A deserved stroke of fortune for Irish lottery winner Patricia Daily Eisel

There is something wonderful about the Irish woman living in Long Island who won $21.5 million in the New York lottery at the weekend.

Patricia Daily Eisel could be a poster girl for hard working Irish emigrants everywhere who came to America and made a success of their lives.

The 40-year-old Offaly native is a single mother raising three kids who works two jobs waitressing and baby sitting in order to make ends meet.

She clearly had nothing handed to her since she arrived in America in 1995 and has had her fair share of challenges.

Try raising three kids on a waitresses salary and you will know all about it.

Still she never complained and was wildly popular in the restaurant in Long Beach, Long Island where she worked.

Back home her next-door neighbour Imelda Lenehan said Trisha was a "bright, fun-loving girl who was always dedicated to her family.

Lenehan spoke with Trisha's 69-year-old mother. "She was calm as usual, Mags does not get excited. She'd just say God is good, isn't it great. I'd say she was in a state of shock."

In America she is beloved too "She's a great worker, a great friend, a great partner," John O'Brien told the Irish Independent from the Saloon on Long Beach yesterday.

It was fate that she won. She was due to go home to Ireland but the massive snow storm at Christmas meant she stayed in America.

While still here she bought the fateful ticket.

Her first thoughts when she won were to surprise her mother in Ireland and she flew back there on Thursday night.

No doubt she was walking on air when she stepped off the plane at Dublin Airport.

She deserved it and will have $8 million to spend when the lump sum minus taxes is hers.

And her kids will have a proper home not a house, as she told Lottery officials.

Some things are meant to be and it was a wonderful turn of events for this plucky Irishwoman.

I hope she enjoys her windfall.

I have a feeling we won't be reading about her as one of those who squanders all they made.

She seems far too smart for that.





.

NY Times Paul Krugman says Republicans taking wrong message from Ireland

Paul Krugman is once again using the Irish economic downfall to attack Republicans over their economic policies saying they are drawing the wrong lesson from it.

In his latest column in The New York Times the Nobel Prize winner lights out after Paul Ryan, the up and coming Republican leader in the house, who rebutted Barack Obama's State of the Union address.

He quotes Ryan as saying that government refusal to cut runaway spending was at the heart of the European malaise.

“Just take a look at what’s happening to Greece, Ireland, the United Kingdom and other nations in Europe. They didn’t act soon enough; and now their governments have been forced to impose painful austerity measures: large benefit cuts to seniors and huge tax increases on everybody.”

But Krugman says Ryan took exactly the wrong lesson from the Irish experience.

Krugman writes "On the eve of the financial crisis, conservatives had nothing but praise for Ireland, a low-tax, low-spending country by European standards. The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom ranked it above every other Western nation.

"In 2006, George Osborne, now Britain’s chancellor of the Exchequer, declared Ireland “a shining example of the art of the possible in long-term economic policy making.” And the truth was that in 2006-2007 Ireland was running a budget surplus, and had one of the lowest debt levels in the advanced world.

"So what went wrong? The answer is: out-of-control banks; Irish banks ran wild during the good years, creating a huge property bubble. When the bubble burst, revenue collapsed, causing the deficit to surge, while public debt exploded because the government ended up taking over bank debts. And harsh spending cuts, while they have led to huge job losses, have failed to restore confidence.

Krugman believes the lesson of Ireland have noting to do with the need for harsh cuts and much more to do with lack of oversight of banks

"The lesson of the Irish debacle, then, is very nearly the opposite of what Mr. Ryan would have us believe. It doesn’t say “cut spending now, or bad things will happen”; it says that balanced budgets won’t protect you from crisis if you don’t effectively regulate your banks — a point made in the newly released report of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which concludes that “30 years of deregulation and reliance on self-regulation” helped create our own catastrophe. Have I mentioned that Republicans are doing everything they can to undermine financial reform?"

He also points out that harsh cuts in Britain since the Tories came to power have resulted in negative economic growth in the last quarter-- the same kind of policies he says Ryan and others are trying to bring in here ?

Who is right in this argument?

On the face of it it is difficlt to disagree with Krugman, draconian cuts do not lead to growth.

