The fight scene from The Quiet Man

One of my favorite movies, a St Patrick's Day tradition in the Wigderson household, and probably John Wayne's best movie other than The Searchers. It's on at 7:00 PM CDT tonight on Turner Classic Movies.

Celebrate St Patrick's Day like an Irishman

Afterwards, celebrate like a Wisconsinite.

"A nation’s liberty can not, like her treasures, be meted and parceled out in gratitude"

From A Plea for Irish Legislative Independence
Henry Grattan to the Irish Parliament, 1780

I shall hear of ingratitude! I name the argument to despise it and the men who make use of it; I know the men who use it are not grateful, they are insatiate; they are public extortioners, who would stop the tide of public prosperity and turn it to the channel of their own emolument; I know of no species of gratitude which should prevent my country from being free, no gratitude which should oblige Ireland to be the slave of England. In cases of robbery and usurpation, nothing is an object of gratitude except the thing stolen, the charter spoliated. A nation’s liberty can not, like her treasures, be meted and parceled out in gratitude; no man can be grateful or liberal of his conscience, nor woman of her honor, nor nation of her liberty; there are certain unimpartable, inherent, invaluable properties, not to be alienated from the person, whether body politic or body natural. With the same contempt do I treat that charge which says that Ireland is insatiable; saying that Ireland asks nothing but that which Great Britain has robbed her of, her rights and privileges; to say that Ireland will not be satisfied with liberty, because she is not satisfied with slavery, is folly. I laugh at that man who supposes that Ireland will not be content with a free trade and a free constitution; and would any man advise her to be content with less?

If I weren't Irish, I'd be ashamed

Happy St. Patrick's Day! What better way to kick off the spring than to celebrate the day of Ireland's patron saint, St. Patrick.

It was on 26 March, Easter Sunday, in 433, that the eventful assembly was to meet at Tara, and the decree went forth that from the preceeding day the fires throughout the kingdom should be extinguished until the signal blaze was kindled at the royal mansion. The chiefs and Brehons came in full numbers and the druids too would muster all their strength to bid defiance to the herald of good tidings and to secure the hold of their superstition on the Celtic race, for their demoniac oracles had announced that the messenger of Christ had come to Erin. St. Patrick arrived at the hill of Slane, at the opposite extremity of the valley from Tara, on Easter Eve, in that year the feast of the Annunciation, and on the summit of the hill kindled the Paschal fire. The druids at once raised their voice. "O King", (they said) "live for ever; this fire, which has been lighted in defiance of the royal edict, will blaze for ever in this land unless it be this very night extinguished." By order of the king and the agency of the druids, repeated attempts were made to extinguish the blessed fire and to punish with death the intruder who had disobeyed the royal command. But the fire was not extinguished and Patrick shielded by the Divine power came unscathed from their snares and assaults. On Easter Day the missionary band having at their head the youth Benignus bearing aloft a copy of the Gospels, and followed by St. Patrick who with mitre and crozier was arrayed in full episcopal attire, proceeded in processional order to Tara. The druids and magicians put forth all their strength and employed all their incantations to maintain their sway over the Irish race, but the prayer and faith of Patrick achieved a glorious triumph. The druids by their incantations overspread the hill and surrounding plain with a cloud of worse than Egyptian darkness. Patrick defied them to remove that cloud, and when all their efforts were made in vain, at his prayer the sun sent forth its rays and the brightest sunshine lit up the scene. Again by demoniac power the Arch-Druid Lochru, like Simon Magus of old, was lifted up high in the air, but when Patrick knelt in prayer the druid from his flight was dashed to pieces upon a rock.

Thus was the final blow given to paganism in the presence of all the assembled chieftains. It was, indeed, a momentous day for the Irish race.

Why March 17th?

St. Patrick, having now completed his triumph over Paganism, and gathered Ireland into the fold of Christ, prepared for the summons to his reward. St. Brigid came to him with her chosen virgins, bringing the shroud in which he would be enshrined. It is recorded that when St. Patrick and St. Brigid were united in their last prayer, a special vision was shown to him. He saw the whole of Ireland lit up with the brightest rays of Divine Faith. This continued for centuries, and then clouds gathered around the devoted island, and, little by little, the religious glory faded away, until, in the course of centuries, it was only in the remotest valleys that some glimmer of its light remained. St. Patrick prayed that the light would never be extinguished, and, as he prayed, the angel came to him and said: "Fear not: your apostolate shall never cease." As he thus prayed, the glimmering light grew in brightness, and ceased not until once more all the hills and valleys of Ireland were lit up in their pristine splendour, and then the angel announced to St. Patrick: "Such shall be the abiding splendour of Divine truth in Ireland."

