To Punish The Champion of Justice

Alan Shatter

When it came to investigating the Magdalene Laundries, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter was not so quick to drop leaked information to the press. Why, he was so quiet about the probe into slave labor and Church-State collusion in confining women and forcing adoptions that you'd think he wasn't looking into the laundries at all.

Recently, however, Mr. Shatter did manage to let slip a piece of gossip he'd picked up from An Garda Siochana. A juicy tidbit about his nemesis in the Dail, Mick Wallace. A case that would surely turn the voters against their elected representative.

Mick Wallace

Maybe it's the locks that have the two at odds. Mr. Shatter is dark of hair and clean cut, while Mr. Wallace has gone grey and doesn't look to have seen a barber in some time. It can't be Mr. Wallace's predilection for pink polo shirts, can it?

It was Mr. Shatter attempting to act the champion for the Irish people when he proclaimed that Mick Wallace was the recipient of favors from a garda who let him go without penalizing the Wexford TD for mobile phone usage while driving.

Why does he get away with a crime, Mr. Shatter wanted to know, while the rest of the downtrodden Irish taxpayers get assessed penalty points against their otherwise pristine records?

Why indeed? Has Mr. Wallace not been vocal about gardai not using discretion but cracking down hard on banned mobile phone use?

Suddenly the question turned and Mr. Wallace wanted to know how Mr. Shatter came to know of the incident in which he was stopped for illegal phoning and then let go at the discretion of the garda. That sort of confidential information is not regularly shared with politicians. He had to have gone digging for it.

The party in opposition is now calling for Mr. Shatter's resignation, and Mr. Wallace plans to lodge a complaint with the Standards in Public Office Commission. Mr. Shatter's own colleagues are supporting him, to an extent. Not all, it turns out, are on board the hypocrisy train.

There are some who see Mr. Shatter's actions as that of a horse's arse, rather than a champion of justice. They see petulance and pettiness and an attempt to make something out of nothing, putting Fine Gael at risk of becoming the party of whingers.

Using confidential information to damage a political rival is something that requires finesse and skill, an action perfected by Chicago's Irish-American political machine. Mr. Shatter is, unfortunately, a rookie in a professional's game and he's learning that a champion of justice can stumble over his laurels when he overplays his hand.

The Spire Rises From The Ashes

The building site is a hole in the ground and the property was taken back by the bank owed the money used to buy the parcel. The starchitect has sued for payment for his work in creating the plans for a spiraling tower.

Garrett Kelleher believes in himself. He believes he can resurrect The Spire from the ashes like a phoenix, breathe life into a default and put Chicago back on the map of ground-breaking architectural design.

How, you might ask, could a developer who went broke in the real estate crash find the financing to try this whole thing again?

There are rumours floating around banking circles that Mr. Kelleher would like to buy up his debt from the Irish governmental agency that acquired it after the banks went under, crushed by mortgage debt that had no chance of being repaid.

The National Asset Management Agency is looking for buyers of all the debt it currently owns, and has taken bids for the Chicago site. If, by some miracle, he has financing to back him, Mr. Kelleher has every right to place a bid and possibly regain what he lost, at a discount.

Whoever buys up the mortgage may or may not seek to construct the spiraling tower for which the above pictured hole was created. Originally envisioned as the tallest building on the planet (more or less), the developer who takes over the project might choose to scale down the building to something more affordable. The real estate market is still weak, and there is a glut of condominiums and office space available and unoccupied.

In any case, the city of Chicago will want to take another look at the revised plans. There is a new mayor in town these days, one more interested in bringing the arts and culture to the City of the Big Shoulders. Something unique, like a giant drill bit embedded in the bedrock, might have an easier journey through the planning process than an ordinary slab of glass and concrete.

Could it be possible that Mayor Rahm Emanuel is pushing for Garrett Kelleher's bid to be accepted? Maybe he's sending word to NAMA over in Dublin, that a new developer might not find the planning process quite as, shall we say, amenable to a different design. Campaign contributions, however, are always welcome and may sway the Mayor's heart.

Defining The Rift

You can see the division in the Gildea family, right there in the courtroom where they are fighting over ownership of a small farm.

Land is valuable. As they say, there's no more being made so it's a limited supply, and if you have a piece of ground to call your own you will always have someplace to live, even if you dwell in a tent. You'll always have a place to sow your spuds and you won't go hungry like they did in Black '47.

For the Irish, owning a corner of the earth has great psychological value. Keep in mind that there was a time when they weren't allowed to be landowners, under the decrees of the British who tried to drive the Irish out of their own country. It's ingrained, after all those centuries.

There's a larger rift in the family than is obvious in that Donegal courtroom, however. You can just barely see it, right there between the matriarch of the Gildea clan and her brother, the late owner of said farm.

