MURDER MOST FOUL .......
By Joe Egan .
A lecture delivered to Dublin Republicans by Joe Egan on 26th November 1989 : I have had the following document for the past 16 years ; it was given to me by its author , a friend and true Irish Republican and deserves a wider readership - John Horan .
" Regarding the French , Wolfe Tone said - " Attached to no party in the French Republic , without interest , without money , without intrigue , the openness and integrity of my views raised me to a high and confidential rank in its armies ; under the flag of the French Republic , I originally engaged with a view to save and liberate my own country . For that purpose , I have encountered the chances of war , amongst strangers .
For that purpose , I have repeatedly braved the terrors of the ocean , covered as I knew it to be , with the triumphant fleets of that power , which it was my glory and my duty to oppose . I have sacrificed all my views in life ; I have courted poverty , I have left a beloved wife , unprotected children I adored , fatherless . After such sacrifices , in a cause which I have always conscientiously considered as the cause of justice and freedom - it is no great effort , at this day , to add the sacrifice of my life .
To the eternal disgrace of those who gave the order , I was brought hither in irons , like a felon ....... " "
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
[20 of 20].
To me , Reagan's speech to the retirement community in Florida was well beyond political hyperbole ; it was flirting with senility . And next month , the man with that 'vision' of the United States , Ronald Wilson Reagan , celluloid hero , may finally make it to the Presidency . If he does he will be inaugurated almost two years after the death of John Wayne .
He was born just two years after the deaths of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid .......
[END of 'LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!'].
(Tomorrow - 'WOMEN IN IRELAND'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM' - by a late Cork Republican).
INCITEMENT TO COERCION : DEMOCRACY IN DANGER .......
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper , Aibrean [April] 1957 , page 1.
(IML. IX. UIMHIR 4 - price Tri Pingin [Three Pennies].
Thanks to my late friends Christy and Theresa L. for giving me this 48-year-old newspaper ; this thread published in memory of those two old Fenians ! - John.
' In point of fact the candidates nominated by Sinn Fein were publicly pledged not to " ... sit in or take part in the proceedings of any Parliament ... other than the Parliament of the Irish Republic . " To the full extent of its capacity and abilities Sinn Fein made it clear that its elected representatives would not take their seats in Leinster House .
On this understanding approximately 66,000 voters , in 19 out of the total of 40 constituencies , registered their approval and support for the Sinn Fein policy . Sinn Fein recognises the Leinster House Parliament precisely for what it is - for what it has been since its inception - one of three institutions of Government legislating for an Ireland forcibly partitioned by an alien power .
Whatever validity it has as such is not questioned and is therefore not denied . Again Mr. Costello is reported to have stated - " I believe myself ... that there are people and organs of public opinion that have been directly responsible through their speeches and writings for bringing about a situation in which the institutions of the State have been brought into something like disrepute . " Many times in the past party politicians have challenged Sinn Fein to put its policy and programme before the public and to seek for it the support of the electorate .
It is very definitely the intention of Sinn Fein to do precisely this when future occasions arise , not because of any challenge issued , but simply because it is a fundamental part of its policy to seek the support of the Irish people for the reintegration of our National Territory and for the enthronement of a National Government of the Irish Republic ....... '
(MORE LATER).
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
MURDER MOST FOUL .......
By Joe Egan .
A lecture delivered to Dublin Republicans by Joe Egan on 26th November 1989 : I have had the following document for the past 16 years ; it was given to me by its author , a friend and true Irish Republican and deserves a wider readership - John Horan .
" Without knowing the man , even reading his last letters is enough to disprove the abominable lie that he committed suicide . Did he not write to his wife - " My mind is as tranquil this moment as at any period in my life . "
One only has to read his last speech from the dock at his trial to see and understand the character of the man . Just to quote a few lines is enough to convince any fair mind of the impossibility of Wolfe Tone committing suicide ; only the avowed enemies of truth and justice could dare say otherwise -
" Mr. President and gentlemen of the Court Martial : I mean not to give you the trouble of bringing judicial proof to convict me legally to having acted in hostility to the government of his Britannic Majesty in Ireland . I admit the fact from my earliest youth , I have regarded the connection between Ireland and Great Britain as the curse of the Irish nation and felt convinced that , whilst it lasted , this country could never be free nor happy . " "
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(19 of 20).
Then there is the excerpt from a speech that he gave a couple of months ago to a retirement community in Florida ; normally , I skip quickly through the overheated rhetoric but this time one paragraph caught my eye - and wound up haunting me for several days . Reagan is talking to senior citizens about assassinations , bombings , kidnappings , terrorism - the moral depravity of a world turned upside down when , all of a sudden , he said -
" All of these things have happened to a United States that most of you can remember , as I do remember , a United States that even when an American was on business , or vacation , or wherever , and got caught in some little country that was having a revolution , or got caught in a war , all that the American had to do was pin to his lapel a little American flag and he could walk right through that war and nobody would lay a finger on him . Well , I want to see that United States back in the world again . "
(MORE LATER).
INCITEMENT TO COERCION : DEMOCRACY IN DANGER .
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper , Aibrean [April] 1957 , page 1.
(IML. IX. UIMHIR 4 - price Tri Pingin [Three Pennies].
Thanks to my late friends Christy and Theresa L. for giving me this 48-year-old newspaper ; this thread published in memory of those two old Fenians ! - John.
' Normally Sinn Fein does not reply directly to statements of a derogatory nature emanating from political party sources . Because of their implications it is felt necessary to depart from this practice in the case of statements attributed to Mr. Costello , outgoing Taoiseach , when speaking recently in the Leinster House parliament .
Mr. Costello is reported as having stated , inter alia , "... we are facing in this 'Dail' a somewhat unprecedented position where a number of people have been elected to sit in 'Dail Eireann' and who refuse to take their seats , and not merely do they refuse to take them but they deny the validity of the institutions of this State set up over the last number of years . "
The Sinn Fein candidates were not elected to sit in "Dail Eireann" . The policy of Sinn Fein - the policy for which the support of the electorate was solicited by Sinn Fein - has been presented to the public over a period of years . It was again presented to the electorate during the recent election campaign . Through such presentation of it's policy Sinn Fein made it abundently clear that its elected representatives would not take their seats in Leinster House ....... '
(MORE LATER).
By Joe Egan .
A lecture delivered to Dublin Republicans by Joe Egan on 26th November 1989 : I have had the following document for the past 16 years ; it was given to me by its author , a friend and true Irish Republican and deserves a wider readership - John Horan .
" Without knowing the man , even reading his last letters is enough to disprove the abominable lie that he committed suicide . Did he not write to his wife - " My mind is as tranquil this moment as at any period in my life . "
One only has to read his last speech from the dock at his trial to see and understand the character of the man . Just to quote a few lines is enough to convince any fair mind of the impossibility of Wolfe Tone committing suicide ; only the avowed enemies of truth and justice could dare say otherwise -
" Mr. President and gentlemen of the Court Martial : I mean not to give you the trouble of bringing judicial proof to convict me legally to having acted in hostility to the government of his Britannic Majesty in Ireland . I admit the fact from my earliest youth , I have regarded the connection between Ireland and Great Britain as the curse of the Irish nation and felt convinced that , whilst it lasted , this country could never be free nor happy . " "
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(19 of 20).
Then there is the excerpt from a speech that he gave a couple of months ago to a retirement community in Florida ; normally , I skip quickly through the overheated rhetoric but this time one paragraph caught my eye - and wound up haunting me for several days . Reagan is talking to senior citizens about assassinations , bombings , kidnappings , terrorism - the moral depravity of a world turned upside down when , all of a sudden , he said -
" All of these things have happened to a United States that most of you can remember , as I do remember , a United States that even when an American was on business , or vacation , or wherever , and got caught in some little country that was having a revolution , or got caught in a war , all that the American had to do was pin to his lapel a little American flag and he could walk right through that war and nobody would lay a finger on him . Well , I want to see that United States back in the world again . "
(MORE LATER).
INCITEMENT TO COERCION : DEMOCRACY IN DANGER .
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper , Aibrean [April] 1957 , page 1.
(IML. IX. UIMHIR 4 - price Tri Pingin [Three Pennies].
Thanks to my late friends Christy and Theresa L. for giving me this 48-year-old newspaper ; this thread published in memory of those two old Fenians ! - John.
' Normally Sinn Fein does not reply directly to statements of a derogatory nature emanating from political party sources . Because of their implications it is felt necessary to depart from this practice in the case of statements attributed to Mr. Costello , outgoing Taoiseach , when speaking recently in the Leinster House parliament .
Mr. Costello is reported as having stated , inter alia , "... we are facing in this 'Dail' a somewhat unprecedented position where a number of people have been elected to sit in 'Dail Eireann' and who refuse to take their seats , and not merely do they refuse to take them but they deny the validity of the institutions of this State set up over the last number of years . "
The Sinn Fein candidates were not elected to sit in "Dail Eireann" . The policy of Sinn Fein - the policy for which the support of the electorate was solicited by Sinn Fein - has been presented to the public over a period of years . It was again presented to the electorate during the recent election campaign . Through such presentation of it's policy Sinn Fein made it abundently clear that its elected representatives would not take their seats in Leinster House ....... '
(MORE LATER).
Monday, March 14, 2005
MURDER MOST FOUL .......
By Joe Egan .
A lecture delivered to Dublin Republicans by Joe Egan on 26th November 1989 : I have had the following document for the past 16 years ; it was given to me by its author , a friend and true Irish Republican and deserves a wider readership - John Horan .
" How do we know how long Wolfe Tone took to die ? It could very well have been eight minutes , not eight days . The only evidence ever produced to support the suicide verdict is an account from a French royalist , a Doctor Lentaigne , of whom little is known .
This same doctor was by his being a royalist first , and working for the British Army , doubly opposed to all Wolfe Tone would stand for . How anyone with the remotest feeling for justice or truth could accept the word of such a man under the circumstances at the time is an insult to ordinary intelligence .
But then as the old cliche says - " where ignorance is bliss it's folly to be wise . " The secrets of a state prison at that period in history are seldom penetrated and even today would be virtually impossible .
Abundant proof is available even today if a thorough search was to take place but we who wish to know the truth have only to know the man : he had dedicated himself to his principles and had seen his friends and compatriots , including his brother , hanged , and he would not let them or his country down by taking his own life ....... "
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(18 of 20).
A person who once worked closely with Ronald Reagan told me recently -
- " Reagan does'nt understand the politics of all these problems . Nor does he understand the business of politics . It's something I like about him ; on the other hand , it's a weakness because he has no internal measuring mechanism , and it makes it difficult for him to assess the political advice he invariably gets as a presidential candidate and as a president . He is subject to being battered around , to never being quite confident enough about the quality and character and sagacity of the advice he's given . "
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
[14 of 14].
1st July : RUC Constable Norman Annett (56) died when two men shot him as he sat with his elderly mother , who was grazed by a bullet , in the living room of her home at Carhill Road , between Maghera and Garvagh , County Derry . Constable Annett , who was based at Antrim Road RUC Station in Belfast was the fifth RUC man to die this year and was due to retire at the end of the month after 34 years in the force . In 1971 , he survived an attack in a Belfast bar . The South Derry Brigade of the IRA claimed responsibility for the killing .
2nd July : British Corporal Steve Smith (43) was killed at Kaiserallee , a residential area of Hanover , West Germany when a bomb exploded underneath his Mercedes car . A native of Yorkshire , the dead soldier was based with the Royal Tank Regiment in the city .
[END of ' DEATH LIST 1989 ....... '].
(Tomorrow : 'INCITEMENT TO COERCION - DEMOCRACY IN DANGER' ; from 'The United Irishman' newspaper , 1957 ).
By Joe Egan .
A lecture delivered to Dublin Republicans by Joe Egan on 26th November 1989 : I have had the following document for the past 16 years ; it was given to me by its author , a friend and true Irish Republican and deserves a wider readership - John Horan .
" How do we know how long Wolfe Tone took to die ? It could very well have been eight minutes , not eight days . The only evidence ever produced to support the suicide verdict is an account from a French royalist , a Doctor Lentaigne , of whom little is known .
This same doctor was by his being a royalist first , and working for the British Army , doubly opposed to all Wolfe Tone would stand for . How anyone with the remotest feeling for justice or truth could accept the word of such a man under the circumstances at the time is an insult to ordinary intelligence .
But then as the old cliche says - " where ignorance is bliss it's folly to be wise . " The secrets of a state prison at that period in history are seldom penetrated and even today would be virtually impossible .
Abundant proof is available even today if a thorough search was to take place but we who wish to know the truth have only to know the man : he had dedicated himself to his principles and had seen his friends and compatriots , including his brother , hanged , and he would not let them or his country down by taking his own life ....... "
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(18 of 20).
A person who once worked closely with Ronald Reagan told me recently -
- " Reagan does'nt understand the politics of all these problems . Nor does he understand the business of politics . It's something I like about him ; on the other hand , it's a weakness because he has no internal measuring mechanism , and it makes it difficult for him to assess the political advice he invariably gets as a presidential candidate and as a president . He is subject to being battered around , to never being quite confident enough about the quality and character and sagacity of the advice he's given . "
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
[14 of 14].
1st July : RUC Constable Norman Annett (56) died when two men shot him as he sat with his elderly mother , who was grazed by a bullet , in the living room of her home at Carhill Road , between Maghera and Garvagh , County Derry . Constable Annett , who was based at Antrim Road RUC Station in Belfast was the fifth RUC man to die this year and was due to retire at the end of the month after 34 years in the force . In 1971 , he survived an attack in a Belfast bar . The South Derry Brigade of the IRA claimed responsibility for the killing .
2nd July : British Corporal Steve Smith (43) was killed at Kaiserallee , a residential area of Hanover , West Germany when a bomb exploded underneath his Mercedes car . A native of Yorkshire , the dead soldier was based with the Royal Tank Regiment in the city .
[END of ' DEATH LIST 1989 ....... '].
