Posted by Jim on November 21, 2018
Peadar Toibin
As good a place as any to begin a debate on the way forward.Following a week in which Sinn Féin TDs approved parts of the proposed abortion legislation that goes well beyond anything which was agreed to at its Ard Fheis, Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín finally had enough and announced his resignation.
He was already under suspension and his letter to Party Chair Declan Kearney requesting clarification on whether there was “a future for me and republicans like me to contribute to the development of the party” was ignored.
The fact that his letter was not responded to either by Kearney or McDonald or Leinster House whip Aengus Ó Snodaigh speaks for itself. His letter of resignation also refers to his having been gradually excluded from speaking time and the media.
Sinn Féin in the meantime were setting in train the process of replacing Peadar as the party candidate for the next general elections. They had no shortage of lap dogs to assist in that. They know that whoever they select has no hope of winning the seat, but whoever does run will be happy enough to have secured the fickle favours of the bosses. The sole objective is to prevent Peadar being re-elected, and the candidate selected is irrelevant. Just another useful idiot.
Of course, as the dozens of former elected representatives north and south including people who were and are TDs, MLAs, and councillors as well as several hundred members, who have resigned in the past few years under similar treatment or been expelled attests, this is nothing new.
The party leadership’s, public and hidden, arrogance and thirst for power at any price brooks no resistance. They were stupid enough to believe that they could make a pitch to replace the Labour Party as the main social democratic liberal party while assuming that the base would be retained.
Well, as the recent Presidential election results showed, with the embarrassing performance of the former TG4 presenter, that assumption may have been premature.
Constituencies in which Sinn Féin are strong were notable by the almost complete absence of posters and canvassers. In only one constituency where SF has a current TD did their candidate get more votes than Peter Casey who they had spent most of the last two weeks of the campaign ridiculously calling a fascist.
Anyone wishing to vote for a vacuous liberal pro abortion devotee of the Castro gang had a far better choice if that was their wish, and even the majority of those identifying in exit polls as Sinn Féin voters chose Higgins or Casey.
Of course it would be preferable if Peadar now faded into the background. That has generally been the, not always voluntary, fate of those who have fallen foul of the commissars. Peader it seems is intent on being part of a republican alternative.
He has been invited to speak at a commemoration in Ballymore Eustace on Saturday, November 24 in honour of Frank Driver. Driver was a former vice President of Sinn Féin whose activism in the party and Óglaigh na hÉireann dated back to the 1918 election. He was one of the “foundational Provos.”
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“Brilliant public intellectual Fintan O’Toole led the way in exposing the Brexit con-game.
He was one of the very first to point out that Brexit was all about an upsurge of English nationalism. Here, in this article, he is at his very best. Definitely a must-read:
‘There is overwhelming evidence that the English people who voted for Brexit do not, on the whole, care about the United Kingdom and in particular do not care about that part of it called Northern Ireland. …
These are two seismic shifts. Neither of them is caused by anyone in Ireland. They are products of the rise of English nationalism and of the great Brexit upheaval that has left Britain so deeply uncertain about its identity and its place in the world. To throw up one’s hands in exasperation at the old familiar eruption of the Irish question is to miss the whole point of this moment – which is, of course, the English question.’ “
Don’t blame the Irish: the Brexit chaos is all about England
Fintan O’Toole.The Guardian. London. Monday, November 19, 2018
Brexit has been derailed, as it was always going to be, by the Irish question. And, amid the chaos, there is something oddly comfortable about this. Isn’t that what the bloody Irish always do – disrupt an otherwise placid British polity with their hopelessly convoluted and unresolvable feuds?
In 1922, reflecting on the way Ireland had dominated imperial politics even on the eve of the great catastrophe of the first world war, a rueful Winston Churchill told the House of Commons: “It says a great deal for the power which Ireland has, both nationalist and orange, to lay their hands upon the vital strings of British life and politics, and to hold, dominate, and convulse, year after year, generation after generation, the politics of this powerful country.”
In this very familiarity lies the lure of self-delusion: Brexit would have been gloriously harmonious if only the orange and green disruptors hadn’t laid their hands upon its vital strings and played on them their own eternally discordant tune. Already, among the Brexiters, there is his self-exculpatory narrative: it wasn’t us, m’lud [My Lord] who brought our country to this disgraceful state. It was the usual suspects across the Irish Sea.
But beneath this tatty comfort blanket, there are two starkly naked truths. They are not at all familiar – indeed they are startlingly new. They are so novel that the British system has been completely unable to fully recognise or process them. And it is this inability that has made the Brexit negotiations so tortuous and their outcome so miserable.
One of them has to do with a breathtaking shift in the balance of power. The other concerns the inability of the existing political culture to deal with the rise of English nationalism and its vast implications for the existence of the United Kingdom. To resort to the old familiar blame game is to miss what is really going on.
