| Letters
Maureen & The Pipers
This current issue, April/May 2005, features some of our favorites on
the cover. Giving an Irish “sandwich” hug to Miss O’Hara are two finer men
you won’t meet every day. To Miss O’Hara’s left is Mike McCormick and on
her right is John McNicholas. Both of these gentlemen are members of the
finest bagpipe band, the New York City Police Department Emerald Society
Pipe and Drum Band!
Having said all that, I’ll just add that back in February of 1960, Edward
Patrick Maloney saw his suggestion of a pipe band come one step closer to
reality! These men and approximately 100 others help to keep (my) dad’s
dream alive!
Thanks again for a fine magazine that keeps our heritage alive!
Mary E. Connelly, Received by e-mail
The Irish Lover
I just had to say how much I enjoyed “The Irish Lover” by Steve O’Conner
in the April-May, 2005 issue. It was absolutely delightful and really so
true. I have found that the gentlemen from Cork might be the best in Ireland
at being in this category. Thanks for bringing back some delightful memories.
As you can tell I read your magazine from cover to cover.
Jan Craig, Pensacola, Florida
Dowd Tells It Like It Is
I found the article on Maureen [Dowd] very interesting and informative.
I have always read her column in the Virginian Pilot, and disagreed with
some of her writings, especially during the Clinton years. I had expected
her to be pro Bush and his administration. What a surprise to find that
she is telling it like it is – no matter what the subject.
I wish more columnists would write with a conscience and not along party
lines and what they think we want to read.
Cecilia Davitt Thomas, Virginia Beach, Virginia
Where’s Regis?
I am sitting here reading about the Top 100 Irish-Americans in your April/May
2005 issue. It’s very thorough, but to my dismay, nowhere can I find Regis
Philbin’s name or bio. I searched and scoured each page, but alas, he was
nowhere to be found. As this must be an oversight, I thought I might include
a few facts about him.
Mr. Philbin has been the on air host of “Live With Regis and Kathy Lee”
(now Kelly) for over twenty-one years. He is considered, unofficially, “America’s
favorite Uncle.” His good humor and wit have been supplying viewers with
chuckles and some outright belly laughs for over two decades. This accompanied
by his very visible “cheerleading” for Notre Dame University, his alma mater,
should place him near the top of the 100 most prominent Irish Americans
in your magazine’s next salute to these fine folk.
By the way, your choice of Maureen O’Hara was outstanding. She is still
an unbelievably beautiful woman. As my late father would say: “I’d marry
her brother, just to get in the family.”
Raymond O’Keefe, Los Angeles, California
Ed. Note: Regis has been on our list many times. Unfortunately, we
can only name 100 and we try to bring as many new people into the mix as
possible.
Sinn Féin in The News
“I really think that in these days when he is being hit from every angle
back home and he arrives here to be welcomed like this, then it must really
mean something for him,” said Patricia Harty, editor of Irish America magazine
in New York. She admitted, however, that scant coverage of Northern Irish
affairs in the U.S. press meant that most of his supporters had only a vague
notion of Sinn Fein’s troubles.
If the above quote attributed to Patricia Harty in The Independent of
16 March 2005, is at all accurate, Ms. Harty owes your readership and your
namesake, real-life Irish America an apology. She would also appear to be
seriously overdue for a reality check.
Long before the advent of the internet we were not depending on the “U.S.
press” for information on Sinn Fein or any other aspect of Irish politics.
In 2005 you can be sure that anyone who can be reasonably described as a
“supporter” of Gerry Adams has much more than a “vague notion of Sinn Fein’s
troubles.” We have immediate access to every article written today in Ireland,
the U.K. and the US on the subject. We can listen to broadcasts from anywhere
in the world and check in with any number of websites, bulletin boards and
blogs. We utilize every bit of it.
We knew better in 1972 and 1981 than to let the calumny that we had a
“romanticized” inaccurate idea of what was happening in Ireland deter us;
we even utilized the comfort and detachment from local baggage that our
distance afforded us to develop a clearer view of the “big picture” than
many at home had. We didn’t take well to being patronized then, and we certainly
won’t with all the information immediately available to us today.
Robert P. Lynch, Received by e-mail
Ms. Harty responses: I met the reporter at an event hosted by the
Transit Workers Union. I was making a point that while the New York Times
coverage of Northern Ireland has improved, during the worst of The Troubles
it did its reporting from London, and that overall, if those in attendence,
the majority of whom were not Irish-American, relied upon the mainstream
American media, they would have scant knowledge of the extent of Sinn Féin’s
trouble.
Address letters to Irish America, 875 Sixth Avenue, Suite 2100, NY, NY
10001. Or Email:irishamag@aol.com.
Fax: (212) 244-3344. Tel: (212) 725-2993. Please include full name and
address. Letters may be edited for clarity.
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