POPPY-SELLERS SWIMMIMG IN THE SWILL.

FRANK , MARY AND THE JEDWARDS.....

Don't be fooled by their soft-spoken bluster that it's a harmless substance - millions have died (or suffered acute embarrassment , or should do...) because of the infectious harm it spreads amongst those who know no better.....

UNCLEAN ! Frank Feighan, a Blue Shirt with a red spot.

Mary Byrne , the 'Ballyfermot Rose' , is rumoured to have only worn it on condition that she could disguise herself on stage when wearing it. However, on seeing the Poppy , the Devil took most of the disguise back off her.

Jedward : 'entertainers' who will wear, say or do anything if there's a few bob to be made by doing so. And if Irish Republicans can collectively raise enough hard cash then they, too, can rent shoulder-space from the twins for an Easter Lily display. A tenner each should do , as our pic shows just how cheap they are.

The Poppy is sold (and worn) in 'honour' of all British military personnel , a fact acknowledged by the British Legion and echoed loudly (and often) in Westminster and Stormont. Members of that same blood-thirsty , drugged-up ragged bunch of world-wide mercenaries have caused havoc and spread destitution and moral syphilis in , amongst other global 'hot-spots' , Antigua and Barbuda ,Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados ,Belize , Botswana ,Brunei Darussalam , Cameroon, Canada , Cyprus , Dominica , Fiji Islands, Gambia, Ghana , Grenada , Guyana , Ireland , India and about 40 other countries yet the 'Establishment' here in this farce of a Free State constantly attempt to 'sell' the Poppy as 'our way of remembering our Irish soldiers , tens-of-thousands of them, who died in WW1 (sic)...'

But no Irish soldiers died then : rather it was British soldiers , recruited in Ireland who lost their young lives in that butchery. Irish soldiers also died in that period in Ireland , fighting the British Army , and they are honoured , properly, by the wearing of the Easter Lily and they do not deserve to be 'lumped in' with those from the cesspit ie the Black and Tans, the executioners of the men and women who challenged 'The Empire' in 1916 and the BA Para Regiment , to name but some of those who swim in that swill.

So , Frank , Mary and 'Jedward' : go sell your Poppy propaganda elsewhere.

Thanks for reading, Sharon.

---

---

---

CHILDREN ROUTINELY PLACED WITH UNVETTED PEOPLE.

'GIVE THE KID A CHANCE....'

.....ON 10TH NOVEMBER 2012 : VOTE 'NO'. Don't allow this corrupt State and it's morally bankrupt institutions to have more power in the way they treat our children.

"A review has been ordered into foster care in the south of the country after a damning audit found that children were routinely placed with people who had not been vetted. In one instance, the audit discovered that a child was placed with a foster carer who had a number of criminal convictions and who was not registered. In one area in the Health Service Executive's south region, evidence emerged of a two-tier payment system, with unvetted homes receiving less money from the HSE for accepting foster children....." (From here [paywall])

Those institutions, and the suits that run them, are incompetent and incapable of change and they need to be scrapped : a 'YES' vote on 10th November next will only increase their workload thus giving them more opportunities to damage, physically and emotionally, even more children. Don't give them that opportunity : VOTE 'NO!'.

---

---

---

OBAMA V ROMNEY : LOSERS ALREADY 'ELECTED' .

'THERE WILL BE ANOTHER DAY.....' By Peadar O'Donnell ; first published in January 1963.

It would sound unreal , after so many years, if I were to reconstruct the verbal skirmishing that went on for a while around that troubled fireside. I did not want a head-on conflict and I did my best to keep her off balance but she found new cause for anger with me in my asking her husband to run himself into danger: 'Had I not done enough harm already, with people all but on the roadside on account of me...' The scene was out of pattern. For a while I wondered whether it was possible she was out of her mind , as this great storm of abuse just did not make sense - 'You have not got the full story' . I might not have been so sensitive to her but for an incident some months earlier when a woman who lost her boy in the fight in defence of the Republic unloaded onto me the bitterness she had hidden from everybody else - it was by great good luck that I called on her by myself so that she got the opportunity. Her boy was working in a field when I went by and he left his work and went with me. He was killed. She bolted the door behind me and went on her knees and she cursed me and cursed me and as she cursed, short bursts of words escaped and they told the story. I was very sorry for her. When the storm ended I took her by the hand and helped her to her feet and I scolded her for doing her boy so great a wrong , by making him out in her own mind as a poor fool with no mind of his own, taken by the hand into danger when, in fact , he was a thoughtful , even brilliant, man. It was natural she should begrudge him , but she should not make little of him in her own heart. We then drank tea together. (MORE LATER).

FEAR AND LOATHING IN SOUTH ARMAGH.

The inside story of a personal feud that has left one man dead and tarnished the reputation of the PIRA's most fearsome brigade.

From 'Magill' magazine , April 2003.

By John Keane.

The people of South Armagh are notoriously taciturn. Getting them to discuss the (P)IRA is, as they themselves might say, "like pulling hens' teeth." But an escalation in the number and ferocity of punishment beatings meted out in the (P)IRA heartland has led to cracks developing in that traditional reticence. A major breach in the wall of silence occurred last month (March 2003) following the death of a 24-year-old IRA man , Keith Rodgers , in a shootout in the tiny border village of Cullaville , just inside South Armagh , part of the triangle bounded by Dundalk , Castleblaney and Newry , and known as 'Bandit Country'. Keith Rodgers was a member of an eight-man team assigned to kidnap and beat a member of a local family which had fallen out with the IRA's reputed chief of staff , Thomas 'Slab' Murphy, over a business project.......(MORE LATER).

"CLOSE THE GATES! THE HELICOPTER IS TRYING TO GET AWAY...."

An Alouette II helicopter - the type used in the IRA operation.

In March 1973, IRA leader Joe Cahill was arrested by the Free State Navy in Waterford, aboard the Claudia, a ship from Libya loaded with five tons of weapons, and was sentenced to three years imprisonment, and another IRA leader, Seamus Twomey, was appointed IRA Chief of Staff.

