Ireland on The Huffington Post

Nancy Ruhling: Astoria Characters: The Octogenarian Activists

2009-11-24T14:34:07Z

On the emerald green front door of Stanley and Kathleen Rygor's 1890 cottage, there's a Claddagh knocker whose well-worn brass shows that it's no stranger to visitors.

"It is an honor to have you in my house," says Stanley, as he leads the way through the foyer. He doesn't have to say welcome; the souvenir sign from Ireland -- Céad Míle Fáilte - conveys that warm message no less than 100,000 times.

Curiously, it is framed by a Celtic cross and a crisscrossed Christmas-red AIDS ribbon.

Kathleen is slowly climbing the stairs from the basement, and before she appears, the brogue of her birth, a sweet counterpart to Stanley's elegant elocution, trills like a songbird.

Stanley, a spritely 83, and Kathleen, an active 80, have been married for 57 years, and for the last 55 of them, they have lived in this house, which is on the way to Kaufman Astoria Studios and within the sound of the bells of Most Precious Blood Roman Catholic Church. She's an Irish immigrant; his father was English and his mother hailed from Sicily, but he was born in Manhattan and has lived 80 of his 83 years in Astoria.

Photo by Nancy A. Ruhling
Kathleen's the dancer, Stanley's the musician, and life is their act.

Dwarfed by a brand-new McMansion, the "little green house with the American flag out front," as Kathleen calls it, looks as though it were tossed into its lot by a Kansas twister. What it lacks in stature, it makes up for in heart and hearth.

Stanley and Kathleen are from the old school; he plays gentleman to her lady. Like a ballroom dancer, he takes the conversational lead, and as he's a trifle hard of hearing, she follows and interprets. It's their habit to read the New York Times cover to cover and to serve tea and biscuits to their guests.

"Everyone always asks what the secret to our successful marriage is," says Stanley, whose slightly British accent evokes that of a 1940s stage actor. "We're not exactly that compatible, but we're complimentary. Our interests are different. I'm just average, but Kathleen's got intelligence, she's got an IQ through the roof."

Kathleen rolls her eyes. "He's exaggerating."

The story of how Stanley met Kathleen ended up together is the stuff of classic Hollywood musicals.

In 1944, when he was 17, Stanley enlisted in the Navy. "It was an easy decision," he says. "The Navy uniforms were very attractive to girls. The Army uniforms were horrible."

Stanley came home from World War II 2½ years later, Kathleen had just come over from Ireland, and they found true love on a Manhattan dance floor. "The first time I saw her, I thought she was beautiful beyond belief," Stanley says.

A bashful and blushing Kathleen adds, "I thought he was handsome, too."

They married, had five children - their framed photos are on the piano in the living room - and set out to have ordinary lives.

It didn't quite turn out that way.

Stanley threw himself into his career. In six decades, he worked his way up from messenger boy to senior vice president at the Wall Street ad agency Doremus. Kathleen held down the homefront. In the same six decades, she did everything from sewing school clothes to laying the parquet tile on the living room floor.

One year, Kathleen gave Stanley an Irish button accordion. He taught himself to play so she could dance the Stack of Barley and the Siege of Ennis.

They were pretty much going to go quietly into retirement. Although he wouldn't officially clean out his desk until he turned 80, Stanley cut back his office time to two days a week when he turned 65. "I could have gone on after 80," he says, "but I didn't want to break any Guinness world records."

He "was lured into singing" with the choir at Most Precious Blood and started playing his accordion in public. (He has a gig at Dempsey's Pub in the East Village every Tuesday evening and goes to Long Island City to play for the New York City Marathon runners as they hit the halfway point.)

Then it happened. Their son Robert announced that he was gay. Stanley and Kathleen hadn't seen this coming. They were shocked. When Robert, who became ACT UP's spokesperson, told them he had AIDS, they turned themselves into activists, and when he died of the disease, at age 40 in 1994, they put his ashes in a blue urn on the piano and continued their gay-rights crusade.

Photo by Nancy A. Ruhling
For 57 years, Kathleen and Stanley have been devoted to each other.

"I'm conservative in everything else but gay rights," Stanley says. "I feel strongly about gay rights and marriage equality because I know this is what my son would want."

Kathleen's legs aren't as agile as they used to be, but Stanley still rallies himself for the St. Pat's for All Parade in Sunnyside and the AIDS Walk New York. The 10k AIDS Walk gets harder every year, he says, which is why he diligently trains. "I have to keep it up," he says, "because I raise a lot of money."

Recently, he walked the three miles to and from Astoria Park, where he went around the track eight times, adding two miles to the tally. "I think I overdid it," he says, shifting the pumpkin-orange AIDS Walk baseball cap on his head.

As for Kathleen, she's keeping busy, too. As did her mother and her grandmother before her, she's knitting traditional Irish sweaters for her yet-to-be-born great-grandchildren.

Stanley and Kathleen dream of Ireland, but if God doesn't see fit to let them get there again, their beautiful memories will sustain them.

Nancy A. Ruhling may be reached at Nruhling@gmail.com.

Copyright 2009 by Nancy A. Ruhling

Ireland: France Replay Request Has "Fallen On Deaf Ears"

2009-11-21T11:38:49Z

DUBLIN — Ireland has given up hope of a World Cup playoff replay against France because of Thierry Henry's hand ball.

Henry's deliberate handling set up a goal for William Gallas in Wednesday's 1-1 draw that sent France to next year's tournament and knocked out Ireland. The Irish appealed to the French federation to agree to a replay but were turned down Friday.

Thierry Henry: Replay Is "Fairest Solution"

2009-11-20T10:05:20Z

LONDON — Thierry Henry denied Friday that he was a cheat but said the "fairest solution" would be to replay the France-Ireland World Cup playoff that was decided by his hand ball.

Henry set up the deciding goal for William Gallas by controlling the ball with his hand in Wednesday's 1-1 draw at the Stade de France. The goal in extra time gave France a spot in next year's World Cup with a 2-1 aggregate victory over Ireland after two legs of the playoffs.

FIFA Denies Irish Appeal For Replay Against France

2009-11-20T08:40:59Z

LONDON — There will be no rematch.

Ireland's hopes for a replay of its World Cup qualifier against France ended Friday after both FIFA and the French Football Federation rejected requests for another game.

'Hand Of Frog' Has Irish Crying Foul

2009-11-19T17:09:46Z

DUBLIN — Soccer-mad Ireland is fighting mad – and demanding justice for a disputed goal that had fans here crying "Oui were robbed."

A blown call by referees cost the luckless Irish a spot in the World Cup in a loss to star-studded France.

Thierry Henry Handball Goal VIDEO: "Le Hand Of God" Goal Puts France Past Ireland

2009-11-18T21:08:56Z

UPDATE, 10:18 AM: Henry says that a replay would be "the fairest solution." More from his statement:

I am not a cheat and never have been. It was an instinctive reaction to a ball that was coming extremely fast in a crowded penalty area.... Naturally, I feel embarrassed at the way that we won and feel extremely sorry for the Irish who definitely deserve to be in South Africa.

*** SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO ***

UPDATE, 11/20 9:13 AM: FIFA has officially rejected an Irish appeal for a rematch.