Remember Patrick Pearse's 'Beware the risen people' as despots feel their people's rage

"And I say to my people's masters: Beware,

Beware of the thing that is coming, beware of the risen people,..",

Patrick Pearse

There are many tin pot dictators sleeping less easily in their beds tonight with Pearse's thought in mind.

Democracy is the reason we have not seen similar riots as Egypt and Tunisia in Ireland where a massively unpopular government has clung on by their fingernails for far too long.

But the Irish people know they will have their say, most likely on February 25th and they will be waiting in the long grass to deliver their verdict on this government.

It will be dramatic but it will be achieved with a violent protest anywhere.

What we are witnessing in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere is a great stirring of peoples for too long under the control of despots.

In Egypt the people have had no democratic outlet as Mubarak has ruled by emergency decree for 30 years now. elections are a farce and young people are utterly hopeless.

Yet, lest we feel smug it is not that long ago when Ireland teetered between democracy and a form of fascism. After the Civil War the Cumann Na Gaedhal government took power and five years later lost it to their deadly enemies in that civil war.

There were some who counseled then leader Wiliam T. Cosgrave not to concede and to stage a coup.

To his eternal credit he did not and handed over power peacefully.

Here in America there were many who wanted George Washington to proclaim himself king but he stood with the constitution and stepped down.

Democracy is a fragile flower. great European powers such as Germany, Spain, Portugal all experienced dictatorships in the recent past.

Turkey, once ruled by a military junta, is now a flourishing democracy and an example for all Muslim nations that a vigorous democracy is possible.

Eastern Europe was recently one big gulag before communism fell.

In Tianamen Square in 1989 they created lookalikes of the Statue of Liberty to signify their desire for freedon.

Even today China's rulers remain petrified of any democratic expression.

Hopefully there will be a few less dictatorships in the Middle East when all this is over. we should not fear that change but rather embrace it.

How Michaela Harte’s death inspired love and hate

If you wanted both a story of inspiration and one that will depress you, look no further than the tragic death of Tyrone woman Michaela Harte on her honeymoon in Mauritius where she was murdered earlier this month.

She was the daughter of Mickey Harte, the inspirational manager of the Tyrone GAA football ream who led the side to three All-Ireland titles.

This is not about the family and the incredible resilience and bravery that the Harte family showed after Michaela was murdered by thieves who broke into her room.

Rather it is about two Protestants and their reaction to the events surrounding her death.

First, let us consider the case of former Loyalist paramilitary leader Winston Rea, who once was convicted for his part in the murder of two Catholics.

He was so moved by Michaela’s death and her family’s response that he personally went to the funeral to pay respects to the family.

As he told the Belfast Telegraph, “We all have our own daughters and granddaughters, and everyone was moved by what happened to say the least.

“Some of us would have a past, including myself, but none of us would like it if something tragic like that happened to someone in our families. This was not about publicity, it was about showing support to a grieving family who lost a wife, daughter and sister in very tragic circumstances.

“The committee of 1st Shankill Northern Ireland Supporters Club held an extraordinary meeting on Friday night, and it was decided that we wanted to deliver two sympathy cards, one to the Harte family and one to the McAreaveys. I was more than proud and honored to be asked to deliver the cards.

“When I got there I was touched by how warmly welcomed I was into the Harte family home.”

He met Sinn Fein Minister Martin McGuinness, once one of his deadliest enemies.

“Martin McGuinness recognized me and came straight over and held out his hand to me. I took his hand and I felt a very warm sensation,” Rea said.

“He spoke very kind words to me. He said, ‘It is really nice to see you here and I’m very glad that you made the journey.’ And he said that I would be warmly received by the whole county of Tyrone.

“I will treasure those words for a long time because I know he was being totally sincere. His approach to me spoke volumes.”

Rea was part of the Loyalist leadership that delivered the 1994 Loyalist paramilitary ceasefire which helped transform Northern Ireland.

Inside he was met by a Harte family member.

“I said who I was and who I was representing. When that person heard that, he immediately called over other family members who stood by my side for the whole duration I was there,” Rea said.

“I really appreciated the hospitality. Even on a sad day, I was very warmly received.

“I was then asked if I would go up to see Mickey and other family in the room where Michaela lay in an open coffin. As I walked by Michaela I said a few prayer words into myself.

