Billy the Kid's Irish mother would welcome his pardon

The news that the governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson may be about to finally pardon Billy the Kid brings to a close a major chapter in Irish American history as well

When Pat Garrett finally tracked down and killed Billy the Kid in 181 a subtext of the killing was the Irish identity of the two famous protagonists.

Pat Garrett was the grandson of Irish immigrants while Billy the Kid was really William McCarty, both of whose parents came from Ireland.

As Wikipedia notes Little is known about McCarty's origins, but many reputable scholars of western history "contend that he was born on the eve of the Civil War in the bowels of an Irish neighborhood in New York City at 70 Allen Street)."

While his biological father remains an obscure figure, some researchers have theorized that his name was Patrick McCarty, Michael McCarty, William McCarty, or Edward McCarty.

There is clear evidence that his mother's name was Catherine McCarty, although "there have been continuing debates about whether McCarty was her maiden or married name".

The most reputable accounts say , McCarty was born as William Henry McCarty, Jr., but his mother preferred to call him "Henry" because she did not wish him to be known as "junior".

It is generally believed that McCarty's mother was a survivor of the Great Irish Famine of the mid-19th century.

By 1870 Catherine McCarty had moved with her two young sons, Henry and Joseph, to Indianapolis, Indiana.

There, she met William Antrim, who was 12 years her junior.[13] In 1873, after several years of moving around the country, the two were married at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and settled further south in Silver City.

Antrim found sporadic work as a bartender and carpenter but soon became more interested in prospecting and gambling for fortune than in his wife and stepsons. Nevertheless, young McCarty often used the surname "Antrim" when referring to himself.

McCarty's mother reportedly washed clothes, baked pies, and took in boarders in order to provide for her sons. Although she was fondly remembered by onetime boarders and neighbors as "a jolly Irish lady, full of life and mischief", she was already in the final stages of tuberculosis when the family reached Silver City.

The following year, on September 16, 1874, Catherine McCarty died; she was buried in the Memory Lane Cemetery in Silver City.

She never lived to see her son become the best known outlaw in the West and a legendary figure in American history,one who has been wronged by that same history and is now , hopefully, about to finally receive a pardon

Notorious H Blocks will become peace center

The Maze prison, site of the H blocks,where the IRA hunger strikes of 1981 occurred, is to become a global conflict resolution center the Northern Ireland government has announced.

Ten IRA members, most notably Bobby Sands,(pictured above)starved themselves to death amid massive world-wide reaction in 1981.

In its' heyday the H Blocks housed hundreds of the most wanted men from both sides in the Northern conflict.

Deputy first minister Martin McGuinness announced that he and first minister Peter Robinson had finally agreed on what to do with the 360-acre site outside Belfast of the former prison.

McGuinness said "The Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister will shortly submit an EU funding application for a Peace Building and Conflict Resolution Facility on the site.

"It is anticipated that the centre will be a world class facility of international importance designed to strengthen our peace building expertise and to share our experiences with others throughout the world,"


Robinson said: "The site, which is some 360 acres, could potentially create some 6,000 jobs, securing the construction industry in Northern Ireland for years to come."

The agreement on the Maze's future comes after over a decade of disagreement between both sides on what to do with The Maze.

U.S. and President Obama must get out of Vietghanistan

Irish American navy officer Justin McNeeley, 30, of Wheatridge, Colo., was one of the most recent victims of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

He and Petty Officer 3rd Class Jarod Newlove, took a wrong run into Taliban territory and their bodies were discovered this week.

Two more fruitless death in a war that is resembling Vietnam more every day.

The comparisons are chilling:

U.S. troops are fighting in a country that has long defeated invaders (Vietnam, Afghanistan)

A corrupt regime, (South Vietnam, Karzai's government), is endeavoring to hang onto power while a powerful insurgency is taking over much of the country (Taliban, Viet Cong).

The United States is deeply involved in seeking to bolster up the corrupt government despite the loss of thousands of soldiers lives (Vietnam, Afghanistan)

Ranged against them are the secret armies of other governments, (China,Russian Pakistan), which are all deeply involved in ensuring that the U.S. gets a very bloody nose and is ultimately forced to leave.

The U.S is desperately trying to train up the local soldiers but they are hopelessly corrupt and shoddy (South Vietnam army, Karzai's men)

Meanwhile the debate back home has taken a quick turn for the worst with revelations that the U.S. are disguising civilian casualties and using deception about the war. (Pentagon Papers, Wikileaks)

An embattled Democratic president has a very tough choice to make --escalate or get out. (Lyndon Johnson, Barack Obama)

Here is where the comparison ends. Obama can save countless American soldier's lives and leave soon.

