Our old friend Conor Cruise O Brien has been in the news here recently re income tax matters ; apparently , not only was he not paying all the tax judged to be owed by him , but actually admitted as much on radio !
Conor would consider himself as an opponent of colonialism abroad but defends the British presence in Ireland ; he is a former editor of a British newspaper yet agrees with censorship of Irish newspapers ; he is a self-proclaimed liberal and proponent of free speech yet , when he was a Free State Minister , he introduced Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act(which barred Republicans from radio and television) ; he was a member of thr Anti-Apartheid Movement yet broke the academic boycott of South Africa .
He joined the Free State Labour Party in 1937 and in 1968 he won a seat in Leinster House and was made spokesperson on foreign affairs (which included the Six County area !) by then Labour leader Brendan Corish . During an interview with 'Washington Post' journalist Bud Nossiter , O Brien showed Nossiter dozens of letters which had been sent to the Editor of 'The Irish Times' newspaper - Nossiter inquired if O Brien intended to censor those letters , to which O Brien replied -- " No , but we will hit the Editor who produces these things " . In 1977 , he lost his seat .
Lord William Whitelaw ,Frank Cluskey , Paddy Devlin and Ken Maginnis are amongst those who have defended him , while the late Neil Blaney , Tim-Pat Coogan and Austin Currie have criticised him .
In his autobiography 'My Life and Themes' , Conor Cruise O Brien wrote ~~ " If Home Rule had been achieved by the parliamentary route , David Sheehy (his grandfather) would certainly have had a seat in the Irish cabinet . Our whole family would have been part of the establishment of the new Home Rule Ireland . As it was , we were out in the cold , superseded by a new republican elite " .
DAMMIT ! Connor , you're right of course - your career in "the new Home Rule Ireland" was banjaxed by Republicans ; what a bummer ....
As such ,by way of an apology ,please accept the following verse ---
' With pomp and with ridiculous display
the politicians corpse is borne away ,
and all around him carped and slanged
I wept- I had wished to see him hanged ' .
( G K Chesterton , poet and British Liberal MP ) .

On August 11 , 1986 , U S Army physician Hugo Almeida was granted political asylum in Cuba . Almeida was serving at a U S Army base in Stuttgart , West Germany , when he was ordered by his C.O. to go to Central America . He refused , and was given duty by the C.O. at what Almeida classed as "unsocial hours" . He was then confronted by a Colonel Burgos , who threatened to force him to serve in Central America - he still refused ,and was demoted from Captain to Private .
It was then that he deserted . When Cuba announced that Almeida had been granted asylum , Washington denied that he even existed ! Then , on August 20 , 1986 , the Pentagon admitted that he was one of their recruits , but that he had been demoted because he was not a "fully-accredited doctor" . Almeida said - " I did'nt want to fight in a Vietnam war - type struggle in Central America . As an Hispanic , I could not participate in the U S military aggression in Central America . I've lived and travelled in those Countries and I' ve seen the poverty and misery there, and how little the U S does to help the people who need it most . We should not fool ourselves into believing these people really want us there ".
Theres a message in there for Cromwells people in this Country....
" Great God ! Did I ever think I would live tosee it , to see men who were the bravest , now fooled that this Treaty means a realisation of our highest ideals "
---- Kathleen Clarke , speaking about the 1922 Treaty of Surrender ; No doubt the woman would say the same re the 1998 Treaty .

