Older than dirt - author unknown.

SLOW FOOD       'Someone asked the other day, 'What was your favorite fast food when you were growing up?' 'We didn't have fast food when I was growing up,' I informed him. 'All the food was slow.' 'C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?' 'It was a place called Home,'' I explained. ! 'Mom cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it.' By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table.But here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his system could have handled it :   Some parents NEVER owned their own house, never wore  Levis, never set foot on a golf course, nevertraveled out of the country or had a credit card. In their later years they had something called a revolving charge card. The card was good only at Sears Roebuck. Or maybe it was Sears &Roebuck. Either way, there is no Roebuck anymore. Maybe he died. My parents never drove me to soccer practice. This was mostly because we never had heard of soccer. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow) We didn't have a television in our house until I was 9. (Ours was a 7" screen jcs) and it was, of course, black and white, and the station went off the air at midnight, after playing the national anthem and a poem about God; it came back on the air at about 6 a..m. And there was usually a locally produced news and farm show on, featuring local people. I was 21 before I tasted my first pizza, it was called 'pizza pie.' When I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid off, swung down, plastered itself against my chin and burned that, too. It's still the best pizza I ever had. I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone in the house was in the living room and it was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know weren't already using the line.   Pizzas were not delivered to our home but milk was.   All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers-- I delivered a newspaper, 7 days a week. It cost 7 cents a paper, of which I got to keep 2 cents. I had to get up at6AM every morning. On Saturday, I had to collect the 49 cents from my customers. My favorite customers were the ones who gave me 50 cents and told me to keep the change. My least favorite customers were the ones who seemed to never be home on collection day.   Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the movies. There were no movie ratings because all movies were responsibly produced for everyone to enjoy viewing, without profanity or violence or most anything offensive. If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want to share some of these memories with your children orgrandchildren Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing. Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it?   MEMORIES from a friend :   My Dad is cleaning out my grandmother's house (she died in December) and he brought me an old Royal Crown Colabottle. In the bottle top was a stopper with a bunch of holes in it.. I knew immediately what it was, but my daughter had no idea. She thought they had tried to make it a salt shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat on the end of the ironing board to 'sprinkle' clothes with because we didn't have steam irons. Man, I am old.   How many do you remember? Head lights dimmer switches on the floor. Ignition switches on the dashboard. Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall. Real ice boxes. Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards. Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner. Using hand signals for cars without turn signals.   Older Than Dirt Quiz : Count all the ones that you remember not the ones you were told about. Ratings at the bottom.   1. Blackjack chewing gum 2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water 3. Candy cigarettes 4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles 5. Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke  boxes 6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers 7. Party lines on the telephone 8 Newsreels before the movie 9. P.F. Flyers 10. Butch wax 11.. TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and were there until TV shows started again in the morning. (there were only 3 channels... [if you were fortunate]) 12. Peashooters 13. Howdy Doody 14. 45 RPM records 15. S& H green stamps 16. Hi-fi's 17. Metal ice trays with lever 18. Mimeograph paper 19. Blue flashbulb 20. Packards 21. Roller skate keys 22. Cork popguns 23. Drive-ins 24. Studebakers 25. Wash tub wringers If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older If you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age, If you remembered 16-25 = You' re older than dirt! I might be older than dirt but those memories are some of the best parts of my life. Don't forget to pass this along!! Especially to all your reallyOLD friends

Lies v Truth in America

LIES v TRUTH

by

JC Sullivan

Because of ugly divorce proceedings, Filmmaker/Writer  Michael Moore's wife has revealed an offer that was made to him to make an anti-gun film after the Newtown massacre. This has got to be the tip of of an enormous iceberg. See the story at the link below. It only my confirms my long-time suspicion of just that - Hollywood leftists making movies that are anti-American (read jealousy of American wealth and world leadership.) Isn't that just what Joe McCarthy said was going on?

Two names immediately come to mind, one an actor, the other a writer - "Hanoi Jane" Fonda (China Syndrome) and Oliver Stone (JFK). I'm tempted to include Fonda's "Barbarella" but  I won't. Both are, however, notable for their portrayal of leftist causes and viewpoints. One must wonder how many other Hollywood films have been made to diminish American exceptonalism, values and history.

In a related publication, I have been recommending M. Stanton Evans' Blacklisted by History' for several years. It is the story of Joe McCarthy, whose accusations against communists in the American government, were branded "McCarthyism." The author initially set out to prove his mother wrong. She was an ardent supporter of McCarthy. In the process Evans was converted. His book is thick but an eye-opener. All the insidious lies of communists reach right into our present times with the lies of Susan Rice and others, who mirror the political agenda of the current Administration.

There are times I feel I'm another 'voice in the wilderness' but lies need to be exposed. One must read/hear voices such as mine less the truths they reveal are forever silenced, assigned to the gulags that are American mainstream media..  