UPDATE, 11/19 9:38 AM: The Guardian reports that FIFA officials have eliminated the possibility of France and Ireland playing a rematch.

EARLIER: French soccer player Thierry Henry has admitted to committing a handball just before teammate William Gallas scored a crucial goal in France's World Cup qualifier match against Ireland.

The AP has more:

(AP) SAINT-DENIS, France -- France qualified for its fourth consecutive World Cup when officials missed an obvious hand ball by Thierry Henry that led to William Gallas' overtime goal in a 1-1 tie against Ireland on Wednesday night.

With help from Swedish referee Martin Hansson, who failed to call the hand ball, France avoided a penalty-kicks shootout and won the home-and-home, total-goals playoff 2-1. The French had come away with a 1-0 victory in Dublin last Saturday.

The game appeared headed to penalty kicks when Florent Malouda sent a free kick to Henry at the post to the right of goalkeeper Shay Given in the 103rd minute. Henry got between defender Paul McShane and Given, stopped the ball with his left hand, then used his hand again and poked the ball with his outstretched right foot in front of the net.

"He almost caught it and walked into the net with it," said Robbie Keane, who had put the Irish ahead in the 33rd minute.

Gallas headed the ball into the net from about 1 yard as Irish players raised their hands in protest at Hansson.

Soccer does not allow officials to use video replay, although the assistant referees can point out infractions to the referee.

"I will be honest, it was a hand ball. But I'm not the ref," Henry said. "I played it. The ref allowed it. That's a question you should ask him."

WATCH:

Teresa Rodriguez Williamson: Slane Castle: Rock Stars and Romance

2009-11-09T12:40:31Z

My girlfriend Moira didn't pay attention to the sign "Private: Keep Out," when she sped through the back gates of Slane Castle in Ireland. "Listen, Teresa, you're only here for a few more days, this is the best way to see the castle," she said. "What, by breaking and entering?" I asked. "Yeah, something like that." She chuckled.

Lucky for us that when we rambled up to the front of the castle, Henry, Eighth Marquess Conyngham, the proud owner of the ancient edifice, was standing out front.

Now, feeling a bit criminal, I slowly got out of the car and introduced myself. Thank goodness the Eighth Marquess was quite friendly and happen to have some time to show us him family's property.

Slane Castle is a private estate that has been in Henry Conyngham family since 1701. The Hill of Slane overlooks the Castle and legend has it that this is the spot where St. Patrick lit his paschal fire around 432 AD. The area of Slane is packed with many ancient relics of Ireland's long Celtic and Druid history. Only 20 minute drive from the castle is the great mysterious monument, Newgrange which dates back to 3200 BC. Unlike the castle, the history of Newgrange is a bit blurry, much like my mind after two pints of Guinness.

Lord Henry (I must admit, I really didn't know the proper way to address a Marquess) took us on a tour of his second home. The castle is available for rent and years ago it was the place where U2 lived for six months recording one of their albums. The band also has performed live at the castle and you can purchase the video at amazon.com.

Since 1981, Slane has hosted the largest outdoor concerts in Ireland. Rolling Stones, Madonna, Queen, Bob Dylan, Robbie Williams, David Bowie, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Oasis and REM are just some of the world-renowned acts that have played at the venue. The next concert is scheduled for June of 2010. I asked the Marquess who will be performing, and he still is in negotiations with a few bands. Whoever is playing, you'll find me backstage that day - the Marquess promised me backstage VIP passes.

If you are thinking about a destination wedding or just want to rent out a castle for a week or two, then Slane castle is a fantastic venue for you to live out your rock star dreams.

For you brides-to-be, Slane castle offers two banqueting options for your special day, Burton Hall which can accommodate up to 240 guests and King George IV's Ballroom which has a capacity of 110 guests. The castle has ten spacious bedrooms that accommodate up to twenty-four guests or groupies. All bedrooms have their own private bathrooms and many rooms have incredible views of the river Boyne below.

When Lord Henry is not booking international bands to perform on his front lawn or managing the castle, you can find him and his son in the cellar creating Irish whiskey. His whiskey, appropriately called Slane Castle Irish Whiskey, is distilled by Cooley Distillery, which won the European and World Distiller of the Year at the 2008 International Wine and Spirit Competition. Slane Castle is very much a family affair and the Marquess's very handsome son, Alexander, The Earl of Mount Charles, is also intimately involved in the family business. With Alexander's previous experience working for Irish Distillers, he plays a key role in the creation of Slane Castle Irish Whiskey. This latest venture is a reflection of the family's long standing passion for 'Uisce Beatha.' (Uisce Beatha is a Gaelic term which means " Water of Life," a.k.a. whiskey.)

Lord Henry is such a delight. We spent an hour walking through the castle and touring each room. With every step, he would share a riveting story of Ireland, his family, or the English royalty. My favorite story was about the romance between King George IV of England and his great, great, great, great grandmother, Elizabeth, the first Marchioness Conyngham. The King stayed in the Castle in 1821 and it is believed that the reason the road from Dublin to Slane is one of the straightest roads in Ireland is because it was so designed to speed him on his journey. Oh, what the rich and powerful will do for love.

To book Slane castle for your next jam session, wedding, or over-the-top party click here.

CIA Rendition Plane Spotted In Birmingham UK

2009-11-01T20:27:46Z

An American plane named in an inquiry by the European parliament into alleged CIA torture flights landed at Birmingham airport last month and was met by British special forces helicopters.

Human Rights First: EU's Lucky Charm: Ireland Supports Lisbon Treaty - Now What?

2009-10-06T11:21:30Z

By Joelle Fiss
Human RIghts First Pennoyer Fellow

BRUSSELS, October 3, 2009 - "This is a day of celebration for Ireland and for Europe", chuckled former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt to the press from a smoke-filled Irish pub in the heart of the European Union headquarters in Brussels. As EU staffers and journalists huddled around him, Verhofstadt was watching the live TV results of the Irish referendum vote on what is commonly known in Europe as the "Lisbon Treaty."

Though the news was predicting a comfortable margin of victory for the treaty, with 67% of Irish voters in favor of the treaty, in reality, it was rather a "day of relief" than of exuberant festivity in Brussels. Ireland is the only EU country constitutionally obliged to put the treaty to a referendum. After a decade of negotiations, strings of ministerial summits and ratification hurdles, this referendum was the last stumbling block before the new EU treaty can enter into full force. You could practically hear the sighs of relief in the pro-Lisbon camp where EU officials and politicians, many of whom had been waiting for this result for years, continued to calmly sip on their beers.

The new treaty, sorely needed to update an enlarged European Union now encompassing twenty-seven states, lays out new structures for the EU. Internally, it will ease the adoption of new laws on a range of issues, including human rights, as well as empower the EU to propose new initiatives. Externally, the EU will now be a more visible player on the global stage. How will this all shake out? Here are some thoughts:

How will the new treaty affect US-EU relations?

From a diplomatic perspective, the EU will now put an end to the system of its six-month rotating presidency that coordinates Europe's foreign policy. The system had its shortfalls: In times of crisis, small nations, such as Malta, cannot pull the same diplomatic weight on the world stage as larger states, such as Germany. The establishment of a permanent EU President, who will be Europe's face to the world, will boost the Union's leadership and end the complicated web of hierarchal structures of the presidency that were often difficult for outside observes to grasp. The creation of this new post primarily aims to answer the famous question that Henry Kissinger once asked, "Who do I call when I want to call Europe?" There will now be one number to dial, even though Europe's foreign policy and defense positions will continue to require unanimous backing from all national capitals.

