Saturday, August 23, 2003

RICHARD DALTON WILLIAMS ; 'SHAMROCK' OF 'THE NATION' NEWSPAPER .....


.....when Richard Dalton Williams' first poem ('The Munster War Song') was published in 'The Nation' newspaper on 7th January , 1843 , under the pseudonym 'Shamrock' , the author was in the process of moving from Carlow to Dublin to study medicine .....


'The Nation' newspaper received a great response to Williams' poems , and 'Shamrock' became a regular contributor , with works such as 'The Dying Gael' , 'Sisters of Charity' and 'The Haunted Man' , which raised the profile and readership of the newspaper .

As well as the poems , 'The Nation' published a series of humorous articles from Richard Dalton Williams , entitled 'Misadventures of a Medical Student' and described the author , 'Shamrock' (in its July 1851 issue), in the following terms -

-- " His intellect is robust and vigorous , his passion impetuous and noble , his perception of beauty most delicate and enthusiastic ; his sympathies take in the whole range of human affections , and his humour is irresistible . We think , indeed, that 'Shamrock' excels all his contemporaries in imagination and humour ."

(MORE LATER)>


THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 :


EUGENE FITZGERALD OF TRALEE .

" Beyond Ardfert , between Tralee Bay and Ballyheigue , lies the lonely , colourless waste of Currahane Sands . Grey green levels of short , wind-bitten grass-land , swelling now and then into sand-dunes , with never a tree or a singing bird to tell them when it is summer , end in the pebbly beach and the salt sea . Few people live there ; from the road a farmhouse or two can be seen : Mrs Lyons' , with its grey-roofed hayshed and old Mrs Connell's cottage beyond , houses gloomy with memory now of black winter nights .

Eugene Fitzgerald was Mrs Connell's nephew : it was her joy and her terror to have him living out with her in Currahane . His mother is a woman who loves her sons , but would not grudge them to Ireland . Antony was fighting and was arrested when the Free State troops came to Tralee ; her house was raided for Eugene again and again . He had been a Volunteer since the fighting began , a scout when he was thirteen years old " . (MORE LATER)>




I'M BEHIND YOU ......

......Paddy Wright , then a Provisional Sinn Fein Councillor in Kildare , seconded Derek Nallys candidature , thus allowing him to stand in the 1997 Free State Presidential election . [See AP/RN , 23rd October , 1997 , page 9.]



OH NO YOU'RE NOT ......

...... " He was also involved in working with the RUC " - Gerry Adams , in an interview with 'The Sunday Tribune' newspaper , 19th October ,1997 , page 13 , explaining why he would not vote for Derek Nally in the Free State Presidential election !


GERRY - " Right , Paddy - you second him . That should help get us in with the establishment ."

PADDY - " Yeah , ok , Gerry . But won't that get us into trouble with our own people ? "

GERRY - " Naa , I can sort that shower out . I'll issue a statement saying we don't support him ."

PADDY - " But then I'll look foolish , Gerry ! "

GERRY - " HEY ! Respectability has a price , ya know .... besides , Paddy , there's plenty 'a room up here on the fence with the rest of us ! "

Friday, August 22, 2003

RICHARD DALTON WILLIAMS ; 'SHAMROCK' OF 'THE NATION' NEWSPAPER .


In Dublin , in October 1822 , a child was born to Mary Williams , wife of a Tipperary Count , Count D'Alton ; the child , Richard Dalton Williams , was reared at Grenanstown , Nenagh , County Tipperary and educated at St. Stanislaus School , Tullabeg , in County Laois , and St. Patricks College , County Carlow .

His first published poem was entitled - 'The Munster War Song' and it appeared in 'The Nation' newspaper on 7th January , 1843 , under the pseudonym 'Shamrock' ; at the time of its publication , Richard Dalton Williams was in the process of moving , from Carlow , to Dublin , to study medicine in St Vincents Hospital . (MORE LATER)>



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .

MICHAEL O'SULLIVAN OF KNOCKANES ......

......two IRA Volunteers , Michael O'Sullivan and Denny Connor , were surrounded by Free State troops ; during the gun-fight , a bullet shattered O'Sullivan's right arm ....


