The Times Blog

We may be working on slow mode thanks to the big move out of Lux City but that does not mean we have no time to note the big changes* in the Maltese Net World. The Times has chosen to wait for 11 days after the 1st of April to launch its spanking new online look. Thank the man in the sky for that otherwise we’d have suspected this was somebody trying to pull off another of those sophisticated pranks.

So here’s the new Times website lads… nothing more than a standard blog set up for 2011. Is that all they can do? Really? With all the resources at hand? I wonder who’s getting paid for this odd job… some lazy mutt with not much to think of beyond filching off standard templates that can be found on the net at the modicum price (prezz modiku) of 75$ (and that’s when you REALLY want to spend).

One of the greatest drawbacks of the new format will be that the ugly mutts of Bocca & Co will permanently feature at the bottom of the page like some eerie footnote.

Welcome to the Times 2011. It’s like J’accuse 2009… but darker….

*cheers to SL for the tip off.

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J'accuse : Living Expenses

It’s not just George Soros who thinks that the ECB might have chosen an inappropriate time for hiking its interest rates. For a very egoistic reason, I was pretty miffed too. A hike in interest rates and a parallel sucker punch delivered to the cost of living in Luxembourg struck right at the moment when I had just moved house and ‘inaugurated’ a new mortgage. That’s some bad Karma all right. The ugly monster of inflation threatens to wreak further havoc on our lives in the short term but hey… it’s the economy, stupid.

While my ‘problems’ might be limited to a shift in figures behind a decimal point, there are others whose problems are related to the “Cost of Staying Alive” (COSA). “The what?” I hear you ask. The COSA is a raw and dangerous version of the cost of living where the line between scraping a living and sinking to the bottom of an ocean is measured in the units of faith, hope and desperation. While we rely on the number crunchers in Frankfurt to make things right, those who measure their daily travails on the COSA index will depend on a multitude of decision makers and opinion shapers that range from the highest politician to the lowest common voter.

Blame

One of the side effects of the Jasmine Revolution in North Africa has been a worrying reopening of the borders that had been so effectively ‘sealed’ in the past by the partners in crime of our political establishment. With the likes of Gaddafi concentrating on more pressing issues than the policing of their countries’ borders (the Cost of Blackmailing Index), it was inevitable that the Mediterranean would refill with the Boats of Hope that ferry the COSA people over to the lands of the free. In the end, the Mare Nostrum is less and less a sea of convergence and more and more a Stygian theatre where many souls are drawing their final check before leaving this world.

In Greek mythology, Styx was the underground river that had to be crossed to reach the underworld in the afterlife. ‘Styx’ meant hate and detestation and the Mediterranean theatre has increasingly featured scenes of backstabbing detestation and an unbrotherly inability to cooperate successfully in the face of troubles. This week we watched the drama unfold of a Malta – Italy blame game during which time the souls of many men, women and children were lost. A little further up north, Sarkozy’s France (the one that acted swiftly to save lives in Benghazi) was protesting vividly with Italy for its practice of issuing Schengen permits to the Tunisians who had fled their country’s ills.

By the time Sarkozy and Berlusconi had patched up their differences, it was on condition that EU aid to Tunisia would be conditional on the patrolling of its borders. Same old, same old. Then on Thursday we also had a historic first when the island of Lampedusa pulled off the best Malta Bus Driver impression and yelled “Full Up” on sighting a new boatload of immigrants. The brave men on patrol boat P61 had to chug back to Malta having been shown that even the centuries-old laws of the sea are now being flaunted in the name of egoistic bigotry.


There’s no place like home

The blame game is played out at the expense of values. There remains no real reference point. The basic unit of the Cost of Staying Alive Index is life itself but this value too can be diluted if one’s life starts outweighing another. Gozo Bishop Mario Grech has rightly sounded the warning signal on that count − going so far as having to warn that: “Had some birds been killed, much would, rightly, have been said, while, in this case so many people had died, and many people stayed silent”. It was a biblical moment − testified in the New Testament. I looked it up… Matthew 6:26: “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

Well even Jesus said so. Lately, both the big J and our heavenly Father are being unnecessarily inconvenienced on other matters. All the matters display our society’s continuous struggle to update its identity and feel comfortable with itself. Our politicians are engaged in another blame game on the divorce front − now it’s about lost votes. I’m still waiting for Joseph Muscat to shed some tears about the fact that the expat community still has to be shuttled to Malta instead of exercising its vote in an embassy or by post − what do the 2,800 have that we don’t?

While the politicians blame each other for the business of the dating of a writ and play up dubious constitutional disquisitions, the lost souls in this case are the ever increasing numbers of those who feel unrepresented by this farce. Then there was the AG’s appeal in the Realtà proceedings − I’ve stated elsewhere that the appeal itself will give us a necessary clarification on the state of the law on obscenity and pornography. Why the AG had to inconvenience any deities on this issue is rather baffling though.

