Author Archives: Aaron McAllorum

By Dominic Hyde

I want you to imagine the scene.

Brian O’Driscoll is introducing the England team on the pitch at the Aviva. The new president shakes the hands of the players until he reaches the young, rosy-cheeked outside flanker from Wasps.

We shall call him Tom.

What if the president was so overcome with man-urge that he then took Tom in his arms? His moist lips pressed against the callow athlete’s innocent buds?

Let me offer you another scenario.

The Irish head of state is sharing a limousine with the newly-elected US president Mitt Romney, a devout mormon, on his first visit to Ireland.

“Stop the car,” cries the bearded Irish president outside the Rubber Shaft Sauna & Steam Rooms on Amiens Street. “Mitt, you have to check out the sweating, dripping naked male flesh inside this place. You’ll come out in two parts.”

I hesitate to advise anyone on how they should vote. All I ask is that you give some consideration to these two ghastly but all-too-possible scenarios.

Trust me. I have thought of little else over the last couple of days.

(Photocall Ireland)

Translation: “We’re Still Here.”

‘Here’ being the makeshift ‘Los Indignados’ camp at Plaza de Catalunya, Barcelona’s main square, one of dozens erected in Spain to protest high unemployment and other woes.

And it’s still there despite this violent intervention yesterday by police, captured by AP photographer Emilio Morenatti.


The scenes were carried live on Spanish TV and, by nightfall, at least 5,000 people were in the square protesting against the police action. In Madrid hundreds of protestors marched under the banner: ‘Barcelona: You Are Not Alone’

You can follow the protests on Twitter: #spanishrevolution and #realdemocracynow

Meanwhile, on Spanish TV, a show of solidarity from Barcelona football fans during a live link to London…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SUqcJkMcsI&feature=youtu.be

Police Clash With Protestors In Barcelona (New York Times)

Barcelona Protest Photostream

Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh has slammed President Obama’s trip to Ireland saying  Americans should start calling him ‘Paddy’ and saying it was a ruse to win the Irish American vote.

He stated; “When he goes to Africa, he tries to pass himself off as a Kenyan. And if he goes to the Middle East he tries to pass himself off as Barack ‘al-Obama.’ And if he goes down to Selma he tries to pass himself off as a guy from down the street—totally disingenuous guy,” Limbaugh said.

Rush Limbaugh Slams Obama Trip To Moneygall (Niall O’Dowd, Irish Central)

Update: Limbaugh responds: “Apparently I did a Media Tweak of the Day yesterday, and I didn’t even know it. There’s a blog site out there, IrishCentral.com, and apparently I’ve really ticked ’em off. I suggested that we ought to start calling Obama “Paddy,” which is a rational Irish nickname for Patrick, just call him Paddy because he’s out there saying he’s the most Irish president we ever had. They say my comments are bound to cause controversy with my Irish Americans because Paddy is offensive and used in a pejorative context. Really? I had no clue. So another bunch of people offended. My gosh, you cannot avoid ’em.”
Rush Limbaugh Denies Term ‘Paddy’ For Irish Is Insulting (Niall O’Dowd, Irish Central)

Vivienne Parry, who queued with her 10-year-old son, said the crowds were able to pour in from every direction, particularly from Wood Quay via Winetavern Street. She accused the organisers of “utterly shambolic crowd control” and said those who had queued patiently at Christ Church found themselves being displaced by those who came after them.

Ailbhe Nic Cába from Meath spent six hours queuing and made it past the security marquee where US Secret Service agents vetted and frisked the public. However, she and others were turned back by gardaí at another barrier because they believed they had not been vetted. She said the pushing got really bad when President Obama started to speak, and several people left the queue.

“It is a great pity that the Irish authorities must once again learn from their follies before getting things right. It seems that ‘No, we can’t’,” she said, inverting Mr Obama’s famed campaign motto.

The Obama Event ‘Shambolic’ (Ronan McGreevy, Irish Times)

(RTE)