Tag: Aaron Farrugia

Categories
Environment

Fuck You Dolphins

We’ve been so happy spotting dolphins all over the island. Clips of the cetaceans zipping contentedly over and under waves have been shared again and again and have also made the news – to the point of getting an archbishop’s blessing. Some experts (we still have some somewhere) told us that this was because there was less noise underwater so the dolphins will come and play closer to the shores.

You barely have the time to enjoy the extra adrenaline rush from this newfound moment of natural goodness that a Minister will come along and spoil the show. Minister Farrugia’s little brownie badge acquired for his new plans for petrol stations had just about found place on his inflated chest when he came up with this blooper: Rubble could be dumped in the sea as a short-term solution, Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia has suggested as the roadworks projects in the country remain at a standstill.

The roadworks in Lija – one of the many asphalt laying projects of the Government of the Best – are at an unacceptable standstill and this because the debris created by said project can find no place to call home. Funnily enough it is actually a question of money since the problem seems to be a disagreement on the price per tonne that has to be paid to quarry owners to accept the debris. I say funnily enough because this government has given us a simple modus operandi of throwing millions of euro at preferred customers in the private sector in order to solve its problems.

It seems however that while our elders may be dumped and crammed into a hotel at exorbitant prices in order to fill the huge gap of inadequate hospital and care facilities (1.6 million euros to Downtown Hotel), while direct orders for illegal batching plants may be the run of the day… while all of this is possible, the quarry owner’s demands are not feasible.

Nope. In this case our option is to take the debris and DUMP IT IN THE SEA. Apparently it is ok because the Nationalists (remember them?) have done it before when building Smart City. There HAD to be a precedent didn’t there Aaron? Because now it will be ok if you go on and proceed to dump debris in the sea in accordance with whatever sick law you lot conjectured together in parliament.

This is the government that often toys with the Gozitan community by proposing to build a tunnel between the islands. I’d love to see that. Really. I wonder where they would plan to put all that debris. In the sea right?

Aaron Farrugia and his hobz-biz-zejt eating half-brained colleague Ian Borg can both stick their heads far up where the sun does not shine (while we’re at it that pea brained excuse for a human Clint Camilleri can join them). Their love of asphalt and development (and hunting) is seriously prejudicing whatever is left of our islands.

Their big fuck you to dolphins today is another nail in the coffin of our environment.

Categories
Politics

51 proposals from another planet

The challenge has been launched. The gloves are up and the million dollar question has been put on the table (and is now a guest at the myriad “talk shows” on our TV’s and radios). Joseph “Inħobbkom” Muscat has put an end to his party’s reticent “cards-to-the-chest” policy and finally announced the 51 proposals that are described as “positive and concrete”. It’s all down to a game of numbers – Gonzi asks 10 questions – he gets 51 answers. Beat that Gonz.

Woe betide he who decides to actually read through the 51 “proposals” and tries to make out how this can be the blueprint for an accountable plan for managing Malta’s future. This is a list that lies long and thin.

Lies – because the sum total is proof that it is marketing above substance, a clumsy attempt by “think tank” apparatchiks to sound sophisticated and clue-full.

Long – because in the mistaken belief that the long numbered list will be enough to con even the intelligent observer, it is evident that whoever sat around the table to pow-wow this thing went through great lengths to add as many “proposals” as possible.

Thin – because the depth of thinking required to come up with this kind of pie-in-the sky ideas belongs somewhere down the evolutionary scale between the amoeba and the sponge.

If you find me insulting then you have not read the proposals yet. Why 51? Easy because 50 would be too obvious… they probably think that 51 sounds like a number casually reached. A while back I got think-tank man Aaron Farrugia in a twist because I criticised the tautological vision of Joseph Muscat about university’s role in society (something about how a university should be a centre of learning). I spoofed it with “Sajjieda ghandhom jaqbdu hut frisk u bdiewa ihawwlu frott tajjeb“. Aaron “unfriended” me for my efforts. No big loss. Then came “Proposal 45” – “Importanza mistħoqqa lill-biedja u sajd“.

Declaring your belief in Airmalta (35) is not a proposal. respecting Maltese and Gozitan “investors” (30) is not a proposal. Youth before bureaucracy (26) is a bumper sticker gone wrong but not a proposal. Promising not to give out government contracts that do not respect worker’s rights (16)  is not a proposal – (a) it should be implied in any government, and (b) there are laws and directives that prevent this happening anyway. “Gvern li jkun safe ghal businesses u negozji” (5) is not a proposal, it’s sounds like an advert for companies to store their cash in some government vault. Citizens getting a good and timely service from the courts is not a proposal if you don’t say HOW and WHY you will bring this about (47). Idem Better security in entertainment areas (49).

It doesn’t end does it? These are not proposals for a government in waiting. They’re proposals from another planet. Planet 51.

And if for one minute you thought that the 51 proposals make sense and are a credible plan for electing Labour. Then you deserve a Labour government.

That’s the beauty of democracy – you get the government that YOU deserve.

 

Planet 51 (Trailer) from Roberto HG on Vimeo.