.....Tom Barry realised the need for proper training and saw the advantages of a highly-trained Flying Column to fight the British : the column was to comprise special fighters , trained in the art of ' hit and run' warfare . To this end , Barry held a series of training camps , at short intervals where , over a period, about 150 officers and men would be trained ~ it was from that group that the Flying Column would come from , while those not picked would receive more training and would be put into a reserve to replace casualties .
From early October 1920 , with strict security precautions being observed , and protected day and night by sentries , training camps were to be held at Clonbuig , near Kilbrittain and Ballymurphy , near Bandon , Schull and near Dunmanway in West Cork . All the camps were located in isolated farmhouses with outbuildings which housed the Volunteers . After one week at the camp , officers and Volunteers were expected to put their training to use by seeking an engagement with the crown forces . The first lecture at the camp , which took ten hours a day , was usually for officers only and dealt with the security of the camp itself ; on arrival , Volunteers were allocated posts which were expected to be manned within three minutes in the event of an alert at night .
The ten-hour lectures dealt with instructions in drill , gun lessons and elementary tactics . The evenings were devoted to lectures and written exercises , including instruction in map reading , signalling , street fighting , ambushes and personal security . ( MORE LATER) >>

.............the Indians met violence with violence and , by the end of the Sioux War of 1876 , the victory was with the U S Army . The completion of the railroad in 1869 ( built by the Irish and the Chinese) facilitated the arrival of settlers , and the various tribes were gradually pushed back into barren , hostile territories , while settlers arrived in their thousands across the plains , invading the Blackfoots sacred Black Hills in search of gold and building an oil field on Seminole land in Oklahoma itself . By the 1930's , the settlers had so abused and over-extended the land that it turned dry , into a dustbowl .
No need for you to go to Iraq to sort out an injustice , Mr Bush .......

.....attacks on RUC barracks continued throughout 1957 and during the early months of 1958 but , by the summer of that year, oppression on both sides of Britains border was having its effect and IRA attacks slowed down and had all but ended by the end of that year . Three years later , the campaign was officially ended with an order to all Volunteers to dump arms - eleven IRA Volunteers were killed in action during the campaign . It should be noted that no orders were issued to decommission arms or, indeed, disband the organisation ; had either order been issued , the leadership would, at the very least, have been changed .....
The IRA's Cork Number 3 Brigade , the ' Flying Column' , was formed from the Volunteers attending training camps in 1920 , when the ' Tan War ' (1919-'21) was well underway . The position of O/C of the then Cork No.3 Brigade changed hands in July 1920 , when Charley Hurley took over from Tom Hales . Tom Barry was then appointed as the Brigade's Training Officer : as a former British soldier , Barry realised the need for proper training and saw the advantages of a highly-disciplined Flying Column to fight the British ..... (MORE LATER)>>

Oklahoma , located on the southern edge of the Great Plains , was the last strong-hold of many tribes of American Indians - at the end of the American Civil War there were as many as 275,000 Indians west of the Mississippi river . During the cattle boom of the 1860's , when the big cattle trails crossed Indian lands from Texas to Missouri , Indians first collected grazing taxes from the herd drivers , but later their designated lands were simply taken over . The American Government signed and violated treaties time and time again , and then used force to try to subjugate the tribes . The Indians met violence with violence ...... (MORE LATER)>> .....

....in the Westminster election of May 1955 Sinn Fein , with an abstentionist policy , won two of the twelve seats in the Six Counties ~ Tom Mitchell and Philip Clarke, both imprisoned for the Omagh raid, were elected for Mid-Ulster and Fermanagh/South Tyrone , but were later disqualified and their seats awarded to the defeated unionist candidates ! In November 1955 , a group left the IRA and formed Saor Uladh and began attacking customs posts along the border . In January 1956 , IRA Volunteer Sean Cronin presented the leadership of the IRA with a plan codenamed ' Operation Harvest ' , with the intention of driving the British forces out of entire areas in the Six Counties and creating liberated zones .
It was originally intended that the plan would be put into effect that winter , but the action of Saor Uladh meant that ' Operation Harvest ' was to be put into gear sooner than planned .
On the night of December 11th , 1956 , one-hundred and fifty IRA Volunteers attacked targets in all Six Counties - the long-awaited border campaign had begun . The Stormont regime responded by introducing internment without trial , on December 21st. In July 1957 , following the return to power of Fianna Fail in the Free State, internment was introduced and a large number of republicans were arrested and interned in the Curragh Camp .
Attacks on RUC barracks continued ....... (MORE LATER)>>

" Even a dolt understands the principle . We need the oil . It's nice to talk about standing up for freedom but Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are not exactly democracies " ~ Then American President George Bush , as quoted in ' TIME' magazine , August 20th , 1990 .
We're all waiting , George Junior - come on , now - ' fess up .........