(Tomorrow : 'INCITEMENT TO COERCION - DEMOCRACY IN DANGER' ; from 'The United Irishman' newspaper , 1957 ).
Friday, March 11, 2005
MURDER MOST FOUL .......
By Joe Egan .
A lecture delivered to Dublin Republicans by Joe Egan on 26th November 1989 : I have had the following document for the past 16 years ; it was given to me by its author , a friend and true Irish Republican and deserves a wider readership - John Horan .
" Why do the establishment , British and Irish , make such a case for Wolfe Tone's suicide ? Because to face the truth might make people today see the light and not just follow Tone's teachings but practice them .
It is often quoted also that Tone's son accepted his father's suicide ; even if this were true it is of no consequence as what he thought one way or the other has no bearing on the facts . How did Tone's son know how long his father lay dying ? There was no way he could know , no more than anyone else - at no time were any visitors allowed into see Wolfe Tone .
His father tried every possible move through the courts to get his son free . His lawyer applied for and was immediately granted a writ of Habeas Corpus by Chief Justice Lord Kilwarden . Major Sandy , in charge of the barracks , was recognised generally as being a man with scant regard for justice or truth .
It has been stated as proof of Tone's suicide that a man of Sandy's calibre and his hirelings would'nt do such a botched murder that would take eight days for the victim to die ....... "
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(17 of 20).
What Ronald Reagan gained in popularity he lost in other ways ; his appearances no longer carefully stagemanaged by John Sears , he began to make more and more gaffes , demonstrating that he was being poorly briefed by his staff . Internal wrangling in his campaign has led to shifting positions on tax cuts and the Olympic boycott and the China fiasco .
In preparing for the expected attacks that Reagan is simplistic and shallow , one group of advisers is urging him to take the initiative and provide more details . At the same time , his new campaign manager , Paul Laxalt , insists - " The main thing for Reagan is to stay out of trouble and not seriously shoot himself in the foot . "
One scary question that emerges from all this is where does Ronald Reagan stand while all these intra-mural battles are being fought around him ? Is he the 'captain of the ship' , or the captive .......?
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(13 of 14).
24th June : Liam McKee (36) of Donard Drive , Lisburn was shot dead at his home after a UFF gang broke down the front door with a sledgehammer at 12.45 a.m. A Catholic barman , he lived with his brother and elderly mother who was grazed by a bullet during the attack . The family denied a claim by the loyalist organisation that Mr. McKee was a member of the IRA and said he was murdered soley because of his religion .
24th June : RUC Constable David Black (34) , a full-time reservist with the RUC was killed when a bomb exploded under his car as he left his home at Ballyheather Road , near Strabane . Stationed at Plumbridge , the dead man leaves one child . The IRA claimed responsibility for the attack .
(MORE LATER).
By Joe Egan .
A lecture delivered to Dublin Republicans by Joe Egan on 26th November 1989 : I have had the following document for the past 16 years ; it was given to me by its author , a friend and true Irish Republican and deserves a wider readership - John Horan .
" Why do the establishment , British and Irish , make such a case for Wolfe Tone's suicide ? Because to face the truth might make people today see the light and not just follow Tone's teachings but practice them .
It is often quoted also that Tone's son accepted his father's suicide ; even if this were true it is of no consequence as what he thought one way or the other has no bearing on the facts . How did Tone's son know how long his father lay dying ? There was no way he could know , no more than anyone else - at no time were any visitors allowed into see Wolfe Tone .
His father tried every possible move through the courts to get his son free . His lawyer applied for and was immediately granted a writ of Habeas Corpus by Chief Justice Lord Kilwarden . Major Sandy , in charge of the barracks , was recognised generally as being a man with scant regard for justice or truth .
It has been stated as proof of Tone's suicide that a man of Sandy's calibre and his hirelings would'nt do such a botched murder that would take eight days for the victim to die ....... "
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(17 of 20).
What Ronald Reagan gained in popularity he lost in other ways ; his appearances no longer carefully stagemanaged by John Sears , he began to make more and more gaffes , demonstrating that he was being poorly briefed by his staff . Internal wrangling in his campaign has led to shifting positions on tax cuts and the Olympic boycott and the China fiasco .
In preparing for the expected attacks that Reagan is simplistic and shallow , one group of advisers is urging him to take the initiative and provide more details . At the same time , his new campaign manager , Paul Laxalt , insists - " The main thing for Reagan is to stay out of trouble and not seriously shoot himself in the foot . "
One scary question that emerges from all this is where does Ronald Reagan stand while all these intra-mural battles are being fought around him ? Is he the 'captain of the ship' , or the captive .......?
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(13 of 14).
24th June : Liam McKee (36) of Donard Drive , Lisburn was shot dead at his home after a UFF gang broke down the front door with a sledgehammer at 12.45 a.m. A Catholic barman , he lived with his brother and elderly mother who was grazed by a bullet during the attack . The family denied a claim by the loyalist organisation that Mr. McKee was a member of the IRA and said he was murdered soley because of his religion .
24th June : RUC Constable David Black (34) , a full-time reservist with the RUC was killed when a bomb exploded under his car as he left his home at Ballyheather Road , near Strabane . Stationed at Plumbridge , the dead man leaves one child . The IRA claimed responsibility for the attack .
(MORE LATER).
Thursday, March 10, 2005
MURDER MOST FOUL .......
By Joe Egan .
A lecture delivered to Dublin Republicans by Joe Egan on 26th November 1989 : I have had the following document for the past 16 years ; it was given to me by its author , a friend and true Irish Republican and deserves a wider readership - John Horan .
" Yes , the British establishment was expert at that time at covering up their crimes , even more successful than they are today . Many historians to this day trot out the same British lies , as if they were gospel , that Tone committed suicide ; they quote all sorts of stories to 'back-up' their claims .
They use the most abominable argument that especially as Wolfe Tone was of the Protestant faith it would not be repugnant for him to take his own life : I say here and now that this was and is the most objectionable of arguments . It was against everything Tone dedicated and gave his life for , namely, to substitute the common name of Irishman for the religious denominations .
To spread the lie and imply that somehow being a Protestant made it acceptable to commit suicide is to be against all Wolfe Tone stood for . The argument is still going on with new books being written about Tone and praised and published by the present establishment who are as much against what Tone stood for as were the British establishment of the time ....... "
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(16 of 20).
Today , the question is not " Is Reagan for real ? " but " Can he be stopped ? " The answer is definitely " Yes " and the person who will probably do it is Ronald Reagan ! ; aside from the occasional contradictions and embarrassing gaffes , such as saying that Vietnam veterans are'nt eligible for GI benefits (they are) , Reagan's campaign seems to be in a constant state of flux , without any overall strategy or philosophy .
Up until the Iowa Caucuses , where Reagan suffered an upset , his campaign was run by the Bismarckian John Sears , who restricted Reagan to just 48 hours personal campaigning in Iowa on the theory that extensive personal appearances would give the impression "... that he's an ordinary man like the rest of us . "
When Reagan lost Iowa to George Bush he began ignoring Sears's advice and campaigned widely . It paid off , and on the day of the New Hampshire primary , John Sears and several of his aids were fired .......
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(12 of 14).
16th May : Malachy Trainor (34) from Annalong , County Down , was killed by the UVF as he worked in the Rathcoole Estate in North Belfast ; a self-employed Catholic joiner , he was murdered shortly after he arrived for work and as he unloaded timber from his car . Local people said that a dozen shots were fired and several hit Mr. Trainor in the chest , killing him instantly . He was married with two children .
15th June : British Marine Adam Gilbert (21) was accidentally shot by fellow members of his patrol when they fired on a stolen car at the junction of New Lodge Road and Antrim Road in Belfast . The dead man , a native of Aldershot , is the sixth British soldier to die in the North this year .
(MORE LATER).
By Joe Egan .
A lecture delivered to Dublin Republicans by Joe Egan on 26th November 1989 : I have had the following document for the past 16 years ; it was given to me by its author , a friend and true Irish Republican and deserves a wider readership - John Horan .
" Yes , the British establishment was expert at that time at covering up their crimes , even more successful than they are today . Many historians to this day trot out the same British lies , as if they were gospel , that Tone committed suicide ; they quote all sorts of stories to 'back-up' their claims .
They use the most abominable argument that especially as Wolfe Tone was of the Protestant faith it would not be repugnant for him to take his own life : I say here and now that this was and is the most objectionable of arguments . It was against everything Tone dedicated and gave his life for , namely, to substitute the common name of Irishman for the religious denominations .
To spread the lie and imply that somehow being a Protestant made it acceptable to commit suicide is to be against all Wolfe Tone stood for . The argument is still going on with new books being written about Tone and praised and published by the present establishment who are as much against what Tone stood for as were the British establishment of the time ....... "
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(16 of 20).
Today , the question is not " Is Reagan for real ? " but " Can he be stopped ? " The answer is definitely " Yes " and the person who will probably do it is Ronald Reagan ! ; aside from the occasional contradictions and embarrassing gaffes , such as saying that Vietnam veterans are'nt eligible for GI benefits (they are) , Reagan's campaign seems to be in a constant state of flux , without any overall strategy or philosophy .
Up until the Iowa Caucuses , where Reagan suffered an upset , his campaign was run by the Bismarckian John Sears , who restricted Reagan to just 48 hours personal campaigning in Iowa on the theory that extensive personal appearances would give the impression "... that he's an ordinary man like the rest of us . "
When Reagan lost Iowa to George Bush he began ignoring Sears's advice and campaigned widely . It paid off , and on the day of the New Hampshire primary , John Sears and several of his aids were fired .......
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(12 of 14).
16th May : Malachy Trainor (34) from Annalong , County Down , was killed by the UVF as he worked in the Rathcoole Estate in North Belfast ; a self-employed Catholic joiner , he was murdered shortly after he arrived for work and as he unloaded timber from his car . Local people said that a dozen shots were fired and several hit Mr. Trainor in the chest , killing him instantly . He was married with two children .
15th June : British Marine Adam Gilbert (21) was accidentally shot by fellow members of his patrol when they fired on a stolen car at the junction of New Lodge Road and Antrim Road in Belfast . The dead man , a native of Aldershot , is the sixth British soldier to die in the North this year .
(MORE LATER).
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
MURDER MOST FOUL .
By Joe Egan .
A lecture delivered to Dublin Republicans by Joe Egan on 26th November 1989 : I have had the following document for the past 16 years ; it was given to me by its author , a friend and true Irish Republican and deserves a wider readership - John Horan .
" Theobald Wolfe Tone was born on June 20, 1763 - the exact time and date of his death are unknown . Wolfe Tone was sentenced to death on November 10 , 1798 ; on November 11 he was informed by his gaolers that he would be publicly hanged on the following day , Monday , at one o'clock .
It is generally accepted that Wolfe Tone died on November 19 , 1798 ; in fact , he could have been murdered at any time during the previous week , and there is no doubt , and none of us should be in any doubt , of his murder by British Crown agents .
It is time now , once and for all , to bury the lie that Wolfe Tone took his own life . These false stories were put out at the time not just to cover up the murder but also as black propaganda to denigrate Tone and the Cause he cherished with all his being . The proof of their successes in trying to destroy Wolfe Tone's character is still evident today nearly 200 years later ....... "
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(15 of 20).
Despite his constant verbal lashings at rebellious students and their teachers , and his budget cuts , throughout eight controversial and stormy years , Ronald Reagan's popularity with voters remained high - at times registering as much as a 70 per cent approval rating . Clearly he knew his audience .
He made a short and belated effort to run for President in 1968 , then supported Richard Nixon in 1972 and throughout Nixon's travail with Watergate ; Reagan was no great Nixon fan but he could hear opportunity knocking and he wanted to stay on the good side of party Officials . When Nixon finally resigned , Reagan quickly formed an exploratory committee to take soundings of the political waters .
Two years later I stood in Kansas City and watched as Ronald Reagan , a man who had been in professional politics less than ten years , fell just 117 votes short (out of 2257) of capturing the Republican nomination for President .......
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(11 of 14).
4th May : John Griffiths (37) was killed when a bomb planted under his car exploded as he left his home at Ballynick Road , Loughgall , County Armagh . The IRA claimed responsibility for the death of Mr. Griffiths , who was on his way to the Maze Prison where he worked as a nurse in the prison hospital , having previously served in the British Army and the UDR .
4th May : Corporal Stephen McGonigle (30) was killed when a roadside bomb exploded as he was on foot patrol in the countryside near Silverbridge , South Armagh , on the main Newry-Crossmaglen Road ; from Newark in Nottinghamshire , he had been in the British Army for 14 years and was married with two children . Three other British soldiers were injured in the attack which occured as they examined a parked car containing the bomb .
(MORE LATER).
By Joe Egan .
A lecture delivered to Dublin Republicans by Joe Egan on 26th November 1989 : I have had the following document for the past 16 years ; it was given to me by its author , a friend and true Irish Republican and deserves a wider readership - John Horan .
" Theobald Wolfe Tone was born on June 20, 1763 - the exact time and date of his death are unknown . Wolfe Tone was sentenced to death on November 10 , 1798 ; on November 11 he was informed by his gaolers that he would be publicly hanged on the following day , Monday , at one o'clock .
It is generally accepted that Wolfe Tone died on November 19 , 1798 ; in fact , he could have been murdered at any time during the previous week , and there is no doubt , and none of us should be in any doubt , of his murder by British Crown agents .
It is time now , once and for all , to bury the lie that Wolfe Tone took his own life . These false stories were put out at the time not just to cover up the murder but also as black propaganda to denigrate Tone and the Cause he cherished with all his being . The proof of their successes in trying to destroy Wolfe Tone's character is still evident today nearly 200 years later ....... "
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(15 of 20).
Despite his constant verbal lashings at rebellious students and their teachers , and his budget cuts , throughout eight controversial and stormy years , Ronald Reagan's popularity with voters remained high - at times registering as much as a 70 per cent approval rating . Clearly he knew his audience .
