It was all a bit like waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve. As a boy, I remember nervously scanning the skies through the window for a sign, just a glimpse of the sleigh. My mother played along, ratcheting up the excitement by telling me she’d just heard on the radio that Santa had left Belfast and was flying towards Dublin. Nothing would get me into bed quicker – but in the exhilaration of it all, a young boy couldn’t get a wink.
Waiting for Michelle Obama yesterday in Dalkey was a bit the same. As the crowd assembled, those in the know in Dalkey told anyone who’d care to listen that they were assured that she “hadn’t even left Glendalough yet”.
The excitement has been building all weekend.
During the Dalkey book festival, rumours swirled around that the first lady of the US would be rocking up for lunch. These stories were substantiated by the arrival of a very strange type of visitor to the town – a creature we’d never seen the likes of.
Last Friday afternoon, six well-built American men with baseball caps on backwards and scraggy facial hair sat in a row at the bar of Finnegans in Dalkey, drinking water. If this particular detail of the presidential security machine were really trying to convince the locals that they were nothing more than a few tourists, they might have at least pretended to have a pint.
Dalkey has been full of these shifty lads for days, mingling amongst us ahead of Michelle’s lunch with Bono at his local, Finnegans.
At 11.21am, the commotion begins.
“She’s left Glendalough, so she has. She’ll be in Kilmacanogue by now,” nods one of the sages.
“Not at all, she’ll be only at Roundwood.”
“Past Bray, I’d say.”
“Back now,” said the cops, drafted in in their hundreds.
“Mind that barrier, now.”
Two guards leaning against a lamp post flashed the contented grin of decent overtime as they tried to avoid eye contact with the CIA lads who prowled up and down Railway Road.
And in a scene that could have been straight out of Flann O’Brien’s ‘Dalkey Archive’, a red bicycle chained to the lamp post quickly became a security risk. With no one stepping up to claim the bike, the Yanks thought the worst and sent in the dogs.
The sniffer dog sniffed. Unimpressed. An unfeasibly tall secret service man gave the offending bike a wide berth and barked something into his sleeve. Still the hound sniffed.
To cheers from the assembled throng, an elderly local with a towel under his arm, just back from his daily dip in the Ramparts, claimed the bike, oblivious to the fact that his steed had nearly caused an airstrike to be called in on Sorrento Road.
The local dignitaries and bigwigs who’d actually made the cut to lunch lined up in their finest outside the pub to be counted in meticulously by the CIA.
By this stage, the town’s savants were beginning to reveal themselves as experts on all classes of security patterns that pertained to the first lady’s entourage.
“They’ll be here in blacked-out Chevrolets,” we were assured by one.
“Only Chevys, and three exactly the same so you wouldn’t know who was in what one,” he warned.
The crowd knew something was up when Bono arrived with his wife and children.
Only a matter of time now.
The children were beside themselves. My son and his mates hung out the window of our office directly opposite Finnegans, possibly the best seats in the house.
Imagine, you are an 11-year-old boy and in your town are helicopters, secret service agents, the CIA, grown men talking into their own sleeves and hundreds of cops, cop cars, cops on motorbikes and huge Americans in dark shades scanning the skies, the tops of buildings and checking manholes.
It was ‘The Matrix’, ‘Call of Duty’ and James Bond all rolled into one. The phones and cameras were at the ready, everything would be documented, everyone would have their story to tell about the day Michelle came to Dalkey.
The drone of the chopper as it hovered above Castle Street signaled something major was about to happen. Then two cops on BMWs sped up Sorrento Road. The wail of sirens was followed by a phalanx of seven cars, which swerved around the corner.
The agents, strangely dressed in chinos and blazers, leapt out of the cars, guns primed, and faced up to the confused locals who, rather than surging forward, actually stepped back at the sight of these lads.
The door of the blacked-out Chevvie in the middle of the convoy opened.
Out bounded Michelle and headed straight into Finnegans without a head turn or even a wave. In a split second, she was gone.
Meanwhile, 150-odd miles away in Enniskillen, her husband was putting the final touches to a communique, which called for a change in the way corporation tax is paid and the way multinationals treat their worldwide income.
