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Quoting Shakespeare

If you cannot understand my argument, and declare “It’s Greek to me”, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you act more in sorrow than in anger, if your wish is father to the thought, if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinked or in a pickle, if you have knitted your brows, made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play, slept not one wink, stood on ceremony, danced attendance (on your lord and master), laughed yourself into stitches, had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, if you have seen better days or lived in a fool’s paradise – why, be that as it may, the more fool you, for it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luck would have it) quoting Shakespeare; if you think it is early days and clear out bag and baggage, if you think it is high time and that that is the long and short of it, if you believe that the game is up and that truth will out even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop) without rhyme or reason, then – to give the devil his due – if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare; even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I were dead as a door-nail, if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a stony-hearted villain, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, then – by Jove! O Lord! Tut, tut! for goodness’ sake! what the dickens! but me no buts – it is all one to me, for you are quoting Shakespeare.
(The Story of English, 145) by Bernard Levin.

Wording for the Childern’s Rights Referedum released.

So finally the date has been set, November 10th, a Saturday, and the wording has been announced.

http://www.dcya.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=2334&ad=1

Thirty-First Amendment of the Constitution

PROPOSED NEW ARTICLE 42A

Children

The State recognises and affirms the natural and imprescriptible rights of all children and shall, as far as practicable, by its laws protect and vindicate those rights.

1° In exceptional cases, where the parents, regardless of their marital status, fail in their duty towards their children to such extent that the safety or welfare of any of their children is likely to be prejudicially affected, the State as guardian of the common good shall, by proportionate means as provided by law, endeavour to supply the place of the parents, but always with due regard for the natural and imprescriptible rights of the child.

2° Provision shall be made by law for the adoption of any child where the parents have failed for such a period of time as may be prescribed by law in their duty towards the child and where the best interests of the child so require.

Provision shall be made by law for the voluntary placement for adoption and the adoption of any child.

1° Provision shall be made by law that in the resolution of all proceedings –

i brought by the State, as guardian of the common good, for the purpose of preventing the safety and welfare of any child from being prejudicially affected, or

ii concerning the adoption, guardianship or custody of, or access to, any child,
the best interests of the child shall be the paramount consideration.

2° Provision shall be made by law for securing, as far as practicable, that in all proceedings referred to in subsection 1° of this section in respect of any child who is capable of forming his or her own views, the views of the child shall be ascertained and given due weight having regard to the age and maturity of the child

What does this mean?

It means that we are one step closer to being in line with the United Nations Convention of the rights of the child, which was written in 1989 and which we as a sovereign state signed up to in
1990 and ratified in 1992. The rights referred to in the amendment are those listed by in the
UN Convention of the rights of the child which are pretty extensive and you can read through it here.

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/UN_Convention_on_the_Rights_of_the_Child

This referendum and the tackling of the imbalance of the patronage system of schools are part of what has been needed to be done for the last 20 years but previous governments have failed to do them.

So make sure that you can vote by checking http://checktheregister.ie/ and remember that this referendum is on a Saturday November 10th, so no day of school for the kids and hopefully we will have a good turn out.

Can’t Make the Fundraiser for the March for Choice?

http://choiceireland.org/ Choice Ireland will be having a stall and handing out information leaflets in Dublin City Center this Saturday 8th Sept, if you want to go and take part contact them choiceireland@gmail.com

If you can’t make the fundraiser and want to donate you can always donate to Choice Ireland

Donate!
Choice Ireland are a non-funded voluntary activist organisation. All we have, we raise through donations. Now you can donate on-line!

You will find the PayPal button on their website: http://choiceireland.org

Comedy Fundraiser for The March for Choice 15th September 2012

Awesome Comedy Fundraiser for The March for Choice.
Saturday, 15th September 2012 20:00 The Sugar Club 8 Lower Leeson Street, D2.

A whole host of fantastic Irish comedians will be raising the roof for us in the Sugar Club Saturday 15th September. €10 at the door, with ALL proceeds going to producing flyers, posters and banners for the March for Choice. It’s so important that we can publicise the march, and what better way to fund it then by laughing ourselves stupid over cheap cocktails and beer? The wonderful Abie Philbin Bowman will be MCing on the night, capacity for the gig is 350.

https://www.facebook.com/events/151641771641826/

Inspiring quotes needed.

