The State of the Republic and is St.Patrick's Day worth it?

This has been a long time coming, but it doesn't matter now, for I should've seen it coming. But count me for a fool for believing Fine Gael would keep some of its integrity and not coalition with Labour for the Dail.

Now before I go off on a tangent, let me make a few points clear:

- No. I fully expected Fine Gael to break most of its promises when it got into power. I expect

all parties to do this by default, its up to them to prove me wrong. We are in a Republic afterall, why do we lie to ourselves when we think our parties will be truthful with us? Or honest with themselves?

-Yes. I am well aware that Fine Gael went into coalition with Labour many times in the past, but thats why its so outrageous now.

Want to know why? Because in all of those time Fine Gael went into coalition with Labour, they were not the second largest single unified party in the Republic.

When you look at it that way, suddenly Labour being in coalition doesn't seem so samey now does it?

It was obvious from the start they were going to have to toe the EU/IMF line economically, but the biggest betrayal of this coalition is giving Labour control fo the Public Sector.

Thanks for standing up to the bullying Public Unions and unrealistic expectations in a time of global economic downturn.

I am no fool, I know politics involves a shameful amount of compromise, but when compromise is the expected rather evil rather then the necessary evil, your system is dead. I am fully prepared as to right now, declare that the Republic of Ireland is dead on its feet as a Sovereign power and as a viable model of government for anyone with a conscience, for within twenty years we will be little more then a back water province full of dependent unless something miraculous, or disastrous, occurs.

While we're on the Republic, good news is Her Majesty the Queen will make

a State visit to Ireland soon. No I am not an advocate of Ireland rejoining the commonwealth, that is ABUNDENTLY clear to anyone. What I am in favour of is treating our closest neighbour's Sovereign with the respect a foreign Head of State deserves, despite the grovelling of traitorous knaves who consider themselves 'west Britons' and moaning of Republicans who could not give a damn about the North of Ireland most days but suddenly do when the Queen shows up.

As Well as this, joyously, His Holiness Pope Benedict

XVI is expected to visit Ireland in June, it is not sure if this visit will be Formal or ecclesiastical, either way by that point, Motu Proprio, (and whatever document he is currently writing, according to Roman whispers, that reinforces Motu Proprio and forbids Bishops from interfering with

traditional Latin masses and their practice), will have been in effect since Advent 2011, and will be a delightful display of traditionalism. As you know I have been concerned over the loyalty of Irish Bishops to his Holiness and the rebellion of Liberal clergy against Motu Proprio, I am of the opinion this

visit will be an attempt by His Holiness to not only repair the damage done to the Church of Ireland and the Irish people by clerical abuse scandals, but also to reinforce His Authority in the Church to quash rebellion by his Holiness' presence.

The News of His Holiness, the Dali Llama's abdication is, to this Monarchist's ears, unwelcome and saddening and unexpected, you can read more here at the Mad One's Blog. Equally unexpected, but definitely welcome, is the announcement of a visit visit by His Holiness planned for April Next year. The small Buddhist community in Ireland will doubtlessly be overjoyed.

Speaking of Joy, now onto my distinct lack of it this day.

St.Patrick's Day is not a Holy Day of Obligation, but it is a first class Feast day allowing people to abstain from their, er, abstaining or fasting during the Lenten Period.

Nobody knows this. Most do not even care.

Nothing gets my goat more then my countrymen actively promoting the horrible stereotypes about themselves as something positive (and most of them do this) and reveling in the mediocrity that defines this island with its pre-industrial level population (a meagre 8 million if you include the North, most CITIES have more people then us. I do not care what anyone's arguments are, Ireland is not a modern first world nation by objective standards) There are scoundrels decrying the Irish Language as a dead thing and wishing for its removal fromt he curriculum, all the while certain backtrackers int he Irish times openly argue for Ireland's rejoining of the Commonwealth.

Doubtless some of you think thats a good idea, but most of you arent an Irishman, this is symbolic suicide for us and our culture, given the anglo-american culture Ireland has been suffering under in the modern age, how would rejoining the commonwealth benefit us beyond materialism? We'd only become slightly less indebted servants then we are to Europe.

But this is getting off track, this St.Patrick's day, I will not go out to the parades, for there is nothing Irish about them any more, nor will become a drunken wreck, for not only do I not drink but it would be adverse to the spirit of the celebration to begin with. St.Patrick's day is now an 'International' celebration where everyone is 'a little Irish'.

Oh alright then, so Thanksgiving is an International holiday, where we all gourge ourselves on food and are all 'a little American' and giving thanks to... God only knows who. Ironically enough some scoundrels in the Irish Times actively suggest we take on a thanksgiving-esque holiday as a 'meaningless' holiday as if it was a good thing.

I am not adverse to St.Patrick's day being celebrated outside Ireland, there are MILLIONS of people with Irish Descent, with full right to feel Irish on this day. What I am adverse to is the downplaying of Irishness to being little more then plastic bloody shamrocks blue-tacked everywhere and nothing else while the carnival dancers go about their merry way. Why the hell do we have to borrow cultural staples from Latin American countries? Are we that bankrupt? Yes or no doesn't matter, we just can't be Irish.

I am not about to Argue against Drinking, for I see nothing intrinsically wrong with it, or the practise of drinking during celebrations, its a practice older then recorded history, nor will I deny drinking is not part of our Culture, because for better or for worse it definitely is. But By God in Heaven and all of the Saints and Angels! If the Bavarians can control themselves during Octoberfest and still keep it recognisably Bavarian and German why can we not!?