Johnson took the wrong option and it destroyed his presidency and deeply damaged his country.

It was interesting to watch Joe Biden on the 'Today Show' on Thursday defending the policy in Afghanistan.

Biden was the one who argued originally for far fewer troops and keeping the Taliban operations covered by drone attacks and special forces incursions.

He's looking more right than ever now, but is now forced to defend a new policy that looks, alas, far too much like the old policy.

Who would be in Obama's shoes? Gradually the reality will dawn that he has only one option.

Better to take it now than waste any more American lives.

Scots-Irish Senator Jim Webb playing tired old race card

Virginia Democratic Senator James Webb has been a long time defender of Scots Irish values, indeed, the most prominent advocate for their importance in American history.

His book "Born Fighting; How the Scot Irish has shaped America " was a cry from the heart to recognize what the mainly southern Americans of Irish heritage from Andrew Jackson and Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett on down have done to shape this great country.

I though Webb was on solid ground when discussing how the Scots Irish contribution had been effectively erased from most histories of the United States.

However, I find reason to strongly disagree with his latest tome, a lengthy op-ed article in the Wall Street Journal saying that those same Scots Irish, especially the poorer working class, were being discriminated against by affirmative action.

The piece was entitled, “Diversity and the Myth of White Privilege,” argued that affirmative action has resulted in favorable treatment for immigrants, Hispanic, Asians and Africans, who are not victims of discrimination.

The oppressed white male has become a clarion call for Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and other Fox News opinionators.

The story line is always to find some egregious violation of fair practice in the name of affirmative or gender action then blow it all incredibly out of proportion to make the entire concept seem like a terrible injustice.

I am surprised that Webb appears to be heading down the same route.

The New York Times added fuel to his argument when they showed recently that lower class students were far less likely to be admitted to Ivy League institutions than middle and upper classes.

The Times noted that an “upper-middle-class white applicant was three-times more likely to be admitted than a lower-class white with similar qualifications.”

That is a very valid rich white versus poor white issue, especially as the Times notes, many of the working class applicants were just as qualified.

But it is a long way from that assertion to saying that poor whites are discriminated against for the betterment of immigrants and others.

The facts don't lie.

As Charing Ball in the Atlanta Post newspaper noted, minority business owners in America represent less than eight per cent of the total businesses.

Whites represent 73 per cent of all college students far greater than their proportion of the population.

When it comes to poverty rolls 40 percent of American blacks, 31 percent of Hispanics and 13 percent of Asians, are living below the poverty line.

In hard times it is always a temptation to blame the other guy and believe he is getting a better deal.

The facts are different however. A leading senator like Jim Webb should know better than to throw fuel on the fire of the current hostility towards minorities and immigrants.

There is clearly a better way -- to work to raise all boats clear of this continuing economic storm.

Jim Webb is well capable of that better nature..

Irish Famine ship Jeanie Johnson will set sail again

The news that the Irish Famine ship the Jeanie Johnston will sail again brings back a flood of memories.

It will be made ready for the Tall Ships race in 2012 which stops in Ireland. It is currently a tourist attraction in Dublin harbor.

It sailed to America in 2003, a perfect replica of a ship of the same name which left Kerry on 16 trips to American during the Famine.

I went onboard the Jeanie Johnstone back in Dublin in 2003 before it left for America. The following are my impressions.

"You simply cannot board this ship without the ghosts of your past and ancestors becoming vividly alive. It is a humbling and emotional experience akin to walking around the hugely successful famine cottage recreation at the tip of Manhattan.

There were massive cost overruns on the creation of the Jeanie Johnston, and even government inquiries into exactly how it took so long and was so expensive to build. There were those who said it would never be finished, and even more who thought it shouldn’t be.

To many it became a white elephant, a great idea gone awry. They were gravely mistaken.

The Jeanie Johnston provides a missing link in the history of the millions of Irish coming to America. For the first time we Irish Americans can go on board a famine era ship and see, feel and hear the sounds of what that incredible voyage across the North Atlantic must have been like.

We are discovering the world of those who gave everything to come to America to begin the great trek which has now resulted in over 40 million of Irish descent in our land.

