Comments on The Pensive Quill: A Vision into the Mind

AM, Frankie- I think you both have valid points re...

2013-02-11T21:19:58.506Z

AM, Frankie- I think you both have valid points regarding how children learn history. I think Frankie has a point when he questions the validity of state schools learning history from a particular viewpoint and maintained schools learning from a different viewpoint albeit from the same syllabus.

AM is right in that children have to learn by taking on board different arguments and interpretations of history but this won't necessarily be solved by having one education system. The importance of friendship between religion through interaction is maybe more important than the history syllabus in reducing sectarianism. Although AM's method of learning would surely be more academically worthwhile.

A single education system would probably mitigate sectarianism as children wouldn't be segregated for wont of a better word. That would be a good thing although without the scrapping of selection at 11 many of the fundamental problems will remain.

Frankie, I think children should learn history ra...

2013-02-11T19:08:01.677Z

Frankie,

I think children should learn history rather than be taught the same version. I am dubious about the teaching of the one history.

itsjustmackers...I know that has been intimated bu...

2013-01-25T08:26:20.880Z

itsjustmackers...I know that has been intimated but again with absolutely no proof. I find it hard to believe that even Murphy would " instigate" the planting of a bomb in Ardoyne while he was in Long Kesh. I believe the people who were arrested and subsequently jailed for that attack were really quite capable themselves of carrying out such a deed.

Stephen. He also ran the shankill butchers from t...

2013-01-24T18:05:32.425Z

Stephen.

He also ran the shankill butchers from that very establishment, that was to take the heat of himself because he knew he was a chief suspect.

Itsjustmackers--would the insigator of that partic...

2013-01-24T13:03:51.172Z

Itsjustmackers--would the insigator of that particular bomb..Lenny Murphy..also have instigated it from Long Kesh? Because he was in there from April 1976.

Simon: I stand corrected on that, thank you. The...

2013-01-23T23:04:35.851Z

Simon:

I stand corrected on that, thank you.

The instigator of the Bomb was the late shankill butcher Lenny Murphy, the bomb maker was an ex british soldier , "Tonto Watt who served a number of years behind bars for the three killings. One of those who died in the etna drive bombing was my late wife's cousin, with reference to the third killing, that was in beechmount a uvf bomb killed 10 year-old, Kevin McMenamin and a number of others.

A couple of points which might clarify the Etna Dr...

2013-01-23T12:16:21.023Z

A couple of points which might clarify the Etna Drive bombing. Johnny Adair would have been 13 years old as his 14th birthday would have fallen 6 months later. Also, Lost Lives explains it was a UVF bomb and the person who made it was convicted. The people who left the 100lb bomb in a car parked four doors down from the house, from which the funeral was leaving, were never caught. It would have been too big to have been placed on the hearse.

Anthony. I agree, but he was a skinny we shit whe...

2013-01-23T01:04:32.603Z

Anthony.

I agree, but he was a skinny we shit when he tried and passed to be a Celtic supporter in Ardoyne pretending to be a taig, he looked about 16 or 17 then.

itsjustmacker, In the book on the UDA by Lister a...

2013-01-23T00:11:05.406Z

itsjustmacker,

In the book on the UDA by Lister and Jordan they said his first UDA operation was in 1984. I just felt he was too young to be involved in ‘77.

James Could you elaborate on this statement. ...

2013-01-20T21:24:53.712Z
James

Could you elaborate on this statement. What Guff would that be?

For example, pulled from the top of my head, that the RUC was not a sectarian force engaged in political policing; that the party had no links to racketeering or illegal fundraising; that supporting the use of supergrasses was not a blatant infringement on justice; that there were no political prisoners; that the stageist strategy would lead to the untiy of the Northern working class; that sectarian attacks by the UVF in 1975 on Party members were all attacks carried out by the INLA.

What lies do you think the WP leadership were telling?

Now you can’t blame WP for current SF strategy of delivering austerity measures to the working class.

No, you can’t but I don’t know who is blaming them for that. I think that when republicanism is attacked by a Stick virus it ends up embracing much of what it previously opposed and renouncing what it previously endorsed. You need merely look at the Labour Party down here with its heavy influence from former Sticks.

In fact going political and abandoning a futile military campaign is where the similarities end.

Not embracing Stormont, the partition principle, organised lying, an armed British police to name but a few?

The authoritarianism that you put down to Marxism Leninism was a useful device for suppressing dissent. Sinn Fein has used it in the same way the Sticks did. I suspect there was little ML about it. But you find this in organisations that have a history in militarism.