" Denny Connor succeeded in getting away with a slight wound in the cheek . O'Sullivan seized in his left hand the gun that he could never use again and , dashing into a farmhouse , broke it on the floor . When the soldiers rushed in and saw what he had done and saw him facing them , still defiant , they fell on him in fury , dragged him outside the farmhouse , and shot him there . "

[END]


CLINTON , COCAINE , CUBA ......

.....According to a report in 'The New York Times' newspaper [see AP/RN , 15th May , 1997 , page 19] , a U S Democratic Party fundraiser travelled to Cuba in 1995 to raise money for Bill Clinton's re-election campaign . The fundraiser , Vivian Mannerud , travelled to Havana in November 1995 and stayed in the Copacabana Hotel , where she met with Jorge Cabrera , who donated twenty-thousand dollars to the campaign .

Cabrera was later imprisoned in Florida on charges of importing Colombian-sourced cocaine into the U S . When arrested , Cabrera had photographs showing himself with U S Vice President Al Gore and First Lady Hillary Clinton , and also an invitation to a Christmas celebration at the White House , to be held in December 1995 !

I presume the bould Bill would describe that as being "even-handed" - ie , take the money from drug-barons and business-people alike ...

[and speaking of being "even-handed" -->]


--> CLINTON , COMPLIMENTS, CONFORMING ......

..... " I would applaud the White House and President Clinton's even-handed approach to all this (so-called 'peace-process' business) especially as we move into unchartered waters ."

-- so said Mairead Keane , Provisional Sinn Fein representative in Washington at the time [ see AP/RN , 11th September , 1997 , page 11] .


" Unchartered waters " ? Apart from the fact that Dev and MacGiolla , amongst others , have sailed and sunk in those same waters , was'nt it by using same that Cabrera and his cartel got Charlie past the customs .....

Thursday, August 21, 2003

JOSEPH MALONE , HUNGER-STRIKER , 1941 .....


.....on 21st January , 1941 , Joseph Malone was ordered off the hunger-strike by his O/C , Joe Collins ; within days , their demand to be recognised as political prisoners was granted - but it was too late for Joseph Malone . His internal organs were either bruised , cut , ruptured and/or bleeding . He was beyond help .....


He lived for only twelve months , in agony , from the date that he finished his fast ; on 21st January , 1942 , aged only twenty-four (24) , Joseph Malone's crippled body gave up . He is buried in the Republican Plot in Milltown Cemetery in Belfast . Like thousands of Irish rebels , both before and after him , the British made his life a misery and put him in an early grave .

I had the intention of ending this story by comparing the manner of Joseph Malone's death with the life of those who sit down to dine genteely at 'thousand-dollar-a-plate' functions with those who either perpetrated the barbarous act on Joseph Malone and his comrades or , by their in-action , supported those who carried out said act . But I can't do it .

Joseph Malone and his comrades , in the 'Parkhursts' of their day , and in the 'Portlaoises' and 'Maghaberrys' of today , deserve better than to be mentioned on the same page as those lackeys . I'll leave it at that , but will remind you , the reader , that more than sixty-one years after Joseph Malone's death over the issue of political status , the situation in HMP Maghaberry , a British concentration camp in Ireland , regarding that same issue , is escalating .

Will the 'establishment' of the day never learn ?

[END]



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .

MICHAEL O'SULLIVAN OF KNOCKANES .

" The last fight of Michael O'Sullivan has grown almost to a legend around Knockanes . The end came so suddenly that no one can tell exactly what happened or what was said . On November 2nd a party of about forty Free State soldiers under Captain 'Tiny' Lyons advanced to Headford to make a round-up of Republican men . The hunted Republicans turned and attacked their hunters . The Free State troops , retreating towards Killarney , encountered Michael O'Sullivan and one comrade , who engaged them and kept them at bay for two hours .

At length , Lyons, with six soldiers, contrived to surround the two Republicans and fired on them , all seven at once . O'Sullivan , finding his retreat cut off , kept up fire until a bullet shattered his right arm ......" (MORE LATER)>



20th CENTURY REVOLUTIONARY ......

....... " I leave for the guidance of other Revolutionaries who may tread the path which I have trod . Never treat with the enemy - never surrender to his mercy - fight to the finish . Nothing can be gained by any other means ."

--- Eamon Ceannt , one of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising , quoted just prior to his execution by the British on 7th May , 1916 .


20th CENTURY 'SUIT' ......

