Secularocrats Undermine Priest Process.

A priest was driving along and became upset when he ran over a frog. He stopped and was surprised to find the frog alive. Taking it home he revived the frog with a warm bath and some fly soup. Then the frog was tired so he popped it into bed. The frog needed a kiss to get off to sleep so the priest delivered a small peck on the cheek. In an instant the frog transformed into an eleven year old boy.

And that your honour is the case for the defence.

Some explanations like that of the priest and the frog just don’t ring plausible. This has probably drawn more attention to the Pomeroy Parish Porn show than it merits. Alright, few would envy Martin McVeigh caught in the predicament in which he has found himself. Who wants their personal thoughts exposed? That’s why he wanted his kept private, for fear of embarrassment or accusatory declamation from the Pharisees and exclusion by them from the temple. It’s also why privacy is valued in our society although legitimate arguments about where the boundaries should be will always feature in our discourse on the matter.

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Enlightened

Today The Pensive Quill features a review of a television show by guest writer Carrie Twomey

 A new television show I enjoy watching is Laura Dern's Enlightened, currently showing on Sky. It's a strange little show, only a half hour long, with Dern as the main character who is frighteningly off-balance and, as one of her workplace friends called her, angry. Her character, Amy, is both repulsive and someone who you root for, in the main because Dern is so good at conveying how hard this woman is struggling to deal with her life and its disappointments.

Amy really is angry, very angry, and we are watching a woman who has already had a nervous breakdown teetering on the edge of having another one. She knows she isn't 'cured' but she is trying so hard to use what she learned on her recent therapy 'retreat' and apply it to her life - and it isn't quite working. At least, not how it's supposed to work in the New Age incense-and-crystal-holistic-food-centered-and-one-with-life way the self help books she uses as her new bible tell her it should. Instead, because she is trying so hard, each episode we are treated to watching her struggle to understand herself and the people around her; our, and her, reward is each step she takes brings her closer towards accepting herself for who she is.

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The King is Dead

Fenway Sports Group (FSG) and Liverpool Football Club announce that Kenny Dalglish is to leave his post today as Manager after having his contract terminated. After a careful and deliberative review of the season, the Club came to the decision that a change was appropriate. It is not a decision that was reached lightly or hastily. The search for a new Manager will begin immediately – Statement from Liverpool FC

Kenny Dalglish has been given the boot by the owners of Liverpool FC. It was a long time coming. Ronnie Whelan who vociferously lobbied to get rid of Rafa Benitez two years ago and who played alongside Dalglish in the good Liverpool sides of the 1980s, was a few evenings back predicting that his former teammate would stay in place and start the new season as boss. He added however that Dalglish knew himself that he had to deliver if he was to have a realistic chance of being there at the season’s end.

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Covertly Interned by Britain

Today The Pensive Quill features a letter by Hugh Brady and Thomas Dixie Elliott that first appeared in the Newry Times on 5/05/2012

Dear Editor,

‘I am standing on the threshold of another trembling world. May God have mercy on my soul.’ Bobby Sands March 1st 1981.

On the 5th May, 31 years ago, Bobby stepped beyond that threshold. In the months that followed nine brave men followed him. Long Kesh was their battleground, a place where they took a courageous stand against injustice.

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The Living and the Dead both have key roles to Play

Tonight The Pensive Quill features guest writer Dr John Coulter, a former Blanket columnist with an article that originally appeared in the Tribune Magazine on 6/05/2012


With the peace process holding, the living seem destined to spend the future fighting over the dead. The next four years will see a host of centenary commemorations. Already Northern Ireland is capitalising on the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic on its maiden voyage with the loss of more than 1,500 people. What other land would celebrate the deaths of hundreds in the freezing Atlantic waters in 1912? The ship which sank has boosted Ireland’s tourism potential in the teeth of an economic recession.

More worrying are the commemorations planned to mark the formations of many of the militias which emerged a century ago as the Home Rule crisis gripped Ireland. First off the mark will be Unionists, who plan a huge rally in Belfast later this month to mark the centenary of the Balmoral Review. This was an event in 1912 when Unionism’s anti-Home Rule champion, Edward Carson, held a review of thousands of armed members of his newly formed Ulster Volunteer Force. A year later, nationalists responded by launching the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army. Had it not been for the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, Ireland was set for a bloody sectarian conflict between Unionists and nationalists.

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Incarceration Predicament

Today The Pensive Quill carries a statement from guest writer Gerry McGeough released on 5/11/12

A Cairde,

May I begin by extending my warmest greetings and deepest gratitude to you all for the wonderful support and solidarity you have shown and continue to show, towards my family and I at this difficult time in out lives. You have no idea how much this means to us may God bestow bountiful blessings upon you and all your loved ones.

Keeping in mind that practically every word I say or write is closely monitored by British Intelligence functionaries, you will appreciate that I am somewhat restricted in how I express myself at present. I hope you will bear with me and understand the limitations that have been imposed upon me.