Will human rights policies be strengthened in Europe?

From a political angle, a "high representative", (in euro-slang "EU Foreign Minister") will articulate and coordinate Europe's political voice. The novelty here is that this post will better blend governmental positions with the wider range of the EU's external tools, such as the aid it provides to its non-European partners and its democracy-building instruments. To support this coordination, a new EU diplomatic corps (composed of national civil servants and EU staffers) will be established. As a result, Europe's foreign policy, defense, trade and aid policies should - in theory - increase in coherence as national capitals and EU officials in Brussels will work closer together to put their policies into practice. Although no one has yet discussed the precise modalities, one can safely predict the creation of a "human rights department" within the EU diplomatic corps, a division that would serve to mainstream human rights policies in a range of spheres.

Will there be more rights for citizens ... and EU competence in the field of criminal law?

The new legislative tools are the treaty's largest achievement. The "Lisbon Treaty's" text provides a reinforced framework to defend citizen's rights and freedoms. First, the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights - which sets out a whole range of civil, political and social rights - will now be part of the treaty and, therefore, legally binding. This means that citizens will be able to use the Charter to challenge any decision taken by EU, or by governments implementing EU law, if they feel that their rights have been infringed upon. EU citizens could bring a matter before a judge in their country, who, in turn, could request an interpretation from the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. The "Lisbon Treaty" will also allow the EU to accede to the European Convention on Human Rights as a legal entity and be bound by judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.

Second, the Lisbon Treaty represents a significant shift in EU decision-making. In many areas, the system of "qualified majority" voting will be extended. This change that will pave the way for EU laws to be adopted and applied in sensitive areas, including asylum, immigration, as well as police and judicial co-operation in criminal matters. In the past, these controversial policies largely remained in the purview of national governments, but now the EU will have improved tools to collectively fight problems such as racist violence or organized crime.

Finally, the European Parliament will be able to co-decide with governments on these important matters, which will deeply transform the political dynamics in Brussels. These new relations will also change the working culture for non-European governments and civil society representatives who would like to weigh in on the process.

The devil will lie in the detail...

With the Lisbon Treaty now closer to ratification, a new chapter has now been opened. As the EU rushes to put these commitments into practice, however, the devil will lie in the details. Though it is hard to predict how things will all shake out, an important recent development may give us some insight. European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, under pressure to get reappointed for his second term, recently promised the European Parliament to set up a "human rights" portfolio in the next European Commission. Perhaps his action shows that when push comes to shove, the most important attribute needed to advance Europe's ambitions is political will.

3 Guantanamo Bay Prisoners Transferred To Ireland, Yemen

2009-09-26T20:09:48Z

WASHINGTON — With the closing of the Guantanamo Bay prison by a January deadline in doubt, the Justice Department Saturday announced the transfer of three detainees to the governments of Yemen and Ireland.

Alla Ali Bin Ali Ahmed, a Yemen native, was returned to his homeland after being imprisoned for seven years. A federal court in May ruled that Ahmed – who was detained in Pakistan in 2002 – could no longer be held at the military detention facility in Cuba and ordered him released.

Michael Bialas: Now Hear This (Interview): Time To Celebrate Imelda May Day

2009-09-19T16:14:03Z

Touring America for the first time, Irish rockabilly/blues singer Imelda May sounds like a giddy schoolgirl. Except she prefers to go back to old school.

There's a lot of U.S. history behind the music May loves, which she is eager to study. That's why, during a brief visit in September with her band to promote her latest album, Love Tattoo, May planned some sightseeing excursions to places like Chess Recording Office and Studio in Chicago, then former punk nightclub CBGB in New York before opening up for Chuck Berry at B.B. King's Blues Club & Grill. She previously visited New Orleans, where she played in the House of Blues with Dr. John and recorded vocals for Dark Streets, a gangster movie set in 1930s New York starring Bijou Phillips.

Now she hopes to teach Americans a thing or two about herself. May is a genuine throwback, a sexy seductress who'll knock you out just as quickly with her dynamite voice as her sultry looks. Wearing a tight leopard-print dress and with her trademark quiff, a streak of blond running through brunette hair tied back in a long ponytail, May seems made for the Fifties. More Bettie Page than Betty Boop, she wasn't born yesterday. But make no mistake. This is one fresh face.

Americans often hit the pause button while the rest of the universe fast-forwards to check out the latest talent. It's time to press play for Imelda May. Voted "Best Irish Female" singer (Lisa Hannigan and Gemma Hayes were among the nominees) at the 2009 Meteor Ireland Music Awards (on St. Patrick's Day, no less) and declared "The Next Big Thing" by The Daily Mail, May also has some heavyweight support behind her. Among those included are Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarists Jeff Beck and David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) and influential British TV icon/former Squeeze keyboardist Jools Holland. Watch out world. May Day has arrived.

"I don't tend to set out on huge world domination goals or have anything in mind. I just like to play; I like to gig a lot; I like to write music," May said humbly over the phone after landing in Los Angeles last week.

But she wasn't discovered overnight. May has paid her blues dues, working in the business for "about 19 years," singing with accomplished musicians who performed with such Irish acts as Van Morrison and Hothouse Flowers.

The youngest of five children growing up in the Liberties area of Dublin, May has a brother (Fintan) who continually rocked to Elvis, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran records, a father (Tony) who was a dance teacher and a mother (Madge) who listened and sang to the radio every night before falling asleep. She credits all of them with providing musical appreciation and inspiration.

"I started gigging when I was about 16, and I was way too young to be in the clubs," she recalled.

These old players in the blues bands ... used to be down there jamming away late at night and they used to sneak me in; so I'd be jamming away with them; I think I was the novelty kid that could sing a bit. And I watched and I listened and I learned.

And I went down there every Monday night and my parents let me; my dad used to pick me up early in the morning before he went to work. They knew I was obsessed about music. I just absolutely loved it; I couldn't get enough of it, you know? So it was a good thing to learn. And I suppose it was the proper, old-fashioned way of learning music. Instead of going to a big, fancy joint, you just go to a natty old club (laughs). I was really lucky to be working with some of the best musicians in Dublin and they took me under their wing and I listened, I watched and I learned a helluva lot those couple of years down there.

After singing in burlesque clubs ("I still do sometimes," she said) like the Candy Box in Birmingham, England, playing in Mike Sanchez's rhythm and blues band and the Blue Harlem swing troupe and - as Imelda Clabby (her birth name) - making a record of mostly covers (2003's No Turning Back) in her bedroom, May decided to break away and form her own band. "I was really itching to do my own thing," she said. "You know, you get itchy feet. It spurred me on then to record my own album with most of my own songs. And I've been writing since." Another album is already in the works, and she uses timeless tools like a pen ("I wreck the back of most of my envelopes scribbling on them") and a ukulele to compose her material.

