Irish Voice Letters to the Editor

WITH regards to last week’s “Intelligencer” column by Niall O’Dowd on Congressman Peter King’s hearings on Muslim Americans, I have likewise known King for many years and fully agree with not only his stand up defense of those victimized by British violence and treachery, but his steadfast witness to the role the IRA played both in war and in peace. 

I also have an additional perspective.

I have worked closely with federal, state and local elected officials in attempting to focus media attention on the distinctions between the causes and the effects of the conflict.  The primary tool available to each level of government is a public hearing. 

AS one of millions of Irish people who suffered from the same hate and derogatory examination that our Muslim brothers and sisters are currently subjected to, I, for one, want to express my abject horror at the “McCarthy-ite” activities of Representative Peter King.

To the people I know to be fair and just: Do you remember how the silence hurt? Can you recall the bitter disappointment when those that could have, did not?

Let us not be found wanting now when the grave injustices have arrived upon another’s door.

WHAT Congressman Peter King has to say has a familiar ring to my ear. I think my dear old dad might have agreed with him.

To his dying day my dad insisted that Joe McCarthy was right.

Phil Ryan
Kingston, New York

EVEN though I disagree with the recent congressional hearings about radical Islam hosted Congressman King, a remedy can be found.

I do not believe the IRA was or is a terrorist organization due to past British oppressive practices.  However, according to standing federal law called the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, it is considered such an organization. So are other organizations around the world that are subject to immediate deportations.

My remedy is to provide an amendment to the rigorous 1996 law which provides for immediate deportations of those committing terrorist crimes in this nation against the United States here or abroad.  Perhaps Congressman King can take the lead on this greatly needed effort.

AFTER I became good – that is, after I joined the Knights of Columbus – I found something that my father and I both liked very much.  We could get together and march.

His favorite was the St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York City.  There are very strong opinions that this is the greatest parade in the world.

I felt that it was  fine parade, but that there wasn’t a marker for the Knights of Columbus.  They do have markers for respect life organizations, but there was a communication problem that in most cases left the Knights looking for another group to get in the line of march.

WITH newly elected Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny due in Washington, D.C. for St. Patrick’s Day, I hope he doesn’t forget his previous promises to take care of the undocumented Irish in the U.S.

I seem to remember Kenny, when he was in opposition, saying that he would support a new visa deal between the Irish and U.S. governments. The taoiseach has a golden opportunity on St. Patrick’s Day when he is in the Oval Office to talk to President Obama about Ireland’s pressing need, which could also be a golden opportunity for the U.S. because so many of the Irish who are leaving Ireland nowadays have education and skills that this country could use.

That’s always been the way with the Irish, of course – educated and ambitious, but having to leave home at the end of the day because there are no jobs available.

THE O'Molloy Clan Association is sponsoring a worldwide clan reunion in Tullamore, Co. Offaly on August 12 and 13, 2011. The reunion will include lectures by guest speakers,  access to local genealogical records, tours of O’Molloy castles, homes and burial sites in the ancient ancestral territory, music, dance and story telling, and dinner at Charlevelle Castle.

 You don’t have to be an “O’Molloy” to attend. Variant spellings include O’Maolmhuaidh, Molloy, O’Molloye, O’Mulloye, Mulloy, Milloy, Meloy, O’Meloy, Maloy, Malloy, Miley, Millea, O’Molwye and O’Molley.

For additional information contact Thomas Molloy at info@omolloy.com or John Malloy johnpmalloy@comcast.net.  Further details may be found at http://www.omolloy.com.

I AM responding to the letter by Mary Brennan, “Strip Search Horror,” in the February 23-March 1 issue.

Well, Ms. Brennan, as one who is strip searched every time one goes on a visit, to hospital, to court or just transferred from one place to another, in a black box, hand cuffs and belly chain, and leg shackles . . . one feels that the lad across the pond she wrote about in Maghaberry in Co. Antrim is a bit of a wuss!  Any true Republican knows that sacrifice is the price you pay.