I watched a documentary about Adair a few years ag...

2012-12-28T13:55:00.412Z
I watched a documentary about Adair a few years ago part of which was filmed somewhere in Africa,what I could tell from that programme was that this big time gun man was not very comfortable around guns,

Anthony: I have to agree with you on Adair Being ...

2012-12-28T13:08:32.094Z
Anthony:

I have to agree with you on Adair Being to young for the Etna drive Bombing, I would love to know who put his name out as the bomber though.

Anthony: "Then it had to be somebody other t...

2012-12-28T12:22:31.044Z
Anthony:

"Then it had to be somebody other than Adair. He was much too young."

He was 14 year old, he was spotted in Ardoyne wearing a celtic top trying to set catholics up to be murdered, he was on film talking to two RUC men saying, Sure there only taigs you's can't stand them either, little did he know then he was being recorded both on camera and sound, If i can remember correctly I think the program was called "Shoot to Kill", it was a series for Yorkshire TV, But I stand corrected if Ive got the name wrong, I had it on a Video, but I can no longer find it, But I can tell you, Adairs name was mentioned on that Bomb in Etna Drive.

Itsjustmacker Yes it was 20th April 1977. ...

2012-12-28T10:12:05.556Z
Itsjustmacker

Yes it was 20th April 1977.

Then it had to be somebody other than Adair. He was much too young.

Why did Martin McGuinness while minister for educa...

2012-12-28T00:33:43.213Z
Why did Martin McGuinness while minister for education not close all the schools and have mixed schools instead? Or at the very least over haul the education system so everyone is taught the same verion of history? The way this generation is going, it wont take much for the troubles to kick off again.

I've come to the conclusion that they are being taught different versions of history or not the facts. I'm still learning.

The founders (a lot of them) of modern day Irish Republicans were presbyterian or protestant (but socialist in their outlook). Fast foward to the time of the 1916 rising and some of them were either ex British Army or their fathers were or their fathers were members of the then RIC (but they the leaders were socialist), just before the rising James Larkin (socialist) managed to unite catholic and protestants for a short time....The relif riots again socialist principals was the reason for a unite front. Even todays PUP and SF both claim to stand for the working class.

Can anyone see a common denominator emerging?

Unfortunatly in he o6c it's the same political dinosaurs leading the two main parties. Maybe it's time for the dinosaurs to retire and write their memories. They'd make the same money giving after diner speechs.

Have a look at some the demands on an over stretched health system here

The service is already struggling to cope with escalating demand. Between 2007 and 2009, for example, demand for elective services increased by 19%. Some 13,000 more elective operations were performed over the two years and 19,000 more accident and emergency attendances recorded. Out-patient referrals increased by 86,000 and 6000 more emergency admissions were made. This increased activity took place during a period when funding grew by less than 1%.

When the welfare cuts hit home alot of people are going to be quids out.

Fuel poverty is another one. If you only read the headline it looks good but the reality is the drop in people not caught in the fuel poverty trap is 2%. That meant 42% of families in the o6c (almost half) have problems heating their homes. Read it here

The list is endless. If anyone in the PUL** community reading this thinks you are better off than your Nationalist/Republican neighbours, well you aint.

** I tried the other week to set up a profile on the PULSE forum to ask the PUL community what they thought about cutbacks and to talk about our shared history and shared future. And their BOT they use said I am a spammer. I wrote to their admin team asking for an explanation..Still waiting for a reply.

So to all the readers on the TPQ, if from time to time I ask directly to various people & parties to explain someting to myself here. This is one of the few platforms that allows me to ask questions and it isn't for the want of trying to speak to others directly.

Anthony: No Probs. Yes it was 20th April 1977. ...

2012-12-27T23:50:14.885Z
Anthony:

No Probs.

Yes it was 20th April 1977.

but I can now comment on your words on the late Martin Meehan.

"For me Martin Meehan was a solid soul. ".

He was, and solid as a rock, both as a Republican and a docker, belittled by his, so called masters, and given a job as a watchman on a building site, where the rich , "ON BOTH SIDES OF THE MAFIA DIVIDE" were getting richer", and, still are to this very day, colluding with each other, Orange and the Green, on what to charge on security on building sites. They are nothing but scum, there was known braver in Ardoyne that Martin Meehan, and I mean that, every time I look at Martin 'Og,(His Son) I just see his father. R.I.P. Crumlin Street Reared some brave men, But, None Braver than the late Martin Meehan.

Itsjustmacker, accidentally deleted your comment....

2012-12-27T21:45:33.125Z
Itsjustmacker,

accidentally deleted your comment. Could you repost please? Sorry about that.