In early October that year, Twomey was caught and arrested by the Free Staters and imprisoned in Mountjoy Jail, which meant that three top IRA operatives (Twomey, J.B. O'Hagan and Kevin Mallon) were now housed in the one location - and the IRA wanted them back!

An 'American businessman' , a 'Mr. Leonard', approached the manager of the 'Irish Helicopters' company at Dublin Airport and discussed hiring a helicopter for an aerial photographic shoot in County Laois and, after being shown the company's fleet of helicopters, this 'businessman' booked a five-seater Alouette II helicopter for October 31st.

'Mr Leonard' arrived at Irish Helicopters on the day and was introduced to the pilot of the helicopter, a Captain Thompson Boyes , who was instructed to fly to a field in Stradbally, County Laois, to pick up photographic equipment. After landing, the pilot saw two armed and masked men approaching the helicopter from nearby trees and he was held at gunpoint and told he would not be harmed if he followed instructions. 'Mr Leonard' left the area with one gunman, while the other gunman climbed aboard the helicopter armed with a pistol and an Armalite rifle. Captain Boyes was told to fly towards Dublin following the path of railway lines and the Royal Canal, and was ordered not to register his flight path with Air Traffic Control. As the helicopter approached Dublin, Boyes was informed of the escape plan and instructed to land in the exercise yard at Mountjoy Prison.

On this day (Wednesday) and date (31st October) in 1973, at 3.40pm in the afternoon, the Alouette II helicopter landed in the D Wing 'Exercise Yard' of Mountjoy Prison in Dublin , when a football match was taking place between the prisoners, and Twomey , O'Hagan and Mallon jumped aboard , but were quickly spotted (!) by an alert Screw who used his training and power of intuition to take immediate action - he *called on the Screws at the gate to close them over as he feared the helicopter was trying to escape (* ...according to the RTE 'Scannal - Prison Break' programme..) ! Another IRA prisoner who was in the yard at the time recalled how an embarrassed Screw told him that he had apologised to the prison governor in relation to the incident , saying that he thought the helicopter contained a visiting (Free State) Minister for Defence (and well-known publican) [Paddy Donegan] : the IRA prisoner replied that , in fact, ".....it was our Minister of Defence leaving...!"

All three men reported back to base and continued their work for the IRA but, after a few weeks of freedom Kevin Mallon was recaptured at a GAA Dance in the Montague Hotel in Co. Laois on 10 December 1973 , J.B.O'Hagan was recaptured in Dublin in early 1975 and Seamus Twomey managed to remain uncaptured until December 2nd , 1977, after the Special Branch came across him in a 'suspicious car' parked in Sandycove, in Dublin.

The 'Wolfe Tones' ballad group released a song called 'The Helicopter Song' which topped the Irish Charts for 4 weeks and 'The Wolfhounds' also recorded the event in song and, in January 1974, a close associate of Kevin Mallon's, Eddie Gallagher, along with Dr. Rose Dugdale, hijacked another helicopter in Donegal to bomb the RUC station in Strabane from the air but the milk-churn bombs they dropped never exploded.

There have been 'ups and downs' (pardon the pun!) in this long on-going struggle to achieve full Irish Freedom and Irish Republicans may tend to get on a 'high' (!) during the 'Up' periods but we very seldom go on a 'Downer' during the 'Down' periods : we know from our own experiences and from our history that we will witness both such periods repeatedly but we have learned to take the good with the bad , in that an 'up' period does not mean that victory has been achieved no more than a 'down' period means that all is lost. The prize we seek is more valuable to us than that sort of short-term thinking would allow for!

EDENTUBBER MARTYRS COMMEMORATION.....

....WILL BE HELD ON SUNDAY 4TH NOVEMBER 2012 : assemble at the 'Old Border Inn', Carrickarnon, County Louth, at 2.30pm.The main oration will be given by Sean Dolan, Longford.

The Edentubber Martyrs Memorial , damaged by thugs and/or Free State elements a number of times since it was first erected in the late 1950's, but repaired and rebuilt each time by Irish Republicans.

MICHAEL WATTERS of Edentubber , County Louth , 55 years of age.

GEORGE KEEGAN of Enniscorthy , County Wexford , 27.

PATRICK PARLE of Wexford Town , 26.

OLIVER CRAVEN of Newry , County Down , 19.

PAUL SMITH of Bessbrook , County Armagh , 19.

Street signs have been erected in the Newry and South Armagh areas in the last week.

The 2011 Edentubber Commemoration can be viewed here and the story of how these five brave men met their death can be listened to here.

S'NOW JOKE......

CABHAIR Swim , Christmas Day , 2010.....

....and a pic from the then 3-year-old CABHAIR Swim , 1979.

A bit of a write-up and some pics from the 2011 Swim can be seen here. At the time of writing, it's the last day of October 2012 and, as a Mam of three kids(/'young adults'!), I don't like even mentioning the word 'Christmas' in November, never mind October !

But it's for a good Cause - the Annual CABHAIR Christmas Swim , which first caused waves (!) in 1976 and will be 36 years-'old' on 25th December next. So far, five lads have confirmed that they will attempt to walk on water on Christmas Day next at the 3rd Lock of the Grand Canal in Inchicore , Dublin (opposite Kelly's 'Black Horse Inn' pub) and Santa has been requested to drop in and join the party!

Santa's little helper sorts out the Swim leaflets....

...and hundreds of them will be delivered, as usual, around the 'Swim area' over the next few weeks.

All monies raised go directly to the dependants of Irish Republican prisoners as all the 'goodies' , time , transport etc are donated to CABHAIR each year and no 'expenses' are taken. There will be a turf fire , Rebel music , lemonade for the kids and 'soup' (!) for the adults - it's not only a good Cause , it's great craic !

AND TALKING OF REPUBLICAN PRISONERS .....

.....a rally in support of MARIAN PRICE will be held on Saturday 3rd November 2012 in Dublin : those attending are asked to assemble at the Garden of Remembrance at 2pm , from where the rally will make its way to the GPO in O'Connell Street. The organisers have requested that no political-party banners or flags be carried , and Marian Price placards , banners and posters will be available on the day.