And, Ms. Brennan, I’m in the federal prison system in America. I was once in Long Kesh, the Maze, the H-Blocks, whichever name you wish to call it. We called it hell. But it was our sacrifice, and it’s what we did.

I READ the story in last week’s issue about Charlie Sheen and his poor father Martin trying his best to explain his deranged son’s mental and addiction issues.

Since last week, Charlie’s behavior has spiraled dangerously out of control.  He is a man surrounded by users and hangers on, when what he really needs is expert medical attention to deal with his many problems – addiction we know of, but he also seems to be bi-polar and schizophrenic.

The media is feeding on his every word. This is totally wrong. If we all ignore Sheen maybe he will get the help he so badly needs.

I HAVE the honor of being the chairperson of the Washington Irish Committee which was formed for the launching and signing of Father Sean McManus’s memoir, My American Struggle for Justice in Northern Ireland, which is available on Amazon.com.

I also had the privilege of helping Father McManus with his memoirs.  Although I have known him for 40 years, until I went through his massive Irish National Caucus files I never fully realized the depth and breadth of his work.

His memoirs could have been entitled Against All Odds because he succeeded despite all the obstacles placed in his way by powerful political figures like Tip O’Neill, governments and other vested interests.

ACCORDING to the February 2-8 Irish Voice, the St. Patrick's Day parade in New York City traditionally ended on 86th Street.

But the 1950s, that parade ended on 96th Street.

J.P. Duffy
Moraga, California

IN what is widely acknowledged to have been a dubious election (to put it mildly), Yoweri Museveni has just been returned for another term as president of Uganda.

He has already held power for 25 years, and having managed to abolish presidential term limits looks set to hold office for many years to come.

During Museveni’s time as president, his regime has invaded and occupied Congo, in a war that cost 5.5 million lives. Uganda was subsequently ordered by the international court to pay millions of dollars in reparations to Congo, for plundering its neighbors resources and committing atrocities.

THE latest issue of Vanity Fair, March 2011, reports on Ireland’s economic and political woes via Mr. Michael Lewis, author of Liar’s Poker and many other financial and economic works.

His story, entitled “When Irish Eyes Are Crying,” paints an interesting picture of Merrill Lynch’s overview of the Irish economy during the boom and how the servile peons of Irish politics bowed to King Merrill. The usual suspects are hauled before the public reader but no one is slated for jail time, wile thousands emigrate weekly.

However, Lewis’ simplistic knowledge of Irish history is farcical.  He thinks the potato famine was the main cause of the 1.5 million to two million deaths from starvation.

I WOULD like to share with the readers of the Irish Voice an article I read about a decision of a Belgian appeals court on the matter of abortion. It sent chills down my spine because it shows how evil leads on to evil and may never be turned back.

I quote, “A Belgian appeals court has ruled that doctors can be held responsible for the ‘wrongful birth’ of a child with disabilities. The court found that while the doctors did not cause the child's injuries, they were at fault for his ‘being born with such disabilities.’

“The court explained that the legislature in enacting a law to allow abortion must have intended to help avoid giving birth to children with abnormalities, having regard not only for the interests of the mother but for the unborn child. Thus the court reasoned that the interest of the unborn child requires its death.”

I RELUCTANTLY send this letter to inform you I will no longer renew my subscription to the Irish Voice.

I have been loyal for many years, but the final straw came in the January 19-25 issue, with Tom Deignan’s misguided attempt at humor in his “Sidewalks” column.  His remarks about the Holy Eucharist did me in.

As a believing Catholic, I regard Holy Communion as the real presence of the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. It is the most sacred presence in the world, and it is above humor or ridicule. Period!

ON February 18, 2011, after almost four years of a politically motivated arrest and trial, Gerry McGeough’s case ended with a "guilty" verdict handed down by a British diplock court.

McGeough is the first Irish Republican to be sentenced under the Good Friday Agreement on troubles related charges dating back over 30 years.  He is now in Maghaberry prison awaiting sentencing.

For several years, prior to McGeough’s arrest, he was living a peaceful existence with his wife and children in Tyrone until he decided to run in the Assembly elections as an independent candidate on an anti-Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) platform in March of 2007.