" You cannot stifle or suppress a people's desire for liberty " ~ Margaret Thatcher , during an interview she gave to BBC Radio Four's ' World At One ' programme , November 1989.
However , if you do "stifle or suppress a people's desire for liberty" , make sure you first label the people as ' terrorists' ......

Republican policy changed radically in the in the early 1950's - the IRA leadership issued an order prohibiting military action against the forces of the Free State ; attacks were now to be directed against the British forces of occupation in the Six Counties .
By 1952 , IRA recruitment was being carried out openly in the Free State and the organisation was being reformed in the Six Counties . In strong republican areas , training was carried out in preparation for an attack on the North . In June 1954 , in an operation to procure arms , an IRA raiding party captured Gough Barracks in Armagh and escaped with a massive haul of 250 rifles , 37 sten guns and nine Bren guns . New members flocked to the organisation as a result of the raid . An attempted repeat of the Gough raid backfired at Omagh in County Tyrone in October 1954 , and eight IRA Volunteers were caught and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment for "treason felony" . Meanwhile , Sinn Fein was gaining wide support ~ in the Westminster election of May 1955 ...... (MORE LATER)>>>>

In September 1998 , Free State President Mary McAleese was in Australia on a visit and , as part of the itinerary, called in to the Sisters of Mercy at Brisbanes Mater Hospital for a speaking engagement on the plight of the travellers in Ireland and that of the Australian aborigines . However , like all politicians, Mary went off on a verbal tangent and it's still not clear where she ended up ~ " When you start to unpack the solutions , you begin to see, while they are'nt exactly on all fours with each other , they are always the same shape and there is a core which is very transferable " . It is believed that our own Ronan Keating ripped -off and 'sang' a song about the above incident - " you say it best ......." !
In a column he wrote for the ' Ireland On Sunday' newspaper on October 4th , 1998 (page 17) , the UDA-linked Gary McMichael described the Six Counties as " my lovely , picturesque little country set on the North-East corner of the island " ....So there ya have it ~ the loyalists in the Six Counties live in a country which is itself "set" in the corner of another country ...or~something. The sooner the better you learn 'Mary-speak' , Gary ......

....on April 16th , 1940 , Tony D'Arcy , a native of Headford , County Galway , died after 52 days on hunger strike ; Jack McNeela , a native of Ballycroy, Westport, County Mayo , died three days later , after 55 days on hunger strike . The fast ended that night when the prisoners were informed that their demands had been met . The hunger strike began on February 25th , 1940 , in Mountjoy Jail , Dublin , and resulted in the deaths of two IRA Volunteers ~ their deaths were to mark the beginning of lean years for the Republican Movement : years of internment and oppression followed , which left Sinn Fein non-existent and the IRA threatened with extinction .
In 1948 , the republican leadership of Michael Traynor , Paddy MacLogan , Tony Magan and Tomas MacCurtain set about rebuilding the Movement .
Tony Magan , as Chief of Staff , reorganised the IRA while Michael Traynor was busy setting up Sinn Fein cumainn throughout the island . Republican policy in the early 1950's underwent a radical change .
(MORE LATER)>>

....and talking about Pakistan ....
One of the ' Tomahawk ' cruise missiles fired at Osima bin Laden in August 1998 missed it's target by 400 miles and landed in Pakistan , near the Baluchistan desert , where it was found by a shepherd !
The shepherd reported his find to the local authorities , who moved in to examine the guidance system on the weapon ~ they refused to allow the Americans near the crash site , and called in Pakistan former military intelligence Chief General Hamid Gul , who declared - " It has descended from the heavens and we'll use it " !
Watch yourself , Hamid ~ could get pretty scary soon in the desert ......

.....on March 1st , 1940 , Jack McNeela and Jack Plunkett , who were both arrested during the swoops which followed the raid by the IRA on the Magazine Fort in Dublin's Phoenix Park on 23rd December 1939 , were sentenced to two years and eighteen months respectively on a charge of "conspiring to usurp the function of government " by , of all things , operating a 'pirate' radio transmitter ! On March 5th , 1940 , Tony D'Arcy and Michael Traynor , both arrested during a raid on the Meath Hotel, Parnell Square , Dublin , the previous month , where an IRA meeting was being held to plan an attack in the Six Counties , were sentenced to three months imprisonment for refusing to answer questions .
After being sentenced , the four prisoners were transferred to Arbour Hill Prison , Dublin , and , on March 27th , were moved to St Brican's Military Hospital next to the prison . On April 1st , they were joined there by Tomas MacCurtain and Thomas Grogan , both of whom were still awaiting trial ~ MacCurtain was charged with shooting dead a Special Branch detective in Cork and Grogan with taking part in the Magazine Fort raid .
Fifty-two days after he began his hunger strike , that is , on April 16th , 1940 , Tony D'Arcy died ...
(MORE LATER)>>