While there was nothing concrete and the statement used the word “should” rather than will, if this leads to a transformation in the way corporate tax is treated, the day Michelle came to Dalkey might have a much more dramatic impact on Ireland’s economic fortunes then might initially be appreciated.
Subscribe to receive my news and articles direct to your inbox
Subscribe.
#Paddywhackery
I remember as a 12 year old standing by the side of the street as the queen was to pass. I had a good spot and excitement was in the air. I was early. Within a half hour adults had arrived and pushed this rather unassuming 12 to the back now a crowd of 5-6 deep and I was reduced to peaking through gaps. There is the car and in a flash gone. I with a glimpse of a face behind the glass. A great disappointment and a waste of my time I concluded. Since then I have avoided the… Read more »
David
I have to say that was a brilliant piece of writing, that blog piece had me giggling away and I could really feel myself there on the street, hearing what everyone was saying. If economics gets too much, you should write a novel. That was brilliant.
That aside a nod or a wave would have been nice.
Hi Miec
Glad you liked it. The economics stuff is getting so bizarre anyway, that it may as well be a novel much of the time!
Best
David
What a load of nonsense, I agree with Clare Daly for once: ‘Ireland prostituted to Obamas’ rages Clare Daly http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/ireland-prostituted-to-obamas-rages-clare-daly-29357554.html No one is trying to deny kids and their sense of wonder on a sunny day but there’s plenty of better role models than this odious family (not including the daughters). If this was Pakistan the smiling kids might be expecting a different kind of visit from the two-faced Obamas. As for the Irish establishment – #Paddywhackery again at its pinnacle. Enda Kenny and his ilk are a subservient embarrassment, he’s not fit to tie a pair of shoelaces properly… Read more »
Ha, I saw them going down the M50 on Saturday Mornng @ 11:15 ‘ish. Perhaps it was the first American Lady, I’m not sure. I welcomed them to Ireland by giving them the one finger wave, an embarrised Garda car waved me on, which was good as I finally got an offical reason to do over 100km on the M50! Main point, they just looked stupid, 10 black cars (4×4’s) with flashing lights, one old clapped out Garda car, just totally scared me into insulting them. What’s the point, if you need all that security and if you’re that scared,… Read more »
Decline and fall: how American society unravelled
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/19/decline-fall-american-society-unravelled
This communique which calls for a change in the way multinationals treat their worldwide income is interesting. This is all part of a carefully contrived setup which has been going on for a while and will end up with corporation tax by multinationals being paid on a worldwide basis. This will enable the globalists to unveil some global tax collecting body sort of like a UN for tax. This is all being done under the banner of how unfair it is that Google and Apple pay bugger all tax and was given loads of airplay recently when Harriot Harmon gave… Read more »
Oh Yawn, a Gossip Column by McWilliams; peeping windows and Obama’s fan club; Mr. Mcwilliams your gossip column is unlikely to get a debate on the tax avoidance hypocrites M – Obama (Yes we scan…The war criminal) and Beano the “man” that speaks fluent bullshit? It is doubtful a meaningful debate on the economy in relation to tax thieves will happen here considering the fan based obsession gossip column a above. That some of the comments use this fan mania column blogy thingy as a communication device to shoot the breeze “Good morning” – “nice day” makes me suspicious that… Read more »
Listen head – happy dole fuck or whatever you call yourself, no one forces you to read any of my stuff, if you can’t see a day out for kids for what is is, I can’t help you. Pathetic.
David
Hi David,
Yeah, also enjoyed reading this one. You could do a great side-line is short stories. Perhaps we need more poets and writers, people seem unimpressed (or perhaps overwhelmed) with mere facts these days.
-L
ps. Berlin yesterday was an astonishing piece of security theatrics, panzers and everything else:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2nRYqSQ2b8
Hale Hitler – Hale Caesar – Hale Obama; when Obama comes to town it looks like a scene from Jesus Movie – the pheasants get wiped while they beg for coins and hand outs, today the wipes have been replaced with tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and water cannon the Romans autocrats appear to be softy’s in comparison.
