International Monetary Fund Show Their True Stars and Stripes

Outrage over January 2016 Visit by IMF Chief to Enda and Joan's for tea

I don't want to be ungenerous but the IMF have changed their own goal posts this December 2015 to serve a United States purpose and I wonder if anyone else feels this makes a mockery of their international status and the levels of trust or confidence left in them?
They have a few rules:

 4 Rules of The IMF

1. Don't lend to a country that has an official unpaid debt already.
2. Don't lend to a country that has no way of repaying their debt.
3. Don't lend to a country that does not implement the stipulations of the debt.
4. Don't lend to a country at war.

The two countries in question are Greece and the Ukraine…They did not bend their rules to help Greece avoid complete dereliction but waited about a month and then quickly changed them for the Ukraine.

How Each Rule Was Suddenly Broken This Month

1. Ukraine owes Russia an official debt - registered in London courts - of 3 billion, which they were due to have repaid by early December. The IMF have offered the Ukraine a loan nearly on the very condition that they default on their debt to Russia. How inflammatory is that, in anyone's book?

2. The industrious area in Ukraine is the part that is being fought over and is completely destroyed by war, leaving no feasible means to repay a loan.

3. The IMF have set out its now familiar guidelines of national austerity to meet repayments of debt, which Ukraine has explicitly refused and says it has no intention of implementing.

4. What the Ukraine are doing with the new loan is financing the war and buying more weapons.

If Ukraine, why not Greece?

Greece could really have done with this sort of reasonableness and flexibility too. I gather Greece weren't offered another loan as they are not a strategically-placed country.

I also gather that the IMF don't want Russia reimbursed because Russia are joining in a new economy drive designed by China. This will become an alternative massive banking system which can and is already lending countries money.

What an education we are all receiving!

If the IMF had not totally blatantly and suddenly gone against their own guidelines of the last 45 years, your average person would never have questioned or noticed what their actual agenda is. A few things have come to our awareness.

Purely American Agenda

Firstly that American power and financial control is the IMF priority.

It is who you owe makes your country's financial decisions

The second is that who ever you owe money to has indirect control of all your financial plans, hence the stranglehold of austerity being 'the economic plan of choice' for indebted Europe at the moment.

Austerity doesn't lead to the prosperity that could lead to debts being paid. 

Thirdly, maybe austerity isn't the only way. The Chinese monetary system seems to be going for prosperity planning.

Good decisions, bad decisions!

Now you can point to the pollution, zero regard for life and the fact that they plan to increase their emissions until 2030 or 2050 and then look at the global warming situation again! But is Europe's plan much better? Borrow millions and billions - presumably from the IMF, to buy American technology also sponsored by the IMF and then live in austerity unable to buy the solar panels and our countries like puppets borrowing to buy, on repeat and the environment going down the plug hole and no independence for countries to facilitate any more progressive ideas, along the lines of home grown, chemical free food and promote small kinder ways and means?

Maybe I have read the situation awry but here's the article that caught my attention

The-IMF-changes-its-rules-to-isolate-China-and-Russia

They've let themselves down, could we call it fair to call them on it?

I think that following that behaviour, other countries might have been given a sudden excuse to bail ourselves out of their IMF debts and do their own thing, free of the profiteering, warmongering foreign policies and agendas.

Happy New Year everyone, let it be peaceful, compassionate and just!

21 pressing Reasons for an Animal Referendum - let us ask Do We or Don't We Want to Perpetuate this Nightmare

Animal successes

1. Guinness goes vegan, only then share that until now they have been filtering their product through fish bladders.
Article on the Guinness move and other surprising drinks that use animal ingredients

2. Yesterday, the crushing alive of one day old male chicks was banned in Germany. Until then most people didn't know that that is their fate here in Ireland and everywhere else.
Wikipedia: Chick Culling
People power can force change in animal practices

3. Bullfighting was at last outlawed in Spain, only then it came to light that it was subsidized with public money to the tune of millions of euro.
110 million Euro in subsidies by the EU for Bull Fighting