The Atlantic was known as the “bowl of tears” because of the number of famine wracked Irish who died on the trip and who never saw the Fresh Land, or Oilean Ur as they referred to it in Gaelic. Now you can see and understand what the seafarers faced when they boarded in their millions at Irish ports.

The original Jeanie Johnston made its maiden voyage on April 24, 1848, right at the height of the Famine. It made 16 voyages in all to North America and carried over 2,500 souls fleeing the famine.

The coffin ships took up to 40 days to reach their destinations in North America. It was a voyage for many similar to what African Americans faced aboard the slaving ships. African Americans came to America in chains, the Irish in coffin ships. No other ethnic groups can remotely compare with their experiences.

It is a humbling and dramatic experience to board the Jeanie Johnston, as I did this week in Dublin, and experience the wave of emotion that whips up in you when you encounter first hand what people faced.

Just a few hundred yards away from where the ship is docked, whether by accident or design, is the Dublin famine memorial, which depicts several painfully thin ghost like figures. One is carrying a sick child strapped across his back, another barely able to walk because of the hunger, making their way to a famine ship. You can see the masts of the Jeanie Johnston in the near distance and you can imagine from the depiction of these starving emigrants, just how awful an experience lay ahead of them.

Once on board the ship it is the steerage section, where they lay six four to a six-foot square bunk, with beds stacked on top of each other, which really hits home.

There is a record of a letter from a family who made it to America telling relatives who were coming over that they should try immediately to secure a top bunk when they boarded. The reasons were clear. Passengers were often violently seasick and if you were on the lower bunks you often suffered the consequences.

There are life-sized models of emigrants lying in the bunks. You see one family with the mother and father and two children lying between them crammed into the six-foot square space.

You see and hear the racking cough of a female emigrant, showing the first signs of cholera, as the ship’s doctor tries to tend to her. Mid 19th century medicine was no match, however, for such diseases which ran rampant through many ships.

The recreation of a family parting for the last time on the Quay in Tralee is also heart rending.

The full impact of what famine emigration meant hits home. Those on board would never return, dead or alive, unless they were incredibly lucky.

Parents, brothers, sisters, children were all saying goodbye to country kith and kin for the last time. They must have been very frightened.
Most were peasants who had grown up knowing nothing of the sea. Surprisingly, perhaps, the largest group was single women between 16 and 30 who were facing indescribably poverty and privations at home.

Entire families fleeing the famine also made up much of the passenger load. One can only imagine what the parents must have felt on first entering the dimly lit, stench filled hold.

For many the voyage must have been misery indeed. As the Jeanie Johnston shows there was no separation of the sexes, no privacy at all in the cramped holds, and always the fear of disease and death stalking the passengers.

How they all came up with the fare of 3 pounds and 10 shillings, a huge sum for the time, will always remain a mystery.

They must have sold everything but the scraps of clothes on their backs. They were required to bring their own food, as well as their own cooking utensils, but many were unable to do so.

As the Jeanie Johnston shows, there was just one stove for all the passengers who could number as many as 250. Mealtime was dependent on when they reached the stove — it could be as early as six in the morning or 11 at night.

In bad weather many families went hungry and were reduced to eating raw flower and meal. The ship carried a pittance of food for passengers.
Regulations called for 2 1/2 pounds of bread or biscuits a week, one pound of flour, five pounds of oatmeal and 21 quarts of water for the entire ship.

Toilets, of course, were non existent. Buckets were shared beneath deck and the contents thrown overboard. Once can only imagine the stench and the disease that inevitably followed.

There is every indication that the owners of the Jeanie Johnston were actually compassionate men for their time.

A ship’s doctor, Richard Blennerhassett, seems like a remarkable man who saved numerous lives onboard the ship.

. A testament to his ability is that not a single passenger of the 2,500 the Jeanie Johnston carried died on board the ship. Ironically, the doctor himself would succumb to cholera on another ship at the young age of 36 in 1854.

The original ship was reconstructed, using modern safety features, by Fred M. Walker, chief naval architect at the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich near London.

The ship had enormous problems, both financial and passing its sea trials.

Since it has arrived, however, it has become a major tourist attraction. On the day I visited hundreds of parents were showing their children around the ship and explaining to them about the Great Irish Famine. I cannot think of a greater gift to give a child, either in Ireland or America, than explaining the past in such a vivid way.

The story of the famine was buried, attempts made to forget about it many times since it occurred. Even for many of those who survived there was a sense of shame about what happened, and a refusal to face the consequences of the greatest population movement of the 19th century.