He made a short and belated effort to run for President in 1968 , then supported Richard Nixon in 1972 and throughout Nixon's travail with Watergate ; Reagan was no great Nixon fan but he could hear opportunity knocking and he wanted to stay on the good side of party Officials . When Nixon finally resigned , Reagan quickly formed an exploratory committee to take soundings of the political waters .
Two years later I stood in Kansas City and watched as Ronald Reagan , a man who had been in professional politics less than ten years , fell just 117 votes short (out of 2257) of capturing the Republican nomination for President .......
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(11 of 14).
4th May : John Griffiths (37) was killed when a bomb planted under his car exploded as he left his home at Ballynick Road , Loughgall , County Armagh . The IRA claimed responsibility for the death of Mr. Griffiths , who was on his way to the Maze Prison where he worked as a nurse in the prison hospital , having previously served in the British Army and the UDR .
4th May : Corporal Stephen McGonigle (30) was killed when a roadside bomb exploded as he was on foot patrol in the countryside near Silverbridge , South Armagh , on the main Newry-Crossmaglen Road ; from Newark in Nottinghamshire , he had been in the British Army for 14 years and was married with two children . Three other British soldiers were injured in the attack which occured as they examined a parked car containing the bomb .
(MORE LATER).
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
'THE PRESS' Newspaper , October 1797 - March 1798 .
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... in March 1798 , the British 'Viceroy' in Ireland , a Mr. John Camden , seen to it that the 'The Press' Rebel newspaper was put out of business ; within days of doing so , the Brits moved against the United Irishmen organisation itself .......
The mostly Dublin-based leadership of the United Irishmen organisation was rounded-up in a British raid on the home of Oliver Bond in Dublin (in March 1798) and hundreds of active members were hunted down across the country . Those not captured re-grouped and , on the 23rd May 1798 , took up arms against the British in a failed attempt to remove the British presence .
However , as has always been the case in Ireland , the 1798 Rising inspired Robert Emmet to challenge British mis-rule in Ireland (in 1803) which , in turn , inspired future generations to challenge that mis-rule . And today , in this 21st Century , that challenge continues .
'The Press' newspaper , the 'semi-official' organ of the United Irishmen organisation , was closed-down by the British on 3rd March 1798 , but its spirit lives on in this newspaper . Buy it , please , if its sold in your area , or take out a subscription and have it posted to you . Go raibh maith agat .
[ END of 'THE PRESS' Newspaper ...'].
(Tomorrow : in a temporary change of format - we publish a document which has been in our possession for the past 16 years , concerning the death of Theobald Wolfe Tone ).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(14 of 20).
As Governor of California (1966-1974) , most political observers agree , Ronald Reagan was basically an efficient if not overly creative administrator . He fought many tempestuous battles with liberal institutions and programs , but he was not quite the guns-blazing hard-liner that he later portrayed himself to be .
For example , although he did provide 5.7 billion dollars in tax rebates to the citizens of California , most of the rebates were in property taxes . But he raised state income taxes three times . The last boost came complete with a new tax structure that took a bigger bite from banks and corporations - his faithful conservative supporters . And even though he was constantly lashing out at rebellious students and their teachers , threatening state schools with budget cuts left and right , state spending on higher education actually rose 136 per cent during Reagan's two terms as Governor .......
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(10 of 14).
19th April : Francis Galbraith (29) was shot by loyalists near the Sydenham by-pass , close to his parents home in east Belfast . A nephew of loyalist supergrass Joseph Bennett , Mr. Galbraith was apparently killed in an internal loyalist dispute over weapons . He leaves four children .
21st April : William Thompson (26) was shot dead in his black taxi on the Crumlin Road in north Belfast late in the evening . As his car passed the Everton Girls School at Upper Crumlin Road another black taxi pulled-up alongside ; Mr. Thompson was singled out and shot dead . Claiming responsibility , the IRA alleged that Mr. Thompson had been involved in the sectarian killings of nationalists in north Belfast , a claim denied by the dead man's family .
(MORE LATER).
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... in March 1798 , the British 'Viceroy' in Ireland , a Mr. John Camden , seen to it that the 'The Press' Rebel newspaper was put out of business ; within days of doing so , the Brits moved against the United Irishmen organisation itself .......
The mostly Dublin-based leadership of the United Irishmen organisation was rounded-up in a British raid on the home of Oliver Bond in Dublin (in March 1798) and hundreds of active members were hunted down across the country . Those not captured re-grouped and , on the 23rd May 1798 , took up arms against the British in a failed attempt to remove the British presence .
However , as has always been the case in Ireland , the 1798 Rising inspired Robert Emmet to challenge British mis-rule in Ireland (in 1803) which , in turn , inspired future generations to challenge that mis-rule . And today , in this 21st Century , that challenge continues .
'The Press' newspaper , the 'semi-official' organ of the United Irishmen organisation , was closed-down by the British on 3rd March 1798 , but its spirit lives on in this newspaper . Buy it , please , if its sold in your area , or take out a subscription and have it posted to you . Go raibh maith agat .
[ END of 'THE PRESS' Newspaper ...'].
(Tomorrow : in a temporary change of format - we publish a document which has been in our possession for the past 16 years , concerning the death of Theobald Wolfe Tone ).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(14 of 20).
As Governor of California (1966-1974) , most political observers agree , Ronald Reagan was basically an efficient if not overly creative administrator . He fought many tempestuous battles with liberal institutions and programs , but he was not quite the guns-blazing hard-liner that he later portrayed himself to be .
For example , although he did provide 5.7 billion dollars in tax rebates to the citizens of California , most of the rebates were in property taxes . But he raised state income taxes three times . The last boost came complete with a new tax structure that took a bigger bite from banks and corporations - his faithful conservative supporters . And even though he was constantly lashing out at rebellious students and their teachers , threatening state schools with budget cuts left and right , state spending on higher education actually rose 136 per cent during Reagan's two terms as Governor .......
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(10 of 14).
19th April : Francis Galbraith (29) was shot by loyalists near the Sydenham by-pass , close to his parents home in east Belfast . A nephew of loyalist supergrass Joseph Bennett , Mr. Galbraith was apparently killed in an internal loyalist dispute over weapons . He leaves four children .
21st April : William Thompson (26) was shot dead in his black taxi on the Crumlin Road in north Belfast late in the evening . As his car passed the Everton Girls School at Upper Crumlin Road another black taxi pulled-up alongside ; Mr. Thompson was singled out and shot dead . Claiming responsibility , the IRA alleged that Mr. Thompson had been involved in the sectarian killings of nationalists in north Belfast , a claim denied by the dead man's family .
(MORE LATER).
Monday, March 07, 2005
'THE PRESS' Newspaper , October 1797 - March 1798 .
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... the Brits arrested Arthur O'Connor in February 1798 (on grounds of 'sedition') in Margate , in England . But 'Lord' Edward Fitzgerald managed to keep 'The Press' newspaper going - so , in March 1798 , the Brits decided to do something about that .......
Westminster contacted their 'Viceroy' in Ireland , a Mr. John Camden , and instructed him to move against the newspaper . In March 1798 , Camden and his armed thugs put 'The Press' newspaper out of business .
The 'moderate' section of the leadership of the United Irishmen organisation , and those within the 'rank-and-file' that supported them , were relieved that 'The Press' newspaper had been shut-down because , according to them , the organisation was not at that time fully prepared to take on the Brits .
Those that had wanted to begin an armed campaign stayed with the organisation in the belief that the 'moderates' , Thomas Addis Emmet and Dr. William James MacNeven , would call for an armed Rising when they felt the time was right to do so ; but the Brits were'nt going to 'hang around' waiting for the United Irishmen to get themselves ready ...
... - they moved on the Rebel group within days of them putting the 'The Press' newspaper out of business .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(13 of 20).
It was now obvious to many observers that Ronald Reagan was becoming interested in the U.S. Presidency himself ; most dismissed the idea as quixotic , but he shocked everyone by being elected Governor of California in 1966 . Most political pro's explain his election as simply - Reagan was in the right place at the right time . Californians had been shocked by the recent riots in the black ghetto of Watts in Los Angeles and by the student demonstrations at many college campuses in the state .
In addition , there was the threat of new open housing laws and a rapidly expanding state bureaucracy that was already draining large amounts of tax dollars . Reagan calmed the voters' fears by telling them that he was one of them - an ordinary citizen who would see that some common sense and order was restored to state government .
He was elected by the substantial margin of almost one million votes .......
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(9 of 14).
4th April : Gerard Casey (29) of Shamrock Road , Rasharkin , County Antrim , was killed in his bed by loyalist gunmen . Mr. Casey , who leaves three children , was a member of the IRA who claimed that there was RUC and UDR collusion in the attack . Fr. Denis Faul also alleged that information about Mr. Casey and other Catholics shot recently may have been passed to loyalists by sympathisers in the British 'security forces' .
11th April : Joanne Reilly (20) was killed when an IRA bomb exploded prematurely in Warrenpoint , County Down , outside the RUC barracks . Claiming responsibility , the IRA said that one of it's members accidently triggered off a device which caused the bomb to explode before warnings were given . The 1500 lb bomb caused extensive damage to the houses in the town .
(MORE LATER).
(Apologises again for late publication : the 'BLOGGER' 'PUBLISH' button has been 'down' since at least 7am this morning - Sharon).
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... the Brits arrested Arthur O'Connor in February 1798 (on grounds of 'sedition') in Margate , in England . But 'Lord' Edward Fitzgerald managed to keep 'The Press' newspaper going - so , in March 1798 , the Brits decided to do something about that .......
Westminster contacted their 'Viceroy' in Ireland , a Mr. John Camden , and instructed him to move against the newspaper . In March 1798 , Camden and his armed thugs put 'The Press' newspaper out of business .
The 'moderate' section of the leadership of the United Irishmen organisation , and those within the 'rank-and-file' that supported them , were relieved that 'The Press' newspaper had been shut-down because , according to them , the organisation was not at that time fully prepared to take on the Brits .
Those that had wanted to begin an armed campaign stayed with the organisation in the belief that the 'moderates' , Thomas Addis Emmet and Dr. William James MacNeven , would call for an armed Rising when they felt the time was right to do so ; but the Brits were'nt going to 'hang around' waiting for the United Irishmen to get themselves ready ...
... - they moved on the Rebel group within days of them putting the 'The Press' newspaper out of business .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(13 of 20).
It was now obvious to many observers that Ronald Reagan was becoming interested in the U.S. Presidency himself ; most dismissed the idea as quixotic , but he shocked everyone by being elected Governor of California in 1966 . Most political pro's explain his election as simply - Reagan was in the right place at the right time . Californians had been shocked by the recent riots in the black ghetto of Watts in Los Angeles and by the student demonstrations at many college campuses in the state .
In addition , there was the threat of new open housing laws and a rapidly expanding state bureaucracy that was already draining large amounts of tax dollars . Reagan calmed the voters' fears by telling them that he was one of them - an ordinary citizen who would see that some common sense and order was restored to state government .
He was elected by the substantial margin of almost one million votes .......
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(9 of 14).
4th April : Gerard Casey (29) of Shamrock Road , Rasharkin , County Antrim , was killed in his bed by loyalist gunmen . Mr. Casey , who leaves three children , was a member of the IRA who claimed that there was RUC and UDR collusion in the attack . Fr. Denis Faul also alleged that information about Mr. Casey and other Catholics shot recently may have been passed to loyalists by sympathisers in the British 'security forces' .
11th April : Joanne Reilly (20) was killed when an IRA bomb exploded prematurely in Warrenpoint , County Down , outside the RUC barracks . Claiming responsibility , the IRA said that one of it's members accidently triggered off a device which caused the bomb to explode before warnings were given . The 1500 lb bomb caused extensive damage to the houses in the town .
(MORE LATER).
(Apologises again for late publication : the 'BLOGGER' 'PUBLISH' button has been 'down' since at least 7am this morning - Sharon).
Friday, March 04, 2005
'THE PRESS' Newspaper , October 1797 - March 1798 .
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... in February 1798 , the representative of the United Irishmen leadership , Arthur O'Connor , was arrested by the Brits in Margate , England , whilst on his way to France to help organise assistance for the Rebel Cause in Ireland . He was 'tried' with 'sedition' (in May 1798) - but found 'not guilty' ! He was immediately re-arrested , transported to Kilmainham Jail in Dublin and charged , again , with 'sedition' : but not given a 'trial' this time . He was just simply locked-up in Kilmainham - then , after seven months (ie in January 1799) he was brought before the prison administration .......
He was told he was to be moved to Fort George Prison in Scotland ; he was incarcerated there for three years and two months (ie until March 1802) and was only released , as stated earlier in this piece , because the French 'named' him under the 'Peace Of Amiens' Treaty which was signed between the French and the British on 25th March 1802 to bring their war to an end . On his release , Arthur O'Connor was deported to France and enlisted in their Army .
Within two years (ie by 1804) he was appointed General-Of-Division by Napoleon ; on 25th April , 1852 , at 92 years of age (or 87 , depending on your source - I believe it was the former) Arthur O'Connor died . However (before that small 'tangent' !) - after his 'arrest' by the Brits (in February 1798) , Westminster was aware that his colleague , 'Lord' Edward Fitzgerald , was still free and they knew he was capable of using 'The Press' newspaper as a 'tool' with which to rally the thousands of United Irishmen who supported Fitzgerald and O'Connor in their call for an immediate armed Rising ...
... - so Westminster ordered their uniformed thugs in Ireland to 'visit' the Offices of 'The Press' newspaper .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(12 of 20).
Edward Langley , a 'PR' man with the General Electric group , travelled America with Ronald Reagan in the mid-1950's :
: " Gradually , and only he knows precisely when , he came to share the 'Middle American' views of his audiences . Reagan , then as now , was a consummate crowd-pleaser who loved the applause and the interplay with his listeners . Eventually , from whatever mixture of performing instinct and new conviction , he started taking his audiences' opinion for his own , and telling them what they wanted to hear . "
In 1964 , Reagan gave his now famous " Islands of Freedom ... " speech for the ill-fated Republican Presidential candidate , Barry Goldwater - " We stand here on the only island of freedom that is left in the whole world , " he told a national television audience , " there is no place to flee to , no place to escape to . We defend freedom here or it is gone ... "
Contributions poured in after his address - still , Goldwater lost by a landslide .......