4. Hare coursing, banned for cruelty in most countries, is discovered by TD Clare Daly as also being subsidized yearly by over a hundred thousand euro of Irish tax payers money.
TD Clare Daly questions why no welfare provision in Agricultural Minister's new horse racing bill and why tax payers money is being channelled into hare coursing

5. A super trawler, banned in Australia, is allowed to fish indiscriminately in Irish Waters, nets the size of two football pitches, sonar to identify every shoal and catch them, on a Lithuanian quota but owned by someone in Holland. Only then did it arise how big a problem Dead Zones (empty miles with no species of fish, crustaceans or algae) are already and the need for 'No take' areas (like the waters around Lundy Island, where fish are able to replenish themselves).
The full impact of these super freezer trawlers benefiting no one

6. The ban (following its 5 year wind down period) came into effect on caging female pigs, in Australia.
Few knew that in Ireland and everywhere else most sows live permanently in crates so small that they cannot turn around. They are inseminated where they stand and cannot help their piglets when they arrive - every 4 months. The public were able to stop the new factory farms planned.
Irish Pig Situation


7. Council dog pound inmates were saved from a fate worse than death, by the Mail on Sunday article, that the public contract was about to go to private for-profit company rather than an animal welfare organization.  Search 'Dog Shelter Tender' on the www.healingbyfranc.com blog.

8. Fur farming is banned in most countries, the most recent country gave a 10 year wind down period - within which it is anticipated that 50 million more mink will be killed. Ireland refuses.
Fur Farming Stats and Information - It says banned across the UK but Ireland still has fur farms as horrific as any from the past. Mink are semi-aquatic wild animals each family holding an average territory of 2.5km of riverbank in the wild.

9. Govegan Poster Campaign, was a huge success with thousands of people contacting the Eden Farm Animal Sanctuary and www.govegan.ie for a Vegan Starter Kit. The purchase of turkeys was down world wide this year as well. Go Vegan Starter Kit

10. The World Health Organization report, stating that processed meat was carcinogenic, flagged up 1. the chemicals involved in processing meat 2.  also the antibiotics used in confined farming methods and 3. the chemicals sprayed on the grain and grazing they eat, all finding their way into the food chain. That reduced again the purchase and therefore demand for meat.
Firewurst chain of shops close and blame WHO cancer meat report

All the above developments exposed were tough to hear but also exposed what had gone unnoticed for a long time before.

Animal failures

11. Aproximately 200,000 tonnes of animals killed per month - sheep, pigs and cows.

Farm Animal Slaughter Statistics UK

Breeding

12. Puppy farms raided and exposed in Myshall Carlow but had to demonstrate outside courts to make sure license was not given back. 

13. Puppy farmers' profits were protected by our government when the DSPCA had to pay for seized dogs at Dublin Airport.

14. New puppy farms have got licenses, including Mayo where the beagles are to be bred purely for use in laboratories.
Charles River Laboratories' Experiments, breeding and stray animal 'continuum' of abuse
On their own website they call it a 'continuum' of product development and tests.

Vivisection in Ireland

15. Ireland is the worst for animal testing in Europe. 820,000 animals a year suffer in laboratories. 80% for commercial product testing, not even medical. The Hadwen Trust in Oxford amongst others has developed a complete system, exploiting no animals, that could be made mandatory.
Dr Hadwen Trust offers animal-free, human relevant research

16. Conditions for cows at abattoirs was exposed. There is a rush of 'rape rack' training advertised on Done Deal where people can pay and practice artificial insemination skills on a suspended cow before she is slaughtered.
Further discussion about rape rack by a vegan feminist…not me!
Calves are shown dragged from their mothers in order for people to have their milk.

17. They are shown electric-prodded in and then rolled upside down in a form of cat scan tunnel, throats cuts and then thrown still alive onto the floor under another, now hanging up, also still alive, in front of the next one pinned in the tunnel.

