love story

The dog days of June.
Me and the ghost of Ryan O'Neill quaffing coffees and shooting the breeze in the Tearman Cafe, Kilcullen.
I begin to recite from memory.
"What can you say about a girl who loved Bach and the Beetles and me..."
Ryan smiles in recognition.
"My best film," he murmurs fondly. "Boston photographed in the snow. A 1970's feel to everything that you just couldn't capture now. A moment in time immortalised. Me and Ali McGraw in our shining days  and acting like our lives depended on it. What could have been emptily louche sensual elements of the material transformed because we were living it. A musical theme that was completely original and an instant classic. Supporting actors who were each one of them perfectly chosen and in love with their craft. The storyline based on a bestseller that was a little bit joylessly atheistic but still uniquely evocative of passionate love. The director, the cameraman, the crew, all the talents involved Heelers... they were incredible. And they never worked together again. Do you get that? This was their finest hour. Pure gold. Almost by cosmic chance, we came together at the right time and the right place to make a piece of cinematic history."
"Sorry Ryan," replies me drily. " I wasn't talking about your film. What I meant was: What can you say about a girl who loved Bach and the Beetles and me... I am referring to a particular girl who also happened to love Bach and the Beetles and me. Oh and she also loved a guy from Korea. And a Somali guy. And a guy from Leitrim who ran a horse riding place. And a guy from California. And a guy from Spain. And a couple of others that I can't prove. All in the space of a month."
"Lugnaquilla?" ventured Ryan delicately.
"Lugna-f--king-quilla," I affirmed with a modicum of bitterness.
"Heelers you only liked her because she was beautiful," sez he.
"So?" sez me.
"Looks aren't everything," sez he.
"She wasn't just beautiful. She had a certain soulfulness," I recalled wistfully.
"You could have cared less about her soulfulness."
"You can talk. You were married to Farrah Fawcett."
"Yes, but was I happy?"
"I'd say you had a few good moments," I mouthed staring into the middle distance.




*******
(Delenda est jihadis.)

saint patrick's breastplate

(An ancient Irish prayer, also known as "The Lorica," or "The Deer's Cry.)


I arise today
through a mighty strength
the invocation of the Trinity
through belief in the Threeness
through confession of the Oneness
towards the Creator.

I arise today
through the strength of Christ
with his baptism
through the strength of his crucifixion
with his burial
through the strength of his resurrection
with his ascension
through the strength of his descent
for the judgement of doom

I arise today
through the strength of the love of cherubim
in obedience of angels
in the service of the archangels
in hope of resurrection to meet with reward
in prayer of patriarchs
in predictions of prophets
in preachings of apostles
into faiths of confessors
in innocence of holy virgins
in deeds of righteous men

I arise today
through the strength of heaven
light of sun
brilliance of moon
splendour of fire
speed of lightning
swiftness of wind
depth of sea
stability of earth
firmness of rock

I arise today
through God's strength to pilot me
God's might to uphold me
God's wisdom to guide me
God's eye to look ahead of me
God's ear to hear me
God's word to speak for me
God's hand to guard me
God's way to stretch before me
God's shield to protect me
God's host to secure me
against snares of devils
against temptations of vices
against inclinations of nature
against everyone who shall wish me ill
afar and anear
alone and in a crowd

I summon today all these powers
between me and those evils
against every cruel and merciless power that may oppose my body and my soul
against incantations of false prophets
against black laws of heathenry
against false laws of heretics
against craft of idolotry
against spells of women and smiths and wizards
against every knowledge that endangers man's body and soul

Christ to protect me today
against poison against burning
against drowning against wounding
so that there may come abundance of reward.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me
Christ on my right, Christ on my left
Christ where I lie down, Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me
Christ in every eye that sees me
Christ in every ear that hears me

I arise today
through a mighty strength
the invocation of the Trinity
through belief in the Threeness
through confession of the Oneness
towards the Creator

Salvation is of the Lord
Salvation is of the Lord
Salvation is of Christ
May thy salvation Oh Lord be ever with us


(Translated in the year 1903 from ninth century Irish by W Stokes and J Strachan with later modifications by Ludwig Bieler. Taken from the Floris Books 1992 publication "Saint Patrick," edited by Iain MacDonald. The style of Irish is said to be earlier than ninth century so some believe the prayer might indeed have come direct to us from Saint Patrick himself. The word Lorica is old Irish for breastplate, a type of armour.)

the beast must die

The bankrupt Irish Independent Newspaper has this week attempted to reinvent itself as a newspaper-with-readers by publishing tapes of Irish bankers plotting to rob the nation blind. The following considerations may be of interest.


