Mike Houlihan: One of Our Own - In Praise of Paul Ryan

 

Written by Mike Houlihan
Special to The Irish American News

Most Irish Americans are skeptical of President Obama’s supposed discovery of his Irish roots. That pint of Guinness he was seen hoisting in Ireland last year was no doubt his first. The real reason he made the trip to the tiny village of Moneygall was a craven attempt to cozy up to the Irish American vote.
We’re also not buying Vice-President Joe Biden’s claims to be “Irish Catholic”. This chuckling buffoon is no more Catholic than Ian Paisley, but he still clings to the oxymoronic label of “pro-choice Catholic” like his pals Nancy Pelosi, Dick Durbin, and the late Teddy Kennedy. Actual Irish Catholics find an absurdity in the very idea of pro-choice Catholics. They may call themselves that, but the actual species does not exist. Ask the Pope.
The liberal media has done its best lately to malign the Irish Catholic credentials of Vice-Presidential candidate Paul Ryan. But according to Rick Barrett, retired DEA Agent and Chicago history detective, Ryan is the most Irish of the four candidates running, and his heritage and religion make him “the real deal”- an Irishman.
Barrett’s previous investigative research projects are celebrated in the Irish American community. His work is notable because of his discovery of Irish immigrants as historic figures and then championing these individuals as pioneers in law enforcement, including The Chicago Police Department’s Constable Jeremiah Sullivan, the first Irishman to become a policeman in America; Marie Connelly Owens, the first policewoman in the USA; and Constable James Quinn, the first Chicago Police Officer killed in the line of duty.
The son of legendary Chicago police Lieutenant "Junior" Barrett, of 48th & Wabash-Southside of Chicago fame, Rick Barrett has a history himself of conducting criminal investigations and evidentiary historical research that bloodhounds would envy.
Among Barrett’s discoveries is the heritage of VP Candidate Paul Ryan:
Ryan is fourth-generation Irish, with a paternal line going back to Ullard in County Kilkenny.
Ryan’s people were farmers. His great-great grandparents came from a small townland registered as Clohasty in the 1820's, but now referred to as Cloghasty North. The townland itself was less than 110 acres.
James Ryan and Catherine Shea, Paul Ryan’s great-great grandparents, were married in the local Catholic parish of Graigeunamanagh.
Their first daughter, Ryan’s great-grand aunt, was born and baptized in the same parish in 1849, two years before the family emigrated.
So why is any of this important to the upcoming election? Because Irish Catholics tend to vote for their own. The best example of that is the late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley getting the vote out for a young man named Jack Kennedy in 1960 and winning him the election.
Ryan’s Irish roots could help determine how the battleground state of Ohio votes in the upcoming election.
Barrett says, “There are many Irish Catholics residing in the state of Ohio. In fact, there are so many Irish Catholics living there that, years ago, the University of Notre Dame, home of the ‘Fighting Irish', made an agreement with the Ohio State University to never schedule a regular season football game between the two universities. Why would that be? Because neither Notre Dame nor OSU wanted to divide the state’s Irish Catholics—a game between these two universities would divide Ohio with some cheering for the Irish Catholic ND, thereby dividing Ohioans. Two of Paul Ryan’s brothers, Stan and Tobin, graduated from Notre Dame while Paul chose to attend Miami University in Ohio.”
Paul Ryan’s Irish Catholic bona fides, as a Pro-Life candidate and with ancestors going back to Graiguenamanagh in County Kilkenny, could potentially sway Irish Catholic voters in Ohio to “stick with their own”, and very well swing the election to give the Republicans the victory on November 6th.
And that night in Boston might be when Paul Ryan stands before the cheering crowds of Irish Catholics and tells them, “There are only two kinds of people in this world ‘Irish and I-Wish”!

Hailing Over the Stream - A Brunette Quearies a Blonde

Dennis O'Mullally's History of O'Mullally and Lally Clan, or The history of an Irish family through the ages intertwined with that of the Irish nation,^{[2][not in citation given]} wherein the author points to the Fir Bolg as "the aboriginal people of Ireland, smaller in stature than the Gaels, with jet-black hair and dark eyes, contrasting with unusually white skin".

O my Dark Rosaleen, Do no sigh, do not weep! The priests are on the ocean green, They march along the Deep. There's wine . . . from the royal Pope Upon the ocean green; And Spanish ale shall give you hope, My Dark Rosaleen! My own Rosaleen! Shall glad your heart, shall give you hope, Shall give you health, and help, and hope, My Dark Rosaleen. James Clarence Mangan

A brunette standing on the shores of the river Shannon yells at the blonde on the opposite shore "How do I get to the other side please"

The blonde yells back "You are already on the other side!" 

Thus, it is so.

