Topics

http://seosamhsonar.blogspot.com/2010/01/mlk-jr-day-living-dream.html

http://seosamhsonar.blogspot.com/2010/01/ill-tell-me-ma-by-brian-keenan.html


Belfast born author Brian Keenan, returned to his native city yesterday to talk about his latest book, 'I'll Tell Me Ma', at the Out To Lunch Arts Festival at the Black Box in Belfast's Cathedral Quarter.

Keenan's first book, 'An Evil Cradling', was an autobiographical account of his four year kidnapping ordeal in Beirut Lebanon, where he was working at the American University.

His latest work is a memoir of his growing up in Belfast in the 1950's. In his talk to a lunch-time audience of over 200 he spoke of the difficulty he had deciding to even start such a work. His early childhood memories were dim, and much of the working-class neighborhood in north Belfast were he grew up has physically changed very drastically due to redevelopment. The work he said, took him to areas where he could never have imagined when he began his odyssey of recollections. At this time his mother was in the final stages of Alzheimer's, and he was making frequent visits from Dublin where he now resides, to be with her. On these trips he would frequently walk the old haunts of his youth seeking inspiration.

Speaking to Soñar Blog afterward, Keenan said that he is already working on another book. He has made two trips recently to Lebanon. While there, he says he was looking for stories of ordinary Lebanese living everyday lives.

I'll Tell Me Ma, is published by Random House.
http://www.rbooks.co.uk/default.aspx

The Out to Lunch Arts Festival runs 6-31January 2010.
For further information on upcoming events;
info@cqaf.com

http://seosamhsonar.blogspot.com/2009/12/irish-national-caucus-35-years-and.html

Fr. Mc Manus is the president of the Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus. In November 1984, the Irish National Caucus launched the Principles -- named after Fr. Mc Manus's good friend and supporter -- Seán Mc Bride, Noble Peace Prize laureate.

'Isn't it very striking? The elected officials who led the campaign to end anti-Catholic discrimination in Northern Ireland were not Irish- Americans, but Jewish-Americans, African-Americans, Italian-Americans, Hispanic Americans and others! To me, that is the great moral lesson of the Mac Bride Campaign.'

http://seosamhsonar.blogspot.com/2009/12/irish-national-caucus-35-years-and.html

http://seosamhsonar.blogspot.com/2009/12/fianna-fail-new-and-the-not-so-new.html

Source
http://seosamhsonar.blogspot.com/2009/12/sdlp-leadership-what-is-that.html

Guest Blogger Martin Morgan

Editor's Note.

This article was submitted before the the announcement that the current independent, and former Sinn Féin MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Gerry McHugh, announced that he had joined Fianna Fáil. The announcement came after a Fianna Fáil support group in Fermanagh was formally established this past weekend. Fianna Fáil support groups now exist in counties Armagh, Down, and Fermanagh. Membership in the party in the previously unorganised six northern counties is believed to be around 500 with counties Antrim, Derry, and Tyrone, expected to launch by early next year.

"Fianna Fáil offers what both the SDLP and Sinn Féin cannot; it could produce Stormont Ministers and has had Dail Ministers for more than fifty five years of the eighty eight years since partition occurred. Add this together and you could see the creation of the most potent All-Ireland political movement in the island's history."

Martin Morgan is a former SDLP Lord Mayor of Belfast (2003-2004) and former SDLP Councilor for the Oldpark constituency in north Belfast ( Ardoyne, Waterworks, New Lodge, Cliftonville, Ligoniel wards) which he served for 12 years and was a European Parliamentary candidate in 2004.

A double graduate of the Queen's University of Belfast, he is a Social Worker by profession, Martin left the SDLP in 2005 to progress his professional career. Since then Martin has maintained a strong interest in the organisation of Fianna Fáil as a 32-county political entity. He believes that Fianna Fáil is the only political party on the island of Ireland that has the ability to fully promote the well being of all of the people who live on the island.