1. Today's Irish Independent devoted its first seven pages to the tapes of Anglo Irish Bank's criminal management plotting to asset strip Ireland in order to cover up their burglarisation of their own bank.

2. A further two pages of today's Irish Independent featured a splash ad for the Irish Independent itself. The ad was based on a representation of the Irish Independent as a critical examiner of the behaviour of corrupt Irish banks and politicians. Specifically one half of the ad was a photograph of a presumably cancelled design for a children's hospital while the other page of the ad featured a photograph of Anglo Irish Bank's Dublin premises. The implication was that the Irish Independent was serving the public interest by highlighting the decision by politicians to throw tens of billions of dollars away in concealing Anglo's burglarisation of itself, money which would have been better spent on hospitals.

3. Today's Irish Independent also featured an editorial column on the Anglo Irish Bank debacle.

4. Today's Irish Independent carried a further page sized article about other banks, suggesting they had treated the Irish people with contempt in upping their charges while the latest Anglo story was unfurling.

5. Any notion that the Irish Independent is defending the public interest against the corrupt banks is romantic in the extreme.

6. Independent Newspapers has recently had a quarter of a billion dollars in debt to bankrupt Irish banks which they were refusing to repay, written off.

7. The banks nationalised by current Prime Minister Enda Kenny, supposedly on our behalf, have shelved another half a billion dollars in Independent Newspapers debt, ie they'll write it off in a few months time.

8. In other words, me and you, the citizens of Ireland, have not only purchased ten worthless gangster banks, through our worthless gangster Prime Minister Enda Kenny, we have also been signed up by Enda Kenny to paying the debts through those banks of Independent Newspapers.

9. Prime Minister Enda Kenny and the worthless gangster banks he has nationalised using public money, will not collect a red cent from Enda Kenny's financial supporters, ie Denis O'Brien and Tony O'Reilly who just happen to be the owners of Independent Newspapers.

10. Prime Minister Enda Kenny has refused to sanction any action at all against Independent Newspapers owner Denis O'Brien who was deemed by an Irish Judicial Enquiry to have bribed Fine Gael government Minister Michael Lowry in order to obtain mobile phone licences for the provision of telecommunications services in the Republic of Ireland. Denis O'Brien's subversion and bribery of Enda Kenny's former party colleague Michael Lowry served as the foundation for Denis O'Brien's multi billion dollar personal fortune. The same illegally acquired multi billion dollar personal fortune that Enda Kenny's Fine Gael is leaving untouched as it forces all of us to bail out not just the banks but Denis O'Brien's Independent Newspapers group which owes those banks a billion dollars, and is one of the prime reasons those banks are collapsing.

11. Today's Irish Independent carries a further article on the Anglo debacle written by economist David McWilliams. As has been correctly pointed out by left wing broadcaster Vincent Brown, David McWilliams explicitly urged the former Fianna Fail government to give the corrupt gangster banks a limitless blank checque guarantee, the precise guarantee which delivered Ireland into the Third World overnight.

12. Today's Irish Independent accuses Vincent Brown of "gagging" one of the Irish Independent's more capable editorial staff a Mr Fionan Sheahan. The charge of gagging is risible. On his television programme Mr Brown asked Mr Sheahan when the tapes of Anglo's conspiring management had come into Independent  Newspapers' possession. Mr Sheahan filibustered and attempted to avoid the highly relevant questions being raised about the manner in which Independent Newspapers obtained the tapes. Mr Sheahan alleges that Mr Brown told him off camera that Mr Sheahan would never be a guest on the programme again. This statement attributed by Mr Sheahan to Mr Brown, even if it were true, can by no stretch of the imagination be considered tantamount to gagging Mr Sheahan.