On May 26th , 1998 , Pakistan 'flexed it's muscles' and tested its nuclear capability ; the the Prime Minister of that country , Nawaz Sharif , stated on Saturday , July 11th , 1998 , that Pakistan would have to pay a price for becoming a nuclear power and that the country's then 130 million people would have to tighten their belts and " pay some price " .
Did anyone question the morality of telling people , most of whom were already on the bread-line , that there was worse to come ?
Is it only a well-paid , professional career politician that could see nothing wrong in warning , for instance, parents , that the trouble they're having now in feeding their family and paying the bills etc is about to get worse ?
Was it being insinuated that those parents should take comfort in the knowledge that they now live in a country with nuclear capability ?
If you and yours are living hand-to-mouth , day in , day out , do you face each day in a more optimistic way because you live in a country with nuclear capability ?
I was in Dublin city centre last night and witnessed , not for the first time , a couple of homeless men trying to make a bed for themselves in the vicinity of the new Dublin ' monument' , which is a large , shiny 'needle'-type structure which cost just shy of four and a half million euros ; the two men were moved on by the Guards but were no doubt allowed sleep in the gutter up some side street .
The politicians are living beyond our means .....

Those of us that were politically active in the 1980's will always remember the hunger strike of 1981 ; in one way or another , it touched everyone on this island and , indeed, it's no exaggeration to state that it exposed the British " Irish gangsters/criminals " propaganda on a world-wide scale .
Since James Connolly , the executed 1916 leader, embarked on a hunger strike in September 1913 , a number of fasts took place in both Irish and English prisons for various demands . Towards the end of the Irish Civil War , three young Volunteers died on hunger strike ~
Andy Sullivan , from Mallow, in County Cork, died in Mountjoy Jail in Dublin on November 22nd , 1923 , and is buried in Mallow : Joseph Whitty, from William Street in Wexford , died at the Curragh Camp on September 2nd, 1923 , and is buried in Ballymore Cemetery in Killinick , County Wexford : and Denis Barry , from Blackrock , in Cork , died at Newbridge Camp , County Kildare , on November 20th , 1923 and , on November 28th his remains were reinterred and buried in St Finbarr's , in Cork , in the Republican Plot .
Mindful of the dire consequences of the act , the Volunteers in Mountjoy Jail in the spring of 1940 , who were being denied political status, embarked on a hunger strike in support of the demands to be treated as political prisoners , free association for all prisoners and to have two prisoners transferred to military custody . In late February 1940 , in an attempt to bring about a change, the six-prisoner command of 'D' wing in Mountjoy Jail ~ Jack McNeela , Tony D'Arcy , Michael Traynor , Jack Plunkett , Tomas MacCurtain and Thomas Grogan ~ embarked on a hunger strike with the understanding that they would continue to the end and then be replaced by six more Volunteers .
On March 1st, 1940 , McNeela and Plunkett , both arrested during the swoops ....(MORE LATER)>>

When the 'Stormont Treaty' (' GFA' ) was voted on here in May 1998 , one of it's main "selling-points" , according to the Establishment that were promoting it ( ie Fianna Fail , Fine Gael, Labour , Provisional Sinn Fein , the Church's , media etc) was that the British Government would legislate for the creation of a united Ireland if a majority within the Six Counties desired same ~ this was said to be a major development and , on it's own , worth voting 'YES' for :
however , that commitment from the Brits was contained in the ' Ireland Act' of 1949 , the ' Northern Ireland(sic)Act' of 1973 , and Section Five of the 'Sunningdale Agreement' and the opening section of the 1985 Hillsborough Treaty ! It was a deliberate mis-representation of the facts by the pro-treaty side , which repeatedly claimed that a peaceful end to the North-Eastern conflict depended on a majority "YES" vote in the referendum , thereby insinuating that those who voted "NO" were pro-war ...
as Liam Mellows said of the Treaty of Surrender in 1922 ~ " This is not the will of the people ; it is the fear of the people " . The conflict continued after the 1922 Treaty , and continues today ......

