Anglo Irish Bank could well bankrupt Ireland Inc. says The New York Times

When is a bank not a bank but a black hole?

When its Anglo Irish Bank of course, now set to cost the Irish taxpayer about $35 billion or thereabouts.

The second quarter losses at the bank just announced were $10 billion, the GNP of many a small African country.

The New York Times report had the following amazing headline.

"Ireland Tries to Keep a Bank From Pulling It Under"

Think about that for a minute-- a country could be pulled under by a medium sized bank says The New York Times.

Seems insane.

The first sentence of the article reads "Can one bank bring down a country?"

When you see that headline and lead in The New York Times you better start to worry it might.

The government is propping up the other banks too, to an ultimate cost of $90 billion.

This commitment to Anglo and not letting it just bankrupt itself is not impressing the financial press over here not to mention the ratings agencies.

The Wall Street Journal wrote " Standard & Poor's Corp. last week downgraded the sovereign's credit rating to AA- from AA, and estimated the government's bank bail-out costs could reach EUR90 billion. Two of the country's other major banks, Allied Irish Banks PLC (AIB) and Bank of Ireland PLC (IRE), are part state-owned after a series of capital boosts.

Where does it leave us all? A sane man might say let Anglo go bankrupt and save the Irish taxpayer billions of dollars.

A less sane man might say it can't be allowed because the international financial system will lose all confidence in Ireland repaying its debts.

But isn't that happening now anyway - see The New York Times.

Better to lose a leg to gangrene than let the whole body rot I say.

Bishop denies accused IRA Priest was a murderer

Bishop Edward Daly, the former Bishop of Derry, is denying that Father James Chesney was a mass murderer.

Chesney, a priest in a Derry parish in 1972, was named last week by the Northern Ireland police as the man who headed up an IRA unit that killed nine people in a bombing in Claudy in Derry in that year .

An eight-year-old girl and two teenagers were among the victims when three car bombs went off.

Chesney who was transferred after the bombings and died in 1980, was allegedly named by a fellow priest in a secret report as having confessed to him that he did the murders.

Reports last week stated that the British government and the police covered up for Chesney after being requested to by the Catholic Church.

Daly told the media that "Father Chesney vehemently denied involvement in any kind of IRA activity to me on two occasions, in 1974, not long after I was appointed Bishop of Derry, and again in 1977. He also denied such involvement earlier to my predecessor, Bishop Neil Farren," he said.

However Daly now says there was no cover-up. Writing in the Irish News, Daly who was Bishop from 1974 to 1993 stated : "Does anyone sincerely believe that if Cardinal Conway and my predecessor Bishop [Neil] Farren believed a mass murderer was in the Church's ranks they would have permitted him to continue in the active priesthood?

"I cannot believe they would have omitted to tell me when I was appointed as Bishop of Derry in 1974 if they had for a moment believed one of the priests in my future diocese was a mass murderer."

"Mass murder cannot be compared with any other sin or crime," he wrote "It is the foulest and most obscene of deeds."

"I witnessed mass murder at first hand in 1972," he recalled.(he was present at Bloody Sunday in 1972) "I am more aware than most of how appalling and grotesque it is and the enormity of it."

The bishop wrote , "It is a huge insult to suggest I would knowingly allow someone whom I knew to be a mass murderer to serve as a priest in my diocese."


Bishop Daly attacked the media coverage of the recent police report, stating that "the once sacrosanct presumption of innocence has been dispensed with and replaced with a presumption of guilt."

"Now, media portray as fact unsubstantiated claims emanating from agencies whose history is anything but clean," he noted.

The prelate said, "I find media coverage of the Claudy Report very disquieting."

He said that the press has put forth only "theories," and has "not questioned key aspects of the ombudsman's report."

The bishop asserted, "I am not at all convinced that Father Chesney was involved in the Claudy bombings."

The bishop said he had "constructive scepticism" about the allegations against the priest, as a result of "personal involvement in several major miscarriage of justice cases."

He continued: "I have seen convictions based on signed admissions and forensic evidence completely overturned years later.

"Father Chesney was never arrested, questioned, charged or convicted. He cannot answer for himself. He has been dead 30 years."