FINALLY : no matter who wins, these people still lose.

Homeless in New York - seeking warmth and shelter in the subway.

I have been to New York a few times , for holidays and for work-related reasons, and enjoyed the experience on each occasion. The girl friends that I travelled with the last time are like myself in regards to not wanting to spend all our time in the '5th Avenue'-type tourist areas and, as such, we explored both the beaten and unbeaten paths, going from the plush locations of that wonderful city to the projects of Harlem and beyond. The one constant we came across , as with any big city, was poor and homeless people. Not forgotten - they are, after all, some mother's child - but ignored.

The devastation that 'Superstorm Sandy' has inflicted on 'ordinary' New Yorkers will be felt even more by those that rely on the subway stations for warmth ,refuge and safety and, again as with any big city, those people will be the last to be looked after if, indeed, their needs will be addressed at all. And if their needs were deemed worthy of addressing in the first place then, 'Superstorm' or no, they would have been comforted before now.

Whether Obama or Romney 'win' on Tuesday 6th November next, the 'losers' have already been 'elected' and it will be for more than just one term. Some mother's child , without a doubt - but there's no profit in securing their future or no votes to be had by championing their cause. Welcome to the 21st Century.

Thanks for reading, Sharon.

---

---

---

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PROTEST , SATURDAY 27TH OCTOBER 2012 : BRIEF REPORT AND PICS.

SATURDAY 27th October 2012 , O'Connell Street, Dublin....

...some of those at the Spire in Dublin in support of Irish Republican prisoners.

On Saturday 27th October 2012 , there were some 16 protests in 11 countries on three continents such as New York, Sydney, Rome, London, Rome, Manchester, Toronto, Paris,Glasgow, Hamburg, Colorado, Darmstadt, Dusseldorf, Magdeburg, Utrecht or Goteborg, as well as in Dublin, Galway and Lurgan in Ireland , in support of Irish Republican political prisoners.

'Spire Support' , Dublin, Saturday 27th October 2012.

The Dublin protest, at which 500 'Support the POWs' leaflets were distributed in a 90-minute period, was held without incident which, unfortunately, was not the case in Lurgan, County Armagh or in Hamburg, Germany: Cait Trainor, RSF Ard Chomhairle member , was arrested at the protest in Armagh and taken to Lurgan barracks where she will be held until Monday 29th October. From there she will be taken to Hydebank Jail in Belfast to serve a two-week sentence imposed in March this year at Craigavon courthouse.

Cait Trainor , arrested in Ireland on Saturday 27th October 2012, by armed representatives of the British Government.

Cait was fined for 'participating in and organising' a march through Lurgan in January 2011 in support of Martin Corey, interned without trial in Maghaberry jail, Co Antrim, since his licence was revoked by the British secretary of state in 2010. Cáit refused to pay the fine of £700 imposed on her and was arrested on Saturday 27th October 2012 whilst on a protest highlighting the plight of the POWs interned without charge or trial, and also by remand, in Maghaberry jail.

Cait, speaking at an RSF Rally in Dublin on May 5th last.

The following statement was released in relation to the unwarranted incident in Hamburg, Germany, at the POW picket -

Preas Ráiteas / Press release

28 Deireadh Fómhair / October 2012

Republican Sinn Féin condemns repression against protesters in Germany at the Hamburg vigil on International POW-Day 2012 which was broken up by police.

Vienna/Hamburg – German police forces broke up a vigil outside the Lithuanian Consulate on Saturday, October 27. The vigil was organised by Irish republicans of the 'Maghaberry Awareness Group St. Pauli' to demand the release of Irish republican Michael Campbell who is held in a Lithuanian jail. October 27 was the International Day of Action for Irish republican prisoners 2012.

About 50 local anarchists and Chechen socialists joined Irish republicans at a candlelight vigil at the Lithuanian Consulate at Grosse Bahnstrasse in the Altona district of Hamburg, Germany. The vigil lasted less than 30 minutes when it was broken up by German police forces threatening the arrest of all participants. The police said the protest was threatening the property of the Lithuanian Consulate.

Republican Sinn Féin International spokesperson Dieter Blumenfeld condemned the repressive actions by German police forces against Irish republicans. He said: "October 27 was the International Day for Irish political prisoners. The arrest of Cáit Trainor at a protest in Lurgan and the breaking up of a peaceful picket in support of Michael Campbell in Germany shows that the reactionary and imperialist forces want to silence Irish republicanism. We commend all those taking part in the vigil for Michael Campbell in Hamburg, Germany. Every man and woman has a right to protest against injustice. On October 27 the German state has once again shown that they are the closest allies of the most undemocratic and repressive governments."

All of those that took to the streets in the 11 countries are to be commended for doing so and especially Cait and our colleagues in Armagh and our friends in Altona : go raibh míle maith agaibh, a chairde!

Thanks for reading, Sharon.

---

---

---

108Ú ARD-FHEIS , SINN FÉIN POBLACHTACH , 10-11 Samhain 2012.

ON SATURDAY 27TH OCTOBER 2012.....

.....assemble at the Spire in O'Connell Street , Dublin , at 1pm to show solidarity with imprisoned Irish republicans and in opposition to internment. All genuine republicans welcome - bring POW banners , posters and leaflets.

'THERE WILL BE ANOTHER DAY.....' By Peadar O'Donnell ; first published in January 1963.

