PERHAPS UNFAMILIAR IRISH LORE

We do not want these people. They are poor, disease ridden, will take jobs from Americans, strain welfare budgets. They are criminals and rapists. Practice a strange religion. They send us their worst.

Sounds like Trump talking about the Mexicans coming over the border and Muslims seeking entry to the United States.

Not Trump.

The way Americans were talking about the Irish who began immigrating to the United States around 1845.

The Irish were not liked. Feared to an extent.

The Irish did not come here to be free. They came to eat.

Disease had killed off the potato fields. Potatoes the mainstay of the Irish diet. Lunch and dinner. Sometimes, even breakfast. Estimated Irish men consumed 14 pounds of potatoes a day.

They brought with them Catholicism. Feared by Americans. The Papacy considered evil. Conspiracy theories rampant. The Irish would capture women. Hold them in convents. Priests rape the women. Babies born will be strangled.

You can’t make it up.

The cry became America for Americans! Return America to what it was. Which meant get rid of the Irish.

One hundred seventy years later. The Irish are assimilated. Admired. Respected. They have succeeded in every area of society. Thirty two million strong. Ten percent of the population.

Today, St. Patrick’s Day. Everyone celebrates. Everyone Irish.

The world knows St. Patrick’s story. Not all, however. I share with you an episode not well known.

St. Patrick was a child of the Fifth Century. He died this date in 461 A.D.

He had returned to Ireland. A bishop, he did all the things history attributes to him. His aim to Christianize the pagan Irish.

He was successful. Success brought with it many who were jealous of the elevated position he had achieved in Irish society. His own fellow Christians.

Women were attracted to him. He Christianized many. Some were wives of kings and others of influence. A number of the ladies left their husbands to enter the nunnery. Such not appreciated by the husbands.

Wealthy women gave him expensive gifts.

He baptized many. In the thousands. Charged a fee to perform the baptisms. Similarly for ordinations. Many became priests. He charged for the ordination of each.

St. Patrick ingratiated himself with kings and judges. A gift here, a gift there.

Sounds like a religious politico. The Christians who forced his trial thought so. They also believed he sought his bishopric with personal gain in mind.

The decision of the trial not specifically known. History rarely recorded in those days. However, St. Patrick himself in Declaration or Confessio spelled out what was required to be done by him to satisfy those against him.

St. Patrick agreed to return gifts which wealthy women had given him, stop accepting payment for baptisms, stop accepting payment for ordinations, and stop giving gifts to kings and judges.

He did. Then returned to his calling Christianizing the Irish.

Enjoy your day! Drink not too much green beer!

 

MARTIN FELT…..KEY WEST 1974

This blog is read primarily in the United states. It also has followers world wide. From Australia, Brazil, China, Italy, Japan, Russia, South Africa, and Thailand for example.

I received an e-mail this morning from Martin Felt. Martin has lived the past 30 years in Tuscany.

Martin lived in Key West for one year in 1974. Lived for a while on Poorhouse Lane. Poorhouse is a street running perpendicular off the cemetery.

Martin mentioned that he spent time walking in  the cemetery. He also recalled taking and pumping water from a well. The well thing especially caught my interest. Comments were received a couple of days ago re Key West wells near the Casa Marina. I think from Patrick. I was not aware of well water availability in Key West up to that time.

Martin is presently involved in writing a book about his 1974 Key West experiences. Should be interesting. A different world back then.

My yesterday began with an early visit to my heart doctor, Dr. McIvor. I swear by him! A routine test. Will get the results monday. I am not concerned.

Last night was the start of the bocce season. I missed it. Too tired. I was up at 5 in the morning to get the blog out before the doctor visit. By 5 in the afternoon, I was falling asleep watching television. I was in bed and asleep at 9 for the evening.

Spoke with David this morning. Don’s Place is off to a flying start. Won all three games last night.

Heavy date(s) tonight! With lesbian wives Donna and Terri. They are taking me out to dinner. Donna is a concierge. She has a ton of Hogfish free cards.

Go Live with Key West Lou on Facebook. Off to a flying start. Three weeks so far. A learning and adjusting activity. My viewers already exceed my beloved blog dramatically. By 300-400 percent. Amazing! Mostly a different group. Interesting.

A new play opens next week at the Key West Theater. 129 Miles From Walmart. The purpose of the title is to state unequivocally there is no Walmart for 129 miles. Suggesting Key West is a different place. It is. Like nowhere else.

Sessions now Attorney General. Not even  two weeks. Doing damage already.

The transgenders one issue.

Private prisons another.

The Obama administration ordered private prisons to be phased out. Maltreated prisoners, costly, no dollar savings, etc. Yesterday, Sessions ordained private prisons would continue. His reason, the federal government would need additional jail space in the future. For what? Immigration detainees?

Interestingly, an increase in jail population occurred beginning with Reagan. Population up 78 percent under Reagan. Fifty six percent under Clinton. Thirty two percent under Bush 2.

Finally dropped under Obama. Increase limited to 5 percent.

