Irish Citizens Repay A 173 Year-Old Debt

The Irish have a long memory for those who help them. The following is part of an article by Alyssa Newcomb at NBC News.

It was a gesture born of suffering and kindness carried over generations.

In 1847, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma sent $170 to Ireland during the Great Famine — a time of mass starvation on the island. More than 170 years later, Ireland has returned the favor, helping to raise more than $2 million for the Navajo and Hopi nations, which have been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Donors said they felt like it was a chance to pay the good deed forward.

“I saw that Irish people were starting to donate and share the story of Choctaw Nation and the historical symmetry really affected me," said Paul Hayes, a native of Tipperary, Ireland, who runs Beachhut, a technology public relations firm said in an email. "Sending the actual amount of $170 personally after 170 or so years felt like the right tribute across the ages."

The Navajo Nation reported more than 2,700 coronavirus cases and 70 deaths as of Monday, a rate of infection that makes it one of the worst outbreaks in the United States. . . .

The sentiment runs deep in Ireland where the memory of the Great Potato Famine — which claimed more than one million lives by the time it ended in 1852 — endures to this day. And that’s why strangers were inspired to make a symbolic gesture of goodwill toward people living across an ocean, 5,000 miles away. The donations sent on GoFundMe include messages of hope and gratitude from people in Ireland.

"The care shown generations ago was not and will not be forgotten," said Jonathan Legge, CEO of &Open, a bespoke gift-giving company based in Dublin.

“An overdue debt repaid on behalf of our ancestors to your ancestors. Stay strong,” read a note attached to one $30 donation.

“I am currently unemployed so I'm sorry that my donation is not more, but I hope that this little contribution will make some positive difference in the same way those donations 173 years ago were sent with the same hope for ancestors of mine,” another donor who gave $10 said on the website. “I stand in solidarity with my Native American brothers and sisters during this time of crisis and send this message with love, respect and hope for the future.”

When the Choctaw Nation paid it forward all those years ago, it was empathizing with Ireland’s plight based on its own experience. During the 1830s, 60,000 Native Americans had been forced by the federal government to relocate from their ancestral lands and move west on what is now known as the Trail of Tears. Thousands of people died during the devastating trek.

In 2017, Ireland honored the Choctaw Nation with a sculpture of nine stainless steel eagle feathers stretching 23 feet high. The next year, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar visited the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma.

Chief Gary Batton of the Choctaw Nation said adversity can “bring out the best in people” and said he’s happy to see his ancestors’ generosity inspiring donations to other Native American tribes.

“We are gratified, and perhaps not at all surprised, to learn of the assistance our special friends, the Irish, are giving to the Navajo and Hopi nations. Our word for their selfless act is ‘iyyikowa’ — it means serving those in need,” Batton said in an email. “We have become kindred spirits with the Irish in the years since the Irish Potato Famine. We hope the Irish, Navajo and Hopi peoples develop lasting friendships, as we have. Sharing our cultures makes the world grow smaller.”

The donations are being used to buy critical supplies, including food and personal protective equipment.

Trump Wimps Out - Cancels His Visit To Ireland

Ireland and the United States have always been close. That's not surprising, since millions of Americans can trace their heritage back to the Emerald Isle. But there are limits to that friendship, and that limit was reached for the Irish when they learned Donald Trump was planning to visit their country.

Trump is planning to visit France for Armistice Day (November 11th), and the White House had announced that Trump would stop in Ireland either before or after the French visit. He was going to talk with the Irish leader and then go to the gold course he owns in that country.

Upon learning of Trump's impending visit, the Irish began planning demonstrations to show him their dislike. And since the Irish are not known for hiding their feelings, I think their demonstrations would have made those in London look rather tame. If Trump was upset because the English demonstrations made him feel unwelcome, he would have stroked out over his Irish "welcome".

It looks like Trump heard about what the Irish citizens were planning, because he has now cancelled the visit to Ireland. He will still be going to France, but will not now be stopping in Ireland. To be blunt -- the Orange Coward wimped out.

Erin go Bragh!

Irish Public Votes 2 to 1 To Allow Abortion In Ireland

(Graphic is from The Irish Times.)