“At the head of the coffin on a stool was her daddy Mickey. I introduced myself, and like Martin McGuinness, he held his hand out and took mine.

The whole time we talked he held my hand.

“He thanked me and said how pleased he was to see me. I then went to shake hands with the rest of the immediate family, and there was her husband John. I stopped and spoke to him and he gave me a warm handshake and thanked me for making the journey.

“Even for all they were going through they were all very welcoming. I was very touched.”

Rea’s visit shows how far the North has come in a very short time -- a sense of common humanity has grown up that allows both sides the ability to see each other.

On the other side, however, is the remnant of the hatred that still exists in parts of Northern Ireland.
A newspaper photographer named Susanne Morrison, just 19, ranted on her Facebook page that she was “sick of hearing” about Michaela's murder because she could not see “what makes her so special.”

The Belfast Telegraph reported that “Susanne also made other sickening remarks which we are not repeating.”

She claimed that Michaela’s honeymoon murder was a case of “karma” and that “what goes around comes around.”

She wrote, “Susanne Morrison is sick hearing about Makeala [sic] Hartes death!

“Thousands of people die terrible deaths every day through diseases and whatever so what makes her so special.

“Soldiers don’t get as much coverage as she has and they are risking their lives to protect us! Its about time this country got its priorities right!!!”

The incident shows once again there are two types of people in the world, those who can love and forgive and those who can’t.

Fortunately the former are in the vast majority these days in Northern Ireland.

Brian Cowen gets the blame but Irish people need to look in the mirror too

Brian Cowen is not the only person responsible for the downfall of the Irish economy.

That will come as a surprise to many who have followed the Irish media over the past few months.

Reading the media you would think he personally ordered the collapse of the Celtic Tiger all on his own.

He has been vilified from pillar to post and now limps from office no doubt a deeply disappointed man.

But the Irish should really begin to look somewhere else for somebody to blame

Like looking in the mirror at themselves.

Brian Cowen did not come from outer space.

Neither did the financial crisis he inherited when he took office a little over two years ago.

The cozy cartel of corruption that built up in Ireland was fueled by essentially one party government.

For twenty two of the last 24 years, Fianna Fail has been in power. They were voted in time and again.

It had become obvious for decades that re-electing Fianna Fail in every election was having a corrosive impact on Irish politics

Back in the 1980s former Prime Minister Charles Haughey was deeply corrupt a fact that was suspected if not outright known by voters when they continued to re-elect him.

Planning scandals, pay offs, so called brown envelopes were a feauture of his time in office.

By the time of the Celtic Tiger a golden circle of cronies in business and politics was in place.

Prime Minster Bertie Ahern was clearly caught up in it all as well.

Several inquiries found a vast trove of evidence that secret deals were part and parcel of the way the government operated.

Yet voters continued to elect him and Fianna Fail won the last election in 2007 when there was widespread knowledge that corruption was rampant and banks were completely foolhardy in their behavior.

Still 44 per cent of the Irish electorate voted for Fianna Fail.

Brian Cowen inherited all of that.

Sure he was Minister for Finance and must share the blame.

He was personally honest but that hardly mattered as the system he inherited and served was deeply flawed to begin with and he had no reformer's zeal.

Now he is carrying the can for all that went before as well as his own sins.

But voters knew well that Fianna Fail for decades even were carrying on in a corrupt fashion and a charmed circle of insiders were benefiting greatly.

So they can blame themselves as well for all that has happened.

People get the government they deserve after all.

Greens pull out of Irish government, move up election date to February

The Green party have announced they are leaving the Irish government which will move up the date of the Irish election.

The move effectively moves up the date from March 11 to either mid February or late February.

The Greens have stated that they will support passage of the Financial Bill which contains the authorization for the IMF funding.

Opposition parties Fine Gael and Labor believe that the bill can be put through the parliament's both houses by Friday of this week.

Fianna Fail however, have stated that they do not believe they can get the bill through in that time period.

IF the parties cannot agree a general election will be in Mid February. If they agree on a one week time period to pass the financial bill it will be later in February.

Fianna Fail face a nightmare period of electing anew party leader and then going straight into an election campaign where they will face a very tough election.

Election disaster looms for Fianna Fail after Prime Minister Brian Cowen blunders badly

When the wheels start falling off a political bandwagon they tend to all come loose together.

