Comments on The Pensive Quill: Dirty War, Dirty Church

Michaelhenry, I guess I just liked the conference...

2013-03-25T21:49:01.526Z

Michaelhenry,

I guess I just liked the conference. But of course there have been times when I resorted to your strategy

Michaelhenry You are correct. The Royla Ulster Ri...

2013-03-25T13:26:08.389Z

Michaelhenry

You are correct. The Royla Ulster Riffles and a Scottish regiment were ordered to fight to the last man while the evacuation was organised from Dunkirk beaches. Churchill hoped to get 45,000 men back across the channel. French officers who copped on the Brits were abandoning them were shot by English troops. We don't get that info on the history channel.

In the event 250,000 were rescued/scarpered. Who in their right mind wants to be loyal to khantz like the English? I told an English friend in Derry he should visit my granda's grave and thank him he doesn't speak German like we speak English.

The zero sum politics of norn iron means articulate people like Robert will continue prefering to be anything (nothing?) rather than Irish.

AM- " I would like to go to Buenos Aires-Sta...

2013-03-25T11:43:27.433Z

AM-

" I would like to go to Buenos Aires-Stalingrad-Kigali "-

No point going there or anywhere just for a conference-can you not do what i do-book yourself into the conference then go outside to explore the place-
A plane i was on stopped in Romina for a few days-after a bus for a few hours i was in a strange town-after walking a few streets i seen the guinness sign-i walked into home- Ireland is the only country that has a place/site in every other country-in every other town in the world-

Larry-

"If it hadn't been for the likes of my granda at Dunkirk "

He fought whilst the rest of them fcuks ran for it- TRA- they ran away-

Agh Mackers amego, jealousy will get you nowhere i...

2013-03-25T10:59:04.969Z

Agh Mackers amego, jealousy will get you nowhere it is a simple fact of life some of us age much better than others. 1963 was the year I arrived so sorry to disappoint! Though my mrs recons I look so young I could have been 8 in the 80s. aaagh life is good.

Robert a cara I was working in a Indian doctors h...

2013-03-25T09:41:33.298Z

Robert a cara I was working in a Indian doctors house a few years ago, as you crossed the you could clearly see the tiny bare feet and a swastika on the threshold, being an inquisitive fucker asked the question,the good lady doc told me it was an old Hindu symbol meaning good fortune is to come into the house,as you know the swastika was a symbol used by the Romans and many others throughout history and hijacked by the nazis,if you look carefully at the wood paneling in Stormont you can make out the swastika there also,

Larry, I could believe all you said except for yo...

2013-03-25T08:04:58.823Z

Larry,

I could believe all you said except for your claim to have been 8 in the 1970s. Tolerant as I am such a blatant distortion of the truth poses problems even for this blog!

AM/Robert couldn't resist that wee comment in...

2013-03-25T00:35:43.607Z

AM/Robert

couldn't resist that wee comment in the middle of your speed-dating transcript there.

I visited Coventry cathedral in the early 1970s at...

2013-03-25T00:10:45.667Z

I visited Coventry cathedral in the early 1970s at about 8 yrs old. Just before my grada died defending catholic houses from ulster nazis in 1974. There wasn't much to see in Coventry.

Robert, a mixture of everything which we all dipp...

2013-03-24T23:31:42.055Z

Robert,

a mixture of everything which we all dipped into. Tikka was in the mix. My favourite Indian dish by the way. The cathedral sounds more interesting by the day. Will make a point of getting there should I go back

Anthony, A Tikka Masala I trust? I have been to ...

2013-03-24T23:15:47.570Z

Anthony,

A Tikka Masala I trust?

I have been to the cathedral twice. I was amazed to find on my first visit that around the band of the Bishops mitre are three swastikas. While I realise the symbol is religious in origin the irony was striking.

Robert, it was suggested to me that I try to see ...

2013-03-24T23:00:55.377Z

Robert,

it was suggested to me that I try to see the cathedral but my whole time there was effectively taken up at a conference. As soon as it finished I headed to the airport. The only thing I really got to see was the hotel, the university and an Indian restaurant.

Anthony, 'I was in Coventry at the weekend an...

2013-03-24T22:42:53.733Z

Anthony,

'I was in Coventry at the weekend and couldn't help but think about the particular history of that city.'