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2014/06/07/ugly-divorce-michael-moores-wife-reveals-he-was-offered-funding-another-?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Marketing&utm_term=Facebook&utm_content=socialflow&utm_campaign=moore-guns

DESTABILZING UKRAINE and the rest of Europe

                                           THE DESTABILIZATION OF UKRAINE

Anyone with a world view and who pays attention to events  believes the alleged "pro-Russian rebels" fighting in Eastern Ukraine are actually either Russian soldiers or their surrogates. But why? The answer lies in how communists have come to power - by destabilizing legitimate governments and putting their fellow travelers into power - communist power. One only need to be aware of the history of what they did to the nations of eastern Europe they overcame in World War Two. They didn't leave... and their fellow travelers were employed while the opposition was suppressed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that the fall of the Soviet Union is the worst thing to happen to them. In my eye he would like to re-create it in a 21st century style. Don't call him a communist though. That scares people who pay attention. Just like you can't call current American leadership communist...but they ARE communists. But to have come out of the closet as such would immediately tell us all their true intentions. And they don't want that known.

Ukraine is smartly appealing to the NATO nations of Europe to stand up to Russian aggression by increasing their military budgets. Let's hope the  appeal is not too late. They've all enjoyed the support of the United States since the end of World War Two. While we are pulling back from our defense commitments there the vacuum must be replaced by their own.

Look at a map to understand the huge geographic colossus Russia is. Wouldn't you think that their Western provinces would want to run their own household? Maybe the NATO nations should mirror Russian aggression by destabilizing Russia's Western provinces and give 'em a taste of their own medicine?

Sullivan is a well-known writer in the U.S. Irish community and Ireland. His works have been published in Irish America Magazine, National Hibernian Digest, Irish Echo Newspaper, Mayo News, Western People, Ulster Gazette and many others. He is past National Press Officer of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in America.

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BRITISH CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH

BRITISH CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH

by

Michael J. Cummings

In Saint John’s  Gospel  Pontius Pilate responds to Jesus with the question:  “What is truth?”  It is a puzzling and profound question that colors history down through the ages.    Truth, like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder.  Or so it seems in the N. I. conflict.    Truth is  on the minds of many there and is  pivotal to understanding  the legacy of British rule in Ireland. Since partition  Her Majesty’s Government views its role  as defending democracy, justice and the rule of law.  Nationalists argue that the British are entitled to their own opinion but NOT to their own facts. The facts reveal  a different truth.  

 This struggle for truth and ‘interpretation’ of facts is a fight for  power and the legacy of history around the world.  In China today journalists are instructed not to use certain words to describe the events of 1989 and Tiananmen Square.  The Tiananmen Mothers group continue to demand truth  and  accountability for their murdered children but few have heard their appeals.    Twenty-five years after the British government murdered her lawyer husband Patrick , Geraldine Finucane gets Britain’s version of the truth which is more significant for what questions it doesn’t answer.   She, too, is unyielding in her demand that the report not be the last word on his killing.    Leon Aron, author of Roads to the Temple:  Truth Memory, Ideas and Ideals in the Making of the Russian Revolution, 1987-1991, describes  President Putin’s new “State mythology” and labeling of “national-traitors.”  No doubt in a revised “history” of Russia. Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer,  would qualify as the latter.  Sergei  disclosed  the truth and facts of  corrupt  Russian tax officials and died in prison from beatings and neglect.

 Terrorism and censorship  are essential for  authoritarian regimes to retain power.  One need only read  the  2013 book Lethal Allies by Anne Cadwallader to see  it  practiced by the British  in Northern Ireland.  Fearful of losing the last of their empire, from 1968 thru 1974 the British unleashed a ruthless N. I. police  force  on those protesting internment and discrimination in housing, voting and jobs.    Army paratroopers launched an onslaught on Catholic ghettos and began a killing spree with the Ballymurphy (1971)  and  Bloody Sunday  (1972) killings.    In  1974  Britain  colluded  with loyalists to detonate  no-warning car bombs in the shopping centers of Dublin and Monaghan in an undeclared act of  war  against the Irish Republic  that cost 34 lives.   Thus began the campaign of labeling protesters as criminals and terrorists and spreading the State  mythology  of their defending democracy and the rule of law.  Russia and China have learned well from the United Kingdom’s example.    

 How does Britain do it?  How do they cover-up their actions and keep a prying media from uncovering the truth?   A few years ago the British bank Standard & Chartered admitted laundering $200 billion to undermine U. S. sanctions against Iran.   U. S. investigators also found  a handbook  for the secret operation complete with a codename of GAZELLE and a how-to step-by-step list of ways to mask the transactions. I am convinced such a manual for maintaining their beachhead in Belfast will be found  in the bureaucracy of Whitehall, Britain’s Ministry of Defense complex near Trafalgar Square.  Until such time as it surfaces, let me list some of the  techniques England has used to keep the truth of their deeds in Ireland  from the public, the Irish and U. S. governments and, most importantly,  from an  inquiring media.