Ireland is a very Catholic country, and the Catholic church has always had considerable influence on what happens in that country. That is undoubtably why the country had an amendment to their constitution that gave unborn fetuses the same rights as women (the 8th Amendment). That amendment effectively outlawed all abortions in the country, and forced Irish women to travel to the United Kingdom to get an abortion.

But Ireland is changing. There were forces wanting to give Irish women control over their own bodies, and give them the choice of whether to have an abortion or not. But the first step had to be removal of that 8th Amendment to the Constitution. Last week, a referendum was held on removing that amendment.

The vote was overwhelming in favor of giving Irish women a choice -- the ability to control their own bodies. A whopping 1,429,981 people voted to remove the amendment, while only 723,632 voted to keep the amendment. That's 66.4% voting for choice and 33.6% voting against it -- about a 2 to 1 advantage.

There is now a bill being prepared in Ireland's legislative body, and by the end of this year, Irish women could have the right to choose.

 Éirinn go Brách!

Ireland Votes To Legalize Same-Sex Marriages

This is a big deal. Only about 22 years after legalizing homosexuality in Ireland, the voters of that country voted to also legalize same-sex marriages. And it wasn't a close vote either. Those voting to allow same-sex marriages scored a big victory.

YES (62.1%) 1,201,607 votes
NO (37.9%) 734,300 votes

I am happy for the gay/lesbian couples in Ireland, and proud of the Irish people -- and I have to admit it makes me a little prouder of my own Irish heritage. What they actually did was vote to amend their constitution. As amended, Article 41 of their 1937 Constitution now reads "Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex.".

Having said that, I must also say that I am glad our own constitution cannot be amended that easily. Anything that can be accomplished with a majority vote, can be overturned by a future majority vote. And I believe constitutional rights are too important to be subjected to a majority vote. Rights should never be subject to the whims of a majority of voters.

Fortunately, it is a much more difficult process to amend the U.S. Constitution -- and that's a good thing, because it protects those rights contained in that constitution. I believe same-sex marriages will be legal throughout the United States very soon, and that will happen as a defense of constitutional rights -- not an amendment to those rights.

I say this because of two reasons. First, the Supreme Court, in the Loving decision, has already declared marriage to be a constitutional right. Second, the Fourteenth Amendment establishes clearly that all citizens are guaranteed the same rights under the law. If marriage is a right, as the court has ruled, then bans against marriages by same-sex couples cannot be constitutional. The LGBT community deserves the same rights as all other American citizens.

Pope Has No Problem With Hypocrisy

Well, the current Pope of the Catholic Church has demonstrated that one of his most cherished values is hypocrisy. He has just sent a letter to Irish Catholics apologizing to the people there for the way the Irish church mishandled and covered up cases of child abuse by priests in that country.

Of course he doesn't apologize for any culpability the Vatican had in the many cover-ups, and he also hasn't asked for the removal of those who covered up the dastardly crimes. He couldn't really do that without tendering his own resignation, since he was also guilty of covering up the same kind of crimes against children while an Archbishop in Germany.

While he was an Archbishop, it came to light that at least one priest in his diocese had been sexually abusing children. He did not report this to authorities. Instead, he covered it up and transferred the priest to Munich for therapy, and allowed him to go on having contact with innocent children. Just a few years later, that priest was discovered to again have been sexually abusing children.

The Pope must assume responsibility for the sex crimes committed against these German children. If he had acted appropriately when he first learned of the priest's pedophilia, the later sex crimes could (and should) have been prevented.

I just have one question. When is the Pope going to apologize for his own grievous sins -- of covering up the sex abuse of children and allowing the abuse to continue? Considering his own involvement in these crimes, wasn't the apology to the Irish people more than a little hypocritical?

Irish Atheists Fight New Blasphemy Law

On January 1st, a new law took effect in Ireland -- the so-called "Blasphemy Law". This law makes it a criminal offense to make blasphemous statements regarding any religion. The penalty for this blasphemy is a fine of up to 25,000 euros (or about $35,000 in U.S. currency). The government said the new law was needed because the Irish Constitution only protected christianity from blasphemy.