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(8 of 14).
19th March : David Braniff (63) , a father of 13 , was shot dead at his home in Alliance Avenue , Belfast , as he knelt with his wife and one daughter reciting the rosary . Two loyalist gunmen burst into the house and killed Mr. Braniff despite an attempt by his wife to save his life .
20th March : Chief Superintendent Harry Breen (51) from Banbridge , County Down , and Superintendent Bob Buchanan (55) from Moira , County Down , died when the car they were travelling in was attacked by an IRA Unit near Jonesboro in South Armagh . The two men had just crossed the border from the south on an unapproved road when they encountered an IRA checkpoint . They had been attending a meeting with Chief Superintendent John Nolan at Dundalk Garda Station where 'cross border security' was discussed . Chief Supt. Breen was Commander of the RUC's 'H' Division which includes Newry , South Armagh and Armagh City , while Supt. Buchanan was in charge of RUC 'liaison' with the Gardai , a key post in the RUC hierarchy .
(MORE LATER).
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... in February 1798 , the representative of the United Irishmen leadership , Arthur O'Connor , was arrested by the Brits in Margate , England , whilst on his way to France to help organise assistance for the Rebel Cause in Ireland . He was 'tried' with 'sedition' (in May 1798) - but found 'not guilty' ! He was immediately re-arrested , transported to Kilmainham Jail in Dublin and charged , again , with 'sedition' : but not given a 'trial' this time . He was just simply locked-up in Kilmainham - then , after seven months (ie in January 1799) he was brought before the prison administration .......
He was told he was to be moved to Fort George Prison in Scotland ; he was incarcerated there for three years and two months (ie until March 1802) and was only released , as stated earlier in this piece , because the French 'named' him under the 'Peace Of Amiens' Treaty which was signed between the French and the British on 25th March 1802 to bring their war to an end . On his release , Arthur O'Connor was deported to France and enlisted in their Army .
Within two years (ie by 1804) he was appointed General-Of-Division by Napoleon ; on 25th April , 1852 , at 92 years of age (or 87 , depending on your source - I believe it was the former) Arthur O'Connor died . However (before that small 'tangent' !) - after his 'arrest' by the Brits (in February 1798) , Westminster was aware that his colleague , 'Lord' Edward Fitzgerald , was still free and they knew he was capable of using 'The Press' newspaper as a 'tool' with which to rally the thousands of United Irishmen who supported Fitzgerald and O'Connor in their call for an immediate armed Rising ...
... - so Westminster ordered their uniformed thugs in Ireland to 'visit' the Offices of 'The Press' newspaper .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(12 of 20).
Edward Langley , a 'PR' man with the General Electric group , travelled America with Ronald Reagan in the mid-1950's :
: " Gradually , and only he knows precisely when , he came to share the 'Middle American' views of his audiences . Reagan , then as now , was a consummate crowd-pleaser who loved the applause and the interplay with his listeners . Eventually , from whatever mixture of performing instinct and new conviction , he started taking his audiences' opinion for his own , and telling them what they wanted to hear . "
In 1964 , Reagan gave his now famous " Islands of Freedom ... " speech for the ill-fated Republican Presidential candidate , Barry Goldwater - " We stand here on the only island of freedom that is left in the whole world , " he told a national television audience , " there is no place to flee to , no place to escape to . We defend freedom here or it is gone ... "
Contributions poured in after his address - still , Goldwater lost by a landslide .......
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(8 of 14).
19th March : David Braniff (63) , a father of 13 , was shot dead at his home in Alliance Avenue , Belfast , as he knelt with his wife and one daughter reciting the rosary . Two loyalist gunmen burst into the house and killed Mr. Braniff despite an attempt by his wife to save his life .
20th March : Chief Superintendent Harry Breen (51) from Banbridge , County Down , and Superintendent Bob Buchanan (55) from Moira , County Down , died when the car they were travelling in was attacked by an IRA Unit near Jonesboro in South Armagh . The two men had just crossed the border from the south on an unapproved road when they encountered an IRA checkpoint . They had been attending a meeting with Chief Superintendent John Nolan at Dundalk Garda Station where 'cross border security' was discussed . Chief Supt. Breen was Commander of the RUC's 'H' Division which includes Newry , South Armagh and Armagh City , while Supt. Buchanan was in charge of RUC 'liaison' with the Gardai , a key post in the RUC hierarchy .
(MORE LATER).
Thursday, March 03, 2005
'THE PRESS' Newspaper , October 1797 - March 1798 .
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... a disagreement was taking place within the United Irishmen organisation between those who wanted immediate armed action against British mis-rule in Ireland and those who wanted to wait for French assistance : the latter won the day . It was agreed that a representative of the United Irishmen leadership be sent to France to help organise whatever assistance was on offer .......
Arthur O'Connor was chosen by the leadership to travel to France and , in February 1798 , as he was travelling through Margate , in England , he was stopped and arrested by the Brits ; he was 'tried' in May 1798 in Maidstone , England , charged with 'sedition' (ie " talk or action exciting discontent or rebellion ... " against the Westminster Administration ) - but found not guilty !
In typical British arrogance , they had not bothered to 'back-up' their 'case' against O'Connor , believing that their opinion alone should be enough to gain a conviction .
Arthur O'Connor walked .... a few yards , anyway : he was immediately re-arrested , transported to Kilmainham Jail in Dublin and charged , again , with 'sedition' . But this time - no 'trial' ; the Brits were 'once bitten , twice shy ' - he was held in that prison for seven months (ie until January 1799) when he was brought before the prison administration .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(11 of 20).
By 1951 , Ronald Reagan's acting career was fading ; then , in 1954 , he received the biggest break in both his showbusiness and political career - General Electric , with plants all over the United States , paid him $125,000 dollars a year to host a new TV series and to travel around their plants boosting company morale .
Reagan went on the road from eight to sixteen weeks a year , sometimes giving fourteen speeches a day to GE employees . Mostly he talked about Hollywood , but when they started asking his opinion on current events Reagan was somewhat surprised to hear himself starting to form a political philosophy in his answers .
Although for all practical purposes Reagan was a conservative by this time , he still considered himself a Democrat - now even that was changing ; Edward Langley , a public relations man for GE who travelled with Reagan during those years , remembers the metamorphosis .......
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(7 of 14).
14th March : Thomas John Hardy (48) , a part-time UDR man , was shot dead at the Granville Meats plant , Dungannon , County Tyrone . Mr. Hardy , from Dungannon , was shot dead after he drove into a loading bay at the company premises on the Augnacloy Road . He joined the UDR on its formation in 1970 .
16th March : John Irvine (49) was shot dead on the street outside his shop on Skegoneill Avenue in North Belfast . The IRA , who claimed the killing , said that Mr. Irvine , who was a defendant in the Budgie Allen supergrass trial some years ago , was an active member of the UVF , a charge denied by that loyalist organisation .
17th March : Niall Davies (42) , a Catholic Senior Civil Servant , was shot dead in front of his wife and daughter at their home in Glengormley , North Belfast ; loyalist attackers used a sledgehammer to break down a door at the Davies home on Church Road and then shot their victim at least three times in the chest . Mr. Davies worked in the North's 'Department of Health and Social Services' .
(MORE LATER).
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... a disagreement was taking place within the United Irishmen organisation between those who wanted immediate armed action against British mis-rule in Ireland and those who wanted to wait for French assistance : the latter won the day . It was agreed that a representative of the United Irishmen leadership be sent to France to help organise whatever assistance was on offer .......
Arthur O'Connor was chosen by the leadership to travel to France and , in February 1798 , as he was travelling through Margate , in England , he was stopped and arrested by the Brits ; he was 'tried' in May 1798 in Maidstone , England , charged with 'sedition' (ie " talk or action exciting discontent or rebellion ... " against the Westminster Administration ) - but found not guilty !
In typical British arrogance , they had not bothered to 'back-up' their 'case' against O'Connor , believing that their opinion alone should be enough to gain a conviction .
Arthur O'Connor walked .... a few yards , anyway : he was immediately re-arrested , transported to Kilmainham Jail in Dublin and charged , again , with 'sedition' . But this time - no 'trial' ; the Brits were 'once bitten , twice shy ' - he was held in that prison for seven months (ie until January 1799) when he was brought before the prison administration .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(11 of 20).
By 1951 , Ronald Reagan's acting career was fading ; then , in 1954 , he received the biggest break in both his showbusiness and political career - General Electric , with plants all over the United States , paid him $125,000 dollars a year to host a new TV series and to travel around their plants boosting company morale .
Reagan went on the road from eight to sixteen weeks a year , sometimes giving fourteen speeches a day to GE employees . Mostly he talked about Hollywood , but when they started asking his opinion on current events Reagan was somewhat surprised to hear himself starting to form a political philosophy in his answers .
Although for all practical purposes Reagan was a conservative by this time , he still considered himself a Democrat - now even that was changing ; Edward Langley , a public relations man for GE who travelled with Reagan during those years , remembers the metamorphosis .......
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(7 of 14).
14th March : Thomas John Hardy (48) , a part-time UDR man , was shot dead at the Granville Meats plant , Dungannon , County Tyrone . Mr. Hardy , from Dungannon , was shot dead after he drove into a loading bay at the company premises on the Augnacloy Road . He joined the UDR on its formation in 1970 .
16th March : John Irvine (49) was shot dead on the street outside his shop on Skegoneill Avenue in North Belfast . The IRA , who claimed the killing , said that Mr. Irvine , who was a defendant in the Budgie Allen supergrass trial some years ago , was an active member of the UVF , a charge denied by that loyalist organisation .
17th March : Niall Davies (42) , a Catholic Senior Civil Servant , was shot dead in front of his wife and daughter at their home in Glengormley , North Belfast ; loyalist attackers used a sledgehammer to break down a door at the Davies home on Church Road and then shot their victim at least three times in the chest . Mr. Davies worked in the North's 'Department of Health and Social Services' .
(MORE LATER).
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
'THE PRESS' Newspaper , October 1797 - March 1798 .
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
... the Irish Rebel newspaper 'The Press' was founded in 1797 by two of those in the leadership of the United Irishmen organisation - Arthur O'Connor and 'Lord' Edward Fitzgerald .......
Others in the leadership of that organisation (notably Thomas Addis Emmet and Dr. William James MacNeven) were worried that 'The Press' newspaper was promoting too militant an agenda .
Emmet and MacNeven were concerned that the revolution being openly called-for in the pages of 'The Press' would only encourage the political 'establishment' (ie Dublin Castle ) to investigate with a renewed vigour the organisation with which that newspaper was associated - the United Irishmen .
The more 'moderate' (if you like) leadership of the United Irishmen considered it preferable to , as they put it , " calm the peasantry ... " while the Rebel Army was being recruited and organised . Thomas Addis Emmet convinced the leadership that the French were prepared to assist the Irish Rebels in an armed rising and it was agreed that one of those in leadership position in the United Irishmen be sent over to France to enter into liaison with the French Administration .
Arthur O'Connor packed his bags - but it was not to be .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(10 of 20).
After the war , as newly elected President of the Screen Actors' Guild , Ronald Reagan had to grapple with labour problems that threatened to shut down Hollywood ; Reagan believed that the problems were instigated by the communists who were trying to " .. take over the motion picture business for a grand , world-wide propaganda base . "
His liberal friends' opposition to the McCarthyism exposed to him , he later said , the " seamy side of liberalism . " Most accounts give his growing absorption in Guild politics as the reason for his divorce from Jane Wyman in 1948 .
In 1951 he met a young starlet named Nancy Davis ; they were married a year later . Her father was a prominent Chicago surgeon and a staunch right-wing Republican , and Reagan's friends say Dr. Davis was a strong influence on him .......
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(6 of 14).
7th March : Leslie Dallas (39) , Ernest Rankin (72) and Austin Nelson (62) were killed when an IRA Unit attacked a garage in Coagh , County Tyrone , which they claimed was being used by the loyalist UVF to prepare sectarian attacks on Catholics in the area and specifically on Republican supporters .
8th March : British soldiers Private Miles Daniel Amos (18) and Private Stephen Jeffery Cummins (24) died after a massive landmine blew their landrover off the Buncrana Road in Derry near the Donegal border checkpoint . The second of two vehicles in the British Army patrol was completely destroyed and six other British soldiers were injured , two seriously .
10th March : Mr. James McCartney (39) was shot dead outside the Orient Bar on the Springfield Road in West Belfast where he worked as a security man . Another man was seriously injured when the loyalist attackers shot into the crowded bar in one of a number of attacks on nationalists over a twenty-four hour period in Belfast .
(MORE LATER).
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
... the Irish Rebel newspaper 'The Press' was founded in 1797 by two of those in the leadership of the United Irishmen organisation - Arthur O'Connor and 'Lord' Edward Fitzgerald .......
Others in the leadership of that organisation (notably Thomas Addis Emmet and Dr. William James MacNeven) were worried that 'The Press' newspaper was promoting too militant an agenda .
Emmet and MacNeven were concerned that the revolution being openly called-for in the pages of 'The Press' would only encourage the political 'establishment' (ie Dublin Castle ) to investigate with a renewed vigour the organisation with which that newspaper was associated - the United Irishmen .
The more 'moderate' (if you like) leadership of the United Irishmen considered it preferable to , as they put it , " calm the peasantry ... " while the Rebel Army was being recruited and organised . Thomas Addis Emmet convinced the leadership that the French were prepared to assist the Irish Rebels in an armed rising and it was agreed that one of those in leadership position in the United Irishmen be sent over to France to enter into liaison with the French Administration .
Arthur O'Connor packed his bags - but it was not to be .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(10 of 20).
