Bush to visit Ireland in June

egan007

Dunno if this was posted yesterday...

Bush to visit Ireland in June
Irish indo Wednesday February 25th 2004

The US President George W Bush will visit Ireland in June. The government has confirmed that the Mr Bush will attend an EU-US summit on the 25th and 26th of June. The location of the meeting is yet to be decided it will be announced in the coming weeks. The meeting will involve the Taoiseach, President Bush, European Commission President Romano Prodi, Foreign Affairs Minister Brian Cowen, and EU foreign affairs commission Javier Solano.

ixoy

Oh yay! My hero is coming! I've so many gushing things to say to him. I must tell him much I support his latest facist attempt to reword his nation's constitution to forbid myself ever having the opportunity to marry a potential lover. We may not have gay marriages in Ireland, but at least we're not led by some militant Christian fundamentalist who seeks to permanently deny any such possiblity.

gandalf

Hmmm must book some time off so I can attend whatever protests are going to happen.

Another waste of Irish resources by Bertie trying to get a popularity boast before the next election and the same for Bush with the Presidential election. How many hospital beds is a visit by Baby Bush worth !!!

Gandalf.

egan007

if anyone knows of an organised protest then please post on boards

I'm buying eggs today so they will be nice and rotten by june - one rotten egg deserves another

vorbis

ioxy why blame Bush if you couldn't get married here either? Honestly thats just blind hatred against him. Grow up a bit.

Beruthiel

did you see Bertie on the telly last night saying he hoped there would be no protests
read rage to a bull as far as I'm concerned

Gandalf, I shall also be booking some time, we will go for our usual 'after protest drinks'

ixoy

Originally posted by vorbis
ioxy why blame Bush if you couldn't get married here either? Honestly thats just blind hatred against him. Grow up a bit.

I already said why - he wants to ammend the constitution to specifically forbid gay marriage. He's going back socially speaking. Ireland is not and - if I remember - the constitution does not define marriage as between a man and a woman. Therefore, that's a blatant difference, which means it's far from blind hatred.

aidan_walsh

Originally posted by ixoy
I already said why - he wants to ammend the constitution to specifically forbid gay marriage. He's going back socially speaking. Ireland is not and - if I remember - the constitution does not define marriage as between a man and a woman. Therefore, that's a blatant difference, which means it's far from blind hatred.

I was already in a full discussion on this the day after the State of the Union, and the conclusions reached are though the legislative gay-bashing that is writing a ban on gay marriages into the Constitution hasn't yet happened... The current laws prohibiting such marriages are protected by the Constitution of the US, specifically Article IV...

Section 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.

Basically this means that it is up to the individual states to enact laws, but Congress is able to determine what laws are enforced, i.e. federal law. And, unfortunatly, the terms marriage and spouce are covered by federal law. The Defence of Marriage Act 1996, signed into power by Clinton, ""provides that no State shall be required to give effect to a law of any other State with respect to a same-sex 'marriage.' [It also] defines the words 'marriage' and 'spouse' for purposes of Federal law." [Source]

Now that the terms "marriage " and "spouce" have been defined, all states are bound by federal law to recognise these definitions as the only ones...

ReefBreak

By far, the worst part of this visit will be listening to the endless moaning and whining by people like Richard Boyd-Barrett and his (anti-american/marxist) ilk for months and months before he arrives.

Although granted, there's no doubt this is nothing more than a cynical Irish-American vote-grabbing excercise for Dubya. Hopefully, it won't have any affect and he'll be out after the next election.

swiss

A visit by Bush to Ireland - just before his re-election bid?

Call me cynical, but I see this move as being somewhat self servile. Given that there is a significant 'Irish' vote in the US, I wouldn't be surprised if this was an attempt to garner that vote.

In relation to Berties comments that he hoped this wouldn't be used as an opportunity to protest, due to the nature of the visit, I would hope that he is simply deluded as to the import of such protests. People aren't protesting against EU - US co-operation. People are protesting against the knee jerk unilateral policies that the US appears to be taking towards perceived threats, as exemplified by the situation in Iraq.