My mother had a message for me , a letter that came by hand - it was from my teacher friend at Fintown and the innocent lass gave her full address and signed her name. She named the man who bought the seized cattle. My mother, wise in the ways of the local post office, would not trust the post with a letter that came by hand. Well, this was something ; it certainly was something. I told my father and mother of this other problem that brought me racing down from Dublin and my father said at once that I must go and see these people. They were good people and it must be that I had not the full story , and he said that I should go the first thing in the morning. I knew, as soon as he said it, this was the way to face this difficulty and there was still enough night left until bedtime for me to put it to the test ; I took out Phil's bicycle and hurried on my way. It was latish when I got there and I heard their voices in the murmur of the rosary as I sat the bicycle against the wall. I waited until the voices died away and then I pulled the latch and went in - only foreigners knock. They were still on their knees , a woman and two men, all late fiftyish, and the woman spoke at once : "Under God , man, at this hour of the night, what brings you?" The men got to their feet and they spoke a vague greeting, but she would have none of it : "Let him state his errand". I rested my hands on the back of the kitchen chair which the man of the house pushed towards me and I told her I'd traced the seized cattle and that I wanted her man to go with me and take them back and that I didn't know what the devil had got into her.....(MORE LATER).

THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.

From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

" I had naively drawn attention to Mr Smith's silence to the Garda when they met on 6th September , to the Prime Minister's statement about the impending releases and to Mr Craig's statement around the same time. After the discussions I had lunch with the Secretary : he was obviously disinclined to pursue the subject further. We arranged that if the occasion required it communication about IRA matters could be made direct between ourselves. I had feared a request for communication at various levels within the police. After lunch I had talks with the Secretary on matters relating to the probation system, the functioning of the Courts and so on in which he was very helpful insofar as a man of good manners could be so. He came out in the rain, bareheaded, to see me to my car but, nevertheless, I could discern no warmth. I think that he was nervous of being seen alone with me."

[END of 'The Peter Berry Papers'].

(NEXT : 'Fear and Loathing in South Armagh' , from 2003.)

108Ú ARD-FHEIS , SINN FÉIN POBLACHTACH , 10-11 Samhain 2012.

108th Ard Fheis , Republican Sinn Féin , 10th and 11th November 2012.

The 108th Ard Fheis of Republican Sinn Féin will be held in Dublin over the weekend of Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th November 2012. The 45-page Clár contains a total of 138 motions under different headings such as political and electoral policy , prisoners, constitution and rules, social and economic , organisation/activities , education and culture, publicity and Saoirse and international affairs.

The check-in of delegates is at 9.30am each day and delegate/visitor admission cards will be available at the door of the Conference Hall provided RSF Head Office has been notified in advance of your request for same : all visitors must be vouched for by a member of Republican Sinn Féin. The Presidential Address will be delivered by An tUachtarán Des Dalton on Sunday at 12.15pm. It is intended that the Ard Fheis will end the Saturday session at 6.00pm and and will wrap-up at 4.30pm on Sunday , in between which a ballad session will be held (9pm Saturday night) in the Hotel venue. Also , the annual RSF National Private Members Draw will be held at the venue over that weekend (six prizes : 1st two 2013 All-Ireland tickets [one hurling and one football] plus €500 spending money/ 2nd €500/ 3rd €300/ 4th 19-inch flat screen TV-DVD combi unit/ 5th €50 voucher for Irish Freedom Press and 6th bodhrán - and RSF will also be holding a 650-ticket raffle that same weekend in a different venue!) and finally - Irish Republican Resistance Calendars for 2013 will be available at the Ard Fheis , priced at about a fiver each.

Due to an outright (and outrageous...) refusal (!) by RSF Head Office to postpone the Ard Fheis so as it doesn't clash with the Monthly Raffle , myself and the usual raffle crew won't be present for all of it (...we hope to put in a few hours work at it on the Saturday..) as we will be our usual busy selves in the other hotel , running the Monthly Raffle. And knowing our luck, the two raffles just mean that we'll loose twice as much !

"A COUNTRY WITH A CITIZEN LIKE HIM WILL NEVER SURRENDER...."

- the words of a young man who was then employed as a dishwasher in a London hotel , Ho Chi Minh , on hearing of the death of Irish revolutionary Terence MacSwiney. After the murder of Tomás MacCurtain in March 1920, Terence MacSwiney was elected as the Lord Mayor of Cork. He was arrested under the 'Defence of the Realm Act' in August 1920 and sentenced to two years imprisonment : he embarked on a hunger strike in Brixton Jail and died after 74 days on the protest.

Those words were spoken on Monday 25th October 1920 - today (Wednesday) is the 24th October 2012 : almost 92 years after the event, by date. Terence MacSwiney (1879-1920) was the Commanding Officer of the Irish Republican Army , who died on the 74th day of his hunger strike in Brixton Prison on October 25, 1920, inspiring George William Russell ('Æ') to pen the following :

See, though the oil be low more purely still and higher

The flame burns in the body’s lamp! The watchers still

Gaze with unseeing eyes while the Promethean Will,

The Uncreated Light, the Everlasting Fire

Sustains itself against the torturer’s desire

Even as the fabled Titan chained upon the hill.

Burn on, shine on, thou immortality, until

We, too, have lit our lamps at the funeral pyre;

Till we, too, can be noble, unshakable, undismayed:

Till we, too, can burn with the holy flame, and know

There is that within us can triumph over pain,

And go to death, alone, slowly, and unafraid.

The candles of God are already burning row on row:

Farewell, lightbringer, fly to thy heaven again!

"There can be no peace between wrong and right , between truth and fallacy , between justice and oppression , between freedom and tyranny . Between them there must always be war until the wrong is righted , until justice is achieved , until freedom is won" - Terence MacSwiney (funeral video here.)

The man had one child - a daughter, Máire, - by his wife , Muriel Murphy , and mother and daughter, too, left a mark in Irish history , unlike those who killed and tortured that family - they left a stain on our history, which remains with us to this day.

MICHAEL FITZGERALD (CORK): 17TH OCTOBER 1920 , 67 DAYS.

JOSEPH MURPHY (CORK): 25TH OCTOBER 1920 , 76 DAYS.

Michael Fitzgerald.

Joseph Murphy.

Joseph Murphy died on hunger-strike , after 76 days, on the same day as Terence MacSwiney (Monday 25th October 1920) : MacSwiney died at 5.40am , hours after Murphy's death (more here) and earlier in October that year Michael Fitzgerald had died on hunger-strike (on the 17th) after 67 days (more here). A pictorial list of all 22 Irish hunger-strikers can be seen here.