13. Left wing broadcaster Vincent Brown, of whom I have been vituperatively critical in the past, did an honorable thing today in his column for the Irish Times, when he made clear that politicians of Fine Gael and Labour had voted in favour of Fianna Fail's illegal bailout of Anglo Irish Bank. The term "illegal bailout" is mine not Mr Brown's.

14. Fionan Sheahan has also asserted that Vincent Brown is ill disposed towards Independent Newspapers in general. There may be some truth in this assertion. Independent Newspapers twenty years ago took over a bankrupt newspaper run by Vincent Brown, possibly against Vincent Brown's will. Independent Newspapers used loans from idiot gangster banks to take over Vincent Brown's Sunday Tribune, a title he himself had founded using loans from the same idiot gangster banks. I would postulate that none of these loans were ever repaid. We're all repaying them now on behalf of both Vincent Brown and Independent Newspapers. The Sunday Tribune was finally mothballed after two decades haemhorraging cash and floating on airy fairy bank loans. No worries. You and I are picking up the tab.

15. As Independent Newspapers moved in on his bankrupt title, Vincent Brown was running the Sunday Tribune as a typical conformist Bolshevick contraceptivist abortionist anti Catholic rag, indistinguishable from any of the other titles already owned by Independent Newspapers but for the fact that he tended to favour a slightly pro IRA slant on Northern Ireland news stories. When Independent Newspapers forced him out of his own newspaper one of Vincent Brown's final acts as editor was to accuse Independent Newspapers of undermining the ancient and respected position of the Catholic Church in Ireland. This was one of the most hilarious pots calling the kettle black moments in the history of the Irish nation.

16. Today's Irish Independent carries an article suggesting the possibility of holding Judicial Enquiries into the bailout of Anglo Irish Bank. The article mentions several previous such Enquiries and their findings. No mention is made of the Judicial Enquiry which concluded that Independent Newspapers owner Denis O'Brien had bribed Michael Lowry to give him mobile phone licences, and thereby robbed billions of dollars in revenue from the Irish people.

17. Today's Irish Independent also found space for a full page article dedicated to promoting euthanasia, the murder of the elderly, in Ireland. They just love killing at that newspaper. If it's not unborn babies, it's oldies. What a privilege it is for us simple minded peasants to pay their billion dollar debts to gangster banks for them.

18. Ireland's current Prime Minister Enda Kenny, whose political party Fine Gael is bankrolled by both proprietors at Independent Newspapers, Denis O'Brien and Tony O'Reilly, closed down Ireland's embassy to the Vatican claiming this would save money. The money supposedly saved amounts to around 150,000 dollars. The amount Enda Kenny spent buying the bankrupt gangster bank AIB alone amounts to ten thousand million dollars. The entire spend of Enda Kenny and his Fine Gael Labour Party combo, acquiring owners ship of worthless gangster banks supposedly on the behalf of the public, and certainly using public money, amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars. Bear in mind that Enda Kenny was elected to repudiate the kleptocracy of the outgoing Fianna Fail government. In power he has embraced the same kleptocracy and extended it exponentially.

19. Folks we need to put a stop to these people.

20. Delenda est jihadis.

summer sunset

the majesty of evening in full tide
a silent crescendo of dreams
last birdsong drifting from the shade
reminiscent in the hour angelic hymns

there's a stillness in the green land tonight
and an uproar in hell
for the demons have lost my soul forever
and know it well

citizens

A swearing in ceremony in Dublin for immigrants who have just been granted citizenship of the Republic of Ireland.
Newly sworn Ahmet Ahmodoglu from Turkey turns to me.
"This is crazy," he hisses. "Look what the Irish are giving passports to. Look. Over there. All those are Russian Mafia. The worst of the worst. The scum of the earth. Your country is in trouble."
"Ours," I tell him firmly.