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On Bail in Jail

We do not support putting people away in prison because of intelligence or because of some political point of view and we are convinced that she has been detained without trial because of that by the secretary of state  ...  She doesn't even have her own counsel to represent her in relation to the intelligence report. They appoint a counsel, an outside barrister, to represent her on that - her own defence counsel can't even look at the intelligence report. How is that due process? Alban Maginness

A discussion yesterday on BBC’s The Politics Show, illustrated just how voluble the public discourse around the ongoing detention of Marian Price has become. To the extent that there is a discourse rather than the issue being suffocated under a blanket of silence, is the outcome of persistent campaigning by people with no power pushing the issue right under the noses of the powerful.  Included amongst them are many former prisoners who are determined that British injustice will be confronted whenever it shows its ugly face.

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Beyond Making Muted Representations

Today The Pensive Quill features a letter by guest writer Martin Galvin. It appeared in the Irish News 9/05/2012 and raises the isue of Gerry McGeough's imprisonment.


A chara

G McGee claims in his (21 APRIL) polemic against Gerry McGeough that “anyone can be convicted for actions prior to 1998.” Perhaps he could explain to the families and friends of victims of Bloody Sunday, the Ballymurphy Massacre, Nora McCabe, Majella O’Hare and a long list more, when “anyone” in the British Army or RUC will be convicted for any of these “unjustified and unjustifiable killings”. Perhaps he could explain to Sam Marshall’s family among others why anyone alleging collusion by crown forces seems to be stonewalled.

Perhaps Republicans should unite in anger against what increasingly appears to be an undeclared policy of selective immunity for line of duty killings by British Army or RUC constabulary, instead of dividing over apparent selective prosecutions of Republicans.

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Snatching Victory from the Jaws of Defeat

This piece almost had the title Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory. Manchester City left it late, very late. They took their supporters to the precipice of disaster and despair where nothing other than the plunge beckoned, only to haul them back from the brink at the very last second. For the past three weeks the championship had been theirs for the taking. Yet with only minutes remaining they were trailing 2-1 at home to relegation candidates, QPR. It seemed City had blown it and faced being labelled chokers for having bottled it at the last minute. A team that can’t rise to the occasion when it must is not championship material. The boxer Jack Dempsey once said that ‘a champion is someone who gets up when he can't.’ City proved their championship mettle when they got up from the dead.

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Travesty of Justice and a Disgrace

Today The Pensive Quill features a letter on the ongoing imprisonment of Marian Price. It was written by Marie Flynn, Kate Mc Kinney and Eve Brady, former republican political prisoners in Armagh Gaol. An edited version of this letter originally appeared in the Irish News on 5/05/2012

Marian Price is a 57 year old woman and a mother. Marian suffers from chronic ill health conditions and despite recommendations by medical professionals to have her transferred to an outside hospital she remains in a prison cell. She is NOT receiving adequate healthcare.

Marian Price is the victim of wilful neglect, psychological torture, internment, and political vindictiveness and should be freed immediately.

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Public Persecution Service

A book might be written on the injustice of the just - Pauline Kael

The less than gratifying response of the British state’s leading prosecutor in Ireland to the judicious stance taken by a Derry judge in the case of Marian Price et al has further reinforced a vindictive trend in Britain’s Northern Irish policy. It also underscores the need for society not to take its watchful eye off an area most certain to produce abuses if left to its own devices and self regulation. Unwilling to allow the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) to play footloose and fancy free with people’s liberty while reaffirming the principle that everyone was entitled to a fair trial within a reasonable time frame the judge, Barney McElhome, decided that he, not the PPS, would decide how long a case would be dragged out.

Terrified by the thought that law enforcement and its associated agencies might not always be able to bulldoze the rights of citizens out of its way the DUP sprang out of the traps and pointed the finger at the PPS, accusing it of having put the ball into its own net. The DUP know the score. The PPS plays for the British team and own goals are simply not permissible. It is there to do a job and the DUP expects it to do no less.  Paul Girvan who heads up the justice committee at Stormont cited Thursday’s judgement:

The judge has made it clear he's putting the blame with the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) for not having the proper papers ready and I think it's for the director of the PPS now to come forward and to explain why his organisation didn't have those papers ready.

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No Royal Beacon On Cavehill – McArt’s Fort

Today The Pensive Quill carries an appeal from the No Royal Beacon at McArts Fort Cavehill Campaign Group.

Recently Belfast City Council votes to allocate £56,000 in ratepayer's money to celebrate the Diamond jubilee of the British Queen. In addition, another £48,000 was due to be made available to communities and youth groups to organise their own Jubilee events. Both these funding initiatives received the full backing of Sinn Féin and the DUP.

As part of of the official council-run celebrations, there is a plan to light a large beacon on the top of the Cave hill on Monday 4th of June and beam the images back to a live audience at Buckingham Palace via the BBC.

Cavehill is intrinsically linked to the history and development of the struggle for Irish freedom, as McArt's Fort at the peak of the Cavehill is the birthplace of modern day republicanism. It was here in 1795 that Theobold Wolfe Tone, Henry Joy McCracken and others formed the UnitedIrishmen and made a solemn oath to break the connection with England and to unite Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter under the common name of Irishman.

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