Conservative news entertainment complex claim Barack Obama leader of Al Qaeda (IrishCentral)

Fri, 03 May 2013 05:18:43 PDT

Why Irish grudges are passed on - a long tradition of never forgetting (IrishCentral)

Wed, 01 May 2013 05:48:23 PDT

Mrs. Doyle owned the tiny shop toward the bottom of the main street. A general store from another era, by the time I was old enough to go in on my own it had a faintly aniseed aroma, as though it were preserving itself.

She was old, and by Donegal standards she wasn’t nice. I had never heard her offer a sharp word to anyone, but I couldn’t recall hearing her offer a kind one either. In my town that got you noticed.

Boston man confronts Infowars conspiracy nuts over 'false flag' claim (IrishCentral)

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 05:18:22 PDT

Inforwars, the far right government conspiracy clearing house helmed by crackpot Alex Jones, and one of Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s favorite sites on the internet as it happens, sent a 'reporter' to

Boston

The rich and the rest - how Manhattan has come to resemble 19 century Ireland (IrishCentral)

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 05:33:33 PDT

The many problems with Margaret Thatcher - an architect of modern America (IrishCentral)

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 05:18:12 PDT

The main problem with Margaret Thatcher, I was forced to recall last week, was that she often spoke and acted as though she were the monarch of the British Empire, rather than prime minister of the U.K.

There was no British Empire to rule by 1979. In fact there hadn’t even been one to rule in 1969.

Westboro Baptist Church celebrates Boston Marathon explosion (IrishCentral)

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 05:03:03 PDT

There's no tragedy too painful for those self-styled Christians over at the Westboro Baptist Church.

Remembering Vincent Hanley, Irish DJ who set the 80’s on fire (IrishCentral)

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 05:17:54 PDT

His secret was that he embodied the promise of his own show. He was both the signpost and the destination. I wish he could have lived to understand how much that meant to us.

Father Gerald Murray says gays are oppressing and victimizing Catholics - VIDEO (IrishCentral)

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 05:33:32 PDT

I'm on a diet. That means you're attacking my freedom and undermining my beliefs each time -you- eat a doughnut.

I'm serious, you're doing me harm. OK not actual harm, try metaphysical harm. By eating that doughnut you're not harming me personally, but you're sure making my imagination hurt. It's really very selfish of you. It's probably a terrific sin.

Old whines in new bottles - PR Pope Francis’ message no different to Benedict’s (IrishCentral)

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 05:32:48 PDT

Bill O'Reilly reinvents his own past to blast Bill Clinton over DOMA (IrishCentral)

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 05:32:37 PDT

Who's the phony, Bill?

The endless war on death - Folly of Iraq war hits home (IrishCentral)

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 05:32:30 PDT

In the fourth year of the Iraq war I was walking home one day with my partner. It was June 2007, about five in the afternoon, and the sun was shining.

We had been shopping at the farmer’s market in Union Square and we’d picked up some seasonal vegetables and a French loaf.

Irish ministers SpunOut over sex ed article on threesomes (IrishCentral)

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 09:47:30 PDT

Curiously, the most vocal segment of Irish society in matters of sex and sexuality are also usually the ones who would prefer if matters of sex and sexuality were never discussed, anywhere, ever.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien was turned in by his priest boyfriend (IrishCentral)

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 05:32:23 PDT

Cardinal Keith O'Brien

When will this charade ever end? That's the question most people are asking about O'Brien.

I'm not talking about the duplicitous, vindictive and amoral villain on PBS's Dontown Abbey, although on reflection I suppose I might as well be.

I'm talking about former Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien, until last month the most senior Catholic in the United Kingdom.

The power of an Irish Name and the confusion it causes at Starbucks (IrishCentral)

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 05:47:21 PDT

It's Monday morning and the egregiously perky barista is waiting to take my coffee order. I look at her askance, the way the Irish do when confronted with perkiness.

