1971 PRISON BREAK ; ' KANGAROO'S ' in the Six Counties ....... !
.......the five internees made it to the top of the prison wall , but were spotted by members of a British Army patrol , who were in that same area because of a nail-bomb explosion on the Antrim Road . The five men climbed back down into the prison yard and mingled with the other prisoners . The idea itself was sound , and the then I R A set about repeating the exercise , this time with rope-ladders .......
It was agreed that the escape attempt would take place on 16th November 1971 , and that nine prisoners would locate themselves at a certain section of the prison wall , on that date , at a specific time . The nine men -- Seamus Storey , Thomas Maguire , Thomas Fox , Peter Hennessy , Bernard Ellison , Thomas Kane , Terence Clarke , Chris Keenan and David Mullan -- were all anxious to escape .
The barbed-wire fence on the outside of the prison wall would be cut to allow the men a quick exit , and cars would be waiting for them ....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE START.......
" .......the Boer War set an example to men like my uncle - he cursed when he heard the politicians speak about " Home Rule " or " Westminster " -- " stinking politicians " , he shouted ....... "
" Too young to have been a Fenian , my uncle's brother , Mike , spent eleven months in Limerick Jail for 'illegal' drilling , in an effort to carry on the Fenian organisation . ( My uncle Dan , Dan Harrington , and the " Farmer " are one and the same person throughout this story ).
Around the fire we learned the history of our own and other countries . That was before the kitchens of Ireland became afflicted with the television and the radio . Then would we hear an honest man's opinion or his hearty laugh , or listen to the stories handed down to him from his forefathers , and told in the same way around the unquenchable fire . The stories around the fire were not always told in prose .
Any influx of the neighbours brought some one or more able to sing . Thus did we hear every national song or ballad worth singing . At that time people of each small district met often and worked and played together . On a Sunday there was the Patron in the summer , or a bowling match or football game . During the long nights , the scoruiacht where all the neighbours met at one house until about ten o'clock . " (MORE LATER).
WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION.......
[from ' The Evening Press ' , 6th January , 1987 -- a Tuesday , if memory serves -- page 4]
During 'World War Two' , British scientists devised a bomb to disperse deadly anthrax spores in Germany , and the United States built a secret plant to make the weapons , claimed a Professor Barton J. Bernstein , in the current edition of the 'Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist' .
Lord Cherwell , Britains Chief Scientific Adviser , was said to have informed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill , in February 1944 , that - " Any animal breathing in minute quantities of these spores is extremely likely to die suddenly but peacefully within the week ."
Cherwell estimated that about six Lancaster bombers could carry enough bombs to destroy life in a mile-square area . Five-thousand of the bombs were delivered to Britain by May 1944 , from the American plant . They were never used , said Professor Bernstein , because - " Hitler had barred the development of it " by the German scientists .
The Brits probably dumped them in the Irish Sea , along with all the other radioactive trash which they dispose of in the border of water between our countries .
Friday, December 05, 2003
1971 PRISON BREAK ; ' KANGAROO'S ' in the Six Counties ....... !
....... September , 1971 - a football match between the internees was underway in Crumlin Road Jail in Belfast . Five of the men decided to put themselves 'off-side' and had a rope ( knotted bed-sheets) and , tied to the top of the 'rope' , a 'hook' ( table-end) to grip the top of the wall .......
As the five men climbed up the 'rope' as best they could , a nail-bomb exploded on the Antrim Road , which was the far-side of the wall ; the men continued their climb and , on reaching the top of the prison wall , they were startled to find themselves looking down on armed British soldiers --- the Brits were probably just as surprised to be looking up at them !
The nail-bomb explosion had drawn a British Army patrol to that same spot - the men on top of the wall went into reverse , climbed back down the way they had come up and mingled with their fellow-prisoners , watching the match . That was September 1971 ; the failed escape bid at least indicated that the idea was sound . It was decided to continue with the football matches , but not to attempt an escape during same -- for now.
Over the following few weeks , arrangements were made with the then I R A on the outside for another escape attempt , using an improved version of the September idea ; rope ladders ....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE START.......
".......as young children , we would question our parents when they discussed the issues of the day -- the Boer War and its leaders were talked about in our house ....... "
" Then did we really enjoy the story of the successful fight of the weak against the strong . The stories about the Boer War never grew old in my youth . Any dog worthy of the name was called Kruger , pronounced ' Kroojer ' . Jerry Kelleher , Ballyvoig , was the only exception . In order to be contrary , he had a dog named Balfour .
When the crows at his heels , while Jerry scattered grain in the tillage , got too numerous and clamorous , Jerry would say to the dog - " Disperse those meetings , Mr. Balfour . " Balfour always obliged . The stories of , and the discussions on , the Boer War never ended without a reference to Ireland . Small wonder . The handful of farmers who stood up against an empire and humiliated it set an example for the oppressed and down-trodden of the world .
The example was not lost on the militant-minded in our own country . My uncle was one of these and it was from him I first heard of the only sure way to shake off the foreign oppressor . For years before I heard of Sinn Fein I heard its gospel from him , but above all I learned that the only way to freedom was the direct way . When Home Rule or Westminster or Irish Party or a " great speech " was mentioned , he sat up and shouted - " Hah ! Stinking politicians . " (MORE LATER).
A MOTHER'S LOVE .......
[from ' The Evening Press ' newspaper , 16th July -- a Monday , I'm sure -- 1984 ]
Mrs. Doreen McAleese , mother to a British soldier , Neil , went to the British Army Barracks at Hohne , near Hanover, looking for the inmates therein to assist her in clearing her son's name -- naughty Neil (20) was in jail in Germany waiting to be court-martialled for offences relating to drug use .
Mrs. McAleese took statements from fifty soldiers , and apparently entered same as evidence in her son's case hoping , no doubt , to prove that her Neil was of good character (or at least of the same character as that of his colleagues) ---
--- 17 of the 50 , including Officers , confirmed to the woman that they used drugs " regularly " ;
of the remaining 33 Brit soldiers , those belonging to the Parachute Regiment (number not given) actually boasted to Mrs. McAleese that they " took heroin almost daily " ;
and the remainder , considered by fellow-Brits to be 'Malvinas / Falkland War Hero's' , were themselves awaiting court-martial for ....... drug offences !
After reading the above information into the court records , Mrs. McAleese told a (stunned ?) court -- " There is pressure on young soldiers to try drugs to show they are men . " (Mental Picture - " I say , Smithers , what's that in your arm ? " That's a syringe , SIR ! . " " Jolly good , Private - carry on . ")
Don't know how young Neil got on , but I'm sure his mother is still in hiding ; just hope its not in the Six Counties -- the Brit soldiers there are mad !
....... September , 1971 - a football match between the internees was underway in Crumlin Road Jail in Belfast . Five of the men decided to put themselves 'off-side' and had a rope ( knotted bed-sheets) and , tied to the top of the 'rope' , a 'hook' ( table-end) to grip the top of the wall .......
As the five men climbed up the 'rope' as best they could , a nail-bomb exploded on the Antrim Road , which was the far-side of the wall ; the men continued their climb and , on reaching the top of the prison wall , they were startled to find themselves looking down on armed British soldiers --- the Brits were probably just as surprised to be looking up at them !
The nail-bomb explosion had drawn a British Army patrol to that same spot - the men on top of the wall went into reverse , climbed back down the way they had come up and mingled with their fellow-prisoners , watching the match . That was September 1971 ; the failed escape bid at least indicated that the idea was sound . It was decided to continue with the football matches , but not to attempt an escape during same -- for now.
Over the following few weeks , arrangements were made with the then I R A on the outside for another escape attempt , using an improved version of the September idea ; rope ladders ....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE START.......
".......as young children , we would question our parents when they discussed the issues of the day -- the Boer War and its leaders were talked about in our house ....... "
" Then did we really enjoy the story of the successful fight of the weak against the strong . The stories about the Boer War never grew old in my youth . Any dog worthy of the name was called Kruger , pronounced ' Kroojer ' . Jerry Kelleher , Ballyvoig , was the only exception . In order to be contrary , he had a dog named Balfour .
When the crows at his heels , while Jerry scattered grain in the tillage , got too numerous and clamorous , Jerry would say to the dog - " Disperse those meetings , Mr. Balfour . " Balfour always obliged . The stories of , and the discussions on , the Boer War never ended without a reference to Ireland . Small wonder . The handful of farmers who stood up against an empire and humiliated it set an example for the oppressed and down-trodden of the world .
The example was not lost on the militant-minded in our own country . My uncle was one of these and it was from him I first heard of the only sure way to shake off the foreign oppressor . For years before I heard of Sinn Fein I heard its gospel from him , but above all I learned that the only way to freedom was the direct way . When Home Rule or Westminster or Irish Party or a " great speech " was mentioned , he sat up and shouted - " Hah ! Stinking politicians . " (MORE LATER).
A MOTHER'S LOVE .......
[from ' The Evening Press ' newspaper , 16th July -- a Monday , I'm sure -- 1984 ]
Mrs. Doreen McAleese , mother to a British soldier , Neil , went to the British Army Barracks at Hohne , near Hanover, looking for the inmates therein to assist her in clearing her son's name -- naughty Neil (20) was in jail in Germany waiting to be court-martialled for offences relating to drug use .
Mrs. McAleese took statements from fifty soldiers , and apparently entered same as evidence in her son's case hoping , no doubt , to prove that her Neil was of good character (or at least of the same character as that of his colleagues) ---
--- 17 of the 50 , including Officers , confirmed to the woman that they used drugs " regularly " ;
of the remaining 33 Brit soldiers , those belonging to the Parachute Regiment (number not given) actually boasted to Mrs. McAleese that they " took heroin almost daily " ;
and the remainder , considered by fellow-Brits to be 'Malvinas / Falkland War Hero's' , were themselves awaiting court-martial for ....... drug offences !
After reading the above information into the court records , Mrs. McAleese told a (stunned ?) court -- " There is pressure on young soldiers to try drugs to show they are men . " (Mental Picture - " I say , Smithers , what's that in your arm ? " That's a syringe , SIR ! . " " Jolly good , Private - carry on . ")
Don't know how young Neil got on , but I'm sure his mother is still in hiding ; just hope its not in the Six Counties -- the Brit soldiers there are mad !
Thursday, December 04, 2003
1971 PRISON BREAK ; ' KANGAROO'S ' in the Six Counties ....... !
....... 9th August , 1971 - the Brits 'round-up' one-thousand-five-hundred Irishmen and intern them in three different prisons -- Long Kesh (300) , 'The Maidstone' (150) and Crumlin Road Jail.......
An estimated one-thousand internee's ( and remand prisoners) were held in Crumlin Road Jail , in Belfast , resulting in serious over-crowding ; so the 'prisoners' set-about giving themselves more space !
During a prison football match in September that year (1971) , five internees made their way to a section of the wall at the opposite end of where the match was being played -- they carried bed-sheets knotted together , with a wooden 'hook' (made from prison tables and/or chairs) tied to one end of the 'rope' .
With the football game in full swing , and the prison-screws relieved to have something to watch and help them pass a few hours , the five men succeeded in their efforts to have the 'hook' grip the top of the wall ....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE START .
" I was born in 1902 , the year the Boer War ended . It was the first war I heard discussed when I began to understand things a little . Indeed , when I push my memory back as far as possible , I always reach the one definite point . I can see my uncle , Dan Harrington , in front of the fire , Tom Connor on his right , my father on his left .
My mother generally moving about , for ever busy , like all good mothers . At length the men would prevail on her to sit down -- " Yerra , Mini , sit down , the world will be after us , " Tom would say . Then would we all , my brothers and sisters , listen entranced to good stories . I heard for the first time the names of famous Boer leaders -- Kruger , Cronje , De Wett , De La Rey and others , and of Mauser , Maxim , Pom-Pom and Long Tom .
Persistent enquiries from the younger generation were made until we had a fair grasp of the meaning of all these people and things ......." (MORE LATER).
AND EVEN MORE REAGANISMS .......
When Ronnie was transformed into President Reagan , he was briefed by Bobby Inman , the then Deputy Director of the C I A .
On the topic of Soviet nuclear strength , Mr. President asked " was the SS-19 their biggest missile ? " Not so , replied Deputy Inman - " That would be the SS-18 ." " So , , said Ronnie , " they've even switched the numbers on their missiles to confuse us ! "
Inman explained that the numbers are assigned to the missiles by U S Intelligence , not by the Soviets .......
In running for Office in 1980 , Ronald Reagan announced that his team had identified " forty-one specific items costing eleven billion dollars " which he would cut . The media contacted his Office , looking for details on the " forty-one items " -- no-one knew anything about it ; it later transpired that there was no such list of items .......
The bould Ronnie claimed that it cost the health bureaucracy " three dollars to deliver one dollar of health service . " His Office later admitted that he was wrong - it only cost twelve cents to deliver said amount of health service !
.....not the full shilling ...
....... 9th August , 1971 - the Brits 'round-up' one-thousand-five-hundred Irishmen and intern them in three different prisons -- Long Kesh (300) , 'The Maidstone' (150) and Crumlin Road Jail.......
An estimated one-thousand internee's ( and remand prisoners) were held in Crumlin Road Jail , in Belfast , resulting in serious over-crowding ; so the 'prisoners' set-about giving themselves more space !
During a prison football match in September that year (1971) , five internees made their way to a section of the wall at the opposite end of where the match was being played -- they carried bed-sheets knotted together , with a wooden 'hook' (made from prison tables and/or chairs) tied to one end of the 'rope' .