Love Tattoo has been out for more than a year in Europe (it's been on the United Kingdom charts since October and was No. 1 in Ireland this summer), but wasn't released in the U.S. until August 11, by Verve Forecast. Ten of the 12 songs were written by May, and they include swinging singles ("Johnny Got A Boom Boom"), smoldering blues romps ("Big Bad Handsome Man," "Smotherin' Me") and Dave Edmunds/Rockpile-like rave-ups ("Love Tattoo," "Wild About My Lovin' "). Listen with your eyes closed to the romantic ballad "Meet You At The Moon," though, and you'll swear you've been transported in a time machine back to Hollywood's Coconut Grove of the Forties.

All are Big Daddy-O, hep-cat retro-cool, yet done with a fresh take. The boogie-woogie, doo-wop sound is powered by guitarist Darrel Higham, an exceptional musician who has released about 20 CDs as a solo artist and leader of his own band, the Enforcers. While he has performed with legendary artists from Paul McCartney (at the wedding of Sir Paul's daughter Stella) to Jeff Beck to the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde, his relationship with May goes beyond music. They have been together since May moved to London in 1998, then she and her "Big Bad Handsome Man" got married earlier this decade. (May and Higham are shown at The 100 Club in March 2008 in a photo taken by Eric Guy.)

Also on the record were a slap-happy Al Gare on double bass and hot horn player Dave Priseman, who round out the touring band of Billy Boppers, along with drummer Steve Rushton, who also has played with Beck and Hynde.

May, Higham and the band will continue to work with Beck, beginning with a September 21 date at the O2 in London, with tentative plans to play in the States by the end of the year or early in 2010.

Last summer, May opened for Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, then he invited her to be on his BBC2 television show, Later ... With Jools Holland. The break came sooner than expected when she was asked with two days' notice to fill in for Natalie Cole, who fell ill during that time. Beck and Gilmour were in the star-studded audience in September 2008 to see May's debut on the popular music show that has featured ground-breaking acts along with accomplished veterans. That's when things got crazy, May said.

A major record deal with Universal followed and she went on to sing with Beck and Gilmour this summer, opening for Beck at Royal Albert Hall on July 4. "That was a great honor, a great thrill," May said. "(Beck has) become a good friend now."

She and the band were also on the same bill as the Pretenders in July at the Cornbury Festival in Oxfordshire in England. Told her snarling voice on "Johnny Got A Boom Boom" sounds a lot like Hynde's, May seemed delighted. "Oh, cool. She's great," May said. "I hope to get to work her some day. She has it all, hasn't she?"

Of course, May has been compared with a number of other exceptional singers. One British newspaper wrote she has "the retro appeal of a Duffy or (Amy) Winehouse," and when asked about possible similarities to the UK's recent pair of Queens for a Day, you could almost sense May wincing all the way from L.A. "Well, they are women," she said before unleashing a hearty laugh. "I think that's about it. I don't know; I don't mind either way. I just do my own thing. I don't know if it's a good thing or not but I know I have a good 10 years on them (laughing again)."

If the Duffy and Winehouse comparisons weren't complimentary, what about this statement about May in The Guardian? "(She's) yanked her vital crackle from the lungs of Janis Joplin and ballsy stance from the soul of Patsy Cline," Leonie Cooper wrote in the UK's national publication.

"Oh, I like that better," she said, almost sighing.

That's a huge compliment. I'm absolutely not worthy. ... I used to sing along to Janis Joplin and sing along to Patsy Cline all the time. I actually used to try and copy that. Try and get that clear, crisp vocal sound that Patsy Cline had and then be able to shriek like Janis Joplin. I hope I managed to do that in some shape or form. Somebody told me that when I was a kid singing in those clubs, 'You need to be able to rough it up some times.' And they were right.

Even if she is 10 or so years older than Duffy and Winehouse, age isn't an issue for May, who turned 35 this summer. In fact, her personal list of favorites leans more toward classic artists like Billie Holiday than any recent or contemporary singers. "I never did style myself after anyone," she said. "I did fall in love with Billie Holiday's vocals, of course. ... I'm glad I did, because that opened the doors (for me, musically) from blues to jazz. Because she did it quite easily between both."

And there's a place in her heart for Wynona Carr, LaVern Baker and Wanda Jackson as well. "For a girl, (listening to) those female vocalists, and some males, they seep into you ... especially as a teenager," she said with unabashed zeal. "They get into your head, your ears, it's like thunder. You can't get enough. You soak it all up."

Of course, she has a well-grounded respect for traditional Irish music, too, and is more than willing to turn the tables and give lessons to out-of-touch Americans who may be unaware of the late great Luke Kelly (of the Dubliners) or songwriting talents like Christy Moore, Paul Brady and Sharon Shannon.

"It's like dealing with country music here (in America), isn't it?" she said. "The rhythms are similar, they're hypnotic, the continuous rhythms," she said. "The same for blues as well. The traditional Irish is very similar, the way it keeps going round and round and you get into the feeling."

In the end, though, it's the fire, the rebelliousness and the "in-your-face" nature of rockabilly that May enjoys the most. And though she thinks the genre has remained popular since its Fifties glory days, May contends, "People are going back to it more; I don't think it's any coincidence that it's around recession time when people tend to go back and try to find out where music came from."

Now that she has passed her test with flying colors, get ready for May to educate the masses.

See a clip of Imelda May's debut on Later ... With Jools Holland:

Ireland: Judge John Neilan Shot In Face In Courthouse

2009-09-18T12:45:32Z

A judge in the Republic of Ireland was accidentally shot in the face by a solicitor who was trying to demonstrate that an air pistol was harmless.

Judge John Neilan was hearing a family law case in Longford District Court when he was shot, it emerged yesterday.

The judge, who is never lost for words, didn't want to comment on the matter yesterday.

Ironically, the lawyer was trying to demonstrate to Judge John Neilan that the weapon was not dangerous when it accidentally discharged and fired a pellet in his direction.

It happened during a family law hearing in Longford District Court on Tuesday.

The judge was not seriously injured in the incident and it is understood that he continued hearing the case and proceedings went ahead as normal.

John Feffer: Pluck of the Irish

2009-09-08T18:09:40Z

At the edge of Europe, in Ireland's Shannon Airport, they conduct surveillance on the U.S. empire.

ShannonWatch, a group of a dozen or so peace activists led by a former Irish commandant and peacekeeper, scrutinizes the commercial and military planes that pass through Ireland to bring troops and hardware to Afghanistan. Such transports take place in other European countries, like Germany. But Ireland is a special case. It has a long tradition of neutrality. It is not a member of NATO. And Shannon is a civilian airport.

Ireland was once more scrupulous. Years ago, the Irish government wouldn't let U.S. soldiers pass through the country's airports if they'd been involved in military exercises, much less a military conflict. Today, however, Shannon not only serves as a supply link for the Afghanistan war, transporting over 20,000 U.S. soldiers a week, but also facilitated the CIA's rendition of terrorism suspects. Since 2003, two U.S. military officers have been permanently based at the airport, without parliamentary approval and even without public knowledge until news leaked out last week. Shannon Airport has essentially become an unofficial U.S. military base.