The 'new' British Secretary of State for our Six Counties , Paul 'Spud' Murphy , was'nt always in touch(!) with matters in that part of our isle : back in 1997 , the bould Murp was a lowly political development minister in Tony's cabinet and shared the pleasure of his company with us in October that same year , in Dublin . He was asked by a journalist of the possible composition of any Six County 'parliament' , and replied that any such assembly should consist of 90 members elected by PR and any cross-border bodies put in place would be tasked with "uncontroversial matters" such as tourism , energy, EU issues and agriculture and stated his opinion that "that is all that will emerge from the current settlement(sic) talks in the North" . That opinion was , of course , stated for the benefit of the Unionists , much the same as so-called republicans were told by their leadership that any such Six County assembly would be the first step on the road to getting the British out ! They both can't be right ..
Some correspondence received re the American Civil War - During the American revolution , Thomas Jefferson said that if he and his comrades-in-arms (ie"terrorists" !) were captured by the British , they can expect to be treated as the Irish are treated by the British - " mercilessly tortured and killed" . Abe Lincoln , in justifying the violent conflagration of a civil war which left over 625'000 dead , said - " Dangers spring up against us which must be met and if destruction be our lot , we must ourselves be its author and finisher " .
Also , correspondence received re Daniel O Connell - "...a middle-class landowner and monarchist , and an anti-revolutionary who vehemently condemned the working class struggle against capitalist inequality. In 1838 , he voted against reducing the hours of child labour in factories .... "
Keep 'em comin' , folks - thanks .

OLIVER CROMWELL - a name from Irish history which even our native 'Brits' in this Free State find hard to excuse !
Cromwell landed at Ringsend , Dublin , on August 15 , 1649 , with 20,000 soldiers and launched a nine-month military campaign . With King Charles 1 recently executed , Cromwell's position was impregnable and he had scores to settle in Ireland which had largely supported the Catholic King in Englands Civil War . When Drogheda ,in county Louth , refused to surrender , his army stormed the walls and slaughtered 3,500 defenders and civilians in what Cromwell called "a righteous judgement of God upon these barbarous wretches" . Four weeks later , Wexford suffered a similar fate from the 'New Model Army' , and those that survived were executed , exiled or had their lands confiscated , and the land was handed out as payment to his army - about eleven million acres of the Countrys 20 million acres was given away .
In his book entitled 'The Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland' (which was actually written and first printed in 1865) John Prendergast described how it was proclaimed by drum and trumpet on market days throughout Ireland in October 1652 that-- "On September 26 1652 , all the ancient estates and farms of the people of Ireland were declared to belong to the adventurers and the army of England " . One of Cromwells men(but this time wearing a British Army uniform , in Ireland , 1990 !) was interviewed in a Yorkshire TV documentary in August 1990 marking the 20th Anniversary of the deployment of British Troops in the Six Counties ; he described how he got a reaction out of those that did not offer resistence to him and his fellow troopers -- "You pull their armpit hair when you search them , that gets them going~you've got to muck them about as much as you can".
Not as bad as what Cromwell did to us , I know , but ,between them all , they've been "mucking us about" for almost 1000 years .... And Counting !

....the U S Constitutional Convention was all about the issue of slavery -- there would have been no agreement among the 13 colonies unless slavery continued and the idea that slaves would still be regarded as property was protected . Slave-owners wanted "their property" ,for purposes of the census , to be counted . To their shame , the framers of the Constitution gave in and counted slaves for purposes of representation as "three-fifths of a human being" ! President Abraham Lincoln is given credit for freeing the slaves but it was a political decision by Lincoln to satisfy abolitionists in his party for his re-election bid ; it was not a moral decision . Lincoln declared~ " That the two races could never live together on terms of social and political equality " .
"....that fine old soldier John Mitchel described MYLES BYRNE as " A tall figure , the splendid ruin of a soldier d'elite , bearing himself still erect under the weight of eighty winters .The grey eye is keen and proud , the thin face bronzed and worn by war and weather , and the whole bearing gives the idea not of decrepitude , but of a certain dashing gallantry .He has marched over half of Europe , and stood full often at the head of his regiment on the rough edges of battle in Spain , in Germany , in Greece and other , earlier memories , cloud at times his clear grey eyes ; and through and beyond the battle smoke and thunder of all Napoleon's fields , he has a vision of the pikemen at New Ross , and hears the fierce 'hurrah' on Oulart Hill " . END .
A beautiful description of a brave man and the cause he believed in . A man that would put todays pretenders to shame - those that strut the world stage .in fine suits and fancy cars , with their $500 -a-plate dinners in big hotels ~ its not what the struggle is about ; it must come from the heart , not the wallet . We may be broken sometimes , but never beaten !
( Thank you , Frank , in Enniscorthy , for the above information ).