With the football game in full swing , and the prison-screws relieved to have something to watch and help them pass a few hours , the five men succeeded in their efforts to have the 'hook' grip the top of the wall ....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE START .
" I was born in 1902 , the year the Boer War ended . It was the first war I heard discussed when I began to understand things a little . Indeed , when I push my memory back as far as possible , I always reach the one definite point . I can see my uncle , Dan Harrington , in front of the fire , Tom Connor on his right , my father on his left .
My mother generally moving about , for ever busy , like all good mothers . At length the men would prevail on her to sit down -- " Yerra , Mini , sit down , the world will be after us , " Tom would say . Then would we all , my brothers and sisters , listen entranced to good stories . I heard for the first time the names of famous Boer leaders -- Kruger , Cronje , De Wett , De La Rey and others , and of Mauser , Maxim , Pom-Pom and Long Tom .
Persistent enquiries from the younger generation were made until we had a fair grasp of the meaning of all these people and things ......." (MORE LATER).
AND EVEN MORE REAGANISMS .......
When Ronnie was transformed into President Reagan , he was briefed by Bobby Inman , the then Deputy Director of the C I A .
On the topic of Soviet nuclear strength , Mr. President asked " was the SS-19 their biggest missile ? " Not so , replied Deputy Inman - " That would be the SS-18 ." " So , , said Ronnie , " they've even switched the numbers on their missiles to confuse us ! "
Inman explained that the numbers are assigned to the missiles by U S Intelligence , not by the Soviets .......
In running for Office in 1980 , Ronald Reagan announced that his team had identified " forty-one specific items costing eleven billion dollars " which he would cut . The media contacted his Office , looking for details on the " forty-one items " -- no-one knew anything about it ; it later transpired that there was no such list of items .......
The bould Ronnie claimed that it cost the health bureaucracy " three dollars to deliver one dollar of health service . " His Office later admitted that he was wrong - it only cost twelve cents to deliver said amount of health service !
.....not the full shilling ...
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
1971 PRISON BREAK ; ' KANGAROO'S ' in the Six Counties !
9th August , 1971 : the British introduce 'internment without trial' in the Six Counties . Within weeks , one-thousand-five-hundred ' suspected terrorists ' are put behind bars , not only in the new Long Kesh internment camp , but in other prisons throughout the Six County area .
The Long Kesh camp , which was built on an old R A F airfield near Lisburn , in County Antrim, was 'home' to about three-hundred of the internees , while another group , consisting of about one-hundred-and-fifty men , were interned on 'The Maidstone' , a prison ship moored at the coal wharf in Belfast Docks . (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
".......in 1879 , Michael Davitt founded the Land League - the Irish farmers got organised and fought back against the British 'landlords' . They won the 'right' to keep the little fields which they had fashioned from the sides of raw mountains ......."
" One would think that the never-ending struggle of the people against the forces of nature and the injustice of man would eventually bring them to look on life with a bitter eye . But such was not the case . They never lost their gaiety of manner . They examined defeat until finally they found some humour among its ruins , then they laughed mightily and set about building up again .
One would think that , having grown up among the rocky hills and tasted of their hardness , it would be too difficult for them to think kindly of them . But the reverse is the case . The rocky hills have , from time immemorial , proved a refuge from total extinction for the Irish race . Were it not for them and their strong sheltering arms always outstretched to help the weary forces of the Gael , the unequal struggle could not be maintained .
And having sheltered the weary , they again induce the spirit of freedom in them . For who , standing on their breezy summits , and gazing towards limitless horizons , can take the short , or small, or mean view of anything . One of the beauties of the world , is , according to Padraig Pearse : ---
--- " Some quiet hill where mountainy men have sown ,
And soon would reap ; near to the gate of Heaven . "
[END OF 'THE LITTLE FIELDS'].
LIBYA , IRAQ .......
....... On 15th April , 1986 -- a Tuesday , I believe -- the Reagan Administration in Washington bombed Libya , in 'retaliation' for a bomb-blast in a West Berlin nightclub on Saturday , 5th April , 1986 , which killed two people and injured two-hundred-and-four .
Ronald Reagan claimed that he had "proof" that Libya was responsible for the nightclub bombing . The validity of that "proof" should be judged by a statement issued in May 1985 by a Frank Snepp , a former senior agent of the C I A ---
--- " Every few weeks , the Reagan Administration doctors photographs to show war materials passing from Nicaragua to El Salvador . Recently , two C I A analysts found enough on their consciences to resign over the matter . "
If they did'nt resign , would they have been found dead in a wood ?
.......AND PROOF ---->
<---- ED ROLLINS , a one-time U S Republican Party 'Political Consultant' (ie 'Spin-Doctor') once said ---
--- " You can fool all the people all the time , if the advertising budget is big enough ! "
Reagan , Bush , Clinton etc - Rollins and his type know their job !
9th August , 1971 : the British introduce 'internment without trial' in the Six Counties . Within weeks , one-thousand-five-hundred ' suspected terrorists ' are put behind bars , not only in the new Long Kesh internment camp , but in other prisons throughout the Six County area .
The Long Kesh camp , which was built on an old R A F airfield near Lisburn , in County Antrim, was 'home' to about three-hundred of the internees , while another group , consisting of about one-hundred-and-fifty men , were interned on 'The Maidstone' , a prison ship moored at the coal wharf in Belfast Docks . (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
".......in 1879 , Michael Davitt founded the Land League - the Irish farmers got organised and fought back against the British 'landlords' . They won the 'right' to keep the little fields which they had fashioned from the sides of raw mountains ......."
" One would think that the never-ending struggle of the people against the forces of nature and the injustice of man would eventually bring them to look on life with a bitter eye . But such was not the case . They never lost their gaiety of manner . They examined defeat until finally they found some humour among its ruins , then they laughed mightily and set about building up again .
One would think that , having grown up among the rocky hills and tasted of their hardness , it would be too difficult for them to think kindly of them . But the reverse is the case . The rocky hills have , from time immemorial , proved a refuge from total extinction for the Irish race . Were it not for them and their strong sheltering arms always outstretched to help the weary forces of the Gael , the unequal struggle could not be maintained .
And having sheltered the weary , they again induce the spirit of freedom in them . For who , standing on their breezy summits , and gazing towards limitless horizons , can take the short , or small, or mean view of anything . One of the beauties of the world , is , according to Padraig Pearse : ---
--- " Some quiet hill where mountainy men have sown ,
And soon would reap ; near to the gate of Heaven . "
[END OF 'THE LITTLE FIELDS'].
LIBYA , IRAQ .......
....... On 15th April , 1986 -- a Tuesday , I believe -- the Reagan Administration in Washington bombed Libya , in 'retaliation' for a bomb-blast in a West Berlin nightclub on Saturday , 5th April , 1986 , which killed two people and injured two-hundred-and-four .
Ronald Reagan claimed that he had "proof" that Libya was responsible for the nightclub bombing . The validity of that "proof" should be judged by a statement issued in May 1985 by a Frank Snepp , a former senior agent of the C I A ---
--- " Every few weeks , the Reagan Administration doctors photographs to show war materials passing from Nicaragua to El Salvador . Recently , two C I A analysts found enough on their consciences to resign over the matter . "
If they did'nt resign , would they have been found dead in a wood ?
.......AND PROOF ---->
<---- ED ROLLINS , a one-time U S Republican Party 'Political Consultant' (ie 'Spin-Doctor') once said ---
--- " You can fool all the people all the time , if the advertising budget is big enough ! "
Reagan , Bush , Clinton etc - Rollins and his type know their job !
Tuesday, December 02, 2003
DONEGAL ,1861 ; EVICTIONS UNDER ' DEASY'S ACT '.......
.......the unscrupulous British 'landlord' , John George Adair now had political backing in his desire to evict the 'tenants' from 'his' land in Derryveagh , County Donegal -- ' Deasy's Act ' gave Adair , and others , the 'green light' to use force . In April , 1861 , Adair assembled a 'posse' of 'legal' bandits and put forty-seven families out of their shacks before burning same to the ground .......
Whole families lived in ditches ; no food , no income , no shelter , no hope . Adair left such destruction and destitution in his wake that foreign newspapers sent over reporters to follow him , and their words and sketches were sent out world-wide . Irish exiles were furious , and done what they could to help their fellow-countrymen and women back home .
In Australia , for instance , a ' Donegal Relief Committee ' was established , and paid for most of Adair's victims to re-settle in Australia . That same British mentality exists to this day ; this scribbler believes that no amount of 'Treaties' will solve the problem . British withdrawal will .
[END].
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
".......the 'tenants' were being abused by 'their' British 'landlord's' ; the British 'police'-force and military considered the Irish to be Rebels and treated them accordingly . The 'landlord' , a greedy beast at best , wanted more for himself ....... "
" The raising of the rent was but the prelude to the raising of troubles . Notices , refusals , seizures or attempted seizures of cattle , rescues , clashes with bailiffs and police , kept the times generally up to quite a high standard of excitement .
In 1879 , Michael Davitt founded the ' Land League ' to demand the return of the land to the people . The people en masse joined the League . Never before in Ireland had there been such complete unanimity of demand . Evictions , imprisonment and buckshot made not the slightest impression on the determination of the League .
At last , a series of Land Acts was wrenched from the British Parliament . The little fields came back to those who had made them . Michael Davitt had planned for this victory during long years of solitary confinement in Dartmoor Prison . The people had cause to be thankful to him .
I have heard him called " the Greatest of them all . " Only for the Land League victory , the success of later activities would not have been possible ........" (MORE LATER).
EVEN MORE REAGANISMS.......
[from ' The Sunday Tribune ,' 14th August , 1988]
" Now , if you took all the books of regulations and rules in the Tax Code and put them all on a shelf , the shelf would be fifty-seven feet long to hold all of them . "
--- Ronald Reagan . But the "tax code" , which includes the "rules and regulations" , is six inches thick ! Fifty-six-and-a-half feet to spare .......
" We have fewer warheads than we had in 1969 ." Ronnie in November , 1985 .
--- It was later pointed out to Mr. Reagan that , in 1969 , the United States had 4,000 warheads , as against 11,492 in 1985 . The man seems to just pluck figures out of the clear blue sky .......
At the height of the Apartheid era in South Africa , the bould Ronnie claimed that that country - " has eliminated the segregation that we once had in our own country , the type of thing where hotels and restaurants and places of entertainment and so forth were segregated - that has all been eliminated . "
--- ....I'm lost for words ......
.......the unscrupulous British 'landlord' , John George Adair now had political backing in his desire to evict the 'tenants' from 'his' land in Derryveagh , County Donegal -- ' Deasy's Act ' gave Adair , and others , the 'green light' to use force . In April , 1861 , Adair assembled a 'posse' of 'legal' bandits and put forty-seven families out of their shacks before burning same to the ground .......
Whole families lived in ditches ; no food , no income , no shelter , no hope . Adair left such destruction and destitution in his wake that foreign newspapers sent over reporters to follow him , and their words and sketches were sent out world-wide . Irish exiles were furious , and done what they could to help their fellow-countrymen and women back home .
In Australia , for instance , a ' Donegal Relief Committee ' was established , and paid for most of Adair's victims to re-settle in Australia . That same British mentality exists to this day ; this scribbler believes that no amount of 'Treaties' will solve the problem . British withdrawal will .
[END].
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
".......the 'tenants' were being abused by 'their' British 'landlord's' ; the British 'police'-force and military considered the Irish to be Rebels and treated them accordingly . The 'landlord' , a greedy beast at best , wanted more for himself ....... "
" The raising of the rent was but the prelude to the raising of troubles . Notices , refusals , seizures or attempted seizures of cattle , rescues , clashes with bailiffs and police , kept the times generally up to quite a high standard of excitement .
In 1879 , Michael Davitt founded the ' Land League ' to demand the return of the land to the people . The people en masse joined the League . Never before in Ireland had there been such complete unanimity of demand . Evictions , imprisonment and buckshot made not the slightest impression on the determination of the League .
At last , a series of Land Acts was wrenched from the British Parliament . The little fields came back to those who had made them . Michael Davitt had planned for this victory during long years of solitary confinement in Dartmoor Prison . The people had cause to be thankful to him .
I have heard him called " the Greatest of them all . " Only for the Land League victory , the success of later activities would not have been possible ........" (MORE LATER).
EVEN MORE REAGANISMS.......
[from ' The Sunday Tribune ,' 14th August , 1988]
" Now , if you took all the books of regulations and rules in the Tax Code and put them all on a shelf , the shelf would be fifty-seven feet long to hold all of them . "
--- Ronald Reagan . But the "tax code" , which includes the "rules and regulations" , is six inches thick ! Fifty-six-and-a-half feet to spare .......
" We have fewer warheads than we had in 1969 ." Ronnie in November , 1985 .
--- It was later pointed out to Mr. Reagan that , in 1969 , the United States had 4,000 warheads , as against 11,492 in 1985 . The man seems to just pluck figures out of the clear blue sky .......
At the height of the Apartheid era in South Africa , the bould Ronnie claimed that that country - " has eliminated the segregation that we once had in our own country , the type of thing where hotels and restaurants and places of entertainment and so forth were segregated - that has all been eliminated . "
--- ....I'm lost for words ......
Monday, December 01, 2003
DONEGAL ,1861 ; EVICTIONS UNDER ' DEASY'S ACT '.......
.......the new British 'law' , 'Deasy's Act' , was enacted in Ireland in 1860 ; the 'landlords' were quick to take advantage of the 'legal rights' it afforded them regarding the 'tenants' on 'their' estates .......