After the war , as newly elected President of the Screen Actors' Guild , Ronald Reagan had to grapple with labour problems that threatened to shut down Hollywood ; Reagan believed that the problems were instigated by the communists who were trying to " .. take over the motion picture business for a grand , world-wide propaganda base . "
His liberal friends' opposition to the McCarthyism exposed to him , he later said , the " seamy side of liberalism . " Most accounts give his growing absorption in Guild politics as the reason for his divorce from Jane Wyman in 1948 .
In 1951 he met a young starlet named Nancy Davis ; they were married a year later . Her father was a prominent Chicago surgeon and a staunch right-wing Republican , and Reagan's friends say Dr. Davis was a strong influence on him .......
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(6 of 14).
7th March : Leslie Dallas (39) , Ernest Rankin (72) and Austin Nelson (62) were killed when an IRA Unit attacked a garage in Coagh , County Tyrone , which they claimed was being used by the loyalist UVF to prepare sectarian attacks on Catholics in the area and specifically on Republican supporters .
8th March : British soldiers Private Miles Daniel Amos (18) and Private Stephen Jeffery Cummins (24) died after a massive landmine blew their landrover off the Buncrana Road in Derry near the Donegal border checkpoint . The second of two vehicles in the British Army patrol was completely destroyed and six other British soldiers were injured , two seriously .
10th March : Mr. James McCartney (39) was shot dead outside the Orient Bar on the Springfield Road in West Belfast where he worked as a security man . Another man was seriously injured when the loyalist attackers shot into the crowded bar in one of a number of attacks on nationalists over a twenty-four hour period in Belfast .
(MORE LATER).
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
'THE PRESS' Newspaper , October 1797 - March 1798 .
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... in July 1798 , seventy-six Irish political prisoners - including Dr. William James MacNeven , Arthur O'Connor and Thomas Addis Emmet - entered into an 'agreement' with their British jailers that , in return for certain information , the Brits would stop the on-going slaughter of the now-leaderless United Irishmen organisation and release the 76 prisoners , allowing them to be exiled to a country of their own choice . The 'trade-off' began .......
However : once the Brits had got the information they wanted , they changed their mind ! They assembled the 76 Irish political prisoners but , instead of allowing them to go and to be exiled to a country of their own choice , as per the 'Treaty of Newgate' agreement , they shipped them off to a Scottish prison , Fort George ! That was in 1798 ; four years later (ie 1802) Dr. William James MacNeven and the other 'Treaty of Newgate' prisoners were finally released - they went to France .
The majority of them , led by MacNeven , enlisted in the 'Irish Brigade' of the French Army in the hope that the French military leadership could be persuaded to launch an invasion of Ireland to help remove the British presence . After three years 'pushing' the Irish agenda within the French Army , MacNeven realised that it was'nt going to happen ; he resigned his Commission in 1805 (he was by then a Captain) and left France for New York .
He practised his medical skills in that city on the poor Irish wretches that landed there , having been forced to leave their own country . On 12th July 1841 , at 78 years of age , Dr. William James MacNeven died in New York . He is buried on Riker Farm , in Queens .
However (tangents , tangents !) - back to the Irish Rebel newspaper that Arthur O'Connor and 'Lord' Edward Fitzgerald founded ; 'The Press' .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(9 of 20).
In 1942 , Ronald Reagan joined the United States Army , though despite his 'hawkishness' in later years he never himself went into battle - becoming a Captain with a film unit in Hollywood . Up until his army years , Reagan was a card-carrying liberal : " I was a near helpless hemophiliac liberal . I bled for causes . I had voted Democratic , following my father , in every election . "
Reagan's father was a first-generation Irish Catholic ; his mother a Scots-English Protestant . He ascribes his love of politics , as well as his early liberalism , to his background - " As a first-line Irishman , I relish it . There seems to be something blarney-green in the blood of most sons of the old sod that gives zest to the shillelagh psyche . " ('1169...' Comment - apologises to our readers for that .... !)
Unlike most candidates today , Ronald Reagan does not wear his religion or ancestry on his sleeve and that bit of 'green hokum' is the only nod he gives to his Irish background .......
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(5 of 14).
26th February : Joseph Fenton (35) from Sawel Hill , Andersonstown , was shot dead by the IRA in Bunbeg Park , Lenadoon . A claim by the IRA that Mr. Fenton was working as an agent for the British Army and RUC was immediately denied . However , later in the week the dead man's father , Patrick Fenton , said that he accepted the IRA's claim having been given evidence that his son had worked as a paid informer since 1982 . His information had lead to the capture of several IRA Volunteers and the seizure of arms and explosives by the RUC . Mr. Fenton left behind four children .
28th February : Retired RUC Inspector Gabriel Mullaly , of Kirkliston Park , Belfast , was killed when a bomb exploded under his car at the junction of North Road and Upper Newtownards Road . The IRA claimed responsibility for the killing .
(MORE LATER).
(Sorry for the delay in posting today , Tue 1st March : the 'Blogger' 'PUBLISH' button was down until recently - Sharon .)
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... in July 1798 , seventy-six Irish political prisoners - including Dr. William James MacNeven , Arthur O'Connor and Thomas Addis Emmet - entered into an 'agreement' with their British jailers that , in return for certain information , the Brits would stop the on-going slaughter of the now-leaderless United Irishmen organisation and release the 76 prisoners , allowing them to be exiled to a country of their own choice . The 'trade-off' began .......
However : once the Brits had got the information they wanted , they changed their mind ! They assembled the 76 Irish political prisoners but , instead of allowing them to go and to be exiled to a country of their own choice , as per the 'Treaty of Newgate' agreement , they shipped them off to a Scottish prison , Fort George ! That was in 1798 ; four years later (ie 1802) Dr. William James MacNeven and the other 'Treaty of Newgate' prisoners were finally released - they went to France .
The majority of them , led by MacNeven , enlisted in the 'Irish Brigade' of the French Army in the hope that the French military leadership could be persuaded to launch an invasion of Ireland to help remove the British presence . After three years 'pushing' the Irish agenda within the French Army , MacNeven realised that it was'nt going to happen ; he resigned his Commission in 1805 (he was by then a Captain) and left France for New York .
He practised his medical skills in that city on the poor Irish wretches that landed there , having been forced to leave their own country . On 12th July 1841 , at 78 years of age , Dr. William James MacNeven died in New York . He is buried on Riker Farm , in Queens .
However (tangents , tangents !) - back to the Irish Rebel newspaper that Arthur O'Connor and 'Lord' Edward Fitzgerald founded ; 'The Press' .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(9 of 20).
In 1942 , Ronald Reagan joined the United States Army , though despite his 'hawkishness' in later years he never himself went into battle - becoming a Captain with a film unit in Hollywood . Up until his army years , Reagan was a card-carrying liberal : " I was a near helpless hemophiliac liberal . I bled for causes . I had voted Democratic , following my father , in every election . "
Reagan's father was a first-generation Irish Catholic ; his mother a Scots-English Protestant . He ascribes his love of politics , as well as his early liberalism , to his background - " As a first-line Irishman , I relish it . There seems to be something blarney-green in the blood of most sons of the old sod that gives zest to the shillelagh psyche . " ('1169...' Comment - apologises to our readers for that .... !)
Unlike most candidates today , Ronald Reagan does not wear his religion or ancestry on his sleeve and that bit of 'green hokum' is the only nod he gives to his Irish background .......
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(5 of 14).
26th February : Joseph Fenton (35) from Sawel Hill , Andersonstown , was shot dead by the IRA in Bunbeg Park , Lenadoon . A claim by the IRA that Mr. Fenton was working as an agent for the British Army and RUC was immediately denied . However , later in the week the dead man's father , Patrick Fenton , said that he accepted the IRA's claim having been given evidence that his son had worked as a paid informer since 1982 . His information had lead to the capture of several IRA Volunteers and the seizure of arms and explosives by the RUC . Mr. Fenton left behind four children .
28th February : Retired RUC Inspector Gabriel Mullaly , of Kirkliston Park , Belfast , was killed when a bomb exploded under his car at the junction of North Road and Upper Newtownards Road . The IRA claimed responsibility for the killing .
(MORE LATER).
(Sorry for the delay in posting today , Tue 1st March : the 'Blogger' 'PUBLISH' button was down until recently - Sharon .)
Monday, February 28, 2005
'THE PRESS' Newspaper , October 1797 - March 1798 .
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... in March 1798 , Dr. William James MacNeven was one of the 15 leaders of the United Irishmen organisation that were 'arrested' by the British at the home of Oliver Bond , in Dublin . The now leaderless Irish Rebel Army was easy pickings for the Brits - they began slaughtering the Irish fighters , showing no mercy .......
The men in prison had to do something to stop the butchery of their followers outside ; in July that year (1798) , Dr. William James MacNeven , Arthur O'Connor , Thomas Addis Emmet and 73 other Irish political prisoners agreed a compromise with the British - this became known as the 'Treaty of Newgate' and , under it , the Irish Rebels agreed to outline the aims and the objectives of the United Irishmen organisation and to give certain details of its contacts with other countries ; both sides agreed that individuals involved , at home or abroad , would not be named .
In return , the Brits would stop the slaughter of the Irish Rebels ; those prisoners that gave such information to the British would be allowed to exile themselves to a country of their choice . Dr. William James MacNeven was later to say , re the 'Treaty of Newgate' -
- " It was the best service they could perform to save the country from the cold-blooded slaughter of its best , its bravest , its most enlightened defenders . "
And so the 'trade-off' began ; however - once the Brits got as much information as they could from the 76 Irish political prisoners , they assembled those men in one area .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(8 of 20).
The response to Ronald Reagan's first political speech - in the late 1920's , in support of a student strike - left an impression on the young Reagan ; " I discovered that night that an audience has a feel to it and , in the parlance of the theatre , the audience and I were together . When I came to actually presenting the motion , there was no need for parliamentary procedure : they came to their feet with a roar . Even the faculty members present voted by acclamation . It was heady wine . "
Graduating in 1932 , Ronald Reagan got a job as a sportscaster with an Iowa radio station ; while covering a baseball game on the west coast he got a screen test at Warner Brothers and was given a contract at 200 dollars a week . Between 1937 and 1951 he made fifty-one movies , most of them forgettable .
" The studio " , he says , " did'nt want the pictures good , it wanted them Thursday ....... "
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(4 of 14).
18th February : Stephen McCrea (36) of Ebor Street , off the Shankill Road , died two days after being seriously injured in an attack by the IPLO on the Orange Cross Social Club on the Shankill Road . The IPLO claimed that several recent loyalist assassinations of nationalists had been planned in the club and that loyalist killers were present at the time of their attack . An off-duty UDR man was also seriously injured in the attack . Stephen McCrea had served a lengthy prison sentence for his part in the murder of Catholics some years ago .
20th February : Patrick Feeney (32) of Tullylish , Gilford , County Down , was the second member of his family to be killed by random loyalist attack . In 1975 his uncle John was shot by the UVF in Portadown . Patrick Feeney was manning a security gate at the Ewart Liddell Linen Mill in Donaghcloney five miles from his home where he had worked for ten years when he was shot dead just before 9.00pm .
22nd February : Lance Corporal Norman Duncan (27) was shot dead by an IRA Unit as he drove from Ebrington Barracks in Derry to the nearby Ebrington Primary School to collect the children of British soldiers in a school bus . He was a native of Craigellanchie in Scotland .
(MORE LATER).
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... in March 1798 , Dr. William James MacNeven was one of the 15 leaders of the United Irishmen organisation that were 'arrested' by the British at the home of Oliver Bond , in Dublin . The now leaderless Irish Rebel Army was easy pickings for the Brits - they began slaughtering the Irish fighters , showing no mercy .......
The men in prison had to do something to stop the butchery of their followers outside ; in July that year (1798) , Dr. William James MacNeven , Arthur O'Connor , Thomas Addis Emmet and 73 other Irish political prisoners agreed a compromise with the British - this became known as the 'Treaty of Newgate' and , under it , the Irish Rebels agreed to outline the aims and the objectives of the United Irishmen organisation and to give certain details of its contacts with other countries ; both sides agreed that individuals involved , at home or abroad , would not be named .
In return , the Brits would stop the slaughter of the Irish Rebels ; those prisoners that gave such information to the British would be allowed to exile themselves to a country of their choice . Dr. William James MacNeven was later to say , re the 'Treaty of Newgate' -
- " It was the best service they could perform to save the country from the cold-blooded slaughter of its best , its bravest , its most enlightened defenders . "
And so the 'trade-off' began ; however - once the Brits got as much information as they could from the 76 Irish political prisoners , they assembled those men in one area .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(8 of 20).
The response to Ronald Reagan's first political speech - in the late 1920's , in support of a student strike - left an impression on the young Reagan ; " I discovered that night that an audience has a feel to it and , in the parlance of the theatre , the audience and I were together . When I came to actually presenting the motion , there was no need for parliamentary procedure : they came to their feet with a roar . Even the faculty members present voted by acclamation . It was heady wine . "
Graduating in 1932 , Ronald Reagan got a job as a sportscaster with an Iowa radio station ; while covering a baseball game on the west coast he got a screen test at Warner Brothers and was given a contract at 200 dollars a week . Between 1937 and 1951 he made fifty-one movies , most of them forgettable .
" The studio " , he says , " did'nt want the pictures good , it wanted them Thursday ....... "
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(4 of 14).
18th February : Stephen McCrea (36) of Ebor Street , off the Shankill Road , died two days after being seriously injured in an attack by the IPLO on the Orange Cross Social Club on the Shankill Road . The IPLO claimed that several recent loyalist assassinations of nationalists had been planned in the club and that loyalist killers were present at the time of their attack . An off-duty UDR man was also seriously injured in the attack . Stephen McCrea had served a lengthy prison sentence for his part in the murder of Catholics some years ago .
20th February : Patrick Feeney (32) of Tullylish , Gilford , County Down , was the second member of his family to be killed by random loyalist attack . In 1975 his uncle John was shot by the UVF in Portadown . Patrick Feeney was manning a security gate at the Ewart Liddell Linen Mill in Donaghcloney five miles from his home where he had worked for ten years when he was shot dead just before 9.00pm .