THE STATE OF THE STATE WE'RE IN : VOTE 'NO' ON SATURDAY 10TH NOVEMBER 2012.

On Saturday 10th November 2012 the electorate in this State will be given the opportunity to vote 'Yes' or 'No' to what is, in effect , a proposal which would (compared with State law as presently constituted) allow State politicians the final say - in a nutshell - in how you are rearing your child or children. If the politicians get their way and a majority 'Yes' vote is recorded on the day (in what will be the 31st referendum to the Free State Constitution) a new Article to same will be embedded ('Article 42A') in place of the existing FS Article '42.5'- 'in order that the rights of the child be strengthened' , according to those campaigning for a 'Yes' vote.

A second-hand car salesman/politician , promising you something he can't deliver and, even if he could, chances are it would fall apart at the first bump....

At issue in this particular Free State referendum is the replacement of the present wording (in relation to how you rear your child/children) '...by appropriate means..' with the wording '...by proportionate means as provided by law..'. The former (existing) wording can and has taken into account the circumstances involved ie whether the parents are wealthy or unemployed - if wealthy, the child/children will have a different upbringing , materially so, at least, than the child/children of an unemployed parent(s). Depending on whom you listen to, those 'circumstances' will either be 'significantly tweaked' or 'rode roughshod over' but one thing is for sure : those seeking to 'tweak/ride roughshod over' the existing scenario are wealthy and morally blind individuals who have no notion of what it is to feel financially anxious or to have to decide between part-paying an outstanding bill or putting a dinner on the table and if you are in the unfortunate position of having to decide between food/bills then that is not fair on your kids and their 'solution' is to put a law in place whereby those kids could more easily be removed from 'that cruel environment' whereas the proper solution would be to help the parent(s) out of the poverty trap they are in.

Troubled parents have a row : do you think it best that the child/children be removed from them or that they should be helped to improve their home environment?

Err on the side of caution on Saturday 10th November next : use your vote in this Free State referendum to prevent a corrupt institution - the State in all its guises - from having the 'right' to tell you how your family life should be lived , using their privileged lifestyles as the yardstick. VOTE NO!

Thanks for reading, Sharon.

---

---

---

'END A DAZE' FOR THOSE FORCED TO BAIL OUT THE BANKS.

KENNY ON THE RIGHT , BUT 'WHAT'S LEFT' ?

Kenny recently made the cover of 'Time' magazine because he's following a programme constructed by right-wing economists : save the big business-class at all costs.

If this useless IMF-inspired politician can remove his head from the pages of 'Time' magazine for any length of time then maybe one of his many publicly-paid political spin/spiv doctors can bring this report to his attention and further encourage him to broaden his horizons with a follow-up read of some examples of how the policies he is imposing are affecting real people.

The nearest this clown ever got to the pulse of those he purports to represent in this State was when he called for a "revolution" , but he wasn't near enough : he considers himself to be the leader of that 'revolution' whereas, in reality, he and his type are the reason why one is needed.

Sharon.

---

---

---

90 YEARS AFTER 8TH DECEMBER 1922.........

'THERE WILL BE ANOTHER DAY.....' By Peadar O'Donnell ; first published in January 1963.

Phil McCauley had a story to tell : the postman meeting a man on the road gave him a letter addressed to his brother. A letter is a family document for it is usually from a brother or sister in America or Scotland and the first member of the household the postman meets opens it ; this letter so scared the man who opened it that he fled with it to Phil McCauley , for it revealed that his brother was willing to pay the arrears if his name was "put down for the holding". Phil brought the frightened man to 'Black' James Duirnin : he wanted to pay the arrears himself rather than risk losing the holding, but he agreed to wait until I came from Dublin, provided I came at once. Here was a many-sided problem and every side was dark. Phil put me in the picture - the conspirator was a lumpy, violent man who could make great noise and his wife would be no peace-maker but his elder brother , who was unmarried, was the tenant and he was a frail man. He was too scared even to face his brother with the letter. Then, too , there was the danger that this letter was the work of some group in the village and that maybe we had only come on one incident in a campaign against us. There were a good few government supporters in Dungloe who were very hostile to me personally and who could easily lose sight of the hurt they might do the townlands in developing their attack on me. Phil had already called a committee meeting for the following evening, so I borrowed his bicycle and cycled to my father's home at Meenmore, a mile from Dungloe village. (MORE LATER).

THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.

From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

" I said that with the resumption of parliament on 23rd October my Minister might receive more enquiries of this nature and that he might consider it necessary to issue a denial - he might find it necessary to say, if asked on this particular point, that he had communicated his views to the Minister for Home Affairs , my visit being the means of communication. The Minister asked me to convey his thanks to my Minister and said that he would consider the situation very carefully. The interviews terminated at about 1.10pm , and I formed the impression that the Minister was not convinced that the IRA were not actively preparing for a fresh campaign but that he did accept the suggestion that newspaper publicity should be avoided. I also formed the impression that the Minister and the Secretary knew very little about the IRA and the police machinery for dealing with the organisation. In my preliminary meeting with the Secretary he told me that Mr. Craig was unaware of Mr. Faulkner's meeting with Mr. Haughey. During my discussion with the Minister the Secretary interjected at one stage that their Prime Minister's statement in the USA that the IRA prisoners in Belfast were about to be released came as a surprise....."(MORE LATER).

A FINE GAEL-TYPE 'UNITED IRELAND'.

Someone in the current Free State administration apparently thought it would be a good idea to get Enda Kenny , on his recent American 'tour' , to 'play the Green Card' as well as to spoof about what a great job he and his political cronies are doing with the economy here in this banjaxed State , but of course there was no indication given of just how ignorant , arrogant and full of himself he and his crowd can be when confronted, rightly, by those of us that are sick to the back teeth of useless self-servers like them, who are just sitting it out - with permission from the IMF and the EU - whilst waiting for their golden handshake political pensions to mature.

