Lamh foisneach abu !

[H2O Man]

This is my favorite song by Eileen Ivers. With Immigrant Soul, I've watched her perform many times. Talked Irish poetry with her, including my x7 great grandfather's poem while waiting execution by a foreign power in 1779. Some of Richard's works are in the Royal Irish Academy. (The English decided he was an interesting character, and spared his life. His nephew Robert Emmet wasn't so lucky. His blistering speech to the judge is included in Williams Jennings Bryan's 1905 "The World's Famous Orations" (pages 137 thru 148 in the Funk & Wagnells' s edition, if you have it handy.

Now, the above song is, on the surface, about an older married couple, who have kind of split their abode. They can't stand each other. Coming from an Irish-Catholic strain, I can say this is known by social scientists as a "Catholic Divorce." Although they strongly dislike the crap that takes place in the common areas, neither is first to stop stirring the pot. Both know they need their friends' help to stop the crap, since they can't on their own.

But the song is about Ireland. It is a sad song about a senseless war, where people suffered and died. Few Irish songs about war are sad, you know. It was a request for our friends to help. For war is the most destructive of all examples of humanity's inhumanity to human kind. I want to tell a true story I saw about the Vietnam War. I've been watching numerous documentaries on it during the past week, wondering what society should have learned, but maybe forgot.

I saw an interview with a gentleman who had served as a corpsman. He would be on one of the helicopters that picked up those injured in battle, to treat them until they reached the hospital -- about a 20-minute flight. One flight, the only wounded they picked up were a little boy and girl, caught in the crossfire. He immediately recognized that if he tried to save both, they would both die.

He saved the girl, and when they reached their destination, he saw the little boy had died. Every since, he has been haunted by dreams that he is again in the helicopter, with the 5 and 6 years olds. When he looks down on the dead boy, he sees his own face at that age. It took him some time before he recognized that part of him died that day, long ago. That war changes everyone involved who lives through it.

I was thinking about this while considering all the tensions and gross violence taking place on this Earth. And about those old married Irish couples who find it so hard to give up the anger, bitterness, outrage, and violence. Now, this is just my opinion, but I think it would be great if all of us in the Democratic Party could be friends that coach by example.

[spanone]

1. K&R

Thank You.

[H2O Man]

2. Thanks!

[mactire]

3. Hendrix of fiddle!

Eileen is phenomenal. Her work with Riverdance, the Chieftains, and musicians from folk, jazz, Breton and other genres from all over the world is a a thing that should be noted and embraced ; no wonder she is known as “the Hendrix” of the fiddle. Her humility and humanity are of note- I have seen her in concert and met her in a small bar where she encouraged other musicians in a session to lead a tune and she would follow and join in. That is a nice version of “Reconciliation “ , but I also highly recommend listening to the original 1991 version by Ron Kavana ( and other songs by him) and the version by Scottish icon Dick Gaughan ( known for many social/political conscience songs like “Workers’Song”, “World Turned Upside Down”, etc.) with his wonderful Glasgow “ burr” accent and distinct acoustic guitar accompaniment.

[H2O Man]

4. She is outstanding!

One evening when I was directly in front of her, she actually sounded like Jimi.

Thank you for recommendations. At a younger age, I had a cousin that went from Syracuse to Ireland, making deliveries of some sort. He was friends with Bobby Sands. And he used to bring me great Irish music.

Having lost relatives in the violence there for hundreds of years, including The Troubles, I'm for peace. And there is some beautiful music coming from there. One of my daughters' music plays in Ireland.

[mactire]

5. It'll be the music

You’d surely like seeing the performance of “Grace” by Bobby Sands granddaughter Erin, with Damien Quinn. It is touching emotionally, evoking a sad situation that could only happen in an era of colonial oppression where thankfully, determination and resolve for justice cannot be stopped and love between two lovers will reign even for a few moments before the execution of one standing up to British suppression There is a song from a fellow from Belfast, Noel Lenaghan( Andersonstown) called “Mrs Kelly’s Kitchen” that celebrates the fact that despite all the troubles that are encountered, “it’ll be the music that keeps us together “ . I know you get that, but it’s worth sharing because the wisdom and hope that can be expressed through art like music will get us through the difficult times. BTW, Eileen brought her famous blue violin into the bar that night.

[H2O Man]

6. Besides music,

another positive thing in all of Ireland is amateur boxing. I've followed a few clubs -- north and south -- for years, and am friends with both male & female boxers who I think will do very well in the Olympics, then in the pro ranks. I think sports can bring people together.

Again, I appreciate the recommendations per music. I'll share them with my kids. They all loved the time they have spent in Ireland.