22nd February : Lance Corporal Norman Duncan (27) was shot dead by an IRA Unit as he drove from Ebrington Barracks in Derry to the nearby Ebrington Primary School to collect the children of British soldiers in a school bus . He was a native of Craigellanchie in Scotland .
(MORE LATER).
Friday, February 25, 2005
'THE PRESS' Newspaper , October 1797 - March 1798 .
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
... at 34 years young (in 1797) , Dr. William James MacNeven , a leader of the United Irishmen organisation , travelled to France to seek help for an armed Rising in Ireland . Eight months previously , the French had attempted to offer assistance to the Irish .......
In December 1796 , a French expedition to assist the Irish Rebels had failed ; that was under the command of French General Hoche . The Irish , one and all , were now paying the price for daring to involve the French in British 'internal' affairs . Now the British had a fleet of fighting ships anchored off the French Coast - William MacNeven's plea for assistance was described by the French as being "impractical" , and he returned to Ireland empty-handed .
Dr. William James MacNeven was one of the 15 members of the Leinster Provincial Directory of the United Irishmen that were 'arrested' by the British in March 1798 at the home of Oliver Bond in Dublin ; the informer Thomas Reynolds had led the Brits to them , and MacNeven was imprisoned in Kilmaimham Jail in Dublin .
With most of the United Irishmen leadership in prison , the Brits went on the rampage throughout the country , slaughtering the rank-and-file of the (now leaderless) Irish Rebel Army . The men in prison had to do something .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(7 of 20).
Ronald Reagan's political 'package' is an attractive one ; the simple slogans , the irrevalent data , jokes , camera appeal and social grace - neatly wrapped and presented with the skill and timing of a professional actor . It has , in an age of confusion , brought the American Presidency within Reagan's grasp . It's a development that many find difficult to take seriously - the rumour goes that when Jack Warner , the head of Warner Brothers , first heard that Ronald Reagan was going to run for President he responded - " No , no , the casting is all wrong . Jimmy Stewart for President , Ronnie Reagan for best friend . "
Reagan's first political speech was as 'Class President' at Eureka College , a small Christian college in rural Illinois ; he entered the college in 1928 after a relatively poor childhood , with his family moving from one small Midwest town to another .
Ironically , that speech was in support of a student strike , a phenomena that Reagan would encounter again and again as Governor of California in the turbulent 1960's .......
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(3 of 14).
9th February : Tony Fusco (33) of Milford Row , Divis Flats was shot by the UVF as he walked to work in the Smithfield Market in Belfast city centre . His family denied a UVF claim that Mr. Fusco was a member of the IRA and said he was shot solely because he was a Catholic .
12th February : A solicitor Patrick Finucane was killed by a UFF squad in front of his wife and children at his home in Fortwilliam Drive in North Belfast . A UFF claim that he was a member of the IRA was denied by his family and by the Republican Movement . Mr. Finucane was solicitor for Bobby Sands during the 1981 hunger strike and was prominent in representing families of the victims of the shoot-to-kill policy later investigated by John Stalker .
14th February : John Davey , a Sinn Fein Councillor in his late fifties , from Magherafelt , County Derry , was shot dead as he returned to his home after a meeting of Magherafelt District Council . Exactly a year earlier he had survived a similar assassination attempt . Mr. Davey's car was found stationary with its headlights switched off and handbrake on - giving rise to speculation that he thought he had been stopped at a checkpoint at the end of a wooded laneway to his home .
(MORE LATER).
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
... at 34 years young (in 1797) , Dr. William James MacNeven , a leader of the United Irishmen organisation , travelled to France to seek help for an armed Rising in Ireland . Eight months previously , the French had attempted to offer assistance to the Irish .......
In December 1796 , a French expedition to assist the Irish Rebels had failed ; that was under the command of French General Hoche . The Irish , one and all , were now paying the price for daring to involve the French in British 'internal' affairs . Now the British had a fleet of fighting ships anchored off the French Coast - William MacNeven's plea for assistance was described by the French as being "impractical" , and he returned to Ireland empty-handed .
Dr. William James MacNeven was one of the 15 members of the Leinster Provincial Directory of the United Irishmen that were 'arrested' by the British in March 1798 at the home of Oliver Bond in Dublin ; the informer Thomas Reynolds had led the Brits to them , and MacNeven was imprisoned in Kilmaimham Jail in Dublin .
With most of the United Irishmen leadership in prison , the Brits went on the rampage throughout the country , slaughtering the rank-and-file of the (now leaderless) Irish Rebel Army . The men in prison had to do something .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(7 of 20).
Ronald Reagan's political 'package' is an attractive one ; the simple slogans , the irrevalent data , jokes , camera appeal and social grace - neatly wrapped and presented with the skill and timing of a professional actor . It has , in an age of confusion , brought the American Presidency within Reagan's grasp . It's a development that many find difficult to take seriously - the rumour goes that when Jack Warner , the head of Warner Brothers , first heard that Ronald Reagan was going to run for President he responded - " No , no , the casting is all wrong . Jimmy Stewart for President , Ronnie Reagan for best friend . "
Reagan's first political speech was as 'Class President' at Eureka College , a small Christian college in rural Illinois ; he entered the college in 1928 after a relatively poor childhood , with his family moving from one small Midwest town to another .
Ironically , that speech was in support of a student strike , a phenomena that Reagan would encounter again and again as Governor of California in the turbulent 1960's .......
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(3 of 14).
9th February : Tony Fusco (33) of Milford Row , Divis Flats was shot by the UVF as he walked to work in the Smithfield Market in Belfast city centre . His family denied a UVF claim that Mr. Fusco was a member of the IRA and said he was shot solely because he was a Catholic .
12th February : A solicitor Patrick Finucane was killed by a UFF squad in front of his wife and children at his home in Fortwilliam Drive in North Belfast . A UFF claim that he was a member of the IRA was denied by his family and by the Republican Movement . Mr. Finucane was solicitor for Bobby Sands during the 1981 hunger strike and was prominent in representing families of the victims of the shoot-to-kill policy later investigated by John Stalker .
14th February : John Davey , a Sinn Fein Councillor in his late fifties , from Magherafelt , County Derry , was shot dead as he returned to his home after a meeting of Magherafelt District Council . Exactly a year earlier he had survived a similar assassination attempt . Mr. Davey's car was found stationary with its headlights switched off and handbrake on - giving rise to speculation that he thought he had been stopped at a checkpoint at the end of a wooded laneway to his home .
(MORE LATER).
Thursday, February 24, 2005
'THE PRESS' Newspaper , October 1797 - March 1798 .
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... at 20 years young , in 1783 , William James MacNeven returned to Dublin to establish himself as a medical doctor ; he also joined the 'Catholic Committee' , which sought legal changes to the way Catholics were being victimised because of their religion .......
However - a campaign , well-meaning as it was , to obtain better employment opportunities in 'high' Office for ('upper-class') Catholics was not the number-one priority when you and yours had empty bellies ; the immediate cause of that type of poverty was British mis-rule and the treatment dished-out to the Irish 'peasantry' by Westminster's military and its political leadership .
Dr. William James MacNeven must have come to that same conclusion because , at the invitation of 'Lord' Edward Fitzgerald , he joined the militant 'Society of United Irishmen' and soon became one of the leaders of that organisation . However , the two men were later to 'fall-out' over how , and when , to tackle the Brits in an armed uprising . When he was 34 years young (ie in 1797) Dr. William MacNeven would have witnessed the British Yeomen and Militia , under direction from their General Lake , persecuting the starving Irish ; it was agreed that MacNeven should travel to Paris in July that year (1797) to again seek French help for a Rising in Ireland .
He would have been aware of French efforts to assist the Irish eight months previously (ie in December 1796) .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(6 of 20).
Ronald Reagan almost always talks in generalities , making it extremely difficult to pin him down on specifics ; Elizabeth Drew , of 'The New Yorker' says - " Talking to Reagan can be something like grappling with a wet cake of soap . He is pleasant enough , responsive , even garroulous , but often he follows much the same script that he does on stage , and many of his answers slide away . "
Ronald Reagan is not dumb : he knows full well that elections are won on image , and by generalists . Saying the same things over and over is safe , lessening the chance of being tripped up and looking bad . He is also one of the best public speakers in American politics today , knowing how to stir a crowd and keep them in their seats listening - it's the use of humour with a good delivery .
He is sincere , and whether you agree or not with what he's saying , he says it well and obviously believes what he is saying .......
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(2 of 14).
28 January : RUC Constable Stephen Montgomery (26) was killed and another RUC man seriously injured when a drogue bomb hit their vehicle close to midnight at Sion Mills in County Tyrone . The bomb was thrown from a roof top . The IRA claimed responsibility .
31 January : British Army Private Nicholas Peacock (20) from Grantham , Lincolnshire , was killed in a bomb blast at the side of the 'Rock Bar' at the junction of the Falls Road and Rockmore Road in West Belfast . In the North for less than a month , Private Peacock was the first British soldier to die in Ireland in 1989 .
6 February : James Joseph Connolly (20) , an IRA Volunteer from Castlederg , County Tyrone , was killed when a bomb he was planting under the car of an RUC Officer exploded prematurely at Drumquin , County Tyrone . Josie Connolly was born in Glasgow in August 1968 and was a bricklayer by trade and a well-known amateur boxer .
(MORE LATER).
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... at 20 years young , in 1783 , William James MacNeven returned to Dublin to establish himself as a medical doctor ; he also joined the 'Catholic Committee' , which sought legal changes to the way Catholics were being victimised because of their religion .......
However - a campaign , well-meaning as it was , to obtain better employment opportunities in 'high' Office for ('upper-class') Catholics was not the number-one priority when you and yours had empty bellies ; the immediate cause of that type of poverty was British mis-rule and the treatment dished-out to the Irish 'peasantry' by Westminster's military and its political leadership .
Dr. William James MacNeven must have come to that same conclusion because , at the invitation of 'Lord' Edward Fitzgerald , he joined the militant 'Society of United Irishmen' and soon became one of the leaders of that organisation . However , the two men were later to 'fall-out' over how , and when , to tackle the Brits in an armed uprising . When he was 34 years young (ie in 1797) Dr. William MacNeven would have witnessed the British Yeomen and Militia , under direction from their General Lake , persecuting the starving Irish ; it was agreed that MacNeven should travel to Paris in July that year (1797) to again seek French help for a Rising in Ireland .
He would have been aware of French efforts to assist the Irish eight months previously (ie in December 1796) .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(6 of 20).
Ronald Reagan almost always talks in generalities , making it extremely difficult to pin him down on specifics ; Elizabeth Drew , of 'The New Yorker' says - " Talking to Reagan can be something like grappling with a wet cake of soap . He is pleasant enough , responsive , even garroulous , but often he follows much the same script that he does on stage , and many of his answers slide away . "
Ronald Reagan is not dumb : he knows full well that elections are won on image , and by generalists . Saying the same things over and over is safe , lessening the chance of being tripped up and looking bad . He is also one of the best public speakers in American politics today , knowing how to stir a crowd and keep them in their seats listening - it's the use of humour with a good delivery .
He is sincere , and whether you agree or not with what he's saying , he says it well and obviously believes what he is saying .......
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(2 of 14).
28 January : RUC Constable Stephen Montgomery (26) was killed and another RUC man seriously injured when a drogue bomb hit their vehicle close to midnight at Sion Mills in County Tyrone . The bomb was thrown from a roof top . The IRA claimed responsibility .
31 January : British Army Private Nicholas Peacock (20) from Grantham , Lincolnshire , was killed in a bomb blast at the side of the 'Rock Bar' at the junction of the Falls Road and Rockmore Road in West Belfast . In the North for less than a month , Private Peacock was the first British soldier to die in Ireland in 1989 .
6 February : James Joseph Connolly (20) , an IRA Volunteer from Castlederg , County Tyrone , was killed when a bomb he was planting under the car of an RUC Officer exploded prematurely at Drumquin , County Tyrone . Josie Connolly was born in Glasgow in August 1968 and was a bricklayer by trade and a well-known amateur boxer .
(MORE LATER).
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
'THE PRESS' Newspaper , October 1797 - March 1798 .
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... the other 'main man' in the leadership of the United Irishmen organisation who was wary of (if not actually opposed to) ' The Press' newspaper was Dr. William James MacNeven .......
MacNeven was a Galway man , born in March 1763 at Ballymahowma , near Aughrim . At the time of his birth , the 'Penal Laws' were in operation in Ireland - that British instrument practically 'outlawed' the Catholic Religion .
Augustinians , Dominicans and Roman Catholic Bishops and Archbishops etc were " banned on pain of transportation or death ... " and it was further 'deemed' that Catholic children need not be educated . When he was 12 years young (in 1775) William James MacNeven's parents sent him to Prague to live with his uncle and get some schooling ; at 20 years young (in 1783) , he graduated in medicine from a college in Vienna and returned to Dublin to establish a practice .
He was interested in working against injustice and soon joined the 'Catholic Committee' , which fought against the existing legal discrimination which victimised Catholics because of their religion . However , a campaign to obtain the 'right' for ('upper-class') Catholics to sit in Parliament and/or occupy other 'high' Offices was not the number-one priority when your belly was empty and you and your family were starving .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(5 of 20).
Ronald Reagan had the same 'Speech' for different occasions ; it had two main points -
- One : there is too much government in our lives ,therefore we have inflation , high taxes , a bloated bureaucracy and any other domestic evil he can think of at the time ;
Two : the Russians are coming , therefore let's spend on defence , and lets re-assert ourselves in foreign affairs .
The key phrases - many times even the gestures and cadences - are repeated over and over again , even in informal , spontaneous situations . Another favourite Reagan tactic is throwing out grossly exaggerated 'examples' to make his point : discussing government waste , for instance , he will announce that the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has 144 regulations on climbing ladders . In fact , it has two !