H.T. Max Weismann of The Center for the Study of Great Ideas

http://143.239.128.67/celt/published/E840000-001/text001.html

"@#$% Me, Ye, Shower of Bastards!" A Blasphemy Bill - Ireland's PC Idiocy Attempts to Kill Language

My grandfather, a genuine Bogman from Crinna Hill, Castleisland in the Kingdom of Kerry, could blaspheme uninterrupted and without repeating himself employing a Gordian Knot of profanities, scatological, pornographic and epicly laced nouns, verbs, abverbs and adjectives that could shatter the teeth of a Dutchman.

Larry Hickey would walk Shep his mongrel mix of matted-haired fanged menace along the railroad tracks around 75th Place and Ashland, dragging the black/brown/yellow massive mutt with applications of broom handle for direction and darts ofvillainous language much more 'hurtful' as PC Cupcakes are wont to say. PETA would have loved Lawrence!

"Christ, Jeezus Almighty! Shtop, So! Godammit you rare 'Hoor of a frothy Bitch's welp! . . . & etc. only louder!" Much to the amusement and edification of urchins playing along the tracks at Marshfield.

Grandpa Hickey was a howling Modern Language Association Convention encorpified and a blazing tutorial on blasphemously charged imprecations and maledictions on two legs. I received a Four-letter Degree, along with my sixty-plus 1st cousins, well before the Sisters of Mercy taught me phonics and catechism.

Language is the sacrament of the Irish.

Now, due to PC-idiocy and membership in the European Union, Ireland is being coerced into dumb-down its once high-standards for licentious language:

A NEW crime of blasphemous libel is to be proposed by the Minister for Justice in an amendment to the Defamation Bill, which will be discussed by the Oireachtas committee on justice today.

At the moment there is no crime of blasphemy on the statute books, though it is prohibited by the Constitution.

Article 40 of the Constitution, guaranteeing freedom of speech, qualifies it by stating: “The State shall endeavour to ensure that organs of public opinion, such as the radio, the press, the cinema, while preserving their rightful liberty of expression, including criticism of Government policy, shall not be used to undermine public order or morality or the authority of the State.

“The publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious, or indecent material is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law.”

Last year the Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution, under the chairmanship of Fianna Fáil TD Seán Ardagh, recommended amending this Article to remove all references to sedition and blasphemy, and redrafting the Article along the lines of article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which deals with freedom of expression.

The prohibition on blasphemy dates back to English law aimed at protecting the established church, the Church of England, from attack. It has been used relatively recently to prosecute satirical publications in the UK.

In the only Irish case taken under this article, Corway -v- Independent Newspapers, in 1999, the Supreme Court concluded that it was impossible to say “of what the offence of blasphemy consists”.

It also stated that a special protection for Christianity was incompatible with the religious equality provisions of Article 44.

Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern proposes to insert a new section into the Defamation Bill, stating: “A person who publishes or utters blasphemous matter shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable upon conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €100,000.”

“Blasphemous matter” is defined as matter “that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion; and he or she intends, by the publication of the matter concerned, to cause such outrage.”

Where a person is convicted of an offence under this section, the court may issue a warrant authorising the Garda Síochána to enter, if necessary using reasonable force, a premises where the member of the force has reasonable grounds for believing there are copies of the blasphemous statements in order to seize them.

Labour spokesman on justice Pat Rabbitte is proposing an amendment to this section which would reduce the maximum fine to €1,000 and exclude from the definition of blasphemy any matter that had any literary, artistic, social or academic merit.

I am not an ordinary playwright in general practice. I am a specialist in immoral and heretical plays. My reputation has been gained by my persistent struggle to force the public to reconsider its morals.” George Bernard Shaw, 1909

“No nation can prosper or even continue to exist without heretics and advocates of shockingly immoral doctrines.” George Bernard Shaw, 1909

“The blasphemy laws are the legal protection of nonsense. Why is there not an equivalent of the blasphemy laws for science? The reason is that science can take any criticism leveled against it.” Nick Harding, 2007

“To criticise people for their race is manifestly irrational, but to criticise their religion is surely a right. The freedom to criticise or ridicule ideas – even if they are sincerely held beliefs – is a fundamental freedom.” Stephen King, Irish Examiner, 2009

“With one satiric touch Ahern has honoured the memory of Shaw, Yeats and Gregory and reminded us that blasphemy laws exist to protect, not religions, but bigots. For his next trick, he will mark the Darwin bicentenary by threatening to make creationism compulsory.” Fintan O’Toole, Irish Times, 2009

“I want everybody to realise what this Constitution states about authority… What we have here is clear at any rate - that authority is from God. That is fundamental Catholic doctrine, and it is here. It is true doctrine.” Eamon de Valera, 1937


So, I'm in Keegan's Pub on Western Ave.one night when the Salt Water Irish thicken up the south end of the bar and Eugenious Callahan makes a play for Aidan McKenna's sister - a Mickey Dodger with the Ursalines and after a few scoops of Guinness together she starts rubbin on Owenie a complete Guillermo, when McKenna admonishes -"You clatty pr*ck. I told you she had herpes. I'm pretty sure they're doing a line alright. There was f*ckin' gee juice and pubes all over the kitchen table this mornin'."
"
Eugenious protests "Jaysus, She's Nun! A Mickey Dodger! Feck Sake, your talking bollicks ,Man!"