As I get closer to the counter I have an inner dialogue with myself that goes like this -- should I tell her, should I not?

America’s super rich have no plan for the middle class (IrishCentral)

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 05:32:11 PDT

themselves from the fate of the nation

Something happened the other day that spooked me. I was caught off guard by a casual comment made in my presence by a fantastically wealthy former senior economic adviser to the Obama administration.

I happen to know that this man (and let’s face it, senior economic advisers still tend to be men) has paintings by Picasso and Cezanne on the walls of his cavernous penthouse overlooking Central Park. You could say he represents one percent of the one percent, the cream of the cream. The very sunlight seems to rearrange itself around him to illustrate that he’s a person of some stature.

Republican Party rushing headlong toward irrelevance (IrishCentral)

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 05:47:02 PST

Vatican invited Cardinal Keith O’Brien to conclave despite knowledge of sexual allegations by Catholic priests (IrishCentral)

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 05:02:02 PST

Cardinal Keith O'Brien

When news broke this week that Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, had been accused by four priests of sexual exploitation both his critics and supporters were instantly suspicious of the timing.

Why now, they asked? Pope Benedict's dramatic resignation was barely a week old and the papal conclave was already looming. How could accusations this damning have come to light just at this moment (especially considering O'Brien had Britain's only vote for Pope)? It was an a reasonable question.

The damaging and downtrodden - the political and moral patriarchy over the women and children of Ireland (IrishCentral)

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 05:17:10 PST

Patriarchy, literally the rule by the fathers, is a social system in which the male is the primary authority figure. Daddy calls the shots in political leadership, moral authority, the control of property, and over women and children. Sound familiar?

If you haven't noticed, patriarchy is not what it once was. In the Irish context the experience of patriarchy has played out for centuries in the empires that ruled us, the church that molded us and in the state that (most often) sent us to war or sent us packing.

Collapsing authority of old patriarchs now an international epidemic (IrishCentral)

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 05:32:01 PST

All men are created equal? The Declaration of Independence and a party you’re not quite sure you’re invited to (IrishCentral)

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 05:16:45 PST

America sometimes feels like a party to which you’re not always certain you’ve been invited. Oh, the hosts have said hello and they made tiny little gestures of welcome, but other people are looking at you funny and some people openly hiss.

I blame the Declaration of Independence, the founding document of the United States, written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776. You could call it the ultimate invite.

Obama isn't Hitler or Stalin or the Anti-Christ (IrishCentral)

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 09:16:38 PST

In the Harry Potter alternative universe that is the acknowledged home of the floundering Tea Party, they have finally stopped comparing President Obama to the rogues gallery of lesser known tyrants.

Now they're just flat out saying he's Hitler. And Stalin. And the Anti-Christ. And other Really REALLY BAD things, you guys.

That means we can dispense with the blatant fiction that the Tea Party represents a legitimate political strand of the GOP anymore. Apparently what they really represent are arrested adolescents who express themselves as though they were still in junior high. With multiple exclamation marks, because they really really mean it!!!!!

Immigration hopes and dreams crushed by Republican Party (IrishCentral)

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 06:46:35 PST

The fondest hopes of millions, still hidden in the nations shadows, have just met the Republican Party.

Message: your hopes and dreams are 'dead on arrival.'

In the name of my father - treasured fragile moments and telling his tale (IrishCentral)

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 07:31:50 PST

One late October, just before Halloween, I remember my father raking leaves on the lawn in front of our house in Co. Donegal.

It was early evening, the sky was grey and the air was absolutely still, not a puff of wind about. Dry twigs cracked and split under my shoes as I walked toward him.

Senator Mark Rubio's drinking problem during President's State of Union address (IrishCentral)

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 10:16:30 PST

Leave in silence - what Ireland expects you to do (IrishCentral)

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 05:46:27 PST

All you need is love, isn’t it? As long as it reaches the Catholic Church’s approval (IrishCentral)

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 06:31:17 PST

Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols (David Rose)

Love, real and enduring love, is exceptionally hard to find. It’s a miraculous flowering that happens in this otherwise coldly indifferent world.