Maintaining a strong interest in politics across Ireland especially in his home town of Belfast, Martin is of the view that the current political representation afforded to the people of north Belfast is inadequate, outdated and out of touch and requires replacing.

SDLP Leadership – What is that?

Mark Durkan's stepping down as the leader of the soft Nationalist SDLP has come as no surprise to me. Durkan was Hume's left hand man in Derry before becoming the SDLP leader and throughout his stewardship of the Party he was dogged by those who believed that being an able Lieutenant to a former leader was his strongest and most able position in the Party. He is a decent person and was an alright steward, but he was not a leader in its truest sense at a time when the SDLP was losing its direction, requiring a strong and confident hand at the wheel, rather than bowing to the inevitable "I am clever than you" abstract sound bite, which left most of us bewildered.

Since Durkan's announcement Alasdair Mc Donnell and Margaret Ritchie have declared their intentions to replace him. Others in the Party would have aspired to declare openly their ambition to enter the race. Some of these individuals were clearly delusional having overseen their own electoral demise in their respective home constituencies and their failure to strengthen an eroding electoral base. Their vanity by far outweighed their grasp of reality. At least some members of the SDLP had the sense to counsel them against contesting a race that at best had only three serious contenders and at worst two, the third potential candidate being John Dallat from the East Derry area, who would not enter the race even though he narrowly lost out to Mc Donnell for the Deputy Leadership.

Both Mc Donnell and Ritchie are reasonably well-profiled politicians and in the eyes of the electorate Ritchie in particular has handled her Ministerial portfolio well. However, in my opinion, neither Ritchie nor Mc Donnell can turn the tide of fortune back in the direction of the SDLP.

The reasons;

Firstly neither are charismatic characters, commanding the attention of the Party or the electorate.

Secondly we should not be fooled by the "just good enough" election results of the past five years. The results were just good enough for the Party to avoid collapsing, but not anyway nearly good enough to begin to think that the SDLP was returning to former strengths and glories.

Thirdly even though they topped the European poll in the north Sinn Fein has probably peeked at a time when the SDLP's life support system coughs and splutters along the same as before. The soothsayers of the SDLP always held out hope against hope that the demise of the Sinn Féin experiment would see again the rise of the SDLP. That has not happened. The SDLP's old boast of being a "broad church" has ultimately obstructed the Republicanism that lies deep within elements of the Party in favour of a significant number of "latte sipping" come lately representatives ( where were they before the ceasefires?) who want status, status and status. This in turn fed into the Sinn Féin machine that eventually decimated the SDLP.

Fourthly a new powerful, mature and experienced political force in northern politics is rising rapidly in the form of Fianna Fáil. Fianna Fáil is now organising across the six counties and has recently opened a political surgery in Crossmaglen. Early indicators show a groundswell of goodwill, support and new members for the 32 - county Party, including strong overtures being made by some elected representatives and members of the SDLP to join Fianna Fáil. Fianna Fáil offers what both the SDLP and Sinn Féin cannot; it could produce Stormont Ministers and has had Dail Ministers for more than fifty five years of the eighty eight years since partition occurred. Add this together and you could see the creation of the most potent All-Ireland political movement in the island's history.

All of this added together is just too much of a challenge for whoever the new leader of the SDLP will be thus sealing the SDLP's fate.

Don't Worry Be Happy.

http://seosamhsonar.blogspot.com/2009/11/introducing-dan-oneill-aka-odd-bodkins_15.html

http://seosamhsonar.blogspot.com/2009/11/tales-of-ballydrum-etc.html

John Edward Henry (1904-1986) was a native of Ballydrum, Swinford, County Mayo. He emigrated to the USA in his mid- twenties and spent a number of years in Chicago before returning to Mayo in 1931. When he came back, he married his childhood sweetheart, Margaret Salmon and took over the running of his family farm in Ballydrum.
He also worked with Mayo County Council as a supervisor on road and bridge construction for a number of years. The nature of his work meant that he was often absent from home from Monday morning to Friday night for weeks on end. It was during those periods of enforced absence from home and family, that he gathered much of the stories and anecdotes that would later form the basis of his folktale collection.