Also it doesn't help that Raidió Teilifís Éireann has gone out of its way to cartoonise this Holiday http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HDSEqlw5sw&feature=featured

Is St.Patrick's Day even worth it anymore? I am so utterly disheartened that this day has been so actively maligned and parodied and cartoonised by the culture often associated with, that my very blood boils every time I turn on the news and see the intensely pathetic false patriotism and pride on display around this country, all the while the ignorent go about in their alcohol induced, vomit ridden hangovers and the evil who know exactly what they are doing, deconstructing the very meaning of being Irish with this holiday, smiling from behind their keyboards.

For what its worth, I am of course your very unhappy Servant of the Chief, and I wish you all a Happy and Holy St.Patrick's Day. Slan go Phoile

Ash Wednesday

Have a good Lent! I would be happy to pray for those who request it.

Rebellion in the Irish Church

Just when you think you've hit rock bottom...

The New translation of the Roman Missal is set to hit Ireland From Advent onwards, this missal, to sum it up simply if somewhat inaccurately, would enforce a stricter interpretation of the Second Vatican Council, slight reforms in the procedures and layouts in Novus Ordo Mass, and a greater liberalization of the Latin Extraordinary form (or so I'm led to believe, I welcome people to correct me in the comments if they feel I am in err).

This new Missal has got alot of liberal Catholics everywhere worried, which is what originally made me so interested in it, and I am rather shocked to learn that organizations of priests in America are advocating outright rebellion against Rome should this be implemented. The sad thing is there is an element of this rebellious spirit in the Irish Church too but I am ignorant as to its full extent, as I am fairly certain my own parish priests would submit to Rome is push comes to shove. But this element of rebellion is troublesome.

Outside of the obvious religious and social concerns I have over these developments, regular readers will recall I have previously stressed a renewal and strengthening of the Catholic Church in Ireland is needed to institute traditional conservative mentalities among the Irish from which any movement to re-establish a Gaelic monarchy can possibly be facilitated, and my own support of what I viewed as an Inquisition into the Irish clergy in the Apostolic Visitation, (again inaccurate but I liked viewing it as such), from which we have learned one of the Bishops say the Irish Church has less then ten years to avert disaster. Which when you think about it is a generous portion of time compared to the rest of Europe. Without a Strong degree of Religious Unity Ireland will sink that much faster into the pit of secularism and I do not need to point out the intrepid dangers of such a path.

Keep in mind, it was Ireland's conversion to Christianity that gave Gaelic civilization a desperate revival it needed when the rest of Europe was in its dark age, it didn't fix the problem of Irish Society being so stagnantly conservative that we were using armour and weapons designs in the 1400s that dated back to La Tene Celtic culture. If the Church can revitalize and consolidate itself, we will have a real chance to start the counter revolution properly in Ireland. Otherwise Apathy and death await the country.

I am under no illusion about these schismatics, should they as a group split from communion with Rome and go full liberal backwater, they will die out incredibly faster then the Protestant movements are. I honestly believe these to be hollow threats to scare Rome from putting its foot down as it inevitably will, sooner or later.

God, I hate Hollywood

Note: The reason why I have not updated about the State of the Republic is because I needed some time after the election to calm down lest I write naught but insane drivel and make a damn fool of myself. In the meantime, lets talk about what seems to be big on the Monarchist Blogosphere right now, Monarchy in the Movies. Lets have a rant about that first.

I went to see the King's Speech last week, and if nothing else about it, it made me laugh with the interactions between His Majesty and his speech therapist. But you can read other blogs about in depth reviews of movies and the subtle untruths and liberal whitewashing strewn throughout it, I wont waste my time reviewing it in depth here. Not this is about how monarchy and anything traditional is represented in movies these days. BraveHeart, Robin Hood, Kingdom of Heaven and now an upcoming movie entitled Ironclad.

In these movies, even the romantically entertaining ones such as Braveheart and Elizabeth: The Golden Age which usually portray ONE of the monarchs as the good guy, (except in Braveheart where the portrayed Robert the Bruce as a cowardly slave to his ailing father's will who betrayed William Wallace at the crucial moment and reaped the crown anyway), The same God damn annoying tropes are seen again and again and again and again. The kings are useless, evil, or nothing without a crass, classless friend to poke them along (did I mention Braveheart made it seem as if William Wallace started off the rebellion as a Peasant?), the Heroes are cynical sceptics of the contemporary government system and, (if it has a religious bent such as in the Season of the Witch) They are also sceptics religiously by default BECAUSE GOD FORBID WARRIOR HEROES IN THE MIDDLE AGES NOT BE SCEPTICS. Another Annoying trope and one that does not limit itself to the its representation in movies set in the middle ages is the uselessness of priest characters. If they are not Fanatics, they are somber, brooding, unhappy delirious, insane or otherwise extremely unlikeable persons who NEVER answer a sceptical character's questions. Ever. Its a rule, even when the priest characters are presented as good they are never able to answer a question that even I, poor sod of a Layman could answer, A priest is a man who dedicates his life to such questions and he wouldn't even attempt an answer? Really!? Also don't get me started on supposedly Catholic characters believing in the Rapture. This trope is endemic in any and every exorcism movie, especially the latest one, The Rite which I have to admit was a little entertaining but who's glaring flaws annoyed the hell out of me.

And now this new movie, Ironclad, it has told me enough from the teaser advert and promotional poster alone to tell me it is Kingdom of Heaven meets Robin Hood. Disillusioned sceptic of a crusader returns home and rebels against his king who is of course a ruthless bloody tyrant who rules arbitrarily and the hero will fight for democracy and freedom and tolerance and blah blah blah, God why can't I go to the cinema and just be entertained anymore?

If nothing else, the new Batman Movies are in my own view immensely entertaining, but it is a sorry state of affairs when professional entertainers can present comic book characters in faithful if original lights and not History.