Just in passing; a short story which speaks volumes --
In 1781, LUKE COLLINGWOOD , Captain of the British slave ship 'ZONG' ,(from Liverpool) , ordered that 131 sick slaves be thrown overboard ,which they were , and all drowned . The reason this was done was that if the slaves had died on board the ship , the owners would be left at the loss(ie out of pocket) but if they were thrown alive into the sea , it would be the loss of the insurance underwriters ! A legal case followed ('Gregson V Gilbert') which was a simple claim for compensation only , not a murder trial . (Hope the Adams Family know who they're dealing with ...) And on the issue of slaves --
George Washingtons livelihood depended on the institution of slavery - he was a prime 'breeder' who derived income from the sale of slaves . So , to, did Thomas Jefferson , who 'bred' slaves while writing the 'Declaration of Independence' ! The two men were said to be haunted by the guilt involved . The U S Constitutional Convention was all about the issue of slavery ...(more later) .
Also - more on MYLES BYRNE to follow....

A few additional points re 1798 -
It is believed that one of that years leaders of the Rising,NAPPER TANDY, was the first Irishman to be judicialy extradited to England, in 1798. He was extradited from Hamburg and sentenced to death at Lifford Courthouse in 1801 - however , as part of the 'AMIENS TREATY' then being negotiated by Napoleon,he was released but died 18 months later, a free man . Pardon me while I now contradict myself regarding Catholic priests and politics -- During the 1798 Rising , Wexford had 85 priests , of whom only 11 joined the Rebels , including Fr Murphy of Boolavogue . He was captured , flogged and hanged in Tullow, Co Carlow , on July 2 , 1798 . One of the few decent priests ,recognised as such by the British and dealt with accordingly by them
Re MYLES BYRNE -- " For over 30 years he followed the flag of France across the battlefields of Europe ,whilst seeking out information from all sources on the situation in Ireland. After his retirement in 1835 , when all hope of striking a blow for his own country had failed , he settled in Paris and continued to write , off and on , for twenty years, right up to the day of his death in 1862 . His widow published his Memoirs in three volumes and the story was published in serial form in the 'Shamrock' of Dublin , in 1869 , and reprinted in the 'Irish Weekly Independent' in 1898 .
Whilst in Paris , his home was a 'safe house' for all who had ever served Ireland and one of the most welcome visitors to his home was that fine old soldier John Mitchel , who described Myles Byrne as ......(More later).

More on MYLES BYRNE ,1798 rebel , and a mention for someone from the same historical period who is better known than Myles Byrne but ,in my opinion, should'nt be .....
Daniel O Connell,'The Great Liberator' ,so-called NOT because he liberated Ireland from British rule(has'nt happened yet) but because he is said to have "liberated the great mass of the Irish people from their irrelevance on the political scene" . O Connell opposed the 1798 Rising ,and was a member of the Lawyers Corps of Yeomanry ,which was the Protestant militia which fought against the United Irish forces.O Connell , a Mason, referred to the insurgents as "criminals" . He was known as a landlord of ill-repute,and once stated- "I desire no social revolution,no social change,in short-salutary restoration without revolution,an Irish parliament,British connection, one king,two legislatures ".He frequently called for more British troops to be sent to quell the secret societies which resisted landlord oppression !
George Bernard Shaw(1856-1950) had the measure of people like O Connell--
" The more things a man is ashamed of,the more respectable he is" ('Man and Superman',1903).

A man of different character was Myles Byrne - " He was only a boy when he witnessed the attacks by the yeoman militia and other mercenaries which England let loose in Wexford in 1798. But he took his place in the United Irishmen and fought through the Wexford campaign , joined Michael Dwyer afterwards in Wicklow , later came to Dublin and was a comrade and friend of Robert Emmet in the continuation of ' 98 which failed so sadly in 1803 . He was sent by Emmet(then on the run) to France to seek assistance from Thomas Addis Emmet and the other exiled United Irishmen .He went with no hesitation ,in the hope that he would return in the ranks of a conquering army - but it was not to be ...." (more later).

