the rebels used them. Or both, with different governments accepting one or the other side's accounts. On the sheer balance of evil, the government is the clearly more moral choice to back. Or, you know, you could back the side that has cannibals. You know, whatever.

That said however, we all know the 'Arab Spring' is not a spontaneous desire for democracy across the Arab world. Anyone who believes so is a political ignoramus. Having said that, the instigators of the revolutions that rocked the world obviously did not count on two things. The first which is genuinely surprising, is the resilience of the monarchies of the near east. "Whats that? You want reforms? Ok, I, the king of Jordan will give you reforms. Whats that? You want a republic? Sorry but you seem to have lost most of your support. You know, since I gave you reforms." The other is of course, radical Islam's domination of some of the new governments, most evidently in Egypt. Pray for the Coptics.