He noted that when he himself lived in South Derry during those years, "I was often terrified and humiliated by the treatment and delays I experienced at security force checkpoints as I returned from confirmations and other pastoral duties late at night."

He asked given this surveillance “ Why was the ombudsman unable to find evidence against him after years of investigation?"

He said "Claudy has at last received its legitimate and long overdue recognition as one of Northern Ireland's most despicable acts of terror."

He concluded, "I will continue to pray that 'the truth will out.' The families, the community and Father Chesney's relatives need to hear it."

I've changed my mind, build the Ground Zero area mosque

I've changed my mind on the Ground Zero mosque.

I opposed it but now I want to see it built.

I now see the damage that will be done to America's reputation worldwide if we don't allow it to go ahead.

From Pakistan to Persia they are lining up to slam the Great Satan America if we don't give the permission.

We should not play into their hands, especially since these countries have only the slightest understanding of democratic rules anyway.

Watching BBC World News this morning, the main story was threats by the Pakistani Taliban against foreign aid workers helping the desperate victims of the terrible floods there.

These are the kind of dreadful haters we are up against world wide.

I think we can show them and the watching world that we value free speech even when it clearly hurts so many vulnerable Americans in the wake of 9/11.

That is the greatest strength of this country, disagreeing with what someone says but giving them the right to say it

I've also come to hate the hypocrisy of some of those who oppose --like the idiot minister in Florida who is ready to burn Korans on 9/11.

Or The Murdock-controlled publications, who , while railing against Saudi Arabian money for the Mosque, have neatly hid the facts that one of their main investors is a Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

How's that for hypocrisy? Saudi Arabia supplied 15 of the hijackers on 9/11.

Let's show the world what America is made of and why what makes us great is we value human rights, free speech and the right to be different.

I share no fond thoughts of the religion that will be practiced in the new mosque.

The treatment of women,the stoning of adulterers, the blinding of young girls going to school are all part of a lunatic fringe that is tolerated by the mainstream muslims far too much.

But maybe the way forward is to show and lead by example like New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is doing.

So build the mosque or the community center or whatever it is called.

Let's move on. We have more important things to focus on

CIA says Irish Americans were terror agents in new Wilkileaks document

The CIA uses Irish Americans as examples of "exporter of terrorism.” because of support for the IRA in a new classified document released by Wikileaks.

In the latest Wikileaks document released yesterday a classified CIA document referred to as a "red cell" document is displayed.

It discusses what the impact would be if other countries began to view Americans as part of the terrorism problem rather than helping with the solution.

The document is entitled " What If Foreigners See the United States as an “Exporter of Terrorism”?

It says some Irish Americans were definitely part of this scenario and replays Irish American history.

"Some Irish-Americans have long provided financial and material support for violent efforts to compel the United Kingdom to relinquish control of Northern Ireland.

In the 1880s, Irish-American members of Clan na Gael dynamited Britain’s Scotland Yard,Parliament, and the Tower of London, and detonated bombs at several stations in the London underground.

"In the twentieth century, Irish-Americans provided most of the financial support sent to the Irish Republican Army (IRA). The US-based IrishNorthern Aid Committee (NORAID), founded in the late 1960s, provided the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) with money that was frequently used for arms purchases.

Only after repeated high-level British requests and then London’s support for our bombing of Libya in the 1980s did the US Government crack down on Irish-American support for the IRA."

The document opens "Much attention has been paid recently to the increasing occurrence of American-grown Islamic terrorists conducting attacks against US targets,primarily in the homeland. "

The document argues that ."Less attention has been paid to homegrown terrorism, not exclusively Muslim terrorists, exported overseas to target non-US persons. This report examines the implications of what it would mean for the US to be seen increasingly as an incubator .... “

"Contrary to common belief, the American export of terrorism or terrorists is not a recent phenomenon, nor has it been associated only with Islamic radicals or people of Middle Eastern, African or South Asian ethnic origin. This dynamic belies the American belief that our free, open and integrated multicultural society lessens the allure of radicalism and terrorism for US citizens.

• Late last year five young Muslim American men traveled from northern Virginia to Pakistan allegedly to join the Pakistani Taliban and to engage in jihad. Their relatives contacted the FBI after they disappeared without telling anyone, and then Pakistani authorities arrested them as they allegedly attempted to gain access to al-Qa’ida training facilities.

