John McDonagh is a cab driver, comic, and political activist. John began his career as a New York City yellow cab driver after serving in the U.S. Army in Germany during the Vietnam War. He is also the producer, host and founder of Radio Free Eireann, a weekly radio show heard on WBAI New York for the past twenty years.
John has been writing and performing comedy for over twenty years. More information and videos can be found at http://www.myspace.com/mcdonaghhack
Monday, May 30, 2011
Boardwalk Empire comes to the Irish Rivera, Rockapoca in Queens
I was an extra in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire playing an Spanish American War Veteran. My days as a leading man are over - I am now the grisly old Veteran. I was too young to play a Civil War veteran and to old to play a DoughBoy soldier from World War 2. A little bit of Benjamen Button here.
I am a Spanish American War Veteran 1921 Atlantic City Boardwalk Empire
FT.Jackson South Carolina 1974
FT. Jackson South Carolina Company B 7th Bn 2nd BDE 1974 Queens New York 2011
Here stands before you Elizabeth Windsor, better known as Queen Elizabeth, ruler of Great Britain. The British Monarchy has had a long and ugly history with Ireland and her Irish-American descendants. As early as 1260, the British Monarchy has laid claim to Irish land. The Penal Laws enacted by England in 1695 and 1729 stripped the Irish of all their rights, dignity and heritage, by prohibiting Gaelic Irish from owning land, voting, serving in public office, practicing their religion, or getting an education. By 1845, absentee English landlords – given Irish land by the British monarchy – were demanding that the managers of their estates collect money from the farmers who were renting the land. When the potato blight spread through Ireland, English landowners continued to export grain, while watching the Irish people starve. The British Monarchy did nothing – did not control the exporting of grain, did not provide additional seed potatoes, did not provide food or assistance for those who were starving. Instead they created workhouses, destroyed families, allowed coffin ships – which left ports controlled by the monarchy without enough food to feed all the passengers for the entire voyage – to export thousands of sick, starving Irish people to other countries. The ancestors of hundreds of thousands of Irish Americans arrived in this country barely alive – with nothing more than the clothes on their back and the memories of loved ones left behind. The British monarchy used Irish people as cannon fodder for the British Army in World War 1 – and forced them to fight against their own countrymen who were fighting to free their country from British rule in 1916. Now, in this time of economic devastation, instead of offering reparation for the theft of land and the death or exile of millions, the British monarchy, in the person of Queen Elizabeth, has decided to “pay a visit” to Ireland. This state visit will cost the Irish people hundreds of thousands of euros – money that they don’t have to spend. While again thousands of Irish are forced to emigrate because they cannot support themselves in Ireland, the British monarchy expects the Irish people to pay for her security as she prances around Ireland, viewing the graves that she created. Here, in solidarity with the Irish citizens who have protested her visit – and used the opportunity to list her family’s centuries of crimes - we add our list of charges against the crown. 1. Theft of Property – taking Irish land from Irish people.
2. Labor Trafficking – creating a system of bonded servitude, where farmer/tenants paid huge rents and received little or no profit from their labor.
3. Criminally Negligent Homicide and Reckless Endangerment – exporting grain from Ireland while watching hundreds of thousands of people starve. Allowing coffin ships to leave port overcrowded, without adequate food supply, guaranteeing the death of Irish passengers.
4. Attempted genocide – attempting to destroy the Irish people’s language, religion, culture, education and means of sustenance.
IRISH AMERICANS PROTEST AGAINST THE STATE VISIT OF THE QUEEN
SHOW OF SOLIDARITY WITH IRISH PROTEST AGAINST THE STATE VISIT OF THE QUEEN
WHEN: May 17, 2011 1:00 p.m. WHERE: Great Hunger Memorial - 290 Vesey Street and North End Avenue, Battery Park City
Join WBAI’s Radio Free Eireann and Irish Americans as they meet to show solidarity with the Irish protesters against the Queen’s state visit to Ireland on May 17th at 1:00 p.m. For centuries, Britain has robbed Ireland of its natural resources for the enrichment of the crown. Between 1845 and 1852, the English monarchy allowed over one million Irish citizens to die by starvation. The Great Hunger Memorial is a stark reminder of the millions who had to choose between death by starvation or leaving their country and families forever. The British Monarchy has never acknowledged their role in the Great Starvation, nor have they offered reparation for taking crops, cattle and money out of Ireland, while a million people starved. They have never apologized for their attempts to eradicate the Irish language, culture and religion. Yet Queen Elizabeth has decided to take a trip to Ireland, and again, expects the Irish people to pay for her security. The Irish economy is destroyed. Emigration has again reached crisis proportion. It is the height of arrogance to assume that Irish people should pay millions of euros to ensure safe passage while she tours the country she and her family have done their best to destroy. Ireland’s exiled children in America will gather at the Great Hunger Memorial to help put the Queen’s state visit in proper perspective. Brief vignettes of famine stories will be read to provide historical context. Instead of bouquets of flowers, she will be presented with a list of her crimes against Irish humanity. A piper will lead her to be judged by a jury of starving and exiled Irish men and women. All over Ireland, protests are planned for Queen Elizabeth’s visit on May 17th. Irish Americans who wish to show solidarity should join Radio Free Eireann at the Great Hunger Memorial at 290 Vesey Street and North End Avenue in Battery Park City at 1:00 p.m.
