Comments on The Pensive Quill: No Missing Link

Talon, no relation

2009-09-13T08:47:18.738+01:00

Talon, no relation

Saoirse32 had a peace on Seamus TWomey Relation to...

2009-09-12T20:42:03.033+01:00

Saoirse32 had a peace on Seamus TWomey Relation to Carrie?

Respectfully
talon

Anonymous, why everyone wondered why I left is bey...

2009-03-28T00:29:00.000Z

Anonymous, why everyone wondered why I left is beyond me. It was pretty clear that I did not leave because of hassle. By the time I had left I wasn't getting any. I have heard it was said on some internet sites that I had been driven out of West Belfast. Simply didn’t happen. There was no attempt made to drive me out. Some of those who had fallen out over the O'Connor killing had by then dropped their hostility. From the first act of decommissioning there was less of a view that I had been spitting on the holy grail. I sensed that people were beginning to think that maybe there was something in what I had been saying. Every now and then the hate would be stirred up over this or that. But it was hard for all the king’s horses and all the king’s men to put Freddie Scap back together again. So the forays against me over things like that made those leading them look all the more ridiculous. If there was one reason more than any other why I left it was to give children a better opportunity. And since leaving I have come to ask why I ever stayed so long. As for the Blanket, I never ran it but merely wrote for it. My proficiency with computers is severely limited. The Blanket served its purpose but yet …

Hodgie,have you ever broached the question with hi...

2009-03-28T00:15:00.000Z

Hodgie,have you ever broached the question with him?

Balor, 'Are the younger generation of republic...

2009-03-28T00:14:00.000Z

Balor, 'Are the younger generation of republicans the bastard sons & daughters of a failed political experiment?' In my view republicanism has failed although I wouldn't put it quite the way you did if for no other reason that I am still mulling over the point you raised.
'Are we detritus doomed to stand in the shadow of dinosaurs living on the back of a cult of personality rather than progressive republicanism?'
A very important question. Is there any 'progressive republicanism' associated with the physical force tradition?
McGuinness has long since abandoned republicanism and merely keeps the label to stop people like yourself claiming it.

Listen to your nagging doubt. Everyone wondered w...

2009-03-22T21:14:00.000Z

Listen to your nagging doubt. Everyone wondered why you'd left? Was it due to the treatment you'd had, then I thought a guy who took all that the state had to throw at him, hardly left because of his treatment in WB. But you have a young family.....

You could still run a good site. It's sadly needed.

Fionnchú, the Blanket served a useful purpose. I h...

2009-03-22T08:23:00.000Z

Fionnchú, the Blanket served a useful purpose. I have never been entirely convinced that we made the right decision in bringing it to a close. I think we did but there is still that nagging doubt.

Balor's direct lament: Are the younger generati...

2009-03-21T21:12:00.000Z
Balor's direct lament: Are the younger generation of republicans the bastard sons & daughters of a failed political experiment? Are we detritus doomed to stand in the shadow of dinosaurs living on the back of a cult of personality rather than progressive republicanism? echoes what I've wondered the past two decades.

For years, "The Blanket" provided a forum for us to share our wonders and laments and suggestions for progressive alternatives and Third Ways. Part of the problem is that with the folding a year ago of "The Blanket," media for such discussion appear fewer. Or, am I underinformed and misguided? Perhaps a future entry at PQ can direct us to progressive republican peers-- if they exist!

About time other writers began questioning o muill...

2009-03-21T14:53:00.000Z
About time other writers began questioning o muilleoir and his use of the media to portray his brand of republicanism as the right one. I for one cannot forget his words about the 'political naivety' of the hunger-strikers!

The words spoken by McGuinness have deeply hurt republicans of all shades and for that he cannot be forgiven!

i think o muilleoir should address the criminal is...

2009-03-20T09:54:00.000Z
i think o muilleoir should address the criminal issue of agents among his own editorial staff,and his endorsement of such, rather than ranting about people who are still locked into the physical force tradition, however misguided.

I enjoyed the current blog (again), and appreciate...

2009-03-19T23:35:00.000Z
I enjoyed the current blog (again), and appreciate that through your forum you do facilitate open debate, which is very welcome. Very valid points on the criminalisation issue.

Are the younger generation of republicans the bastard sons & daughters of a failed political experiment? Are we detritus doomed to stand in the shadow of dinosaurs living on the back of a cult of personality rather than progressive republicanism?

Looking back at McGuinness' 86 Ard Fheis speech on the removal of abstentionism.(bottom of this) The last section of what I have used is the most striking

'It's sad and surprising that this could have been said by a Republican.'

Those words stun and astound even more than I ever thought possible after his recent pro-brit diatribes.

It's a sad reflection when we look at the price that has been paid in lives, in time away from family, in sacrifice & suffering. I just hope that the price paid for the tag that was stickered on the heads of the provo leadership was worth every penny to them.

"Sadly, the inference that the removal of abstentionism would lead to the demise of military
opposition to British rule has indeed called into question the committment of the IRA to pursue this struggle to a successful conclusion. I reject any such
suggestion, and I reject the notion that entering Leinster House would mean an end to Sinn Féin's unapologetic support for the right of Irish people to
oppose in arms the British forces of occupation. That, my friends, IS A PRINCIPLE which a minority in this hall might doubt, but which I believe all our opponents clearly understand. Or position is clear,
and it will never, never, never change. The war against British rule must continue until freedom is
achieved.
...we are told, among other things, that we are
counter-revolutionaries, and that if we lose this vote, we will be discredited. It's sad and surprising that this could have been said by a Republican.