I feel oppressed, suppressed, and not impressed with the autocrats that came to see a hypocritical flaunt bullshitting in Dalkey. oh feelings.
I was stuck for ten minutes at the Killiney Towers roundabout on my way home waiting for the cavalcade to leave Dalkey.
No biggie – around Dublin, we’re used to the 1% holding up traffic.
My friend John Fahy on Facebook is a Dalkey native and a great photographer. 41 shots of the “arrival”. Only two were of Michelle Obama.
Michelle Obama’s lack of crowd contact was less than impressive.
I *did* see a nice shot of one of the sub-machine guns in one of the cars, nestling in its own special holder fixed into the floor of the vehicle. I’m sure its a breach of some security protocol or other to publish it, but f*ckit, information wants to be free.
“Nothing would get me into bed quicker – but in the exhilaration of it all, a young boy couldn’t get a wink.”
Glad the letter “i” is far away from “a” on the key board!
Ireland has the 5th lowest road traffic mortality. The US is 62nd, over 32,000 people killed on US roads in 2011.
Nearly 1% of all males in prison in the US.
Well, I guess, at least Michelle and her children are well cared for.
‘The local dignitaries and bigwigs who’d actually made the cut to lunch lined up in their finest outside the pub to be counted in meticulously by the CIA.’ – Good for them, if that’s what makes them happy and proud. Is Michelle supposed to be an excellent comedienne? Does she do Karaoke – maybe a rendition ‘It’s raining men!’ – Homer Simpson’s favourite song? She would have been going to discos as a teenager when this was knocking around, imagine her singing into her hairbrush as she is getting all dolled up at home on a Friday Evening. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geC2gHZ6m2g Maybe… Read more »
Just wondering, but does the Family of the POTUS having lunch with a tax non-domicile mean that we can continue the “tax efficient” regime here or does it mean that it is the begining of the end ?
Just a thought….
Lets not forget what these filth are responsible for in other parts of the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwH7-J3b4bI
Happy to have criminals in Dalkey, reminds me of the welcomes Hitler used to get when he drove into invaded cities in his open top Mercedes.
The history books may judge the Obama’s differently then the Dalkey people did this week.
How the USA has fallen, from “I have a Dream” to “I have a Drone”.
Barry O’Nixon in Berlin “Ich bin ein Bail-In’er”.
Der Spiegel: Beware of Big Brother Obama 18 June( EIRNS) Spiegel chief editor Jakob Augstein commented on the Obama visit, in the June 17th Edition: “Those who believed that drone attacks in Pakistan or the camp at Guantanamo were merely regrettable events at the end of the world should stop to reflect. Those who still believed that the torture at Abu Ghraib or that the waterboarding in CIA prisons had nothing to do with them, are now changing their views. Those who thought that we are on the good side and that it is others who are stomping all over… Read more »
Brave TD Clare Daly Criticizes Almost Unprecedented Slobbering Over War Criminal Obama
Independent TD Clare Daly has the guts to condemn the “almost unprecedented slobbering, sycophantic fawning ” by the Irish politicians and press, “behaving like a nation of pimps prostituting ourselves for a pat on the head” over “war criminal Obama”.
Well said! Video to see.
A Thousand Snowdens? June 19, 2013 (EIRNS)–While trying to minimize everything about the NSA surveillance program (“only 22 people” can approve a domestic wiretap) in Tueday’s House Intelligence Committee pep rally, NSA Director Keith Alexander was forced into one notable admission. This came as Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) asked Alexander how many people were in the same position as Edward Snowden, to have access to the kind of information that he did. “Well, there are system administrators throughout NSA and in all our complexes around the world,” Alexander answered. “And there is on the order of a thousand system administrators,… Read more »
DMcW, I think you will like this, as you mentioned the economic stuff is so bizarre : Bernanke Promises to Keep the Financial Heroin Flowing; but Stocks Plunge on the Bad News that Good News Might Be on the Way June 19, 2013 (LPAC)–The Federal Reserve’s FOMC met and announced today that they would continue on course with Chairman Ben Bernanke’s current policy of massive Quantitative Easing (QE) and zero interest rates, to allow a torrent of funds to keep flowing into the speculative bubble, lest it burst. With QE proceeding at $85 billion per month or more — which… Read more »
Bizarre economics being applied to Detroit, while Barry O’Bama offensively charms :
Detroit Battle: Glass-Steagall and National Credit, or Genocidal Austerity
Austerity as deep, as deadly, and as sure to fail as that imposed on Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Cyprus by the European “Troika”, is now being demanded against the City of Detroit, with disastrous potential consequences for bankrupt cities and states around the nation.