Such has been the experience of snake-bitten Prime Minister Brian Cowen who is facing political oblivion for himself and his party on March 11, date of the Irish election.

Indeed, Cowen's own party is so angry with him that he may not even last that long. there are already grim mutterings of a heave to replace him, despite the fact that he won a vote of confidence on Tuesday night.

But all has changed utterly since then.

Emboldened by his smashing victory, Cowen decided to box even more clever and replace ministers in his government who were retiring after the election with younger faces to give his party Fianna Fail a boost before the election.

Only problem was he neglected to inform his coalition partner that he was about to remake the front bench and bring in six newcomers.

The Green Party, not surprisingly objected and Cowen, at first, dismissed their concerns.

Perhaps it was a rush of blood to the head after his leadership victory, but he failed utterly to read the political situation right.

He did not realize that his decision to have six ministers stand down and be replaced would be widely viewed as just another cynical ploy from a government considered past masters of such tactics.

Arrogance can have that effect.

After all Fianna Fail have been in power for 22 of the last 24 years and have assumed a right to rule that is not dissimilar to the divine right of kings.

This time however, Cowen had badly miscalculated. the Green Party stood firm. Any new minister appointed without their approval would lead to an immediate general election.

At the last second Cowen blinked and backed down but the damage had been done.

His political coup of retaining his leadership vanished like April snow.

In its place was a fury and anger from his own party members who found themselves bounced into an election they wanted to postpone for as long as possible.

Journalists covering the Irish parliament yesterday said they had never seen anything like it. His own party was in open revolt, openly plotting to replace him.

Cowen had to concede a date for the election and share out the portfolios of the six resigned ministers among existing ministers.

The government faces an election with only nine ministers in office instead of 15.

It was the kind of power overreach that brought down Cowen's mentor in 1994 when Albert Reynolds fell over his inability to communicate with his minority partner.

Now Fianna Fail are facing into an election where they seem bereft of policy or leadership.

Europe's most successful party is in danger of total implosion and they only have themselves to blame.

The electorate will have its say on March 11 and the message for Fianna Fail will not be pretty.

Brian Cowen has a hard won reputation as an honest and decent sort who was unfortunate that the economy collapsed soon after he took office.

But his mishandling of the current crisis has left even staunch allies dismayed.

Which goes to show that even a few days is a very long time in politics.

On Tuesday night they had been singing his praises, now they want to bury him.

Irish leader Brian Cowen outfoxes opponents in confidence vote

It was no surprise that Brian Cowen retained his leadership of Fianna Fail and won a vote of confidence on Tuesday night from his party.

Given how cleverly he flushed out his opponents and outmaneuvered them, no other result was likely .

He will now lead the party into the next general election, set for the end of March in all likelihood.

For months there had been background rumblings about Cowen but no senior figure would put their name to the discontent.

It came to a crescendo last week with yet another opinion poll forecasting damnation for the party in the upcoming election.

Cowen also got embroiled in a damaging story about a golf game and dinner with Sean Fitzpatrick, former Chairman of Anglo Irish Bank, the poster boy for the collapse of the Celtic Tiger.

Cowen, displaying keen political acumen, decided to try and lance the boil and go for a vote of confidence in himself, thereby forcing his unnamed opponents to either challenge or go home.

Ironically, he took a page out of the playbook of main opposition leader Enda Kenny who when faced with a similar challenge, called a vote of confidence on himself and caught his opponents off guard.

In the event Foreign Minster Michael Martin raised the flag and came out swinging against his boss Cowen.

It was far from ideal timing for Martin, who recently tragically lost a daughter to illness.

He found himself fighting on Cowen’s turf with very little time to gather his forces.

Cowen had left only 48 hours between his decision and the vote of no confidence and grabbed the initiative right from the start.

Columnist Fintan O’Toole, writing in The Irish Times, stated that if Cowen has shown anything like the political adeptness dealing with the financial crisis that he did dealing with the leadership challenge Ireland would be in much better shape.

That will remain the abiding memory of Cowen, a politician capable of great accomplishments but strangely passive at key times.

As for Martin he is no longer foreign minister but is likely the leader in waiting if Cowen fails in the next election, which seems certain so he has done himself little harm in the long run.

As to what kind of party he inherits however, it is impossible to say.