Did you get a chance to visit the remains of the bombed out remains of Coventry Cathedral? Did you see the tomb of Bishop Huyshe Wolcott Yeatman-Biggs?

Those countries who claim to have saved the world ...

2013-03-24T20:05:48.787Z

Those countries who claim to have saved the world from fascism in 1945 turned out to be much the same. The UK has only been at 'peace' during one single year since WW2, 1967.

49 nations invaded by the Brits and amazingly ALL the locals turned out to be 'terrorists'.

As I say, I'm indifferent to their fate in the UK, especially when Thatcher was the most unpopular PM in history and instigated the Malvinas conflict after which she became the most popular. Gives us an insight into the psyche of the GB public.

Although on the bright side, they have become world leaders in prosthetic limbs for the endless number of mangled teenagers returning from their wars. Every village in Britain must have a few wee cripples by now.

I agree that mass bombing of civilians in places l...

2013-03-24T14:22:52.294Z

I agree that mass bombing of civilians in places like Coventry and Dresden are war crimes a cara,so how much more brutal,immoral never mind illegal that in a more enlightened age must have been the carpet bombing of places in Vietnam like Hanoi,napalm and agent orange dropped on innocent people and their crops in countless abundance,this week we hear that the Syrian regime has resorted to using chemical weapons,the Israeli state which knows all about torture and oppression does not blink an eye on using the same tactics on the Palestinian people and America and England are among the worlds largest munitions exporters or masters of death,these states have learned nothing from the past other than to continue to build bigger bombs a cara,it really is a pity that Dresden and Coventry were not declared war crimes,it may have saved countless lives.

Larry/Marty, I know sympathy and empathy like muc...

2013-03-24T13:48:33.314Z

Larry/Marty,

I know sympathy and empathy like much else is not a finite resource. Yet it still jolts me to see people express indifference to the fate of others who are basically no better or worse than our own families and who underwent tremendous cruelty. I know it is hard to empathise with torturers and bullies when they meet their fate no matter what we say about human rights but so many innocent get caught up in things like the bombing of Coventry. It seems that is a war crime just like Dresden albeit on a lesser scale.

Anthony as for the ra bombing Coventry "as we...

2013-03-24T12:55:35.724Z

Anthony as for the ra bombing Coventry "as well as the Germans" na a cara I think the Germans did a far better job.

AM I am probably peeeing in the wind. But I just ...

2013-03-24T11:18:50.774Z

AM

I am probably peeeing in the wind. But I just recon if this Pope is setting himself up as a man of the poor at least give him enough rope to hang himself before wading in.

Places like the Philippines with their still wedged-full chapels could do with some easing-up and assistance socially.

Stalingrad would have been on my 'bucket-list' too. But unlikely to happen. The Nazi gas chambers were on it, but Israel has deminished much of my natural instinct towards empathy there. Not removed it totally but removed any desire to make the effort to travel there. Maybe I'll go with a Palastinian fleg, that might motivate me.

Always wanted to see the great marvels the Irish created/built during their first hundred years of independence, but I wont see the needle on my way to the airport via the motorway they bulldozed through Tara. It will be the great wall of China, Hong Kong, Vietnam most likely. Then a good steak in Argentina keeping my head down lol.

As for Coventry, if it hadn't been for the likes of my granda at Dunkirk and D-DAY the Brits would be talkin German today after enduring the same evil as they did to us. Don't have much empathy there either I'm afraid. Indifferent.

Larry, I didn't see a single thing in your co...

2013-03-24T10:58:13.990Z

Larry,

I didn't see a single thing in your comment as personal. I wasn't making a case against the pope in any event. I merely outline the case. I don't think he was complicit with the military. The evidence is not there. It just seemed a strange comment coming from you who had already written a fine piece on Malaysia in which you demonstrated a good understanding of the issues.

I would like to go to Buenos Aires. Strangely enough I expressed the wish to so while on the Blanket. But then I would also like to go to Stalingrad and Kigali, knowing I most likely never will. They are so steeped in history. I was in Coventy at the weekend and couldn't help but think about the particular history of that city. The IRA bombed it as well as the Germans!

Mackers Just to clarify, I meant 'academics&#...