More info at:
http://seosamhsonar.blogspot.com/2009/11/tales-of-ballydrum-etc.html

Source and Photo:
http://seosamhsonar.blogspot.com/2009/11/northern-ireland-executive-condemned-by.html

Despite heavy rainfall, hundreds of trade union members marched from job sites to protest rallies in cities and towns in Northern Ireland yesterday, to protest looming cuts in public sector jobs.

Rallies organised by the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions were held in Belfast, Derry, Omagh, Enniskillen, Coleraine, Craigavon, Armagh, Ballymena, Magherafelt and Newry as thousand also protested in the south of Ireland.

The NICICTU called on the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly to make the defense of public services and protection and creation of jobs in the private and public sectors an urgent priority.

Peter Bunting, ICTU Assistant General Secretary told the Belfast rally: 'We need to cherish our public servants because they are the backbone of the real economy, not small businesses, not multinationals and certainly not the top bankers. In a recession like this, the only source of demand in the economy is coming from the public sector.'

Despite the criticism, several elected representatives attended the rally including; Minister for Health Social Services and Public Safety, Michael McGimpsey, MLAs Alex Maskey, and Sue Ramsey.

The full speech is reproduced below.

Fellow workers, friends and comrades.

We are here today to expose bloat, waste and time-serving at the heart of the public sector.

I am talking about, of course, the people who rule us, who write the laws, frame the budget, those who serve in the Assembly and in Westminster . The people we elect who have fiddled while the economy burns, - just as some may have been fiddling their expenses.

The public is being short changed and it is time for payback.

We have in this region an Executive which is no longer fit for purpose.

They squabble over the devolution of policing and justice.

They prevaricate over education.

They cannot agree on a Bill of Rights.

They have no clear shared method to tackle sectarianism and racism.

At the same time, they act as if the out dated Programme for Government reflects reality. To which we must ask: What colour is the sky over Stormont?

The Programme for Government talked of creating six-and-a-half thousand new jobs, - with some even above the minimum wage. Meanwhile in the place where the skies are Grey and the outlook always overcast, almost 50,000 jobs have gone in the past year.

53,000 people are unemployed and another 300,000 are cast aside in the ranks of the economically inactive.

The construction industry has been demolished, the retail sector is in a permanent closing down sale and manufacturing is covered in rust.

Where are the drastic actions being taken?

Where is the sense of crisis?

What is to be done?

Why is this economic crisis not the number one priority?

Why does it matter so damn much about the names of sports grounds?

Politics is about power. Power is about exercising choices. The choices made by the Executive and the Assembly have been misplaced.

Get with a new programme. One which places at the centre of our politics the daily lives of its citizens. We need more jobs. We need a vibrant private sector. We need more start-ups and we need to create more research and development.

We need to keep our graduates at home. We need to capitalise upon the creativity and humour and intelligence of our young and the experience and training of our older workers.

We need to understand that the best solution to poverty and social exclusion is work. Work in well-paid, humanely rewarding and unionised careers.

We have problems that need to be fixed. Our physical and social infrastructure is not remotely up to scratch.

We need to embrace the creative thinking behind a Green New Deal which sustains and nourishes more than our fragile environment. We need to re-think who our economy is supposed to serve.

We need to re-order our priorities. We need to think bigger than call-centres paying the minimum wage to graduates who can only meet the pressures of a consumer society through credit which is no longer cheap or available.

We need to challenge the consensus that cuts are inevitable in our public services because we just have to keep the bankers in the luxury and bonuses to which they have become accustomed.

We need to cherish our public servants because they are the backbone of the real economy, not small businesses, not multinationals and certainly not the top bankers.

In a recession like this, the only source of demand in the economy is coming from the public sector. We hear much about how well-paid the public sector is, compared to the private sector.

First, tell that to a cleaner, or a classroom assistant or a nurse, or a dole clerk.