ShannonWatch is part of a larger Irish effort to oppose the growing militarization of Europe. As I write in Postcard from...Dublin:

In recent years, Europe has been building up its military capacities -- within NATO and also as part of new pan-European institutions. Under the European Security and Defense Policy, the EU has conducted missions in more than 20 countries and has ongoing military deployments in Bosnia, Macedonia, Chad, Congo, Guinea-Bissau, and Sudan. In 2007, the EU formed rapid deployment battlegroups to have a standing capacity. The European Defense Agency, created in 2004, identifies gaps in military capabilities and promotes increased military expenditures. As major backers of this new agency, European military contractors are responsible for nearly one-third of global arms sales.

The focus of the European peace movement right now, though, is Afghanistan. Many Germans are outraged over their military's complicity in the recent NATO bombing of fuel tankers in Kunar that claimed an unknown number of civilian lives. Voters in Britain have turned against the war. European governments, despite their public show of support, have been reluctant to supply soldiers for what has now become Obama's war.

Here in the United States, eight years after September 11, the tide of public opinion on the war is also shifting. Once considered by public and pundits alike as the "good war" in comparison to the Iraq conflict, the Afghan occupation is now rapidly losing support. In the United States, an all-time high of 57% of Americans oppose the war according to a recent CNN poll. Key pundits have changed their mind, including conservative columnist George Will. (For an excellent rundown of the numbers on Afghanistan -- cost, casualties, public opinion -- check out Tom Engelhardt's new analysis.)

During the Bush regime, several European leaders like Britain's Tony Blair and Spain's Jose Maria Aznar were more than happy to help out the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan. These leaders suffered at the polls as a result of their enthusiasm. The transatlantic alliance, at least the one based on military cooperation, is in trouble. NATO, its fighting capabilities challenged on the ground in Afghanistan and its institutional solidarity challenged by dissenting European leaders, is increasingly looking like an organization without a mission. Will Afghanistan, the graveyard of empires, bury NATO as well?

Europe stands before three forking paths. Down one road is Europe 1.0, which involves a rejuvenated NATO and a continued junior partner status to the United States. Down the second path lies Europe 2.0, with a largely independent military structure that develops its own preemptive and intervention capabilities. And down the third path is Europe 3.0, a demilitarized Europe that leads the globe in reducing military expenditures, restraining the arms trade, and restricting its overseas deployments to UN peacekeeping missions. This third Europe is the one that ShannonWatch and the Irish peace movement envision.

What we need now is a new transatlantic alliance -- a transatlantic alliance from below -- that can bring us to this Europe 3.0.

Cross-posted from Foreign Policy In Focus, where you can read the full post. To subscribe to FPIF's e-zine World Beat, click here.

Lisa Derrick: Marriage Equality: Ireland

2009-09-07T12:19:24Z

As campaigns in the US for marriage equality gear up -- notably Maine, Washington State and Washington DC -- Marriage Equality Ireland has launched this sweet ad, Sinead's Hand.

Lisa Derrick is La Figa on Firegdoglake.com

Tara Lohan: Farm-Raised Salmon Are Turning Our Oceans Into Polluted Feedlots

2009-09-03T14:40:00Z

The fish makes gourmets rejoice. Smoked-salmon quiche, grilled salmon with lime butter sauce, salmon sushi, poached salmon fillets with dill crème fraîche -- really the choices with salmon are endless and delicious.

The omega-3-fatty-acid-rich fish is also coveted for its health benefits. And, if you're looking for protein, eating salmon seems a great alternative to industrial-produced meat in the U.S. But somehow this dream fish has become a nightmare. As it turns out, farmed salmon comes with its own set of environmental and health issues -- threatening wild salmon populations, becoming harbingers of disease, and contaminating the oceans with antibiotics and toxic chemicals. And if you're eating salmon in the U.S., the chances are very good that it's farm raised.

Only about 10 percent of salmon on the market in the U.S. is actually wild these days Alex Trent, executive director of the industry group Salmon of the Americas, told the New York Times.

If this were a few years ago, your farm-raised salmon would have come from Chile, but since a disease outbreak has crashed the industry there, the U.S. has looked elsewhere for imports. If you're on the West Coast your farmed salmon is most likely from British Columbia, and if you're elsewhere in the U.S. it's probably from either Norway, Ireland or Scotland. And that's actually a bad thing -- for more than just food miles.

While salmon "farming" conjures an agrarian image, the industry is more akin to CAFOs -- the concentrated animal feeding operations -- used by the industrial meat industry that is responsible for most of the chicken, burgers and pork that Americans consume. They're also responsible for a lot of waste and pollution that comes with raising a whole bunch of creatures in a confined space.

The farmed-salmon industry, which raises the fish in floating "pens," has some striking similarities to CAFOs. The industry was jump-started a few decades ago, and it was initially seen as a great boon for wild salmon, which have been decimated by dams, pollution and invasive species.

If more people eat farmed salmon, the reasoning went, then that would help protect wild salmon populations. Unfortunately, that hasn't exactly panned out.

Raising salmon in farms has meant that you can buy salmon (although not wild) at a much cheaper price, and that has helped to keep the popular fish on the dinner table -- but at what cost to the environment and human health?

In my latest piece on AlterNet, I reported on the environmental pollution, the threat to wild fish populations, the economic turmoil, and the human health risks that have resulted from the farmed salmon industry. You can also read more about what's being done to change the industry and what consumers should know.

Muhammad Ali Visits Ireland, Meets Distant Relatives

2009-09-01T16:55:36Z

DUBLIN — Muhammad Ali made a sentimental journey Tuesday to discover his Irish roots, and met distant relatives during celebrations at the local town hall and a nearby castle.

Thousands lined the streets of Ennis, western Ireland, to cheer his motorcade as the three-time heavyweight champion visited the home of his great-grandfather Abe Grady.

Taylor Marsh: Ted Kennedy's Foreign Policy Idealism

2009-08-29T04:42:52Z

"My vote against this misbegotten war is the best vote I have cast in the United States Senate since I was elected in 1962." - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy

Little is talked about when it comes to Sen. Kennedy and foreign policy, even as the right keeps spinning tales. Instead, read Adam Clymer's great piece. Domestic issues pervaded Teddy's mission, but also his image at home. However, he was intensely interested and engaged in world matters, especially where social justice, human rights and the plight of the oppressed, as well as refugees, were concerned. Even if he didn't hold the appropriate Senate committee seat or ranking member slot in the foreign affairs arena.

One obvious link was Sen. Kennedy's work for Ireland, which go back to the 70s. Jean Kennedy Smith, the surviving sister of Teddy, was ambassador to Ireland, appointed by Clinton through Teddy's prodding. But little is still known about the details of his efforts to aid Ireland on the road to peace back in the 90s. What is public is that he lobbied Pres. Bill Clinton, the first president to become engaged in Ireland's struggles, directly and determinedly to give a limited U.S. visa to Sinn Fein's Gerald Adams. It's thought this was a move that eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Time magazine has featured a piece about it, exploring the complexities and contradictions.

It was Kennedy who, on Hume's advice, persuaded Bill Clinton to grant a controversial U.S. visa to Gerry Adams, leader of the Irish republican party Sinn Fein, in 1994. At the time, the move was strongly opposed by the British government, but today the visa is seen as an important turning point in Northern Ireland's recent history. Adams was able to convince IRA supporters on U.S. soil of the merits of backing the peace process. Seven months later, the IRA announced its first military ceasefire, ending a 25-year terror campaign, with Protestant paramilitary groups calling their own ceasefires shortly after.

