THE ART OF TERROR

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PERFORMANCE ART, BELFAST STYLE

PROTESTANT PARAMILITARY CLAIMS ATTACK WAS AESTHETIC IN NATURE, PURELY SYMBOLIC

Defending Barrister Trades Wig & Robe For Beret & Smock, Cites Brando & Yoko

Who says terrorists don't have a sense of humor? OK, everybody says that. Still, this is funny. You know, except for the killing people part.

Here's the thing. Going by mainstream British and American media, you'd think that the erstwhile war in Northern Ireland was entirely one-sided. Just a bunch of those awful virgin-worshiping Catholics blowing up innocent Protestants over some obscure doctrinal differences. Madmen, really, religious fanatics. Oh, and Catholics. Did we mention that they were Catholics? Yup, Catholics.

This fits in neatly with the long history of anti-Catholic sentiment and policy in the UK and the US. While most people in the British Isles and North America couldn't care less about religion or politics or any admixture or conflation thereof, there has always been a certain select group who cared very much, and killed over it. In films and stories, you only ever hear about the IRA. But those in the line of fire know full well that there were as many guns if not more on the Protestant side, including the British Army, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and all the various Loyalist irregulars in the long war over land, money and power in Northern Ireland and beyond. That's what it was about, by the way. Land, money and power. Nothing to do with theology.

See, this fellow Henry the Eighth couldn't seem to secure an heir for the English throne, back in the 1500's. He killed a couple of wives, but the new ones didn't work either. So he started his own Church in order to grant himself a divorce whenever necessary, divorce being a sin to Christians. And then he required all of his subjects to abandon their faith and adopt his, or suffer the consequences.

The consequences included the dictator Oliver Cromwell, the English Revolution and the Plantation of Ulster. The whole thing left a bad taste in the mouths of many Britons, including those who decided to chuck it all and move to the New World, at just that moment. It gave them a reason to value the separation of Church and State, and to forbid the Establishment of Religion by the State, which is what Henry VIII had inflicted upon everyone in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland that he could reach with a sword.

In America, the adherents of Henry's policies banded together to form racist, sectarian, anti-immigrant organizations like the Klu Klux Klan. In Ulster, they created the UDF. Same ideals, different targets. They were a part of the majority in both countries, and held positions of power in the government, the police and the military in the US and the UK. Most people lived in mortal terror of them. You might say that they were the very first modern terrorists. But counter-terrorists arose. Like the IRA.

For some reason, you only hear about the IRA. So, maybe it's a good thing that this ridiculous, psychotic Loyalist clown is calling so much attention to himself. Maybe Tom Clancy will write a cheesy novel about him. Harrison Ford could play him in the film. No need for an Ulster accent: That's only for the bad guys. You know, the Catholics?


AFP
"Accused claims N. Ireland parliament attack was art: reports"

' A convicted Protestant paramilitary denied Monday he tried to murder the leaders of Northern Ireland's Catholic Sinn Fein, saying his attempt to storm parliament buildings was an "artistic protest". The 53-year-old told Belfast Crown Court he had not intended to harm anyone when security guards stopped him trying to enter the British province's seat of power at Stormont in November 2006, media reports said. Stone said he was engaged in "performance protests". He was allegedly found with an imitation firearm, nails, pipe bombs, a number of knives and an axe, but said these were merely props symbolising Northern Ireland. '

BELFAST TELEGRAPH
"Stormont incident was 'performance art', UDA man Stone tells court"

' In court today, he said when he forced his way into Stormont in October 2006, it was an act of performance art and self parody to try and break the political log jam. '

THE DAILY RECORD
"Stormont attack bid was 'art', claims killer"

' In 1988, Stone was jailed for life for the murder of three people in a gun and grenade attack at Belfast's Milltown Cemetery during the funeral of three IRA members. '

BBC
"Stormont bomb was art, says Stone"

' "I'm destroying the iconography of Michael Stone, loyalist hero," he said. "It's a comic parody of my former self. I would rather be remembered as an eccentric artist that got it wrong in performance art than for my past, when I did some terrible things." '

BELFAST TELEGRAPH
"Michael Stone 'did not intend to murder anyone'"

' Stone, of no fixed address, denies attempting to murder Sinn Fein MLA's Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness as well as 12 other charges of possessing nail and pipe bombs with intent to endanger life, possessing three knives, an axe and a garotte, having an imitation firearm with intent to commit an offence. Asked what his intentions had been that day, Stone claimed his plan was to daub political graffiti on the walls of the building, to leave the nail bombs, which he called “props”, at the base of each column and to use the “flash bang” device to “clear the building”. He said he viewed the stance by the two parties as “rank hypocrisy” and wanted to “more or less put a proverbial rocket up their backsides”. '

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BIG BANG AWAY, LADS! SLAINTE!

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SUPERSECRET IRISH SUPERCONDUCTING SUPERCOLLIDER JUST SUPER, BOYS, SUPER!

LOUTH FACILITY REVS UP FOR POSSIBLE "END OF THE WORLD" TOMORROW



Local Residents Concerned About Black Holes

Of course, in Baile Atha Cliath, they live in a black pool, Dubh Linn, so they're not concerned. But farther up in the old province of Midhe, the scientific and technological center of both ancient and modern Ireland, folks are concerned. They fear that, when the switch is flipped tomorrow at the super-secret facility located somewhere under the town of Louth, County Louth, it might just suck the whole shebang into another space-time continuum.