The fact that he repeatedly referred to "two countries" (by which the buffoon meant the British-occupied Six County area and the Free State) is proof enough, if indeed such was in any doubt, that the man (and his supporters) remains confused in relation to the country in which he was born , not to mention the fact that his notion of a 'united Ireland' means rejoining the British so-called 'Commonwealth'. And to think that voicing such an opinion is considered to be 'rebellious' in the (Golden) circles where 'Two Countries' Kenny and his ilk reside. God help us !

YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN'......

....LIKE THE MIGHTY QUINN.

"I'm gonna do what I wanna do, I can decide 'em all

Just tell me where to put 'em and I'll tell you who to call

Nobody can get no sleep, I'm on everyone's toes

But when Quinn the Capitalist gets here

Almost everybody's gonna loose...."

(from here , with apologises [and poetic licence!])

Another rally in support of the Quinn family - the second such one - was held on Sunday last (14th October 2012) at which 'The Don' cried on stage : perhaps he had just read the following - "Take all the money raised this year by the cuts in child benefit. And from cutting the school clothing and footwear allowance. And all the cuts to jobseekers’ benefit, rent supplement and fuel allowances for the elderly. Throw in the restriction of one-parent family allowance to children under seven. Pile on all the cuts in back-to-education allowances and community employment schemes. Take all of that money from the pockets of the poorest people in Ireland this year and you still haven’t reached the amount Seán Quinn agrees he owes the Irish taxpayer.....Quinn is openly, flagrantly and quite proudly trying to hang on to this money that belongs to us. As he said - he took a “very conscious decision” to do “everything in our power to take as many assets as we could”. The basic intention is very simple – to transfer assets from the Irish people to the Quinn family...." (From here.)

It's very hard to understand the moral mentality of those people who took to the streets in support of this man and his business dealings and I can only attribute it , charitably, to a 'them-and-us' attitude promoted by the 'victim' (and swallowed by some) ie 'how dare that crowd in Dublin tell us what to do...'. That's a ploy used throughout this State by useless and/or self-serving politicians to create the illusion that those 'in charge' (those in 'the Big House' in Dublin) view the person concerned as not being 'one of us' and therefore someone who can bring to an end their cosy tax-payer-funded life on Easy Street/Kildare Street and, as such, someone to be ostracised - a 'mini-version' , if you like, of the British 'divide-and-conquer' policy. And, to the shame of those 'supporters' , it's a ploy that works , proving that there genuinely is no hope for some people.

THE 'TRAP' OF FALSE HOPE....

Regular readers will be well aware that I'm not 'into' sports of any kind - be it soccer , GAA , rugby or whatever - but even I was amazed at the sheer disregard for reality shown here by Giovanni Trapattoni after the football 'team' he manages (?) lost to a German team - "Why should I resign?.... we would still have seven games left.......when we go on the street they say ‘well done’ ......it’s not a crisis......I am sure we make a good job. Others say that, not me. I’m paid to do this job. Other people in Europe say ‘you do a good job’......I think we can achieve qualification......we have to win......" (From here.)

The man has either a penality-proof contract of employment (!) or a great pair of balls (!) or maybe he's in training (!) for a career in Leinster House , the 'home' of that type of 'do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do' bullshit. Whichever it is , it's a foul (!) way to treat the punters....

....but , no doubt, all will be forgiven as Trap's team managed to beat a team that are even worse than they are and, in much the same way that the sins of Fianna Fail will be forgotten and forgiven because the alternative (Fine Gael and Labour) are worse (or at least appear worse) than they are so, too, will the sins of Trapattoni be glossed over. Such is life in this valueless Free State.

FREE STATE EXECUTIONS OF 8TH DECEMBER 1922 TO BE REMEMBERED ON 8TH DECEMBER 2012.

The 8th December 2012 will be the 90th Anniversary of the executions , by the then Leinster House Administration, of four imprisoned Irish Republicans - Richard Barrett, Rory O'Connor, Liam Mellows and Joe McKelvey. It was an act of revenge by the Free Staters for the death of Leinster House member Sean Hales , killed by the IRA. The four Irish Republicans were in prison at the time that Hales was killed and as such it was known by all concerned that none of them were involved in that particular act.

".......Liam Mellows wrote his last letter (to his mother) on December 8th , 1922 - he was then executed by a Free State Army firing squad . However , forty-six years after that execution (ie in 1968) more information regarding that deed was made public .......

In a letter to the media forty-six years after the execution of Liam Mellows (ie on April 24th , 1968) a Free State Army Captain , Ignatius O'Rourke , who was present at the execution of Liam Mellows and the other three men - Dick Barrett , Rory O'Connor and Joe McKelvey - wrote that , a few minutes before Mellows was shot dead he [Mellows] sent for the prison chaplain , a Father McMahon . Free State Army Captain O'Rourke wrote that "... a few minutes later .." he saw Father McMahon leaving the room (cell) "...accompanied by Liam Mellows , with his right arm around Liam's shoulders , and they walked along together leading the group as we all walked to the sandbags . Liam and Father McMahon appeared to be in deep , friendly conversation , with no sign of discord , disagreement or argument , just like two men discussing some point in a friendly fashion . They continued to talk until Father McMahon left Liam in the number one position at the sandbags ...." (From here - scroll down to post dated Wednesday 22nd September 2004)

Thomas Johnson, the then leader of the State Labour Party , stated re the murder of these four Irish Republicans:

"Murder most foul as in the best it is - but this most foul, bloody and unnatural. The four men in Mountjoy have been in your charge for five months…….. the Government of this country—the Government of Saorstát Eireann, announces apparently with pride that they have taken out four men, who were in their charge as prisoners, and as a reprisal for that assassination murdered them.…..I wonder whether any member of the Government who has any regard for the honour of Ireland, or has any regard for the good name of the State, or has any regard for the safety of the State, will stand over an act of this kind."

On Saturday 8th December 2012 , Republican Sinn Féin will hold a commemorative event in Wynn's Hotel , Lower Abbey Street , Dublin city centre, to mark the 90th Anniversary of the murder of those four men. Full details will be announced in the coming weeks.