2012-12-27T20:02:38.910Z
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

Itsjustmacker, Was the Etna Drive explosion not i...

2012-12-27T18:19:56.451Z
Itsjustmacker,

Was the Etna Drive explosion not in 1977?

For me Martin Meehan was a solid soul.

Willie/Marty,

I am not sure an inquiry would add anymore to what we know. Have you met one journalist or academic who believes the committee? The only people who believe the committee are those who believe there was no decommissioning. The truth dropped slowly but took a grip layer upon layer and is not rock solid. The summersaults the committee did would take gold in the Olympics. The committee will release a statement someday saying there was no committee!

AM, Could you elaborate on this statement. What G...

2012-12-23T20:18:06.387Z
AM,
Could you elaborate on this statement. What Guff would that be? What year? "I think when I look back I remembered watching the guff the Stick leadership were telling the rank and file and I used to wonder why no one on the ground ever seemed to call it as it was".WP and SF are totally different identities. Now you cant blame WP for current SF strategy of delivering austerity measures to the working class. In fact going political and abanding a futile military campaign is where the similarities end. I am a little perplexed at your choice of lanaguage and grouping the two together with terminology of a virus. What is the virus all about? If I feel at ease with what the WP say would I then be a carrier? lol. Also, that totalitarian, stalinist arguement, where does that come from? Surely it is lenin/ marxist thinking behind the workers party. I have heard this floating about along with trot and I cant get my head round where the labeling, possibly shaming technique is based on? What is your thinking, my ears are open.

Frankie, Thanks for your response. I think when...

2012-12-23T17:10:15.681Z
Frankie,

Thanks for your response.

I think when I look back I remembered watching the guff the Stick leadership were telling the rank and file and I used to wonder why no one on the ground ever seemed to call it as it was. So when our leaders started to take those Sticky steps I thought it time to put up or shut up. I simply asked questions and the more they sought to muzzle me the louder I barked.

It was not that myself and other were absolute in our view that we had it right but we at least wanted it explained to us how the leadership was right rather than being forced to swallow it because some leader or member of the applauding claque said it. It went against everything we had assumed to be so up until that point.

SF had no ideology other than getting elected to office. And now that they have managed that they still can’t claim to have power. They could never discuss merely censor and suppress. I think you are on the mark with your totalitarian description. That has been my entire experience with them. But it is the Stick thing. Just look at the way those with the Stick virus in the Labour Party have turned on the party chair for refusing to abandon the beliefs he had always insisted were what defined him. They just changed theirs as if they were socks. I talked to the Sticks about 1999 and some of them said to me they should have spoken out at the time. I wasn’t going to live regretting it. Even worse for those who remained silent we now know that some of those telling them to shut up were agents of the British. What a way to get shafted.

I applaud your efforts in trying to engage with SF but you are pissing in the wind. They don’t want an exchange but control.

Anthony what attacted me to the Blanket is easy. I...

2012-12-23T16:23:15.159Z
Anthony what attacted me to the Blanket is easy. It was different to anything I'd ever read. Some of the writers on the Blanket, I'd read about in books and it got me thinking why are fomer prisoners openly criticizing SF. And the more I read, the more I found myself agreeing with their [the blanket] views. I'd grown up believing SF was right and everyone else was wrong. I'm now under the impression that SF has more in common with totalitarianism than marxism or socialism. Which I find odd considering SF is meant to be a party built on working class ideologies.

If anyone from the PRM is reading this (JMO)...You have to able to accept and digest constructive criticism. Especially from people who put their lives on the line and a lot of times' the cause' before their families. Surely fromer prsioners who came through the pogroms, long Kesh, spent time on the blanket and came through the H-Blocks have a more valid point than people who joined the RM in 90's... It's pointless the PRM holding meetings and talking to the converted. It's akin to a priest talking to his congregation every Sunday.

I have personally tried to post on PRM blogs & sites to no avail I don't have an axe to grind. But I have questions I'd like answered. Personally, you (PRM) would be better in trying to get your message across to republicans who feel disenfranchised by the direction you are taking. But anytime I've read about anti agreement republicans voicing their opinions the PRM go into over drive and try to rubbish their claims. Trying to control someones thought process is nothing short of dictorial.

I would like someone from the PRM to open an 'account' here and answer a few simple questions.

Why was it acceptable for the vice president of SF to say that anyone who informs to the police about PIRA operations is a legit target in the 70's-90's but today calling for 'Joe Blogs' to do the very same thing today?