Let's hope more details surface, even as Kennedy refused to take credit at the time, as there is no reason not to tell the history today.

Another story comes out of Bangladesh. That tree at the top of this post was planted by Kennedy at Dhaka University, where it still stands, meant to replace one destroyed by the Pakistan army.

I could write the history of the war of independence between East Pakistan (formerly East Bengal) and West Pakistan and India in 1971, which led to nothing less than a massacre. A civil war for independence that created Bangladesh. When Teddy took on the Administration policies of Nixon and Henry Kissinger, who backed Pakistan against independence. Something the U.S. simply does over and over again to our detriment.

But a friend wrote a piece about it as someone who was impacted personally by the Pakistani horrors inflicted on the Bengalis. But especially the independence won for Bangladesh. From his "The Lion in Winter", which I hope you'll read in full:

Thirty five years ago when the Pakistani military was slaughtering my people by the millions, President Richard Nixon quietly offered arms to continue the killings. Along with Senators Frank Church and William Fulbright, Senator Kennedy took to the floor of the United States Senate and spoke out against the atrocities. His was one of the lonely voices in the United States government that defended the right of the Bengali people to exist. He spoke out against the massacres, the rapes, and the persecution when the Nixon administration chose to look the other way.

On August 11, 1971 Senator Kennedy visited Bengali refugee camps in Calcutta, India. There he visited with some of the 10 million Bengalis who had fled the massacres in East Pakistan. Kennedy was scheduled to visit East Pakistan but was refused entry by the Pakistani government. Nevertheless, with his visit, Senator Kennedy helped shine the world's spotlight on the ongoing genocide. With his visit, he became a friend of the Bengali people.

On December 16, 1971 Bangladesh was liberated from Pakistan. On Valentine's Day the following year, Senator Kennedy visited the newly formed nation. Kennedy arrived in the capital city, Dhaka, as the crowds shouted "Joi Kennedy!' (Victory to Kennedy). He was mobbed everywhere he went:

About 8,000 people crowded into the university courtyard and jammed lecture hall balconies and roofs, to hear the most popular American among Bengalis tell them what they have been telling themselves since their war for independence began last March.

"Even though the United States government does not recognize you," Kennedy said, "the people of the world do recognize you."

In his speech, Kennedy drew parallels between the liberation of Bangladesh and the American Revolution. He said America had prospered despite people who predicted it would collapse following independence, and so would Bangladesh.

Kennedy's early support for the Bengalis' fight against Pakistan's army has made him a symbol of the friendship with the United States which the Bengalis desperately want. When criticizing President Nixon for supporting Pakistan, Bengalis invariably mention Kennedy as the example to prove that the American people sympathize with their cause.

At the time, my friend Mash also cross-posted this piece at DK, where Senator Kennedy made sure his appreciation was noted.

Mash - Thank you for this thoughtful and beautifully written diary. I read it this morning and am grateful for your words. You have reminded us all to be mindful of battles of the past as we fight to change the current course of history.

With warm regards,
Senator Edward Kennedy

There is also South Africa. From Adam Clymer:

He also heartened the opposition in South Africa. He visited that country in 1985, after Archbishop Desmond Tutu persuaded him that his presence would draw attention to apartheid through the American television crews that followed him. He visited slums and resettlement areas. His trip was denounced by the South African government and by the United States ambassador, Herman Nickel. Kennedy staged an illegal protest outside Pollsmoor Prison, where Nelson Mandela was being held. He said, "Behind these walls are men that are deeply committed to the cause of freedom in this land." Years later, Mandela said he knew Kennedy had been at the gate of the prison and that "gave us a lot of strength and hope, and the feeling that we had millions behind us both in our struggle against apartheid but in our special situation in prison."

On his return, Kennedy led an effort to impose economic sanctions on South Africa. In 1986, Congress overrode a veto by President Reagan and enacted a ban on all new investment by Americans in South African businesses and on the importation of such products as steel, coal, ammunition, and food from South Africa. "The time for procrastination and delay is over," Kennedy said. "Now is the time to keep the faith with Martin Luther King, Desmond Tutu, and all those who believe in a free South Africa."

However, Senator Kennedy's most important foreign policy contribution was his vote against the Iraq war. Learning from watching Bobby's anti Vietnam stance, not fully embracing his brother's passion at first, even as they both knew what Jack's legacy on Vietnam was on his death. Though historians like Robert Dallek have offered that JFK would have withdrawn if he'd live. We'll never know.

What we do know is Teddy Kennedy was one of the leaders against the Iraq war from the start. "The best vote I have cast in the United States Senate since I was elected in 1962," said Ted. At the time, I was a very lonely voice on a.m. radio, railing against all the Democrats who didn't have Teddy's courage -- Biden, Kerry and Hillary. He was smarter than them all. ...so was Barack Obama, who, through a little noticed speech at the time, would change the course of history. A beginning for what would develop into a powerful political kinship between Kennedy and Obama.

- Taylor Marsh, with podcasts available on ITunes.

Ireland's Economic Crisis Wreaks Havoc On Sports Teams

2009-08-27T11:31:40Z

A key gauge of Ireland's economic health isn't found in the island nation's business districts or trading floors, but on the football fields of the rural west, where rosters of amateur clubs are getting so thin that villages are struggling to find talented players to field 15-person teams.

Ted Kennedy Dead: Ireland Mourns A "True Friend"

2009-08-26T08:45:44Z

DUBLIN -- Nowhere outside the United States is the passing of Senator Edward Kennedy being mourned as much as in Ireland, the country from where his ancestors emigrated during the potato famine of the 19th century and to which he helped bring peace in recent years.

President Mary McAleese said he would be remembered as a "hugely important friend to the country during very difficult times," and Prime Minister Brian Cowen commented that Ireland had lost a true friend who "worked valiantly for the cause of peace on this island."

Ireland, Long One Of World's Most Expensive Countries, Gets Cheaper

2009-08-25T11:57:22Z

By Conor O'Clery | GlobalPost

DUBLIN -- Long classified as one of the more expensive countries in the world, Ireland is steadily becoming a cheaper place to live and visit.

As recently as 2008, "rip-off Ireland" -- as the country has often been dubbed by Irish people themselves -- was the second most expensive country in the European Union, according to the Irish Central Statistics Office (CSO) in its just published annual report. Shoppers could expect to pay a quarter more on average than their European counterparts. The cost of living was higher only in Denmark and exceeded even that of Finland, which has long had a reputation as the most expensive place in Europe.

This year, things have changed. With disposable income drying up in the face of a deep recession, price wars have broken out among grocery chains, furniture stores, car dealers, hotels and restaurants. In July, the trend to cheaper living in Ireland was confirmed by the Mercer 2009 Cost of Living city index. It graded Dublin the 25th-most expensive of 143 world cities, nine places below the previous year (and almost on a par with Los Angeles, which was ranked 23rd).

But the summer vacationer from the United States will still find Ireland expensive, especially as the dollar has weakened in recent weeks. A Big Mac -- that international indicator of cost of living -- costs $5.42 in Dublin at current exchange rates, compared to $3.57 in the U.S. But travelers will also find that hotel prices have been slashed by as much as two-thirds, and once over-priced restaurants are offering "early-bird specials" right through the evening.