....by 1936 , largely due to the efforts of the I W W U , most employers had conceded a shorter working week , with the working hours being reduced from 48 to 44 hours and , by the 1940's, most workers enjoyed two weeks holidays every year . During the following decades , due in no small part to the I W W U , hours of work , pay and conditions and security of employment had vastly improved for all but the part-time women workers , who eventually won concessions as per their full-time comrades .
In 1984 , the Irish Womens Workers Union amalgamated with the Federated Workers Union of Ireland , and did so in the knowledge that it had left a proud legacy as its trademark .

On February 15th , 2001 , the U S Justice Department instructed a New York federal prosecutor to begin a criminal investigation into all of Bill Clintons 177 last-minute pardons and sentence commutations , and more that a dozen FBI agents were dispatched to interview potential witnesses !
One of those pardoned was a restaurant owner convicted of violating wildlife laws , who was pardoned by Clinton on January 20th , 2001 . Bill Clintons brother , Roger, had his previous convictions for conspiracy to distribute cocaine wiped from his record with a word from Bill in the right place...Fraudster Dorothy Rivers , tax evader Marc Rich , drug dealer Carlos Vignali , fraudster Glenn Braswell , money launderer Harvey Weinig and fraudster Melvin Reynolds ,amongst others , were all pardoned by Bill Clinton days before he was due to leave Office !
This is the man that conspired with others in America , in England and in Ireland , to put together the 1998 Stormont Treaty (' Good Friday Agreement ' ) and , with a compliant media, sold it to the public as a "solution to the Six County problem " in Ireland , which it is not ~ Britains claim of jurisdiction over our Six North-Eastern Counties remains in force . The real solution is a British withdrawal , not looked-for or discussed in the 1998 Treaty . True Irish Republicans still demand that solution - unlike Gerry Adams and his organisation , and Albert Reynolds , Bill Clinton, Bush Jnr , Bertie Ahern and the rest of the ' stay-if-you-want-just-treat-us-better-mob ' , we will not rest untill we achieve that outcome.
Even if it takes another 834 years .....

.....throughout the Black and Tan War ( 1919 - 1921 ) the I W W U played their part in the liberation struggle and were prominent in the 'White Cross' , the then Republican prisoner-dependent relief organisation(now CABHAIR) and the womens Union also campaigned on behalf of the prisoners during the many prison protests . The I W W U , including Louie Bennett , Maire Johnston , Mary O'Connor and Margaret Buckley, opposed the Treaty of Surrender (December 1921) and supported the republicans in the Civil War .
During the mid-1920's , a more militant and political I W W U campaigned tirelessly for the unemployed and their dependants , demanding relief work for the jobless and the opening of a coal fund and the provision of meals for their families . It opposed the ' Conditions of Employment Bill ' of 1935 , Section 16 of which allowed the Free State Industry and Commerce Minister , Sean Lemass, to prohibit the employment of female workers in industry , fixed the proportion of female workers to the number of other workers and forbade employers to employ more women than men ! However , despite the almost 5,000 women trade unionists it rallied to its cause , the Bill was passed . By 1936 , largely due to the efforts of the I W W U .....(MORE LATER)>>

.....the consultant clinical psychologist stated that the workers at the Windscale nuclear plant pass through the psychiatric casualty system "at a considerable rate " and he condemned "very old fashioned " management attitudes for creating at Windscale that could lead to catastrophe . "I have been surprised , when I have had contact with some staff referred to psychiatry and psychology , that such obviously disturbed people were employed at the plant in the first place . One of my psychiatric colleagues has asked the question whether Windscale actually sets out to employ anxious obsessionals , or whether they just make them that way in the end " .
A windscale spokesperson confirmed that the report , made in 1982, had been received and that management had not acted on it !
It seems that the Brits have their own ' weapons of mass destruction ' .....

Within two years of its formation , many of the I W W U members were involved in the Great Lock-Out of August 1913 and , following the ending of same in February 1914 , almost half the workers failed to get their jobs back . The Irish Women's Workers Union , led by Louie Bennett and Helen Chenvix (both later presidents of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions) and Margaret Buckley (president of Sinn Fein from 1936 to 1949) played a prominent part in the struggle for freedom between 1918 and 1921 .
They took part in the one-day strike organised by the Irish Trade Union Congress on April 23rd , 1918 , called to protest at the proposed introduction of conscription in Ireland and actively campaigned for republican candidates , including Countess Markievicz , who was later appointed Minister for Labour in the First Dail , which prompted the I W W U to declare - " We rejoice that the first woman elected to parliament in Ireland is one to whom the workers can always confidently look to uphold their rights and just cause " .
Throughout the Black and Tan War ......(MORE LATER)>>