Staying with reversals under the Trump administration, the CIA was ordered this week to halt support for anti-Assad rebels in Syria. Does this mean we are on our way to joining with Putin in support of Assad?

CPAC interesting yesterday. Bannon in the forefront. Openly expressed his view that it was not establishment change in the U.S. alone he sought, it was world wide. The guy is dangerous!

Back in November in the New York Times, Bannon was compared to Lenin. Lenin sought the overthrow of existing government. Took a while. However, his philosophy finally succeeded. Bannon wants to accomplish the same thing.

I read somewhere that Cheney was Mother Teresa compared to Bannon.

Trump is on TV speaking before CPAC as I write. He is with his own. They are cheering his every thought. He is glowing in the adulation.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

MEMORIAL DAY

“In Flanders fields where poppies blow…..Between the crosses, row on row.”

In Flanders Fields. A famous poem born in the early stages of World War I. Its author Lt. Col. John Mc Crae.

Memorial Day is a federal holiday for remembering those who died while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. The holiday had its beginnings around the time of the Civil War.

I had the opportunity to visit Arlington Cemetery. Most buried are war dead. A moving sight. One never forgotten. Especially comes to memory on a day such as this.

Many years ago, I spent a month with my family in Italy. Our villa was on the Mediterranean in a small town called Livonia. Just outside Salerno where the Allied troops landed in World War II.

I was driving around and came across the British cemetery. Set up just like Arlington Cemetery. White crosses. Row after row in perfect line.

I walked among them. Read the names of those buried. Suddenly, I came upon a series of graves marked Known To God Alone. Broke me up. I started sobbing uncontrollably.

I am still not right. A bit better each day. Significantly better since last tuesday when I woke with a very painful stomach. Being down has caused me to miss a few annual Key West events this holiday weekend.

One is the Minimal Regatta. Crazy people in home made boats! Material to be used is restricted. Only one 4′ x 8′ plywood sheet, 1 pound of fasteners, and 1 roll of duct tape. Many start the race. Few finish. The boats fall apart.

The race is in front of Schooner Wharf. Hundreds line the waterfront watching, cheering and laughing.

A fun afternoon. Watch the race, drink a bit and enjoy the comradeship of those around you. Typical Key West.

The weather is high 80s by day and high 70s in the evening. Humidity has arrived. Not so bad yet. Wait till August and September!

Same sex marriage a big winner in Ireland! The Irish know what they are doing.

Approval was by vote. Sixty two percent voted to permit same sex marriage. It is the first time a nation has voted on the issue.

I am debating whether to shave. I have the start of a beard. Looks horrible at the moment. My neck itches. Decision time today.

Enjoy your Memorial Day! Remember why it is celebrated!

 

 

CONTEMPORARIES

Happy Sunday!

I watched the Masters’ opening drives Thursday. Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. They looked a bit aged. Palmer and Nicklaus definitely. Player could pass for a younger man. Palmer is 85. Nicklaus, 75. Player, 79.

It dawned on me! They are my contemporaries! I literally grew up with them. From early adulthood on. I am 79.

For the first time, I realized how I look. When it is your own face in the mirror and one you have seen daily for years, the aging process appears slow. It does not hit you as dramatically as it did watching the three golf greats. I do not look as young as I thought!

My day was spent doing further reasearch on this week’s KONK Life column. I will write it today. It concerns Iceland and Iceland’s treatment of bankers following 2008. Iceland did not let bankers push them around. Iceland went for the jugular.

My first stop last night was Louie’s Backyard. It had been quite a while since I was last there. The deck bar is one of Key West’s most beautiful locations.

I met Dan and Mitzie. They have been together five years. Dan has spent time in the keys about as long as I have. He is a retired Michigan marine owner.

We talked of many things. Especially, aging. We have comparable experiences. Like forgetting. The discussion was ultra humorous. I wish it could have been recorded.

Then it was to Tavern ‘n Town for dinner. The season is definitely over! The bar empty. I enjoyed some good food and Bobby Nesbitt. Judy was her usual lovely self.

I was supposed to have dinner with Donna and Terri. They backed out at the last moment.

Walgreens in the news! Walgreens plans to close 200 stores this year. Not sure where yet. Walgreens recently merged with a European drug retailer.

Walgreens is the largest U.S. drug chain. Were you aware? I was not.

Tom Cotton in  the news again. He is on a roll since his Iran letter. He was on a TV talk show yesterday. One of his brilliant comments was to the effect we should bomb Iran now and destroy its nuclear danger once and for all. He failed to see value in the negotiation process.

Cotton is 37. He speaks like a 20 year old. He worries me. Especially since he is being groomed as Presidential timber.

I am reading Elizabeth Warren’s most recent book. A Fighting Chance. I am about two-thirds through it. Great reading!

Warren is one smart woman. Comes from a humble background. Never intended to be where she is. Her efforts over the years and her ability to get things done continue to be recognized. No question in my mind, she will be a serious candidate after Hillary is done.

Enjoy your Sunday!