2013-03-24T10:34:34.543Z

Mackers

Just to clarify, I meant 'academics' as abstract not any one in particular. Personally the thought of going snooping around any latin American country diggin for dirt would give me nightmares. Digging ones own grave more like.

I'm not up to speed with the details of latin American USA backed death squads and juntas. But after my experiences here and the little bit of light cast on the evil that went on in front of our own eyes,I'll enjoy the food, weather and vino when I venture to the likes of Argentina or Chile and keep my gob shut on political issues.

I immagine top SF scoundrals and 'RA 'heavyweights' talked some crap to visiting politicos in their day. Then reported it all to their handlers! Get my drift? What the hell do we know?

If you thought there was a personal 'barb' to my comment I assure you otherwise. But should you consider venturing to latin America to investigate and 'pontificate' may I suggest you bin the notion. I'd miss you terribly (and the Quill) but not enough to go searching for your sad arse!

Larry, the people making the running live in Arge...

2013-03-24T10:17:31.672Z

Larry,

the people making the running live in Argentina, have been complaining for years, some were themselves kidnapped and tortured.

Organised Rage The RC church backs all those in p...

2013-03-23T19:21:14.823Z

Organised Rage

The RC church backs all those in power until the tide turns overwhelmingly against them. It's the M.O.

This was the case with the Brits in Ireland when the RC church excommunicated IRA men and Cardinal Cullen advocated Catholic expansion within the British Empire not opposition to it. The church then stepped in at the end after 1916 and went with the flow setting up its own dictatorship with rosary beads.

They did the same with Nazi Germany. A prominent Jesuit would have likely given (and possibly still) no Latin America Junta sleepless nights were he disappeared. Just my opinion/assessment.

The RC church does what it says on the tin. Builds an empire out of selling an impossible dream, wee bit like the USA, perhaps that's why they like each other so much?

Are we supposed to believe everything we read?. do...

2013-03-23T02:59:38.733Z

Are we supposed to believe everything we read?. do we all believe that everything written in the Bible is true?, especially the King James Bible?.

Do any of you believe this crap.

Desmond de Silva Report

a mixture of No collusion , whilst the facts are in front of his own eyes, this guy has his sights on plenty of "SILVER".

I feel a lot less personal 'distaste' for ...

2013-03-22T19:57:33.350Z

I feel a lot less personal 'distaste' for the new pontif than I do towards the likes of Donaldson, scap, McGuinness, Liam+Gerry Adams, along with the McCartneys and Morrisons of this world getting convictions quashed. Smething extremely slimey about ALL of the latter. The new pontif may have done little, but what those guys closer to home were up to beggars belief!

It is not unreasonable to raise questions about Be...

2013-03-22T18:22:57.523Z

It is not unreasonable to raise questions about Bergoglio, not least because the Vatican is selling him as a man of the people, what better way to serve the people than speaking out when a government is murdering them. They are also claiming he is a priest who does not behave in an orthodox manner.

What ever evidence exists or does not, it is a fact Bergoglio was in a position of power during the Junta and he failed to speak out. The head of the Junta has publicly said they had a close relationship with the Catholic church and kept them informed about their plans.

This has nothing to do with Mr Bergoglio personal courage, as due to his rank back then no matter whatever he said he was a protected species. The Military were looking for friends in high places and were never going to take on Rome by imprisoning or murdering a senior jesuit.

I would guess, at best he failed to speak out because he new the church supported the Junta, and at worst he thought the lefties had it coming to them. Besides, this is a man who has never done anything which would have been detrimental to his career.

He was in a leading position and had a duty to speak out, as some catholics priests did, he chose not to and to my mind that makes him unfit to occupy any leadership position.

He is a man of powerful elites not a man of the people, simply more of the same.

Why the big outcry now. Surely if people were'...

2013-03-22T13:48:11.831Z

Why the big outcry now. Surely if people were'nt just out to slate the RC church they's dave been campaigning on this issue before now?

Nature of people and politics generally, if something good befalls someone, crucify them or try to ruin it. Why don't some of these 'academic heroes' piss-off out to Argentina and do a PHD on the disappeared today, if they are so brave as to judge people from the safety of decades later and a hemosphere distant?