It’s what we live for, love. It’s what creates many of us, it’s what ultimately defines us and it’s certain it’s all that remains of us.

John McCain and Senate Democrats outbreak of homophobia over immigration bill (IrishCentral)

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 10:16:12 PST

Republican Senator John McCain

In a truly shocking moment of high handed arrogance, Senator John McCain announced this morning that granting immigration rights to legally married gay couples was not 'a matter of paramount importance' to him, or presumably anyone.

Well, it may not be a terrific surprise that a rich old white Republican man can't bring himself to think of gay people as his social equals, but I can tell you it's a matter of 'paramount importance' to the tens of thousands of pointlessly separated gay couples whose legal marriages are still rendered meaningless by the pointless Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

Guns lose elections as well as lives -- Tens of thousands shot dead each year in the US (IrishCentral)

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 05:46:00 PST

Go to the mall, get shot. Go to the movies, get shot. Go to the gun show, get shot. Go hunting, get shot. Go to the rifle range, get shot. Go to university, get shot. Go to school, get shot. Go to kindergarten, get shot.

It’s a wonder we go out at all here.

Right wing gun fever is spreading ahead of assault weapons reform (IrishCentral)

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 07:00:52 PST

When you vehemently disagree with someone, it can be hard to listen to what they have to say. Instead of hearing their views, you'll often only hear your own objections to them.

So listening is a skill that's the work of a lifetime really. It’s one of the hardest things we ever learn to do. But it's also one of the most enlightening.

Breaking the horrible silence in Ireland recognizing mental health issues, for our children (IrishCentral)

Sat, 12 Jan 2013 05:15:47 PST

A year before my schoolteacher had a terrible breakdown, he terrorized us all on a daily basis. What a schoolroom that was -- part concentration camp, part asylum.

Gun nuts lose argument over assault weapons ban, threaten civil war - VIDEO (IrishCentral)

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 05:00:45 PST

Pope harming families he claims he's saving - reflections on Vatican's New Year comments on gay people 'threatening world peace' (IrishCentral)

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 05:30:29 PST

Christmas is a time for good fellowship and compassion, so you might not have noticed what the Pope was up to.

At a time when most of us are encouraged to help our fellow man, Benedict XVI was instead informing the globe that gay people are 'threatening world peace.'

I'm not making this up. I really couldn't. I must have missed the 'destroy the World' memo.

Irresponsible rhetoric of the anti-abortion right (IrishCentral)

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 05:15:14 PST

Homelessness in the US -- how America values itself (IrishCentral)

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 05:45:12 PST

They ride subways all night, or they sleep on the sidewalks. Sometimes they find a sheltered spot in one of the city parks. During the day they try to keep out of sight.

But at night they drift into train and bus stations, and even the airports. Sometimes you'll see them answering the voices they're hearing in their heads. They know that passersby don't like that, so they try to stay quiet. They have learned that it's safer to stay quiet.

Start talking about 'massacre prevention,' it's too late to talk about 'gun control' (IrishCentral)

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 05:16:42 PST

It's the language that changes things.

When the English got serious about colonizing Ireland the most enduring change they made was to rename our towns.

Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential run still clouded by her husband’s past (IrishCentral)

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 05:46:37 PST

Bill O'Reilly makes a Christmas ass of himself over gays - VIDEO (IrishCentral)

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 05:01:31 PST

The Grinch who saved Christmas

Billy O'Reilly has made a list, and checked it twice, and he's come to a decision about who's naughty and nice.

Memo to the gays, he's totally on to you.

The pugnacious pundit, already steamed over what he called the death of 'traditional America' during the presidential election, now believes he has uncovered the root of the so-called war on Christmas.

