Saint Patrick's day on a Flip Cam

Saint Patrick's Day parade needs the gays

New York's Saint Patrick's Day Parade needs the gays far more than the gays need it. Why? Because the parade as it currently stands is one big Army recruitment commercial (punctuated by blocks and blocks of waving Boy Scouts).

Irish Catholic Cardinal Brady: Everyone was doing it...

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, said this week that he will only resign if he's personally asked to by the Pope. In Ireland increasing calls for his resignation have come amid allegations that he attended meetings were children were asked to sign vows of silence over the abuse they had suffered.

The Primate of All Ireland admitted that he attended meetings in 1975 when two boys signed oaths of silence while testifying in a Church inquiry against Father Brendan Smyth. In his defense Brady claimed that wider society handled child abuse cases differently in the 1970's. "There was a culture of silence about this, a culture of secrecy, that's the way society dealt with it."

There you have it. Everyone was doing it. What a defense that is. But what Brendan Smyth was doing was not only immoral and sinful, it was a crime. The refusal to hand him over to the authorities allowed Smyth to continue to do for two more decades. It's astounding that Brady still shrugs about this.

I'll tell my ma in Japanese

Undocumented worker gets job

Anti-gay leader doesn't know what gays should do

Prominent blogger and political commentator Andrew Sullivan got to ask Maggie Gallagher, the leader of the conservative anti-gay National Organization for Marriage (NOM) the question he's always wanted to ask her his week: "What do you think that am I supposed to do with my life?"

Suppose, he asked, that he found himself in agreement with her. Suppose he concluded that same-sex marriage was corrosive to society. Should he leave his husband? Should he send his adopted daughter back to the state? Should he enter ex-gay therapy, which isn’t likely to work? Should he tell his whole family that he's single now, and that his husband Scott shouldn’t be welcome at family events? Should he live his whole life alone, and loveless? Should he hide? Where is the life he's supposed to live?

Gallagher’s very simple answer was: "I don’t know."

Press complaint over Stephen Gately rejected

The British Press Complaints Commission (PCC) has rejected a complaint by Andrew Cowles that his late partner, Irish pop singer Stephen Gately, was defamed in an article written by Jan Moir of The Daily Mail.

The column written by Moir in October 2009, a day before Gately's funeral, attracted a record 25,000 complaints from the public and was thought by many to be overtly homophobic in tone and content.

Gately's death, wrote Moir, exploded the "happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships" and was "more than a little sleazy", she added. She also referred to Gately’s “vices” and concluded “healthy and fit 33-year-old men do not just climb into their pajamas and go to sleep on the sofa, never to wake up again.” (In fact, however, they often do - and ignorance of the fact is no excuse).

Oscar nominated Irish 'Secret of Kells' winning praise

According to the WSJ: "The Irish film “The Secret of Kells” is earning high praise from animators for its unique, hand-drawn style. The movie scored an unlikely Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature, despite a tiny budget and little press attention."

Troops tell admiral to end 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

Admiral Mike Mullen held a 25-minute question and answer session with troops in Amman, Jordan yesterday. At the end of the session not one of them asked him about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" so he brought the subject up on his own, McClatchy reports:

"As it turned out, none of the two dozen or so men or women who met with Mullen at Marine House in the Jordanian capital Tuesday had any questions on the 17-year-old policy that bars gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military — or Mullen's public advocacy of its repeal."

McClatchy continues:

Boy George condemns "Britain For The British"

Not all immigrants pull the ladder up as soon as they get theirs. Some - the best ones - remember all they went through.

George O'Dowd, 48, better known to the world as Boy George, has strongly defended his Irish heritage and his multicultural outlook from the "racist" British National Party (BNP), who he says are currently attacking asylum seekers and Eastern Europeans as the cause of all Britain's woes.

Bill Maher on the Tea Baggers

Lesbian weds male stranger in protest

Irish American lesbian Kitty Lambert (pictured above center) and her longtime partner Cheryl attempted to apply for a marriage license in Buffalo, New York yesterday.

When her request was denied, Lambert turned to the crowd that had gathered.

With news cameras rolling, Kitty asked for any male who would be willing to get married to her. A gay man named Ed, a total stranger to her, stepped forward and volunteered. They briefly exchanged information and presented the appropriate documents along with $40.