If Tony Blair is serious about having a go at Iraq , he should send in workers from Windscale/Sellafield instead of the British Army :
In February 1986 , a Mr Douglas Wilkinson , the then Consultant clinical psychologist at the West Cumbrian Hospital in Cumbria , said that scientists working at the Windscale nuclear plant were " neurotic and unstable " and that management at the plant seem to "breed tension, back-biting and paranoia" among staff ! He issued these findings in an 18-page report he done in 1982 at the request of Windscale medical officers , who asked him to investigate the situation at the plant . His report was based on his findings after treating staff at Windscale over many years ~ he stated that the workers pass through the psychiatric casualty system " at a considerable rate " . (MORE LATER)>>>

In September 1911 , at a meeting in the Antient Concert Room in Brunswick (now Pearse) Street in Dublin , which was attended by dozens of women (many of whom were actively involved in Inghinidhe na hEireann and/or the suffragette movement) the ' Irish Womens Workers Union ' ( I W W U) was formed . The principal speakers in attendance included Countess Markievicz , James Larkin , James Nolan and Hannah Sheehy-Skeffington .
Addressing the assembled women , Countess Markievicz declared -
" Without organisation you can do nothing . The purpose of this meeting is to turn you into a army of women " . Conditions and pay at the time for all workers , but particularly for women employed in the shirt and weaving industries , was appalling . In England , organised workers were being paid up to four times the wage of their Irish counterparts and were not fined for absenteeism and damage to cloth on the same scale as the women workers in Ireland were . Also , the Irish women worked a six-day week with very little holidays . Within two years of its formation .....(MORE LATER)>>

More on Paddy Murray , editor of the 'The Sunday Tribune' newspaper , whom I wrote about here recently : in his column in that 'paper on December 9th , 2001 ,(page 14) he described himself as - " opinionated , rightwing (with) a slightly dodgy sense of humour , enjoy more pints than average and to completely lack the ability to listen to the other side of the argument " . An odd choice for a newspaper editor ..... Also , writing in the ' The Sunday World' newspaper on February 8th , 1998 , the bould Paddy stated- " I don't mind being called a Free Stater . Because I am a Free Stater " . That's it , Paddy ~ get it off your chest ...
Or was Paddy just licking-up to his boss , Anto O'Reilly (that's Dr A J F O'Reilly, to you) who , in the newspaper that Paddy now edits for him , on October 2nd , 1988 , (page 36) defined patriotism as -
" Doing a superior day's work for a fair day's pay (and) is also about putting together large sums of capital " ! DAMN IT ! If only the men and women of 1916 had stormed a bank instead of a post office , we could have had Tony on our side .....

Peter Barnes and James McCormick were to be made an example of - the question of guilt or innocence was immaterial as long as English ' justice ' had sufficient evidence to give it a pretext for judicial murder .
Pleas for clemency flooded into the British Home Office from all over the world , but were ignored .
On the day of the execution of Barnes and McCormick there were signs of mourning all over Ireland ~ flags flew at half mast on public buildings , cinemas closed , sports meetings were cancelled and public bodies passed resolutions of sympathy .
Peter Barnes , 33 , and James McCormick , 30, were hanged in Winson Green Prison , Birmingham , England, on February 7th , 1940 . They are still commemorated in Ireland to this day .

......Roosevelt knew reporters by name , played water polo with his favourites , sent cards on anniversaries , invited some to Christmas dinner and entertained all at square dances which he organised . He talked to them in the small hours while his wife , Eleanor , made them scrambled eggs in a chafing dish , and his daughter , Anna , " bustled around the table making sure that everyone had enough to eat " . By 1933 , the press felt sufficiently comfortable to ask - and receive - permission to use the White House tennis courts and swimming pool . However , not all the journalists were fooled into believing that Roosevelt was their new best friend - Arthur Krock , then head of the ' New York Times ' washington bureau , accused the FDR administration " of more ruthlessness , intelligence and subtlety in trying to suppress legitimate , unfavourable comment than any other I have known " .
Next time the media tell you why it is , for example , that Iraq ' should be made pay ' - step back and think of who's manipulating who ; and think of FDR .....