At Saul (Sabhall), St. Patrick received the summons to his reward on 17 March, 493 [See note above -- Ed.]. St. Tassach administered the last sacraments to him. His remains were wrapped in the shroud woven by St. Brigid's own hands. The bishops and clergy and faithful people from all parts crowded around his remains to pay due honour to the Father of their Faith. Some of the ancient Lives record that for several days the light of heaven shone around his bier. His remains were interred at the chieftan's Dun or Fort two miles from Saul, where in after times arose the cathedral of Down.

St. Patrick's Day in America:

...Ireland is no ordinary country to Americans. More than 12% of the US Population claim Irish Ancestry – that 36 million people, another 5 million say they are of Scots-Irish descent. That’s why the Chicago river has been dyed green this week, and New York City will grind to a halt tomorrow for green partying.

Here St Patrick’s day parades started in the early eighteenth century, fifty year before independence – American independence that is. The first Irish people celebrating in Boston in 1737 were defying a British Empire which would continue to rule over their motherland for another 180 years.

Somewhere in an internet cafe in New Delhi...

The Spring City Chronicle wonders if "James Wigderson" is really a front for the outsourcing of my newspaper column to India. It's really Ireland. I was never a big fan of curry.

When the going gets tough, the governor gets going

The Wisconsin Club for Growth has discovered a pattern in the governor's schedule:

This week, Doyle announced he would be heading to Ireland and the UK, leaving budget negotiations behind. This will be Doyle's sixth "trade mission" since 2003, but the only thing Doyle is likely to "trade" is a budget headache for a nice cold pint of Guiness. The state revenue generated by Doyle's previous trade missions seems to have gotten lost somwhere in the couch cushions at the Governor's mansion.

Our illustrious Governor has a knack for fleeing the country when he sees trouble brewing. When Doyle Administration staffer Georgia Thompson was indicted for allegedly rigging a state travel contract to benefit one of Doyle's biggest contributors, Doyle sought refuge in Baghdad. Apparently he thought it would easier to dodge suicide bombers than members of the Capitol press corps.

Last September when the state budget was months overdue and a deadline for setting state aid to local school districts was looming, Doyle fled the country, this time taking his entourage on a 12 day trade mission to China and Japan. Before abandoning budget negotiations at home to down saki with Japanese officials, he threatened a government shutdown if legislators didn't come to an agreement. The impact of Doyle's Asia trip is still unknown.

Perhaps the timing of Doyle's upcoming trip to Ireland can be explained by the ongoing trial of racketeer and Doyle pal, Tony Rezko. Doyle and Rezko dined together before sharing a luxury box at a Packers-Bears game at Soldier field. Last week, testimony in the Rezko trial turned to Wisconsin and the man who introduced Doyle to Rezko. It is unclear whether Doyle is leaving town to escape the budget mess he created or to elude embarrassing questions about his ties to Tony Rezko. The one thing we know for sure is when the going gets tough, Governor Doyle skips town.

I bet Ireland is lovely this time of year.

Easter Rebellion 1916

(Note: Technically we are not celebrating St Patrick's Day during Holy Week. That's why we're tying it all together.)

Proclamation of the Republic

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF THE
IRISH REPUBLIC
TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND

IRISHMAN AND IRISHWOMEN: In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom.

Having organized and trained her manhood through her secret revolutionary organization, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and through her open military organizations, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army, having patiently perfected her discipline, having resolutely waited for the right moment to reveal itself, she now seizes that moment, and, supported by her exiled children in America and by gallant allies in Europe, but relying in the first on her own strength, she strikes in full confidence of victory.

We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible. The long usurpation of that right by a foreign people and government has not extinguished the right, nor can it ever be extinguished except by the destruction of the Irish people. In every generation the Irish people have asserted their right to national freedom and sovereignty; six times during the past three hundred years they have asserted it in arms. Standing on that fundamental right and again asserting it in arms in the face of the world, we hereby proclaim the Irish Republic as a Sovereign Independent State. And we pledge our lives and the lives of our comrades-in-arms to the cause of its freedom, of its welfare, and of its exaltation among the nations.

The Irish Republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irish woman. The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities of all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien government, which have divided a minority in the past.

Until our arms have brought the opportune moment for the establishment of a permanent National Government, representative of the whole people of Ireland and elected by the suffrages of all her men and women, the Provision Government, hereby constituted, will administer the civil and military affairs of the Republic in trust for the people.

We place the cause of the Irish Republic under the protection of the Most High God, Whose blessing we invoke upon our arms, and we pray that no one who serves that cause will dishonour it by cowardice, inhumanity, or rapine. In this supreme hour the Irish nation must, by its valour and discipline and by the readiness of its children to sacrifice themselves for the common good, prove itself worthy of the august destiny to which it is called.

Signed on behalf of the Provisional Government,

THOMAS J. CLARKE
SEAN MAC DIERMADA THOMAS MACDONAGH
P.H.PEARSE EAMONN CEANNT
JAMES CONNOLLY JOSEPH PLUNKETT

After it was read on the steps of the Dublin Post Office on April 24th, 1916, things didn't go so well.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Update!
More on Michael Collins.



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