Today, however, as the Jeanie Johnston and the famine memorials all over the U.S. show, we are once again reclaiming that past, understanding it and passing our knowledge on to our children. The Jeanie Johnston will be a vital link in that chain.

We know why the famine tossed left Ireland and what they faced once they reached America’s shores. There are ample writing and historical tomes on the reasons behind emigration and the extraordinary ordeal the millions faced once they made it to the New World. Indeed Gangs of New York, the Martin Scorsese movie, is at heart a magnificent portrait of how the Irish overcame that extraordinary adversity and triumphed.

The Jeanie Johnston is a missing link we have all been waiting for, a treasure that illuminates one of the darkest chapters in any country’s history. We should be grateful it was built. Compared to green beer, tooraloora songs and 40 shades of green, it is as authentic a vision of old Ireland as exists."

Who killed Phoebe Prince? School ignored clear warning signs

The real villains in the Phoebe Prince suicide are not just be the kids who bullied her but the counselors who failed to act despite knowing her history, even the morning before she did the terrible act.

We now know that Phoebe Prince had a history of cutting herself when at school in Ireland, had a previous attempt at suicide and was clearly deeply depressed.

The bullying at school was certainly taking its toll and she had been cutting herself again.

Her mother Anne O’Brien had given an extensive history of Phoebe’s problems to school administrators.

Yet Eileen Kakley,one of the School Assistance team that helped troubled kids admitted to police that Phoebe Prince’s name had never surfaced when they discussed at risk kids that Fall or in the New Year term.

Principal Daniel Smith also admitted this and told Slate magazine that "Individual support was being provided to Phoebe by the counselor and the nurse. It was happening at that level."

But that same counselor and nurse failed Phoebe too.

On the morning that she died Phoebe, distraught by the bullying had cut herself again, jagged cuts that she was not able to conceal.

Counselor Sally Watson Menkel interviewed her but seemed to take no action other than telling Phoebe’s mother about “our medical and mental concerns,"

Here is a young kid abut to commit suicide that day and the one person who is trained to spot such imminent behavior completely misses the warning signs.

As Robert King, a professor of child psychiatry at Yale told Slate “Did the counselor ask if Phoebe was thinking of hurting herself? Did she ask to talk to Phoebe's therapist?”

The answer, incredibly seems to be no.

A young girl with a history of mental illness, a previous suicide attempt and a well known pattern of being bullied by as many as six people was allowed to walk away to her death.

That is the ultimate indictment of South Hadley High School and the administration there.

A warm welcome to David Cameron from Irish Americans

A warm welcome to David Cameron who makes his first U.S. visit as British Prime Minister today.

When was the last time an Irish American publication made a Tory Prime Minster of Britain felt welcome in America?

The short answer is never.

Indeed, Margaret Thatcher inspired tens of thousands of Irish Americans to take to the streets after the Hunger Strikes of 1981 when ten men died. It is a long way from her to David Cameron.

But Cameron is different and has engendered enormous good will among Irish Americans.

That is hardly surprising given his immediate apology and acceptance of the Bloody Sunday report into the shooting of 14 innocent civilians by British paratroopers.

That was a classy move, no mealy mouthed approach, no stumbling over the truth, just a straightforward and open and abject apology for what had happened.

Then last week his government named Derry as the British City of Culture for 2013. Again, a helping hand at a time when Northern Ireland desperately needs it.

So welcome David Cameron and enjoy your first American visit.

It is historic in many ways, but also for Irish Americans,who usually regard Tory leaders as next to Beelzebub.

Not on this occasion.

Galway festival shows Ireland at its best

I spent two hours or so last evening being interviewed at the Galway Arts Festival about my recent book 'An Irish Voice'

The interviewer Dave O'Connell, editor of the Galway Tribune, took me down memory lane as expertly as any guide to memories past could ever do.

About 200 or so showed up to hear my take on the Irish emigrant experience and the Irish American role in the peace process.

What struck me most was the number of young Americans who showed.

I can see why Galway in summer has become a favored destination for them.

This is a truly wonderful arts festival which showcases the best of Irish theater, music, authors, culture and tradition.

The fame of the festival has begun to spread far and wide.

Many of the Americans who came to my event had planned their trips to Ireland to coincide with the Arts Festival.

You could not pick a better two weeks.

It is easy to see why. The streets of this ancient city are a jamboree of flame eaters, musicians, comedians, film makers, performance artists and craic.

The theaters are packed, the performance venues echo to the sound of music and song.