The problem here is what his staff members explain as Reagan's over-reliance on magazine and newspaper articles that support his and Nancy's ideas , or as one aide complains - " He's stubborn . He says 'I know I read this somewhere' , and if he thinks it's accurate and you can't find out otherwise , he'll use it ....... "
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(1 of 14).
15 January : Former RUC Reservist Harry Keys (23) from Ballycassidy , Co. Fermanagh , was killed outside his girlfriend's home in Ballintra , Co. Donegal . He had been warned of the danger of crossing the Border to visit his nineteen-year-old girlfriend by his former colleagues .
18 January : Ian Catney (27) a Catholic from Smithfield in West Belfast was shot dead in the Smithfield Market by the UVF , who alleged that he was a member of the INLA , a claim disputed by the IRSP.
25 January : David Dornan (26) a Protestant from Ballynahinch , Co. Down , was shot dead in Lisburn by loyalists apparently in a case of mistaken identity . His killers , according to the RUC , thought he was a Catholic . A 'Free Presbyterian' , he was shot at 8.30 am by two men as he sat in his mechanical digger at a site on Knockmore Road just outside Lisburn .
(MORE LATER).
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... the other 'main man' in the leadership of the United Irishmen organisation who was wary of (if not actually opposed to) ' The Press' newspaper was Dr. William James MacNeven .......
MacNeven was a Galway man , born in March 1763 at Ballymahowma , near Aughrim . At the time of his birth , the 'Penal Laws' were in operation in Ireland - that British instrument practically 'outlawed' the Catholic Religion .
Augustinians , Dominicans and Roman Catholic Bishops and Archbishops etc were " banned on pain of transportation or death ... " and it was further 'deemed' that Catholic children need not be educated . When he was 12 years young (in 1775) William James MacNeven's parents sent him to Prague to live with his uncle and get some schooling ; at 20 years young (in 1783) , he graduated in medicine from a college in Vienna and returned to Dublin to establish a practice .
He was interested in working against injustice and soon joined the 'Catholic Committee' , which fought against the existing legal discrimination which victimised Catholics because of their religion . However , a campaign to obtain the 'right' for ('upper-class') Catholics to sit in Parliament and/or occupy other 'high' Offices was not the number-one priority when your belly was empty and you and your family were starving .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(5 of 20).
Ronald Reagan had the same 'Speech' for different occasions ; it had two main points -
- One : there is too much government in our lives ,therefore we have inflation , high taxes , a bloated bureaucracy and any other domestic evil he can think of at the time ;
Two : the Russians are coming , therefore let's spend on defence , and lets re-assert ourselves in foreign affairs .
The key phrases - many times even the gestures and cadences - are repeated over and over again , even in informal , spontaneous situations . Another favourite Reagan tactic is throwing out grossly exaggerated 'examples' to make his point : discussing government waste , for instance , he will announce that the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has 144 regulations on climbing ladders . In fact , it has two !
The problem here is what his staff members explain as Reagan's over-reliance on magazine and newspaper articles that support his and Nancy's ideas , or as one aide complains - " He's stubborn . He says 'I know I read this somewhere' , and if he thinks it's accurate and you can't find out otherwise , he'll use it ....... "
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(1 of 14).
15 January : Former RUC Reservist Harry Keys (23) from Ballycassidy , Co. Fermanagh , was killed outside his girlfriend's home in Ballintra , Co. Donegal . He had been warned of the danger of crossing the Border to visit his nineteen-year-old girlfriend by his former colleagues .
18 January : Ian Catney (27) a Catholic from Smithfield in West Belfast was shot dead in the Smithfield Market by the UVF , who alleged that he was a member of the INLA , a claim disputed by the IRSP.
25 January : David Dornan (26) a Protestant from Ballynahinch , Co. Down , was shot dead in Lisburn by loyalists apparently in a case of mistaken identity . His killers , according to the RUC , thought he was a Catholic . A 'Free Presbyterian' , he was shot at 8.30 am by two men as he sat in his mechanical digger at a site on Knockmore Road just outside Lisburn .
(MORE LATER).
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
'THE PRESS' Newspaper , October 1797 - March 1798 .
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... when Oliver Bond's house was raided (on 12th March 1798) by the Brits , Thomas Addis Emmet was fortunate enough not to have been there . He knew he was a wanted man , and went 'on-the-run' .......
He was eventually captured by the Brits around May that year (1798) and imprisoned in Fort George Prison in Scotland until 1802 ; on his release , at 38 years young , he went to Brussels . When his younger brother , Robert , led the Rising in Ireland in 1803 (at 25 years young) , Thomas Addis Emmet was in Paris .
Following the failure of that armed insurrection , Thomas went to America and practiced law in New York . He had by this stage married an Irish girl , Jane Patten , the daughter of the Rev. John Patten from Clonmel in County Tipperary - that marriage took place in Ireland in 1791 , when he was 27 years young . Thomas Addis Emmet , born in 1764 in Cork , Ireland , died in New York City on 14th November 1827 , at the age of 63 .
The other 'main man' in the leadership of the United Irishmen organisation who was wary (if not opposed to) 'The Press' newspaper and its two main proprietors , Arthur O'Connor and 'Lord' Edward Fitzgerald , was Dr. William James MacNeven .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(4 of 20).
Nancy Reagan is said to be the real power ; a case in point occurred during a recent press conference in Florida when Ronnie Reagan remarked that a marijuana cigarette was probably a bigger cancer hazard than a tobacco cigarette . A reporter catching Reagan offguard pointed out that it was'nt necessary to smoke as many marijuana cigarettes to get the desired effect ; as Reagan hesitated a beat , Nancy nudged him and whispered loud enough for one reporter to hear "... you would'nt know " .
" I would'nt know , " Reagan replied . Such momentary lapses are rare for Ronnie Reagan , who has pledged to take an annual senility test if he is elected .
Usually he knows what he's talking about , and for good reason - whenever he speaks he always falls back on what has come to be known as 'The Speech' : no matter how much the parts are re-arranged , updated or edited , the message - and the two main points - are the same and have been for the past 15 years .......
(MORE LATER).
BIG BROTHER HAS ARRIVED .......
An investigation into the extent of telephone surveillance in Ireland shows that with the aid of new technology , telephone tapping has reached alarmimg proportions and most of it is done illegally .
By Frank Doherty .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , December 1980 , page 19.
[6 of 6].
More recently , the UDA intercepted the telex line used by Pierre Salinger , U.S. President Kennedy's former Press Secretary , when he came to Belfast as a correspondent for ABC TV to interview IRA men . When Salinger telexed his office in Paris that he had made contact , the RUC , who intercepted the line as a matter of course , pounced .
But when they closed the net the only people in it were Salinger and a few local Sinn Fein people ; the Provos , it seemed , had either tapped Sallinger's line or the RUC lines .
The UDA , annoyed at the Provos' propaganda coup in getting the RUC to arrest Salinger without any loss to themselves , then showed copies of his primitively-coded messages to Paris to other pressmen , claiming he had come to Belfast to meet the IRA .
[END of ' BIG BROTHER HAS ARRIVED ....... '].
(Tomorrow - 'DEATH LIST 1989' - from 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989).
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... when Oliver Bond's house was raided (on 12th March 1798) by the Brits , Thomas Addis Emmet was fortunate enough not to have been there . He knew he was a wanted man , and went 'on-the-run' .......
He was eventually captured by the Brits around May that year (1798) and imprisoned in Fort George Prison in Scotland until 1802 ; on his release , at 38 years young , he went to Brussels . When his younger brother , Robert , led the Rising in Ireland in 1803 (at 25 years young) , Thomas Addis Emmet was in Paris .
Following the failure of that armed insurrection , Thomas went to America and practiced law in New York . He had by this stage married an Irish girl , Jane Patten , the daughter of the Rev. John Patten from Clonmel in County Tipperary - that marriage took place in Ireland in 1791 , when he was 27 years young . Thomas Addis Emmet , born in 1764 in Cork , Ireland , died in New York City on 14th November 1827 , at the age of 63 .
The other 'main man' in the leadership of the United Irishmen organisation who was wary (if not opposed to) 'The Press' newspaper and its two main proprietors , Arthur O'Connor and 'Lord' Edward Fitzgerald , was Dr. William James MacNeven .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(4 of 20).
Nancy Reagan is said to be the real power ; a case in point occurred during a recent press conference in Florida when Ronnie Reagan remarked that a marijuana cigarette was probably a bigger cancer hazard than a tobacco cigarette . A reporter catching Reagan offguard pointed out that it was'nt necessary to smoke as many marijuana cigarettes to get the desired effect ; as Reagan hesitated a beat , Nancy nudged him and whispered loud enough for one reporter to hear "... you would'nt know " .
" I would'nt know , " Reagan replied . Such momentary lapses are rare for Ronnie Reagan , who has pledged to take an annual senility test if he is elected .
Usually he knows what he's talking about , and for good reason - whenever he speaks he always falls back on what has come to be known as 'The Speech' : no matter how much the parts are re-arranged , updated or edited , the message - and the two main points - are the same and have been for the past 15 years .......
(MORE LATER).
BIG BROTHER HAS ARRIVED .......
An investigation into the extent of telephone surveillance in Ireland shows that with the aid of new technology , telephone tapping has reached alarmimg proportions and most of it is done illegally .
By Frank Doherty .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , December 1980 , page 19.
[6 of 6].
More recently , the UDA intercepted the telex line used by Pierre Salinger , U.S. President Kennedy's former Press Secretary , when he came to Belfast as a correspondent for ABC TV to interview IRA men . When Salinger telexed his office in Paris that he had made contact , the RUC , who intercepted the line as a matter of course , pounced .
But when they closed the net the only people in it were Salinger and a few local Sinn Fein people ; the Provos , it seemed , had either tapped Sallinger's line or the RUC lines .
The UDA , annoyed at the Provos' propaganda coup in getting the RUC to arrest Salinger without any loss to themselves , then showed copies of his primitively-coded messages to Paris to other pressmen , claiming he had come to Belfast to meet the IRA .
[END of ' BIG BROTHER HAS ARRIVED ....... '].
(Tomorrow - 'DEATH LIST 1989' - from 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989).
Monday, February 21, 2005
'THE PRESS' Newspaper , October 1797 - March 1798 .
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... one of those opposed to taking immediate action against British mis-rule in Ireland was Thomas Addis Emmet , who believed that no such move should take place until such time as the French were willing to assist .......
Thomas Addis Emmet was born in Cork on 24th April 1764 ; when he was fourteen years young , his mother gave birth to another boy , Robert , who became more closely associated with the Emmet name than Thomas Addis .
He was educated at Trinity College in Dublin and Edinburgh University in Scotland , following which he went abroad to study medicine and returned to Ireland in 1788 , to help his family cope with the death of his older brother , Christopher Temple Emmet (who was only 27 years young [and a practicing barrister] when he died in 1788) . Thomas Addis Emmet dropped medicine as a career that year , and studied law .
He was called to the Bar in 1790 , and specialised in dealing with prisoners charged with political offences . This work brought him into contact with the United Irishmen organisation , which he joined in 1795 at 31 years young - within two years (ie by 1797) he was on that organisations Executive Committee .
As with 'Lord' Edward Fitzgerald , Thomas Addis Emmet escaped capture by the British when Oliver Bond's house was raided on 12th March 1798 and , as with Fitzgerald , was forced to go 'on-the-run' .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(3 of 20).
Nancy Reagan is more than just a smiling lady in the pictures ; rather she is a true power and influence on her husband and his thinking . " Hell , Nancy's the one who brought him over to the right and made a conservative out of him ," a close friend of theirs told me . " She's strong and subtly pushes him , letting him think something was his own idea . But Ronnie would still be selling soap if it were'nt for Nancy , and I'll tell you this also : if he's elected President , she'll end up running the country . "
A bit of an overstatement , perhaps , but probably not much ; by all accounts Nancy Reagan is as sweet and charming as she appears . She is also intensely devoted to her husband and all that he stands for . So much so , in fact , that she has no qualms admitting - " Ronnie is my life ; my life began when we met ... " . Yet the line between fierce loyalty and overt control , whatever the degree , may be a fine one with the Reagans , be the issue large or small .......
(MORE LATER).
BIG BROTHER HAS ARRIVED .......
An investigation into the extent of telephone surveillance in Ireland shows that with the aid of new technology , telephone tapping has reached alarmimg proportions and most of it is done illegally .
By Frank Doherty .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , December 1980 , page 19.
(5 of 6).
'Official IRA' 'taps' even confirmed suspicions about an SAS presence in the North by providing a movement list ordering individual British soldiers and Officers on leave or to training camps for various courses . Almost all the messages were in plain language - a sign that even the British Army underestimated the ability of Irish tappers .
Walter Ellis , the 'Cork Examiner's ' sole employee in the North , was an east Belfast Protestant who had no connection with any Irish Republican group ; he left Belfast to report for 'The Irish Times' newspaper in Europe without ever discovering the story behind his office telex .......
(MORE LATER).
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... one of those opposed to taking immediate action against British mis-rule in Ireland was Thomas Addis Emmet , who believed that no such move should take place until such time as the French were willing to assist .......
Thomas Addis Emmet was born in Cork on 24th April 1764 ; when he was fourteen years young , his mother gave birth to another boy , Robert , who became more closely associated with the Emmet name than Thomas Addis .
He was educated at Trinity College in Dublin and Edinburgh University in Scotland , following which he went abroad to study medicine and returned to Ireland in 1788 , to help his family cope with the death of his older brother , Christopher Temple Emmet (who was only 27 years young [and a practicing barrister] when he died in 1788) . Thomas Addis Emmet dropped medicine as a career that year , and studied law .
He was called to the Bar in 1790 , and specialised in dealing with prisoners charged with political offences . This work brought him into contact with the United Irishmen organisation , which he joined in 1795 at 31 years young - within two years (ie by 1797) he was on that organisations Executive Committee .
As with 'Lord' Edward Fitzgerald , Thomas Addis Emmet escaped capture by the British when Oliver Bond's house was raided on 12th March 1798 and , as with Fitzgerald , was forced to go 'on-the-run' .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(3 of 20).