Second, the real pay gap is not between the private sector and the public sector in Northern Ireland . The real pay gap is the 20% difference between private sector workers here and private sector workers across the water. That is the real pay gap to contend with.

And yet Northern Ireland is sold to foreign investors by Invest Northern Ireland for its cheap labour. And we are supposed to be grateful for that.

If low wages created jobs we would not have 350,000 of our citizens unemployed or economically inactive. Low wages create poverty.

There is a third important point about the public sector you won't hear about too often from our political classes or read about from the experts in the business press. The public sector spends more money on supporting the private sector than it does on paying public servants.

All the suppliers, who depend on contracts to the schools and public offices,

the service providers to the police and the health service,

the builders of roads and museums,

the profiteers of the Private Finance Initiative,

even the consultants so beloved by Northern Ireland Water,

they take a bigger slice of the public budget than the health workers and the firefighters and the police officers and the social workers and the teachers and the university scientists and all the other public servants put together.

So when you hear the common and cheap mantra from the CBI and the IOD and the usual suspects in the Belfast Telegraph and UTV and the Assembly about making the public sector more lean and mean, what you are hearing is the self-appointed cheerleaders for the private sector cutting off their nose to spite their own face. People operating out of self interest, not in the public interest.

That is what I mean about the public sector as the backbone of our economy. Other speakers here today can make clearer than I, the huge social impact which public service workers make to the daily lives of all of us.

We should be grateful for that, of course, and show that gratitude and respect to every public servant we meet on a daily basis, from the bus driver, to the care assistant, to the traffic attendant to the postal worker.

Especially today, the postal workers of the Communications Workers Union who are making huge sacrifices to keep a universal postal service publicly owned and answerable to the people, not to some Chief Executive Officer who demands a salary of £1 million and yet refuses to meet his workers.

The message I am trying to get across to those who disparage the public sector is its vital role in keeping Northern Ireland afloat now, in this recession, just as they did in the darkest years of our recent past.

Any so-called economist or business expert, or any of their cheerleaders in the press or the Assembly who cannot see that bigger picture is not up to their job. If we must make cuts in employment, maybe we could start with them.

This meeting is as important as when we were here last March, after the murders in Masserene and Craigavon. Then, we were here to defend our democracy.

Now, we are demanding that the democracy we defended does its bit for our economy and our shared society.

Last April, we were here again to defend the workers at Visteon and Nortel and Shorts who were facing job losses in the private sector. We are here today and still sending the same message.

What unites workers is their common humanity, - we do not recognise false distinctions between workers in the public or the private sector.

Support the public sector.

Support decent jobs and pensions for all workers.

Challenge those who make ignorant assumptions about what makes an economy efficient.

Oppose those who try to plant a wedge between private sector workers and public sector workers.

Build an alternative vision for a Northern Ireland which is fit for purpose, for all of its inhabitants.

Thanks for listening.

http://seosamhsonar.blogspot.com/2009/11/introducing-dan-oneill-aka-odd-bodkins.html

For Event Photos Visit:
http://seosamhsonar.blogspot.com/2009/11/chomsky-scargill-speak-at-belfast.html

If you consider yourself a supporter of the political 'Establishment' you might say it was 'Trick.' If you are of a more non-conformist, or a rebellious nature, you would definitely say 'Treat', to two events hosted in Belfast this Halloween weekend.

On Friday night, Professor Noam Chomsky, and former President of the National Union of Mineworkers, Arthur Scargill, addressed audiences at separate locations in Belfast.

Chomsky, a longtime critic of American foreign policy, was the speaker at the sold-out Amnesty International Annual Lecture at  Queens University, as part of the Belfast Festival at Queens. The following day, he spoke gratis, at St. Mary's College West Belfast, hosted by Féile an Phobail's, Festival of the People. Overflow seating for over 200 people had to be arranged in an upstairs room with video and audio facilities, as the main auditorium which holds over 300 people quickly filled to capacity.