On Sunday comes a huge highlight, the street theater group Macnas, annually leads a Mardi Gras type parade through the streets of Galway.

This year, its called 'The Hunt' and 'bankers,priests and politicians', all the bete noires of the day will be hounded from pillar to post during the pageantry.

It is a non-stop party in Galway.

Next week the Galway Races starts, another week of bacchanalia centered around the Ballybrit racecourse where the ghost of Damon Runyon surely stroll.

The dreams and drama of the Galway Hurdle and Galway Plate the two big races, occupy the entire island.

If you want an antidote for what is ailing Ireland come to Galway.

For all the talk of multinational investment and Silicon Valley ventures, the Irish cure themselves best by playing to their strengths.

The cultural lollapalooza that is the Galway Arts Festival emphasizes that, the sporting bonanza of the Galway races follows close on its heels.

A man might move to Galway for the high summer and be highly entertained methinks.

Galway in high summer a gaelic wonderland

Galway: A major hotel here offered jobs for a few weeks during the height of the Galway Races festival in late July early August and 5,000 people applied.

Men and women with university degrees were glad to get a few weeks washing glasses or cleaning up. It is that kind of economy in Ireland.

The economic downturn is clear in all its facets here this summer. The national mood can best be described a a deeper shade of black as everyone knows it will not get better anytime soon.

It is not all bad, especially if you are coming from America.

The dollar exchange rate is much better, prices have dropped dramatically and the feeling is that Ireland is taking its medicine at last in order to be fit and competitive within a few years.

It is not all doom and gloom, arts and culture still enjoy tremendous support and backing here.

The Galway Arts Festival, one of the leading arts festivals in Europe is thriving but also having its difficulties. Very few people are booking ahead, but on the night patrons do show up and venues are full.

I went to a magnificent production of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya in Galway Town Hall Center last night. The audience gave three standing ovations and the milling crowd afterwards reflected the excitement and buzz around the festival.

Afterwards as I walked through Eyre Square, pubs were packed, traditional music was playing, the local all-Gaelic language station was broadcasitng live from the square and kids were running up to the ice cream trucks in the humid weather demanding seconds.

In other words, high summer in Ireland,good times and bad, mixed weather, mixed economic forecasts but somewhere a sense from this exile that all was well enough with the world.

Over 120,000 Irish to flee hard times says emigration report

The number of people leaving Ireland by the end of 2011 is expected to reach 120,000 according to a new survey issued by the Economic Social Research Council (ESRI) the prime think tank on economic matters.

The shock figures are released by the ESRI in a report out today .

In other words it is back to the future for Ireland.

The emigrant floods of the 1920s, 1950s, 1980s and now 2010 are perfectly spaced 30 year exoduses from Ireland, always associated with an economic downturn.

The exception was the 1920s because of the aftermath of the civil war.

So all those economic panjandrums who had predicted the end of the emigrant boats during the good times are revealed to be far off the mark.

About as wrong as the gurus who predicted the never -ending rise of house prices in the Emerald Isle .

Not coincidentally, the ESRI also note that the economic situation is expected to improve in the next few years.

Emigration can do that, as the competition for jobs and resources lessen.

Yet it is all a terrible indictment of the long-term government of a little island that by now should have figured out a way to ride out recessions, like countries such as Canada and Australia did on this occasion.

It is not like the Irish have been unsuccessful in solving many problems.

The peace process in the North is an extraordinary example of how clever they can be when faced with a seemingly insurmountable problem.

But with the North they attacked it with a proper sense of the difficulty and a humility about what they felt they could achieve.

The bloated Celtic Tiger was another animal altogether.

The Irish expression 'put a beggar on horseback and he will ride it to hell' is apt here. Too many made money too fast, gained power so fast, became intoxicated with the delusion of their own grandeur.

They were so busy back clapping and bowing for encores that they missed the ghost quietly slipping into the banquet.

It oddly reminds me of the scene in Godfather 11 when Michael Corleone is in Cuba on New Year's eve celebrating with the Batista regime.

The party is long and boisterous but mixed with the firecrackers are the opening salvos of the guns of Castro's revolutionaries.

All changed. Changed utterly.

Now too in Ireland.

It will be a long road back.

Why Immigration helps U.S. economy grow

From today's Business Week columnist Chris Farrell talking about the benefit of immigration proving that immigrants like Sergey Brin, Google founder pictured above are the very heart of the American system.