So much for being a man in touch with the people :rolleyes:.

bug

dont worry bertie will close off the entirity of Dublins City centre for two days so none of us can get to work or move around, we'll probably have to protest about six miles from the city centre. :mad: :rolleyes:

BuffyBot

did you see Bertie on the telly last night saying he hoped there would be no protests

I really, really, really can't stress how much I hope there will be protests!!

Beruthiel

Originally posted by BuffyBot
I really, really, really can't stress how much I hope there will be protests!!

time to start a boards day out campaign??

sovtek

Crap....sorry I'm leaving in April...gonna miss the fun.
Watch out for the ID-less riot squad.

dahamsta

Originally posted by Beruthiel
time to start a boards day out campaign??

Call it a Boards Beer, you'll prolly get more people there. And don't anyone tell the Socialist Workers Party, I don't want their banners anywhere /near/ me.

adam

Ronika

Goddammit, I'll be in Ibiza that week!!!!!!!!!!! Why couldn't he come a week earlier so I could join the protest:mad:

TomF

Look for tourism from the U.S.A. to Ireland to drop precipitously right after the orgy of protesting and general America-hating that erupts here during Bush's visit and after all that hits the U.S. media.

Sparks

Originally posted by TomF
Look for tourism from the U.S.A. to Ireland to drop precipitously right after the orgy of protesting and general America-hating that erupts here during Bush's visit and after all that hits the U.S. media.

I was wondering how long it'd take before someone said that protesting the decisions of one small group of less than a dozen people made you an avowed racist enemy of over 250 million other people, who those dozen people are busy killing, robbing and oppressing. (Oppressing? Well, what other verb denotes the reduction of civil rights, the threats to change the constitution to prevent a large minority of them from getting married, and the other patriot-act-like actions we've seen in the states in the last two years?)

I doubt that protests which might get fleeting coverage on the U.S networks would mark the minds of the mainly Irish Americans to such an extent that they would stop coming here.

U.S and particularly Irish U.S would have a fleeting memory of the protests if any memory at all.


Now who is putting the protest beers thread up on the boards events board? I'll attend same

Incidently someone made the point in the after hours thread that the U.S was always disliked-I disagree, this country practically closed down on the day of mourning, the friday after september 11th

And Clinton got huge crowds out in Welcome for his visits.
Hell even Ronald Reagan got the crowds out and JFK certainly did!

No the depopularisation of America here and to be more precise specifically the U.S government is down Solely from what I can see to the actions of Dubya and co.

sovtek

Originally posted by doodle_sketch
I was already in a full discussion on this the day after the State of the Union, and the conclusions reached are though the legislative gay-bashing that is writing a ban on gay marriages into the Constitution hasn't yet happened... The current laws prohibiting such marriages are protected by the Constitution of the US, specifically Article IV...



Basically this means that it is up to the individual states to enact laws, but Congress is able to determine what laws are enforced, i.e. federal law. And, unfortunatly, the terms marriage and spouce are covered by federal law. The Defence of Marriage Act 1996, signed into power by Clinton, ""provides that no State shall be required to give effect to a law of any other State with respect to a same-sex 'marriage.' [It also] defines the words 'marriage' and 'spouse' for purposes of Federal law." [Source]

Now that the terms "marriage " and "spouce" have been defined, all states are bound by federal law to recognise these definitions as the only ones...

And it's all irrelevant because it's quite obviously a violation of the Constitution and the rights described in it that extend to all human beings.

sovtek

Originally posted by TomF
Look for tourism from the U.S.A. to Ireland to drop precipitously right after the orgy of protesting and general America-hating that erupts here during Bush's visit and after all that hits the U.S. media.