Within hours of the August 25th , 1939 , Coventry explosion ,Peter Barnes was arrested at his lodgings at 176 Westbourne Terrace and three days later James McCormick (operating under the alias James Richards) and the tenants of 25 Clara Street , Coventry, Joseph Hewitt , his wife Mary and his mother-in-law Brigid O'Hara , were detained during a raid on the house . All five were charged on suspicion only and, at their 'trial' the following December , three were acquitted while Barnes and McCormick were sentenced to death by hanging . Before sentencing, McCormick , who had remained silent and composed throughout the proceedings , told the court ~ " As a soldier of the Irish Republican Army , I am not afraid to die, for I am dying in a just cause" .
Peter Barnes , who was nowhere near Coventry on the day of the explosion , stated in court ~ " I would like to say that as I am going before my God , as I am condemned to death, I am innocent, and later I am sure it will all come out that I had neither hand , act or part in it . That is all I have to say " . The English establishment , like so many times before and since , in their endeavours ' to teach the Irish a lesson ' , were satisfied with the result as both men were Irish and had republican connections . They were to be made an example of .....(MORE LATER)>>

Bush and Blair know, from past campaigns, the potential power to be gained by manipulating an already supine media ; it was a tactic used to full effect by Franklin Delano Roosevelt , who was popular with the public but not with the media and attempted to change that situation .
In her book entitled ' FDR and the news media ' , Betty Horchin Winfield wrote of how Roosevelt was elected with 57 per cent of the vote in 1932 , yet he had only 41% of American dailies and weeklies editorial support . In 1936 , he got 60 per cent of the vote while his editorial support dropped to 37% and , when he went for the unprecedented third term in 1940 , he went down to 25% editorial support but won the election triumphantly . That situation was much the same in 1944 . Roosevelt knew reporters by name ..... (MORE LATER)>>>

Peter Barnes was born in Banagher , County Offaly , in 1907 .
At the age of 14 he joined the local slua (group) of Na Fianna Eireann and , in 1924 , at 17 years young, he joined the IRA . Peter Barnes was one of the first to volunteer for active service , at 32 years of age, in England , when the 1939 bombing campaign began . In June of that year he travelled to England and was appointed Transport Officer , operating mainly between Glasgow , Liverpool and London .
James McCormick was born in Mullingar , County Westmeath , in 1910 .
The McCormick family moved to Tullamore , in County Offaly, after the mother died , and it was in that town that James joined the IRA . In early 1939 , James McCormick volunteered for active service in England where , after acting for some time as Operations Officer in London and Birmingham , he was posted to Coventry (in May 1939) and , in August 1939 , was appointed Coventry O/C .
On August 25th , 1939, in one incident during the IRA bombing campaign , a bomb at the busy Broadgate Centre in Coventry killed five people and injured many more .
The bomb was concealed in the carrier-bag of a pushbike which was left standing at the kerb outside Astley's shop in the city centre . It was being transported to it's target some miles outside Coventry , but exploded prematurely due , apparently, to a defect in the timing device . Within hours of the explosion , Barnes was arrested .......( MORE LATER)>>

According to a book entitled "Landslide:The Unmaking of the President 1984-' 88" , by then Washington journalists Jane Mayer and Doyle McManus , Ronald Reagan "was lazy. He was'nt interested in the job . All he wanted to do was watch movies and television" . The then U S Chief of Staff , Howard Baker (who replaced Donald Regan in the job) briefly considered a proposal that the U S's Constitutions' 25th Amendment be invoked to remove Reagan from Office ~ Baker's aid , James Cannon , sent Baker a memorandum on March 1st , 1987 , which read- " Consider the possibility that Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution might be applied" . The '25th' provides that a President can be removed from Office if the Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet certify that he/she is unable to perform his/her duties . When questioned about the above , Ronald Reagan replied "No truth at all" . But then again , some would say that Reagan would'nt know the truth even if it WAS in the script .....

.....Thomas Miller Beach (alias Major Henri Le Caron) was privy to the negotiations which led to the 'New Departure' in October 1878 : an alliance between the Fenians led by John Devoy , the Land League under Michael Davitt and the Irish Parliamentary Party led by Charles Stewart Parnell .
John Devoy commissioned the informer Beach to carry messages and instructions to Fenians in Europe and , in 1881 , Beach was sent to Paris with same for John O'Leary and Patrick Egan~ on his way through London he passed the details in his possession to Robert Anderson , from the British Home Office , who copied the information , and Beach carried on as if nothing had happened .
Beach returned to England permanently in December 1888 . By this time , the British government had established a Special Commission on ' Parnellism and Crime' , in order to discredit Parnell , and informed the informer Beach that it would be necessary for him to come out in the open and speak against Parnell ; all concerned understood that such a move would end Beach's career as an informer . His testimony to the commission in February 1889 did not damage Parnell as much as it damaged , shocked and embarrassed the IRB leadership , who were astonished that " one of their own" was a British agent all along . Beach spent the next five years in England , in hiding , his only injury being a nervous breakdown shortly before he died . His autobiography , ' Twenty-Five Years in the Secret Service' , was published in 1892 . The informer Beach died on April 1st , 1894 - not the last high-ranking informer considered to be "one of our own"......