For people living here, it is more important that long-overpriced items in supermarkets are costing less. The big grocery retailer Tesco boasted last month to have made 12,500 price cuts in its Irish stores. Services have become cheaper and easier to get. It was difficult during the construction craze to find plumbers, electricians or repair workers to do a domestic job at short notice. Today they are delivering leaflets door-to-door imploring householders to give them work, at reduced rates.

Since there is less money circulating, however, a new and unpleasant business culture has emerged that is crippling individuals and small firms. The collapse of the construction bubble has left many sub-contracted workers seeking back payments in court from near-bankrupt building contractors.

Greg Renwick, a self-employed electrician in south Dublin, tells me that one construction company he works for is five months behind in payments due to him, and he fears that if he walks away from it he will never get anything. My daughter Emer O'Clery, director of a television production company in central Dublin, says she has been waiting since October 2008 for payment from a major communications provider -- and another small firm that owes her money complains that it too is waiting for payment from a bigger company. The Dublin Chamber of Commerce reported on Aug. 17 that the average time to settle business bills is 90 days, three times longer than last year.

The CSO's report, called "Measuring Ireland's Progress 2008" ("Measuring Ireland's Decline" might be a more apt title), details how, from being one of the richest countries in the E.U., Ireland has become one of the most financially-strapped, with the largest deficit of any of the 27 member states. Ireland is facing negative growth of 8 percent in 2009, according to the International Monetary Fund in April.

The CSO report tells us that unemployment remained low in 2008 at just over 5 percent (statistically almost full employment) but that too has changed drastically. The number of people claiming unemployment benefits has soared in mid-August to over 12 percent of the workforce and is predicted to rise to 17 percent before the year is out. Half a million people are now out of work in a country of just four and a half million.

And thus, net migration, the curse of Irish history, has returned, with a government think tank predicting this week that 40,000 Irish people will this year pack their bags and seek their fortunes elsewhere.

Read more at Global Post.

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Ann Wright: Could U.S. Officials Please Treat a Nobel Peace Laureate with Respect?

2009-08-24T09:09:02Z

Less than a month ago, in late July, 2009, Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire was traveling from Dublin, Ireland to Albuquerque, New Mexico to meet Peace Laureate Jody Williams to participate in peace events there. As she arrived at Dulles airport near Washington, DC, from Ireland on July 30, 2009, she passed through the regular immigration line, but then was detained in a special processing area over two hours causing her to miss her connecting flight to Albuquerque.

This is the second time Maguire has been detained by US Immigration in the past three months. On May 14, 2009, she was detained at the Houston, Texas, International Airport as she was returning from a 3 day conference in Guatemala, hosted by four Nobel Peace Women Laureates. During the detention in Houston, immigration officers questioned her about her visit in April, 2007, to the Palestinian village of Bil'in where she was injured by a rubber-coated bullet shot by Israeli military forces during a protest at the fence built by the Israelis in the village.

In Houston, Maguire asked the Immigration officials what she could do to prevent future detention and was told to get a 10-year visa to the United States.

She immediately applied and obtained a 10-year visa in early July from U.S. Consul in Belfast, Ireland. She presented that visa to the Dulles Airport Immigration official. Maguire had had an indefinite visa to the U.S. in a previous passport and had never had any problems traveling to or through the United States.

Three months later, when she told the U.S. immigration officer at Dulles airport that she was a Nobel Peace Laureate and showed him the documents concerning the Peace Laureate meeting she was attending in New Mexico, the immigration officer sarcastically said that detention "is going to happen every time you enter the United States," and "you should get used to it."

Maguire has been publicly outspoken and critical about Israeli treatment of Palestinians and has a long history of non-violent acts of civil disobedience against war and against nuclear weapons.

Not only was Maguire hit in 2007 by an Israeli military rubber-coated bullet and tear-gassed while participating in a protest against the construction of the Israeli fence dividing the Palestinian village of Bil'in, on June 30, 2009, but also the boat that Maguire and 19 others were on in international waters off Gaza was boarded by Israeli military and all the passengers and crew were put in an Israeli prison for seven days. Maguire was deported from Israel on July 7, as was fellow passenger and former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.

Earlier, in 2004, as a part of her work against nuclear weapons, she traveled to Israel to meet Mordechai Vanunu as he left prison at the end of his 18-year sentence imposed for his revealing Israel's nuclear program.

Because of her detention by U.S. Immigration on July 30, 2009, Maguire had to stay overnight in Washington, DC, at her own expense, as United Airlines said they were not responsible for her missing her flight. The next day, she ended up on a flight to New Mexico with 3 stops before getting to Albuquerque at 4pm, missing all the day's events.

Maguire said that the harassment by U.S. Immigration began in 2009, after the change in U.S. Presidential administrations.

I wonder if the Secretary of State might wish to have discussions with the Secretary of Director of Immigration and Citizenship about how to treat Nobel Peace Laureates, unless, because of her outspoken criticism of Israeli policies toward the Palestinians, the treatment Maguire got on July 30, 2009 was exactly what the Obama administration wants her to have.

About the Author: Ann Wright is a 29-year US Army/Army Reserves veteran who retired as a Colonel and a former US diplomat who resigned in March, 2003 in opposition to the war on Iraq. She served in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia and Mongolia. In December, 2001 she was on the small team that reopened the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is the co-author of the book Dissent: Voices of Conscience.

Wright is still banned from Canada as a result of the Bush administration placing her name on the FBI's National Crime Information Center database for arrests for misdemeanor violations resulting from peaceful, non-violent protest of Bush administration policies, including the war on Iraq and torture. She, with six other citizen activists, were detained by Israeli immigration for eight hours, following a trip to Gaza, but eventually was let in, although with restrictions on their travel in Israel.

Robert E. Murphy: Vin Scully's Last Innings

2009-08-19T18:00:20Z

The news broke quietly last month in the place that he had identified, at the end of a famous broadcast, as "The City of the Angels." After six decades of expressing the piercing drama of the national game more eloquently and movingly than anyone else ever has, he scheduled his last innings with underspoken, indirect comments to a newspaper columnist. "God willing," he would broadcast Dodger baseball for one more season, after which it "makes sense" that he would retire.

That famous game was on September 9, 1965, Sandy Koufax pitching in another Dodger-Giant pennant-race. Ninth inning, one out: "I would think that the mound at Dodger Stadium right now is the loneliest place in the world." Then two out, two balls, two strikes on Harvey Kuenn: "Swung on and missed, a perfect game!"

We all heard Vin Scully's wonderful voice, undulating in pitch as it informed, entertained and excited, on national television and radio broadcasts during the last half of the 20th century. Like so many others in the '80s and '90s, I would douse the volume of World Series telecasts and turn to the sound of Scully on the radio, when he untypically worked with another commentator. It was not the format he preferred, yet he also did that better than anyone else. I remember his asking Bob Gibson if, great fastball pitcher though he was, he might be less inclined to throw that pitch to a man known to be a fastball hitter.

"I might like ice cream," Gibson responded, "but I can't eat a gallon of it."

And I waited for the stories.