18. Massive animal cruelty and abuse exposed throughout the food, science, entertainment and every other industry, including the use of pigs for the military to shoot just to observe blood spatter patterns.
Blood Spatter Experiments

19. The climate summit touches on the environmental impact of animal agriculture - more than half of all CO2 emissions, up to 15,000 litres of fresh water to produce 1kg of beef, all fed GM Round-Up Ready corn - that kills the pollinators, the glysophates are present in all cancers and the massive misdirection of crops that could have fed people directly.
Farmers use three quarters of the world's fresh water

20. Juxtaposed against the big Irish deals with America and China to produce meat and dairy for them. No intention of managing Ireland's Greenhouse emissions.
Minister Coveney doing deals with the devil - negotiating on Ireland's behalf with key Trans Atlantic Trade Partnership Negotiators

21. The undervaluing of Irish produce has already happened by this same TTP - as the US has just decided that meat must not be labelled as to where it came from so that shoppers cant be biassed….!!!  American factory-produced and fractionally better produced Irish produce will not be a differentiation that can help retain Irish meat's value very long if Ireland is not allowed to say its cows are from Ireland anymore. But that will suit Ireland's meat processors who'll stick a label on almost anything saying its Irish and Organic.  Say No to Secret TTP massive power grab that would make corporations more powerful than governments and make courts decide on protecting profits rather than protecting the common good

Wake Up on Christmas Morning!

The Christmas Story

Wonderful carol concert, my Mum in the choir but what the hell has happened to the Christmas story….or has my critical faculty just kicked in? Mary was described as a 'teenage' girl, who was Joseph's wife 'although he had never 'known' her !?wtf and then he was nice as he was going to 'divorce her quietly' for being with child. Even if you pause for a split second and consider how nil women's and girl's say so has been down the years, you can be pretty sure that Mary had little say in what happened to her. 

Peace on Earth

Then he talked about the carols having something in them that we don't see much of. My mind went straight to 'Thank God, he's going to talk about "Peace on Earth" but no he went on about consumer choices. I am starting to think we might well be being farmed by some psychos. How else can we think that its okay to torture millions of animals for treats and products and feel good about ourselves when we use honey and milk shower gel and and use bleach that has been tested on the eyes of thousands of small animals to get rid of the grease and smell of animals in the sink and on the floor. And what about that 8month pregnant lady in the Calais jungle on the news last night? Shouldn't someone offer her a crib for the bed of the new infant? Have we become so blind and selfish that we care about nothing? We've got to wake up as compassionate awareness and choices are the only way we can turn 

this tide around.

Are Humans Being Farmed?

Photo by Manisha

What might have happened to us!

Freya Lawton of The Peace Intention reports from the Refugee Camp in Calais, Healing From Harmony Hall interview

Described as the most important news and perspective at the moment. Frances Micklem interviews Freya Lawton of The Peace Intention, following her time building stoves and a safe place for children, in the Calais Refugee Camp

Healing From Harmony Hall - 15th December 2015

To stop disgraced ABP monopolizing meat market and export write to www.consumerhelp.ie TODAY!

ABP Deals Can Still be Stopped

This is a letter that could be cut and pasted or write your own…but do it today as otherwise it will be too late! The decision whether to allow the deal lies with The Competition and Consumer Protection Board today. ABP want to buy 50% of Slaney Foods which would give them 40% of the Irish Cattle Market and 40% of the Irish Sheep Market. Even farmer's are horrified. ABP brought in the horse meat, evaded tax in Luxemburg, sold meat to Saddam Hussein's regime, sells animals fattened on GM grain as organic etc etc etc.  And yes ABP stands for Animal Body Parts so they are behind the BSE cases as well:

My complaint 

"Do not approve the deal for ABP to buy 50% of Slaney foods this week. Or for them to represent the Irish Brand as first exporter to the USA since the ban was lifted. If you do, you will be stitching up all the farmers, the Irish brand and industry and going against Consumer rights, seeing as Larry Goodman director of ABP has been already charged at a tribunal for food fraud, relabeling, selling one species as another.

This is the letter I sent to the head of Sisko, with whom ABP and the Minister have been doing the deal, including the articles so that they might yet refuse the export deal too. Many thanks for your consideration.

This address is given on the front of the Irish Farmer's Journal to register a complaint if you don't want the deal to go through. It says that the Consumer Protection Board has the decision in their hands, your hands, and you can stop it. Please stop it.
Barry Friends – Sisco and ABP

Meat Export Ban

Dear Sir, You must have seen your fair share of grim entrails but you are highly respected as the beef guru, in America and here in Ireland. I have to alert you as a leader of Sysco to put the ban firmly back in place on European beef-particularly Larry Goodman's operation ABP. Its not sustainable, its not any of the things it might say on the label.