.....in his speech , Ramsey Clark stated - " The (U S) President has no power to kill whomever he wants , to bomb civilian populations after deliberately building up a hate campaign against the country and timing it for prime television " . Clark said the compensation he was seeking on behalf of the fifty-five Libyans would total between $75 Million and $100 Million , and that U S pilots would be sued for not refusing to carry out Reagan's illegal order to bomb Tripoli in peacetime .
Will Bertie Ahern be sued because he is allowing U S bombers to fly from Shannon ?
Will Bush be sued for "building up a hate campaign" against Iraq ?
Will U S pilots end up in court "for not refusing to carry out illegal orders" ?
And what about the groundcrew at Shannon ? Will they be sued ?
It's most unlikely , but should a court-case be instigated here then watch the gutless wonders in Leinster House run for cover while simultaneously blaming each other .

......Thomas Miller Beach (alias Henri Le Caron) began his 'career' as an informer in 1866 , when he notified the authorities of a Fenian raid to be undertaken in Canada by Captain John O'Neill and his men , whose confidence he had won . The raid went ahead as planned but was defeated by the Canadian authorities on June 1st, 1866 .
While on a visit to England in 1867 , Beach made himself known to the British Home Office and was put in touch with a Mr Robert Anderson , to whom he relayed extensive information on Fenianism in Ireland , England and America ; his arrangement with Anderson lasted for years . Meanwhile , he had obtained high rank and responsibility in the IRB and , prior to the second abortive attack on Canada , was actively responsible for locating suitable places for the Fenians to stash their weapons . In April 1870 , the Fenians walked into a carefully prepared ambush and the Canadian operation fell apart ~ the Fenians had long suspected that there was a traitor in their ranks , but suspicion never fell on Beach , such was his standing among the Fenian leadership and rank-and-file .
A founder-member of Clan na Gael in America , Beach was privy to the negotiations .........(MORE LATER)>>

Ramsey Clark was Attorney General for the United States from 1967 to 1969 ; In April 1988 , he gave a speech in Washington in which he announced that he had filed a lawsuit against Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher , seeking compensation for fifty-five Libyans killed or injured in a U S bombing raid on Tripoli in 1986 . He was suing Thatcher because she allowed the U S bombers to fly from British bases , and Reagan because he built up a hate campaign to justify killing Libyans in a bombing raid timed , he said, for U S television news primetime . In his speech , Clark stated - " The (U S) President has no power to kill .........." (MORE LATER)>>>>>

A Mr. Thomas Miller Beach , who was born in Colchester , in England, in 1841 , is one man that is well-remembered by Irish Republicans for his 'career' in the Movement~but for all the wrong reasons.....
........for almost a quarter of a century , Thomas Miller Beach (alias Henri Le Caron) was one of the most 'successful' informers in the pay of the English secret service : he infiltrated the IRA and thwarted nearly all their plans for insurrection .
He was an apprentice draper , and went to America when he was aged 20 (1861) : once there , he enlisted in the 8th Pennsylvanian Reserves in the Union Army and , during the Civil War in that country (1861-' 65) was wounded and was eventually promoted to the rank of Major . While in the Northern Army he became friendly with the Fenian , Captain John O'Neill , and it was this friendship which gained him entry into the Fenian Brotherhood . He moved and settled in Nashville , Tennessee , where he studied medicine . Beach/Le Caron's career as an informer began in 1866 ; ......(MORE LATER)>>>

And a belated "congrats" to Paddy Murray on his new job as Editor of 'The Sunday Tribune' newspaper - its a good read , but was better when Vincent Browne was in charge . However , I doubt if the (Indo) owners of the 'Trib' could afford to have Browne back in the hot seat(financially or otherwise....) as the newspaper lost over EURO1.5 million in its last financial year .
Anyway , I digress - I suspect that the newspaper will go down-market in the near future : perhaps not a 'page 3' dumb-down , but it will , I think, move to an even more anti-republican position than it already occupies . The following quote from new Editor Paddy Murray himself , as lifted from his newspaper on December 3rd , 2000 ('Artlife' section , page 11) is a sign of things to come ~ "(Tom) Barry [ Irish Rebel leader] will never figure in my list of heroes - David Beckham [an English footballer] on the other hand , will figure on that list " .
Beckham over Barry ? Bend it like the latter , Paddy .......