Within a few months of the ' 1860 Landlord/Tenant - Deasy's Act ' , evictions were taking place at a recorded level of twenty a week ; John George Adair , an infamous British 'Landlord' in Donegal , had already attempted to have the families on 'his' estate evicted for " stealing " his Scottish (black-faced) sheep - if the sheep , while wandering free , should end up near a persons cabin , that 'tenant' was accused of stealing the animal !
Adair changed the 'terms and conditions' of the manner in which he 'leased' the land to his existing 'tenants' and did not bother to notify them -- those families were served with eviction notices , and Adair then notified the 'police-force' and requested the British military to accompany the eviction party while it carried-out its 'mandate' .
In two days , in April 1861 , in Derryveagh , Donegal , John George Adair and his party of licenced bandits physically removed forty-seven families from their miserable dwellings , burnt the roofs of same and , before the fire was extinguished , levelled the walls ....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
"....... in the early 19th Century in Ireland , ' Courts of Poetry' were held in various locations ; a famous author of the day , Jeremiah Joseph Callanan , wrote a poem which is still a favourite to this day ......."
" ' GOUGANE BARRA ' is one of his best poems :
Least bard of the hills ! - were it mine to inherit
The fire of thy harp , and the wing of thy spirit ,
With the wrongs which like thee to our country have bound me ,
Did your mantle of song fling its radiance around me ,
Still , still in those wilds might young liberty rally ,
And send her strong shout over mountain and valley ,
The star of the west might yet rise in its glory ,
And the land that was darkest be brightest in story .
The Fenian Rising in 1867 was the last organised military effort on a national scale before our time . For some time before and for many years after '67 , the organisation was maintained in our area . It resulted in a long term in jail and finally exile for one of my uncles .
'Police' searches for suspects , raids for arms , arrests and trials had become of almost daily occurrence . The people got quite accustomed to them . There would never be peace in any case . In the event of a short period of inactivity , the 'landlord' came to the conclusion that he was losing money , that the 'tenants' were getting prosperous , that it was time to raise the rent ......." (MORE LATER).
MORE REAGANISMS.......
[These quotes from ' The Sunday Tribune ' newspaper , 14th August , 1988]
" In this week of tragedy , six policemen have been killed in the line of duty . "---
--- Ronald Reagan , 14th June , 1968 . It never happened (in reality , that is !) - two policemen were killed in Chicago that year ; one in May , one in June.
" I would have voted against the 'Civil Rights Act' of 1964 . " -- Ronald Reagan , June , 1965 .
" I favour the 'Civil Rights Act' of 1964 and it must be enforced at the point of a bayonet if necessary . " -- Ronald Reagan , October , 1965 .
In 1982 , environmentalists gathered 1.1 million signatures calling for the resignation of the then U. S. Secretary of The Interior , James Watt . Reagan announced that " a petition of over seven million signatures was brought in wanting him retained . " It later transpired that no such "petition" was ever "brought in" because no such "petition" existed !
Criticised in 1982 for wanting to cut 'mother and child nutrition funding' in his upcoming budget , Reagan stated that the scheme would actually benefit from " much greater money than it has ever had before . " The man had previously just left a meeting in which he himself proposed a $200 million dollar cut to the same scheme ; his Office later stated that " The President possibly misspoke slightly on that one . " !
The man was ready-made for Leinster House .......
.......the new British 'law' , 'Deasy's Act' , was enacted in Ireland in 1860 ; the 'landlords' were quick to take advantage of the 'legal rights' it afforded them regarding the 'tenants' on 'their' estates .......
Within a few months of the ' 1860 Landlord/Tenant - Deasy's Act ' , evictions were taking place at a recorded level of twenty a week ; John George Adair , an infamous British 'Landlord' in Donegal , had already attempted to have the families on 'his' estate evicted for " stealing " his Scottish (black-faced) sheep - if the sheep , while wandering free , should end up near a persons cabin , that 'tenant' was accused of stealing the animal !
Adair changed the 'terms and conditions' of the manner in which he 'leased' the land to his existing 'tenants' and did not bother to notify them -- those families were served with eviction notices , and Adair then notified the 'police-force' and requested the British military to accompany the eviction party while it carried-out its 'mandate' .
In two days , in April 1861 , in Derryveagh , Donegal , John George Adair and his party of licenced bandits physically removed forty-seven families from their miserable dwellings , burnt the roofs of same and , before the fire was extinguished , levelled the walls ....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
"....... in the early 19th Century in Ireland , ' Courts of Poetry' were held in various locations ; a famous author of the day , Jeremiah Joseph Callanan , wrote a poem which is still a favourite to this day ......."
" ' GOUGANE BARRA ' is one of his best poems :
Least bard of the hills ! - were it mine to inherit
The fire of thy harp , and the wing of thy spirit ,
With the wrongs which like thee to our country have bound me ,
Did your mantle of song fling its radiance around me ,
Still , still in those wilds might young liberty rally ,
And send her strong shout over mountain and valley ,
The star of the west might yet rise in its glory ,
And the land that was darkest be brightest in story .
The Fenian Rising in 1867 was the last organised military effort on a national scale before our time . For some time before and for many years after '67 , the organisation was maintained in our area . It resulted in a long term in jail and finally exile for one of my uncles .
'Police' searches for suspects , raids for arms , arrests and trials had become of almost daily occurrence . The people got quite accustomed to them . There would never be peace in any case . In the event of a short period of inactivity , the 'landlord' came to the conclusion that he was losing money , that the 'tenants' were getting prosperous , that it was time to raise the rent ......." (MORE LATER).
MORE REAGANISMS.......
[These quotes from ' The Sunday Tribune ' newspaper , 14th August , 1988]
" In this week of tragedy , six policemen have been killed in the line of duty . "---
--- Ronald Reagan , 14th June , 1968 . It never happened (in reality , that is !) - two policemen were killed in Chicago that year ; one in May , one in June.
" I would have voted against the 'Civil Rights Act' of 1964 . " -- Ronald Reagan , June , 1965 .
" I favour the 'Civil Rights Act' of 1964 and it must be enforced at the point of a bayonet if necessary . " -- Ronald Reagan , October , 1965 .
In 1982 , environmentalists gathered 1.1 million signatures calling for the resignation of the then U. S. Secretary of The Interior , James Watt . Reagan announced that " a petition of over seven million signatures was brought in wanting him retained . " It later transpired that no such "petition" was ever "brought in" because no such "petition" existed !
Criticised in 1982 for wanting to cut 'mother and child nutrition funding' in his upcoming budget , Reagan stated that the scheme would actually benefit from " much greater money than it has ever had before . " The man had previously just left a meeting in which he himself proposed a $200 million dollar cut to the same scheme ; his Office later stated that " The President possibly misspoke slightly on that one . " !
The man was ready-made for Leinster House .......
Sunday, November 30, 2003
DONEGAL ,1861 ; EVICTIONS UNDER ' DEASY'S ACT '.......
.......in 1860 , the British Attorney General in Ireland , Richard Deasy , had his 'Act' passed into 'law' in this country ; the hard-pressed Irish farmer was about to be victimised again by the British.......
'Deasy's Act', properly known as ' The Landlord and Tenant Law Amendment (Ireland) Act of 1860 ' , allowed the Brits to set , amend , introduce and/or change any terms which the 'tenant' had with the 'landlord' and defined the contract between both parties as " deemed to be founded on the express or implied contract of the parties and not upon tenure or service . "
'Landlords' were already aware that it was more profitable for them to have livestock on 'their' land rather than poor 'tenants' who leased the land -- 'Deasy's Act' encouraged them to shift the Irish off the land , 'legally' , and removed any 'rights' that the evicted family may have had prior to the enactment of the new 'law' .
The Derryveagh 'landlord' , John George Adair , and many others , lost no time in moving against the families living on 'their' estates........ (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
" .......the 'hedge-school' teachers operated in difficult circumstances ; smoke from the peat fire , exposed to the elements , no money or food . The children were feeling the strain , too - but they persevered ....... "
" Along with the Bardic schools of ancient Ireland went the courts of poetry , where the Bards met from time to time and conducted their proceedings entirely through the medium of classical Gaelic poetry . One of these still survives at Coolea, in the parish of Ballyvourney .
It holds annual session , on the sixth day of January . The poets of our area can hold their own against the best in Ireland , and are the true successors of the Bards . The rugged splendour of the rocks , the falling water , the encircling mountains , and the solitude , attracted Anglo-Irish poets as well as the Bards . The most notable was Jeremiah Joseph Callanan (1795-1829) .
A student of Maynooth and Trinity College , he spent some years among the people here , collecting a store of legendary lore , and became a rebel himself ......." (MORE LATER).
BRITISH.......
[from ' AP/RN ' , 6th June , 1991 , page 9]
....... Albert 'Ginger' Baker , an ex-British soldier , operated in Belfast in the early 1970's . His gang was responsible for the so-called ' Romper Room ' murders , where Nationalists were beaten and tortured , then mutilated , before being shot dead .
Baker was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1974 for a number of those killings , and also admitted his role as a British agent . Baker said that the killings " were designed to fit into a British intelligence plan to terrorise the Nationalist community and push off support for the IRA . "
'Divide and Conquer ' : terrorise the population and purchase their political representatives -- and it still works .......
.......TERRORISTS ---->
[from ' The Evening Press ' newspaper , 21st January -- a Saturday , if memory serves -- 1984]
<---- British soldier Don Langdon , whose platoon served four months in South Armagh , spoke about how the men in his platoon wanted to put their Sergeant up against a wall and shoot him !
Langdon claimed that the soldiers were being ill-treated by the man -- " We felt demoralised , so humiliated , that we just turned to drink . " He said that when they were out on patrol , the platoon would call into a pub for drinks -- " We'd pile all our weapons into a corner and play cards , and drink . I've been drunk on patrol twice , without even taking any ammunition (out of the rifle) . "
The Brit soldiers stated that their Sergeant always pocketed the unofficial 'fines' of £50 which he charged them , instead of placing the issue 'on the record' !
Heartbreaking , is'nt it ? The squaddies so far from home and being bullied by one of their own -- WELCOME TO IRELAND ,MEN ; may all your Sergeants be the same .......!
.......in 1860 , the British Attorney General in Ireland , Richard Deasy , had his 'Act' passed into 'law' in this country ; the hard-pressed Irish farmer was about to be victimised again by the British.......
'Deasy's Act', properly known as ' The Landlord and Tenant Law Amendment (Ireland) Act of 1860 ' , allowed the Brits to set , amend , introduce and/or change any terms which the 'tenant' had with the 'landlord' and defined the contract between both parties as " deemed to be founded on the express or implied contract of the parties and not upon tenure or service . "
'Landlords' were already aware that it was more profitable for them to have livestock on 'their' land rather than poor 'tenants' who leased the land -- 'Deasy's Act' encouraged them to shift the Irish off the land , 'legally' , and removed any 'rights' that the evicted family may have had prior to the enactment of the new 'law' .
The Derryveagh 'landlord' , John George Adair , and many others , lost no time in moving against the families living on 'their' estates........ (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
" .......the 'hedge-school' teachers operated in difficult circumstances ; smoke from the peat fire , exposed to the elements , no money or food . The children were feeling the strain , too - but they persevered ....... "
" Along with the Bardic schools of ancient Ireland went the courts of poetry , where the Bards met from time to time and conducted their proceedings entirely through the medium of classical Gaelic poetry . One of these still survives at Coolea, in the parish of Ballyvourney .
It holds annual session , on the sixth day of January . The poets of our area can hold their own against the best in Ireland , and are the true successors of the Bards . The rugged splendour of the rocks , the falling water , the encircling mountains , and the solitude , attracted Anglo-Irish poets as well as the Bards . The most notable was Jeremiah Joseph Callanan (1795-1829) .
A student of Maynooth and Trinity College , he spent some years among the people here , collecting a store of legendary lore , and became a rebel himself ......." (MORE LATER).
BRITISH.......
[from ' AP/RN ' , 6th June , 1991 , page 9]
....... Albert 'Ginger' Baker , an ex-British soldier , operated in Belfast in the early 1970's . His gang was responsible for the so-called ' Romper Room ' murders , where Nationalists were beaten and tortured , then mutilated , before being shot dead .
Baker was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1974 for a number of those killings , and also admitted his role as a British agent . Baker said that the killings " were designed to fit into a British intelligence plan to terrorise the Nationalist community and push off support for the IRA . "
'Divide and Conquer ' : terrorise the population and purchase their political representatives -- and it still works .......
.......TERRORISTS ---->
[from ' The Evening Press ' newspaper , 21st January -- a Saturday , if memory serves -- 1984]
<---- British soldier Don Langdon , whose platoon served four months in South Armagh , spoke about how the men in his platoon wanted to put their Sergeant up against a wall and shoot him !
Langdon claimed that the soldiers were being ill-treated by the man -- " We felt demoralised , so humiliated , that we just turned to drink . " He said that when they were out on patrol , the platoon would call into a pub for drinks -- " We'd pile all our weapons into a corner and play cards , and drink . I've been drunk on patrol twice , without even taking any ammunition (out of the rifle) . "
The Brit soldiers stated that their Sergeant always pocketed the unofficial 'fines' of £50 which he charged them , instead of placing the issue 'on the record' !
Heartbreaking , is'nt it ? The squaddies so far from home and being bullied by one of their own -- WELCOME TO IRELAND ,MEN ; may all your Sergeants be the same .......!
Saturday, November 29, 2003
DONEGAL ,1861 ; EVICTIONS UNDER ' DEASY'S ACT '.......
