The fact is that "the border issue" has always been "life and death to the people of Ireland" since before Pound (and Penny and company) were born - it was physically imposed in Ireland, by Westminster, in 1922, and remains a source of conflict on this island. Mr. Pound and, indeed, those commentators that welcomed his words of caution in connection with having "uniformed border agents/custom officers...uniformed (British Army) troops.." in Ireland have missed the point : whether those border checkpoints/custom posts etc are staffed by uniformed officers acting under orders from Westminster or men and women in suits with clipboards is irrelevant as far as Irish republicans are concerned ; the real issue is that they are here at all, enforcing an illegal and immoral claim of military and political jurisdictional control in Ireland for a foreign entity. And therein lies the obvious answer to the British 'Brexit' problem - a British military and political withdrawal from Ireland.
Mr. Pound and his political colleagues will deserve praise when they champion that cause, rather than looking for new 'peaceful' ways to shore-up the existing abomination they cursed this country with.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, October 1954.
New York, Thursday : 'A Negro's body recovered from the East River today was identified by a teenage 'murder-for-fun' gang as one of their torture victims, police reported.
Four youths were taken to a Brooklyn pier-head shortly after police recovered the body and were marched in front of the body one-by-one. The 18-year-old reputed 'brain' of the gang was first to look at the corpse and police said he burst into tears and exclaimed - "Yes, that's the man...take me away from here before I faint.." The police said the others also agreed it was the man they said they had beaten, burned with cigarettes and thrown into the river "..solely for a thrill."
Authorities had not known about the river death, they said, until the four youngsters voluntarily told of it while giving a list of beating and burnings they had performed.'
That report was from 'The Irish Press' newspaper, 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 'Murder-For-Fun Gang See The Evidence' - NEXT, from the same source : 'Letter to the Editor'.)
ON THIS DATE (3RD OCTOBER) 47 YEARS AGO : THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED.
He took over as the musical director in the famed Abbey Theatre in 1957 where he remained until 1962. In 1950s Ireland traditional music was still held in low regard by some elements of Irish society. His first attempt to combine Irish song with the classical tradition was in 1959 (when he) composed the score for the documentary 'Mise Éire' and 'Saoirse' in 1960 and, most famously, the score for the film version of 'The Playboy of the Western World' in 1963. This last piece made him a household name in his homeland. He also composed Mna na h'Eireann ('The Women of Ireland') which forever proved the musical eloquence of his writing. In this period, he sought to create a sort of Irish flavoured Classical music ie Irish folk tunes arranged for orchestra, as Vaughan Williams had done in England and other nationalist composers has done in Europe towards the end of the previous century. He studied and collected old Irish music and produced a series for RTE called Our Musical Heritage..' (from here.)
Incidentally, one of Seán's seven children (Peadar, Eoghan, Alasdair, Cathal, Reitseal, Sorcha and Liadh), who is an MEP (a 'job' which comes with a weekly wage of €2120!) will be contesting the up-coming Free State presidential election (a 'job' which comes with a weekly wage of €5200!) but will probably need an election-expense 'top up', just like the present incumbent. A sad reminder that not all of the career political class in this State got a pay rise, an unbalanced and unfair situation, as I'm sure you'll agree. Best to keep that type on an even keel, in our opinion, and the best way of doing that, of being equally fair to all of them, is to vote NOTA!
POACHER TURNED GAMEKEEPER : KNOCKING ON AN OPEN (CELL) DOOR.
Nothing to see here, move along there, folks - Provisional Sinn Féin are on record for calling for more women, of any religious background, obviously, to join the RUC/PSNI, going as far as asking the RUC/PSNI Chief Constable "..to make policing more attractive to women.." ! Then there's this -
'PSNI RECRUITMENT GETS SINN FÉIN BACKING : The new PSNI recruitment campaign has targeted Catholic people in Fermanagh and two local Sinn Féin councillors have backed the move..."it is not something we would discuss, but we certainly would encourage people to apply...obviously when people are looking at future careers it is an option and good luck to people who decide to take it.." (from here).
Foolhardy be the woman
who thinks he cannot see
beneath her web of lies
and cold duplicity.
Foolhardy be the woman
who thinks blinkers he does wear
and therefore fails to see
that deep down she doesn't care! (From here.)
How anyone can profess to be in favour of a British military and political withdrawal from Ireland and in the same breath encourage recruitment to British, pro-British and anti-republican armed forces is beyond me!
WORTH 'RECRUITING' FOR -
- this 'March For Justice' leaflet is being circulated around parts of Dublin and deserves to be highlighted as the protest march it publicises encompasses republican issues, State corruption and civil right issues which, between them, are the issues which blight this State and divide people against each other, which suits the 'establishment'. If those attending don't get waylaid by career politicians, it might have the potential to be the beginning of something bigger..."Society often forgives the criminal ; it never forgives the dreamer". (Oscar Wilde.)
