Are you surprised that Luke 'Ming' Flanagan has been elected?

mikom

Just a heads up....... I have heard that Ming will be on The Vincent Brown show on TV3 tonight given the newspaper coverage today.

Poor Craythur

Beruthiel wrote: »

When he left college, it was his main issue.

Hey, where did Ming go to college?

Poor Craythur

Pace2008 wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Sorry, but the law is the law. Now, I'm not saying that the laws on cannibis use and possession shouldn't be reviewed, but as of now, they are the way they are, and he is breaking the law. How would you feel if a politician you disliked flouted the law?

Permabear wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

This.

Poor Craythur

Pace2008 wrote: »

There is a correlationary link between cannabis and mental illness, but a causal link has not been demonstrated. The fact that the prevalence schizophrenia does not seem to change respective of the prevalence of cannnbis use may suggest the link is largely correlationary. You will not get a scientific or medical consenus on the issue.

Schizophrenia isn't the only mental illness.

Brenireland

Welcome aboard "Ming" finally a Voice for us "Culchies",great to have him in the Dail as he is someone who can relate to rural Ireland and not just to the city life in Dublin/Cork/Galway etc...

Happy to see he is all for keeping the bog's and this will indeed be another kick between the Greens Bum Cheeks.

Brenireland

wellboy76 wrote: »

I'm more surprised that Cowens brother got elected tbh

That was no real surprise to be fair it was predicted the week the election was called.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

If you insist on having law abiding politicans in the dail. it will be one very empty building.

We can however have honest ones and oens that aren't goign to fleece us.

Pity Bertie never smoked* and only took half his salary.

*I assume he didn't...

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Capt'n Midnight

FreudianSlippers wrote: »

Wow didn't realise it was so low. Won't be getting into politics myself then.

The pension plan isn't bad in fairness.

Capt'n Midnight

Ray Burkes Pension wrote: »

He has been charged. He has been in jail. It was a complete waste of tax payer's money.

It's like Alices Restaraunt song , he was imprisoned for being a litterbug.

He went to jail because he was fined £150 for election posters, and refused to pay because FF and FG were only charged £50 even though there was only one of him and they were national organisations.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/0626/1224273343794.html

he served nine days of a 15-day sentence in Loughan House open prison, in Co Cavan, for refusing to pay a fine imposed for breach of the Litter Pollution Act.

Which reminds me you can now report politicians for any posters still up.

caseyann

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

It's like Alices Restaraunt song , he was imprisoned for being a litterbug.

He went to jail because he was fined £150 for election posters, and refused to pay because FF and FG were only charged £50 even though there was only one of him and they were national organisations.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/0626/1224273343794.html

Which reminds me you can now report politicians for any posters still up.

You can really? They will make a bucket of cash out my way lol from posters still up and starting to fall down.:mad:

Paparazzo

Min wrote: »

It doesn't matter if he is going to take half salary, he has said he will not be giving the other half back to the state so we are all still paying for it, sounded like he wanted to use it as part of a fund for his local community, one could call it an early election stunt for the next time he goes for the Dáil.
If this was one of the Healy-Rae's one would be calling it gombeem politics. .

This is a serious accusasion. A TD doing something for his local community to get votes! This is front page news!

Min wrote: »

It is no different than simply getting state money for projects in your own area and then having everyone know about it

No, it's completely different. It's money that's supposed to go into his pocket.

Brenireland

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

No,he is keeping the bogs for us culchies to cut turf and use as fuel,That is what we want,not gobsheens like the Green's conserving them..:o

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Do you apply this doctrine to all instances of civil disobedience?

Shulgin

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

I doubt he is in favour of large scale turf cutting. What Luke Flanagan is supporting is small time turf cutting that has been going on long back into history. I would imagine he would also support the conservation of a lot of bogland.

RGDATA!

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

let's face it, everybody that smokes weed regards themselves as above that particular law. you can't read into that a complete disregard for "the law"

Paparazzo

Growing your own weed and smoking it in your own house is a victimless crime.

Shulgin

Paparazzo wrote: »

Growing your own weed and smoking it in your own house is a victimless crime.

And probably saves peoples lives by taking money and power from criminal gangs. But they punish us for doing so. It's a weird world.

Inverse to the power of one!

There are countless other threads to argue the in's and out's of cannabis legalization.

I will say this however, there are many people within society who hold positions of responsibility and also recognize the importance of the integrity of Law, yet they still choose to smoke weed. In fact I doubt those arguing against Ming's infringement of the Law in this thread are perfect themselves in their observation of it.

Lets face the facts, Laws can be passed for political and human motives outside the bounds of the values of justice, a perfect legal system where all laws are just and observed is about as real a possibility as a utopia. Glue huffing is legal, yet we draw a distinction at other substances yet in both cases the damage to the individual is real, the only thing we can do in either case is provide support to the individual to steer them away from the negative behavior..... criminalizing individuals does not in anyway help achieve this aim.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Ming was elected while openly professing that he is flouting the law on Cannabis, you might want to ask the constituents of Roscommon-South Laois why they think their representative is above law. In fact when a sizable proportion of a society disagree with a law within a democracy, the law is by the very nature of the system already in question as it is meant to work within a democratic system.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Inverse to the power of one! wrote: »

Another thing to keep in mind is that Ming was elected while openly professing that he is flouting the law on Cannabis, you might want to ask the constituents of Roscommon-South Laois why they think their representative is above law.