Particle physicists pooh-pooh this notion, reminding us that the universe is going to explode or implode someday anway, as it probably has many times before. And, besides, the boffins say, "We'll all be dead long before then, right? Cheers! Live for today and let tomorrow look after itself!" That seems to be the motto of the atom-smashers at Louth today.

Ancient technology centered around getting smashed, but not with atoms. Beer was invented in Louth some time in the Auld Bronze Age, and whiskey chased it shortly thereafter. In fact, the combination of good Irish beer and whiskey may have produced the first Big Bang, and certainly many little bangs since.

Einstein was a frequent visitor to local pubs, on a protracted stop-over in then-neutral Ireland on his way to America from Nazi Germany. His scribbled notes on beer coasters left behind led to the "Drumcondragh Project," which produced the first atomic bomb, some months before the Los Alamos laboratories. However, local clergy prevented any tests of the Irish bomb being carried out, so it was never proven successful. The Church feared that the smashing of atoms might open the way for the Devil himself, and bring on the Apocalypse. So the project was scrapped, and the researchers had to go elsewhere to find work. These "Wild Geese" may have been responsible for Russia, China, India, Israel, Pakistan, North Korea and Tonga getting the Bomb. Or not.

Wednesday's test deep beneath the sleepy town of Louth may be Ireland's chance to get back on the atomic map. If the test succeeds, nuclear nerds and geeks will descend upon the region north of Dublin, looking for grants and stipends, atoms and gluons, galaxies and universes. And the occasional Guinness. If it doesn't work, the entire country may become a radioactive Hell-pit and the open end of a worm-hole that leads to some unspeakable cosmos beyond our ability to comprehend, that will devour us all, horribly. Maybe the priests were right, after all. Cheers!


WNDU
"Controversial science experiment to take place in Ireland"

FOX NEWS
"Seeking Big Bang Explanation Could Be Dangerous Game"

LIVE SCIENCE
"Will the Louth Hadron Collider Destroy Earth?"

EFLUX MEDIA
"The Large Hadron Collider Ready For Power Up Amid Apocalyptic Predictions"

BOSTON GLOBE
"Irish physicist gets death threats over collider"

DAILY TECH
"Large Hadron Collider to Go Online This Week Despite Death Threats"
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A REAL IRISH HANG-OVER

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EUROPE DOES A POST-MORTEM ON LISBON

VOTE IN IRELAND SYMPTOMATIC OF CONTINENTAL DISQUIET

"Video: euronews - reporter - Morning-after effect of Irish 'No' Euronews"


It's Not Just The Irish Who Don't Want A USA of Europe

Lamentations and cries for revenge, dark threats and cold pronouncements continue to issue from the Brussles Mafia, as Ireland remains steadfast in her rejection of any further Americanization of Europe. Rumblings from beneath the bureaucratic crust of Europe portend a potential earthquake. The Tories in the UK have themselves an issue they may ride to power. They are finding allies in Czechoslovakia and Poland. If the Irish are not beaten down before the British elections, resurgent Conservatives may unite with Irish socialists and nationalists to kill the Lisbon Treaty. All that means is that life goes on as before. This is not what power-hungry leaders in France may want, but it may be what they will get.


BELFAST TELEGRAPH
"Two-thirds of voters more convinced by 'no' campaign"

' More than two-thirds of Irish voters found the 'no' campaign in the Lisbon Treaty referendum more convincing, according to a poll conducted by the European Commission. Some details of the poll were published by the EC shortly after the referendum last month, but a more in-depth analysis released today shows that just 15% said the 'yes' side was more convincing. Sixty-seven per cent said they were more convinced by the 'no' campaign. Just over one-fifth of those who voted 'no' said they did so because of a lack of knowledge. The 'no' vote was higher among women, younger voters, manual workers and people with lower levels of education. '

FINANCIAL TIMES
"Hague looks at Lisbon treaty"
Brits don't like Lisbon, either.

' An incoming Conservative government in Britain would try to kill off the European Union’s Lisbon treaty, unless Ireland reverses its No vote on the controversial text before the next UK election. William Hague, the Conservatives’ foreign affairs spokesman, called on EU leaders to “declare the Lisbon treaty dead” and to concentrate instead on making the Union work under its existing rules. In the week Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, urged the Irish to reverse their No vote, Mr Hague warned that his eurosceptic party stood ready to drive the final nail into the treaty’s coffin if it were to win the next general election, expected in 2010. Mr Hague told the Financial Times a Conservative government would hold a referendum on the Lisbon treaty, unless it had been ratified by Ireland before the next British election. “We would withdraw ratification by Britain and subject it to a referendum, in which we would recommend a No vote,” Mr Hague said. Opinion polls suggest Britain would almost certainly reject the text. But his promise to stop what he calls “the centralising ratchet” of the EU – epitomised by the Lisbon treaty – is a signal that he is prepared to put Britain at the head of what he believes is a ever more sceptical mood among European voters. '

EUROPEAN UNION PORTAL
"The Treaty at a glance"
Eurocrats try the soft-sell.

' On 13 December 2007, EU leaders signed the Treaty of Lisbon, thus bringing to an end several years of negotiation about institutional issues. The Treaty of Lisbon amends the current EU and EC treaties, without replacing them. It will provide the Union with the legal framework and tools necessary to meet future challenges and to respond to citizens' demands. '

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