Thanks for reading, Sharon.

---

---

---

RAFFLE RESULTS FROM A QUIET AND SPORTS-FREE EVENT !

ROGER , ROGER.....

We had an unusually quiet - but profitable - raffle on Sunday last , 14th October , in the Kildare hotel venue : quiet due to the fact that there was no major sporting fixtures taking place that day (or if there was it wasn't evident by mad crowds in the lounge!) and profitable because all 650 tickets were sold. It was , for once, a relaxed atmosphere in which to do the job - a scenario which made it almost (!) pleasant to have to work on a Sunday!

Sheila was the Duty Manager in the hotel that day and we 'jobbed' her to pull the 1st prize out of our raffle drum - €200 - and she pulled ticket number 386 which belonged to a delighted Roger C , from Bluebell , in Dublin , who was present with his son , Mark. Both lads had just popped-in to the hotel for lunch, as they were on their way home from a job in Carlow and were thrilled to have won the prize , which they split between them. Mark then pulled the second prize (€100) which was won by Waterford girl Clair D on ticket 397 - Clair was eventually located in the other lounge and didn't believe she had won ("....sure I wouldn't win if I had the only ticket in the draw.." ) but loudly changed her mind when presented with the envelope! When Clair had calmed down we asked her to pull the 3rd prize - €40 - and it was ticket 629 , won by Conor, who had bought it from one of our resident sellers , 'Bottler' , who then pulled ticket 245 from the drum for the 4th prize (€20) and that was won by a 'Hells Angel'-type (!) , Stevo , from Ballyfermot, whom we then asked to put a gloved hand into the drum and pick the 5th prize which, with a grunt and a burp, he did - and Myles K , who had been sold ticket 349 by our Kevin, was the winner of that €20 prize.

Myles then pulled out prize number six, which went to Seán M in Clondalkin, on ticket 537. Declan from Mullingar won our second-last prize - €20 - with ticket 325 and Colm R , who had been sold ticket number 550 by Anto, walked away from our table with the last prize, €20 richer. It was a relaxing and more enjoyable than usual raffle but we know not to get to like rare occasions like that too much , and certainly not to expect more of the same for the next such event - it clashes with the 108th Ard Fheis of Republican Sinn Féin which is being held in Dublin on that same weekend. Here's hoping for an absence of sporting fixtures for that weekend at least....!
Anyway - we'll be back here tomorrow night (Wednesday 17th October 2012) with , amongst other posts, a commentary on soccer.....!

Thanks for reading, Sharon.

---

---

---

BS=UDR + RUC=PSNI.

'THERE WILL BE ANOTHER DAY.....' By Peadar O'Donnell ; first published in January 1963.

One of my 'An Phoblacht' editorials stated - "The point of attack is the point of rally. Every militant Republican will be on the side of the small farmers (and) in some corner of the land some phase of the conquest is resisted. Where resistance begins organisation is born...."

In all this I was adventuring far beyond my authority and, of course, I provoked protests , and I published them : "There are men in Ireland whose vision is not your vision , whose faith in the people is not yours , whose ideal is still the Ireland of Pearse and McSwiney..." I have no doubt Maurice (Moss) Twomey , Chief of Staff and the outstanding influence in the IRA in that period, was much beset , but he never once let the matter on to the agenda of an army council meeting. There were other grumbles but I kept on shouting and in September 1926 I gave space in 'An Phoblacht' for a long quote from a poster issued by the Donegal committee (the poster itself was probably my own doing) - "We own no landlord rent, and we owe no annuity for buying out rights that were never morally binding on us. We repudiate rent and annuity as a matter of principle." But there is more to building a movement than bellowing in a newspaper. Without warning I got a telegram from Donegal calling me there at once , yet nothing in a letter of a few days before gave any hint that trouble was brewing. I was on the train north that afternoon and Con Quinn drove me from Fintown to Dungloe - Con distinguished himself later as a trade union leader at Dearborn , Michigan , and he was a great help to me.....(MORE LATER).

THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.

From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

" Mr Craig (and Stout) was visibly shaken when he heard of Mr Smith's visit to Dublin of 6th September , and he took a note of it. He said that he would very much like to believe that nothing would happen this winter but he didn't see how he would ignore the advice of the RUC , his own policeforce , and said that he had already issued instructions for stepping-up police precautions. I referred to his statement that "a sizeable splinter group" was active and asked where was this group operating and how many were there. I referred to the Saor Uladh group which has been defunct since before Liam Kelly went to the USA some years ago , and the Dublin group , the members of which have shown no activity whatsoever for some years. Mr Stout asked what about MacCriostal (this showed that their sources of information were very defective) and I pointed out that since MacCriostal's release from Mountjoy Prison around 1985 , before the completion of his sentence, he had disassociated himself completely from the Saor Uladh organisation. In reply to questions I said that the use of explosives on 17th March 1963 , in Cork, in which one man lost his life and another was maimed , was for the purpose of blowing-up a war memorial and that we were satisfied that it was not an attempt on the life of our President , Mr de Valera. I mentioned that my Minister had received letters from Belfast, from Derry and from people living along thr Border , expressing doubts about any IRA activities in Border Counties and asking my Minister for reassurances....."(MORE LATER).

FEELIN' LUCKY , PUNK....?

....well, if it's next Sunday (14th) you're thinkin' about then you might just be lucky - but you'll have to have a ticket first!

The CABHAIR organisation will be holding a 650-ticket raffle on that Sunday in the usual Kildare venue and, unless any unsold tickets are returned to organising committee reps before then, you most definitely won't be having a winner : as things stand at the time of writing, there are no spare/unsold tickets for the 14th and, indeed, disappointed customers are being offered tickets for the November 2012 raffle instead of this one - and that particular raffle is going to prove more 'interesting' than the October one, as the 108th Ard Fheis of Republican Sinn Féin is being held on that same weekend - Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th November 2012. The normal monthly raffle is hectic enough as it is , due to the amount of tickets involved and the associated paperwork etc but it gets nuclear when it clashes with another Republican event ! But we'll manage , as we have before. Somehow...!

