sentimental journey

There was a headline today on the cover of the horrendous bankrupt anti Catholic Sunday Independent newspaper which read:
"O'Brien, The Ultimate White Collar Criminal."
Sharp intake of breath from me when I saw it.
For a moment I wondered was I imagining things.
Could Independent Newspapers be actually telling the truth?
But ah.
Closer inspection revealed that the O'Brien of which they spoke was a Dublin investment adviser called Breifne O'Brien who had cheated a few clients.
They were labelling BREIFNE O'Brien (a man no one in Ireland has ever heard of) as the ultimate white collar criminal, not their own boss DENIS O'Brien, the infamously mega corrupt politician bribing nation cheating proprietor of Independent Newspapers.
Denis O'Brien the proprietor of Independent Newspapers made his billion dollar fortune through slush fund payments to the anally corrupt then Fine Gael government Minister Michael Lowry. In return for Denis O'Brien's vomitously illegal inducements, Lowry gave Denis O'Brien billion dollar mobile phone provision contracts for a few million dollars.
Hilarious no.
Denis O'Brien ripped us all off.
And not just by bribing Mick Lowry to scam the exchequer either.
As proprietor of Independent Newspapers Denis O'Brien has also corruptly benefitted from the, er, largesse of the present Fine Gael Labour government in Ireland.
That is to say when Independent Newspapers refused to pay its bank debts to Allied Irish Banks causing Allied Irish Banks to collapse, Fine Gael using public money, purchased the now worthless Allied Irish Banks for the bargain basement price of ten thousand million dollars, and then promptly cancelled Independent Newspapers debts.
Now that's what I call the ultimate white collar crime.
That and Fine Gael ensuring Denis O'Brien still hasn't faced charges for bribing Lowry, in spite of a Judicial Investigation making it crystal clear the Denis O'Brien should face those charges.
You will note gentle travellers of the internet that the Irish Independent prints a photograph of Fine Gael Prime Minister Enda Kenny every day.
Now you know why.
As for the lesser known and hugely less corrupt Breifne O'Brien.
Repent of your sins.
Make peace with the church.
There is forgiveness, joy and triumph for you.
I assure you.
You are not the worst of them.