"For example, a quarter of the engineering and technology companies started in the U.S. from 1995 to 2005 had at least one founder who was foreign-born, according to research by scholars Vivek Wadhwa, Annalee Saxenian, Ben Rissing, and Gary Gereffi. In Silicon Valley, America's epicenter of technological innovation, the percentage of immigrant-founded startups reached 52 percent of total new companies over the same period.

The scholars also calculate that foreign nationals living in the U.S. were named as inventors or co-inventors in 24 percent of all international patent applications filed in the U.S. in 2006. That's up from 7 percent in 1998. The influx of highly-skilled workers from India, Asia, Latin America, and other corners of the world is also a boon to U.S. exports."

Enough said for all the anti immigrant forces out there?

Irish Bishop in glasshouse throws stone at gay partners

For sheer hypocrisy it would be very difficult to beat Bishop Christopher Jones of the Irish hierarchy who yesterday slammed the new civil partnership bill which would allow gay couples some of the benefits of marriage in Ireland.

At a time when the actions of pedophile priests and cover-ups by fellow bishops have helped destroy the social fabric of so much in Ireland, Jones says the new bill will destroy Irish society.

This is despite the fact that numerous countries have such civil partnership laws now and societies are doing just fine with them in place.


Clearly the Bishop of Elphin in Roscommon , pictured above at an Irish Army function must live in a glass house after reading his comments.

This is the same bishop who loudly lamented media coverage of the pedophile issue saying the church has been singled out.
" The cover-up has gone on for centuries, not just in the Church … it’s going on today in families, in communities, in societies. Why are you singling out the Church?”

Well because you set yourselves up as moral guardians, is one reason. And because it is rampant in your institution for another.

With comments like that you would wonder what planet Bishop Jones lives on.

Having the Irish hierarchy with the exception of Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin who has been forthright and outspoken on the pedophile crisis, speak on matters of morals is a little like listening to Donald Trump preach on the virtues of modesty.

Here are some of them of the comments by Bishop Jones;

: "Today we all know stories of drugs delinquency and crime in our society. People say put more gardai on the streets and more cells in prisons. The battle for a healthy, happy society into the future will be won and lost in marriage and family life."


"Once the State makes something legal, people automatically think it is OK for them. That is why the introduction of divorce has such a negative effect on our understanding of marriage. People think that if the State sees nothing wrong with the law, then it is morally right. That is how new laws can change the perceptions of people."

"Surely all of this is saying to our young people of the future, 'Yes you are right to cohabit outside of marriage. Yes, you are right to form same sex unions and we, as the State, will support you as we support marriage itself'.

"Of course once the bill goes through, marital status will be replaced by civil status in legislation. Civil status will head up census forms and all official forms and marriage will be just one other category of relationship with cohabitees and same-sex unions.

"However, we appeal to young people to rediscover that marriage is the only way forward for happiness.

"By living with each other outside of marriage, you may be meeting your own physical and emotional needs but you are refusing to formalise your relationship.

"You are not prepared to make the commitment for life that married love demands. You are rejecting the direction of both Church and State to create the stable and secure environment into which children are born."
: "Everything I have tried to say about marriage and family founded on marriage has been recognised by our State through decades and has been enshrined in our Constitution.

"That means that our State or our Government is obliged to protect and care for marriage and for family founded on marriage."

Arizona governor Jan Brewer immigrant crime claims revealed as nonsense

Thank goodness for good journalism.

In one of the best examples of digging beneath the headlines Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank has skewered the nonsense from the right that crime on the Arizona border is out of control.

Instead he finds the border has never been more secure.

Milbank believes Arizona governor Jan Brewer,(above), has lost her mind.

He uses this quote "Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert either buried or just lying out there that have been beheaded," she announced on local television.

Turns out there is not a shred of evidence to support her claim.

Medical examiners in Arizona's border counties say they had never seen an immigration-related beheading. Brewer's press office refused to comment when asked to defend their claim.

Milbank also nails several other immigration falsehoods being spread by Arizona politicians.

He says these include "Border violence on the rise? Phoenix becoming the world's No. 2 kidnapping capital? Illegal immigrants responsible for most police killings? The majority of those crossing the border are drug mules? All wrong."

He quotes the Arizona Republic which published an exhaustive report that found that, according to the FBI and Arizona police agencies, crime in Arizona border towns has been "essentially flat for the past decade."

For instance , "In 2000, there were 23 rapes, robberies and murders in Nogales, Ariz. Last year, despite nearly a decade of population growth, there were 19 such crimes."

