Comments on The Pensive Quill: The Public and the Private

Interested – you are hardly alone in feeling sick....

2010-11-18T21:45:24.767Z

Interested – you are hardly alone in feeling sick.

Larry- suppose you can't wait to campaign aga...

2010-11-16T21:09:26.239Z

Larry-

suppose you can't wait to campaign
against PAT SHEEHAN in next years
assemply election,

interested- thought i was sending my own views to the pensive QUILL,

A war was fought, the PROVO'S won said war- and now politics is being fought,
the brit unionist's would not have been caught as much if there was no one on the republican side
opposed to SINN FEIN-
every-one has their part to play-

marty- doh

Interested Mickey speaks in one view his obsessiv...

2010-11-16T20:17:20.878Z

Interested

Mickey speaks in one view his obsessive impulses make sense to him and his version of Michael Henrys war. I think your challenge to him might cause a meltdown if he actually expressed an opinion other than the questionable party lines.

Interested Mickeyboys reply will be something on t...

2010-11-16T19:20:29.751Z

Interested Mickeyboys reply will be something on the following line "DOH"

MichaelHenry “Sorry for my loss” that sounds very ...

2010-11-16T18:56:02.223Z

MichaelHenry
“Sorry for my loss” that sounds very disingenuous , I think you should take a step back in life and say to yourself what really has occurred over the past 45 years , try this without making any reference to what anyone said or done in that period . Remember back to your school days and what teacher used to tell the whole class on many occasion’s “think for yourself tell me your version of events and not anyone else’s “ . From your replies all I seem to get is the Sinn Fein Party view ,please reply with your own.

Interested, on the nail! They could have got wher...

2010-11-15T18:22:13.358Z

Interested, on the nail!
They could have got where they are without any of it. If they had genuine Republican bonefides they'd have dumped weapons and let the SDLP get on with it.
It has all become the martin and gerry mystery tour and at such a cost and with such shame.
Westminster WILL follow if Adams gets in at Louth. Thats ok if they want it, but once again they'll lie through their teeth to get there. Feel awful for Morgan, hope enough about dundalk do too.

Sorry to hear about your loss interested- think mo...

2010-11-15T18:13:07.135Z

Sorry to hear about your loss
interested- think most on this site knew some of those who fell for IRELAND
any that i knew did not want to die
and would loved to be alive to-day
but they fought on and on till the
martyr's call,

some now like to blame ADAMS or
SINN FEIN- but if you are not in
their gang then there is nothing to stop you from fighting on, do your own thing old hand, its easy now to fight,

who did they hand over the guns and semtex to- your words,

stormont is not the end- i don't
think it will ever end,
mr ADAMS is on his way out of stormont for the height's of the dail, thats a all IRELAND party for you.

Michaelhenry I watched my friends being carried t...

2010-11-15T13:21:42.922Z

Michaelhenry
I watched my friends being carried to their grave for the belief they had in Adams and at no time do I remember them saying "sure its all worth it someday we can get Adams and Mc Guniness to hand in our guns and semtex and call republicans Traitors whom dare to fight the brits with armed force". That my man is what the Blanketmen et al have gained for hardship and death. If you honestly believe that people layed down their lives for Gerry and Martin to get into power in Stormont so be it.

Mickeyboy with friends like you who needs enemies!...

2010-11-15T01:39:21.668Z

Mickeyboy with friends like you who needs enemies!

Michaelhenry, you are my buddy. I don't need ...

2010-11-14T19:53:21.545Z

Michaelhenry,

you are my buddy. I don't need any more!

you have a friend AM- interested thinks that o'...

2010-11-14T19:45:31.050Z

you have a friend AM-
interested thinks that o'rawe is
telling lies, and that thatcher never give in-

Alfie ‘The sad thing about all this is that, whe...

2010-11-14T19:38:19.388Z

Alfie

‘The sad thing about all this is that, when all is said and done, I fear
The Master will go down in mainstream history as a kind of peace-making
hero and the rest will be forgotten.’

I am not so sure. When they have no longer a need for him …

Larry,

Thanks for the thought but as I said to Marty, I didn’t feel stressed out by it.

‘Possibly another driving factor in the protest was the mindset in the early '70s of victory '72/73...4,5,6,7 etc in which ultimate victory was thought to be not only possible but close?’

By that stage we had entered into the Long War mentality. I think we knew there would be no quick fix even though we hoped for one

‘But no way do I believe they were doing it for a few seats in Stormont.’

I think that is self evident. Not one day was served in jail for Stormont.

Would someone please let me know what institution ...

2010-11-14T16:44:55.514Z

Would someone please let me know what institution Michael Henry is in so I can send him some fruit or flowers . God love him his head must be in severe pain. This man has the inner belief that the Provo’s won the war they beat Maggie ??? and what exactly did happen oh yeah they won the right to hand in guns and bombs and also ???? No that’s all after all the years of mayhem that is exactly what they achieved Gerry let men die so that he could have a look into Stormont and weigh up which room he would like ,sorry I have to stop I feel so fucking sick

Michaelhenry, 'don't think that the that...