....... " We know there are two roads before us . One is the road to further conflict and the other is the road to the negotiating table . We have declared ourselves and now re-declare ourselves in favour of travelling to the negotiating table . There is nowhere else for us to go ".

--- Martin McGuinness , as quoted in 'The Irish News' , 3rd February , 1997.

" Nowhere else to go " , eh , Martin ? If its any consolation - its a corner of your own making that you've backed yourself in too .....

Wednesday, August 20, 2003

JOSEPH MALONE , HUNGER-STRIKER , 1941 .....


.....during force-feeding , the screws would constantly yank the length of tubing from the victims stomach and quickly re-insert it ; when the screws actually felt the tube hitting the bottom of the persons stomach they would stop pushing on it ....


That's where the quote that I began this piece with comes in --

--- " I was in a cell next to Joe Malone . On the second day of feeding there was no sound from his cell for half-an-hour after the screws leaving . When he spoke from his window he told me he had lost consciousness while being fed . He woke up later lying on the floor , alone , with the door locked . He was wretchedly sick and spitting blood . Looking out on the prison wall he remarked - "It would be a decent thing for them to take us out and put us up against that wall and shoot us ." "

--- the words of Joe Collins , Officer Commanding IRA , Parkhurst Prison .

On 21st January , 1941 , Joe Collins ordered Joseph Malone off the hunger-strike ; day's later , the Irish POW's were offered proper segregation from the other inmates and the rest of their demands for political status were granted . Joe Malone was operated on as his internal organs were either bruised , cut , ruptured and/or bleeding , but he was beyond help ..... (MORE LATER)>



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle , first published in 1924 -

JOHN LAWLOR OF BALLYHEIGUE .....

....a division of Free State troops surrounded Ballyheigue on the night of October 30th , 1922 ; John Lawlor had good luck and ill luck that night ....

" Having helped to extricate two companies of Volunteers , he went with a couple of comrades to secure arms . They were captured ; they disarmed their guard and dashed away over the fields with the rifle , in triumph . They headed , by mistake , straight into the enemy post and were seen and fired on . The others escaped but John fell , wounded , and was taken prisoner .

They condemned him to death that night and killed him in the early morning . They left his body in the street of Ballyheigue , outside the church gate . "

[END]


TESTING .....

..... in 1958 , John Dunster , who then worked at Windscale (Sellafield) [and was later appointed head of the Free State 'Nuclear Radiological Protection Board'] told the 'Geneva Conference on Peaceful Uses of the Atom' that "discharges from Windscale have been deliberately maintained high enough to obtain detectable activity levels in samples of fish , seaweed and shore sand . The experiment is still proceeding . This year (1958) the rate of discharge of radioactivity was deliberately increased partly to dispose of unwanted waste but principally to yield better experimental data ."

(See 'Magill' magazine , November 1986 , pages 19 and 20.)

If the Brits want to s**t on their own doorstep , that's their business ; but nuclear waste knows no boundaries . The Brits are aware of that , obviously , but just don't care ....


OOOP's.....

.....on the 17th of March , 1986 , the then U K Energy Secretary , Mr Peter Walker , described nuclear power as --

-- " The safest form of energy known to man ."

Three weeks later , Chernobyle took place .....

Perhaps the Brits got enough "samples" of radioactive "fish , seaweed and shore sand" from Chernobyle . But I doubt it ....

Tuesday, August 19, 2003

JOSEPH MALONE , HUNGER-STRIKER , 1941 ......


......after they had being on hunger-strike for five days , the senior Medical Officer in Parkhurst Prison , a Dr. Hickson , decided to begin force-feeding the Republican prisoners .....


Being 'force-fed' is a vicious and agonising procedure ; in short , this gruesome act involves holding the victim down while a 'vice'-like object with a hole in its centre is forced in between the victim's teeth and the handle on same wound-up , forcing the person's mouth to open fully .

A length of rubber tubing was then inserted into the centre-hole of the device and forced down the person's throat into his/her stomach ; the other end of the tubing had a funnel placed into it , and 'liquid food' (ie raw eggs , tea , milk etc) was poured into the funnel and flowed down same and into the victim's stomach . This practice was often made even more unbearable by the prison staff sharply removing the tubing from the persons stomach , back up the throat and out of the centre-hole of the device , only to re-insert it immediately in a forceful manner .