McKenna opines,""Bit of advice, son. Don't ever tell a woman she's a stupid, fat cow with the personality of a f*cking toothpick and a face like a bag of spanners. I haven't got my oats off your mother in three f*cking weeks. The disagreeable b*tch."

Language! The Lubrication of Love, Liberty and Laughter!

http://www.irishslang.net/

Black Irish History Month?

Now, that I have your attention* Gents!

Black Irish - usually means Irish Catholic people with black, raven or very dark brown hair to go along with the traditional 'see-through'- Irish skin - the Whiter Shade of Pale as it were.

My Dad is Black Irish. He tans up a storm even at 86. One time, he was chased out of Turkey Bird Saloon(Salt-water Irish,Raw Jaws, Boys from Home, F.B.I. -Foreign Born Irish) and not for being a Narrow Back ( Narra' Back -American Irish - Probably Hanley's House of Happiness, though that too would have entered into 'the equation' on 79th Street Just East of Ashland in 1947.


My Dad was given a hard time and the door, because some of the Lads thought -'What's this little Dago doing in our saloon?' The Old Man is a hard character (Pacific Campaign in the War: 1943-'45 and all) but he always deferred to the rage and the talents of the aboriginal Irish when it came time to giving a gent the boots.

He was so dark that he was taken for an Italian. The Black Irish faced hurtful moments - pain and oppression.

Movie Star Tyrone Power comes to mind as being Black Irish. Actors Gabriel Byrne and Scottish born Mick Sean Connery come to mind as well.

There are people of mixed race African and Irish blood in the West Indies and Africa.


Many historians including Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay 1800-1859 who thought the Black Irish to be descended from Miles Hispaniae - Spanish Soldiers who are often called the roots of Black Irish Hair.


However here is a pretty good and scholarly explanation from the Site Dark Fiber.

According to rumors and legends, these Black Irish are the descendants of a few surviving ill-fated Spanish sailors who sailed with the Felícima Armada from Spain to invade England but were ultimately shipwrecked on the northern and western coasts of Ireland in the autumn of 1588. A very small number of the more than seven hundred Spanish men who made it alive to the Irish coast survived, and a few of those who did allegedly became intimate with enough Irish women so as to engender a new inter-racial (Hibernian-Iberian) strain of progeny whose "dark hair and eyes and soft brown Southern skin testifies to its remote Spanish ancestry."(4)

This story has been retold by a number of Irish and Irish-Americans of this decade by way of explaining their own "dark hair and eyes" -- although from personal experience these facial characteristics have never been matched by a "brown Southern skin." No folk or scholastic literature (to the best of my knowledge) exists to verify this Hispanic ancestry and, indeed, it is doubted whether there is any proof at all to the claims of Spanish blood in Irish veins. Without written historical authentication of these beliefs, the story has been relegated to a strictly oral tradition, bar the few variants that are cited below.

The four following variants are the sum total of referents found regarding connubial Spanish-Irish relations in reference to the Armada's descent of 1588. It should be noted that all four come from 20th century sources.


Variant one: Anyone who goes along the coast of Ireland and along the Devonshire (SW England) coast will in one locality after another find that the inhabitants of this or that village are asserted to be descendants of the men from the Armada wrecked upon their coast; that the dark complexion of the population is owing to the fact that a number of men of the Armada settled and married in that part of the district.
-- Major Martin Hume, The Geographical Journal, XXVII: 5 (London, may 1906) p 448
Variant two: A few others [i.e., Spanish survivors of the shipwrecked Armada] escaped. There were other Irish girls who pitied them and took them home and forgot that they were enemies; so that even now on that coast a child is occasionally born whose dark hair and eyes and soft brown Southern skin testifies to its remote Spanish ancestry.
-- Lorna Rea, The Spanish Armada (New York 1933) p 160

Variant three: The belief that men of Spanish appearance in County Galway [W Ireland] may be descendants of men who came ashore from the ships of the Armada and inter-married with the Irish...
-- T.P. Kilfeather, Ireland: graveyard of the Spanish Armada (Dublin 1967) p 63

Variant four: When she discovered that I was living in Spain, she -- an Irish-American -- remarked that she herself had Spanish blood in her veins. Asked to explain further, she replied that her family had always said that she was "Black Irish" to explain her dark brown hair, eyes, and personal like of Spain, and that these features were inherited from a Spanish forebear who had sailed with the Armada, been shipwrecked, and later married into her ancestral Irish family.
-- personal account of a conversation with Mary Jean Goodman,
an Irish-American born in Minnesota (St. Paul 1978)

* Red Headed Eddie Carroll - The SouthSide Roofer with Old World Quality, Standards and Work-force - said that 'He would poke at her in fun.' Damn white of you, Eddie!