Mrs. Gildea and her sons have taken up common cause against her daughter Nora. It was Nora who was left the farm by her uncle after he died in 2007. He passed over his own sister, ignored his nephews, and painted a bright line around the boundaries of family loyalty. Not as evident as Mrs. Gildea and sons on one side of the courtroom in Letterkenny, with daughter Nora on the other, but it's clear than William John Kennedy stood with his niece on her side of the rift.

Land is valuable, and Nora Kelly got something of value that sparked jealousy among those who were left out. Mother and brothers are contesting the will, seeking a piece of the property or the entire farm outright.

Mrs. Gildea doesn't have a legal leg to stand on. She claims that her brother had no right to the land in the first place, that the will that left it to him in the 1930's isn't valid.

A bit late to be contesting that version, isn't it?

Her sons claim that they have been using parts of the farm so it's theirs, but that tack comes from Italy where squatter's rights trump ownership. Mrs. Gildea thinks she should be entitled to the farm because she worked on it in her younger days, as if sweat equity has equal value to the euro.

She might have been better off asking her brother for wages, back when she was supposedly working the land while raising nine children. He didn't think much of her years of toil, if indeed she did any work on the farm, or he might have left her a little something by way of thanks. But as he didn't leave her the farm, he must not have been impressed with her skills in animal husbandry or horticulture.

The family rift is clear. It is up to a judge to decide which side is right and which side will be left out. In the end, however, the chasm that developed between a daughter and her extended family will be too large to cross. Then the neighbors will choose up sides and gossip behind Mrs. Gildea's back.

Mrs. Gildea will stew in her bitterness for the rest of her days, short though they may be. All for a small farm, twelve hectares tucked away in Donegal.

Public And Private And Empty

The convention business has been disappearing from Chicago, with competition from warm places like Orlando or Las Vegas siphoning off the dollars of free-spending business people. Naturally, the city would like that business back, along with the tax revenues that come with it.

The City Council could cut taxes on hotels, restaurants, taxi service, gasoline, etc. etc. so that those attending conventions would not feel like they are being robbed, and hope to attract the business folk again.

Not so easy to curtail union activity at the convention centers, unfortunately, where strict rules about who can do what drive up costs to set up displays for trade groups. Those same trade groups complain loudly, right before they make arrangement to open a show in Florida, but who wants to take on the unions?

Instead, the city would have you believe that they could win back the convention business if only the McCormick Place venue had a 12,000-seat stadium. There are religious groups who need large spaces like that and they'd flock to Chicago if only....

Stadium construction is an expensive proposition, so how about a public-private partnership to share the costs?

DePaul University has been making some noise about playing their basketball games in Chicago, closer to the actual university where the actual students might then be able to actually attend. The student body is largely absent from Allstate Arena, and the cavernous space echoes with the sounds of silence rather than rambunctious cheers. Not particularly appealing to a recruit looking to make his name and get noticed by the NBA scouts.

Something within walking distance of campus would be perfect, but land around campus is outrageously expensive, to say nothing of the cost of construction. A public-private partnership would be ideal for the university's plans.

In a miracle of synergy, the City of Chicago and DePaul University may be in line to join this wondrous partnership, with Chicago getting some help in paying for a new stadium and DePaul getting a new home court within the city limits.

A move to McCormick Place would ensure that even fewer current season ticket holders would continue to purchase tickets, with the new venue even more inconveniently located than Allstate Arena. The students would have to be dedicated power walkers to reach McCormick Place on foot, given the six mile distance. Most fans of DePaul basketball are scratching their heads, trying to figure out why the athletic department would think this would be of benefit to the program.

Chicago taxpayers are scratching their heads, wondering where the city is going to come up with millions of dollars to pay for the public portion of the partnership when the city is broke and can't keep its schools open or put enough policemen on the streets.

Not that the politicians pay them any mind. This is Chicago, after all, and it's how things are done.

Hire An Author To Boost Tourism

The people of Florence (Fiorenze if you prefer) have seen tourism decline, following the downward trajectory of the global economy. Dependent on those visitors and their foreign cash influx, the local government would embrace anything that would reverse the trend and boost income.

The answer to the problem is rather simple.

Hire an author to write a book set in your city.

You could pick up a copy of THE KING OF THE IRISH and make your own walking tour of Chicago, but not everything mentioned in the novel, set in 1889, is still standing.

The courthouse where Dan Coughlin was tried for a murder he did not commit remains in place, but it is the location of his second trial. The original structure where he watched his American dream become a nightmare was razed years ago. The streets he walked are still there, as is the prison building in Joliet where he fought to survive and win a chance to prove his innocence.

The river is still where he explored it during a search for the body of Dr. Patrick Cronin, although not flowing in the same direction. As for the backdrop, the addition of skyscrapers over the years has completely altered the scenery.

Not so in Florence, a town that has remained unchanged, looking largely the same as it did when Dante Alighieri walked its cobbled streets and wrote his Inferno saga.

And so the latest literary walking tour enters the tourism trade, with Florentines hoping that the readers will come, clutching their copies of Dan Brown's latest conspiracy treatment.