First, negotiations will always be determined by the balance of power. The very poor outcome of the Brexit negotiations for Britain reflects the realpolitik: there was a relatively small and isolated country up against a huge multinational bloc. This is the accustomed way of such things. But this time there has been a staggering variation: the places have changed. Britain, not Ireland, is the relatively small and isolated country. Ireland, not the British Empire, has on its side the power of a huge multinational bloc.
This in itself is deeply disorienting. It is a new thing: the first time in 800 years of Anglo-Irish relations that Ireland has had more clout. No wonder the Brexiters and the British government found it impossible for so long to even recognize this new reality. They operated – and some of them continue to operate – under the old rules, in which the game would be settled between the big powers, and the interests of a small country such as Ireland could be easily shoved aside. The Irish would get a few platitudes about peace but the real deal would be done between London and Berlin.
Yet, it has not been like that. In part, this is because of simple arithmetic: Ireland is not isolated, it is part of a bloc of 27 states. There is a basic lesson here for the Brexiters: even a very small country inside the EU has more influence than a much larger country on the outside. In part, too, it is because of basic statecraft. The Irish government and diplomatic service, backed by a near-unanimous consensus in the Dublin parliament, had a very clear sense of where Ireland’s vital national interest lay, and hence of what they needed to achieve.
There was one big thing Ireland could not get: Ireland cannot, much as it would love to, force the UK to stay in the EU. Given this reality, Ireland had three priorities. One was to avoid the reimposition of a hard Border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. The second, to protect the 1998 Good Friday agreement and the rights of everyone in Northern Ireland to continuing Irish – and therefore EU – citizenship. The third, to preserve the close personal and economic relationships on these islands by preserving the common travel area and keeping the UK as closely intertwined with the customs union and single market as possible.
Ireland got exactly what it wanted in the draft withdrawal agreement. This undoubtedly shaped the entire deal; but instead of whining about this, the Brexiters might reflect that if they had been as clear about their aims and as skilful in achieving them, we might not all be in the current mess.
The other big new thing is that the force that has shaped one side of Anglo-Irish relations for centuries – British unionism – is visibly faltering. Visibly, that is, everywhere except in Westminster. There is a weird disjunction between what is actually happening in Brexit and the official narrative that has framed it. In part because of the quirk of fate that gave the balance of power at Westminster to a minority Northern Irish party, the DUP, Brexit has been shaped around a sentimental story of rallying behind what Theresa May calls the “precious, precious Union”.
But this is fundamentally phoney. There is overwhelming evidence that the English people who voted for Brexit do not, on the whole, care about the United Kingdom and in particular do not care about that part of it called Northern Ireland. Asked in the recent Future of England survey whether “the unravelling of the peace process in Northern Ireland” was a “price worth paying” for Brexit that allows them to “take back control”, fully 83% of leave voters and 73% of Conservative voters in England agreed that it was. Three-quarters of English “leave” voters said they did not want their taxes to be used to subsidize public services in Northern Ireland. And last week, in a major Channel 4 survey, asked how they would feel if “Brexit leads to Northern Ireland leaving the UK and joining the Republic of Ireland”, 61% of leave voters said they would be “not very concerned” or “not at all concerned”.
These are two seismic shifts. Neither of them is caused by anyone in Ireland. They are products of the rise of English nationalism and of the great Brexit upheaval that has left Britain so deeply uncertain about its identity and its place in the world. To throw up one’s hands in exasperation at the old familiar eruption of the Irish question is to miss the whole point of this moment – which is, of course, the English question.
• Fintan O’Toole is the author of Heroic Failure: Brexit and the Politics of Pain
This article originally appeared on The Guardian
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CAPITOL HILL. Tuesday, November 20, 2018—— It was appropriate, given the nature of the Prize, that the World Peace Prize would makes its way to Philadelphia—”City of Brotherly Love.”
And on Tuesday, November 20, the World Peace Prize of “Roving Ambassador for Peace,” was presented to one of Philadelphia’s favorite sons.
Patrick J. Eiding, President, Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO, was the recipient of the Prize, instituted in Seoul, South Korea in 1989 by its World Leader, Presbyterian Minister, Rev. Dr. Han Min Su.
The presentation ceremony was chaired by Barbara Flaherty, Judge and Corporate Manager, World Peace Prize and Executive Vice President of the Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus. She welcomed the large audience in the Philadelphia AFL-CIO headquarters and introduced both Fr. Sean McManus—Chief Judge, World Peace Prize, and president of the Irish National Caucus— and President Eiding.
Fr. Mc Manus in explaining the meaning and history of the World Peace Prize said: “Since 2013 when we became Judges, our signature contribution to the World Peace Prize has been two-fold: (1) to make justice front and center, heart and soul, of peace; and, (2), to recognize —in the words of the great President Richard L. Trumka, AFL-CIO— “the nexus between Organized Labor and peace… recognizing the connection between fighting for social justice and peace. … thereby establishing the principle that Labor leaders are eminently qualified to be candidates for the World Peace Prize of “Roving Ambassador for Peace.”