Some estimates say they may only be returned with 25 or so seats.

But just two elections ago Fine Gael came back with only 31 seats and are now poised to become the major government party with close to 70 seats according to some polls.

So Fianna Faill will certainly be down, but perhaps not out after the next election

How the Michaela Harte tragedy touched the very soul of the Irish people, even in America

 Read more: Tragic Michaela Harte buried in her wedding dress

See photos - Michaela Harte's tragic funeral

The tragic death of Michaela Harte, murdered on her honeymoon, has left people bereft in a way that I have seldom seen.

All my conversations with people all over Ireland last week and Irish here in America this inevitably turned to the tragic young bride who was murdered after interrupting a robbery in her hotel room in Mauritius.

There was even an overflow mass in The Bronx in New York for her, a remarkable example of how deeply the tragedy touched Irish everywhere.

The sense of loss and futility, the what might have beens obviously come to the surface.

The robbers entered her room literally just two minutes before she returned there to get some biscuits to bring back downstairs where her husband awaited her.

Just three minutes earlier and she would have been fine.

Why were the robbers, allegedly hotel employees, not able to make their excuses and leave the room?

Above all why did they have to kill the beautiful young bride, knowing that they would surely be caught?

Those are all questions that will never be answered.

In the meantime the wedding photograph of this beautiful young woman and her handsome beau will continue to haunt us.

She was beloved. As the daughter of the famous Tyrone football manager Mickey Harte, she was almost as well known as he father, accompanying him to every game.

He had brought pride to Tyrone, a county that suffered greatly during The Troubles.

In 2003 he led them to their first All Ireland final victory, a win that reverberated all over Ireland. He would repeat that success twice again.

After that famous first victory he looked for Michaela first in the crowd, insisted she stood with him for the interviews. They were as close as that.

The bond between them, and Tyrone people in general who had suffered so much was intense. That was why her senseless loss was felt even in America.

If there was one bright moment it was the attendance at the wake and funeral of so many of the Unionist persuasion, including First minister Peter Robinson. Truly the sectarian wounds have begun to heal.

If you want a measure of what type of man Mickey Harte is and what his family are like this is what Ulster Unionist party candidate Mike Nesbitt,a  radio host, said about him

"Mickey Harte did the most wonderful thing for me once. I asked if he would help a young man who was dying of cancer by letting him watch Tyrone train ahead of the 2003 All-Ireland Final. He did, and he ensured the team treated young David Gillespie as a superstar. But that is what decent people do. Mickey went the extra mile. He let it be known he did not want to read of David’s passing in the papers; he wanted a call. And I am afraid he got it the weekend after he took his Tyrone team to Croke Park.

Mickey visited David’s mum and dad during the wake. Anne could not believe it when she saw Mickey Harte in his match day suit at their front door – so imagine how she felt when Mickey stood back to reveal the entire Sam Maguire winning team were also there, in their match day suits, to pay their respects to a boy they had met for only half an hour.

It was an act of uncommon humanity in the midst of terrible grief for the Gillespies and unprecedented celebration for Tyrone GAA.

It is hard to take on board that a man who did so much for a mother and father who suffered the loss of a child now has to experience even more sudden and unexpected loss himself."

It is indeed.

May she rest in peace

The speech that Obama needs to make on Tucson and deranged killers

Here is what I think President Obama needs to say about the horrors and the lessons of Tucson.

"My friends we live in a country where a mentally deranged man may have access to a firearm and ammunition as easily as he may access getting a license for his dog. We have been afraid for too long to address the consequences of this. How many more Virginia Techs or Tucsons will it take before we wake up to the reality? This is not about finger pointing, it is about seriously disturbed individuals getting access to firearms.

It is not even about violent rhetoric. Actually it comes down to one key point. If you think it is okay for a delusional loner as in the Virginia Tech and Tucson killings to have free access to guns then don't hear me out. But if you agree with me then you know it is like offering a blow torch to an arsonist, a bottle of Scotch whiskey to an alcoholic .

How many more 9-year old girls or innocent students have to die while we refuse to discuss this elephant in the room? We are not even talking about banning guns, just taking sensible precautions to ensure that maniacs do not get access to them.