Obviously, Ireland is not big on "free speech" -- at least as far as religion is concerned. This law would be considered to be an unconstitutional violation of free speech here in the United States, and that's just how Irish atheists believe it should be in Ireland. This law could criminalize all Irish atheists for just stating their sincerely held beliefs, while the religious folks could say anything at all about atheism (no matter how mean, nasty or untrue their words were).

This really stacks the table against free thought and for religion. But the Irish atheists are already taking the first steps in fighting this new and unfair law. Atheist Ireland chairman Michael Nugent says, "This new law is both silly and dangerous. It is silly because medieval religious laws have no place in a modern secular republic, where the criminal law should protect people and not ideas."

Now some of you may think that as an American, I really don't have a dog in this fight. I disagree. As you can probably tell by my last name, my ancestry is mostly Irish (with a dash of Scot and Dutch thrown in). I have always been proud of that because those ancestors have never bent their knee to tyranny.

The Irish fought for many centuries for freedom and self-determination for their people, and many brave Irishmen gave their lives for this cause. How is it then that they now seek to criminalize and subjugate the beliefs of many of their own citizens? Are their religions really so weak that they cannot withstand the verbal and written words of honest Irishmen? Isn't this just religious tyranny?

But there are still Irishmen who believe all Irishmen should have the right to say what they wish. The Irish atheists are fighting back. On the first day the new law went into effect, Atheist Ireland posted 25 blasphemous quotations on their website. The quotations are from famous people and "blaspheme" several religions (christianity, judaism, islam, buddhism) and religion in general.

Actually it is only 24 "blasphemous" quotations, since one of the 25 actually denigrates atheism. They wanted to show their belief that all ideas should be subject to scrutiny and free speech -- even their own.

They are, in effect, daring the government to arrest and charge them with blasphemy. And if this happens, they promise to fight it in the courts in the hope of getting the ridiculous law overturned. They are also scheduling public meetings across the country, where I'm sure they will be issuing more "blasphemous" statements.

I commend these brave Irishmen and wish them success in their endeavor. To see all of the 25 published statements, go to the site of Atheist Ireland. I am only printing one of the statements here because it is one of my favorite quotes -- from the entertainer, atheist and Irish-American George Carlin, who said,

"Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told. Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything that you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time! But he loves you. He loves you, and he needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can't handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now talk about a good bullshit story. Holy Shit!"

(Photo above of Ireland is from PD Photo.)

The Easter Rebellion

In honor of my Irish heritage on this Saint Paddy's Day, I've decided to highlight one of the most important moments in modern Irish history -- the Easter Rebellion.

On April 24, 1916, teacher and barrister Patrick Pearse (above right) stood on the steps of the Dublin General Post Office and read aloud a proclamation declaring the existence of a free Irish Republic. Pearse was also commander-in-chief of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He was accompanied on that day by armed volunteers from the IRB.

Pearse was also joined by James Connolly (above left) and his Irish Citizen Army. The ICA was a group of socialist trade-unionists who had armed themselves to protect union members from the police.

A third group also joined the rebellion -- Cumann na mBan. This was a group of women who had formed to fight for Irish independence. But these women didn't just make coffee and nurse the wounded -- they were armed and fought alongside the men in the other groups (about 200 of them).

Make no mistake, this was not just a group making a political statement. They were staging an armed rebellion, and hoped it would spread across the country and drive the British out.

They seized much of Dublin, and held it for several days. But the English received reinforcements, and were able to quash the rebellion on April 30, 1916. But it took about 16,000 British troops and 1,000 police to defeat the 1,450 members of the rebellion. The British Army had 116 dead, 368 wounded and 9 missing. The police had 16 killed and 29 wounded.

There were 318 Irish killed and 2,217 wounded (many of them civilians). Pearse and 15 other leaders of the rebellion were captured and executed by the British. Connolly had been wounded, so he was tied to a chair and executed.

Although the rebellion was not successful on its own, it did start a countrywide armed rebellion and turned much of the world against the British occupation. This resulted in the creation of the Republic of Ireland a few years later.

Today, Pearse, Connolly and the other rebels are considered Irish heroes and martyrs.