.......Ireland , late 1850's ; British 'landlords' owned the land-- the Irish were their 'tenants' . But the Brits wanted livestock on 'their' land , not farmers .......
The British 'landlords' were not alone in thinking that they could do as they wished with 'their' holdings ; their bigotry was shared by the political establishment . In 1860 , the British-appointed Attorney General in Ireland , Richard Deasy , had his 'Act' passed into 'law' in this country -- it was known as ' The Landlord and Tenant Law Amendment (Ireland) Act of 1860 ', but was better known as ' Deasy's Act' .
In a nutshell , ' Deasy's Act ' removed whatever insignificant amount of protection that the 'tenant' had in relation to their rights and those of the 'landlord' ; it allowed the Brits a 'free-hand' to do as they choose with 'their' Irish 'tenants' ....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
".......Irish children were denied education by the British ; so the Irish organised underground 'schools' as best they could -- in fields and in abandoned shacks , and behind stone walls . The teachers were paid sometimes , as the people just had'nt got the money ....... "
"....... Padraig Colum , the poet , gives a description of the teachers' difficulties :
My eyelids red and heavy are ,
With bending o'er the smouldering peat ,
I know the Aeneid now by heart ,
My Virgil read in cold and heat ,
In loneliness and hunger smart.
And I know Homer, too , I ween,
As Munster poets know Ossian.
Evidently he must have reprimanded one of his students of the 'forties' for inattention , for --
-- You teach Greek verbs and Latin nouns,
The dreamer of Young Ireland said .
You do not hear the muffled call ,
The sword being forged , the far-off tread
Of hosts to meet as Gael and Gall -
What good to us your wisdom store ,
Your Latin verse , your Grecian lore ? (MORE LATER).
SELF-SERVING.......
[from ' The Sunday Tribune ' , 5th August , 1984]
.......The Catholic Archbishop of Managula , Obando Y Bravo , recently (ie 1984) appealed to American business executives for funds to help organise opposition to the Sandinista Governments attempts to install what he termed " a communist system " in Nicaragua .
The Archbishop told the American businessmen that he hoped the Sandinista's would be removed from power if they did not change their policies !
Was the Archbishop afraid that he and his would lose their influence over the poor if they began to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps ?
.......FUND-RAISERS ---->
[from ' The Evening Press ' newspaper , 6th November -- a Tuesday , if memory serves -- 1984]
<---- A Reverend Mother and a nun at a Belgian Convent have been jailed and fined £500 each for fiddling £3 million from the state health services . When a police inspector visited the convent , he found the two women dressed in bikinis and splashing about in an indoor swimming pool !
The police searched the building and discovered that every room had plush carpets , leather armchairs and a colour television . The fridges were stocked deep with beer , brandy and wine , and foodstuffs for three-course lunches were found .
Mother Rafaelle (46) and Sister Anne (43) were found guilty of defrauding Belgiums health service of nearly £3 million , and were jailed for three and two months respectively , and both were fined £500 . The two women were claiming payment for hospital treatment that was never carried out on patients who never existed !
Is that the calibre of people that the above-mentioned Archbishop wanted to put in charge of the poor in Nicaragua ?
.......Ireland , late 1850's ; British 'landlords' owned the land-- the Irish were their 'tenants' . But the Brits wanted livestock on 'their' land , not farmers .......
The British 'landlords' were not alone in thinking that they could do as they wished with 'their' holdings ; their bigotry was shared by the political establishment . In 1860 , the British-appointed Attorney General in Ireland , Richard Deasy , had his 'Act' passed into 'law' in this country -- it was known as ' The Landlord and Tenant Law Amendment (Ireland) Act of 1860 ', but was better known as ' Deasy's Act' .
In a nutshell , ' Deasy's Act ' removed whatever insignificant amount of protection that the 'tenant' had in relation to their rights and those of the 'landlord' ; it allowed the Brits a 'free-hand' to do as they choose with 'their' Irish 'tenants' ....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
".......Irish children were denied education by the British ; so the Irish organised underground 'schools' as best they could -- in fields and in abandoned shacks , and behind stone walls . The teachers were paid sometimes , as the people just had'nt got the money ....... "
"....... Padraig Colum , the poet , gives a description of the teachers' difficulties :
My eyelids red and heavy are ,
With bending o'er the smouldering peat ,
I know the Aeneid now by heart ,
My Virgil read in cold and heat ,
In loneliness and hunger smart.
And I know Homer, too , I ween,
As Munster poets know Ossian.
Evidently he must have reprimanded one of his students of the 'forties' for inattention , for --
-- You teach Greek verbs and Latin nouns,
The dreamer of Young Ireland said .
You do not hear the muffled call ,
The sword being forged , the far-off tread
Of hosts to meet as Gael and Gall -
What good to us your wisdom store ,
Your Latin verse , your Grecian lore ? (MORE LATER).
SELF-SERVING.......
[from ' The Sunday Tribune ' , 5th August , 1984]
.......The Catholic Archbishop of Managula , Obando Y Bravo , recently (ie 1984) appealed to American business executives for funds to help organise opposition to the Sandinista Governments attempts to install what he termed " a communist system " in Nicaragua .
The Archbishop told the American businessmen that he hoped the Sandinista's would be removed from power if they did not change their policies !
Was the Archbishop afraid that he and his would lose their influence over the poor if they began to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps ?
.......FUND-RAISERS ---->
[from ' The Evening Press ' newspaper , 6th November -- a Tuesday , if memory serves -- 1984]
<---- A Reverend Mother and a nun at a Belgian Convent have been jailed and fined £500 each for fiddling £3 million from the state health services . When a police inspector visited the convent , he found the two women dressed in bikinis and splashing about in an indoor swimming pool !
The police searched the building and discovered that every room had plush carpets , leather armchairs and a colour television . The fridges were stocked deep with beer , brandy and wine , and foodstuffs for three-course lunches were found .
Mother Rafaelle (46) and Sister Anne (43) were found guilty of defrauding Belgiums health service of nearly £3 million , and were jailed for three and two months respectively , and both were fined £500 . The two women were claiming payment for hospital treatment that was never carried out on patients who never existed !
Is that the calibre of people that the above-mentioned Archbishop wanted to put in charge of the poor in Nicaragua ?
Friday, November 28, 2003
DONEGAL ,1861 ; EVICTIONS UNDER ' DEASY'S ACT '.
Twenty million acres of land in Ireland ; 661,931 'tenants' (ie native Irish) in Ireland and 19,284 'landlords' (ie British Planter) in Ireland --- if the 'landlord' could get rid of the 'tenants' they could increase the size of 'their' ranches .......
In the late 1850's , an unscrupulous Brit named John George Adair arrived in the Derryveagh area of County Donegal and , by guile , hook and crook , within one year of being in the area , 'owned' more than ninty square miles of the surrounding countryside . Adair imported black-faced sheep from Scotland and allowed them to wander on 'his' land....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
".......the British had declared it to be a crime for the Irish to seek education ; it was one of the methods used to keep the natives in slavery......."
" Under these terrible conditions , the 'hedge-schoolmaster' or " poor scholar " was the man in the gap . He had been so since the battle of Kinsale. The 'hedge-schoolmaster' was a survival of the ancient Bardic professional schools . The Bards , who were poets as well as scholars , were classed next to royalty .
The 'hedge-schoolmaster' , often educated abroad , taught by the sheltered side of a fence in summer . In winter the school was indoors in some old cabin . The children brought sods of turf each day for the fire , as well as bottles of home-made ink and quill pens . They sat on planks mounted on stones , and wrote on their knees . The subjects taught were Irish , English , Greek , Latin , Mathematics and Natural Pilosophy .
The teacher was paid , as best they could , by the people whose children he taught ......." (MORE LATER).
GOD'S.......
[from ' The Sunday World ' newspaper , 6th November , 1983]
In a report home dated 10th December 1887 , a Mgr. Ignazio Persico , who was sent to Ireland by Leo XIII as a Papal Legate , stated --
-- " The state of this country is getting worse , owing to increasing repressive measures introduced by the English Government. It would seem that the English wish to provoke the Irish people into rebellion . "
Persico also said that , when reciting 'The Lord's Prayer' , Irish priests omitted the passage - ".....as we forgive them that trespass against us . "
No more "cheeks to turn ....."
.......ARMY ---->
[from ' The Evening Herald 'newspaper' , 28th November -- a Monday , I'm sure -- 1983]
<---- Father Rogelio Poncel , a forty-four year 'old' Belgian priest who joined up with El Salvador guerrillas , the 'Peoples Revolutionary Army' , stated---
--- " The Bible confronts established order , it must be seen from the point of view of the poor , and Christ was poor . The Bible carried a message of liberation . A Christian , a priest , must be revolutionary - how can we conform what we preach with a system that oppresse's and exploits ? "
Are all the good priests abroad ?
Twenty million acres of land in Ireland ; 661,931 'tenants' (ie native Irish) in Ireland and 19,284 'landlords' (ie British Planter) in Ireland --- if the 'landlord' could get rid of the 'tenants' they could increase the size of 'their' ranches .......
In the late 1850's , an unscrupulous Brit named John George Adair arrived in the Derryveagh area of County Donegal and , by guile , hook and crook , within one year of being in the area , 'owned' more than ninty square miles of the surrounding countryside . Adair imported black-faced sheep from Scotland and allowed them to wander on 'his' land....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
".......the British had declared it to be a crime for the Irish to seek education ; it was one of the methods used to keep the natives in slavery......."
" Under these terrible conditions , the 'hedge-schoolmaster' or " poor scholar " was the man in the gap . He had been so since the battle of Kinsale. The 'hedge-schoolmaster' was a survival of the ancient Bardic professional schools . The Bards , who were poets as well as scholars , were classed next to royalty .
The 'hedge-schoolmaster' , often educated abroad , taught by the sheltered side of a fence in summer . In winter the school was indoors in some old cabin . The children brought sods of turf each day for the fire , as well as bottles of home-made ink and quill pens . They sat on planks mounted on stones , and wrote on their knees . The subjects taught were Irish , English , Greek , Latin , Mathematics and Natural Pilosophy .
The teacher was paid , as best they could , by the people whose children he taught ......." (MORE LATER).
GOD'S.......
[from ' The Sunday World ' newspaper , 6th November , 1983]
In a report home dated 10th December 1887 , a Mgr. Ignazio Persico , who was sent to Ireland by Leo XIII as a Papal Legate , stated --
-- " The state of this country is getting worse , owing to increasing repressive measures introduced by the English Government. It would seem that the English wish to provoke the Irish people into rebellion . "
Persico also said that , when reciting 'The Lord's Prayer' , Irish priests omitted the passage - ".....as we forgive them that trespass against us . "
No more "cheeks to turn ....."
.......ARMY ---->
[from ' The Evening Herald 'newspaper' , 28th November -- a Monday , I'm sure -- 1983]
<---- Father Rogelio Poncel , a forty-four year 'old' Belgian priest who joined up with El Salvador guerrillas , the 'Peoples Revolutionary Army' , stated---
--- " The Bible confronts established order , it must be seen from the point of view of the poor , and Christ was poor . The Bible carried a message of liberation . A Christian , a priest , must be revolutionary - how can we conform what we preach with a system that oppresse's and exploits ? "
Are all the good priests abroad ?
Thursday, November 27, 2003
THE FIRST IRISH REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER -
' THE NORTHERN STAR ' : 1792 - 1797 .......
.......convinced that the French were on their way to assist the Irish rebels , the Brits declared martial law in Ireland ; they used the opportunity to raid the Offices of ' The Northern Star ' newspaper and wrecked the machinery before burning the building . The 'paper was out of business . But out of the ashes .......
.......a new Irish Republican newspaper was born -- ' The Press of Dublin ' , which published its first edition in late 1797 - within months of the demise of 'The Northern Star' , which it effectively took over from .
But , in March 1798 , it , too , was put out of business by the British .
Today , the only newspaper worth reading in connection with the Irish Republican struggle against the British presence in this country can be found here. Take out a subscription ; play your part .
[END].
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
".......the Irish people had been evicted from their cabins and their livestock taken in lieu of 'rent' by the British ; they lived in ditches and behind stone walls . One of the leaders of the failed 1848 Rising , Michael Doheny , lived while 'on-the-run' with the people of Ceimaneigh ......."
" In a poem he wrote , Michael Doheny praised the poorest of the poor , the people that gave him comfort and shelter while he was being chased by the British ---
The Felon's Track
Hurrah for the scanty meal
When served by ungrudging hand,
Hurrah for the hearts of steel
Still true to a fallen land.
And in his poem , ' A Cuisle Geal Mo Chroidhe ' , he mentions the treatment he received from the rich , who lived on the fat of the land . Speaking of the Ireland of his love , he says :
For thee I've tracked the mountain's sides ,
And slept within the brake,
More lonely than the swan that glides,
O'er Lua's fairy lake .
The rich have spurned me from their door ,
Because I'd make thee free:
Yet still I love thee all the more,
A cuisle geal mo Chroidhel !
Among the many and varied devices resorted to for keeping the people in slavery was the effective one of keeping them uneducated . Not until 1831 were the penal laws against education for the Irish relaxed .
Not alone was it a felony for the Old Irish to teach or be taught in Ireland , but it was a crime to send a child to school abroad ." (MORE LATER).
DEAD.......
[from ' The Evening Press ' newspaper , 10th November , 1983]
A Mr. John Kirkwin was elected as Town Supervisor in Rotterdam , New York , by 6921 to 4780 votes . Kirkwin (57) , died of a heart attack ten days before the elections , live on television !