Some immediate practical steps would surely include a 24-hour waiting period while every applicant is checked out by state and local police as well as the FBI. This should be the law of the land. Such a waiting period and background check would surely have prevented the Tucson massacre.

If we hire a gardener or nanny we make background checks. If we hire a new employee we seek references. Should the act of buying a gun, a lethal weapon, be any less open to scrutiny? Of course not and that is a practical hard headed reality. Yet is is one we seem afraid to embrace and to face up to.

I challenge leaders on both sides in Congress to introduce such a bill in the coming weeks. This is not some slippery slope to taking guns away, it is a practical, real life decision that as far as we can ensure, psychopaths should not have access to weapons.

And then parents of little nine-year-old girls can live their lives, free of the fear that some madman can kill their daughter.

Thank you.

It is time for an immediate Irish election before St.Patrick's Day

The dithering over the date of the next election in Ireland is not doing the country’s image any good.

According to opinion polls the current government represents about 17 per cent of the population were an election to be held now.

While it is understandable that they are not seeking an election because of what it will inevitably bring, the reality is that Ireland’s image abroad is at stake here.

The St. Patrick’s period is shortly coming up the one time in the calendar when there is a major focus on Ireland and all things Irish.

How much better would it be for the image of Ireland abroad to have a new government in place for that period, rather than a raft of stories about the old and discredited government desperately hanging on.

The idea of lame duck ministers criss-crossing the world trying to give an optimistic image of Ireland at a time when the country has come close to fallen apart is not a very good one.

The need for a new narrative about Ireland this St. Patrick’s Day has never been greater.

Instead we are likely to get warmed off leftovers with a government that is losing members to retirement every day as they see the writing on the wall.

But for the recent spate of good publicity surrounding the new Irish arts initiative in the United States there has hardly been a good word said about Ireland over the past few months.

The right time for an election is as soon as possible to change the narrative from a deathly failure to at least a new beginning.

Instead of clinging to power and hoping for some miracle that will not come this government could do the right thing and give the people of Ireland their day at the ballot box which they clearly crave

Prime Minister’s golf and dinner with Ireland’s untouchable ---- Sean FitzPatrick secret meeting last straw for many party faithful

In the end it may come down to a round of golf with an untouchable if Brian Cowen is replaced as Ireland’s leader over the next week.

Despite emerging from a party meeting with his job still intact, the circle is closing on Cowen's leadership

Brian Cowen had weathered every storm imaginable in his tenure as Prime Minster, the country going broke, IMF/EU intervention, dreadfully harsh budgets.

He saw his government’s popularity collapse to the point where his party , which won 44 per cent of the vote last time might have to settle for 14 per cent this time.

Even the weather seemed to conspire with the two coldest winters for decades and then there was the volcanic ash cloud that shut down Irish airspace for weeks.

But when he was directly linked to Sean Fitzpatrick, the former head of Anglo Irish Bank which collapsed leaving the Irish taxpayer with a $50 billion bill, he was suddenly very vulnerable.

The meeting took place over a golf game and dinner at a fancy country club outside Dublin in July 2008.

Fitzpatrick revealed the meeting in an interview for a new book and it linked Cowen fatally to the man considered the poster boy for Ireland’s plunge into darkness.

It subsequently transpired the two men had dinner with a few others immediately afterwards.

At the time Anglo was coming apart at the seams and the Celtic Tiger was gasping.

Yet Cowen, implausibly, stated that he and FitzPatrick never discussed the bank or the need for the subsequent bailout either on the golf course or at the subesquent dinner.

It sounded a little like asking Mrs Lincoln how she liked the play.

When the news of the contact broke some despairing Fianna Fail members saw it as the final insult, the moment when Cowen’s greatest asset, his integrity and honesty suddenly came under fire.

The Irish taxpayer is footing the $50 billion dollar Anglo bill, by far the largest of the massive bank debts they have to subsume.

The bailout of Anglo was deeply resented from the beginning with many experts believing the government would have been better to let it go to the wall.

Did the cozy golf game and dinner have anything to do with the agreement to bailout? No one knows for sure but the suspicion had taken hold that Cowen was not telling the whole truth.

That was the last prop holding him up, his reputation as decent and honorable with no hint of skullduggery in his dealings.

When that fell his demise became very possible despite his Houdini act at his party meeting on Thursday

It is not how he would want to go, a man who inherited much of the mess from his predecessor Bertie Ahern.