The challenge and achievement of Frank Mc Court's Angela's Ashes (IrishCentral)

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 05:31:47 PST

Interested in reconnecting with old friends and relations you may not have seen in years? Just write about them and then have it published somewhere. You’ll hear from them before the ink dries. Believe me, nothing catches an Irish persons attention like the written word.

It won't actually matter if the words you write are complimentary or insulting, in fact it'll be beside the point. Irish people live in mortal dread of scrutiny. Call it a colonial consequence. The spud that rises gets the spade.

Desperation replaces Thanksgiving - big box retailers are stealing the holidays (IrishCentral)

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 06:46:45 PST

It's only getting worse.

Taking time to find happiness - lessons learnt from an elderly aunt (IrishCentral)

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 09:16:30 PST

Iran, Afghanistan, Ireland - fundamentalist theocracies? Irish abortion laws highlighted by Al Jazeera as evidence of Ireland’s fundamentalism - VIDEO (IrishCentral)

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 04:46:04 PST

Derry is 2013 City of Culture, but one of its biggest gifts to culture closed last year (IrishCentral)

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 06:01:04 PST

Gay candidates, gay rights win at US polls (IrishCentral)

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 06:30:55 PST

Gay rights are no longer political Kryptonite

Tuesday changed the political calculus on LGBT rights in the United States forever. There are lessons to be drawn from this, but first lets marvel at what was accomplished.

Here in New York rising star Sean Patrick Maloney defeated incumbent Nan Hayworth to become the first openly gay candidate elected to Congress from the state. In Wisconsin, Tammy Baldwin made history by winning her bid for the Senate.

Then Maryland voters made history by becoming among the first in the nation to affirm marriage equality at the ballot box. Maine voters followed by reversing a 2009 ban on marriage equality. Minnesota voters followed up on that by defeating proposals to ban gay marriage in the state's constitution. Finally Washington approved a law allowing same sex couples to marry.

Hurricane Sandy exposed New York City's faults - why do we put up with shoddy 19th century infrastructure? (IrishCentral)

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 01:30:54 PST

Asteroid hits, GOP dinosaurs exposed after Obama's election victory - VIDEO (IrishCentral)

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 05:46:08 PST

The asteroid hit, the GOP looked around, and they noticed for the first time they were dinosaurs.

Even Bill O'Reilly, in his own hapless way, got the message. 'It’s not a traditional America anymore,' he lamented, meaning that he'd just noticed that people who aren't white, wealthy wasps can also vote.

Not only that, they are voting for the other guy. You can say what you like about Republicans but you can't call them stupid.

A vote for the Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is a vote for the past (IrishCentral)

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 05:00:51 PST

Republican Mitt Romney's voters have their say in Ohio ahead of the Election - VIDEO (IrishCentral)

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 12:30:49 PST

Hurricane Sandy was the Storm of the century, what did we learn? (IrishCentral)

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 05:30:44 PDT

900 miles across, Sandy was a superstorm

It started off feeling a little bit like Thanksgiving. Last minute shoppers were raiding the about-to-close local stores for locked in necessities like water, milk and canned soups. I was among them all doing the same thing at the Butcher's Block, the local Irish supermarket in Queens that's already well stocked for the holidays.

In time of crisis New Yorkers find a we're-all-in-this-together spirit and it truly can bring out the best (and worst) in them. I noticed there was a weird kind of holiday humor about, but instead of seasonal cheer, this atmosphere was underlined with anxiety about what was coming shortly.

I saw young people patiently helping older people, but I also saw some hoard up on essentials to the detriment of the people in the growing lines behind them. How you react to a crisis tends to reveal who you are, I observed. Some people were so kind and self-effacing that it broke your heart, others you wanted to slap for their indifferent selfishness.

ICBlog: Manhattan Diary

Will New York Senator Chuck Schumer ditch gay couples for an immigration deal? (IrishCentral)

If nobody's happy, it's working – the abortion debate and Irish politics of stalemate (IrishCentral)