Tribunal

This first US beef deal is with a man who's already been charged by a tribunal with fraud. That is Larry Goodman of ABP.
http://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/coveney-denies-goodman-association-past-will-affect-irish-beef-exports

Ludicrous Agreed Suppliers to US

This is the list of agreed suppliers to US so far. Most are owned by Queallys and Larry Goodman (ABP and Dawn Meats too) No food safety, no transparency, tax evasion, several species in any one meal, changing labels.
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/f29be677-5d21-4632-9897-7fa919c76281/Ireland_establishments.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&ContentCache=NONE

BSE 2015

BSE isn't old news, more found this year.
http://www.globalmeatnews.com/Industry-Markets/Ireland-plays-down-impact-of-potential-BSE-case

Larry Goodman of ABP shouldn't be representing Irish Industry

More about ABP's Larry Goodman, deals with Saddam Hussein, horse meat and other species too.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2263628/Horsemeat-supermarket-burgers-Larry-Goodman-multi-millionaire-contaminated-food-supplier.html

Minister Coveney Protecting 15 million but Not The Environment

I understand that the deal is worth 15 million to Ireland and so you are not going to be told the truth by probably anyone else. My motivation is to extricate Ireland from these vast environmentally and financially disastrous commitments to produce animals for America, China and Japan.

Stop Exploiting Animals and licenses for Bad Practice

I'm afraid to say I don't believe we should be exploiting animals for any food, drinks, products or tests but that is besides the point. When you visited the sites, all the malpractice was covered up but your brand will be dragged down by association if the deal goes ahead.

Asking Sisko, the US Company agreeing the deal with ABP, to Resume Ban

I also gather that Sysco specialize in natural and organic foods. Larry Goodman is well known for buying calves, bred on organic farms, but then fattening them intensively with GM chemically-ridden grains before slaughter. I really appeal to your good judgement and ask that you believe not a word.

ABP wants to Buy 50% Slaney Foods, Stop Them with a complaint to www.consumerhelp.ie

There is also a deal going through in the next couple of days, which you could play a part in stopping. ABP are set to buy more of a share of meat processing in Ireland. It will amount to 30% of cattle kills if its not stopped and 40% of sheep kills too. The farmers are extremely concerned as ABP are renowned for their shaming of the entire industry with their processing and repackaging illegal practices. The agricultural minister wants to let the deal, to give them this monopoly, go through, mainly to facilitate the deal with you. Please think again.

Many thanks

Understanding the 1.5 Degrees Climate Summit Agreement Podcast

New Directions Podcast

Beyond greedy, specifically abusive politics is all the rage here

I'll tell you something about Ireland's government: If you want a license or funding you're going to have to prove to them you're going to abuse the maximum amount of others. 

You're going to breed puppies to test chemicals on? Oh yes, be my guest.

You're going to take care of the stray dogs and horses by killing them immediately unless you can sell them on for something worse and you can offer this great service up and down the country? Oh yes, can we give you a several hundred thousand euro public contract for that!

You're going to use the 100 thousand to sponsor hare coursing? Oh yes, well don't worry, you can have that each year if it helps because it comes out of tax payers' money.

You want the 20 million, meant for social housing, to go to you at NAMA on top of your wages? Good thinking, its yours.

Oh sorry, that ban on live export of farm animals was inconvenient for you, tell you what, I've lifted that and not put any regulations in for any sort of care, hope it helps!

Can we have some subsidies to change our business to low carbon footprint? No we're not going to support anything 'unrealistic'. Instead we 'grow' the demand for meat and dairy and each time the floods hit we'll ask Europe for some relief funding.

These are a mix of Enda's and Simon's policies. Their maxim: maximum suffering for the maximum number. Maximum duplicity, maximum greed, maximum disregard for life, Well done protesters in Mayo. Say 'no way' to this breeding facility. Its absolutely horrible. Or maybe we should try reverse psychology on them. Tell them its not horrible enough, maybe they'll lose interest in the plans.