Scargill, who led the NUM in the 1984-85 strike which ended in defeat for the union, spoke at the Belfast office of the UNITE union. He retired from the NUM Presidency in 2001, and was elected Honorary President in 2002. He is currently Leader of the Socialist Labour Party which he founded in 1996.

Noam Chomsky
Alongside his career as a linguist, Chomsky has been active in left-wing politics. In 1965 he organized a citizen's committee to publicize tax refusal in protest to the war in Vietnam; four years later he published his first book on politics American Power and the New Mandarins. By the 1980's he had become both the most distinguished figure of American linguistics and one of the most influential left-wing critics of American foreign policy. He has been extremely prolific as a writer: his web-site in 2003 listed 33 book publications in linguistics (broadly construed), and although the individuation of his political books is complicated, their number definitely exceeds 40. According to a 1992 tabulation of sources from the previous 12 years in the Arts and Humanities Citation Index, Chomsky was the most frequently-cited person alive, and one of the eight most frequently-cited authors of all time.
Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers, 1860-1960, Bristol, 2004

"I don't say you're self-censoring – I'm sure you believe everything you're saying; but what I'm saying is, if you believed something different, you wouldn't be sitting where you're sitting."
Chomsky Interviewed by Andrew Marr on BBC2, February 14, 1996.

Arthur Scargill
"We need action not words. For the first time we are facing the prospect of seeing legislation introduced which denies the right of trade unionists to come to the assistance of other unionists and denies the right of trade unionists to seek the support of others in their disputes. There is only one response. Faced with this legislation we should say we will defy the law. It is the only action we can take and it is the only response this movement can give. If there is an attempt to use this legislation then you defy it not as an individual union but as a movement."
Speech to the Trades Union Congress at Brighton on the Emplyoment Act 1982
(7 September, 1982).

http://seosamhsonar.blogspot.com/2009/10/massacre-in-glasgow-north-east.html

Massacre in Glasgow North East?

As we enter this Halloween season, and British Members of Parliament continue to struggle to redeem public confidence in the institutions of government brought about by the 'MPs Expenses Scandal', the ghoulish scepter of the former Speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin, will once again haunt the political landscape and cause nightmares at Labour Party Headquarters.

Speaker Martin, who handled the initial stages of the scandal so badly that he was forced to resign on June 21, also resigned as a Member of Parliament the following day.

The by-election for his vacant seat of Glasgow North East, will take place two weeks from today, on November 12.  In the 2005 election, Martin won the seat for Labour in the newly created constituency, with a majority of 10,134 plus votes.

The nightmare for the Labour Party however is more likely to come from the Scottish National Party than the Conservatives. In all 59 Scottish constituencies, the Conservative Party hold only one seat, Dumfreisshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale, where   David Mundell has a 1,738 majority. The swing change required in this seat is 2%

In the last by-election in Scotland on July 25 of this year, Labour suffered a humiliating defeat to the SNP in Glasgow East, losing the seat which they held in the 2005 election with a 13,507 majority. After a recount, the SNP candidate, John Mason, was elected with a majority of 365 votes, a 22.54% swing.

Running for the Labour Party in Glasgow North East will be William Bain, a law lecturer and Constituency Labour Party secretary.

His SNP opponent will be David Kerr, (35) a television journalist and active member of the Nationalist Union of Journalists. In a by-election in 2000 Kerr contested the Falkirk West seat where the Labour majority was reduced to 700, a 16% swing from Labour to the SNP.

It is tradition that a sitting speaker is unchallenged, so the Conservative Party did not run a candidate against Martin in the 2005 election. Their candidate in this by-election is a 30 year-old local, Ruth Davidson, a journalist and former member of the Territorial Army.