Daphne Guinness - Alexander McQueen's muse

When I heard about designer Alexander McQueen’s tragic suicide this morning I immediately thought of the woman who championed his work and is a muse for so many designers and artists: the extraordinary Daphne Guinness, heir to the Guinness fortune. The two are such a mainstay of the New York fashion scene (and today is the start of New York fashion week). It's sad to think of how many people working the catwalk today will be personally devastated by the news.

But last night, before she heard, the fashion forward Guinness heiress was wearing seven-inch heels through the blizzard to attend a dinner in honor of Vanessa Paradis (wife of Johnny Depp) who fronts Chanel’s Rouge Coco lipstick. That's exactly the kind of spirited attitude that McQueen loved.

“You know, the last blizzard, in December, I wore these shoes and I walked twenty blocks in them, and then I tried to walk back and it was so cold," she told New York magazine. "And my best friend Robin was like, you’re going to break your neck in those shoes. And I was sliding a bit, but I have a very steady walk. Shit happens. I guess I could break my neck tomorrow.”

Dramatic new images of World Trade Center collapse

Believe me I understand if you don't feel like looking at these; but the following link will take you to dramatic never seen before images of the World Trade Center collapse.

Speaking Irish to impress the ladies

Gay soldier reports for duty, world doesn't end...

Irish movie superstars together for first time

This month Irish actor Brendan Gleeson is bringing Ireland’s leading men together to make the film version of Flann O'Brien’s masterpiece At Swim-Two-Birds. The dream cast will include Gabriel Byrne, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Cillian Murphy and Colin Farrell.

All four have worked with Gleeson before but have never appeared in a film together. Gleeson himself will make his directorial debut with the film, a coming-of-age tale about a lazy, frequently drunk 19-year-old Irish college student who lives with his killjoy uncle in Dublin.

The young man’s writing a second rate novel he’s too lazy to finish and things get sticky when the characters he’s created come to life and start to rebel against him.

Rush Limbaugh 'thanks God' that America is 'going down the tubes'

What kind of a patriot is Rush Limbaugh?

Every once in a while in politics the mask slips and you get memorable illustration of what politicians and pundits actually think. Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh had one of those oops moments earlier this week during an interview on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” which broadcasts on the network tonight.

Irish Times publishes first gay wedding announcement

The Irish Times published its first gay wedding announcement today:

"Vivian Cummins and Erney Breytenbach were married at their holiday home in Hermanus, South Africa, by the Reverend Pieter Oberholzer, on December 12th. As they spend every alternate Christmas there, they decided to avail of its climate for their big day. The major determining factor, however, was the fact that they could get married in South Africa, which is not possible for them yet, as two men, in Ireland."

The two men, both architects, run a highly successful company in County Kildare.

New York's Irish firefighters strip for FDNY calendar

“This is me out of shape,” fireman Taylor Murphy told The New York Times last week, as he preened and worked his muscles for the photographer. Murphy was standing topless, applying swathes of cocoa butter to his 6-foot-5, 265-pound frame, in front of an enormous turn-of-the-century steel rotary converter.

Protesting Pope Benedict's visit to Britain

In a speech over the weekend Pope Benedict confirmed he will be coming to Britain on a four-day visit in September.

But already the visit is sounding alarm bells for progressive groups and organizations that feel under siege from the conservative pontiff.

During a speech that announced his impending visit the Pope said: "Your country is well known for its firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of society. Yet as you have rightly pointed out, the effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs. In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed."

Ad for 'reliable workers' banned as discrimination

The boss of a British recruitment firm said she was told she could not place an advertisement for ''reliable workers'' at the local Jobcenter because it discriminated against unreliable people.

Steve Jobs, Apple & iPad may boost Irish economy

The many faces of David Cameron

David Cameron, the upper crust head boy of the British conservative party has seen his massive, photoshopped head defaced on posters that have covered the whole of Britain this week. Here's how the original poster looked:

Suicide bomber comedy may cause offense

Four Lions is the name of a controversial new comedy about - wait for it - a group of British born Muslim would-be suicide bombers. Thing is though, this ragtag group are far from effective, since they're mostly thick as fudge.

The film unspooled at the Sundance Film Festival this week where it was cautiously praised. But in New York City it's almost certain to cause a fair bit of discomfort, at the very least. In the clip above the hapless group are trying not to arouse local suspicion after buying 100 bottles of bleach for a homemade explosive.

George Best memorabilia discovered

A never before seen collection of photographs and memorabilia of George Best, the legendary Irish footballer, has been found in Manchester, England this week.