[mactire]

7. Irish boxing

Several years ago there was a bunch of young Irish boxers in south London when I lived there for a bit. I believe one of them was one of the Christle brothers that were all Trinity College( Dublin) students . They were very smart; I think their mother was either a doctor or in Irish politics. The boxing lads used stop in to a local pub where I was and often songs would be offered by different individuals, and everyone enjoyed hearing them ,especially Irish songs, and when the Irish fellows sang their renditions all smiled even if they were rebel tunes, knowing full well that no one would protest against a boxer expressing an opinion through music.😊I often asked some of the local English folks if they had a song to sing and most showed an expression of gloom, not even knowing the words of “Rule Britannia”!

[H2O Man]

8. A few years ago,

keeping in mind that 50+ years has become "a few" to me, when my brother and I fought, dressing rooms were places where one stayed with "their own." Former light heavyweight champion Jose Torres -- who was a friend and aide to Senator Robert F. Kennedy during his 1968 campaign -- wrote that he could be blindfolded, and could tell what ethnic group was in what section of the room based upon the smell of sweat that resulted from diet.

I never went in blindfolded, because it was a tense atmosphere. "Racism," or what my late friend Rubin Carter called "tribalism," was amplified, and some fights started before guys went into the ring. So I was please in more recent times when my son was competing in the state's Golden Gloves. Teams from various clubs had fighters of every color, and almost everyoe was polite, if not friendly. Of course, when that many people are gathered most anywhere, there can be one or two jackasses.

[Saoirse9]

9. Steady hand to victory?

Is that the translation?

Been a troubling few days with scotus decisions to allow the defendant to delay justice.

How would you answer someone who said Biden is responsible for the war in Gaza?

[H2O Man]

10. Steady or Gentle

You are not the first young person who has asked me that last question. In fact, I had a long talk with my Boston daughter about this last week. She is a politically active young adult, and a good Democrat. She worked for her friend, who is now the state's attorney general, among other jobs that we want people like my daughter to hold. But many of her friends and associates are independents who think that President Biden holds significant responsibility for the horrors in Gaza. She asked me how I would respond to them?

I always start by saying it is important to remove emotions while evaluating a situation. Easier said than done, she said, when children are starving, suffering, and dying. I used Ben Franklin's saying, that when passions drive, let reason hold the reins. US policy, since the time when Israel was created, has been one-sided. One can say for good or bad reasons, or anything in between. The same with results.

A forgotten book that I said she should read is by former president Jimmy Carter:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine:_Peace_Not_Apartheid

Carter was the president who came the closest to bringing peace to the Middle East. But there will be no peace until the Palestinian issue is dealt with in a fair manner.

He took a lot of shit for that book at the time, including on this forum. It strikes me as curious that some of those who attacked him the most viciously then now pretend they view him as a grand old man who built homes for the poor. My daughter said that there are lots of homeless families in Gaza today.

I said that to be objective, one needs to be aware of their own biases. For example, I am pro-Israel. Yet I am not in favor of Netanyahu as the nation's leader. I think that his life experiences, including his military service, has resulted in his being a cruel man who has behaved in a manner that has only increased the hatreds between people in Israel and Palestine.

More, I noted that what appears on the surface often does not hold true at all times. Israel and Iran are enemies, right? Oh, wait! The Iran-Contra scandal -- when Israeli arms dealers delivered US weapons to Iran -- suggests that even "enemies" sometimes coordinate in violence.

President Biden has no choice but to deal with Netanyahu. No more than dealing with the leader of any country. One might think that "all" he had to do was stop supplying weapons for Netanyahu's war on Gaza ..... so long as they substitute emotions for an understanding of how government relations between the two nations actually work. Or that President Biden, who surely knows that this has gone far beyond a response in self-defense for the brutal October attacks, could call out Netanyahu in public.

Certainly, the events since the attack on Israel in October have created the reality that hatreds will enjoy the next two generations. It cannot be otherwise. Thus, the question is how does our country deal with that? And that means we have a choice between two very different men for president in November. Two men who would have very different administrations. I am 100% for President Biden, not because I think he is perfect, or that I always agree with him. But I am fully aware of the ongoing investments of thedefendent's family members in the "settlements" in the West Bank, which are criminal by every objective standard. We might wish it were different ..... and have strong emotions about what could be, and should be ...... but we do best when we deal with the reality of how thinks actually are, and why they are this way.

[Saoirse9]

11. No simple answers

I have a cousin who is outraged by the genocide in Gaza and we had a rare disagreement about Biden’s role.

I gave her the same argument you just gave me but I don’t think she bought it.

Netanyahu is the Israeli version of the defendant. It sucks for everyone.