This was known to have been done on each of the Irish Republican prisoners a number of times during every session . The screws would only stop re-inserting the tube when they physically felt it hitting the bottom of the person's stomach . (MORE LATER)>



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .


JOHN LAWLOR OF BALLYHEIGUE .

" John Lawlor was an adventurous boy and a good soldier ; his few years of manhood were full of action and enterprise . He joined the Volunteers in 1918 . The Treaty and the subtle arguments of those who claimed that it was not surrender were intolerable to John . He was in arms for the Republic again in 1922 .

On the night of October 30th a division of Free State troops surrounded Ballyheigue . John had good luck and ill luck that night ..... " (MORE LATER)>




A TAX ON YOUR PATRIOTISM ......

......in 1986 , the Fine Gael Ard Fheis (party conference) was held over the weekend of the 18th and 19th of October . One of the delegates , a Ronan Flynn , from Dublin South , took to the stage and stated - "What we need today is patriots . Every member of the workforce must be a patriot . That means working hard and paying your fair share of taxes ." (So THATS why they despise Wolfe Tone !)


NO TAX ON YOUR PATRIOTISM ......

...... speaking at the same venue , Garret Fitzgerald (then Fine Gael leader) stated - " Now is the time for honesty , for realism , for telling the truth . It is the time for plain speaking , for honest dealing . This future Ireland , to which we dedicate ourselves , will not be inhabited by a fearful people , afraid to face reality . It will not be a backward-looking Ireland . It will not be an Ireland of narrow-minded people , where personal , parochial or sectional interests hold sway over the common good . It will not be an Ireland of rigid or uncaring attitudes , nor an autocratic Ireland where political parties are personal dictatorships , with instructions handed down from the top ."


Too late for the bullshit , Garret - the previous speaker gave the game away : 'if it can be taxed , tax it' !

Monday, August 18, 2003

JOSEPH MALONE , HUNGER STRIKER , 1941 .....


.....because of their refusal to wear a prison uniform in Parkhurst Prison , the IRA prisoners were kept naked in solitary confinement for almost two years , in cells usually used to confine prisoners who were being punished .....


Every week for that two year period each P O W had his cell entered by a number of screws who would beat the prisoner senseless and then dress him in a prison-issue uniform ; the prisoner would then be carried or dragged to the Governor's office where he would be sentenced to one extra week 'on punishment' for "violating the rules on conventional dress" (ie - not wearing a prison uniform). It was a vindictive break with monotony for the prison staff .

In January , 1941 , the Irish P O W's could take no more ; the only weapon available to them was a hunger-strike , which they embarked on . After five days on hunger-strike , the senior Medical Officer in Parkhurst Prison , a Dr. Hickson , realised that the prisoners were serious and would only end their protest when granted political status . His career and reputation was on the line - he decided to force-feed the Republican prisoners ..... (MORE LATER)>



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle , first published in 1924 -

JACK GALVIN OF KILLORGLIN .....

.... Jack Galvin was a prisoner in a Free State convoy on its way to Tralee - the Ballyseedy road was blocked by trees , and the IRA prisoners were forced to clear the road ....


" A Free State Lieutenant named Horan accompanied them : "When you get back into the lorries," he said quietly, "keep Galvin in the middle of the crowd." After they had cut the third tree they were marched on about fifty yards to Ballyseedy Cross and waited for the lorries there . While they waited they heard shots from the Killorglin road ; then the lorries came up . Jack Galvin was missing . Lieutenant Horan counted the prisoners ; he wanted to go back and look for the missing man , but he was ordered to proceed with the convoy and had to obey .

That night the men of Tralee were out searching , and all the next day . They found Jack Galvin's body behind the ditch where the lorry had halted , in Ballyseedy Wood ."

[END]



REAL ? - NO ! .....

...... Bob Woodward of 'The Washington Post' newspaper broke a story in October 1986 claiming that Ronnie Reagan , then U S President , planned a campaign of disinformation against Moammar Gadhafi . The journalist stated that Reagan's spokesperson , Larry Speakes , misled the U S media on all things Libyan .

Woodward interviewed Reagan's 'National Security Adviser' , John D. Poindexter , who admitted that the "(disinformation campaign) combines real and illusionary events , through a disinformation programme , with the basic goal" of making Gadhafi believe that some of his own people and the U S were about to move against him . (See 'The Evening Press' , 7th October 1986 - a Tuesday , if memory serves- page 4.)

