ish

I'm a few rocks up the Robert Fisk mountain. The first chapter is full of Fisk and Bin Laden chilling in the wilds of Afghanistan. Pre-9/11 Bin Laden comes off as a bit of crusty, surviving on yoghurt and couscous, reading the Koran and going for long walks in the desert with his machine gun. So learning yesterday that OBL spent most of the 90s lusting after Whitney Houston was a mental bit of news.

This is what we in journalism call "dense copy". I find the revelation that Bin Laden hates music hard to get my head around. I can see hating The Doors or alternative music, but all music? Then, he mentions wanting to have Bobby Brown "killed", which would inevitably spur a very violent tit-for-tat between Bobby Brown's crew. Bloody, yes, but certainly more resolution-driven than this 'War on Terrorism' business. (Although, there is an East Coast - West Coast dimension to the Clash of Civilzations) But just when I feel like I can't find a single human common ground with Osama, the article mentions his hatred of Whitney's braids. As someone constantly irked by the wardrobes of the RTE radio weather presenters, I feel his pain

As a non-native journalist working in this country, I find it interesting what others write about Ireland when they have two weeks to conjure it. It's not surprising that in Boston, where there are currently no Irish-Americans in city cabinet for the first time in a long time, there is a certain nostalgia for political caricatures like this. But it is baffling that Irish-Americans can still be so gullible and naive about their own kind.

This(subs req) was different. Hopeful. The author must be Scottish. English papers apparently aren't enamoured with the Catholic Church. It is interesting that outsiders still see Ireland as a place of difference.

The film "Far and Away" contains many insights into the Irish race. One being that Tom Cruise's character Joseph was the first heroic Irishman who could not grow facial hair, beating Samuel Beckett by a good 50 years.

(Edit---"Facial hair" being defined as a patch of hair growing from the face longer than 2 centimeters. Beckett was proud to flaunt his stubble. Cruise, though, I am convinced has willingly sacrificed all facial folicle ability to his alien overlords years ago)

Old School

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