Oh the irony! It can't have been lost on her, can it? She must be aware of the moral ammunition she has handed to, among others, Irish Republicans who, unfortunately, know a thing or two about 'having their country broke up' and having their country divided by outside political (and military) forces. Where were her political advisers? Her scriptwriters? Where were her political minders? Was there ner a proofreader to hand to gently advise her that such comments would be thrown back at her a thousand times over by those of us in Ireland who know our history?
Or, more likely, having parlayed with the useless, self-serving political idiotic yes-men (and women) in Leinster House, did she and her advisers etc realise that the only issue that the latter group would take offence with is if their money and privileges were threatened? That would explain her hypocritical outburst, and would also explain the silence from Leinster House regarding same ; by their inaction in relation to her 'rule Britannia' rant, they were acknowledging that, through their own political subservience to those that established their political institutions in the first place, they had made themselves powerless to highlight the irony that a British politician was displaying in relation to this country and that was, once again, slapping them across the face. But being so sycophantic doesn't affect their money or their privilege so they carry-on, prepared to 'suffer' all types of hypocrisy in the name of 'democracy'!
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, October 1954.
CHURCH OBJECTS TO U.S. COMICS.
For every student who is corrupted by 'The Decameron', thousands of young people are corrupted by American 'comics', says a commentator in the Church of England newspaper. "It is surely time, declares the writer, "that something was done to revise the legislation which deals with obscence publications".
"All right-minded people are agreed that the so-called 'comics' which come into this country from America are obscene, if the word has any meaning. We are glad to see that the Major of Blyth has drawn attention to the harm that such papers are doing to the young people who read them. It seems incredible that he should get no support from the Home Secretary or from the Director of Public Prosecutions, who ruled that there is insufficient ground for prosecution under present law."
That report was from 'The Irish Times', 20/8/1954. Oh! But DO let us be 'broad-minded' : We in Ireland mustn't 'interfere' with the free-flow of this 'culture' into the country.
(END of 'Church Objects to U.S. Comics' - NEXT, from the same source : 'Murder-For-Fun Gang See The Evidence'.)
YET ANOTHER DIZZY HEIGHT...
'The Blog Awards Ireland 2018 - Finalist Announcement : The Blog Awards Ireland are delighted to announce the Finalists for the 2018 awards! These awards celebrate the outstanding achievements of the blogger community throughout the country over the past 12 months. This round the blogs were judged on their writing skills, the quality of their content, their interactions with the public and the overall feeling the judges got after reading the blogs. Were they enjoyable? Were they inspiring? Did they use their voice intelligently..?' (From here.)
And, despite what you, the reader, might think, the Blog Award Judges answered "YES! YES! YES!" to the above questions, and sent the following notification to us -
"Hi Sharon,
Congratulations!
We're over the moon to let you know that 1169 And Counting is a Finalist for the 2018 Blog Awards Ireland in the following category(ies) : Personal Blog > Current Affairs / Political.."
Yep, we've only gone and done it now - somehow, we've set the bar so high that we can be guaranteed not to hit our heads off it as we stumble aimlessly and unnoticed underneath it! Who in the name of James Street did we think we were kiddin' - look at the heavyweights that we're mixing it up with : An Sionnach Fionn, Ciaran Tierney, Disordered World, Jessica Thompson and TheChampsVoice (..not linking to those [OTHER!] finalists, as I don't want to encourage them!).
What were we thinking - that we could somehow persuade the Blog Award Judges to give us a sympathy vote and maybe give us an 'Also Ran' award, just by virtue of the fact that (once again..) their not gonna give us something better..?
Our pathetic pleading won't work - we've tried it before. Unashamedly. And we're now preparing our 'Thanks anyway..' speech, which I, personally, will deliver from the bottom of an empty flagon of cider to anyone who listens. Not that anyone will be listening, as you lot will be off celebrating with the winners but, in time, I'm sure we'll get over it...
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, February 1955.
BACK TO WOLFE TONE...
The Irish 'modernists' find an outlet for their views in the columns of 'The Irish Times' ; that newspaper, by maintaining a comparatively high literary standard, attracts to its reading circle some of Ireland's finest thinkers.
It is therefore in a position to impose its views on some of the most influential minds in the nation, and for that reason it is potentially a great danger to the Republican Movement. I say "potentially" because in actual fact it does not constitute a danger at present.
The high literary standard of its contributors and their grand air of detached cynicism merely cloak their barren minds and specious arguments. Thus it is that 'The Irish Times' fools none but the fool... (MORE LATER).
COLUMBIA : NO IRISH NEED APPLY.
The arrest of the 'Colombia Three' on charges of training left-wing FARC guerrillas had implications for more than the North's peace process. Colombian paramilitaries suddenly had an excuse to target other Irish people in that country.
By Paul O'Brien. From 'Magill' magazine, July 2002.
Gearoid O Loingsigh spent five days walking a circuitous route through mountains in the Southern Bolivar region of Colombia to escape a right-wing paramilitary death squad. His work with Colombian human rights organisation 'Sembrar' had seen him arrive in the region some weeks earlier to meet with the local peasant and mining communities and their leaders.
These were the same peasants and miners who had converged in their thousands on the city of Barrancabermeja in 1998 to protest at an infamous paramilitary onslaught which took place there. The Sembrar-supported Mesa Regional entity represents these communities, and it was on Mesa's behalf that the Irishman travelled to the region ; part of his work would have involved the investigation and documentation of suspected human rights abuses. He couldn't foresee what lay ahead.
Along with colleagues, he arrived at a stretch of tarmac cut out of a mountain and functioning as an airstrip in the municipality of Santa Rosa del Sur. The airstrip lies next to a military base and as Gearoid O Loingsigh got off the plane the police approached him and requested his details - a standard procedure. Although he had already been questioned at the airport before boarding the flight to the region he gave his details again. It was then an army sergeant intervened, saying there were more questions to be answered. The trouble had started... (MORE LATER).
Thanks for reading, Sharon.