The “bizarre ” economy is the result of the huge interventions in all areas of the economy. If it is not the President’s working group on financial markets” rigging the stock market it is the central banks rigging the bond market and the interest rates aided and abetted by the bullion and too big to fail banks.
Here is commentary by Jeff Neilson on the effects on the precious metals and mining industry
http://bullionbullscanada.com/
any foreigner implicated in the US of connection to any terrorist threat can be apprehended and held without rights.
This has now been extended to include all US citizens.
“The Patriot Act, which became effective on the 26th October 2001, already authorised indefinite detention without indictment for foreigners suspected of having links to terrorist organisations”
Any person travelling to the US is now exposed to this fundamental lack of justice as well as US citizens.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-suspension-of-habeas-corpus-in-america/5311701
“They cannot let markets naturally purge themselves, as the markets are too grotesquely out of balance, and of mismatched size.” Silver Headed to $5/oz. (Probably in the next few days!) Silver Stock Report by Jason Hommel, June 20th, 2013 Silver has declined from nearly $50/oz. two years ago to under $20/oz. today. Clearly, the bull market in silver and gold is over, and silver is headed back to five dollars per ounce, and for good reasons. Obviously, Obama’s wise economic policies are finally beginning to cause the economy to bloom, with balanced budgets on the horizon that the government has… Read more »
Midas du Metropole
“What has changed of late is long term interest rates in the US have begun to take off to the upside. The yield of the 10 yr T note rose today to 2.47% at one point”
The bond market shows signs of weakening as the 10 year rate was below 2% not too long ago. The smoke of the inflationary fire can be scented.
Midas du Metropole
“What has changed of late is long term interest rates in the US have begun to take off to the upside. The yield of the 10 yr T note rose today to 2.47% at one point”
The bond market shows signs of weakening as the 10 year rate was below 2% not too long ago. The smoke of the inflationary fire whiffs into the atmosphere and can be scented.
Please excuse the double posting. A glitch in the system
Meet Ranting Andy who tells the truth about the economy as he sees it.
Usual stack of good info you will not get from any other source
http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=n7vdaxbab&v=001cijNGvIyoo6TARZeya9Djzzj26mHzwIYxVqGgD_BE6ngKdFxLL4KG1YdMxkRIwRXi8H_JxnuQFDcB0EW8PqBFFlFrMInC0xACpbRr5vTpfDCG5GWy-bYgIL4GhL-UY02
Spain’s Rajoy: To Stop Killer Austerity, We’d Have to Leave the Euro
And Rajoy is adamant he won’t consider it!
The Voice of London in Washington — JPMorgan Chase
The appearance of a lobbyist for JPMorgan Chase, the direct descendant of the merchant bank founded in 1835 by George Peabody in London, to fight against Glass-Steagall in Delaware, clinched the case. The historical face of British banking in the United States was the source of the latest line being regurgitated by cowering Congressmen in Washington: “Glass-Steagall will never be passed, so don’t waste your time.”
The corruption is universal and endemic if you are wondering why the economics are so strange. all is manipulated and out of whack. It will all end very badly. From a contributor to http://www.lemetroplecafe.com Bill, The cartel’s 3:00 AM plan “A” you so often refer to was in full force last night. While on most evenings the night access trade volume averages anywhere from 40-200 contract per minute that all changed at 2:55 AM, and commencing until 3:04 AM. During those 9 minutes 12,985 short August contracts were dumped, for an average of 1,440 per minute. In just one minute… Read more »
Tony, it’s obvious bonbon has erm… “issues”
And to paraphrase what(no doubt is one of bonbons hero’s) Fidel Castro
said about baby Bush; “It’s for him and his psychiatrist to sort out”
David, when will you add “Ignore poster” functionality to the site?