Like his other two novels, the upcoming adventure of the fictional Robert Langdon will provide enough description to create a virtual map of the protagonist's movements as he tries to solve the latest mystery.

Home Insurance Building

Tourists doing the tour will pay for hotel, meals, souvenirs, and entrance fees for the very architectural treasures described in the pages of Dan Brown's novel. The people of Florence would very much like such a scenario to play out in their city. They need the money.

They could see what happened with tourism numbers at the Vatican after Angels and Demons generated buzz among readers. Everyone marvelled at the vast population of literary tourists who descended on Paris after The DaVinci Code became a blockbuster hit.

Is your local tourism board wondering how to boost visitors to the town? Why not suggest they hire Dan Brown to write a book about your place?

You'd have to be living in an interesting place, however. Some city that retained its ancient charm, unlike Chicago which gave the world its first skyscraper and then tore it down to put up something new.

In Memory Of The Dublin Lockout

One hundred years ago, the laborers of Dublin organized, after a fashion, and went on strike to protest working conditions. The tram drivers stopped driving their vehicles right where they were at the time called, and walked away, leaving Dublin commuters to walk...or find a ride with a friend who had an automobile. So the rich were not inconvenienced while the poor had a difficult time getting to work.

1913 was a time of socialism trumpeted as the cure for all of capitalism's evils, long ago before anyone actually tried out the theory. We all know how Russia ended up at the end of the great socialist experiment.

Here we are, one hundred years later, and now the bus drivers are feeling put upon by the government that controls their wages. It's the same government that's gone broke paying for social welfare programs when the income has declined but demand hasn't.

Bus Eirann is losing money and something must be done to cut the expenses, but the drivers don't want it to be them, or their wages and benefits.

It feels like the mirror image of one hundred years earlier, where the overworked and underpaid have been replaced by the pampered and petted. The pendulum has swung over to the other side after a century's journey. This time around, the boss is oppressed because there isn't enough coming in to feed everyone. Meanwhile, the workers cry poor and claim the government is lazy and shiftless.

Back in 1913, the bosses turned the tables on their striking workers and locked them all out, closed the doors on the poorest of the poor who earned a pittance, but a desperately needed pittance. The end result was that the strike was broken as the children of Dublin went hungry and fathers abandoned the action.

Will the government follow suit and lock out their employees?

Would it be as effective? The unemployed could just collect benefits from the government they are striking against, and no children will be left crying from hunger. Not exactly the threat it was in 1913, is it?

One hundred years after the Dublin Lockout, times are not quite what they were. And neither is the life of the bus driver.

What remains is the fact that the government has no money, and cannot take from one group to fund a unit that cannot turn a profit, let alone break even.

Then too, the unions are already organized and there's no replacement for Jim Larkin to stir the masses. And the well-to-do who once came out to feed the starving children of the striking workers aren't keen on paying more taxes when their own pockets are being pinched by a depressed economy.

Too Many Pieces Of Not Enough Pie

Romance is supposed to be the biggest selling category of fiction, but quantity isn't a guarantee of the biggest publishing profits.

Harlequin, a name synonymous with all types of romantic fiction, has reported a drop in 1st quarter revenues. They have been reporting declines for some time now, in part due to the economic squeeze that leaves its readers with less money to spend on books, and in part due to unfavorable exchange rates of dollars Canadian vs. dollars American.

This most recent filing, however, puts part of the blame on their authors, and the amount of royalties those writers are receiving.

Like all other publishers, Harlequin faces competition from the many places their print authors can go to publish electronically. For an author holding digital rights, she (rarely, he) can take a Word document to Amazon's Kindle publishing site and do it themselves. With equal ease, they can use Smashwords to crank out the digital version of their steamy novel and reach those with Sony, Apple or Nook devices.

Then the author sets the price, with an eye on the percentage of sales that comes back to them as royalties. The seller gets a cut, and there is no other publisher acting as middleman to claim their share of the publishing pie.

As Harlequin is discovering, there is not enough of that pie to slice up into enough pieces to cover everyone at the party.

To keep an author from going solo, Harlequin has been forced to increase the royalties they pay. They are still faced with the limits of public tolerance for high prices, and cannot significatnly raise the price of their e-books to compensate. That means they have to take a smaller piece, but that smaller piece has to be shared with all the employees at corporate headquarters, who aren't eager to see a cut in their wages.

And you know that whoever is the latest version of Fabio isn't going to accept a reduced fee for his cover art.

How to return to increased profitablity?

Cut the number of pieces of pie that have to be shared with employees who will have to do more work for the same sized serving. You can call it restructuring or realizing synergies, but it comes down to a shrinkage of the workforce.

Things were so much easier before, weren't they? The authors made the pie, and then got only the crumbs. Now they have other places to go if they want a more fair share from their own hard slogging. Competition doesn't grow the pie, but it sure alters its distribution.