But he was a politician : how could the punters tell .......?
.......LOSS ---->
[from ' The Evening Herald ' 'newspaper'(!) , 29th November , 1984]
<---- " The Dail(sic) is no better than a poor debating chamber , a place where TD's(sic) gather to talk to each other , but where nobody listens . The deputies are so involved in constituency work that they do not have time to study Bill's coming before them .
After seven-and-a-half years in the Dail (sic) I have lost faith in politicians and in the political system . I have become totally disillusioned with the whole system . "
--- So said Charlie McCreevy , Fianna Fail , the present Free State Minister for Finance .
Ah , come on now , Charlie --- cheer up ! Just think of the good you're doing for the community and carry-on .......
' THE NORTHERN STAR ' : 1792 - 1797 .......
.......convinced that the French were on their way to assist the Irish rebels , the Brits declared martial law in Ireland ; they used the opportunity to raid the Offices of ' The Northern Star ' newspaper and wrecked the machinery before burning the building . The 'paper was out of business . But out of the ashes .......
.......a new Irish Republican newspaper was born -- ' The Press of Dublin ' , which published its first edition in late 1797 - within months of the demise of 'The Northern Star' , which it effectively took over from .
But , in March 1798 , it , too , was put out of business by the British .
Today , the only newspaper worth reading in connection with the Irish Republican struggle against the British presence in this country can be found here. Take out a subscription ; play your part .
[END].
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
".......the Irish people had been evicted from their cabins and their livestock taken in lieu of 'rent' by the British ; they lived in ditches and behind stone walls . One of the leaders of the failed 1848 Rising , Michael Doheny , lived while 'on-the-run' with the people of Ceimaneigh ......."
" In a poem he wrote , Michael Doheny praised the poorest of the poor , the people that gave him comfort and shelter while he was being chased by the British ---
The Felon's Track
Hurrah for the scanty meal
When served by ungrudging hand,
Hurrah for the hearts of steel
Still true to a fallen land.
And in his poem , ' A Cuisle Geal Mo Chroidhe ' , he mentions the treatment he received from the rich , who lived on the fat of the land . Speaking of the Ireland of his love , he says :
For thee I've tracked the mountain's sides ,
And slept within the brake,
More lonely than the swan that glides,
O'er Lua's fairy lake .
The rich have spurned me from their door ,
Because I'd make thee free:
Yet still I love thee all the more,
A cuisle geal mo Chroidhel !
Among the many and varied devices resorted to for keeping the people in slavery was the effective one of keeping them uneducated . Not until 1831 were the penal laws against education for the Irish relaxed .
Not alone was it a felony for the Old Irish to teach or be taught in Ireland , but it was a crime to send a child to school abroad ." (MORE LATER).
DEAD.......
[from ' The Evening Press ' newspaper , 10th November , 1983]
A Mr. John Kirkwin was elected as Town Supervisor in Rotterdam , New York , by 6921 to 4780 votes . Kirkwin (57) , died of a heart attack ten days before the elections , live on television !
But he was a politician : how could the punters tell .......?
.......LOSS ---->
[from ' The Evening Herald ' 'newspaper'(!) , 29th November , 1984]
<---- " The Dail(sic) is no better than a poor debating chamber , a place where TD's(sic) gather to talk to each other , but where nobody listens . The deputies are so involved in constituency work that they do not have time to study Bill's coming before them .
After seven-and-a-half years in the Dail (sic) I have lost faith in politicians and in the political system . I have become totally disillusioned with the whole system . "
--- So said Charlie McCreevy , Fianna Fail , the present Free State Minister for Finance .
Ah , come on now , Charlie --- cheer up ! Just think of the good you're doing for the community and carry-on .......
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
THE FIRST IRISH REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER -
' THE NORTHERN STAR ' : 1792 - 1797 .......
.......within four years of its formation (ie by 1796) , ' The Northern Star ' newspaper had the largest circulation of any newspaper in Ireland . The Brits were not impressed -- they were harassing the staff of the 'paper on a regular basis and then arrested its Editor , Samuel Neilson , for publishing what they termed a " seditious " article.......
In late 1796 , a French expedition to Ireland , under the command of General Hoche failed ; the British Administration in Dublin Castle convinced themselves that a French invasion of Ireland was imminent and proclaimed a state of martial law ; by May , 1797 , British General Lake had confined Samuel Neilson and almost all of the proprietors of The Northern Star to prison --- the Brits decided to move against the newspaper itself .
A unit of the Irish militia , under orders from their British pay-masters , forced their way into the premises of The Northern Star , smashed the machinery , removed all paper-work and thrashed the building . The Northern Star newspaper was out of business -- it had defied the British for five years ; 1792 - 1797 . However , out of the ashes ....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
".......the British 'landlords' removed grain and livestock in lieu of 'rent'-money ; the Irish were evicted and their cabins wrecked . Some died on the roadside or suffocated in the bowels of a coffin ship . The 'landlord' used the now-vacant farm to graze 'his' sheep and cattle ......."
" How fared the people of our area during this period of artificial famine ? People died of hunger here as well as in other places but not to the same extent . This was due to the fact that the people shared their meagre supplies of oatmeal with stranger or neighbour who wanted it . Many of them defended their grain crops . The Battle of Ceimaneigh , fought in 1822 , now repaid them for the losses suffered there .
For besides reducing the tithe and 'landlord rents' , it showed tyrants , who might consider further oppression , the danger of pressing such people too far . Again , eviction of the people would ill-profit the landlord , for the little fields would return to the mountain-state in a short time . At all times , the people deemed it an honour to give food and shelter to men who strove or had striven to free Ireland. Big rewards for information leading to the capture of such men left them unmoved , or rather spurred them to further efforts to ensure their safety .
Treachery was unknown among them . Michael Doheny , one of the leaders of the 1848 Rising , came among them after that failure . He speaks highly of their generosity at a time when they themselves had little to give ......." (MORE LATER).
STOOP DOWN LOW , JUMP UP SHARPLY .......
[from ' The Sunday Tribune ' newspaper , 25th September , 1983]
When he was the leader of the
They replied that , in their opinion , the (then) elected representatives for the (then) Sinn Fein organisation should be allowed to join the 'Forum' . They also told Mr. Hume that the 'Federation' insisted " that Britain should declare its intention to withdraw from the North within a period of ten years . " They called Hume's bluff further by stating that all British troops in the Six Counties " should be returned to barracks immediately . " !
Can't ya just picture what happened next -- John Hume , looking over his shoulder , leggin' it down the road , screaming.......
' THE NORTHERN STAR ' : 1792 - 1797 .......
.......within four years of its formation (ie by 1796) , ' The Northern Star ' newspaper had the largest circulation of any newspaper in Ireland . The Brits were not impressed -- they were harassing the staff of the 'paper on a regular basis and then arrested its Editor , Samuel Neilson , for publishing what they termed a " seditious " article.......
In late 1796 , a French expedition to Ireland , under the command of General Hoche failed ; the British Administration in Dublin Castle convinced themselves that a French invasion of Ireland was imminent and proclaimed a state of martial law ; by May , 1797 , British General Lake had confined Samuel Neilson and almost all of the proprietors of The Northern Star to prison --- the Brits decided to move against the newspaper itself .
A unit of the Irish militia , under orders from their British pay-masters , forced their way into the premises of The Northern Star , smashed the machinery , removed all paper-work and thrashed the building . The Northern Star newspaper was out of business -- it had defied the British for five years ; 1792 - 1797 . However , out of the ashes ....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
".......the British 'landlords' removed grain and livestock in lieu of 'rent'-money ; the Irish were evicted and their cabins wrecked . Some died on the roadside or suffocated in the bowels of a coffin ship . The 'landlord' used the now-vacant farm to graze 'his' sheep and cattle ......."
" How fared the people of our area during this period of artificial famine ? People died of hunger here as well as in other places but not to the same extent . This was due to the fact that the people shared their meagre supplies of oatmeal with stranger or neighbour who wanted it . Many of them defended their grain crops . The Battle of Ceimaneigh , fought in 1822 , now repaid them for the losses suffered there .
For besides reducing the tithe and 'landlord rents' , it showed tyrants , who might consider further oppression , the danger of pressing such people too far . Again , eviction of the people would ill-profit the landlord , for the little fields would return to the mountain-state in a short time . At all times , the people deemed it an honour to give food and shelter to men who strove or had striven to free Ireland. Big rewards for information leading to the capture of such men left them unmoved , or rather spurred them to further efforts to ensure their safety .
Treachery was unknown among them . Michael Doheny , one of the leaders of the 1848 Rising , came among them after that failure . He speaks highly of their generosity at a time when they themselves had little to give ......." (MORE LATER).
STOOP DOWN LOW , JUMP UP SHARPLY .......
[from ' The Sunday Tribune ' newspaper , 25th September , 1983]
When he was the leader of the
S
toopD
ownL
owP
arty , John Hume asked the ' Federation of Irish Societies ' to make a submission to the then talking-shop-and-salaried body that was the 'New Ireland Forum'.They replied that , in their opinion , the (then) elected representatives for the (then) Sinn Fein organisation should be allowed to join the 'Forum' . They also told Mr. Hume that the 'Federation' insisted " that Britain should declare its intention to withdraw from the North within a period of ten years . " They called Hume's bluff further by stating that all British troops in the Six Counties " should be returned to barracks immediately . " !
Can't ya just picture what happened next -- John Hume , looking over his shoulder , leggin' it down the road , screaming.......
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
THE FIRST IRISH REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER -
' THE NORTHERN STAR ' : 1792 - 1797 .......
.......having failed in their first attempt to close ' The Northern Star ' newspaper , the Brits seen another opportunity to try again in that newspaper's outright support for the envoy from France , the Rev. William Jackson ; the British had captured Jackson , and the newspaper was in support of him and the new French Administration .......
It was the pretext the British were waiting on -- the ' United Irishmen Society ' was suppressed and declared to be an " illegal organisation " ; its leaders were forced to go ' on the run ' , but not before they had re-organised the 'Society ' as an underground army and re-confirmed its objective to establish an Irish Republic by force of arms .
The Northern Star newspaper which , by now (1796) , had the largest circulation of any newspaper in Ireland , was continuing its business --- and the British were still determined to close it down . However , because of their failed court-case with the newspaper ( in 1792) , they tried a different method ; harassment of the newspapers staff . After a few weeks of this , the Brits moved against the 'paper's Editor , Samuel Neilson , arresting him for a " seditious " article , and transporting him immediately to Newgate Jail in Dublin ....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
".......1847 ; the potato crop had failed-- but the British 'landlord' did'nt care . He still demanded 'his' money , even if the Irish were forced to sell their other crops to get it ......."
" The rents had to be paid . Where the grain was not sold to pay the rents it was seized on the field under armed protection . It is a fact that even grain for seed for the coming year was seized . Thus it came about that the rent could not , willingly or otherwise , be paid on the following year . If the tenant had not already left his home the ' Notice to Quit ' was served on him . Then the crowbar and the battering-ram laid his cabin in ruin .
He and his family were thrown on the roadside to die . It was convenient for the 'landlord' in any case . A drop in the price of corn in Britain , due to free import from other countries , and a good market for meat there , decided the question . Now he would get rid of those troublesome human cattle and keep bullocks and sheep instead .
And so it happened . The great exodus started . Some , who left in time , reached America . Some died on the coffin ships. Some died by the wayside ......." (MORE LATER).
VIOLENCE.......
[from ' Inside Tribune ' newspaper supplement , 6th November , 1983]
According to the Leinster House 'Debates' register , Sean Lemass (Fianna Fail) claimed --
-- " Our objective (ie Fianna Fail) is to establish a Republican Government in Ireland . If that can be done by the present methods we have , we will be very pleased but , if not , we would not confine ourselves to them . "
Fightin' talk - but the fighting was not done by Fianna Fail against the Brits ; it was , and still is , a Fianna Fail (and Free State) 'war' against those that refuse to accept the British jurisdictional claim to any part of Ireland.
.......ON THE STREETS ---->
[from ' The Evening Press ' newspaper , 3rd October -- a Monday , I believe -- 1983]
<---- When he was the 'Chief Whip' of Fianna Fail , the now-leader of that party (and present Free State Taoiseach) , Bertie Ahern called for a return to times " when more justice was carried out in the streets than in the courts ." !
WOW ! Bertie the basher ! 'Course he was still wearing the oul' anorak in those days , and the nearest he got to a State function was delivering the invites on behalf of his buddy , Charlie Haughey . AND he was still trying to cultivate some street cred -- especially among the " Uncouth muck-savages , unprincipled and power-hungry members of Fianna Fail ," as Charlie McCreevy (Fianna Fail) described his own party members !*
Maybe Bertie should give McCreevy a few clatters the next time he bumps into him on the street ! And not necessarily for the above comments , either .......
( (*) -- from 'The Sunday Business Post' , 'Agenda' section , 23rd November , 2003 , page 6 ).
' THE NORTHERN STAR ' : 1792 - 1797 .......
.......having failed in their first attempt to close ' The Northern Star ' newspaper , the Brits seen another opportunity to try again in that newspaper's outright support for the envoy from France , the Rev. William Jackson ; the British had captured Jackson , and the newspaper was in support of him and the new French Administration .......
It was the pretext the British were waiting on -- the ' United Irishmen Society ' was suppressed and declared to be an " illegal organisation " ; its leaders were forced to go ' on the run ' , but not before they had re-organised the 'Society ' as an underground army and re-confirmed its objective to establish an Irish Republic by force of arms .