Mike Preston found the photographs, taken by his father Derek, and thousands of negatives when he was clearing out his late father's house. He even found a strip belonging to one of the greatest footballer’s of all time.

Derek Preston took the photos of Best in his prime in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.
“It really is an unbelievable collection,” he told the press. “We think it may be the biggest single collection of George photos that exists.” Preston said he had always known his father had taken some photos of Best, but had been unaware of the extent of the collection.

God hates Lady Gaga

Update on a

Will the Apple Tablet save capitalism?

Called variously the iSlate, the iPad and the Tablet, tomorrow's Apple keynote speech in California will finally put to rest all the rumors when the vaunted object is revealed.

Already it's being saddled with impossibly high expectations: it will save journalism, the book industry, even capitalism itself. That's a tall order for a (again, rumored) 9X11 inch device.

David Beckham molested by Italian reporter

Jedward and Vanilla Ice: a sign of the apocalypse?

Curious to know what the end of the world will sound like? My money's on a duet between ambiguously gay twins Jedward and Vanilla Ice. The horror, the horror.

Will Apple iPad (or iSlate) save the economy?

In case you haven't noticed, Apple computers head Steve Jobs has singlehandedly saved the U.S. economy. He doesn't get enough credit for that, seriously. While every major electronics and computing firm was closing flagship stores across the nation last year, Apple was actually expanding.

It still is. That's a thing to marvel at.

Next week will see the unveiling of the much-rumored "tablet device," which some in the know are already calling the iSlate or the iPad.

Is BBC TV hit 'Torchwood' coming to America?

Here's something unexpected. Torchwood, one of BBC America's most successful shows, may actually be filmed in America next season if reports in the US trade papers are to be believed.

Fox are said to be developing a version of the hit series about a covert group that investigates and fights alien activity on earth (trust me it's much more compelling that sounds on paper). A darker, more adult version of Doctor Who, its last standalone series broke all records for audience ratings and produced some of the best television of the year.

Current Torchwood fans fearing a dilution of the brand can take some comfort knowing that the original producing team is on board, led by the absurdly gifted series creator Russell Davies who is writing the script. The U.S. version will contain a global story line compared to the more localized settings of the BBC version.

Emotional tribute to Boyzone's Stephen Gately

Irish boy band Boyzone pay tribute to their late band mate Stephen Gately in a haunting new video.

Despite anti-gay hate, I won't condemn Iris Robinson

If people laughed at Iris Robinson this week she certainly gave them good grounds to. Her adulterous affair with a 19 year old man, an individual 40 years her junior, puts her series of vicious verbal attacks on gays last year in their proper context. Iris has emerged as a gold plated hypocrite who, to quote the bible, can see the speck in another’s person’s eyes whilst ignoring the beam in her own.

Christmas Means Doctor Who

If you're a Doctor Who fan, and I have no reason to suppose you're not, you'll know that one of the most anticipated episodes ever is about to come down the pike. David Tennant's final bow as the man from Gallifrey is almost here in Doctor Who: The End of Time, Parts One and Two.

Number one, it tells me that most of you found your way here by Googling Doctor Who. Number two, it tells me I better ensure you don't leave here disappointed.

Irish Barbie

This is Irish Dancing Barbie. Overall, it looks as though someone cruelly stretched Shirley Temple on a wrack for months. Those nylon locks, that vacant stare, she's terrifying.

More Hidden Irish Histories

Posted by CahirO at 9/9/2009 10:31 PM EDT

May 17, 1910. Alton, Illinois. These boys are all working in the Illinois Glass Company. The smallest boy is Frank Dwyer, from 1009 East Sixth Street, who says he has been working there three months. Joe Dwyer (his brother) has been working there over two years. Image culled from Shorpy, a remarkable photo blog.

Hidden Irish Histories

Posted by CahirO at 9/4/2009 1:32 PM EDT

New York City detective Mary Agnes Shanley pulls a pistol out of her handbag. Shanley shows what awaits a pickpocket. She had more than a thousand career arrests. Photo circa 1937. Image culled from Shorpy, a remarkable photo blog.

Gorgeous girls ground to pulp!

Posted by CahirO at 8/20/2009 12:20 PM EDT

I went to the cinema to this weekend. I write that as if it was something remarkable, and the truth is, for me it's becoming so. You see in the last few years I have felt less and less inclined to actually visit a cinema to watch the first release of a new feature film for a good reason: the epic stupidity.