Slovenly

Our national identity is in a period of great flux. How ingrained are the Catholic values of neighbourly love in our lives? When we look in the mirror do we really understand the image that we see? Which snapshot of our community is really us? Is it the police who defy the rules of logic and prohibit the sale of alcohol in a concert on some disproportionate pretext? Is it the hunters who plan to defy the Spring Hunting rules? Is it the spewers of hate on online billboards?

Is it the churchgoer who cannot digest the fact that the last words of a Nigerian soul on a sinking Boat of Hope were “Please Jesus Save Me”? Is it a politician who abuses the word “conscience” one time too many? Is it the political party that devotes more time to deception than to creative proposition?

What image represents the Maltese psyche? Can we sit down and write an essay portraying what goes on in an average Maltese man’s mind? Will we be comfortable with it? And in the end… will we end up in court defending the essay from the accusation of its being obscene and pornographic?

I’d ask God to help us but I’d like to think that Sunday is still his day of rest.

www.akkuza.com – expensive thoughts for a Sunday afternoon.

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Postal Voting

Here’s how modern democracies work. We got this notice in the work mail. It was addressed to all persons of Spanish nationality. You can open the link and even with a rudimentary level of Spanish you will soon understand what is going on. Yes. That’s right. They’ve got elections coming up so they are being asked to register so as to be able to vote by post. Simples no?

Click here to read the document.

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Walk to feed Guatemala

A Zolabyte with a difference. A friend of mine has asked me to plug this event that is raising money to build a project to provide food in an area of Guatemala. It’s a long, long walk for a good cause. There’s all the contact details you need at the end of this post. Picture shows the route for the walk.

As though last year’s 24hour walk wasn’t ENOUGH, TOUGH AND GRUELLING, this year we will be organising and attempting an even longer walk on the

9th April 2011
27 hours non-stop!!!

So keep it free…

This year we will be walking to raise funds for a MEGA good cause. The funds will be used to build a project to provide food in an area of Guatemala, This will not only help to feed families in the area of Lake Izabal in Guatemala but will help to create jobs. This project will leave long term benefits, since it is sustainable and will help the community, help itself.

The two of us seasoned walkers, will be volunteering to walk 27 hours NONSTOP around Malta, covering an approximate distance of 130km!!! Longer than running 3 consecutive full marathons!!! A further 3hours on top of last years tremendous effort, which left us feeling knackered with a few nagging injuries which lasted a few months but feeling extremely exalted.. We have been training even harder than last year to ensure that we are physically and mentally fit for this challenge.

The walk will start at 9am near ITS in St. Julians and will end…
27 hours later back at ITS

You are all invited to WALK AS LONG as you like 10min, 30min, 1hr, 3hr 8hr, 27hrs :))) or as much as you like. Get your friends to sponsor you for this mega good cause or register for €5. Click here to download the registration form.

Call us, Email us, or Facebook us for sponsor sheets and more info!!! If Walking is just not your piece of cake, you can just simply donate money by sending an sms on:

50618071 for a € 4.66 donation
50619203 for a € 11.65 donation

For more information contact us on:
email: 27hourwalk@gmail.com
facebook: 27 hour walk
mobile: 7994 2727

Please help us by inviting your friends to our facebook group, emailing this and passing the word around.

Looking forward to seeing you there, lets walk together for a good cause!

Lara Gerada & Brandon Pace

Donations may also be made at the following account:

HSBC ACCOUNT NO: 071017552051 /

IBAN NO: MT89 MMEB 4471 6000 0000 7101 7552 051

*****
Zolabytes is a rubrique on J’accuse – the name is a nod to the original J’accuser (Emile Zola) and a building block of the digital age (byte). Zolabytes is intended to be a collection of guest contributions in the spirit of discussion that has been promoted by J’accuse on the online Maltese political scene for 5 years.
Opinions expressed in zolabyte contributions are those of the author in question. Opinions appearing on zolabytes do not necessarily reflect the editorial line of J’accuse the blog.
***

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Sciophha ta' Lochi

Tislimiet mid-dinia phein id donna bendata ghadha timrah b’goduria sadomasochistica u phein ma inbidel scein mir regola stacanovista illi tinnarra “hadd ma ierdghu ichtar minn dach li ierdghu l’ichtar u dach li ierdghu l’ichtar hua deiiem ien (subjective).”

Iddecideit minn ieddi u di mia sola sponta li napprofitta mid-disattentioni ta’ sid is sit u infaccharchom illi iena Gachbu Sfi*o ghadni hai u naghti bis-siech (chiph ighidu seuua geuua l’albioni). Bhalissa ghaddeiin minn periodu ta’ trasloch illi iophri bosta spunti ta’ episodi sfi*ati u maniphestattioniiet ta’ dagha fahsci iccausati mill-hidma ghalenia tas-servi ta’ dich ilcahba bendata.