Od Bodkins AKA Cartoonist Dan ONeill. Musings on the banking crisis

http://seosamhsonar.blogspot.com/2009/10/introducing-dan-oneill-aka-odd-bodkins_24.html

http://seosamhsonar.blogspot.com/2009/10/elizabeth-windsor-favours-dhl-over.html

Elizabeth Windsor favours DHL over Royal Mail
Postal Workers at Belfast's main sorting office maned picket lines this morning, in the second day of a two day work stoppage, aimed at bringing pressure on their employer Royal Mail, to enter negotiations to resolve workplace grievances.
The Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions have supported the stoppages. Irish Congress of Trade Unions Assistant General Secretary, Peter Bunting, stated: "Given the seriousness of the situation, Congress urges Northern Ireland's elected representatives and all of the businesses affected by this dispute to call on Royal Mail management to engage in meaningful talks with the Communications Workers' Union . A just and speedy resolution of this dispute is essential for all concerned. "
"NIC-ICTU has consistently opposed bullying and harassment in all workplaces, and the stories which we have heard about conditions affecting Royal Mail workers are truly shocking."
The Communication Workers Union have called for independent arbitration on the dispute but Royal Mail management have refused to enter negotiations until the union call off industrial action.
Joining the picket line this morning were the General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, John Monks, Jack O'Connor, General President of SIPTU and President of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, and Peter Bunting.
Many mail order businesses and companies with Internet based sales, have made alternative and contingency arrangements for their mailing requirements in the run up to the Christmas season. One household that will have no problem with switching to an alternative carrier however will be Buckingham Palace. It appears that the Palace already contracts with DHL carriers for it's requirements.
DHL, founded in San Francisco is listed in the official Buckingham Palace site in the section under Royal Warrants as:
DHL Express (UK) Limited
Express Parcels Carrier
HM The Queen – Privy Purse

DHL is the world's leading express and logistics company offering customers innovative and customised solutions from single source. With global expertise in solutions, express, air and ocean, global mail, freight & overland transport, DHL combines worldwide coverage with an in depth understanding of local markets.

This little tit-bit I am sure would come as a surprise to many postal workers, who as taxpayers, help to contribute some £7.9 million per annum to what is called the Civil List, which covers the expenses of the Royal family. It would appear the Buckingham Palace does not take the 'Royal' in Royal Mail all that seriously.

Soñar: George Washington and the 'Special Relationship'
Source: seosamhsonar.blogspot.com

Facing odds that must have seemed insurmountable, with starvation, military and political defeat staring him in the face at Valley Forge, General George Washington learned a thing or two about how to hold a nation and an army together.

On the completion of two terms as President of the new Republic, Washington delivered a Farewell Address to his fellow citizens.

He outlined his motives for the address such:
'But a solicitude for your welfare which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all-important to the permanency of your felicity as a people. These will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel. Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion.'

Included in the address was an interesting comment on what is now referred to as the 'Special Relationship.'

George Washington on the 'Special Relationship'

'So likewise, a passionate attachment of one Nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite Nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest, in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter, without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite Nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure the Nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained; and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens, (who devote themselves to the favorite nation,) facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.'

As quotes of American Presidents go, this has replaced my former favorite quote by another President who also learned a thing or two about adversity:

'Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser.'

Jimmy Carter.

A full house of Irish football fans packed Solitude Park, the home of Cliftonville Football Club, to witness a 3 – 0 victory of the north Belfast team over the powerful Glasgow Celtic yesterday evening. The friendly game between the two teams was organized in conjunction with the occasion of Cliftonville's 130 birthday celebrations.

As is normal in these friendly matches, Celtic did not select their first string line-up, but the result was still viewed as impressive by Irish fans.

Strikers of a different variety, than those associated with the game of soccer, called on Celtic fans to red card a director of the club, Tom Allison, and to protest his actions as a Chairman of Peel Ports, which is involved in a labour dispute with Dublin port workers.