Not my own, in this case, but rather Hollywood's. It's the bombastic overwrought trailers for their new films. They're god-awful. They're driving me out of the theatre. Every single one of them starts with a massive orchestral explosion that quickly resolves itself into an ominous enduring hum. Then the real nonsense starts.

In Praise of Frank McCourt

Posted by CahirO at 7/20/2009 12:31 AM EDT

Like many people I never met Frank McCourt. I don’t think I was ever even in the same room with him (which is unusual, in my line of work I’ve met almost every contemporary Irish writer), but somehow I feel like I know him, because his writing is so vivid, and so deeply felt.

He was, as they say, a very private man. He was also an internationally celebrated one, for good reason: "Angela’s Ashes," his life’s work, has the power to stop you in your tracks with its narrative force. Your jaw drops and your sides shake with laughter, often on the same page. This is no small achievement.

The Way We Live Now

Posted by CahirO at 7/6/2009 3:19 PM EDT

This is a portrait of a woman who has just received a free ticket to Michael Jackson's memorial service at the Staples Center. She looks like she thinks she's going to a free Michael Jackson concert. Can you think of any other recent funeral services where participants were photographed reacting as though they had purchased a winning Mega Millions lottery ticket?

Where There's A Will There's A Wrong

Posted by CahirO at 7/2/2009 5:42 PM EDT

The squabble over Michael Jackson's will reminds me of something my Irish father once told me: every Irish story begins or ends with an inheritance.

Next week I'll be writing about some remarkable Irish family squabbles over will's and inheritances that I've watched from the sidelines.

Irish Government introduces gay marriage (lite)

Posted by CahirO at 6/26/2009 6:51 PM EDT

Today in Dublin, just as most people were galloping out of their offices as the clocks struck five, a fairly momentous announcement came down the pike, without fanfare.

Republic of Ireland Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern finally published the long languishing Civil Partnership Bill, which gives Irish people in long-term heterosexual and homosexual relationships many of the rights of married couples.

Things I Learned From An Irish Childhood

Posted by CahirO at 6/14/2009 10:54 PM EDT

People born before 1980 are old enough to have seen glimpses of the epic dysfunction that characterized ideas about discipline in the Irish Catholic educational system, but even a glimpse was unforgettable. Although I was a schoolboy in the years after corporal punishment became illegal, the principal of my school in Donegal – 160 miles beyond Dublin’s reproach – merely took it as a suggestion, not a rule.

Every day, for months, he made us stand up in his classroom reciting Irish grammar. If you made a mistake he caned you. What a schoolroom that was, part concentration camp, part lunatic asylum (a year later he was committed). Lessons were held in a high roofed, high windowed room at the top of the building. If you were passing by on the street you could often hear the screams. 


Sean Hannity's Gay French Mustard Problem

Posted by CahirO at 5/7/2009 12:43 PM EDT

Last night bellowing Fox News anchorman Sean Hannity broadcast a spot that lambasted President Obama for ordering Dijon mustard with his hamburger earlier this week. Because we all know what that means. French Mustard = homosexual elitist!

You can actually see how bad things have gotten for the Republican party, now that they’re reduced to High School canteen levels of bullying about condiments.
But Hannity has some neck on him. I mean, why would anyone listen to charges of elitism from a man in an expensive silk tie and a Ralph Lauren blazer who makes more in one week than most Americans make in a year?
How stupid, finally, would you have to be?

Pope Condoms

Posted by CahirO at 4/3/2009 5:47 PM EDT

The Pope says Nein Danke to condoms (he’s German, after all) but the International Women’s Health Coalition says their new prophylactics, featuring an image of Pope Benedict raising his hands in protest, are “selling like hotcakes in France as a means of protesting the Pope’s recent declarations against the effectiveness of condoms.”
Perhaps the Vatican will respond with some reverse psychology of its own now? Will we shortly hear the Pontiff telling us that marriage is a universal right that should be open to all?

Donohue Doesn't Get It

Posted by CahirO at 3/24/2009 5:34 PM EDT

I was saddened to read conservative Catholic watchdog Bill Donohue’s intemperate outburst concerning President Obama’s invitation to be commencement speaker at Notre Dame this May.