The Pima County sheriff stated that "the border has never been more secure."

FBI statistics also show violent crime in all of the border states are lower than they were a decade ago.

Enter Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) who claims that violence is "the worst I have ever seen."

When President Obama told the truth last week that "the southern border is more secure today than any time in the past 20 years," Rush Limbaugh said the president was "fit for the psycho ward" on the basis of his remarks.

Despite this McCain told NBC, ABC and CNN that Phoenix is the "No. 2 kidnapping capital of the world" behind only Mexico City based on an entirely erroneous ABC report in February 2009 "

In fact kidnappings in Phoenix are declining.

Then there's Brewer's claim that "the majority" of people immigrating illegally "are coming here and they're bringing drugs, and they're doing drop houses and they're extorting people and they're terrorizing the families. That is the truth."

How come then the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector has apprehended more than 170,000 undocumented immigrants since Oct. 1, but only about 1,100 drug prosecutions have been filed in Arizona in that time.


So where Milbank asks is this "terrible border security crisis" that Brewer claims has only "gotten worse"?

Fact is it is not remotely as bad as the anti immigrant groups are claiming.

Milbank has done a great service by pointing that out.

Illegal Immigrant opponents display "low level of moral reasoning" claims professor

An Irish American MInnesota public policy profesor has stated that opponent of immigration reform are essentially childish when it comes to their reason for opposing it and that the recent Arizona law displays a"very low level of moral reasoning."

She says government policies much more than the illegals themselves are to blame.

Professor Katherine Fennelly made the controversial comments writing in the Huffington Post.

"Analysis of much of the recent angry rhetoric over "illegal immigration" suggests that many Americans are stuck at the conventional level of moral development, in which the statement "they broke the law" becomes the main criterion for crafting policy responses. If you Google the phrase "what about illegal don't you understand," you will find thousands of adherents to this level of reasoning.

"Considering the immigration dilemma at a higher level of moral reasoning doesn't mean that there is one simple, 'right' policy response. However, it does require examining the root causes of undocumented immigration and its consequences through the lens of more universal principles of justice. If we study those root causes, it's easy to see that our own government policies have produced the problem, rather than contempt for the law on the part of those who enter without authorization or who overstay their visas.

She says that government policies not the illegals are to blame for the dilemma.

"Only one percent of all employment-based visas are issued to low skilled workers. In other words, for these individuals, there is no "line" to get into.

Instead, our government policies have led to a ritualized game of "Gotcha," in which immigrants are drawn to the U.S. because of the prospect of jobs that have gone unfilled by American workers; but once they cross the border, they are increasingly victimized by public anger and by mean-spirited local ordinances and laws.

The newly passed law in Arizona that makes it a crime to be present without a visa or for a legal resident to give a ride to someone known to be undocumented has just raised the stakes in this debate by furthering the game of "Gotcha" at a very low level of moral reasoning."

Obama finally takes on immigration lynch mob

Give credit to the Obama administration for suing to prevent Arizona's racist law on immigration to come into law.

It is about time a clear signal went out from Washington to stop those who would make their own lynch laws against immigrants.

We Irish should know our history when the Know Nothings enacted very similar legislation backed up by violence to drive our ancestors from these shores.

This is not the South post-civil war and we are not in the business in America of Jose or Jim Crow laws.

It was clear that a series of bad laws were about to be enacted all over the states, as one jurisdiction after another sought to demonize immigrants and all they stood for.

It was only a matter of time before people got killed, as they did in Suffolk County, New York thanks to an anti-immigrant hysteria that led to some white kids knifing an Ecuadorean immigrant to death.

President Obama has finally taken a huge step to stop these racist laws from getting even worse .

Hopefully, what he did will make states reconsider and rethink the path they are going down.

The place for making immigration law is in Washington and it is clearly a federal issue as defined by the constitution.

We don't need any more jailhouse lawyers making things worse for everyone with half-cocked solutions.

The states have prodded the federal government in the right direction though.

Obama does need to act and act quickly on proper immigration reform, a hot-button issue for Americans for several years now.

At least now he has taken an important step in the right direction.

We need to see more of that .

Irish should expel Russian diplomat after spy passport fraud

It is time to expel a Russian diplomat from Ireland after the Eunan Doherty passport saga.

Doherty, a native of Donegal has been informed that his passport or a false version of it was used by New Jersey Russian spy Richard Murphy on a trip he took to Moscow in February of this year.