"One of the scariest things I've ever seen was in the old Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, when the late Gil Hodges was settling under a pop foul beside first base, and a fan in the lower stands suddenly flung an empty bottle toward his head." It missed, and "the Quiet Man" of the Brooklyn Dodgers lived to play in their last games and to win an impossible national championship as the manager of the New York Mets.

More than anything else, I would wait for him to tell those stories about the Brooklyn Dodgers, whom he covered for eight years in his twenties, and whose last two splendid but twilit seasons will for me always be represented by his resonant and literate sentences.

Near the end of 1956 the Dodgers brought up promising, power-hitting outfielder with the evocative name of Don Demeter. He had only three at-bats for Brooklyn, but one of them I watched on an black-and-white Olympic-TV screen, and I can still see the ball flying toward the left-field wall of Ebbets Field, and hear the words in which Scully declared a historic moment:

"And the kid has hit one!"

Demeter was 21. Scully was 28. I was seven.

It shouldn't have surprised me, then, that when, during one of those CBS Word Series broadcasts Vin mentioned Ebbets Field, paused, and parenthetically inserted "dear old Ebbets Field," I nearly began to cry - the way that a college teacher of mine once told me he "wanted to weep" each time that Holden Caulfield mentioned "old Phoebe," his little sister,

I 've been told by people who've known him that Vin Scully is a very nice and even modest man, who, for all the years spent in the fishbowl of broadcasting, has tried to guard his privacy and remained reticent about the events of his life, including his spot in the middle of the most wrenching event in the history of American sports, the Dodgers' once unimaginable abandonment of Brooklyn. This spring Curt Smith, a onetime presidential speechwriter who has fashioned a second career writing about baseball and its broadcasters, published a biography of Scully in which its subject had no participation or interest. There are things in this book, aptly titled Pull Up a Chair for Scully's characteristic first-inning suggestion, that I have learned elsewhere and written about in my own recent book: that Vin came of age in Manhattan's Washington Heights, played centerfield at Fordham, was hired by the august Red Barber to air college football, then Brooklyn baseball in a ballpark that he had never seen. But, myself the son of Irish immigrants to New York, I did not know and was intrigued to find out that his mother and father had come together out of County Cavan, that Vincent, his father, had died when the boy was five, and that Bridget, his mother, had afterward sailed with her child back to the old country. And I was reminded, self-indulgent though it may seem, how thoroughly Irish a man is Vin Scully in every feature of his ruddy face, in every word on his descriptive tongue, in every narrative and witty turn of his discourse, in his fondness for poetry and, away from the ballpark, his constant readiness to sing a song. And of course, being Irish, he is reluctant to talk about his personal past, especially the chapters darkened by deep sadness, or, God help us, by any tint of shame.

Vin Scully, if he is as decent a man as I think he is, must know that the Dodgers' flight from Brooklyn for 300 acres of central Los Angeles was a shameful maneuver. He must know this although he has basked for half a century in the western sun, embraced and been embraced by the California Southland, become, in fact, one of the most popular personalities who ever lived there. Yet I don't believe that he has ever said a public word acknowledging that shame. This is not to say that it was his. He has always said that he was glad to keep his job, albeit a continent away from all, except for that stint in Cavan, that he had ever known. I do remember once, in a conversation with the New York radio host Jonathan Schwartz, his reference to the emotional difficulty of the move. I liked that fine, but waited in vain for him to offer some further, heartfelt commentary to his New York audience.

The shame was mainly Walter O'Malley's, probably the only owner in sports ambitious, duplicitous and greedy enough to uproot the most financially successful franchise in his game. It is not for any man to deny any other man his friends, and Walter O'Malley was more than a friend to Vin Scully. He was, like his actual stepfather, like Red Barber - Scully said so -- a surrogate father to him. Vin apparently loved him, and love has its own rules. And it is not Irish, except maybe for the Playboy of the Western World, to attack your own Da. O'Malley's own father was a ruthless crook, but the son remained close to him while he lived and afterward spoke of him with affection.

Walter, for all his well-rehearsed blather, was not a full-blooded Irishman, nor was he, as he liked to call himself, "a Brooklyn man." Scully is the first but not the latter. Both had grown up in other boroughs rooting for the Giants, and, as near as I can tell, Vin never lived in Brooklyn. (O'Malley did.). He had not even visited the borough before 1950, and, sincere and gracious as the memories he expresses may be, it would not surprise me to find that his not set a foot here since 1957. To him the Brooklyn Dodgers are a lovely toy to play with in his memory, an historical artifact owned and coddled by the Dodgers of Los Angeles, not a lost and irreplaceable experience, as they are to their old devotees who may live anywhere but are rooted in Brooklyn.

Lately, to my amazement, I have found Vin Scully's voice, lovely still but flatter, more perfunctory now, on the internet. I will keep on listening, and wish that once, before he calls his last pitch, he will hear the better angels of his Irish nature, and say to Brooklyn, "I know that what the Dodgers did to you was awful, and I'm sorry for your trouble."

Real IRA Leader's Brother, Michael Campbell, Arrested In Arms Sting

2009-08-18T12:11:33Z

A brother of one of the men blamed for the Omagh bomb atrocity paid €10,000 (£8,600) to arm the Real IRA with guns and explosives from Lithuania, a court heard today.

Dan Persons: Mighty Movie Podcast: Have You Hugged Your Cadaver Today? Glenn McQuaid on I Sell the Dead

2009-08-14T21:56:20Z

Thank you, Glenn McQuaid, for letting us laugh at the desecration of holy ground again.

Shot on a tight budget, with New York City -- mostly Staten Island -- standing in for the British Isles in the nineteenth century, I Sell the Dead has pretty much nothing going for it except a neat cast, plus the visual inventiveness and sheer, audacious wit of its director, Mr. McQuaid. Fortunately, that's more than enough.

Essentially a depiction of what would happen if Laurel and Hardy had to stoop to a less-savory profession to make their living, the film tells the tale of Arthur Blake (Lost's Dominic Monaghan) and Willie Grimes (Larry Fessenden, better known as the director of such films as Wendigo), two legendary grave robbers who specialize in the acquisition and redistribution of, shall we say, product that is very dead yet also quite animated.

Yup, not satisfied merely with portraying the finer points of digging up cadavers, McQuaid rallies zombies, vampires, and a few other creatures brought in from way left field to his cause, and throws in Ron Perlman as an inquisitive priest and Angus Scrimm as, what else, a big, scary guy. Granted, there's not much in the way of a strong, narrative through-line here -- watching the film, you'll well understand how, at one point in its voyage to the screen, the script became a comic book -- but I Sell the Dead's approach is so infectious that you can't help but relish every last, silly, episodic minute of it.

Click on the player below to hear my interview with McQuaid.

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Check out the Mighty Movie Podcast homepage.

Ireland: Catholic Child Abuse Reports In Future May Be Censored

2009-07-31T13:26:49Z

DUBLIN — Ireland's next report into the cover-up of child abuse in the Catholic Church might be censored or delayed because its publication could undermine prosecutors' efforts to imprison pedophile priests, Justice Minister Dermot Ahern announced Friday.

Ahern said he wants to publish the report into three decades of abuse cases in Dublin's archdiocese "with all possible speed" – but not if this would allow priests responsible for "horrific acts of depravity" to escape justice.