Nancy Reagan is more than just a smiling lady in the pictures ; rather she is a true power and influence on her husband and his thinking . " Hell , Nancy's the one who brought him over to the right and made a conservative out of him ," a close friend of theirs told me . " She's strong and subtly pushes him , letting him think something was his own idea . But Ronnie would still be selling soap if it were'nt for Nancy , and I'll tell you this also : if he's elected President , she'll end up running the country . "
A bit of an overstatement , perhaps , but probably not much ; by all accounts Nancy Reagan is as sweet and charming as she appears . She is also intensely devoted to her husband and all that he stands for . So much so , in fact , that she has no qualms admitting - " Ronnie is my life ; my life began when we met ... " . Yet the line between fierce loyalty and overt control , whatever the degree , may be a fine one with the Reagans , be the issue large or small .......
(MORE LATER).
BIG BROTHER HAS ARRIVED .......
An investigation into the extent of telephone surveillance in Ireland shows that with the aid of new technology , telephone tapping has reached alarmimg proportions and most of it is done illegally .
By Frank Doherty .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , December 1980 , page 19.
(5 of 6).
'Official IRA' 'taps' even confirmed suspicions about an SAS presence in the North by providing a movement list ordering individual British soldiers and Officers on leave or to training camps for various courses . Almost all the messages were in plain language - a sign that even the British Army underestimated the ability of Irish tappers .
Walter Ellis , the 'Cork Examiner's ' sole employee in the North , was an east Belfast Protestant who had no connection with any Irish Republican group ; he left Belfast to report for 'The Irish Times' newspaper in Europe without ever discovering the story behind his office telex .......
(MORE LATER).
Friday, February 18, 2005
'THE PRESS' Newspaper , October 1797 - March 1798 .
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... 'The Press' newspaper was judged by the Brits to be a militant publication , as it should have been ; however , some within its own 'camp' were wary of it , too , for much the same reason .......
A typical Editorial in 'The Press' newspaper ran (from Tuesday , 3rd October 1797) -
- " In a country really independent , the laws and policy originate within its own bosom and are calculated to extend the advantages of the state... (but) ... the government of this country has almost uniformly proposed to itself , as the ultimate end of its policy , the maintenance of an English interest as erroneously contra-distinguished from the interests of Ireland ..... "
Supporters of 'The Press' newspaper and the people behind that publication believed that they should strike a blow for freedom regardless of whether any assistance was promised from elsewhere or not - others within the United Irishmen leadership were opposed to such a move , notably Thomas Addis Emmet and a Dr. William James MacNeven , believing that they should wait for assistance from the French .
Thomas Addis Emmet was born in Cork on 24th April 1764 ; when he was 14 years young , his mother gave birth to another boy , Robert , who became more closely associated with the 'Emmet' name than Thomas Addis .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(2 of 20).
In January 1970 , I questioned California Governor Ronald Reagan about new drug laws ; when I finished , I waited for him to question me , as had the other governors : he had no questions . So I asked him a few more questions but backed off very quickly for I realised that he had no idea what I was really talking about . Governor Reagan made a few banal remarks about drugs and then changed the subject to the speech he would soon be delivering , " .. on television " . It was clear the speech was far more 'important' than anything I had to offer , so I quickly ended the meeting .
Within the inner circles of the Nixon Administration , Reagan was considered a 'lightweight' , so I was not surprised at our meeting ; nor was John Mitchell when I reported back - " Reagan's into images and only images , " said Mitchell . And over the years I was struck by how attractive that image was and is .
Off-camera , the Reagans look good but they also look their years . On-camera , they look like an ad agency's conception of the perfect older couple , which is to say not old at all , even though today he is 69 and she is 57 .......
(MORE LATER).
BIG BROTHER HAS ARRIVED .......
An investigation into the extent of telephone surveillance in Ireland shows that with the aid of new technology , telephone tapping has reached alarmimg proportions and most of it is done illegally .
By Frank Doherty .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , December 1980 , page 19.
(4 of 6).
One of the most audacious interceptions was organised by the Official IRA and controlled by the late Liam McMillan ; the operational telegraph network of the British Army in the North was tapped and its signals sent into the telex machine of the 'Cork Examiner' newspaper's Office , to which the Officials had a key .
At that time , in 1971 and 1972 , reporter Walter Ellis , the 'Examiner's ' sole employee in the North , arrived at the one-room office in Lombard Street only at predictable times - to telex his copy to Cork . At other times the teleprinter spewed out requests for 'Q cars' for undercover intelligence from the tactical Headquarters of various British battalions , request lists to British Army 'Northern Ireland' (sic) Command , Lisburn , for permission to raid specified houses for named individuals .
Also , at midday , an intelligence precis of the previous 24 hours , which was broadcast to all British units , would be printed-off by the telex machine .......
(MORE LATER).
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... 'The Press' newspaper was judged by the Brits to be a militant publication , as it should have been ; however , some within its own 'camp' were wary of it , too , for much the same reason .......
A typical Editorial in 'The Press' newspaper ran (from Tuesday , 3rd October 1797) -
- " In a country really independent , the laws and policy originate within its own bosom and are calculated to extend the advantages of the state... (but) ... the government of this country has almost uniformly proposed to itself , as the ultimate end of its policy , the maintenance of an English interest as erroneously contra-distinguished from the interests of Ireland ..... "
Supporters of 'The Press' newspaper and the people behind that publication believed that they should strike a blow for freedom regardless of whether any assistance was promised from elsewhere or not - others within the United Irishmen leadership were opposed to such a move , notably Thomas Addis Emmet and a Dr. William James MacNeven , believing that they should wait for assistance from the French .
Thomas Addis Emmet was born in Cork on 24th April 1764 ; when he was 14 years young , his mother gave birth to another boy , Robert , who became more closely associated with the 'Emmet' name than Thomas Addis .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(2 of 20).
In January 1970 , I questioned California Governor Ronald Reagan about new drug laws ; when I finished , I waited for him to question me , as had the other governors : he had no questions . So I asked him a few more questions but backed off very quickly for I realised that he had no idea what I was really talking about . Governor Reagan made a few banal remarks about drugs and then changed the subject to the speech he would soon be delivering , " .. on television " . It was clear the speech was far more 'important' than anything I had to offer , so I quickly ended the meeting .
Within the inner circles of the Nixon Administration , Reagan was considered a 'lightweight' , so I was not surprised at our meeting ; nor was John Mitchell when I reported back - " Reagan's into images and only images , " said Mitchell . And over the years I was struck by how attractive that image was and is .
Off-camera , the Reagans look good but they also look their years . On-camera , they look like an ad agency's conception of the perfect older couple , which is to say not old at all , even though today he is 69 and she is 57 .......
(MORE LATER).
BIG BROTHER HAS ARRIVED .......
An investigation into the extent of telephone surveillance in Ireland shows that with the aid of new technology , telephone tapping has reached alarmimg proportions and most of it is done illegally .
By Frank Doherty .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , December 1980 , page 19.
(4 of 6).
One of the most audacious interceptions was organised by the Official IRA and controlled by the late Liam McMillan ; the operational telegraph network of the British Army in the North was tapped and its signals sent into the telex machine of the 'Cork Examiner' newspaper's Office , to which the Officials had a key .
At that time , in 1971 and 1972 , reporter Walter Ellis , the 'Examiner's ' sole employee in the North , arrived at the one-room office in Lombard Street only at predictable times - to telex his copy to Cork . At other times the teleprinter spewed out requests for 'Q cars' for undercover intelligence from the tactical Headquarters of various British battalions , request lists to British Army 'Northern Ireland' (sic) Command , Lisburn , for permission to raid specified houses for named individuals .
Also , at midday , an intelligence precis of the previous 24 hours , which was broadcast to all British units , would be printed-off by the telex machine .......
(MORE LATER).
Thursday, February 17, 2005
'THE PRESS' Newspaper , October 1797 - March 1798 .
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... there was hardly any activity by the 1798 Rebels in the county of Tipperary and , in order to keep it that way , the Brits covered that county with threatening posters .......
NOTICE
TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN AND NEIGHBOURHOOD OF TIPPERARY
IT IS ORDERED
That should a Shot at any Time be fired on the Military
from
any House or Cottage whether in the Town or County,
EVERY SOUL WITHOUT DISCRIMINATION found within
will be
PUT TO THE SWORD AND THE HOUSE DESTROYED
That should the Daringness of the disaffected lead
them
to Outrage or Cruelty on the Properties or Families of
the
peaceable and well-disposed the WHOLE
NEIGHBOURHOOD
WILL BE LAID WASTE
T.H. FOSTER
Colonel , Louth Regiment
British Colonel T.H. Foster was , by all accounts , the 'Sir' Richard Dawson Bates of his day ...
However - Arthur O' Connor and 'Lord' Edward Fitzgerald were the two 'main men' behind ' The Press ' newspaper ; it was based in Dublin , and published an issue twice a week , selling for 2d a copy .
Its Editorials annoyed not only the Brits , but some within the United Irishmen organisation as well .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN !
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(1 of 20).
When I was ushered into Governor Ronnie Reagan's Office I was mildly shocked ; he was wearing lipstick , a heavy coat of pancake makeup on his face and rouge on his cheeks . He looked as if he could have been in drag moments before my arrival , but had slipped out of his dress and into a well tailored, navy blue suit for our meeting ...
" Oh , this makeup " , he began with a nervous laugh , " well , you see , I've got to deliver my 'State of the State' message to the legislature this morning ... " . I nodded my understanding and proceeded to give my pitch about drug laws , which had become a nice little speech since by this time I have given it to a dozen governors .
It was January 1970 , and I went to see Ronald Reagan , then Governor of California , at the request of then Attorney General John Mitchell , who wanted me to visit with the governors of all the large states to convince them to adopt new drug laws consistent with a Federal Law being proposed by the Richard Nixon Administration .......
(MORE LATER).
BIG BROTHER HAS ARRIVED .......
An investigation into the extent of telephone surveillance in Ireland shows that with the aid of new technology , telephone tapping has reached alarmimg proportions and most of it is done illegally .
By Frank Doherty .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , December 1980 , page 19.
(3 of 6).
The IRA eavesdropping network was found only because of the arrest of Brian Keenan , the Provos' Director of Operations in Belfast . The discovery was identical to one made in 1973 when Brendan Hughes (now on hunger strike in one of the H-Blocks) was arrested in a house in Myrtlefield Park , off Belfast's Malone Road .
Besides IRA contingency plans for a Doomsday situation - which Harold Wilson read in the British House of 'Commons' - searching British Army troops found a huge quantity of recording tapes containing conversations of senior Civil Servants and British Army Officers , including Lt. General 'Sir' Timothy Creasey's predecessor as British GOCNI , Lt. Gen. 'Sir' Harry Tuzo .
Also recovered from the garage of the house was a Frequency Changer - a 'scrambler' device which allowed the Provos to decode conversations on ' VIP lines ' they tapped .......
(MORE LATER).
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... there was hardly any activity by the 1798 Rebels in the county of Tipperary and , in order to keep it that way , the Brits covered that county with threatening posters .......
NOTICE
TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN AND NEIGHBOURHOOD OF TIPPERARY
IT IS ORDERED
That should a Shot at any Time be fired on the Military
from
any House or Cottage whether in the Town or County,
EVERY SOUL WITHOUT DISCRIMINATION found within
will be
PUT TO THE SWORD AND THE HOUSE DESTROYED
That should the Daringness of the disaffected lead
them
to Outrage or Cruelty on the Properties or Families of
the
peaceable and well-disposed the WHOLE
NEIGHBOURHOOD
WILL BE LAID WASTE
T.H. FOSTER
Colonel , Louth Regiment
British Colonel T.H. Foster was , by all accounts , the 'Sir' Richard Dawson Bates of his day ...
However - Arthur O' Connor and 'Lord' Edward Fitzgerald were the two 'main men' behind ' The Press ' newspaper ; it was based in Dublin , and published an issue twice a week , selling for 2d a copy .
Its Editorials annoyed not only the Brits , but some within the United Irishmen organisation as well .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN !
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(1 of 20).
When I was ushered into Governor Ronnie Reagan's Office I was mildly shocked ; he was wearing lipstick , a heavy coat of pancake makeup on his face and rouge on his cheeks . He looked as if he could have been in drag moments before my arrival , but had slipped out of his dress and into a well tailored, navy blue suit for our meeting ...
" Oh , this makeup " , he began with a nervous laugh , " well , you see , I've got to deliver my 'State of the State' message to the legislature this morning ... " . I nodded my understanding and proceeded to give my pitch about drug laws , which had become a nice little speech since by this time I have given it to a dozen governors .
It was January 1970 , and I went to see Ronald Reagan , then Governor of California , at the request of then Attorney General John Mitchell , who wanted me to visit with the governors of all the large states to convince them to adopt new drug laws consistent with a Federal Law being proposed by the Richard Nixon Administration .......
(MORE LATER).
BIG BROTHER HAS ARRIVED .......
An investigation into the extent of telephone surveillance in Ireland shows that with the aid of new technology , telephone tapping has reached alarmimg proportions and most of it is done illegally .
By Frank Doherty .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , December 1980 , page 19.
(3 of 6).
The IRA eavesdropping network was found only because of the arrest of Brian Keenan , the Provos' Director of Operations in Belfast . The discovery was identical to one made in 1973 when Brendan Hughes (now on hunger strike in one of the H-Blocks) was arrested in a house in Myrtlefield Park , off Belfast's Malone Road .
Besides IRA contingency plans for a Doomsday situation - which Harold Wilson read in the British House of 'Commons' - searching British Army troops found a huge quantity of recording tapes containing conversations of senior Civil Servants and British Army Officers , including Lt. General 'Sir' Timothy Creasey's predecessor as British GOCNI , Lt. Gen. 'Sir' Harry Tuzo .
Also recovered from the garage of the house was a Frequency Changer - a 'scrambler' device which allowed the Provos to decode conversations on ' VIP lines ' they tapped .......
(MORE LATER).
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