When it was first established in 1795 as a militant Protestant organisation dedicated to preserving Protestant 'supremacy' ,the Orange Order had a Grand Master named John Claudius Bereford, who stated that the union with England would "see the destruction of the country. Proud of the name of Irishman,I hope never to ... see my country governed by laws enacted by a parliament over which she can have no control..(the proposed Union was) a measure so destructive of their commerce and prosperity ,and so humiliating to their pride as a nation". All the Orange lodges of the nine Ulster counties organised a meeting and issued the declaration that the proposed Union would bring " inevitable ruin to the peace, prosperity and happiness of Ireland" . What next-Nationalists opposed to a United Ireland? Well...
At the height of the 1798 Rising, the Archbishop of Dublin, John Troy, in a letter read at all masses in his diocese , wrote about the "heinousness of violating the laws of our country and of attempting by insurrection and murder to subvert the government of our gracious King. Let no one deceive you by wretched impracticable speculations on the rights of man and the majesty of the people. Unite with all your loyal and peaceable fellow subjects to crush the wicked spirit of insurrection " .
Without commenting on "the rights of small children" to the Catholic Church , it really would be better for all concerned if they kept out of politics and childrens underpants .......

Many thanks to a Mr Frank Clarke,from Enniscorthy in Co Wexford , who e-mailed me re my comments here on Sunday last ,November 17 , when I mentioned a Wexford rebel named Myles Byrne; Mr Clarke gave me more details re the 1798 fighter--
" In Montmartre("Hill of Martyrs") Cemetery in Paris lie the remains of Myles Byrne ,United Irishman,Wexford man and survivor of Oulart Hill and Vinegar Hill in 1798.The inscription on his gravestone reads~ Here lies Myles Byrne,Lieutenant Colonel in the service of France.Officer of the legion of honour.Knight of St Louis,born at Monaseed in the county Wexford in Ireland,20 March 1780. Died at Paris,the 24th January 1862,his long life was distinguished by the constant integrity and loyalty of his character and by his high-minded principles.Sincerely attached to Ireland,his native land,he gave faithful service to France,the country of his adoption "
Frank gave me a personal history of Myles Byrne , and requested that I post same on this page ; the Myles Byrne described in Franks e-mail to me is very much the man I thought he would be --a genuine rebel of that period and this one ,as the fight is the same fight and likewise the oppressor. I will return to Myles Byrne at a later stage .As Frank Clarke stated in his letter to me -- " Myles Byrne would have had no time for those that think they can talk the British out of our country;he was a man of honour ,not to be bribed or brokered with .He is Irelands loss..." There's still a few of us out there ,Frank! Slan Anois,agus go raibh maith agat.

14 killed,13 wounded-'BLOODY SUNDAY',January 30,1972:4.09pm---
The Bloody Sunday march in 1972 was not an isolated event~ it was one of a series of nine such marches,with the first one having taken place on Christmas Day 1972,with a demonstration from the outskirts of Belfast to the gates of LONG KESH prison.
In the four weeks before Bloody Sunday ,there were nine "illegal" (so the British said) anti-internment marches across the Six Counties;on January 22,1972,an anti-internment march in Armagh was scattered by British soldiers firing CS gas and rubber bullets- on the same day,a march to a newly-opened prison camp at Magilligan in Co.Derry was beaten and kicked into disarray by British soldiers ,including men of the First Battalion of the Parachute Regiment fron Belfast.
The day before Bloody Sunday a riot in William Street was stopped when British soldiers opened fire-Peter McLaughlin and Peter Robson were wounded and classed as "nail-bombers". Neither man was ever questioned or charged in relation to the 'nail-bombing' allegation! In a BBC documentary broadcast in January 1992(Nineteen-ninty-two) the commander of 1PARA,Lieutenant Colonel Derek Wilford,stated- "When we moved on the streets(on Bloody Sunday) we moved as if we in fact were moving against a well-armed .well-trained army".
14 KILLED,13 WOUNDED-- British Army V Non-combatants~ the British trade-mark in every country they blighted with their presence.