When will you add “private message” functionality?
Thanks in advance.
Here go the 10 year bond rates again
interest rates up = prices down. Beware the bond market mother of all bubbles is on the deflation ticket.
Midas du Metropole
The big news of the day was that longer term US interest rates continued their trek higher, with the yield of the 10 yr T note rising taking out 2.5% on the upside. It was last at 2.55%, late in the afternoon. The move up in yields is more than just a hiccup:
Michelle Obama is a nasty hateful ugly bitch. Her husband is a shameless want to be dictator who is badly ripping off the us citizenry by traveling around with his family on Air force one two and three. They have an entourage with them that is disgusting and obscene. As for the kids they are nothing more than leeches as are the Royal family, I hate all of them. They make me sick. Estimates are around $100,000,000 after he gets back from his safari in Africa. Some vacation huh? Air craft carriers off the coast of Ireland? Give me a… Read more »
Lock out merchants DMW would not lock anyone out. He might censor you but lock you out? No. Let me tell you why … he is not a conservative reactionary moron with hangups. You can’t lock people out and this is not some cozy private gentleman’s club. If you want that then join a lodge or the knights For every gold bug he attracts there are hundreds spewing up listening to the self-centered ego centric clap trap that is written on these boards every single day We have 24% unemployment and 125,000 mortgages below the water and the government are… Read more »
………”I am not crazy goddamn it ! jus been in a very bad mood for 5 years”
American imperialism & empire building is spreading, guaranteeing peace , defense & democracy to those who need to be brought into the light.
Do you want to hide anything from the U.S President ?…….
Put it in a History book , they will never find it.
Bush & Obama are War Criminals..but hey ! who cares.nooooooobody
facts not fiction.
ye,all have a nice day now…….
Here is a good one for you, Bill Clinton got Father of the Year from a non profit org called The National Fathers Day council last week. You cant make this shit up. He only had one kid, got head from his intern and stuck a cigar up her cooch, was accused of rape, sexual harrasment etc, and this is the libs choice for father of the year? His daughter is 33 and rich. How about giving Father of the Year to the poor guy who sacrificed his own comforts to get the young child the new bike or some… Read more »
http://dailyreckoning.com/out-of-thin-air/
Ron Paul on the danger of monetarism and the use of specie money to thwart that danger
A debt is a debt and sooner or later to be paid.
http://dailyreckoning.com/the-grand-generational-delusion/
What the rising interest ratesand the falling bond market will mean for the economy.
Peter Schiff
http://www.thedailybell.com/29285/Peter-Schiff-Tapering-the-Taper-Talk
15% drop in currency value against the world reserve currency the $US
will cause a spike in the cost of imported goods and the inflationary effect will be 15%.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/china-business/10133488/Emerging-markets-crushed-by-double-squeeze-in-China-and-America.html
santa claus and michelle obama…
you’re watching too much RTE david..
don’t worry, the fascist corporate government of the world will continue to facilitate tax evasion..
they’ll have their robots n a few years anyway, so the jobs will disappear regardless
and they won’t need you either david
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweil
Off topic and not appropriate for this discussion but here goes anyway.
Anyone notice and think George Lee could play hero Edward Snowden in the made for TV movie?
And yes he is a hero for exposing the hypocrites for what they are. There is nothing in it for this young man.
Irish Media in Psychological Lockdown, Afraid to Cover GCHQ Spy Dragnet
Snowden’s revelations, and the Guardian publication that GCHQ is worse than the NSA, have caused Irish press speechlessness. I wonder why?
JP Morgan Spells IT Out: They Choose Fascism
DMcW mentions that economics has become bizarre. Well JPMC writes “Europe is only halfway there”.
Now where would that be, I wonder?
JPMC moans there is still too much democracy in Europe, hindering the full fascist rollout. Now that is from the horses mouth of Wall Street, that supported the 1930’s fascist rollout.
So now it clear to everyone, even the most liberal, that the alternative to Glass-Steagall is outright full blown and promoted fascism. Bizarre maybe but deadly dangerous too. JPMC has not changed its spots!