B-SPECIALS=UDR / RUC=PSNI .

REPLACING 'SIX-OF-ONE' WITH 'HALF-A-DOZEN' OF THE OTHER WHEN IT'S THE 'MATHS' ITSELF THAT IS FAULTY ; 26+6 DOES EQUAL 1.

A member of the 'B-Specials' , on his way to a normal day at the Office...

On this date in 1969 (10th October) 'The Hunt Report' recommended a change of name and uniform for an 'official' British-sponsored armed gang to ensure that Stormont would continue to have the 'muscle' to enforce its diktat , as they are doing now with the RUC/PSNI. But Baron 'Sir' John needn't have worried (...he didn't, by the way..) , despite the 'threat' of a Loyalist-instigated 'civil war', the political and military paymasters in Westminster never intended to change the actual structure of 'their' Irish fiefdom - their intention (as with the RUC/PSNI 'changeover') was simply to give the impression that they had done so.

And the more gullible amongst us (although they are well salaried to be so or, at least, to behave in such a gullible manner) profess themselves convinced that a new day has dawned , ignoring the fact that the shadow in the room is caused by an elephant....

A LESSON HARD-LEARNED SO EARLY IN LIFE.

TOO EARLY IN LIFE.

Back on my 'group-hug' horse again , I know , but I hope you will forgive me my indulgence and bear with me. I have mentioned this particular blog before and have been checking-in on it on a fairly regular basis since then, and a post from a few days ago has stayed with me. I have convinced myself that the author is a teenage girl (apologises if I'm wrong) but there is a certain sensitivity in the writing that I don't think a male of any age would be capable of - and again , apologises if that sounds 'elitist' or offensive, as that is not my intention.

The post I refer to begins in this manner - "At the risk of sounding 'deep' about this issue (I'm far too young for that!) I think I have stumbled on the main difference between people that are genuinely civilised and those that aren't, and it hasn't anything to do with how well-off people are, or the society they live in or the political leanings of those that govern them or whether the society they live in is a so-called 'advanced' society or not.

The difference is that people that are genuinely civilised have respect for, and live according to, the spirit of the law rather than the letter of it. Those that are genuinely civilised are guided by their conscience, morality and a personal responsibility whilst those that aren't need clearly-defined laws to stop them from doing wrong, but even if all aspects of the society they live in are governed by clearly-defined laws those that are not genuinely civilised will (most of the time) abide by those laws but only because they have to and not because they agree that it is the right thing to do......" , and is entitled 'THE 'RIGHT' TO DO WRONG.'

To my mind, it's a rather 'heavy' piece of writing from one so young - male or female - and even though it points to a lesson learned, it is such a pity that that lesson had to be learned in such tragic circumstances. As a mother of three girls (all of whom consider themselves to be well-versed and 'street-wise' young women but all of whom will forever remain 'my three girls') there are certain human traits which I hope (hope against hope) that my three girls do not have to encounter , and that blog details one of them. I am not a 'softie' by any means , and was not raised to be one : my parents and my family ensured that my inquisitiveness and my questioning scepticism (which I hope I have passed-on to my daughters) was encouraged and nurtured but I was not burdened with 'adult'-type problems or issues until I had developed enough to be trusted (and expected) to be able to handle issues of that nature. And that is , I think, the reason why I am particularly disturbed by the nature of the blog in question - it has introduced a child into a cut-throat world of adult treatchery that no child should be confronted with. And the two women referred to in the blog can add that to the disgusting legacy they will leave in their wake.
You can read the full post here, and the blog itself can be read here.

IRISH FARMERS PROTEST OUTSIDE THE BIGGEST SLURRY PIT IN THE STATE...

A combine harvester on its way to a straw house in Dublin , Tuesday 9th October 2012.

It was a delight to witness about 20,000 Irish farmers and their families close down Dublin City yesterday (Tuesday 9th) in a well-organised protest against State/EU/IMF threats to their standard of living - those who organised the protest and those who made it their business to take part in same and/or otherwise supported it are to be congratulated , and those who should have called their members out on protest in support - but didn't - are to be condemned for their bad judgement which can be attributed to their cosy relationship to 'Green Look-a-Likes' , the State Labour Party , who are presently , as expected, turning their back on election promises (and on those that were foolish enough to vote for them) in order to prop-up their right-wing coalition administration with Fine Gael.

This State Labour Party has exposed itself as being just a 'political prop', available (at a price) to support any other Party with which it can cohabitate , in power, for as long as it takes for its members to secure their own financial futures. Mr Gilmore and Company would do well to remember the words of Jim Larkin - "The men whose manhood you have broken will loathe you, and will always be brooding and scheming to strike a fresh blow."

And that "fresh blow" will be delivered to the State Labour Party by those that that party claims to represent - the workers , the unemployed and the underprivileged. And the sooner the better.

Thanks for reading, Sharon.

---

---

---

'END A' TIMEs FOR KENNY'S STATE.....

Not for the first time , the right-wing 'Bible' that 'TIME Magazine' has become , has got it wrong : Enda Kenny and the (Fine Gael / State Labour Party) Free State Coalition that he heads-up , with permission from the IMF and the EU , of course , is not the 'economic guru' coming to the rescue of 'his people' who have recently been savaged by an incompetent political leadership : rather , he is a continuance of same - it's just that he's a better dresser than his predecessor was. 'TIME' magazine aims itself exclusively at the 'business class' - those it considers to be wealthy enough to satisfy its advertisers - and, from their perspective, the 'Enda Kenny's' of this world can do no wrong : to secure and/or increase the wealth of the wealthy and, once viewed from that perspective, it comes as no surprise that it cheers-on the likes of Kenny but the truth is that the working-class and the unemployed wouldn't consider the man fit enough to grace the cover of a comic book. Well.... with one exception , in recognition of the fact that the man considers himself to be politically useful.

Thanks for reading, Sharon.

---

---

---