Reagan and Gadhafi ; Bush and Hussein . Same s**t , different century !



UNREAL ? - YES !.....

...... Arnold Lokshin , a native of San Francisco , defected to the (then) Soviet Union with his family in September 1986 ; he said his life in the U S had been "a nightmare of persecution" . Lokshin , a cancer specialist , stated - " We thought this was a place where we could raise our children without harassment . We were blackmailed on the telephone , our children were threatened and we received anonymous letters in which we were accused of treachery . I have brought letters of this kind to Moscow . In the end , I was thrown out of work and they threatened to physically destroy me and my three children , the oldest of whom is fifteen years old ."

He claimed he was picked on by the FBI because he was a former campaigner against the Vietnam War whose subsequent protests against the policies of the Reagan Administration incurred the anger of the FBI . (See 'The Evening Press' , 9th October 1986 - must have been a Thursday- page 3.)


Lokshin was apparently unfortunate enough to have been chosen by some 'bright spark' in Reagan's office to be used as an 'example' to others in the victims social circle to "keep their heads down" .

State harassment ? In America , the 'Land of the Free' ? Could'nt be - that only happens in places like Libya .....

Sunday, August 17, 2003

JOSEPH MALONE , HUNGER-STRIKER , 1941 .....


....an active member of the Irish language group 'Conradh na Gaeilge' , Joseph Malone regularly stayed in the Donegal Gaeltacht for his holidays ....


At around twenty years young , Joseph Malone joined the Belfast Battalion of the IRA and , in February 1939, he travelled to England to take part in the bombing campaign . Within three months he was in Pentonville Prison , serving ten years penal servitude for possession of explosives .

The Republican prisoners were moved from Pentonville Prison and placed on the Isle of Wight , in Parkhurst Prison , where conditions were appalling ; the English 'Ordinary Decent Criminals' (ie non-political) and the warders took turns in beating the Republican prisoners , on a daily basis .

The prison authorities attempted to treat the Irish POW's as criminals , but they resisted ; because of their refusal to wear prison clothes , they were kept naked in solitary confinement for almost two years , in cells usually used to confine prisoners who were being punished . (MORE LATER)>



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .


JACK GALVIN OF KILLORGLIN .

" Killorglin , held by the Republicans all the summer of nineteen-twenty-two , was occupied in August by Free State troops . On September the twenty-fifth , the Republicans made an attempt to take the town again ; the fight lasted twenty-nine hours - twenty Republicans were captured , several wounded , and four killed . After four days in Killorglin barracks the prisoners were put into lorries to be moved to Tralee .

Jack Galvin was among them : his guards had beaten him and broken his left hand . He was suffering great pain and the hand was in a sling . At Ballyseedy the lorries halted : two great trees had been felled and lay across the road . Colonel Michael Hogan ordered the prisoners to get out and remove the trees , but Galvin , because of his useless hand, was kept in the lorry . When the prisoners had cut the two trees they were sent to remove a third , which lay further on .... " (MORE LATER)>



DEAD SAFE .....

.....Autopsies performed on the bodies of three former Windscale (Sellafield) workers have shown plutonium concentrations hundreds of times higher than in the general population .

A report in Britains 'New Scientist' magazine , confirmed by the 'National Radiological Board' , said that in one case the concentration was thousand's of times higher than normal ! Even the locals living around the nuclear plant have plutonium levels of , on average, fifty to two-hundred-and-fifty per cent higher than anyone else in Britain . For workers and locals , the most severe plutonium concentrations were found in lung tissue and lymph nodes connected to the lungs , which suggests that the plutonium had been breathed in .

These peoples ribs , verterbae and livers all showed consistently high concentrations of plutonium .

( Above information from 'The Evening Press' newspaper , 15th August - a Friday , I believe- 1986 , page 4.)

MENTAL PICTURE .... of a Windscale (Sellafield)/B N F L 'Public Relations' person -->

<-- Externally = 'Steve Silvermint'-type , immaculately dressed , well-spoken , white teeth , manicured , tanned and polite , with good manners . What every mother wants for her daughter .

<-- Internally = Remember the van-driver , the 'baddie' , in one of the 'ROBOCOP' films , who missed his target and smashed into a large container , and was flushed out of the back of the van in a tide of nuclear puke .....