We Must be Talking

  Wealth and Poverty in America         Gerry OShea Ask any political consultant in the United States what drives people to the polls on election day and you are very likely to hear that kitchen table issues are the number one consideration. Most would agree with James Carville, President Clinton’s guru in the 90’s, that “it is the economy stupid.” Using that yardstick Joe Biden is in deep trouble in his 2024 presidential election bid. Inflation remains a serious problem in America. Gas prices fell to close to $3.00 a gallon but they are moving up lately and are touching $4.00 in some places in New York. Staple family food items remain significantly higher than when the Democrats took over the White House in January 2021. No wonder that the President’s performance rating hovers around 40%. Yet he has already won record bipartisan congressional approval for spending close to two trillion dollars for much-needed infrastructure projects and for...

  The Banality of Evil        Gerry OShea Can one do evil acts without being evil? This was the deep and puzzling question raised by the philosopher Hannah Arendt when she reported for The New Yorker in 1961 on the war crimes trial of Adolph Eichmann. He was the Nazi operative who was responsible for organizing the transportation of millions of Jews and others to various concentration camps in compliance with his government’s policies propounded as the Final Solution. Fr. Thomas Merton, the famous Trappist monk and spiritual writer, confronted the same question in an essay entitled A Devout Meditation in Memory of Adolph Eichmann . He was impressed that a distinguished psychiatrist examined Eichmann and pronounced him perfectly sane. Merton said that he didn’t doubt the expert’s conclusion, but he considered his findings to be deeply disturbing. Arendt found Eichmann a rather bland bureaucrat, who in her words was ‘neither perverted nor sadistic...

  Arthur Griffith                Gerry OShea Arthur Griffith played a central role in the political story which led to Irish independence around a hundred years ago. We can date these historic events from the passage of the Third Home Rule Bill in 1912 to the end of the civil war in 1923. Mr. Griffith, whose father worked as a printer with the nationalist newspaper, The Nation , was born in 1871 and lived in Upper Dominick Street in Dublin. He attended a local Christian Brothers school and apprenticed as a compositor in his father’s business, an invaluable training for his subsequent shoe-string journalism. He emigrated to South Africa in 1896 where he supported the Boers in their war with the British. While not considering the native people equal to the white Afrikaners, he condemned the denigrating treatment of the tribespeople. After two years he returned to Ireland and was pleased to observe a rejuven...

  The Irish Civil War – 100 Years Ago       Gerry OShea Liam Lynch was killed by the Free State army in the Knockmealdown Mountains in Tipperary on April 10 th a hundred years ago. Lynch, a political purist and sincere idealist, was the leader of the Republican insurgency in the Irish Civil War. After his death, Frank Aiken and other leaders of the anti-treaty forces realized that they could not win against the superior government army and that a clear majority of the Irish people opposed the killings and industrial mayhem of the war. So, following the old Irish proverb that it is better to quit early than hang in for inevitable defeat, they ordered their forces to dump their arms on May 24 th , 1923. Commentators look back on the eleven months of ferocious civil warfare as a time for deep regret. Some actions by both sides exceeded the savagery associated with the hated Black and Tans and Auxiliaries during the War of Independence which immediately ...

  Sexuality and the Catholic Church        Gerry OShea In New York five of the eight Catholic dioceses have filed for bankruptcy. The list includes Buffalo, Albany and Rockville Center on Long Island. This catastrophic situation indicates major systemic problems; blaming corrupt individuals can’t account for such devastating numbers. The causes of this crisis boil down to incoherent and outmoded church attitudes and policies in the area of sexuality. The Vatican and most of its episcopal leaders worldwide are still trotting out teaching on the sexual dimension of living that is rejected by most of its members. The profusion of diocesan bankruptcies worldwide reflects the monetary consequences of thousands of sexual abuse cases perpetrated against young boys and girls by out-of-control clerics. Consider the main issues emerging from the worldwide synodal consultations still in progress initiated by Pope Francis involving priests and lay people c...

  The War in Ukraine       Gerry OShea   The two sides are so far apart in the war in Ukraine that there is no end in sight. President Zelensky has stated repeatedly that they will only achieve their goals when the Russian invaders have returned to their own country, and President Putin’s stated bottom line maintains categorically - and with a straight face - that Ukraine is just an extension of Russia without any justifiable claim to separate nationhood. Russia’s current assault revolves around the city of Bakhmut, which was close to falling to Moscow a month ago in a battle reminiscent of the trench fighting during the Great War a century ago, but the latest reports reflect the amazing resilience of the defending Ukrainian army and now the concession of the town to their enemies is far from inevitable.   There is no chance that victory by either side in Bakhmut will be determinative of overall victory in the war, but it is being watched cl...

The Rise and Fall of Rudolph Giuliani     Gerry OShea “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent only Vaulting ambition.” Act 1, Scene 7, Macbeth. During the 70’s and 80’s New York City was seen by many people as experiencing some form of a nervous breakdown. The statistics for neighborhood crime seemed to follow a cascading downward slide, especially in parts of Manhattan and the Bronx. Rudy Giuliani was the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1983 to 1989. He had a reputation for being very tough on crime, whether of the organized variety or just street robberies and muggings. His sterling reputation in this area won him the mayor’s job for two four-year terms ending in 2001. He can justifiably boast about his fine record in emphatically repulsing the crime surge in all five boroughs. The numbers show that it came down nearly 60% during his eight years - 1250 fewer New Yorkers were killed in 2001 than in 1993 and car thiev...