B’mod specificu u dettaliat chiedin naghmlu l’ghalmu taghna li t-traslocar u demanaggar isir minghair ebda dannu isda chif taphu an hua diphicli iecch mhux posittivament impossibli. Esempiu lampanti hua dach illi ched iiseiiah “Il Cas tal-Flushing Imneiiech”. Dan ilghaliesc minhabba illi darba ilu is-sottoscritt chien nesa scemgha miscghulha ghal scopiiet ta’ purificattioni ambientali fuc il-parti tal-lochi detto “il-flushing” illi hua maghmul tirchiosament minn plastic.

M’hemmsc sci nghidu. Isc-scema chienet spiccat billi hallet portion chbir tal-“flushing” in cuistioni b’tali mod illi ilna nissaportu flushing b’toqba f’nophsu dan l’ahhar scur. Issa però illi geina sabiesc nittraslocau irridu nassigurau ruhna illi l-perphida proprietaria minn letz’e’burgu tcun cuntenta mita tigi biec taghmel supervisioni illi halleina il-post tali u quali chif sibnieh seba snin u mitt elph euro kera ilu.

Ghaddeina diga minn raptus ta’ panicu schin indunaina illi d-doityourself regionali huwa iddominat quasi esclussivament minn persuni ta’ lingua tedesca di chermania u bhala tali kellna nidrau termini bhal Spulkastendeckel (ipha hemm ucholl umlaut imma ma sibthiesc fuc it-tastiera). Telephonati lill-varii Hornbach u Batiself u Profi irrisultau biss f’ conphutattioni ta’ ideat u generalment spiccau catghu il-linia ph’uicci b’sinial ta’ disgust ta’ chemm ma iniesc colt u tedeschisissat.

Issa seiier nipprova nuza l’approcc personali. Ipprintiait d-disinn tal-flushing in chuistioni chif ucholl uara haphna ricerca ghandi sahansitra il-modell number. Itolbu ghaliia lill chaddisin chollha tedeschi li taphu… inclus (pero mhux limitat) ghal Santissima Grunewalda, Santissima Ludgarda u Santissimo Schophtlochi.

sahiiet

taghchom fl’isfi*a

Gachbu Sfigho

J’accuse Note: Pardon this intrusion by Jacob Sfike. It seems that he is back from a very long period of lethargic inactivity and has decided to invade our site. He normally blogs at ilbollettinodellasfiga.wordpress.com but has been know to invade J’accuse every now and again.

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Who will love my expats?

An article penned by Nestor Laiviera in MaltaToday (Cheap flight for divorce referendum still up in the air) attempts to stir the waters with regard to the issue of whether or not Airmalta will be asked once again to foot the bill for expats coming home to vote. It’s sad really that we have to go over this business every time there is a vote or two to be taken.

You’d think that by the 21st century we’d have voting in embassies as a given – at least on a Yes/No issue such as a referendum. We don’t though and we have to hear a number of absurdities based on a twisted way of perceiving reality. Here go some of “luoghi comuni“:

1. Airmalta should never foot the bill – if expats want to vote they can damn well pay for the trip in full.

Right and wrong. Yes, Airmalta should not bear the brunt for PLPN obtuseness but that does not mean that voting should cost an arm and a leg. Actually voting should not cost the citizen anything.  So unless the PLPN movement gets its head out of its arse and agrees on legislation for ballots abroad, then all expats (myself included) will go on “abusing” of the cheap flight – even if only to make the point.

2. All expats vote PN.

Another good one that. Rewind back to Alfred Sant’s fury placing on the parliament table a list of all passengers who had used the Airmalta flights for elections. They’re all nationalist votes he thundered! Many, like Luciano Busuttil, seem to believe that all jobs at the institutions are obtained thanks to some favour with the blue eyed boys (and are sadly probably hoping for Labour to be in government to dish out such jobs accordingly). Well – they aren’t. Most jobs aren’t anyway. Unless of course we are speaking of Maltese representations in Brussels in which case it is no biggie that they are full of people who would not cause undue obstacle to the party in government. And anyway… since when does political affiliation qualify one person over another for the right to vote? What if all expats are part of the loony right? Does that give the PLPN the right to suddenly cut them off from exercising their vote?

3. It pays PN/PL more.
Not this time it doesn’t. Given as how none of the parties have a position of divorce (have I told you that before) it’s irrelevant to any of them how many of us vote in the end. Of course I’d like to hear Joseph Muscat shed a crocodile tear or two for us the expats – it’s not about divorce is it? It’s about exercising one’s opinion. I want my frijvowt too! I mean what do the 2,800 youths have that we have not got? Scratch that. I EXPECT a little video from Joseph telling me how he is doing his utmost to guarantee that my vote will be cast because it is my right. Let’s hope he does not screw up the next motion in parliament either… a ballot in Luxembourg City Hall would do nicely thank you very much. As would one in London, Brussels and probably Paris and Frankfurt. Go ahead Joseph… fight for my rights to say Yay!

 

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