'NEWSFLASH 2' -- " Nationalists(will not) even begin to contemplate a unionist-dominated Assembly which would have Trimble as its 'prime minister' .Not a chance".
---Brian Campbell,journalist with AP/RN,writing in that paper on...oh!-well,not recently ; no,actually,he wrote the above around the same time as Jim was having his change of heart--March 1998(see AP/RN,26 March,1998,page 19).

'NEWSFLASH 3'-- "An internal Six County settlement is not a solution to the conflict.A Six-County assembly would institutionalise the Unionist veto" -fightin' talk at last from the Provo 'paper(see 'Editorial' column,page 8,AP/RN...OOPS! my fault again-its not a current statement from the Adams Family indicating a realisation of the facts;its from AP/RN,February 5, 1998,putting down a line in the sand which would soon be washed away by the tide of incoming careers...

'NEWSFLASH' -- Jim McAllister,former Provo Ard Comhairle(Executive) member stated " The peace process has failed.The party should not go back to the talks.They are not a stepping-stone to a United Ireland or to disengagement.Adams played his hand well,but it was a selected hand and it was'nt the best one in the game.Long term,he has to lose". WHATS THIS? A top Provo breaking ranks and telling things as they are?? Well...Yes and No- The above quote is from February 1998(see 'The Sunday Tribune',March 1,1998,page 13) when Adams and Co. were hustling for a career in a British parliament (ie Stormont) but were doing so in a manner which some of their own people could'nt stomach.

More on the British in India- according to the author MIHIR BOSE , many millions of Indians collaborated with the British and found both profit and pleasure from British rule; one-third of India was never ruled by the British but was left in the hands of Indian 'Princes'- these were the greatest bulwark of British rule and their biggest collaborators. A system which the British are still using to this day in Ireland~ "if its not broke,don't fix it"~ "jolly good" !
MILES BYRNE ,an 18-year young 1798 rebel leader from Monaseed,escaped to France where he played a prominent role in the Napoleonic wars of Europe . In the 1850's he wrote his memoirs of the 1798 Rising ,in which he was critical of the "gentlemany nature" of the rebel approach,believing them to have been "too willing to negotiate and to accept(British) government protections and non-existent government good faith" . What would Miles make of the carry-on of the inheritors of the 'Stoop Down Low Party' throne?

Under the Geneva Convention of 1949,there are 34 categories of war crimes. Article Eight under the Agreement to establish an international war crimes court sets out as a war crime for an occupying power to "transfer,directly or indirectly,parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or to deport or transfer all or parts of the population of the occupied country within or outside this territory " .
The British have ,of course, ignored the rules before, and not only in relation to Ireland- before the end of the first'World War', the Indians were promised political progress in return for participation in the war on Britains side ;Gandhi was one of the leading nationalists who supported the British on this basis. The British later renaged on their promise and introduced the repressive 'ROWLATT ACT' which aimed to stamp out the Indian independence movement-in response, Gandhi brought India to a standstill with mass protests . The British responded on April 13 , 1919 , when Brigadier -General Reginald Dyer shot dead some 500 unarmed demonstrators at Amritsar in the Punjab .
The Czech writer, Milan Kundera, stated-- "The struggle of freedom against tyranny is a struggle of memory against forgetting. The people remember their cause is just while their oppressors try to induce them to forget and turn their backs on the struggle".
In this,the British have succeeded in Ireland many times but,as always,not all Irish people have been willing to "forget". And thats how it should always be!

On the 12th of January 2000, the Stormont Assembly members voted themselves a generous redundancy package of half their annual salary in the event that the Assembly closes down! The vote, under the 'The Office Holders Bill' , was the third stage(ie third discussion) on the issue-- in December 1999 ,the second 'stage' was held, when the Stormont members practically admitted that the whole show was shaky and took financial preparations to ensure that,no matter how things went,they had a cushion for themselves.
However,being career politicians , they later figured that they had sold themselves short : thus the January 12th 2000 'third stage' ,which agreed that "MLA's(ie the politicians themselves)who were not re-elected in future polls or who chose not to stand would be entitled to a "resettlement allowance"of £19,000 Sterling and a "winding-up allowance" of £11,617 Sterling.
Ex-Ministers,junior ministers and other Office holders would each receive an additional payment equal to a certain per-centage of their then salary ,and also decided that said additional payment will still be paid if a minister,junior minister or other Office holder simply lost their position and were demoted to the level of an ordinary member of the Assembly!
Certain members of the Stormont Assembly claimed they were going in to that institution to 'change/challenge the system' - however,a'good' apple placed in a barrel of bad apples will not arrest the decay but will itself be corrupted.