The Northern Star newspaper which , by now (1796) , had the largest circulation of any newspaper in Ireland , was continuing its business --- and the British were still determined to close it down . However , because of their failed court-case with the newspaper ( in 1792) , they tried a different method ; harassment of the newspapers staff . After a few weeks of this , the Brits moved against the 'paper's Editor , Samuel Neilson , arresting him for a " seditious " article , and transporting him immediately to Newgate Jail in Dublin ....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
".......1847 ; the potato crop had failed-- but the British 'landlord' did'nt care . He still demanded 'his' money , even if the Irish were forced to sell their other crops to get it ......."
" The rents had to be paid . Where the grain was not sold to pay the rents it was seized on the field under armed protection . It is a fact that even grain for seed for the coming year was seized . Thus it came about that the rent could not , willingly or otherwise , be paid on the following year . If the tenant had not already left his home the ' Notice to Quit ' was served on him . Then the crowbar and the battering-ram laid his cabin in ruin .
He and his family were thrown on the roadside to die . It was convenient for the 'landlord' in any case . A drop in the price of corn in Britain , due to free import from other countries , and a good market for meat there , decided the question . Now he would get rid of those troublesome human cattle and keep bullocks and sheep instead .
And so it happened . The great exodus started . Some , who left in time , reached America . Some died on the coffin ships. Some died by the wayside ......." (MORE LATER).
VIOLENCE.......
[from ' Inside Tribune ' newspaper supplement , 6th November , 1983]
According to the Leinster House 'Debates' register , Sean Lemass (Fianna Fail) claimed --
-- " Our objective (ie Fianna Fail) is to establish a Republican Government in Ireland . If that can be done by the present methods we have , we will be very pleased but , if not , we would not confine ourselves to them . "
Fightin' talk - but the fighting was not done by Fianna Fail against the Brits ; it was , and still is , a Fianna Fail (and Free State) 'war' against those that refuse to accept the British jurisdictional claim to any part of Ireland.
.......ON THE STREETS ---->
[from ' The Evening Press ' newspaper , 3rd October -- a Monday , I believe -- 1983]
<---- When he was the 'Chief Whip' of Fianna Fail , the now-leader of that party (and present Free State Taoiseach) , Bertie Ahern called for a return to times " when more justice was carried out in the streets than in the courts ." !
WOW ! Bertie the basher ! 'Course he was still wearing the oul' anorak in those days , and the nearest he got to a State function was delivering the invites on behalf of his buddy , Charlie Haughey . AND he was still trying to cultivate some street cred -- especially among the " Uncouth muck-savages , unprincipled and power-hungry members of Fianna Fail ," as Charlie McCreevy (Fianna Fail) described his own party members !*
Maybe Bertie should give McCreevy a few clatters the next time he bumps into him on the street ! And not necessarily for the above comments , either .......
( (*) -- from 'The Sunday Business Post' , 'Agenda' section , 23rd November , 2003 , page 6 ).
Monday, November 24, 2003
THE FIRST IRISH REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER -
' THE NORTHERN STAR ' : 1792 - 1797 .......
.......the British 'Authorities' were keeping an eye on the Irish Republican newspaper ' The Northern Star ' ; before it could celebrate its first 'birthday' , they tried a low-key 'diplomatic' approach to put it out of business .......
The Brits arrested the proprietors of The Northern Star and prosecuted them on eight charges ranging from 'sedition' to ' treason' ; the well-known Dublin barrister , John Philpot Curran, and his team , defended the newspaper management and staff -- and the Dublin Castle 'Authorities' (the Brits) lost the case ! The newspaper continued publishing .
However , after the new French Republican Government sent over an envoy ( Rev. William Jackson ) to assist the United Irishmen , the Brits got their way : Jackson was seized by the British and his treatment and 'trial' was published in full by The Northern Star newspaper , which threw its considerable weight full-square behind the French envoy and the 'paper used that opportunity to make it known that it fully supported the new French Administration....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
".......the women and children were in a panic ; the British forces were within earshot , and they had come to collect ' rent-money' from the Irish ; a musket-fight began , followed by hand-to-hand fighting between the Brits and the Irish farmers --the foreigner fled the battle......."
" The return of hope. The exhortation to stand firm with the good steel always ready . The vision of the day when Irishmen would be back in the good land of Ireland which they had had to yield . People admitted harbouring a good deal of ill-feeling for the pot-bellied Planters . They would say no more about them but would merely pray that the slaughter and the terror of rout might attend on them .
The 'Famine' of 1847 did not begin or end in that year . A state of semi-starvation already existed . It is true that the failure of the potato crop in that year precipitated it ; but there was no actual shortage of food anywhere --- better food than the potato . The fact was that all the grain grown by the small farmer went to pay the 'rents' , the 'landlords' and the 'tithe rents'. The failure of the potato crop wrung no concession from the 'landlord'....... (MORE LATER).
BOLAND'S FREE DAY ---->
<---- Back in April 1983 , the late John Boland (Fine Gael) had a great idea -- ' Work a Day for Ireland (SIC) ' ; his proposal was for those lucky enough to have a job to " work a day for no pay " , the benefit being that the Free State Exchequer would profit by production with no cost to itself .
When not lodged in his ivory tower , John lived in the family home at Holmpatrick , Skerries , in County Dublin , which he shared at the time with his wife and two children . A former auctioneer , he was educated in Dublin at the Presentation Convent in Terenure , the CBS in Synge Street and University College Dublin . He was Chairperson of Dublin County Council from 1971-'72 , 1976-'77 and 1979-1980 .
He was appointed Free State Minister for Education in 1981 (and floated a lead kite about raising the school entry age) and also served , for about three months , as the Free State Minister for Health , during 1987.
Anyway , at the time John wanted those of us that had a job to work for free for one day while he was being paid £121.70p (Euro 154.53 cents) a day , a sum that most of us only dreamed about earning in a week ! It's easy , I would guess , to give up £121.70p when you know , at the end of the week , you'll still be collecting a salary of £486.80p (Euro 618.11 cents) for the other four days ! Not so easy for the rest of us , though .
Needless to say , the idea never got past the 'OUT' tray on Mr. Boland's polished table ; the rest of us just could'nt afford it .
' THE NORTHERN STAR ' : 1792 - 1797 .......
.......the British 'Authorities' were keeping an eye on the Irish Republican newspaper ' The Northern Star ' ; before it could celebrate its first 'birthday' , they tried a low-key 'diplomatic' approach to put it out of business .......
The Brits arrested the proprietors of The Northern Star and prosecuted them on eight charges ranging from 'sedition' to ' treason' ; the well-known Dublin barrister , John Philpot Curran, and his team , defended the newspaper management and staff -- and the Dublin Castle 'Authorities' (the Brits) lost the case ! The newspaper continued publishing .
However , after the new French Republican Government sent over an envoy ( Rev. William Jackson ) to assist the United Irishmen , the Brits got their way : Jackson was seized by the British and his treatment and 'trial' was published in full by The Northern Star newspaper , which threw its considerable weight full-square behind the French envoy and the 'paper used that opportunity to make it known that it fully supported the new French Administration....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
".......the women and children were in a panic ; the British forces were within earshot , and they had come to collect ' rent-money' from the Irish ; a musket-fight began , followed by hand-to-hand fighting between the Brits and the Irish farmers --the foreigner fled the battle......."
" The return of hope. The exhortation to stand firm with the good steel always ready . The vision of the day when Irishmen would be back in the good land of Ireland which they had had to yield . People admitted harbouring a good deal of ill-feeling for the pot-bellied Planters . They would say no more about them but would merely pray that the slaughter and the terror of rout might attend on them .
The 'Famine' of 1847 did not begin or end in that year . A state of semi-starvation already existed . It is true that the failure of the potato crop in that year precipitated it ; but there was no actual shortage of food anywhere --- better food than the potato . The fact was that all the grain grown by the small farmer went to pay the 'rents' , the 'landlords' and the 'tithe rents'. The failure of the potato crop wrung no concession from the 'landlord'....... (MORE LATER).
BOLAND'S FREE DAY ---->
<---- Back in April 1983 , the late John Boland (Fine Gael) had a great idea -- ' Work a Day for Ireland (SIC) ' ; his proposal was for those lucky enough to have a job to " work a day for no pay " , the benefit being that the Free State Exchequer would profit by production with no cost to itself .
When not lodged in his ivory tower , John lived in the family home at Holmpatrick , Skerries , in County Dublin , which he shared at the time with his wife and two children . A former auctioneer , he was educated in Dublin at the Presentation Convent in Terenure , the CBS in Synge Street and University College Dublin . He was Chairperson of Dublin County Council from 1971-'72 , 1976-'77 and 1979-1980 .
He was appointed Free State Minister for Education in 1981 (and floated a lead kite about raising the school entry age) and also served , for about three months , as the Free State Minister for Health , during 1987.
Anyway , at the time John wanted those of us that had a job to work for free for one day while he was being paid £121.70p (Euro 154.53 cents) a day , a sum that most of us only dreamed about earning in a week ! It's easy , I would guess , to give up £121.70p when you know , at the end of the week , you'll still be collecting a salary of £486.80p (Euro 618.11 cents) for the other four days ! Not so easy for the rest of us , though .
Needless to say , the idea never got past the 'OUT' tray on Mr. Boland's polished table ; the rest of us just could'nt afford it .
Sunday, November 23, 2003
THE FIRST IRISH REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER -
' THE NORTHERN STAR ' : 1792 - 1797 .......
.......the new Irish Republican newspaper was a great success ; it was soon publishing leaflets and pamphlets etc and , in 1795 , it published the well-known periodical of the time , ' Bolg an Tsolair ' (the 'Gaelic Magazine').......
By this stage (ie three years after it's formation) , ' The Northern Star ' had well and truly gone beyond seeking only " equal representation of all the people in parliament " and was now openly calling for the overthrow of English rule in Ireland ; its position was that it would not accept less than complete separation from England .
The newspapers circulation soared and people queued to buy each new issue . But the British 'Authorities' in Ireland were in the queue for a different reason : to close the newspaper .
They had tried to put the 'paper out of business before --- within a year of it's first issue , the Brits tried a 'diplomatic' approach to shut it down ....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
".......the hand-to-hand fight between the Irish farmers and the British soldiers left one soldier , John Smith , dead ; his British comrades had enough and fled the scene . The Irish buried the two men they lost , and also buried Smith......."
" Maire Bhuidhe witnessed the battle . One of her brothers fought in it . She composed a poem which , although the engagement itself was relatively small , will keep its memory alive while the Irish language lives . It tells of the peace of the countryside , of how happy she was as she listened to the singing of the birds .
Then suddenly the dreadful sound of an army approaching came to her ears . The heavy harmony of the cavalry and the general vibration of the whole army seemed to shake the mountain . The terror of the women and children as they ran from their homes bewailing the fate of their fathers , brothers and husbands who they thought would be encircled and whose utter destruction seemed imminent .
The sight of other brave men hurrying to the scene to help their neighbours or die with them . The rolling volleys of musketry , the fierce charge with the steel of our men , the immediate break and utter rout of the well-equipped and numerically far superior enemy . The joy at the seemingly-impossible victory . The praise for her great men of the Gael ........" (MORE LATER).
KELLY'S (unsung)HERO'S ---->
<---- In early 1983 , the late Leinster House member John Kelly ( Fine Gael ) was worried about the high level of unemployment -- approximately two-hundred-thousand people were out of work on the island -- and he was also upset about the estimated five-thousand people a month joining those on the dole .
At the time , John , married and a father of five , was living in the family home on Ailesbury Road in Ballsbridge and , as well as his Leinster House 'job' , was employed by University College Dublin (since 1965) as a Law Professor ( Roman Law and Jurisprudence ) from which institution he was being paid a 'half-salary'.
He served in three Free State Departments --- Taoiseach , Defence and Foreign Affairs --- as ' Parliamentary Secretary ' between 1973 and 1977 , was Free State Attorney General for a few months after '77 , and was the State Minister for Trade , Commerce and Tourism (and Foreign Affairs) in the 1981 - 1982 Fine gael/Labour Administration .
Anyway , the bould John , before returning to his cosy Ballsbridge home , advised those who lost their jobs , or could'nt get a job in the first place , to emigrate ! If they refused to go , he said , they would be a burden on the State and on P.A.Y.E. workers.......
The man should've been a Jockey ; he had the neck for it .....
' THE NORTHERN STAR ' : 1792 - 1797 .......
.......the new Irish Republican newspaper was a great success ; it was soon publishing leaflets and pamphlets etc and , in 1795 , it published the well-known periodical of the time , ' Bolg an Tsolair ' (the 'Gaelic Magazine').......
By this stage (ie three years after it's formation) , ' The Northern Star ' had well and truly gone beyond seeking only " equal representation of all the people in parliament " and was now openly calling for the overthrow of English rule in Ireland ; its position was that it would not accept less than complete separation from England .
The newspapers circulation soared and people queued to buy each new issue . But the British 'Authorities' in Ireland were in the queue for a different reason : to close the newspaper .
They had tried to put the 'paper out of business before --- within a year of it's first issue , the Brits tried a 'diplomatic' approach to shut it down ....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
".......the hand-to-hand fight between the Irish farmers and the British soldiers left one soldier , John Smith , dead ; his British comrades had enough and fled the scene . The Irish buried the two men they lost , and also buried Smith......."