That's already happened because of the extortion from Irish business and government.
Nevermind that your stated reason for it is a red herring.
Yes yes yes I hate myself so much I'm going to go out and protest against myself.

pencil

I for one an delighted he's coming, ranting at the girlfriend and TV at the lunacy of his entire presidency is losing its appeal, now I get to a satisfying day out and a healthy walk to boot.

Role on June - now what specific statement to make about his self-serving undemocratic idiotic policies on my placard? - if only I had a thousand arms!

Berties comment about hoping people wouldn't protest was the strangest and MOST HOPEFUL piece of twisted logic I've ever heard.

>> time to start a boards day out campaign??

You said it.

sovtek

Originally posted by Earthman
Incidently someone made the point in the after hours thread that the U.S was always disliked-I disagree, this country practically closed down on the day of mourning, the friday after september 11th

And the American companies over here made everybody work.

"Everyone get back to work" - George W Bush

No the depopularisation of America here and to be more precise specifically the U.S government is down Solely from what I can see to the actions of Dubya and co.

No NO No blah blah blah...fingers in my ears...i can't hear you.

thesecret7

Bertie Ahern has no right to hold the meeting here in Ireland. It should be held in Brussels..... George Bush go home !! We dont want **** like that coming over!!
End the illegal occupation of the West Bank Gaza and Golan heights!!

Sand

Hopefully theyll have the meeting in Donegal or somewhere equally remote so as to ensure the peaceful protestors can peacefully protest somewhere nice and peaceful and not intefere with peoples every day lives. After that, who cares:|

Cork

Originally posted by thesecret7
Bertie Ahern has no right to hold the meeting here in Ireland. It should be held in Brussels..... George Bush go home !! We dont want **** like that coming over!!
End the illegal occupation of the West Bank Gaza and Golan heights!!

In a country that has suffered because of car bombs - you forget to mention suicide bombers.

gandalf

Originally posted by Sand
Hopefully theyll have the meeting in Donegal or somewhere equally remote so as to ensure the peaceful protestors can peacefully protest somewhere nice and peaceful and not intefere with peoples every day lives. After that, who cares:|

Yeah Donegal would be cool haven't been there in ages

We could make it a boards day out with sandwiches and Thermos flasks

Gandalf.

thesecret7

In a country that has suffered because of car bombs - you forget to mention suicide bombers.

And I forgot the killing of INNOCENT CIVILIANS BY THE self styled ISRAELI DEFENCE FORCE or all the maiming and killing of inncocent people in South Lebannon by Israel and its proxy forces

YAnky go home and bring those peace loving

Yeah Donegal would be cool haven't been there in agesWe could make it a boards day out with sandwiches and Thermos flasksGandalf.

hippies with you....


Ireland doesnt need this summit, we cant be linked to International terrorism by foreign states like the USA and Israel.

we dont need those hippies either!! All that negative publlicity will damage our economy

gandalf

Originally posted by thesecret7
we dont need those hippies either!! All that negative publlicity will damage our economy

Actually I think you'll find that the present government are doing a bang up job of damaging our economy quite nicely by themselves.

Also don't call me a hippy again I am far from it

Gandalf.

Memnoch

i begin to wonder whats the point of protesting other than to vent our frustration. It seems that governments these days completely ignore the wishes of their populace, eg. Blair retard boy in the UK. Why not just vote Bertie out? That would be the way to teach a lesson to politicians.

Sand

i begin to wonder whats the point of protesting other than to vent our frustration. It seems that governments these days completely ignore the wishes of their populace, eg. Blair retard boy in the UK. Why not just vote Bertie out? That would be the way to teach a lesson to politicians.

You see thats a solution - when it comes to election time vote for someone else. Elections are where politicans pay a lot of attention to the wishes of their populace.

But protesting is easier - you show up for the one day, say "boooo, down with that sort of thing" and then go home and forget about it. Hell, you can even make a day of it.

Unfortunately protests arent elections so even a hundred thousand protestors = 0 votes.

So youre right, all its good for is venting frustration.