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, February 1955.
Let us look for example at the effort made by their political correspondent, Aknefton ('1169' comment - 'Aknefton' was a pseudonym used by a Mr. Christopher Ferguson), to demolish Sinn Féin with a few strokes of his pen : I refer to his article of January 15th last, headed - 'Out on the Limb of Sinn Féin', which he opened by quoting Connolly's famous dictum "Ireland apart from her people means nothing to me". Aknefton then commented that "..in his stand, Connolly was of course attacking that purely sentimental patriotism which saw nothing beyond 'the mist that does be on the bog'".
The "of course" is obviously inserted to silence the questioning mind because Connolly was not attacking purely sentimental patriotism for the simple reason that 'purely sentimental patriotism' is a non-existent commodity - it is merely a figment of Aknefton's too fertile imagination. I challenge Aknefton to name even one 'purely sentimental patriot' - was Connolly attacking Pearse or Tom Clarke or McDonagh or any of his 1916 colleagues? Surely not. But maybe he was attacking Arthur Griffith, the founder of the 'hateful' Sinn Féin? No, I think even Aknefton will agree that whatever else one could call Griffith, one could never call him a "sentimental patriot"!
But since Aknefton has raised the question, it is as well to point out who exactly was being attacked by Connolly - who was "the fraud and liar" who professed "to love the combination of chemical elements which he is pleased to call 'Ireland'"? Who, indeed, but the 'Irish Parliamentary Party', who called themselves 'nationalists' and professed to love 'Ireland', while they felt no burning desire to end the British plunder of the Irish people... (MORE LATER).
'WHATEVER I SAID THEN I DIDN'T SAY IT/MEAN IT!'
Michael D. Higgins had stated in 2011 that he would be a one-term officer holder only but, having had 7 years of being feted like royalty, at taxpayers expense, for those seven years, he has since decided that he quite fancies more of the same and is looking for another seven years 'in the job'.
At the time of Fidel Castro's death, the bould Michael declared that Castro ".. would be remembered as a giant among global leaders whose view was not only one of freedom for his people but for all of the oppressed and excluded peoples on the planet.." but, last week, at his 'presidential press conference' to announce his candidacy for another seven years of bliss, Higgins said he was "wrong" to have said that about Castro and 'explained' that he had wrote those words of praise at 7am on a Saturday morning without the help of his advisers. When asked about his recent stays in posh hotels (€3,000 a night), man-of-the-people Michael D. stated "I couldn't care less if I stayed in a tent"(..like this, he probably means..).
And with that in mind, here's some of Mick's neighbours from Limerick that wouldn't mind swopping abodes with him. And maybe those same people would like some new clothes, and Mr. Higgins can help them out there, too - when he first went for the 'job' in the Park, seven years ago, he got new bib and tucker from Brown Thomas on Grafton Street in Dublin, in one of Louis Copeland's shops and he acquired some new garments (!) from Hanley's in Galway. A charcoal suit for €1165, a shirt for €185, a tie for €115 (well..that tie was made by Charvet!) and a 'Magee' jacket for €295. But sure we all like some new gear when we're going for a job interview... (incidentally, that 'few bob' that he spent was later reimbursed by the State).
Anyway - don't cod yourself that it's only wee Mickey that would treat the public purse with such a sense of entitlement ; whoever gets that 'job' on Friday, 26th October next, will have their head turned in the same manner - human nature, ya can't beat it! For your own peace of mind, vote NOTA - None Of The Above!
COLUMBIA : NO IRISH NEED APPLY...
By Paul O'Brien. From 'Magill' magazine, July 2002.
Gearoid O Loingsigh explained - "A captain came out of the military base and questioned us about what we were doing in the area. We told him that we were going to speak to communities about productive projects in the area, which was true - it was one of our tasks. He took our ID and said that they had problems with Irish people in the recent past. I told him that I had a resident's card issued by the DAS (the Colombian equivalent of the Special Branch), which he was holding, a visa from the Colombian embassy, letters from various politicians and that the vice-president's office had ordered Colonel Pineda - head of police for the entire region - to protect my life.
I told him that those who came to train guerrillas would be unlikely to have any of that paperwork. He went off. Then a man came to collect us - as we hadn't arrived at the meeting point he became worried but no sooner had he stepped out of his car than the sergeant pulled out his revolver and pointed it at him. He told two policemen to search him and his ID was taken. The captain returned and told us that we couldn't proceed and that we would have to spend the night in the town."
Furious, O Loingsigh immediately started making phone calls to the Ministry of the Interior and military headquarters, but the captain insisted that special permits were needed and that an army general, also called Pineda, had ordered him not to let the Irishman and his colleagues proceed... (MORE LATER).
Thanks for reading, Sharon.