" Maire Bhuidhe witnessed the battle . One of her brothers fought in it . She composed a poem which , although the engagement itself was relatively small , will keep its memory alive while the Irish language lives . It tells of the peace of the countryside , of how happy she was as she listened to the singing of the birds .
Then suddenly the dreadful sound of an army approaching came to her ears . The heavy harmony of the cavalry and the general vibration of the whole army seemed to shake the mountain . The terror of the women and children as they ran from their homes bewailing the fate of their fathers , brothers and husbands who they thought would be encircled and whose utter destruction seemed imminent .
The sight of other brave men hurrying to the scene to help their neighbours or die with them . The rolling volleys of musketry , the fierce charge with the steel of our men , the immediate break and utter rout of the well-equipped and numerically far superior enemy . The joy at the seemingly-impossible victory . The praise for her great men of the Gael ........" (MORE LATER).
KELLY'S (unsung)HERO'S ---->
<---- In early 1983 , the late Leinster House member John Kelly ( Fine Gael ) was worried about the high level of unemployment -- approximately two-hundred-thousand people were out of work on the island -- and he was also upset about the estimated five-thousand people a month joining those on the dole .
At the time , John , married and a father of five , was living in the family home on Ailesbury Road in Ballsbridge and , as well as his Leinster House 'job' , was employed by University College Dublin (since 1965) as a Law Professor ( Roman Law and Jurisprudence ) from which institution he was being paid a 'half-salary'.
He served in three Free State Departments --- Taoiseach , Defence and Foreign Affairs --- as ' Parliamentary Secretary ' between 1973 and 1977 , was Free State Attorney General for a few months after '77 , and was the State Minister for Trade , Commerce and Tourism (and Foreign Affairs) in the 1981 - 1982 Fine gael/Labour Administration .
Anyway , the bould John , before returning to his cosy Ballsbridge home , advised those who lost their jobs , or could'nt get a job in the first place , to emigrate ! If they refused to go , he said , they would be a burden on the State and on P.A.Y.E. workers.......
The man should've been a Jockey ; he had the neck for it .....
Saturday, November 22, 2003
THE FIRST IRISH REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER -
' THE NORTHERN STAR ' : 1792 - 1797 .......
.......the first issue of ' The Northern Star ' was published in January , 1792 , in Belfast - Wolfe Tone declared that if the aims of the newspaper were to be achieved , it would lead to an Irish Republic . ' The Northern Star ' was set-up as a business , with a Committee of ten investors .......
The 'business-like' structure of the newspaper was believed to be the first such attempt in which an Irish newspaper was controlled by what was , in effect , a 'Board of Directors' -- a 'sub-committee' of management , consisting of three members , was put in place by the 'Directors' ; one of the management team was Samuel Neilson , also the 'papers Editor .
The newspaper was an instant success -- it reflected and promoted the Irish Republican viewpoint and was as popular in Dublin , Edinburgh and London as it was in Belfast . It had its own printing-press that was used to publish other material ( ie leaflets , pamphlets and booklets etc ) of a Republican nature ; indeed , in 1795 , ' The Northern Star ' printed another big seller of the time , ' Bolg an Tsolair ' ( 'the 'Gaelic Magazine' )....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
".......in 1822 , the Irish refused to pay the British 'tithe rent' ; they knew the Brits would send in their military to demand that the 'rent' be paid , so the Irish farmers raided the ' Big Houses ' looking for arms . Just south of the Pass of Ceimaneigh , the British military and the Irish farmers came face-to-face ....... "
" The Irish scattered among the houses of Tuirin na nEan , Cloch Barrach and Na hinseacha , at the foot of Duchoill Mountain . They re-assembled and took up a position to the south of the old Cork-Bantry road . As British soldiers and Yeoman coming from the east and west deployed in front of them , the Irish opened fire . The enemy took cover and our men followed up with bayonet and pike to meet a volley which killed two of their number , Amhlaoibh O Luingsigh from Doireach ( in the parish of Cill na Martra ) and Barra O Laoghaire from Gaortha na Tornora ( in the parish of Ballingeary ) .
In the hand-to-hand fight which followed , a British soldier was killed . His name was John Smith , of the Rifle Brigade . The entire enemy force broke and fled for their lives . Our men took away their dead -- Amhlaoibh O Luingsigh was buried in Ballyvourney , and Barra O Laoghaire in the old graveyard in Inchigeela . The Irish buried the soldier Smith in Muing na Biorraighe at Gort Luachra . Later he was transferred to the old graveyard in Inchigeela , where a stone erected by his comrades marks his grave ......." (MORE LATER).
REVISIONIST COWBOYS .......
....... Captain Robert Monteith , a colleague of Roger Casements , once said ---
--- " The English Empire may have been founded by bayonets , but it is maintained , in a great measure , by those who write of it's glories or by those who write in derision of men and women who challenge it's power . "
And the same is true today -- we have no shortage of journalists and politicians who begin with a compromise for the British presence in this country and quickly descend into appeasement of all things British.......
.......AND PROUD INDIANS ---->
[from ' The Evening Press ' newspaper , 10th October , 1992 -- a Saturday , if memory serves -- page 5]
<---- Phillip Sheridan was born in Killinkere , County Cavan , in 1831 . The Sheridan Family had to leave Ireland because of the Great Hunger , and young Phillip grew up in America to become the 'Supreme Commander' of the U S Army.
He 'made his name' by his evil treatment of the U S Indians . He was responsible for the slaughter of the Lakota Indians at Wounded Knee in 1890 --- one-hundred Indians , under Chief Big Foot , were massacred by the U S 7th Cavalry ; about half of the dead were women and children .
The Wounded Knee massacre was the last of the Indian uprisings , and prompted Phillip Sheridan to state -- " The only good Indian I ever saw was dead ."
The Irish and the Native Americans have a common enemy --- imperialism . Phillip Sheridan was on the wrong side .......
' THE NORTHERN STAR ' : 1792 - 1797 .......
.......the first issue of ' The Northern Star ' was published in January , 1792 , in Belfast - Wolfe Tone declared that if the aims of the newspaper were to be achieved , it would lead to an Irish Republic . ' The Northern Star ' was set-up as a business , with a Committee of ten investors .......
The 'business-like' structure of the newspaper was believed to be the first such attempt in which an Irish newspaper was controlled by what was , in effect , a 'Board of Directors' -- a 'sub-committee' of management , consisting of three members , was put in place by the 'Directors' ; one of the management team was Samuel Neilson , also the 'papers Editor .
The newspaper was an instant success -- it reflected and promoted the Irish Republican viewpoint and was as popular in Dublin , Edinburgh and London as it was in Belfast . It had its own printing-press that was used to publish other material ( ie leaflets , pamphlets and booklets etc ) of a Republican nature ; indeed , in 1795 , ' The Northern Star ' printed another big seller of the time , ' Bolg an Tsolair ' ( 'the 'Gaelic Magazine' )....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
".......in 1822 , the Irish refused to pay the British 'tithe rent' ; they knew the Brits would send in their military to demand that the 'rent' be paid , so the Irish farmers raided the ' Big Houses ' looking for arms . Just south of the Pass of Ceimaneigh , the British military and the Irish farmers came face-to-face ....... "
" The Irish scattered among the houses of Tuirin na nEan , Cloch Barrach and Na hinseacha , at the foot of Duchoill Mountain . They re-assembled and took up a position to the south of the old Cork-Bantry road . As British soldiers and Yeoman coming from the east and west deployed in front of them , the Irish opened fire . The enemy took cover and our men followed up with bayonet and pike to meet a volley which killed two of their number , Amhlaoibh O Luingsigh from Doireach ( in the parish of Cill na Martra ) and Barra O Laoghaire from Gaortha na Tornora ( in the parish of Ballingeary ) .
In the hand-to-hand fight which followed , a British soldier was killed . His name was John Smith , of the Rifle Brigade . The entire enemy force broke and fled for their lives . Our men took away their dead -- Amhlaoibh O Luingsigh was buried in Ballyvourney , and Barra O Laoghaire in the old graveyard in Inchigeela . The Irish buried the soldier Smith in Muing na Biorraighe at Gort Luachra . Later he was transferred to the old graveyard in Inchigeela , where a stone erected by his comrades marks his grave ......." (MORE LATER).
REVISIONIST COWBOYS .......
....... Captain Robert Monteith , a colleague of Roger Casements , once said ---
--- " The English Empire may have been founded by bayonets , but it is maintained , in a great measure , by those who write of it's glories or by those who write in derision of men and women who challenge it's power . "
And the same is true today -- we have no shortage of journalists and politicians who begin with a compromise for the British presence in this country and quickly descend into appeasement of all things British.......
.......AND PROUD INDIANS ---->
[from ' The Evening Press ' newspaper , 10th October , 1992 -- a Saturday , if memory serves -- page 5]
<---- Phillip Sheridan was born in Killinkere , County Cavan , in 1831 . The Sheridan Family had to leave Ireland because of the Great Hunger , and young Phillip grew up in America to become the 'Supreme Commander' of the U S Army.
He 'made his name' by his evil treatment of the U S Indians . He was responsible for the slaughter of the Lakota Indians at Wounded Knee in 1890 --- one-hundred Indians , under Chief Big Foot , were massacred by the U S 7th Cavalry ; about half of the dead were women and children .
The Wounded Knee massacre was the last of the Indian uprisings , and prompted Phillip Sheridan to state -- " The only good Indian I ever saw was dead ."
The Irish and the Native Americans have a common enemy --- imperialism . Phillip Sheridan was on the wrong side .......
Friday, November 21, 2003
THE FIRST IRISH REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER -
' THE NORTHERN STAR ' : 1792 - 1797 .......
".......the response to young Wolfe Tone's pamphlet of September 1791 (entitled - ' An Argument on Behalf of the Catholics in Ireland ' ) was massive ; within weeks , societies of people in support of the ideals expressed by Tone were being formed in Ireland......."
By the end of that year (1791) a decision was taken to publish the political viewpoint and opinion of Wolfe Tone and other United Irishmen on a regular basis --- in January 1792 , the first issue of ' The Northern Star ' was published in Belfast ; it was a radical newspaper , edited by Samuel Neilson , and its first issue stated that its brief was to demand "equal representation of all the people in parliament ."
Wolfe Tone added that if the newspaper's aim was to be achieved , it would lead to the establishment of an Irish Republic , free of British interference . ' The Northern Star ' was run on very 'business-like' lines , with a Committee of ten investors ....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS .......
" .......when the Irish heard that a fighting-force from France were about to land at Bantry Bay in Cork to take on the Brits , they armed themselves as best they could to help the French . The British , however , were watching all this ....... "
" The British Yeomanry force was composed entirely of Planters and captained by 'landlords' . They were dressed in uniform , and were well armed with sword , pistol , and carbine . The French fleet under Hoche was unable to land troops because of fierce and prolonged gales , and had to put to sea again .
In the year 1822 , our people took up arms again . Poor weapons they had , pikes and old unreliable muskets . They refused to pay the tithe rent and prepared to resist as best they could . As a preliminary they decided to raid for arms the 'Big Houses' of the Planters in the neighbourhood of Bantry town . While engaged in this enterprise , word was conveyed to the military authorities in both Bantry and Macroom .
At that time a company of the Rifle Brigade occupied barracks in Inchigeela . All took the field , the Muskerry and Bantry Yeoman included , and proceeded to round up our men who had just reached their own area south of the Pass of Ceimaneigh ....... (MORE LATER).
TWISTS.......
[from ' The Sunday Tribune ' , 20th April , 1997 , page 1]
....... Speaking at his partys Ard Fheis , Fianna Fail leader Bertie Ahern stated ---
--- " No-one , no-one , is welcome in this party if they betray the public trust . I say this and I mean this with every fibre of my being . "
.......AND TURNS ---->
[from 'AP/RN' , 23rd April , 1998 , page 8]
<---- Speaking at their Ard Fheis that year (1998) , Derry Councillor for Provisional Sinn Fein Mary Nelis stated ---
--- " The British mindset was for disengagement ; the British have decided to leave but they don't know by what road so they're going about it in a roundabout sort of way . "
That's some bleedin' "roundabout" , Mary -- after over 800 years they're still stuck on it .......
' THE NORTHERN STAR ' : 1792 - 1797 .......
".......the response to young Wolfe Tone's pamphlet of September 1791 (entitled - ' An Argument on Behalf of the Catholics in Ireland ' ) was massive ; within weeks , societies of people in support of the ideals expressed by Tone were being formed in Ireland......."
By the end of that year (1791) a decision was taken to publish the political viewpoint and opinion of Wolfe Tone and other United Irishmen on a regular basis --- in January 1792 , the first issue of ' The Northern Star ' was published in Belfast ; it was a radical newspaper , edited by Samuel Neilson , and its first issue stated that its brief was to demand "equal representation of all the people in parliament ."
Wolfe Tone added that if the newspaper's aim was to be achieved , it would lead to the establishment of an Irish Republic , free of British interference . ' The Northern Star ' was run on very 'business-like' lines , with a Committee of ten investors ....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS .......
" .......when the Irish heard that a fighting-force from France were about to land at Bantry Bay in Cork to take on the Brits , they armed themselves as best they could to help the French . The British , however , were watching all this ....... "
" The British Yeomanry force was composed entirely of Planters and captained by 'landlords' . They were dressed in uniform , and were well armed with sword , pistol , and carbine . The French fleet under Hoche was unable to land troops because of fierce and prolonged gales , and had to put to sea again .