If the Irish government does not expel a diplomat they will be accused of double standards given the fact that they expelled an Israeli diplomat after a similar fraud incident.

It is now clear that Russian Embassy officials in Dublin duplicated the passport of Eunan Doherty, a Donegal fireman who went on vacation to Russia in 2005.

He submitted his passport to the embassy and they clearly made an exact replica of it.

We have no idea how many other passports may have been duplicated in this great game of espionage, but it is starting to get very serious for Irish passport holders.

Because Ireland is a small, neutral country the passports are highly prized.

The U.S.during the Iran Contra affair, Israel and now Russia have clearly duplicated them and used them on missions which have placed other Irish citizens in potential jeopardy.

After all, once it becomes obvious that Irish passports are the preferred mode of transport for spies then it places enormous pressure on authorities in other countries to closely scrutinize everyone who holds them.

It is time the Irish government made another strong statement in this regard and expelled a Russian diplomat, if as seems certain, this latest breach of international law is confirmed.

Owner of Irish passport used by Russian spies tracked down

An Irish native from Donegal has been questioned by Irish police after it became clear his passport had been used by one of the Russian spies recently arrested in America.

'Richard Murphy' used the passport of Eunan Gerald Doherty on a recent trip between Vienna and Moscow after flying from the U.S. to Vienna where he was given the Irish passport which bore the the name of Doherty.

Doherty, a native of Carndonagh in Donegal, confirmed to Irish police that he had traveled to Moscow on vacation in the recent past but had no knowledge of whether his passport had been duplicated.

A local source told the Irish Times that, before Doherty travelled to Moscow, his passport was sent to the Russian embassy in Dublin for visa processing. It is thought he travelled to Russia in 2005.

There seems a strong likelihood that the Russian embassy in Dublin duplicated his passport and that it was later used for one of their spies.

Doherty, a fireman, told the authorities he had no direct knowledge that his passport had been used by Murphy who lived in Montclair New Jersey with his wife and two children. His wife Cynthia is also suspected of being a Russian agent. The couple are pictured above.


The 10 alleged spies have been charged with carrying out espionage in the U.S.

John F.Kennedy and Ronald Reagan rated way too low in new July 4th presidential poll.

The latest ranking of the American presidents in a Siena College poll of historians is listed below just in time for July 4th.

There are several surprises and choices I strongly disagree with .

Lincoln was the greatest president period.

He faced down the very destruction of the United States and an internal war that neither of the Roosevelts,or even Washington faced in their lifetime and he conquered it all.

John F.Kennedy deserves to be much higher on the list as does Ronald Reagan.

Though Kennedy only served less than one term he defined an era and reshaped the presidency in an incredible way.

Apart from the style points he also began the herculean task of changing the attitude towards minority rights and set off an immense but gratifying struggle that lasted up to our current president, whose race and skin color would have automatically blocked him in the Kennedy era.

It took Ronald Reagan to pound the last nail into the coffin of communism and help free up numerous small nations as well as Russia itself in his time. Again, he confronted the biggest challenge of an era and came out ahead.
Both Reagan and Kennedy made great speeches, both in Berlin .

Kennedy's 'Ich Bein Ein Berliner' and Reagan's 'Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall.' both aimed at the destruction of communism will last for ever .

Both inspired Americans too, with their style and substance. Ask any Republican or Democrat today who their favorite president is and they will name Reagan on the GOP side and Kennedy on the other.

They continue to inspire too .

Why then put Woodrow Wilson ranked ahead of them? He was the man who blundered into the First World War and helped create the useless League of Nations?

Seems to me he failed the biggest test of his time.

Here is the complete list
F. Roosevelt 1
T. Roosevelt 2
Lincoln 3
Washington 4
Jefferson 5
Madison 6
Monroe 7
Wilson 8
Truman 9
Eisenhower 10
Kennedy 11
Polk 12
Clinton 13
Jackson 14
Obama 15
L.B. Johnson 16
J. Adams 17
Reagan 18
J.Q. Adams 19
Cleveland 20
McKinley 21
G.H. Bush 22
Van Buren 23
Taft 24
Arthur 25
Grant 26
Garfield 27
Ford 28
Coolidge 29
Nixon 30
Hayes 31
Carter 32
Taylor 33
B. Harrison 34
W.H. Harrison 35
Hoover 36
Tyler 37
Fillmore 38
G.W. Bush 39
Pierce 40
Harding 41
Buchanan 42
A. Johnson 43