• In November 2008, Pakistani-American David Headley conducted surveillance in support of the Lashkar-i-Tayyiba (LT) attack in Mumbai, India that killed more than 160 people. LT induced him to change his name from Daood Gilani to David Headle yto facilitate his movement between the US, Pakistan, and India.

• Some American Jews have supported and even engaged in violent acts against perceived enemies of Israel. In 1994, Baruch Goldstein, an American Jewish doctorf rom New York, emigrated to Israel, joined the extremist group Kach, and killed 29 Palestinians during their prayers in the mosque at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron which helped to trigger a wave of bus bombings by HAMAS in early 1995."

Church, police covered up priest's role in IRA gang that killed nine in 1972 bombing

The Catholic Church in Northern Ireland has admitted that a priest was the leader of an IRA unit that exploded a bomb in 1972 that killed nine people, five Catholics and four Protestants including an eight -year-old girl. Thirty people were injured.

Police ombudsman (overseer) Al Hutchinson has verified that the Royal Ulster Constabulary the British government and the Catholic Church covered up for the priest, Father James Chesney (left) who was never charged and moved to a new parish.

Hutchinson revealed that the RUC at the time had top-grade intelligence that Chesney was a senior figure in the IRA unit that planted three car bombs in the County Derry village of Claudy in 1972.

The then Catholic primate of all Ireland , Cardinal William Conway, and the then Northern secretary William Whitelaw, were made aware by police of Father Chesney’s alleged involvement.

Chesney was subsequently moved to a parish in Co. Donegal but was never arrested or interviewed about the bombing or any other IRA activity. He passed away in 1980.

The cover up was discovered during a search through old cases by a Police Service of Northern Ireland investigator Sam Kinkaid.

Hutchinson has accepted the new documentation proves Kinkaid’s suggestion of a cover-up involving the RUC, the British state and the Catholic Church.

The current Catholic primate Cardinal Seán Brady has commented on the report today. Father Chesney was sent to to a Donegal parish under the jurisdiction of the late Bishop of Derry, Dr Neil Farren.

Bishop Edward Daly, was appointed to the diocese of Derry and Raphoe in the spring of 1974. Bishop Daly has also made a statement.

Kinkaid’s report showed that Cardinal Conway and an unnamed senior RUC officer were briefed on the attack right after the bombing.

As a result, Cardinal Conway held direct discussions with Northern Secretary William Whitelaw on the issue in December 1972, during which the Northern secretary made clear his knowledge and disgust at the priest’s involvement.

Conway was apparently worried that news of of Father Chesney’s involvement would allowed loyalist paramilitaries to declare all Catholic priests “legitimate targets”.

The IRA had attempted to issue a warning from nearby Dungiven, but were unable to do so because an earlier bomb had damaged the telephone exchange.

Standing outside the village hotel where the third device detonated, survivor Paul O'Kane recalls that day nearly 40 ago.

"There was absolute devastation," he told Sky News.

"It was like something you would see on the news now in Baghdad.

"There was smoke, there was a motorbike on fire, cars on fire, there were no windows left and there was nothing but moaning and groaning.”

Today Northern Ireland secretary, Owen Paterson, said: "For my part, on behalf of the government, I am profoundly sorry that Father Chesney was not properly investigated for his suspected involvement in this hideous crime, and that the victims and their families have been denied justice.

He added: "My anger at the actions of those responsible for the attack is matched in strength by my sorrow that the survivors of the atrocity and the relatives of the dead did not see those responsible brought to justice for their crimes.

"I recognise, of course, that all those involved in combating terrorism at the time were making decisions in exceptionally difficult circumstances and under extreme pressure."

In a joint statement Seán Brady, the archbishop of Armagh, and Séamus Hegarty, the Bishop of Derry, described the bombing as "an appalling crime", saying: "We accept the ombudsman's findings and conclusions."

They added: "Throughout the Troubles, the Catholic church, along with other churches in Northern Ireland, was constant in its condemnation of the evil of violence. It is therefore shocking that a priest should be suspected of involvement in such violence.

