'THE PRESS' Newspaper , October 1797 - March 1798 .
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... the other 'main man' in the leadership of the United Irishmen organisation who was wary of (if not actually opposed to) ' The Press' newspaper was Dr. William James MacNeven .......
MacNeven was a Galway man , born in March 1763 at Ballymahowma , near Aughrim . At the time of his birth , the 'Penal Laws' were in operation in Ireland - that British instrument practically 'outlawed' the Catholic Religion .
Augustinians , Dominicans and Roman Catholic Bishops and Archbishops etc were " banned on pain of transportation or death ... " and it was further 'deemed' that Catholic children need not be educated . When he was 12 years young (in 1775) William James MacNeven's parents sent him to Prague to live with his uncle and get some schooling ; at 20 years young (in 1783) , he graduated in medicine from a college in Vienna and returned to Dublin to establish a practice .
He was interested in working against injustice and soon joined the 'Catholic Committee' , which fought against the existing legal discrimination which victimised Catholics because of their religion . However , a campaign to obtain the 'right' for ('upper-class') Catholics to sit in Parliament and/or occupy other 'high' Offices was not the number-one priority when your belly was empty and you and your family were starving .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(5 of 20).
Ronald Reagan had the same 'Speech' for different occasions ; it had two main points -
- One : there is too much government in our lives ,therefore we have inflation , high taxes , a bloated bureaucracy and any other domestic evil he can think of at the time ;
Two : the Russians are coming , therefore let's spend on defence , and lets re-assert ourselves in foreign affairs .
The key phrases - many times even the gestures and cadences - are repeated over and over again , even in informal , spontaneous situations . Another favourite Reagan tactic is throwing out grossly exaggerated 'examples' to make his point : discussing government waste , for instance , he will announce that the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has 144 regulations on climbing ladders . In fact , it has two !
The problem here is what his staff members explain as Reagan's over-reliance on magazine and newspaper articles that support his and Nancy's ideas , or as one aide complains - " He's stubborn . He says 'I know I read this somewhere' , and if he thinks it's accurate and you can't find out otherwise , he'll use it ....... "
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(1 of 14).
15 January : Former RUC Reservist Harry Keys (23) from Ballycassidy , Co. Fermanagh , was killed outside his girlfriend's home in Ballintra , Co. Donegal . He had been warned of the danger of crossing the Border to visit his nineteen-year-old girlfriend by his former colleagues .
18 January : Ian Catney (27) a Catholic from Smithfield in West Belfast was shot dead in the Smithfield Market by the UVF , who alleged that he was a member of the INLA , a claim disputed by the IRSP.
25 January : David Dornan (26) a Protestant from Ballynahinch , Co. Down , was shot dead in Lisburn by loyalists apparently in a case of mistaken identity . His killers , according to the RUC , thought he was a Catholic . A 'Free Presbyterian' , he was shot at 8.30 am by two men as he sat in his mechanical digger at a site on Knockmore Road just outside Lisburn .
(MORE LATER).