Its Roscommon-South Leitrim. Roscommon doesn't even border Laois.

Inverse to the power of one!

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

Its Roscommon-South Leitrim. Roscommon doesn't even border Laois.

Mea Culpa....hope the body of what I was saying holds true however.

blackiebest

No. Anybody who is surprised he got elected had no idea of how highly respected he is by all and any who have ever met him. He is honest and intelligent. He will be a great asset to this country as a TD over the next difficult years.

Regarding Cannabis. Surely to be guilty of a crime there must be a victim? Where is the victim if one grows and smokes cannabis?

Good man Ming and bring on the honesty and courage of your convictions. Do not back down to facilitate a disgraced Dail and members thereof

mrsdewinter

I don't know the man at all, but I'd heard that he's a very good worker on Roscommon Co. Co. I assumed that was code for "he got the potholes on my road fixed." But I happened to catch the documentary Dole Eireann after a friend posted an excerpt on Facebook this week and I have to say I admire him now. Even as a supposed stoner running a spoiler campaign in 97, he demonstrated drive and determination, hounding council officials who'd messed up voter registration forms and engaging with his political rivals.
It makes me wonder, is the hash thing just a ploy to draw young people into politics?

nickobrien1985

Ming is a complete joke. Anyone who says otherwise is mental.
I'd love to see him on the international stage, the international community would just laugh at him.

zig

mrsdewinter wrote: »

I don't know the man at all, but I'd heard that he's a very good worker on Roscommon Co. Co. I assumed that was code for "he got the potholes on my road fixed." But I happened to catch the documentary Dole Eireann after a friend posted an excerpt on Facebook this week and I have to say I admire him now. Even as a supposed stoner running a spoiler campaign in 97, he demonstrated drive and determination, hounding council officials who'd messed up voter registration forms and engaging with his political rivals.
It makes me wonder, is the hash thing just a ploy to draw young people into politics?

in fairness to ming, his policies are very anti 'get the potholes fixed', he wants to give more power to councellers so TDs can worry about national issues. He wont go to funerals of people he doesnt know.
Id say the hash thing is something hes trying to shake off if anything to be honest. As in , no doubt he'll enjoy a joint or two at night but he definitely tends to swiftly move on when the issue of drugs are brought up.
not sure if you've seen it, but the 'life and crimes of citizen ming' is well worth a watch, its on youtube, i think it has footage from Dole eireann but this doc is longer and more comprehensive.

Killer Pigeon

I thought he was a great speaker though he looked like a very confused man on his first day in the Dáil;

"Jaysus, 'tis a lovely fine building they got here, look at all the designs they have on the ceiling - you don't get this shtuff in Roscommon!"


"Ewww, I just realised I'm stuck right in the corner here. How the hell I'm I going to legalise cannabis with all these Labour & Fine Gael gombeens!"


"Hmm, maybe this guy with the pink shirt will help me ... he seems like a dayshent guy who's on the same wavelength as me!"


"Oh, but shure jaysus he's one of those developers that helped bring the country to it's knees and I'm supposed to be against all thash!"

Absurdum

nickobrien1985 wrote: »

Ming is a complete joke. Anyone who says otherwise is mental.
I'd love to see him on the international stage, the international community would just laugh at him.

more fool them

TheUsual

Ming the Merciless. A fairly hardcore alien leader to have working in Dail Eireann to be honest.

Maybe Enda "Flash" Kenny is his mortal enemy.

caseyann

Killer Pigeon wrote: »

I thought he was a great speaker though he looked like a very confused man on his first day in the Dáil;

"Jaysus, 'tis a lovely fine building they got here, look at all the designs they have on the ceiling - you don't get this shtuff in Roscommon!"


"Ewww, I just realised I'm stuck right in the corner here. How the hell I'm I going to legalise cannabis with all these Labour & Fine Gael gombeens!"


"Hmm, maybe this guy with the pink shirt will help me ... he seems like a dayshent guy who's on the same wavelength as me!"


"Oh, but shure jaysus he's one of those developers that helped bring the country to it's knees and I'm supposed to be against all thash!"

HAHA you ever thought of taking up cartoons in newspapers of the Dáil? excellent
oh p.s if they start we have proof of copyright infringements.;)

I have to say while i cringed,fair play to him first day and he did well.But he needs to get more verbally aggressive

ScareGilly

nickobrien1985 wrote: »

Ming is a complete joke. Anyone who says otherwise is mental.
I'd love to see him on the international stage, the international community would just laugh at him.

Yes, because we didn't have a taoiseach they could all laugh at before. I don't see why Luke would be laughed at? Care to point out why you think so?

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Killer Pigeon wrote: »

I thought he was a great speaker though he looked like a very confused man on his first day in the Dáil;

"Jaysus, 'tis a lovely fine building they got here, look at all the designs they have on the ceiling - you don't get this shtuff in Roscommon!"


"Ewww, I just realised I'm stuck right in the corner here. How the hell I'm I going to legalise cannabis with all these Labour & Fine Gael gombeens!"


"Hmm, maybe this guy with the pink shirt will help me ... he seems like a dayshent guy who's on the same wavelength as me!"


"Oh, but shure jaysus he's one of those developers that helped bring the country to it's knees and I'm supposed to be against all thash!"

God forgive me, but he actually looks a bit like Christy Brown in those first two...

forfcksake

does anyone know did the minger ever go to college?