In the year 1822 , our people took up arms again . Poor weapons they had , pikes and old unreliable muskets . They refused to pay the tithe rent and prepared to resist as best they could . As a preliminary they decided to raid for arms the 'Big Houses' of the Planters in the neighbourhood of Bantry town . While engaged in this enterprise , word was conveyed to the military authorities in both Bantry and Macroom .
At that time a company of the Rifle Brigade occupied barracks in Inchigeela . All took the field , the Muskerry and Bantry Yeoman included , and proceeded to round up our men who had just reached their own area south of the Pass of Ceimaneigh ....... (MORE LATER).
TWISTS.......
[from ' The Sunday Tribune ' , 20th April , 1997 , page 1]
....... Speaking at his partys Ard Fheis , Fianna Fail leader Bertie Ahern stated ---
--- " No-one , no-one , is welcome in this party if they betray the public trust . I say this and I mean this with every fibre of my being . "
NEWSFLASH
, Bertie --- Your "being" is all outta "fibre" !.......AND TURNS ---->
[from 'AP/RN' , 23rd April , 1998 , page 8]
<---- Speaking at their Ard Fheis that year (1998) , Derry Councillor for Provisional Sinn Fein Mary Nelis stated ---
--- " The British mindset was for disengagement ; the British have decided to leave but they don't know by what road so they're going about it in a roundabout sort of way . "
That's some bleedin' "roundabout" , Mary -- after over 800 years they're still stuck on it .......
Thursday, November 20, 2003
THE FIRST IRISH REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER -
' THE NORTHERN STAR ' : 1792 - 1797 .
In September , 1791 , a young Trinity College graduate from Kildare , Theobald Wolfe Tone , issued a pamphlet entitled - ' An Argument on Behalf of the Catholics in Ireland '.
The fact that Tone was a Protestant and had called for a " brotherhood of affection , a communion of rites and union of power among Irishmen of every religious persuasion , and thereby to obtain a complete reform of the legislature founded on principles of political and religious liberty " ensured that he quickly came to national attention .
Within weeks , societies of ' United Irishmen ' were being established in the country ....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
".......one of the more humane British Army Commanders , Sir John Moore , said of British involvement in Irish affairs --- " If I were an Irishman , I would be a rebel......."
" His own people did not appreciate his humanity , but Michael O' Dwyer ( Irish Rebel leader ) of Wicklow did when he released him after capture , and Soult , Marshal of France , paid him tribute by erecting a monument over his grave at Corunna . The year 1803 saw Emmet's attempt to throttle British power at its source in Dublin . Its failure was succeeded by the usual intensified crushing of body and spirit .
The year 1602 had also seen the end of the Irish system of laws which had functioned for fifteen-hundred years . They were replaced by a penal system , every modification of which was intended to improve on or supplant some feature thought to be over-merciful to the people . One of the most hated enactments was the Tithe Law which made it compulsory on the people , almost entirely Catholic , to pay one-tenth of their meagre means of subsistence towards the support of an alien Church .
The people of our area were always ready to grasp at any opportunity to assert their rights by force of arms . In 1796 they heard of the coming of the French fleet to Bantry Bay ( Cork ) to aid them , and grasped the poor arms they possessed . They were well watched , however , by the combined forces of the regular British Army and Yeomanry of the Barony of Muskerry ......." (MORE LATER).
DIZZY DOYLE's DATA DEFINATELY DISFUNCTIONAL.......
[from ' The Phoenix Magazine ,' 23rd May - 5th June , 1997 , page 18]
Speaking to an international conference on the Irish 'Famine' , hosted by the Leinster House Administration at Dublin Castle recently , Avril Doyle ( Free State Minister of State and Chairperson of the 'Famine' Commemoration Committee at the time ) , stated ---
--- " It would be all too easy to develop an exaggerated rhetoric of blame , a callow descent into easy sentimentality , in which we can all wallow luxuriantly as vicarious victims of the Famine (sic) , rather than as its beneficiaries . The one million dead left few descendants . The bulk of Famine (sic) victims' descendants are not in Ireland but scattered across the globe . It is also too facile to blame every modern Irish ill , from schizophrenia to alcoholism , on the Famine (sic) , degenerating into a maudlin culture of complaint . "
UNBELIEVABLE ! THAT is the Free State mentality --- the ' Great Hunger ' was an " exaggerated rhetoric " full of " sentimentality " from which the Irish were the " beneficiaries " !!
AND there's more --- In 1996 , speaking at the launch of the Leinster House 'Famine' (sic) commemoration programme , the same Avril Doyle described the 'Famine' (sic) as --- " A shared British-Irish experience " !
In much the same way , no doubt , that the Holocaust was 'a shared German-Jewish experience' , perhaps.......
' THE NORTHERN STAR ' : 1792 - 1797 .
In September , 1791 , a young Trinity College graduate from Kildare , Theobald Wolfe Tone , issued a pamphlet entitled - ' An Argument on Behalf of the Catholics in Ireland '.
The fact that Tone was a Protestant and had called for a " brotherhood of affection , a communion of rites and union of power among Irishmen of every religious persuasion , and thereby to obtain a complete reform of the legislature founded on principles of political and religious liberty " ensured that he quickly came to national attention .
Within weeks , societies of ' United Irishmen ' were being established in the country ....... (MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
".......one of the more humane British Army Commanders , Sir John Moore , said of British involvement in Irish affairs --- " If I were an Irishman , I would be a rebel......."
" His own people did not appreciate his humanity , but Michael O' Dwyer ( Irish Rebel leader ) of Wicklow did when he released him after capture , and Soult , Marshal of France , paid him tribute by erecting a monument over his grave at Corunna . The year 1803 saw Emmet's attempt to throttle British power at its source in Dublin . Its failure was succeeded by the usual intensified crushing of body and spirit .
The year 1602 had also seen the end of the Irish system of laws which had functioned for fifteen-hundred years . They were replaced by a penal system , every modification of which was intended to improve on or supplant some feature thought to be over-merciful to the people . One of the most hated enactments was the Tithe Law which made it compulsory on the people , almost entirely Catholic , to pay one-tenth of their meagre means of subsistence towards the support of an alien Church .
The people of our area were always ready to grasp at any opportunity to assert their rights by force of arms . In 1796 they heard of the coming of the French fleet to Bantry Bay ( Cork ) to aid them , and grasped the poor arms they possessed . They were well watched , however , by the combined forces of the regular British Army and Yeomanry of the Barony of Muskerry ......." (MORE LATER).
DIZZY DOYLE's DATA DEFINATELY DISFUNCTIONAL.......
[from ' The Phoenix Magazine ,' 23rd May - 5th June , 1997 , page 18]
Speaking to an international conference on the Irish 'Famine' , hosted by the Leinster House Administration at Dublin Castle recently , Avril Doyle ( Free State Minister of State and Chairperson of the 'Famine' Commemoration Committee at the time ) , stated ---
--- " It would be all too easy to develop an exaggerated rhetoric of blame , a callow descent into easy sentimentality , in which we can all wallow luxuriantly as vicarious victims of the Famine (sic) , rather than as its beneficiaries . The one million dead left few descendants . The bulk of Famine (sic) victims' descendants are not in Ireland but scattered across the globe . It is also too facile to blame every modern Irish ill , from schizophrenia to alcoholism , on the Famine (sic) , degenerating into a maudlin culture of complaint . "
UNBELIEVABLE ! THAT is the Free State mentality --- the ' Great Hunger ' was an " exaggerated rhetoric " full of " sentimentality " from which the Irish were the " beneficiaries " !!
AND there's more --- In 1996 , speaking at the launch of the Leinster House 'Famine' (sic) commemoration programme , the same Avril Doyle described the 'Famine' (sic) as --- " A shared British-Irish experience " !
In much the same way , no doubt , that the Holocaust was 'a shared German-Jewish experience' , perhaps.......
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
THE BRITISH ' MILITARY SERVICE (No. 2) BILL 1918 ' ---
IRISHMEN TO FIGHT FOR ENGLAND........
.......the Catholic Hierarchy and the Trade Union movement organised a joint 'day-of-action' to show the level of opposition that existed to the British Conscription Act in Ireland ; on Tuesday , 23rd April , 1918 , the whole country practically closed down.......
Huge anti-conscription open-air rallies took place over the following week , and the British were left in no doubt that their Conscription Act would not be accepted ; in early May 1918 , Westminster instructed their 'governing executive' in Dublin Castle to vacate the premises , and a 'new broom' was put in place -- Lord French .
The new man and his staff soon realised that the Irish were not for turning in relation to the imposition of Conscription ; by this stage the population was of one voice , with guarantees being issued at every rally " that limits would not be placed on the means used to resist conscription . "
Within days , the British had backed-off ; they introduced a publicity campaign for their new 'recruitment drive' in Ireland and abandoned in total their previously-held intention to conscript Irishmen into the British armed forces . The ' Military service (No.2) Bill 1918 ' was heard of no more .
[END].
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
" .......the Irish were , once again , fighting the land to make it arable . But there were other forces turned against them ....... "
" On the first day of the New Year , 1603 , O'Sullivan Beare , the last Irish military leader to tread the land , passed northwards through Ballingeary , Kilnamartyra and Ballyvourney on his last fiery trail into history . Military resistance , for the old Irish , was finished for many a weary year to come .
Wars there were , that helped in the further destruction of the natives and the confiscation of their lands . But there were wars between English rulers , and it mattered little to the people which gained the mastery . Men like Eoghain Rua O'Neill and Sarsfield wasted their lives and talents fighting for Charles 1 . It was not until the year 1798 that a serious attempt was made to shake off the yoke of the foreigner .
It was a military failure , yet it was a victory in every other way . It showed the people , the enemy , and the world that the utmost repression and barbarity of penal laws could not , though maintained for centuries , bring the people to their knees . Sir John Moore of Corunna , humane and gallant British soldier , who witnessed the brutalities of the soldiery and yeomanry of 1798 , exclaimed : " If I were an Irishman , I would be a rebel . " (MORE LATER).
'SPENCE' FORCE.......
[from ' New Hibernia ' magazine , July 1985 , page 11]
During an interview , the then Ulster Volunteer Force leader 'Gusty' Spence stated ---
--- " I was a fascist . There was a lot of fascism in the Ulster Volunteer Force . "
And that fascism is still there ; it is part of the British imperialistic nature .
.......AND SPENT FORCE ---->
[from ' AP/RN ' , 30th July , 1992 , page 13]
<---- British Army Brigadier A.E.C. Bredin said in 1987 ---
--- " Whatever solution is arrived at in Ireland , it is axiomate that the British Government can ever allow a united Ireland . We must be realistic - Britain's welfare comes before Irish unity . "
Is'nt Brigadier Bredin an awful silly-billy altogether ? He does'nt realise that the issue of Irish unity is not his decision !
IRISHMEN TO FIGHT FOR ENGLAND........
.......the Catholic Hierarchy and the Trade Union movement organised a joint 'day-of-action' to show the level of opposition that existed to the British Conscription Act in Ireland ; on Tuesday , 23rd April , 1918 , the whole country practically closed down.......
Huge anti-conscription open-air rallies took place over the following week , and the British were left in no doubt that their Conscription Act would not be accepted ; in early May 1918 , Westminster instructed their 'governing executive' in Dublin Castle to vacate the premises , and a 'new broom' was put in place -- Lord French .
The new man and his staff soon realised that the Irish were not for turning in relation to the imposition of Conscription ; by this stage the population was of one voice , with guarantees being issued at every rally " that limits would not be placed on the means used to resist conscription . "
Within days , the British had backed-off ; they introduced a publicity campaign for their new 'recruitment drive' in Ireland and abandoned in total their previously-held intention to conscript Irishmen into the British armed forces . The ' Military service (No.2) Bill 1918 ' was heard of no more .
[END].
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE LITTLE FIELDS.......
" .......the Irish were , once again , fighting the land to make it arable . But there were other forces turned against them ....... "
" On the first day of the New Year , 1603 , O'Sullivan Beare , the last Irish military leader to tread the land , passed northwards through Ballingeary , Kilnamartyra and Ballyvourney on his last fiery trail into history . Military resistance , for the old Irish , was finished for many a weary year to come .
Wars there were , that helped in the further destruction of the natives and the confiscation of their lands . But there were wars between English rulers , and it mattered little to the people which gained the mastery . Men like Eoghain Rua O'Neill and Sarsfield wasted their lives and talents fighting for Charles 1 . It was not until the year 1798 that a serious attempt was made to shake off the yoke of the foreigner .
It was a military failure , yet it was a victory in every other way . It showed the people , the enemy , and the world that the utmost repression and barbarity of penal laws could not , though maintained for centuries , bring the people to their knees . Sir John Moore of Corunna , humane and gallant British soldier , who witnessed the brutalities of the soldiery and yeomanry of 1798 , exclaimed : " If I were an Irishman , I would be a rebel . " (MORE LATER).
'SPENCE' FORCE.......
[from ' New Hibernia ' magazine , July 1985 , page 11]
During an interview , the then Ulster Volunteer Force leader 'Gusty' Spence stated ---
--- " I was a fascist . There was a lot of fascism in the Ulster Volunteer Force . "
And that fascism is still there ; it is part of the British imperialistic nature .
.......AND SPENT FORCE ---->
[from ' AP/RN ' , 30th July , 1992 , page 13]
<---- British Army Brigadier A.E.C. Bredin said in 1987 ---
--- " Whatever solution is arrived at in Ireland , it is axiomate that the British Government can ever allow a united Ireland . We must be realistic - Britain's welfare comes before Irish unity . "
Is'nt Brigadier Bredin an awful silly-billy altogether ? He does'nt realise that the issue of Irish unity is not his decision !
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