I watched Prime Time, "RTE Investigates", last night exposing all the public representatives who willingly negotiated a few quid to facilitate mock foreign companies to get planning permission for wind farms in their areas. The undercover footage was hilarious. They only covered the ethics of accepting money and didn't even mention the content which is that the whole Irish nation is united against wind farms and pylons - it is the most unwelcome energy policy ever. 

Everyone in Kilkenny is keeping fingers crossed that they will investigate Kilkenny next. The public representatives (bar just 2 of deep integrity) are colluding, unconscious wasters but the real sinister characters are the unelected council management. They are not affiliated to any party, they are not accountable to anyone, they hold the purse strings and nepotism doesn't even start to sum it up. This would be laughable if it weren't that all social funding for people and animals in any sort of difficulty are going to privately owned companies with no interest, bar the vested interests and the conflict of interests, in the service they're supposed to be offering.

To add horror to the mix, I watched Whistleblower…and was sorry I did initially as it was so violent. A true story, a female police office is sent for a private company to Bosnia 5 years after the war there ends. She discovers that trafficking of girls for sex was rife. 99% of the trafficking and abuse and violence was the military peace keeping forces, foreign diplomats from the UN and private security firms all of who are still employed by western governments for millions, but now deployed in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is the fastest rising industry in the world. Human trafficking. The problem is that our current government is gagging to join in conflict - even though Ireland is a neutral country, it is sending off groups to 'relieve French Military' so that they can bomb Syria. I realize with a sinking heart that human trafficking and sexual, violent abuse of anyone is right up their street - our government that is. This is a large scale liability unfolding and we need these incongruent, psychopaths out before they willfully destroy the environment and strip the last shred of humanity from the people.

Ireland's Political Avoidance - letter to delegates of the COP21

Thank you very much for opening COP21-Paris with the call for the creation of an International Court of Environmental Justice, to punish environmental crimes 

Please do not let Ireland, or any of the other countries, leave Paris without a commitment to stop Animal Agriculture. Ireland’s government is only protecting a corrupt industry.  It is, as you say, that greed has become our worst nightmare.

This is all the information I have in regard to Ireland’s current laws and business strategy. I hope it helps you and other good leaders press successfully for an international court that is powerful enough to charge corporations with ecocide, seize their assets and force governments to re-direct the money to sustainable food production and energy. Use of water in Animal Agriculture

Protected Disclosures Act

Ireland has a Protected Disclosures Act, since 2014, so that corruption can be exposed. It is not working. This year, disclosures were made to the Agricultural Minister himself and he arranged for the major illegal Food Fraud case to be thrown out of court. On the day of the court case, the same Minister for Agriculture was showing Chinese officials around the meat factories and saying what robust food safety systems Ireland has in place.  The case was never heard.

Agag Laws

This is a gagging law that protects Big Agribusiness by criminalizing people who record or monitor the activities, impacts and bad practice on factory farms.  There is a version of these laws here, in the criminalizing of all not-for-profit organizations and demonstrations.

Transatlantic Trade Partnership (TTIP)

The TTIP is still being negotiated between America and EU and would be a disaster. Corporate Lawyers could sue governments. An example of this: New toxic chemicals (by Monsanto, Bayer, Dow, BASF etc) are refused at first by the European Union, because they are so dangerous. Then the companies bring a counter claim on the grounds that it is anti-competitive to refuse their products a license. Their appeal wins and herbicides and pesticides are used indiscriminately. I understand your hitler comment in Paris as directors of these companies were recruited from hitler’s original team who ran similar experiments.

70% of soil on the planet is toxic now, whereas it was 40% twenty years ago. 

Governments are Owned by Corporations now

At the summit, please raise the problem of governments being owned by corporations now. In Ireland, our leading political party changed the laws so that the government does not have to disclose which businesses they get money from. This means that there is zero transparency and they protect the companies that finance their campaigns to get them into power. Making more profit for these stakeholders has become the only motivation for government policy, without consideration for the environment or people.

