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POPSIrish Eyes are Smiling. And what a Smile. Good guys do win. After a successful amateur career, including winning the Walker Cup with the Great Britain & Ireland team in 1995, he turned professional later that year, joining the European Tour in 1996. He came to professional golf at a relatively late age, having qualified as an accountant and worked in the business for a number of years. He has spent a considerable amount of time both in the top ten of the Official World Golf Rankings and as the highest ranked European golfer, his best ranking being third, which he achieved following his second Open Championship victory. He has also played for Europe in four Ryder Cups; losing in 1999 but winning in 2002, 2004 and 2006 . He has also won the par-3 contest at the Augusta National Golf Club.
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POPSThe Twelve Apostles and Bloody Sunday (original) Like America, we had out War of Independence followed by a bloody Civil War on the issue of independence. This was also in common with many other states that gained independence. We didn't gain full independence until 1948 when we took it without a shot being fired. We did lose 6 of our 9 counties of Ulster, our northern providence. Hopefully some day our "four green fields" will be reunited peacefully. By Bush&Co's definition all our leaders would have been terrorists like Nelson Mandela , just like your own revered insurrectionists/freedom fighters/terrorists/founding fathers. Our longest serving PM and president de Valera would have been executed along with the 1916 Rising leaders only he was born in America.
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POPS"Haughton's Drop", Hanging, Dublin Zoo, Darwin, Wallace, history Haughton House in Dublin Zoo is being restored to its ancient glories in honour of the great patron and scientist. On a visit to Bronx Park, New York he became a bit bored by the record of perfection which he received on all sides, so he enquired about the financial aspect of the institution: how did they pay for their obviously princely expenditure? So-and-so, he was told, but of course the main source of income was gate-money. “What ?” asked Haughton, “do you mean you charge people to get in?” “Of course; don’t you?” “Oh! no - we let them in free; then we enlarge one of our celebrated lions and charge them to get out! We do better that way.”
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POPSPalestine: The State History Forgot Is it a joke of history that before there was the states of Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Syria, etc there was Palestine? Now they all exist and Palestine doesn't yet. You will read that there never was a Palestine from a certain quarter and how can you miss what you never had. How you know they are lying! They'll say that as they are all Arabs that there's enough room for them all. It's like saying that the Scots Welsh and Irish are all Celts and one state would do them all! Yes, there was a time when such thinking was regarded as valid. If we had the Age of Imperialism back then the Brits might validly have a claim on the USA and most of the rest of the world. In the present imperialism, if the existent holder of the gunboat diplomacy role, the USA, decided to sort out Palestine's present difficulties it could in a breath. Hopefully in a more honourable fashion that the last gunboat holder did.
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POPSIrishman Angry at the Bush Junket Disruption! Willie has 'balls'. Few would publicly crisis the disruptive Bush. Doesn't he know that the grinning George is responsible for the torture of more humans than all Americans to date? Does he think that being Irish makes him immune to waterboarding. Surely as a aircraft man he knows of 'extraordinary rendition' where you are on permanent tour of the best torture prisons on earth. Even Shannon seems to be on the CIA itinerary according to Amnesty. And your personal politics or none is no disbarment. From Israel, to Egypt, to Iran, to Russia, to Africa, to Cuba, to Abu Ghraib, to Bagram, all are catered for. Fear of flying is sorted with drugs and huds, in best gangster fashion. There are no numbers yet on 'lost in flight' customers, but getting there. After all, this was a favourite method of disposal for the US trained South American juntas. "Lost at sea" is permanent and 'clean'.
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POPSCanadian Wins Major International Book Prize De Niro's Game , which follows characters caught in the civil war in Beirut in the 1980s, is "a magnificent achievement for a writer writing in a third language," the five-member international jury said in its citation. "Its originality, its power, its lyricism, as well as its humane appeal all mark De Niro's Game as the work of a major literary talent and make Rawi Hage a truly deserving winner." The Beirut-born writer, who lived through nine years of civil war in the Lebanese capital before his family emigrated to Canada, called himself "a fortunate man. "After a long journey of war, displacement and separation, I feel that I am one of the few wanderers who is privileged enough to have been rewarded, and for that I am very grateful."
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POPS'They've Stolen our Water, now our SEA' "The illegality of the actions and orders of the army cries out to the heavens. This is a clear case of misusing security considerations as camouflage for achieving other goals which are unrelated to security matters and unacceptable." The Association of Civil Rights (Acri) petition said.
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POPSDublin Zoo: Nature's Way is Best Way I was reminded of this while visiting last week. I'm a member and had been informed of this in our newsletter. In the brand new extensive Zoo area, two new caves have been born. I love visiting my relatives with my grandchild.
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POPSIrish referendum could scupper EU treaty "In Brussels, European parliamentarians are twitchy about the future of the EU's 495 million citizens resting in the hands of the one million Irish voters expected to turn out on polling day."
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POPS100+ countries adopt cluster bomb ban in Dublin This despite the absence of the United States, China, Russia, Israel, India and Pakistan -- all major cluster bomb stockpilers and producers. Supporters said they hoped the treaty would pressure them to change track or shame them into not using cluster bombs. "We all know that there are important states not present, but I am convinced that we will have succeeded in stigmatising any future use of cluster munitions," Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said.
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POPSWho murdered Ciara Durkin? Senators John Kerry and Ted Kennedy have supported Ms Durkin's family's call for a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death. Ciara was the 8th of 9 children, all born in Ireland. After retiring as a teacher in Galway, the father, Tom Durkin returned to the US with his wife, Angela, and settled in Dorchester in 1986 when Ciara was 9. He died of a heart attack several weeks after the family moved to Boston. As a young girl, she attended St. Mark’s Elementary School in Dorchester. She joined the Army National Guard in October 2005 after getting laid off from her information technology job at Fenway Health. Brother Pierce Durkin wasn’t home when Ciara called from Afghanistan to wish him a happy birthday. Hours later, after learning that she had been killed, he listened to her singing ‘‘Happy Birthday’’ again.
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POPSSilent Nuala O'Faolain (1940 – 9 May 2008) was an Irish journalist, TV producer, book reviewer, teacher and author. She became internationally well-known for her two volumes of memoir, Are You Somebody? and Almost There , a novel, My Dream of You , and a history with commentary, The Story of Chicago May . The first three were all featured on the New York Times Best Seller list.
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