"This case should have been properly investigated and resolved during Father Chesney's lifetime. If there was sufficient evidence to link him to criminal activity, he should have been arrested and questioned at the earliest opportunity, like anyone else. We agree with the police ombudsman that the fact this did not happen failed those who were murdered, injured and bereaved in the bombings."

Franklin Graham is a disgrace with his comments on Obama

The Rev. Franklin Graham has disgraced himself as surely as his father Billy did when the old man's anti-Semitism became clear.

Now Graham is proclaiming that Barack Obama is a Muslim because his father was born one.

As the Duke of Wellington used to say 'if a a man is born in a stable does that make him a horse?'

Given that Jesus was born in one according to the Gospels, I'd hardly say so.

Of course not, and Graham is just cozying up to the right wing nuts who have launched a major effort to portray Obama as somehow outside the mainstream in America.

Having failed to convince Americans that Obama was born outside the country the effort is now underway to portray him as some kind of alien, connected in some way to the Islamist extremist world.

It is a sad reflection on American life that apparently about one in five now perceive him as such and believe this claptrap.

Obama has tried to avoid the issu,e saying religion is a private matter between him and his Christian pastor, but the right wingers will not leave this alone.

Now comes Graham, joining the latest crusade with more bullying rhetoric.

For a man of God he should be ashamed of himself.

No surprise Irish babies of single mothers were guinea pigs for drug testing

The news that Irish babies in the 1960s born to unmarried mothers were used as guinea pigs in a drug trial without their parent's consent is truly shocking.

But why am I not surprised?

Th level of vitriol and hatred aimed at unmarried mothers back then by the church and state is hard to believe nowadays.

Mari Steed, (50), born to an unmarried mother in Cork, was given up for adoption to a couple in the US shortly afterwards. She says she and others were used a guinea pigs for a vaccine trial.

She claims that a major U.S, drug company GlaxoSmithKline used Irish babies in homes for single mothers run by Catholic orders to experiment with a four in one shot against childhood diseases.

The shots were later found to be less effective than the standard treatment.

"The trials involved incredibly poor judgment on the part of all involved. We were basically used as human guinea pigs" she now says.

She found out when she traced her birth mother and got access to her medical records

Such was the fate of unwed mothers and their children in Holy Catholic Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s.

Drug companies and religious orders singled out the religious homes where the unmarried mothers gave birth then gave the injections to their babies without telling them.

Luckily it appears little damage was done and that the 211 or so children who were guinea pigs have all survived.

They were of course, taken from their disgraced mothers and shipped abroad for adoptions,mostly to wealthy Catholic families here in the U.S.

Over the years my publications have talked to some of those mothers who had their children torn away from their breast literally in some cases.

Almost without exception their lives were darkened and ruined by what happened.

Now comes this claim of even more depravity, that nuns allowed a drug company to essentially experiment on defenseless babies.

Suffer little children -- and shame again on a government and church that allowed such a dreadful thing to happen

Obama blunders badly on mosque at Ground Zero debate

President Obama was such a sure-footed speaker on the White House trail when running for president.

I suspect an evil doppleganger has taken over since he has occupied the Oval Office.

Saturday was another day of a White House trying to recover from foot in mouth disease.

Obama's enthusiastic backing for a mosque near Ground Zero went over like flatulence in a crowded elevator.

The White House press operation was desperately trying to row back today, saying Obama was speaking as a general principle, not in a specific way.

But it wasn't working

It was surely an issue Obama did not need to stray into for his party's sake.

Now every Democrat from Vermont to the Virgin Islands is going to be asked the dreaded question-- Do you stand with the president on the right to have a mosque built next to Ground Zero?

The question was largely a local one up to now , best handled by New York politicians, but Obama has now made it a national debate.

It is one that on a visceral level Democrats know they can't win and they must be wondering why Obama even addressed it.

I cannot say that I endorse the mosque so close to the sacred ground that is Ground Zero.

I am no fan of the Muslim religion and how it treats women to begun with.

I respect their right to practice, but would not allow a Japanese Shinto site near Pearl Harbor either.

Obama's people tried to draw a comparison with opposition to Irish emigrants building churches when they came to America, but Irish emigrants never set out to destroy New York or plotted in their churches to do so.

Equally I don't think there should be a Catholic Church built next to Ground Zero,though I wager more Catholics, especially in fire and police departments, were killed that day than any other religion.

