Easter Gifts

I must have missed a chapter  somewhere along the line. I thought Easter was the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. But I guess that view is old fashioned.

Tonight I learned while watching TV that Easter is the perfect opportunity to give all sorts of gifts to children and others dear to us. It's just one more potential bonanza for the sellers of junk.

When did Easter become second to Christmas as one of the the retail gratification holidays of the year? Why should some little brats suddenly qualify for an Xbox game or a set of Lego thingies on what is, in reality, a high holy day for those of the Christian faith?

I'm lost on this. And not a little sickened.

BP and its Irresponsibility

British Petroleum.  British Petroleum. British Petroleum.

There, I've written it three times. This British monolith wants to hide behind its initials and avoid the inevitable fall back on its being from our near neighbour here in Ireland.

But to get to the point. It's been a year now since British Petroleum's operation in the Gulf of Mexico resulted in the worst oil-spill disaster in history.

And a year later there are thousands of small businesses and individuals who are still to be paid for their losses in this catastrophe, according to a report on CNN.

Perhaps most poignant, it was revealed that at two of the widow of the 11 workers killed when the oil rig blew up were being preemtively sued by British Petroleum or its operating parter on the rig to limit the amount they might collect.

British Petroleum, its partner and their lawyers, reportedly found a 160-year-old law on the Louisiana books that they're contending puts a cap on what the widows in this mess can reap from this disaster.

The sons of bitches have probably wrecked the fishing beds of the Gulf of Mexico forever. Their elective business decisions have resulted in generations of fishing families seeing their livlihoods coming to an abrupt and permanent halt. And the families of people killed are being stymied in their attempts to be paid off for the loss of their income-producing spouses.

Pay up, British Petroleum. Quit delaying. It's that simple.

Banks, ugh!

Back here at home, the banking nightmare just keeps unfolding. 

Virtually all of the Irish banks are now on state life-support, yet they're still managing to pay outrageous bonuses and other settlements to those who steered these institutions onto the rocks.

Former AIB managing director Colm Doherty recently scooped up a €3 million bonus and a €300,000 a year pension after his bank failed.

Even more galling, this unbelievable settlement occurred while AIB was in government control. Our politicians says each of us will ultimately be liable for some €45,000 over heaven knows how many years to bail out these banks.

Doherty and others like him, I suppose, will be struggling along on tropic isles while the rest of us try to pay for this mess.

Shame on the government that allows this crap to continue.