“There has never been an abortion he didn’t like,” blustered Donohue. This is a disgusting parody of Obama’s official position. In fact, Obama has said that although he personally has misgivings about the procedure, he fears that a ban on abortion would force women to seek unsafe abortions, as they had once done in this country. That’s hardly a ringing endorsement.
Donohue might be taken seriously if he didn’t resort to exasperatingly cheap rhetorical tricks to make his point.

1963 - 2009

Posted by CahirO at 3/19/2009 5:19 PM EDT

The news about Natasha Richardson is hard to read, never mind report.
And the thing I can’t understand, the thing that frightens me actually, is how, for God’s sake, does someone so young and vital just slip on the snow and end up brain dead? From laughing and talking one minute to…not.
I mean what kind of universe do we live in where this can happen? WTF? I understand the medical accounts, and the science involved. I get it. But I just don’t …get it.

Irish Ghosts

Posted by CahirO at 3/19/2009 11:51 AM EDT

I saw this on my way to work today. A little green man at the entrance to a pub. Four thousand years of Irish paganism reduced to a witless greeting card ogre.
In Ireland people never talk about leprechauns, they talk of fairies, or púca (ghosts) or the banshee (worse). And they never consider them benign forces. The evicted Gods of the ancient Irish, banished to the margins by the Christian faith, at best they shared the land with the locals in a tense and respectful stand off. You left them alone and you hoped they'd do the same. You certainly didn't mock them.

And it wasn't just olden days stuff. I remember a story in The Donegal Democrat in 2003. It told of workmen from my hometown who had refused to clear a building site out near the river. The field, they contended, was haunted, it belonged, they insisted, even in the face of scorn, to the fairies.
Some say there was poteen (moonshine) involved; some say they were fed up with the working conditions; and some say they really were spooked. One thing’s for sure, they downed tools and walked off the job. And they never went back.

The mystique of Irish melancholy

Posted by CahirO at 3/17/2009 11:45 PM EDT

My partner recently informed me about a surprising habit I have. Every night, as I clear my thoughts and prepare to settle in for sleep, I’ll often say something startling.

If I was American I expect I’d probably mention an inspiring scene I witnessed during the day. But I’m Irish, with a distinctly Irish purview, which means, yes, a tendency toward melancholy, so instead I’ll say something like this:

Spot the Difference

Posted by CahirO at 3/17/2009 9:16 PM EDT
Saint Patrick's Day in Dublin (left) and Saint Patrick's Day in New York (right)

Alternative Saint Patrick's Day Wishes

Posted by CahirO at 3/17/2009 6:15 PM ED

On a day when the aged and distinctly pious New York Saint Patrick’s Day Parade Committee demonstrate, once again, that being gay and Irish are officially incompatible conditions, it's encouraging to see (any) prominent Irish American standing up for inclusivity and tolerance.
Meet Congressman Jim Moran, Virginia Democrat and senior member of the House Military Appropriations Subcommittee. “I’m so Irish the inbreeding issue was of concern,” Moran tells Irish Central. “My parents grew up in Saint Margaret’s parish in South Boston.”
Last week Moran took to the House floor to discuss the eleven U.S. troops discharged from military service under the controversial Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy during the first month of 2009.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is the common term for the military policy that prohibits any homosexual or bisexual person from disclosing their sexual orientation or from speaking about any relationships, including marriages or other familial attributes, while serving in the armed forces.
“At a time when our military’s readiness is strained to the breaking point from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, our armed forces still continue to discharge vital service members under the outdated, outmoded Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy that makes us less safe and secure,” added Moran.
“Frankly, most nations are not hung up on a soldiers sexual orientation. They’re more focused on accomplishing the task at hand and that’s what I think we should be doing in our military. We couldn't afford to lose the 10,000 service members who were discharged over the last ten year period from 1997 to 2007.”
In January 2009, the Army fired eleven soldiers for homosexuality including one human intelligence collector, one military police officer, four infantry personnel, a health care specialist, a motor transport operator and water treatment specialist.
The question is, will these be the last? Or will President Obama’s Pentagon discharge more mission-critical intelligence specialists next month?
“When you find this level of vehemence you have to wonder about people’s motivations. I think the principle reason is one of intolerance and prejudice.”
Moran has vowed to keep addressing the issue each month until DADT is repealed. In doing so, he joins the venerable ranks of Irish Americans who have chosen to stand with the marginalized against the powerful, in the best scrappy tradition of the Irish in the U.S.
We wish him every success and a Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!