That is because Ground Zero belongs to everyone, because mankind must learn the lesson, not any single group. A mosque detracts from that reality.

Obama is displaying his inexperience and professorial haughtiness by lecturing Americans on the Ground Zero mosque.

He needs to feel their sense of rawness about that episode a little more.

A little Clinton empathy would have avoided this latest firestorm he has created.

Alas,he is looking more and more like a president who has lost his way when it comes to understanding what is in American's hearts and minds.

This Ground Zero mosque comment is the latest example.

British are right to hold secret talks with Dissident IRA groups

The Irish and British decision to speak to the dissident IRA groups is the correct one.

The secret talke were revealed by Martin McGuinness,(above), Northern Ireland's First Deputy Minister.

I brought this very issue up to former British Secretary of State Sean Woodward in New York last year but he dismissed the notion.

I have no idea whether they were talking to them even then.

The British have a history of proclaiming one thing in public and doing exactly the opposite.

Remember John Major's famous statement that talking to the IRA would turn his stomach at the same time his government was secretly negotiating with them?

That irritated the Irish government at the time as no one sent them the memo.

They had taken the British insistence of no contact at face value.

A senior IRA figure once told me that once the British engage they never let go.

The reasons for that are self serving and practical.

No terrorist group is a monolith, not the Taliban,Al Qaeda or the dissident IRA groups.

Within their structures are individuals who would settle for political power depending what was on offer.

In the case of the dissidents there are many who had a personality clash with the Sinn Fein leadership and could be negotiated with to put that behind them.

Sinn Fein have already begun that process.

Martin McGuinness merely ensured that the two governments could not resume a hypocritical approach of condemning them for doing what they were doing anyway.

In the end not talking only ensures that militants rule within those groups.

Remember before he became public enemy number one Osama Bin Laden was a major ally of America in the battle against the Russians in Afghanistan.

Yesterdays freedom fighter is today's terrorist. The British in particular know that.

They are hoping to draw out the politicians within the dissidents.

It worked with Sinn Fein and the IRA.

They are right to try again.

Pope Benedict has rewarded Irish child sex abuse coverup

READ MORE: Pope Benedict rejects Irish bishop's resignation


RELATED STORY(s): (1) Irish Church relocated a known pedophile to California - (2) If abuse won't cost your job in the Church, what will?

So just imagine that corporation X has a problem. According to an independent report, two of its senior management have been involved in a cover up of child sex abuse within the company.

While the two have not been directly involved in abuse themselves, there is certainly the knowledge that they took part in meetings where the issue was discussed and covered-up , yet they did nothing to prevent that cover-up.

Headquarters in Rome sends over one of their top men to investigate this scandal about an issue so toxic that it beggars belief that it has not been exposed long before.

After lengthy deliberation the new man states that it is time to clean house, have anyone suspected of any malfeasance on this issue step aside and clean out the filthy stable for once and for all.

This is done, and two of the senior executives, after much sound and fury deliver their resignations to Rome. At last a sordid scandal appears to have been dealt with in a professional manner.

But now comes the news that the Big Boss back in Rome will not accept the resignations, that after all he doesn't think the child sex abuse cover-up charges were sufficiently damaging to warrant resignations. The two executives are reinstated. The man from headquarters sees his authority utterly undermined.

Imagine the outcry and imagine the renewed pain and suffering of the now adult children who were abused by members of this corporation in their childhood.

Imagine the public outrage at the amoral behavior of this corporation that clearly puts its own members' concerns way ahead that of the children.

Imagine and weep.

That is what has happened in Ireland this past twenty four hours with the news that two bishops who had handed in their resignations have now been reinstated.

It is a devastating blow not just to the victims but to the notion of transparency and accountability within the church.

We saw this before when Bernard Cardinal Law was promoted by the last pope despite overseeing an horrific series of cover ups of pedophile priests.

We are seeing it again now.

There is something deeply wrong with a system that sees Law promoted and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin essentially cast aside and his actions in trying to impose accountability destroyed.

It is an utter and complete disgrace.

Time to abandon Mother Earth and time travel says Steven Hawking

As if things were not bad enough British scientist and deep thinker Steven Hawking now wants us to abandon planet earth.