2010-11-14T12:03:13.889Z

Michaelhenry,

'don't think that the thatcher sell out can compare with the
PROVOs decommission'

That is right. Decommissioning was much more of a climb down than Thatcher ever done. The Provo leadership said it would never happen, either through the back door or the front, as it would be a surrender'

'the RA made peace time decision
after they won to help the process'

They did not announce the war was over until 2005 - they had decommissioned as early as 2001. They lost the war and in return for being participants in an internal solution they decommissioned.

'decommission means to put weapon's
beyond use'

Whatever decommission means they said they would never decommission. They did.

Thatcher, as much as we despise her, ended up on the winning side. But that's life.

AM- i don't think that the thatcher sell out ...

2010-11-14T11:49:05.394Z

AM-

i don't think that the thatcher sell out can compare with the
PROVOs decommission- thatcher sold out her stance becuse she was beat
why else- her and the brits made a war time decision to compromise-
other's were shot at dawn for less
"they shall remember them"
the RA made peace time decision's
after they won to help the process
but to answer you-

decommission means to put weapon's
beyond use- not to hand them over like the Lvf, stickie's and uda done, i hope the process works, as
it should- so those weapon's don't
be brought back into use,

thatcher will die before her name
becomes dirt with the brit's- but that is life.

Anthony, the point I was trying to make was if the...

2010-11-14T10:06:08.103Z

Anthony, the point I was trying to make was if the hungerstrikers had been making a 1916 type stand [ as i certainly felt they were in 1981] to propel the struggle forward to victory, then fine. But no way do i believe they were doing it for a few seats in Stormont. They'd surely never have died for that? Would they? That's rhetorical michaelhenry.. please...don't.

Alfie you are absolutely correct, like paisley Ada...

2010-11-14T10:00:41.075Z

Alfie you are absolutely correct, like paisley Adams wants a sanitised place in the history books. He should be hounded from pillar to post until he's untouchable. So should the rest of that 'leadership' who fell in love WITH THEMSELVES and the sound of their own voices. Get a bus organised for Louth. Get names on the canvass trail to confront this judas. Give them some honest tv profiling not BBC Mi6 promotions.
I have high hopes for Louth.

Anthony, Perhaps that's true; I'm not in ...

2010-11-14T01:40:10.422Z

Anthony,

Perhaps that's true; I'm not in a position to argue the point. I'll read "Afterlives" before I make up my mind.

The sad thing about all this is that, when all is said and done, I fear The Master will go down in mainstream history as a kind of peace-making hero and the rest will be forgotten.

Larry, I think it is too shallow to clam the boys...

2010-11-13T23:00:03.600Z

Larry,

I think it is too shallow to clam the boys would have rushed the fences just to push the Pearsean position and nobody would have cared. The boys would have cared if they had have known their efforts were being used for something else.

‘They have the morals and integrity of a sewer rat. No revelation impacts upon
them. They blackmail people to vote them into stormont with the fear of
an alternative to the peace process.’

Not much wrong with that.

Nuala,

You are right. They should not be allowed to avoid accountability. This is big crime in the republican worldview.

‘I was in prison for the duration of the second hunger strike. I like
everyone else believed every single thing the leadership of the
movement told us.’

True. Although I did have suspicions when they blocked the European commissioners coming in days before Bobby died.

Michaelhenry,

Novel way to look at it. I don’t care for her in the slightest. But do you not think the case can be made that if people swear never to decommission and then do so then they can, by the logic you apply to Thatcher, be accused of being traitors.

Sin e a cara

2010-11-13T21:59:19.300Z

Sin e a cara

Marty, I agree. Let the chips fall where they wi...

2010-11-13T21:58:06.161Z

Marty,

I agree. Let the chips fall where they will.

Anthony that is why only an open and transparent t...

2010-11-13T21:55:31.349Z

Anthony that is why only an open and transparent tribunal with the power to cross examine all those involved in this issue is so important,innocent men may have a shadow left hanging over their reputations,while the guilty in Mickeyboys words go onwards and upwards!

Anthony and Alfie I agree,

2010-11-13T21:49:21.896Z

Anthony and Alfie I agree,

Alfie, I don't agree. I think that is a take...

2010-11-13T21:42:16.453Z

Alfie,

I don't agree. I think that is a take that fits if read back the way. But it is much less easily applied if we read it coming forward. The question that needs addressed is what they knew at each stage as it unfolded, not what posterity thinks they knew on the basis of what posterity now knows.

Anthony, "Yet the chips fall where they do a...

2010-11-13T21:28:53.711Z

Anthony,

"Yet the chips fall where they do and the evidence lends itself to no conclusion other than that a deal was offered which was accepted by the prisoners. This acceptance was subsequently subverted by the leadership for whatever reason and the hunger strike carried on with the resulting loss of six more lives."

If this is the case, then the leadership and those who assisted them - including McFarlane - are guilty of wilful disregard for the lives of the hunger strikers. That at the very least.