Surely todays armed republicans are doing the very same (and for the same reasons) as the PIRA once did.

What would the Vice Presidents opinion be if 'Joe Blogs' informed and got 'whacked' for doing what he has asked them to do?

If you (PRM) believe that the best way to change the status quo is from the inside out. Come out and say it. That would make sense to me. But trying to silence former friends and comrades who see things different isn't the best way to go about in trying to influence people or change attitudes. It will have the opposite affect and only harden their views..
JMO

Frankie, Morrison doesn’t allow comments for what...

2012-12-23T10:08:16.795Z
Frankie,

Morrison doesn’t allow comments for whatever reason. I think he said something before to the effect that he doesn’t want the hassle of being swamped with them. But his natural inclination is to censor.

What attracted you to the Blanket?

SF have done more than drop the ball; they have kicked it into their own goal.

James,

There is hardly anything new in SF speaking out of both sides of the mouth.

Marty/itsjustmacker

SF were hooked by Special Branch long before the Chinook crash.

Had the crash came a decade earlier it might have had a more profound impact but by that stage the Brits knew they had won. I doubt the security services were reeling after the crash.

Willie a cara when we see where we, the nationalis...

2012-11-25T18:45:23.780Z
Willie a cara when we see where we, the nationalist and republican community are today,then I suspect the answer to the treachery in 81 is now all to obvious,proving it has been a nightmare for people like Richard O Rawe, not so much in telling the truth but in getting people to believe that so called republicans could be so fucking evil.I honestly believe this issue needs to be kept high up in the public domain,it is a bugbear to quisling $inn £ein who would dearly now love to see the past buried in a very deep hole,however this is done as long as its done will always get my support,I believe we will have our day a cara but it will be like pushing water uphill, but as you know this can be done when people put their minds to the task and stick with it..I may have a pop at the IRSP but I can assure you Willie that I would be the last person to question your personal contribution to this ongoing struggle.

I did take your remark about being "bought of...

2012-11-25T16:10:51.455Z
I did take your remark about being "bought off" personal Marty hence my initial provocative response. Maybe I was wrong to take that personal but perhaps if you knew what I went through personally on this particular issue you'd understand why. I'm now glad you didn't bite to that provocation and accept you we're being genuine and not malicious. I have never heard it being said that we have fallen under the clutches of PSF on this particular issue or being bought off but I can assure you that is definitely untrue nor would I be a part of any such outcome.

There has been discussion in the past about the feasibility of establishing an inquiry similar to what you have referred to above but with an international dimension such as in the inquiry set up in Cullyhanna into the murder of Fergal Caraher and the wounding of his brother Micheal. If I remember right that was headed up by Michael Mansfield QC. But, to be frank, I doubt it if the IRSP have the capability/resources/contacts to establish such an Inquiry and even if it did it wouldn't be viewed as independent. As you know we had our Inquiry and released our conclusions publicly but those findings didn't address key questions such as why did the kitchen cabinet reject the prisoners acceptance of the July 5th offer and why was the RSM kept in the dark. Key questions that only the kitchen cabinet can answer. Many believe they know these answers and maybe they do but we wanted evidence on what those motivations were and not supposition or speculation. The end goal in this controversy is of course getting the truth and answers from all involved. The key questions for us are how do we get to that end goal and how do we get the kitchen cabinet or PSF to participate.

Comments on The Pensive Quill: A Vision into the Mind

AM, Frankie- I think you both have valid points re...

Frankie, I think children should learn history ra...

itsjustmackers...I know that has been intimated bu...

Stephen. He also ran the shankill butchers from t...

Itsjustmackers--would the insigator of that partic...

Simon: I stand corrected on that, thank you. The...

A couple of points which might clarify the Etna Dr...

Anthony. I agree, but he was a skinny we shit whe...

itsjustmacker, In the book on the UDA by Lister a...

James Could you elaborate on this statement. ...

I watched a documentary about Adair a few years ag...

Anthony: I have to agree with you on Adair Being ...

Anthony: "Then it had to be somebody other t...

Itsjustmacker Yes it was 20th April 1977. ...

Why did Martin McGuinness while minister for educa...

Anthony: No Probs. Yes it was 20th April 1977. ...

Itsjustmacker, accidentally deleted your comment....

Itsjustmacker, Was the Etna Drive explosion not i...

AM, Could you elaborate on this statement. What G...

Frankie, Thanks for your response. I think when...

Anthony what attacted me to the Blanket is easy. I...

Frankie, Morrison doesn’t allow comments for what...

Willie a cara when we see where we, the nationalis...

I did take your remark about being "bought of...