1.      Greenmail—Millions of pounds have been spent hiring  back pensioned Royal Ulster Constabulary officers to review and assess the original investigations, if there was one, of nearly 800 killings of Catholics.   They get to bury the very crimes the security forces  are suspected of committing and are paid a bundle for it.   

2.      Personal Immunity Certificates—These are issued   to members of the security forces and their paid undercover agents.  A grant of immunity from prosecution and an incentive to lie.  The Official Secrets Act is the ultimate hammer against the truth.    

3.      Media Massage—The conflict is viewed as a  small  foreign policy problem.  The UK thoughtfully provides  all  journalists  with what  they ‘need to know’  briefing materials and arranges the ‘right’ people to interview.  The last reporter to ignore these inducements, and who chose to independently search out for the truth,  Ms. Jo Thomas of the New York Times, was removed from her  London post for “unexceptional reporting.”  Smears  in the tabloid press are a favorite.  Gerry Adams is ‘linked’ to the McConville killing, IRA commander Gerry Kelly  is  “romantically linked “ to Senator Mitchell’s aide and Chief Inspector John Stalker was “associated with gangsters.”    All  in an attempt to obscure truth and impugn their  integrity.  To this date Stalker’s report on police killings in the North  has  not been released.

4.      Inquiry & Ignite—In order to quickly silence criticism,  Britain authorizes a inquiry   and some solicitor looking for an Order of the British Empire is appointed to conduct it.  Naturally Sir Desmond de Silva dismissed any “overarching conspiracy” in the murder of Pat Finucane.   Sir John Stevens, a  former  Metropolitan Police Superintendent conducted three  inquiries into police corruption in N. I.  An arsonist somehow entered  his  highly secure offices  in Antrim and set alight records.  A report of 3000 pages was never released but  a  summary of  27 pages was.    

5.      Jamming Justice—Some coroners inquests into killings in N. I. have not been conducted for 30 years.  A coroners report contains important facts into the cause and circumstances of death. N. I. has   separate rules  for  coroners inquests from the rest of the UK.  Their funding and staffing is   reduced.  The Ministry of Defense maximizes delays with litigation.  Closed Material Procedures or 'secret trials now are used also for civil matters.     

6.      Disappeared—A frequent government response to many inquiries into official misconduct is that requested files have ‘disappeared.’ The RUC took the   most unusual response to an asbestos problem in an old station building.  They destroyed all their records.  

7.      Assassinations—A too curious   journalist like Martin  O’Hagan  and  too successful  lawyers like Patrick  Finucane and Rosemary Nelson were executed without  charge or trial.   Those who expose deceit or corruption of law enforcement are natural targets.  Five Sinn Fein elected officeholders   espousing  anti-government views  were assassinated.   No   modern democracy has witnessed such slaughter of a political party which  also  included  the murder of 8  campaign workers.  

  British governments difficulty with the truth is not limited to N. I.  The Hillsborough Inquiry into  the  1989 deaths of 96 football fans is still ongoing   25 years  later  after earlier reports  found authorities attempted to hide data and police had altered witness statements.  The Not-So Reverend Ian Paisley once held aloft the book The Narrow Ground by local historian A. T. Q Stewart declaring  to the multitude “…this book was the truth.”  That  author once stated “they [the Irish] have woven themselves a garment of myth and legend which they call Irish history.”  It is, in fact,   the British who have woven this shroud of deceit  in Ireland because they can’t handle the truth.

Michael J. Cummings

12 Marion Ave

Albany, NY 12203-1814

518-482-0349 & 505-2851

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael J. Cummings, a native of Springfield, Mass., is a graduate of St. Anselm’s College (B. A., 1968)  and  New York University (M. P. A., 1970).   A member of the National Boards of the Irish American Unity Conference (1996-2013),   the Ancient Order Hibernians  National Board (2001-2008), and  the National Executive of the Irish Northern Aid Committee (1988-1996),  he served six National AOH Presidents ,  5 IAUC  National Presidents  and two National Chairman of INA primarily in  public relations capacities.   He is the only person to serve on the national policymaking bodies  of all three  major Irish American organizations.    He also served on the Commission on Peace and Justice of the  Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.

Cummings has appeared on American, English and Irish television and radio and his commentary and letters and those of the Presidents have appeared in major American, Irish-American, Catholic print media. He is a frequent columnist for the weekly IRISH ECHO newspaper.   He has been  married to Nuala Hogan,  a nurse and native of Ireland,   for 41 years and resides   in Albany, New York .  They are the parents of five children and two  grandchildren.   

 To contact Mr. Cummings for speaking engagements or for an opinion piece, please  call 518-482-0349 or 505-2851 or via  e-mail at michaeljohncummings@outlook.com