......Mary Anne McCracken won improvements for poor house women , in the clothing trade and in childrens education - she helped develop the idea of an infants' school which flourished for a brief period. She was bitterly opposed to slavery and seen in that issue a parallel with the 'climbing boys' , who were young boys used by chimney sweeps as helpers ; and she fought hard for better conditions for other children who worked in factories . During the early 1840's she assisted Dr Richard R. Madden , the historian of the United Irishmen , with detailed accounts of the lives of her brother and Thomas Russell .
In her last years she saw the republican principles for which she had fought and for which those she had loved had died , once again being widely espoused throughout Ireland by the Fenian movement . Mary Anne McCracken died on July 24th , 1866 , at 97 years of age , and deserves to be remembered as much as her brother , Henry Joy McCracken .

If/when George Bush sends his troops in to Iraq , the American public would do well to remember the words of Franklin D.Roosevelt , one year before the U S was plunged into WW2 - " I have said this before, but I shall say it again and again and again : your boy's are not going to be sent into any foreign wars" ~ it looks like Bush will be responsible for the first 'resource war' of the 21st Century.
Remember , also, on his last day in Office as President of the USA , Bill Clinton admitted lying under oath and surrendered his licence to practice law , for five years . He also stole furniture , china and silverware from the White House to the approximate value of EURO 250,000 . He pardoned one of the FBI's ten 'Most Wanted' , whose ex-wife 'donated' almost four million euro's to the Democratic Party's war-chest and a six-figure sum to Hillary Clinton's U S Senate campaign , without consulting the FBI or the U S Attorney Generals Office , as required by U S law .
High Office , a nice suit and the courtship of the Establishment is not a guarantee that the people in question are worthy of the trust placed in them .......

.....Mary Anne MacCracken followed with enthusiastic interest the progress of the American War of Independence and , with her sister-in-law, Rose Ann McCracken , she was sworn into the Society of United Irishmen soon after its formation in Belfast in October 1791 . Following the battle of Antrim in June 1798 and the collapse of the Rising in the North , Mary arranged safe passage for her brother , Henry Joy, on a ship bound for North America .
He was arrested as he was about to board the ship and imprisoned in Carrickfergus Jail - he was transferred to Belfast , where Mary was present at his court-martial , and comforted him in his cell as he awaited execution . She accompanied him to the scaffold .
Five years later , just as she had seen her brother make the supreme sacrifice for liberty , she was to again witness another loved one, Thomas Russell, meet the same end at Downpatrick Jail in 1803 .
She withdrew from radical politics following Russell's execution and joined forces with English prison reformer Elizabeth Fry , to form a 'ladies committee' to demand better conditions in Belfast's workhouse .
(MORE LATER)>>>

Ship-jumper Paul Whelan was not alone.....
Fianna Fail Councillor Gerry Murray , from Charlestown in County Mayo , resigned from Fianna Fail in September 2001 and declared himself an Independent Councillor . He joined Provisional Sinn Fein the following month ....
Murray stated that he was a member of PSF in the late 1970's " but drifted away because of the then weakness of the Sinn Fein organisation in Mayo " . And the reason that their organisation is "stronger" now , Gerry , is because it's full with people like you who will no doubt move on if .......

.....his health never improved and he died in Los Angeles in October 1899 , at the young age of 36 . He was buried in America , but his remains were returned to Ireland in 1901 in accordance with his wishes. They were reinterred in Maynooth . When Padraig Pearse , in his famous oration in August 1915 , referred to O'Donovan Rossa as having "the holiness and simplicity of patriotism of a Michael O'Clery or an Eoghan O'Growney ", he was evoking a name, long since dead, who during his 36 years on this earth had done much to promote the revival of the Irish language : Eoghan O'Growney was born in August 1863 and died in October 1899 and , in my opinion, is not remembered as he should be . He would have been three years of age when a woman , with whom he had a lot in common , died ~ this 97 year-old woman died on July 24th , 1866 , after a lifetime service to the cause of Irish freedom - it has been said that she was passed over by history in favour of her brother , Henry Joy McCracken :
The womens name is Mary Anne McCracken , a social reformer and revolutionary , who was born in High Street , Belfast , in July 1770 . Her father was Captain John McCracken and her mother was Ann Joy . They had six children , the most famous of whom was Henry Joy McCracken . Mary grew up with a love of liberty , and followed with enthusiastic interest the progress of the American War of Independence ....(MORE LATER)>>>

It was around June 2001 that a Mr Paul Whelan , a member of the Fianna Fail 'National' Executive (sic-ie; by this , Fianna Fail means the 26 -County state only) and then president of Roscommon Ogra Fianna Fail resigned and joined Provisional Sinn Fein ! He stated - " We have a party (Fianna Fail) more concerned with staying in power nationally(sic) than any other policy " .
"NATIONALLY" ? - By God , Paul , the Provos'll knock that type of talk out of ya ~or maybe they'll learn it from you ..... (another defection tomorrow ...) >>>