More ...
http://seosamhsonar.blogspot.com/2009/10/celtic-fc-strikers-scabs-and-sas.html

The Changing Face of Belfast.

http://seosamhsonar.blogspot.com/2009/10/changing-face-of-belfast.html

http://seosamhsonar.blogspot.com/2009/10/irish-american-hardball-or-california.html

On July 21, and August 8, I posted two articles,

July 21, 'California dreamin' http://seosamhsonar.blogspot.com/2009/07/california-dreamin.html

August 8, 'Irish American Voters'
http://seosamhsonar.blogspot.com/2009/08/irish-american-voters.html

The first, dealt with a resolution adopted by the Irish American Democratic Club of San Francisco, stating in part that, 'the California Democratic Party strongly supports Irish Reunification and urges both the State Legislature and the California Democratic Congressional delegation to support all peaceful actions that support the final reunification of the island of Ireland [Eire] by all electoral and diplomatic means necessary.' On July 19, the full resolution of the San Francisco Club, was adopted by the Executive of the California State Democratic Party.

The second post, carried a reprint of an excellent article by Stella OLeary, Founder and Chair of Irish-American Democrats, which challenged the assertion by Irish Times correspondent Niall Strange, that the influence of Irish-American voters was on the wane.

OLeary very astutely wrote then,

"No politicians have received more from Irish America than the Clintons. At one St. Patrick's Day breakfast Irish American Democrats raised $200,000 for the election of Hillary Clinton to the Senate."

"As was commonly reported, Irish Americans raised millions for the election bid of Senator Clinton for the Presidency. One of our own, Declan Kelly, was at the very top of Senator Clinton's list of fundraisers."

(Kelly, aged 41, born in Portroe, County Tipperary, has since been appointed by Secretary Clinton as Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland.)

On hearing the news of the position of the California Democrats, Northern Ireland First Minister, Peter Robinson, wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stating that the campaign by California Democrats was 'unhelpful.'

If that news wasn't bad enough, the San Francisco Labor Council have got into the act. On September 28, they passed the following resolution;

Resolution in Support of a United Ireland

WHEREAS, the logic of history, international law, human rights and peace
dictate the reunification of the island of Ireland [Eire]; and

Whereas, the reality of the moment—the Good Friday Agreement and the
development of the All-Ireland institutions of governance—attest to this
momentum; and

WHEREAS, in the past the San Francisco Labor Council has historically
supported not only equal rights and justice for all Irish people, but also the
reunification of Ireland as the path to that end; and

WHEREAS, the contributions of the Irish-born, and Irish Americans to this
state, this nation, and to labor unions are legion,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the San Francisco Labor Council
supports Irish reunification and supports all peaceful actions that support the
final reunification of the island of Ireland by all electoral and diplomatic
means necessary; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to
Bay Area Central Labor Councils, the California Federation of Labor, the
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations
(AFL-CIO), and to President Obama, Vice President Biden, Secretary of State
Clinton, US Senators Boxer and Feinstein, House Speaker Pelosi, and
Congresswoman Speier.

Submitted by Denis Mosgofian, GCC-IBT 4N and Mike Casey, Unite Here 2
and adopted unanimously by the San Francisco Labor Council on September 28, 2009.

Respectfully,

Tim Paulson
Executive Director
OPEIU 3 AFL-CIO 11

When the First Minister hears this news, I have no doubt he will put pen to paper once again to inform the San Francisco Labor Council that this move would be 'unhelpful.' I would however give him one little bit of advice, don't C C it to San Francisco's Irish-American Mayor, Gavin Newsom. He will be a little busy running for the Democratic Party nomination for Governor of California.

Around this time I also came across an article in which former California State Senator, Tom Hayden, (First to draft MacBride fair employment legislation for the California legislature regarding use of state pension funds invested in Northern Ireland) mused that he was unsure if the current group of Irish-American activists were as committed or as active in pursuit of an Irish-American agenda as those who were around in the 1980's.

He may well get his answer sooner than expected.

California Dreamin'

"California, once described by Patrick Doherty as, the 'Jewel in the Crown' of the Mac Bride Principles campaign for fair employment practices by American companies doing business in Northern Ireland, has again shown that Irish-Americans continue to be pro-active in the quest for Irish reunification."