But nonetheless it may become inevitable.

Violent films, video games played role in Gabbie Giffords shooting, killings

Lost in all the hate mongering over the Gabbie Gifford shooting and killings are other factors that likely caused the crazed killer to go off.

I'm not talking about the political stands offs but rather what the youth of America are surrounding themselves with every day.

That is violent images.

When was the last time you saw a Hollywood movie without significant violence?

Just look at the box office at the moment, 'True Grit', 'Season of the Witch' 'The Fighter', 'Tron Legacy , all at or near the top are violence pocked movies which make a virtue out of killing and maiming.

Then don't even mention the video games kids play. The law of the games is to kill or be killed and if you haven't accumulated a hundred or so bodies by the end of the game, then you have been a waste of space.

Maybe it is as the ancient Romans believed that man is made to fight, first and foremost, over women, power, land whatever, hardwired for ever to seek combat and triumph

Maybe what we witnessed on Saturday last with the shooting was the natural outreach of that.

One thing for sure, we will find that the killer was desensitized to violence by movies and video games that proclaim it is cool and worth watching.

There are many Hollywood liberals who make movies that are exceedingly violent yet point the finger at Republicans for hate speech.

Their own creations are helping with the hate too.

Likewise, those major corporations who manufacture the video games and pretend, like the NRA they have nothing to do with the spread of violence in this country. They too need to look in the mirror if they dare to .

I won't hold my breath, but every time I think of that little nine year old girl killed in Arizona I ask myself if these games are just harmless fun as the movie makers and manufacturers would have us believe.

I think not. Like the NRA the makers know in their hearts that they too had a role in background to the deaths last weekend.

Astronaut Mark Kelly, spouse of Gabby Giffords, an American hero --- intensely proud of his Irish heritage

Read more: Gabrielle Giffords’ love story with husband Mark Kelly

Read more: Time to stop the hate rhetoric after Gabrielle Giffords shooting

Mark Kelly, husband of shot Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords traces his Irish heritage through his father, Richard Kelly a retired police captain.

The astronaut is in Tucson beside his stricken wife, but is scheduled to lead the final shuttle mission to space on April 1st.

Right from an early age, Kelly and his twin brother Scott, were determined to go into space family members told our sister publication Irish America magazine who interviewed the brothers in 2006.

When they were eight they told their Irish grandmother in Orange, New Jersey 'Grandma we're going up in space someday. She would just laugh at them" his father recalls.

Mark's mother is not surprised they both made it and in the same job.

"I really do believe there is a genetic predisposition for certain things," she told the magazine.

To keep the twins on equal footing their parents refused to tell them which one was older until they were 16. Mark is actually older by sixteen minutes.

Out of the 2,400 applications for astronaut the year they applied only 35 were chosen and there were three Kellys among them, the Kelly twins and Jim Kelly who piloted the shuttle in a 2005 mission.

Mark was married to a twin before being divorced and eventually marrying Gabbie Giffords.

Speaking of his roots he told Irish America "I go back to my hometown of Orange usually a couple of times a year. They have a big St.Patricks Parade, I like to go back for that."

Hopefully this year or next he can take his wife, the brave congresswoman along.

His twin brother, Scott Kelly, currently on the International Space Station, broadcast a message to the world when he heard the dreadful news.

"As I look out the window, I see a very beautiful planet that seems very inviting and peaceful. Unfortunately, it is not."

"These days, we are constantly reminded of the unspeakable acts of violence and damage we can inflict upon one another, not just with our actions, but also with our irresponsible words," he said.

"We're better than this. We must do better."

Amen to that.

Read more: Gabrielle Giffords’ love story with husband Mark Kelly


Read more: Time to stop the hate rhetoric after Gabrielle Giffords shooting

Right decision to cancel Kennedy miniseries -- proves you can't make fiction out of historical fact

The decision to cancel the Kennedy miniseries comes as no great surprise given that there were fundamental questions about the accuracy of the portrait of the famous family.

A few years back CBS were forced to do the same thing with a Ronald Reagan series which greatly traduced his legacy too.

The reality is that you can't really do historical fiction about something that is historical fact.

You can invent a Ronald Reagan type figure or a Kennedy type family and fictionalize all you want.