Start of the new year and with it comes the two homework journals.These days they are very swish compared to what I had secondary school. The school my brats attend have opted for the 4Schools.ie’s student journal.
Which their site http://www.4schools.ie/student-journal states

The 4Schools.ie’s student journal is a learning focused journal which can be tailored to reflect the unique culture and ethos of your school.

Our standard A5 student journal includes:

A choice of hardback or spiral binding
A choice of five attractive full colour cover designs with your school name and crest overprinted in black
Either 8 or 16 pages of your customised content printed in one colour
A choice of two learning modules
A full colour weekly diary featuring facts, quotes and think-links
16 pages of notes for communication between parent/guardian and school.

It really is a kick ass resource, with inserts on the school rules, parental contact sheet, log tables, maps, info about college courses, all the school polices laid out in it so that they are easily accessible by parent and students. The homework journal which a parent has to sign off once a week is a good way of keeping track for parents, teachers and students. Just above the space for a note from a teacher or parent and the sign off it as an inspirational quotation.

journal

I was flicking through them with my daughter, her first thought was cool and then we noticed a pattern.
Can you spot it?

Thomas Edison, Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain, Fredrick Nietzsche, Henry Ford,
Mathatma Gandhi, Winston Churchill, Ralp Waldo Emerson, Aristotle, Plato,
Solon, Ernest Hemingway, F Scott Fitzgerald, William Shakespear, Edwin H Cahplin,
Oliver Goldsmith, Jonathon Swift, Henry B Adams, Jermy Collier, Napoleon Bonapart,
Arthur C Clarke, Alber Einstein, Aristotle Onassis, Brian Tracy, Brack Obama,
Franklin D Roosevelt, Napoleon Hill, Alber Camus, Lawrence Peter, Francis Bacon,
French Proverb.

She spotted it before I did. There are 41 term weeks so that is 41 quotes and 1 of them is attributed to a french proverb but the remaining 40 are all men. They range from Plato to Obama, over 2,300 years and not one woman included.

So yes I will be sending a note to the school and to the provider of the journals but we decided we would write in quotations by women along side the quotations by men, I might also send them to the school and provider.

So we are asking for help in compiling a list of suitable quotations, we have a few already, but we need more.

Quotations:


“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Margaret Mead

“Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others.”
Rosa Parks

“A lot of people are waiting for Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi to come back – but they are gone.
We are it. It is up to us. It is up to you.”
Marian Wright Edelman

“Between saying and doing, many a pair of shoes is worn out.”
Iris Murdoch

So please share with us your favorite inspiring quotes by women.

“Won’t someone think of the children”

It’s staggering how low some moralising special interest groups will stoop.
Ruhama which was founded as a joint initiative of the Good Shepherd Sisters and Our Lady of Charity Sisters have been working to make paying for sex illegal.

Currently it’s not illegal for consenting adults to pay for sex or to charge for sex.
Ruhama want to put a stop to this, and have been beating several drums
in order to make this happen. From saying that all women involved in prostitution are victims( they never mention men who ply that trade) and need to be rescued, to saying that not making paying for sex illegal means women are trafficked and kept as sex slaves.

Ireland already has laws on trafficking people and forced prostitution and now their new campaign is about a fictional 14 year old who gets groomed into prostitution called Anna.

Won’t someone think of the children being used to make paid sex between consenting adults illegal. WTF

Kids like ‘Anna’ don’t need paid sex between consenting adults made illegal,
they need the rights which are currently being denied them by the failure of successive governments to ratify The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Kids like ‘Anna’ need to be reported by teachers and concerned adults.
Kids like ‘Anna’ need social workers to have the time and resources to help them.
Kids like ‘Anna’ need to be taken into care away from their abusive/neglectful
parents and to have those parents/guardians prosecuted.
Kids like ‘Anna’ don’t need to be used by christian moralising groups to try police people by putting pressure on the government.