A poll carried out for the British 'Observer' newspaper late last year(and referred to in 'The Sunday Business Post','Agenda' section,page 2,June 9 last) showed that 57 per cent of the British public wanted the eight and a half million pounds sterling per annum which is presently spent via the 'CIVIL LIST'(the mechanism by which British taxpayers bankroll the extravagances of the Windsor family) reduced to five million pounds sterling or less, while more than a third of those asked thought the payments should be axed completely ! Tony Blair constantly refers to Britain as a "democracy" : here's a test,Tony-- put the so-called 'Royal' family question to the British electorate; after all,its their money.
And speaking of the Windsors...
....it is rumoured that Michael O Kennedy, a one-time high ranking member of the Fianna Fail party(an ex-mimister and cabinet member untill 1992) is in line for an 'Honour' from the English queen in next Januarys 'Honours List' ! Apparently, Mrs. Windsor is of the opinion that (Sir) Michael done a 'splendid' job as Chairperson of the 'British-Irish Parliamentary Body' , a group consisting of Free State and British career politicians which holds meetings to discuss how best to put a gloss on the continuing British claim of jurisdiction over the six north-eastern counties of Ireland. Congratulations, Michael - a sure sign of a job well done....

In June this year, the DUP's Willie McCrea became the first Unionist Chairperson of Magherafelt District Council in 20 years-thanks to the votes of Provo Councillors! And one of those same Provo Councillors, John Kelly, was elected as his Deputy...
The Council meeting where the dirty wheelin'-and-a-dealin' was done took place on Tuesday night,June 11 this year . In that same week,the Provos issued a statement to the media in which they described Willie McCrea as " one of the most biliously sectarian politicians in the Six Counties...it would be hard to find a Unionist politician less well-disposed to nationalists and republicans(see ap/rn 13-6-02) " -- yet, days previously,they voted for him as Chairperson !! What a tangled web we weave....
Quick note- Mayor Maskey laid a laurel wreath at the Cenotaph at Belfast City Hall on July 1 last "in memory of and tribute to all the men who made the supreme sacrifice at the Battle of the Somme and during the First World War"(see ap/rn,27-6-02).Can a man serve two masters?

Unfortunately ,I missed the party in Belfast City Hall on Monday November 4 last , organised and hosted by Provo SF Mayor Alex Maskey-and perhaps it's just as well....
....the reception was held for the 'Royal British Legion' !
Maskey,who did'nt wear a poppy(this time) was praised for holding the event by Brigadier David Strudley of the Legion . For those of you that did'nt know - Pearse and the other men and women of 1916 were in the GPO setting up a branch of the Legion when someone,somewhere,got their wires crossed and...well, you know the rest -all a terrible mishap,you know!
Seriously-The British 'Royal Legion' in Ireland should be tolerated by Republicans , but should not be supported or encouraged by us: tolerance does not mean the acceptance of the other persons point of view ,merely accepting that he/she has the right to hold that point of view.

I had the intention to write a few lines here about the latest arrest in the Six Counties of the 'civil servant' arrested by the RUC(PSNI) for what the Brits term 'spying' (and they should know all about that) but will just record how selfish they are -- they won't even let the Provos surrender with some diginity ! The remainder of the Provisional movement are now just hoping for an easy way out , a salary (with pension) and a cosy future , but the nasty Brits won't even give them that.... And if they gather their supporters and go back to an armed campaign , it will be seen as Irish people fighting to get a British parliament re-introduced in Ireland! Give it up , Gerry and Martin - you are in a cul-de-sac of your own making.