In an interview with website Big Think, Hawking said our future is in the stars.

"It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster on planet Earth in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand, or million. The human race shouldn't have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet," he said.

"I see great dangers for the human race," Hawking said. "There have been a number of times in the past when its survival has been a question of touch and go. The Cuban missile crisis in 1963 was one of these. The frequency of such occasions is likely to increase in the future."

"But I'm an optimist. If we can avoid disaster for the next two centuries, our species should be safe, as we spread into space," he said.


Getting to the nearest star poses a problem putting it mildly.

University of Michigan astrophysicist Katherine Freese told Big Think that "the nearest star [to Earth] is Proxima Centauri which is 4.2 light years away. That means that, if you were traveling at the speed of light the whole time, it would take 4.2 years to get there" -- or about 50,000 years using current rocket science.

Hawking says we have no choice. "It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand or million. Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain inward looking on planet Earth but to spread out into space. We have made remarkable progress in the last hundred years. But if we want to continue beyond the next hundred years, our future is in space."

He also says alien life forms definitely exist.

“To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational,” he said. “The real challenge is to work out what aliens might actually be like.”

He also says time travel is inevitable.

“Time travel was once considered scientific heresy, and I used to avoid talking about it for fear of being labeled a crank," he said.

"These days I’m not so cautious.”

Now digesting all that surely will make for light summer reading.

Irish students in U.S. who misbehave need to be dealt with

The story about Irish students running amok in several college towns in California has certainly struck a chord with our readers.

One local headline summed it up for me 'The Irish are crazy and drink a lot" wrote Turbo News.

Talk about fulfilling a stereotype!

Both Santa Barbara and San Diego police have reported numerous incidents of drunken and violent behavior from Irish students over here for the summer.

What is most troubling is that these incidents, of wrecking apartments, vandalism and bad behavior seem to occur every year in these same towns.

The following quotes from the Irish Times make clear the extent of the problem.

"A spokesman for Santa Barbara’s sheriff department says this year a large number of complaints in Isla Vista again centre on the behaviour of some young visitors from Ireland who are travelling to the resort for “one big party”. He described the problems caused by Irish students as a “drain on the department” for about the last five years, which has resulted in the creation of a new arrest category for Irish students, in order to document the severity of the problem.

“Many of the arrests of young Irish people relate to vandalism, fighting and public drunkenness,” says the spokesman. “For example, we had a situation last week where three young Irish males were arrested after kicking in the door of an apartment. One of those men was caught wearing only a pair of briefs, and all of them were drunk. This is a common occurrence.”

If I go back into the Irish Voice newspaper archives we first reported this story five years ago.

Clearly the message is not getting through to these kids that they need to behave responsibly when they come to America.

Don't get me wrong, as a former JI student visa worker myself, I know the temptation to kick over the traces and have a great vacation is very real.

But there is a line between enjoying the summer break and acting like total idiots and doing the good name of the Irish serious harm.

I don't just blame the students however. The sponsoring body called Union of Students in Ireland Travel or USIT needs to do more.

They have adopted a 'see no evil' approach to these incidents and have refused to take any responsibility for the actions of the students they send here.

There needs to be a bootstrap approach to this problem where all students who receive one of these visas is told in no uncertain terms that they are expected to behave in a way that conforms to basic decency and respect for the host culture.

That means no vandalism, fights, thrashing apartments or mindless behavior.

It is pretty simple really. Those who conduct themselves in such a manner and are arrested should be named and shamed and told they will never get another American visa.

The vast majority of students who come here avoid trouble.

I have hired one myself this summer and currently have a nephew working in New York. Both have worked hard, loved the experience and are eager to spread the word about this great opportunity to experience America.

That is how it should be.

USIT needs to step up to the plate and help eliminate that tiny minority who give Irish students in general a bad name.

They need to do that now.

Anchor babies a big lie in immigration reform battle

The anti-immigrant hysteria about 'anchor babies' is a complete fallacy.

Right wing shows are full of talk about Mexicans coming here to have children so that their parents can become legal.

It is complete nonsense and Rush Limbaugh and others know it.

A child cannot claim a parent until the child is 21 years under U.S. immigration law.

But the naysayers would have you believe it is an immediate process.

It is not , nothing close to it.