Agribusiness Ecocide

In terms of ecocide, animal agriculture has to be stopped. Over 50% of CO2 Emissions are from Animal Agriculture. The intensification of farming is still happening.  Almost all Ireland’s pigs are caged. They are fed antibiotics to keep them alive, which props up the massive pharmaceutical industry, as does the eating of meat full of antibiotics and other processing chemicals, which keeps the people ill and on medication too. The scale of animal agriculture is huge. In England alone, they slaughter over one million pigs every month; also 1.5 million sheep and nearly a million cows. In Italy, all meat and dairy are factory farmed. 71% of their antibiotics are sold to agribusiness. It is worse in America because there is big Pharma, big Ag and Monsanto has much of congress on his payroll. Please do not let the world leaders avoid the issue of animal agriculture.

Politics versus People

The people of the world are ready to try a plant-based diet and some of the big companies are ready to facilitate this change. For example Ireland’s Glanbia Dairy have invested millions into flaxseed, chia, peas and soy products in America as the demand for vegan products now outsells their dairy products.

Ireland’s political representatives at the Paris summit really do not care at all about climate change and they have no intention to make changes. However, the Irish people are well informed and active. This means that the summit must find a way to make the commitments legally binding. With a global court process, it is totally possible but governments will have to be legally forced to act.

Energy and Fossil Fuels

Ireland has also let in Shell Petrol, who beat the community off the land and coast, over a fifteen-year fight. Shell bribed the local police, as in other countries, to do their dirty work for them. The government arranged for the courts to look harshly on protesters for the environment for better environmental law and paid the police millions in “over time” as an incentive to protect their financial interests.

The government as well are making Ireland into a power station for Britain. They are putting 100 metre high pylons and turbines the length and breadth of the country. Both of which are very detrimental to health.

Fracking for ‘natural gas’ is also becoming popular even though it uses between 2 and 5 million gallons of water to extract and 1000s of litres of water to clean. In addition, the underground water reserves are also polluted..

The Ocean Environment –Ask for Change to European ‘Open Fishing Quotas’

A Dutch-owned Super Trawler, using a Lithuanian Fishing Quota, is fishing off Ireland’s coast. It is 145 metres long and using sonar and nets that are hundreds of metres wide. They are emptying the seas of fish and all other life and creating dead zones. Fish cannot reproduce at the speed at which they are being exploited. These massive fishing boats are banned from other countries but Ireland lets any one profit off our Nature, animals and people. Ireland has become a tax haven which means that we have Nestle and all the pharmaceutical companies and chemical companies moving in, chem-trailing and contaminating all our resources. The run-off from the untreated animal waste is also polluting the water off shore.

Crimes Against Humanity

If the summit can agree to bring legal charges against corporations, on the grounds of Crimes Against Humanity, it would finance the changes we need to make globally. Poisoning food, destruction of habitat and modern day slavery are all there, in their supply chains. While you have the collective strength of all the elected world leaders, you can make laws that could charge for these crimes.

Seize Corporations Assets

A global court could seize the assets of corporations, on these grounds of crimes against humanity and ecocide. This would provide ample money to re-direct to environmentally responsible operations. For example, incentives and subsidies must be offered to support farmers re-purposing their land to grow crops organically.

In Ireland, our government’s agriculture department has even refused European grants for organic initiatives in the past. They said that organic farming was ‘on its way out’ in Ireland. That means that we are giving it up; that they are not interested in improving our environmental impact. The government is promoting chemical fertilizers. People were promised by the government that no genetically modified crops would be produced here, especially potatoes as they are the staple diet. Meanwhile, acres of genetically modified potatoes are a government-funded project here. They recruit foreign academics and scientists in the hope that the public will not find out.

Climate Instability

 

Just like America’s Al Gore said in his film ‘The Inconvenient Truth’, the weather has already become unstable. Ireland is being hit with storm after storm. I know that your country has suffered much more because of ignorance and greed of other countries. I am so sorry for that and I hope you get a powerful result at the summit. It is not just Ireland as there are many countries hell-bent on destruction. I really believe that the people are ready for change, responsible choices and less abuse. Please get a Court in place to enforce environmental laws and force the hands of the institutions.

Many thanks,

Frances Micklem