President Eiding is a legendary Labor leader, both locally and nationally, and has served the Labor Movement for over forty years. He is involved in many civic, charitable, educational and government activities. Prior to being elected President of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO in January 2002, Eiding served for over 25 years as Business Manager of the Insulators and Asbestos Workers Local 14 covering Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey.
He expressed deep appreciation on being selected a “Roving Ambassador for Peace,” and recounted some of his, and Labor’s struggle for justice for working men and women. Despite his legendary Labor status, President Eiding showed he is still a very grounded Union man, concluding his acceptance speech by quoting Mother Theresa’s famous maxim: ”What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.”
Posted by Jim on November 19, 2018
FDNY – WTC Health Program Wellness and Research Updates
Quitting smoking is hard and may take several attempts. Those who stop smoking greatly reduce their risk for disease and early death. It is never too late and you are never too old to quit. Since 2001, the overall number of current smokers enrolled in the FDNY WTC program has steadily declined from 13% to approximately 6%. If you are a current smoker or former smoker who restarted, the FDNY Tobacco Cessation Program can help, even if you have tried to quit many times.
Over the last 15 years, our program has been incredibly successful with quit rates of over 50% – a success rate five times higher than other tobacco cessation programs. We have recently shown that members’ pulmonary function can improve after several years of tobacco cessation. Moreover, it is well known that the incidence of cancer and cardiovascular conditions, such as heart attacks and strokes, are decreased among those who quit smoking.
At no direct cost to you, the FDNY Tobacco Cessation Program offers all active FDNY members and both active and retired WTC Program enrollees:
Personalized quit guidance from Matt Bars, our nationally renowned Tobacco Dependence expert.
Suggestions for lifestyle modifications, including diet and exercise tips.
Free FDA approved tobacco treatment medications (nicotine replacement and prescription medications) for members who are certified in the World Trade Center Health Program and certified for any physical or mental health WTC-related illness. If you are not certified, you can still qualify as we can now certify you for nicotine dependence.
Call (718) 999-1942 to schedule your tobacco cessation consultation or visit us any time on Thursdays between 2p-7p at the Fort Totten BHS location (Building 413B). Visit this webpage for directions to our Fort Totten location: Directions to Fort Totten
It is well known that smoking is related to a higher risk of developing lung cancer. This November, during Lung Cancer Awareness Month, make a plan to quit smoking. The American Cancer Society has resources to help you quit. Visit this website to learn more: click here.
On behalf of the staff at the FDNY WTC Health Program and the Bureau of Health Services, thank you for your continued participation in the WTC Health Program. Your commitment helps support our efforts to improve our medical monitoring/treatment services and meet the health needs of all rescue/recovery workers and their families.
Please do not reply to this email, this inbox is not monitored. If you have questions and/or need assistance regarding the WTC Health Program, please use the phone number below or visit our webpage for more information: https://www.fdnywtcprogram.org/
FDNY – WTC Health Program, 9 MetroTech Center,
Brooklyn, NY 11201, United States.
(718) 999-1878
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British prime minister Theresa May makes a statement outside 10 Downing Street, London
15 November, 2018 01:00
Mrs May confirmed that her cabinet has agreed the draft Brexit withdrawal agreement
THE deal seeks to resolve the so-called ‘backstop’, which has been a sticking point in the protracted negotiations.
The backstop position aims to guarantee no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic if this issue is not otherwise resolved through a future UK-EU trade deal.
Both sides have agreed to ensure the backstop is not necessary by coming up with alternative arrangements.
EU negotiator Michel Barnier told a press conference last night that if this is not possible by July 2020, the transition period could be extended – and if the issue is still not settled by the end of the transition, the backstop would “kick in”.
This would involve a joint UK-EU “single customs territory”, so that physical customs checks are not needed along the border.
Mr Barnier said the backstop position had “evolved considerably” and had been based on the UK’s proposal.
He said the UK “would apply the EU’s customs code in Northern Ireland” and this “would allow Northern Irish businesses to bring goods in the single market without restrictions which is essential to avoid a hard border”.
Mr Barnier said the draft agreement made clear Northern Ireland would retain “unfettered market access to the rest of the UK”.
“For competition to be open and fair in such a single customs territory we have agreed provisions on state aid, competition, taxation, social and environmental standards,” he said.
“This will guarantee that both EU and UK manufacturing will compete on a level playing field.
“An essential condition for the single customs territory to cover fisheries… will be to agree between the union and the UK on access to waters and fishing opportunities.”
The deal also covers other issues, such as a commitment on to protect the rights of EU nationals in the UK and vice versa to continue living, working and studying.
There is also the planned 21-month transition period after the UK leaves the EU in March 2019, and a ‘divorce bill’ for the UK which is thought to be about £39bn.