"Doherty was, and is at this time, Director of Corporate Responsibility for the City of New York pension funds, and a leading proponent of the Mac Bride Principles campaign."

http://seosamhsonar.blogspot.com/2009/10/time-to-efficiency-save-ulster-scots.html

Time to "efficiency save" Ulster Scots
29th September, 2009

A recent submission by the Ulster-Scots Language Society to the European Committee of Experts concerning regional and minority languages claimed there is a "lack of action to facilitate Ulster Scots in education" and "lack of opportunities for non-speakers to learn Ulster Scots". Ein as ane at bes aa for takkan tent o the braid tongue, could I suggest that may be because there is a "lack of interest among the (taxpaying) population"?

If there were ever a time to put an end to this nonsense, it is now. The Government did not include "Ulster Scots" in its three-year report to the Committee because it knows fine rightly no such language exists – the main reason no one is interested in it!

What does exist is the Scots language – not used in every aspect of daily life, but still widespread, including in Ulster. It has a rich literary heritage (Burns et al), a rich cultural influence (as the language of pipe bands, golf and Scots law), and a rich academic following (as a useful comparator in Germanic linguistics). All of this incorporates the variants spoken (and written auld lang syne) in Northern Ireland and Donegal. Its promotion is best left to the grass roots, on the baith sides o the Sheuch, linking speakers, enthusiasts and academics.

However, little of this requires significant government (taxpayer) subvention, and none at all is required for the blatant attempt to separate "Ulster Scots" from Scots on purely funding grounds. The "Ulster-Scots movement" had its chance – and the fact its submission was in English shows you how spectacularly it blew it.

I don't need government money to support my genuine interest in the Scots tongue. In times where a DUP Minister faces a £400 million black hole of his own predecessor's making, it is time the DUP called time on this wee cultural experiment funded to excess by the taxpayer. To do otherwise would be both weird and daft.

When I ran the reprint of this story which I covered over 9 years ago,

[http://seosamhsonar.blogspot.com/2009/09/eyewitness-bloody-sunday.html]

I had intended to create a link on my Blog to the taped evidence of John Barry Liddy. However, due to technical problems I was unable to do so.

To the rescue, my good friend JFC, who has posted it on his site, available for download.

Be warned! For me, this is one of the most harrowing tales of brutality I have ever heard. Stephen King would be hard pressed to create from his imagination such a tale of horror and brutality, as was perpetrated on the victims of Bloody Sunday, and brought to life in Mr. Barry's eyewitness account.

LINK: JOHN BARRY LIDDY'S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT

http://jfc3.com/liddy.mp3

If this 13 some minute tape does not cause a lump in your throat, or make you want to scream to the heavens for justice for the victims of Bloody Sunday, then I am afraid that you are clinically dead.

Belfast Bohemian Productions, formed in 2008, by Director James Rea and Writer Joe Curran, have released a new DVD, “Belfast, Birth of a Cty.”

"As far as we know, there has never been anything produced like this before," said local historian Joe Curran. "Belfast people have a real love of history so we were surprised when we began this project to discover that no one had done this before us."

A year in the making, the DVD uses a combination of dramatized scenes, old photos and contemporary footage. Narrator Joe Curran, takes the viewer through an interwoven narrative of the prehistoric origins of the    original settlement, the Gaelic village of Béal Feirste, (settled at the old ford across the river Lagan) through to the beginning of the 19th century, and Act of the Union.

The production is an excellent tool for those wishing to learn about the history of the city, and details how the early townspeople established the industries of shipbuilding and linen, for which the city was famous throughout the world.

The development of the town during periods of great political upheavals: the Plantation of Ulster; the French revolution; the rising of the United Irishmen in 1798; are woven into the narrative.

Belfast Bohemian Productions plan to produce a second DVD continuing the history of Belfast from 1801 through the Victorian period up to 1888 when it finally became a city.

Curran said, “We really want to encourage people to delve into the history of the city. The DVD isn’t meant to be an academic thesis but more an entertaining, informative insight into the early development of Belfast,” he added.

The DVD is available now; For more information go to www.belfastbohemians.com

or contact:
James Rea;
Mob.   07734406125.