But when you are talking about a real life person or family it is unfair and incorrect to project fiction into their lives.

God knows we live in an era where fact and fiction are continuously intertwined by media of all shapes.

But the Kennedy miniseries was,it seems, a particularly egregious example,of bad history.

It was interesting to read what the A and E network which owns the History Channel stated when canceling.

"Upon completion of the production of 'The Kennedys,' History has decided not to air the eight-part miniseries," the network said adding that "while the film is produced and acted with the highest quality, after viewing the final product in its totality, we have concluded this dramatic interpretation is not a fit for the History brand."
"We recognize historical fiction is an important medium for storytelling, and commend all the hard work and passion that has gone into the making of the series, but ultimately deem this as the right programming decision for our network," the company said in its statement.

There it -- is for the term 'dramatic interpretation' read 'fiction.'

The former John F. Kennedy adviser Theodore Sorenson, said the script he has seen was "vindictive" and "malicious."

This miniseries has been controversial from the get go despite an all star cast.
Greg Kinnear played President John F. Kennedy, Katie Holmes is Jackie O., Barry Pepper played RFK and Tom Wilkinson played Joe Kennedy Snr .

The project was created by "24's" creator, Joel Surnow,an arch-conservative, so that should have set the alarm bells ringing.

Eventually it did and the right decision was made.

Democrats hoping Bill Daley will not throw in towel on Obama like he did on Al Gore in 2000

By signing up Bill Daley as his new Chief of Staff Barack Obama is tempting fate with a man who has failed to deliver in the most momentous clash between Republicans and Democrats in history.

As Al Gore's campaign manager in the disputed 2000 election, Bill Daley got completely outmaneuvered by that wily old fox Jim Baker on the Republican side and conceded the election to Bush. They lost the media war, the protesters war and finally the vote.

The fact that the campaign also refused to focus and attack third party candidate Ralph Nader, who won 98,000 odd votes in Florida as a vote splitter was also a huge oversight. In so close a state such a mistake was foolish to say the least

Both Daley and legal advisor Warren Christopher were the first to weaken in their assertion that Gore had legitimately won Florida. "He threw in the towel too early " remembers one close aide at the time.

According to Jeffrey Toobin in his book "Too close to call' Daley never seemed to show the heart for the fight that the other side did. He quotes him as saying to Gore "Look you got screwed," ... "but people get screwed every day. They don't have a remedy. Black people get screwed all the time. They don't have a remedy. Sometimes there's no remedy. There's nothing you can do about it...

According to Toobin "Gore railed against the prophesies of hopelessness he was hearing from Daley."

Now Daley is at the heart of a huge upcoming battle between Republicans and Democrats again in congress.

Obama will need all the help he can get The great grandson of Irish immigrants has proven himself in many political positions over the years but this is his most important yet.

Democrats will he hoping he will not end up a surrender monkey to Republicans again.

Legalizing prostitution is the only fair solution for Ireland, elsewhere

The proposed new law in Ireland to arrest only men when it comes to prostitution smacks to me of political correctness gone mad.

It takes two to tango and it is unjust criminalizing the men only.

It is also wrong as it is now, making the women the only evil ones.

Prostitution is the world's oldest profession, one that has flourished in every society in every century.

It is an indelible factor in the human condition, a matter of supply and demand and the only solution is to legalize it.

Sure there would be lots of moral outrage, but the plain truth is that where it has been tried it appears to work

In Nevada where the entire business is overseen by the state, all transactions are legal and there is markedly little exploitation compared to other states and countries.

There are no pimps or people to exploit sex workers and the women are regularly examined for sexual diseases.

In addition, there are no major drug issues surrounding prostitution like there are elsewhere.

There was a heartbreaking story in The New York Times this morning about school kids forced to walk past a stretch of street known as a prostitutes hang out on their way to school in The Bronx everyday.

Heartbreaking for the kids, and also for the hookers themselves. those interviewed were clearly addled by drugs and forced to sell their bodies to keep their addiction going.

Clearly, current laws that victimize the women and let the men off scot free in most cases are not correct, neither is it correct to just flip the equation.

As I said, it takes two to tango and the best way to do it is to legalize it as far as possible and keep the pimps and drug dealers out of it.

Ireland needs to recognize that.