the nature of the beast

Ireland's Prime Minister Enda Kenny, a weak vacuous vacant venal hairstyle of a man, spoke out in parliament in impassioned terms this week about the bankers who have impoverished Ireland.
At the same time as Enda Kenny tried to cover his own ass with this latest bout of parliamentary showboating, the Independent Newspaper group published scathing commentaries about those same bankers along with tape recordings of the bankers plotting to impoverish the citizenry.
Bless.
Enda Kenny and Independent Newspapers in bed together.
And justice for all, eh!
Hey lads.
You're arriving a little late at this party.
Some thoughts occur.
Let us briefly consider the posturings of Enda Kenny.
When Enda Kenny speaks out in impassioned terms against bankers, he seeks to imply that the bankers' criminality was sanctioned, and the nation impoverished, solely by the previous squalidly corrupt Fianna Fail government and not by his own present day equally squalidly corrupt Fine Gael Labour Party administration.
But remember, it is Enda Kenny himself who has used tens of billions of dollars in money borrowed against the Irish citizenry, ie our money, to purchase every worthless bankrupt corrupt gangster bank in the State.
Remember it is Enda Kenny who has signed us up to covering the losses of ten worthless gangster banks, including Allied Irish Bank, Trustee Savings Bank, et al. (Particularly Al. I hate him.)
It is Enda Kenny who has permitted Richie Boucher as Managing Director of Bank Of Ireland to pay himself an annual salary of two million quid while Bank Of Ireland runs up annual losses of two thousand million quid.
Hoo baby.
You gotta wonder what Enda Kenny would force us to pay Richie Boucher if Bank Of Ireland actually made a profit.
It is Enda Kenny who has refused to take legal action on foot of a Judicial Enquiry which showed that the owner of Independent Newspapers Denis O'Brien had founded his billion dollar fortune on mobile phone licences which he obtained by bribing famously squalidly corrupt Fine Gael Communications Minister Michael Lowry.
And it is Enda Kenny who has stood back while bankrupt banks he has purchased using our money, write off billion dollar debts owed to them by Independent Newspapers.
Ahhh.
Wheels within wheels.
Enda Kenny and Independent Newspapers are next month going to legalise abortion in Ireland.
Here is the news.
Enda Kenny and Independent Newspapers are worse than the worst gangster bankers Sean Fitzpatrick, David Drumm, Michael Fingleton, Gillian Bowler and their IRA accomplices Sean Quinn, Sean Quinn's odious rackateering sons Peter and Sean, the Quinns' rancid wives, mistresses and cats Tiddles, and the Quinns' murderous drug dealing people trafficking Russian gangster accomplices, all of whom colluded to help Sean Fitzpatrick rob his own bank simply by giving each other multi billion dollar loans which the IRA and the Russians then laundered overseas, while the Quinns, Drumms, Fingletons, et al declared inability to repay and our famously corrupt political Parties, including Enda Kenny's Fine Gael Labour combo, generously signed us all up to meeting the tab.
These scum threaten our lives and our freedoms and the very existence of our nation, not just our financial well being.
And I'm telling you that Enda Kenny and Independent Newspapers are worse than any of them for championing the killing of unborn babies.

they came from the stars???

Tonight is the seventh anniversary of the largest ever UFO sighting in Ireland, often styled The Kilcullen Incident. For twenty minutes on the night of June 23rd 2006, reports flooded in to police stations and newspapers of UFO's being sighted across a hundred mile stretch of countryside, ranging through Counties, Kildare, Wicklow and Carlow. These images are considered by some to be similar to those of the Phoenix Lights sighting in the USA in 1997. Irish army experts insist that the Irish sighting consists of army parachute flares. As to why there had been no previous sightings involving army parachute flares, the experts are a little more reticent. A single subsequent sighting in July 2006 produced similar images and a similar explanation with the only difference being that the July Lights had a reddish hue. There have been no sightings since then. Apparently the Irish army hasn't conducted a night exercise in the past seven years.