But the hardliners prefer to let the poisonous rhetoric flow rather than face the facts.

Amazingly, Senator Lindsay Graham has now joined the 'anchor babies' crusade.

He has called for every person born to an undocumented person to be considered illegal too.

In fairness, that is what the Irish government currently considers the law.

There is one significant difference however. In Ireland such babies once automatically transferred citizenship to their parents.

That is not what the law is in America.

Chasing down new born children and deporting them on the spot smacks of Nazism not the great American democracy.

I have often pointed out that were today's restrictions in place the ancestors of Ronald Reagan or John F.Kennedy would never have made it to America.

We need a reasoned debate on immigration not just ignorant armies clashing by night.

God knows we could do with it.

Why Sarah Palin could be president, family follies far less than Kennedy clan

I have to disagree with my fellow columnist Patrick Roberts when he says that Sarah Palin could never be president because of her family problems and 24-hour media gossip coverage.

Sure, as Roberts pointed out, Palin's Irish American mother filled her full of family values and her own kids do not seem to be learning the lesson.

But let's face it the Kennedy kids did not exactly listen to mother Rose Kennedy and they did pretty well despite that.

Indeed, there is nothing in Sarah Palin's family past that even remotely compares to some of the activities of the Kennedys at their height.

We all know human being are flawed and we put up this semi comical mask of really pretending to be shocked when famous kids step out of line.

Rudy Giuliani's daughter is just the latest to step in doo doo, after being caught shoplifting in New York.

Would it make me not vote for Rudy if I was inclined to?

No. I'm not electing Father of the Year here, but a politician.

Likewise with Palin , people will move on quickly form her family travails and judge her on her political talent which is clearly considerable given her rise from obscurity to the center of American dialogue.

She also has what very few American politicians enjoy -- an incredibly committed band of loyal supporters from coast to coast.

At a time when Americans are dangerously switched off politicians Palin adds an enthusiasm that could very well translate into a huge vote-getting capability.

She has already proved with her endorsements that she plays a major role with the Republican rank and file.

If the economy starts tanking again as some predict, a candidate like Palin with a clear message and solid following could start to do very well indeed.

As I have said here before I would not rule this woman out for anything.

Sorry, Patrick.

Another Irish exodus shows the failure of leadership

It was truly ironic to read that Irish students will protest near the replica Famine ship the Jeanne Johnston to make a point about the role of enforced emigration in Irish life for the last 175 years.

As another generation gets ready to leave we really have to face facts about the country of Ireland.

As we witness another huge exodus of people, driven by economic malfeasance we have to embrace the notion that after 90 years of independence it is not a very well run country.

During that ninety years we have had maybe 15 of outright prosperity, seven or eight with the Celtic Tiger and a similar phase in the late 1970s, early 1980s.

In between were decades of hard times, emigrant boats and ships and perhaps, saddest of all, a grim realization that Ireland was unable to keep many of its best and brightest.

All in all, as another generation takes to the boats and planes the extent of the failure in Ireland has become evident .

What we have to realize is that, in almost every sector of Irish life, a privileged elite, a crony class has grown up and that has stunted Irish growth in a permanent fashion.

Politics and business are just two examples. In politics, Ireland has the highest ratio of politicians being elected because they are family members of a departing office holder in all of Europe.

That inevitably lessens the gene pool of talented people who wish to enter politics.

Brian Cowen, current leader,and Enda Kenny,opposition leader are just two examples of leaders who made it initially through family connections and they would be two of the far more talented examples.

That same tendency is rampant in areas of Irish life such as law, medicine and much of business.

It is not a meritocracy in the way that American is at its best.

And it hurts Ireland deeply.

When the business and political cronyism worlds intersect we have the worst of both worlds colliding.

That was what happened during the Celtic Tiger when business tycoons won sweetheart deals from a government that has now been in power for eighteen of the last twenty years.

Other countries, such as Australia and Canada had systems in place to prevent such looting of the public purse. Ireland has never safeguarded its future generations in the same way.

Aside from the Celtic Tiger collapse, the church has also effectively collapsed as well, leaving Ireland with no moral leadership at a time it desperately needs it.

The institutions of the state have failed the Irish people. It truly is a most distressful nation at this moment.