Wear a badge when the Queen land's in her first colony Ireland on Tuesday.
SHOW OF SOLIDARITY WITH IRISH PROTEST AGAINST THE STATE VISIT OF THE QUEEN
WHEN: May 17, 2011 1:00 p.m. WHERE: Great Hunger Memorial - 290 Vesey Street and North End Avenue, Battery Park City
... Join WBAI’s Radio Free Eireann and Irish Americans as they meet to show solidarity with the Irish protesters against the Queen’s state visit to Ireland on May 17th at 1:00 p.m. For centuries, Britain has robbed Ireland of its natural resources for the enrichment of the crown. Between 1845 and 1852, the English monarchy allowed over one million Irish citizens to die by starvation. The Great Hunger Memorial is a stark reminder of the millions who had to choose between death by starvation or leaving their country and families forever. The British Monarchy has never acknowledged their role in the Great Starvation, nor have they offered reparation for taking crops, cattle and money out of Ireland, while a million people starved. They have never apologized for their attempts to eradicate the Irish language, culture and religion. Yet Queen Elizabeth has decided to take a trip to Ireland, and again, expects the Irish people to pay for her security. The Irish economy is destroyed. Emigration has again reached crisis proportion. It is the height of arrogance to assume that Irish people should pay millions of euros to ensure safe passage while she tours the country she and her family have done their best to destroy. Ireland’s exiled children in America will gather at the Great Hunger Memorial to help put the Queen’s state visit in proper perspective. Brief vignettes of famine stories will be read to provide historical context. Instead of bouquets of flowers, she will be presented with a list of her crimes against Irish humanity. A piper will lead her to be judged by a jury of starving and exiled Irish men and women. All over Ireland, protests are planned for Queen Elizabeth’s visit on May 17th. Irish Americans who wish to show solidarity should join Radio Free Eireann at the Great Hunger Memorial at 290 Vesey Street and North End Avenue in Battery Park City at 1:00 p.m.
Queen to be Arrested in New York City for crimes against Irish Humanity
Ireland’s exiled children in America will gather at the Great Hunger Memorial to help put the Queen’s state visit in proper perspective. Brief vignettes of famine stories will be read to provide historical context. Instead of bouquets of flowers, she will be presented with a list of her crimes against Irish humanity. A piper will lead her to be judged by a jury of starving and exiled Irish men and women. All over Ireland, protests are planned for Queen Elizabeth’s visit on May 17th. Irish Americans who wish to show solidarity should join Radio Free Eireann at the Great Hunger Memorial at 290 Vesey Street and North End Avenue in Battery Park City at 1:00 p.m.
SHOW OF SOLIDARITY WITH IRISH PROTEST AGAINST THE STATE VISIT OF THE QUEEN
WHEN: May 17, 2011 1:00 p.m. WHERE: Great Hunger Memorial - 290 Vesey Street and North End Avenue, Battery Park City
Join WBAI’s Radio Free Eireann and Irish Americans as they meet to show solidarity with the Irish protesters against the Queen’s state visit to Ireland on May 17th at 1:00 p.m. For centuries, Britain has robbed Ireland of its natural resources for the enrichment of the crown. Between 1845 and 1852, the English monarchy allowed over one million Irish citizens to die by starvation. The Great Hunger Memorial is a stark reminder of the millions who had to choose between death by starvation or leaving their country and families forever. The British Monarchy has never acknowledged their role in the Great Starvation, nor have they offered reparation for taking crops, cattle and money out of Ireland, while a million people starved. They have never apologized for their attempts to eradicate the Irish language, culture and religion. Yet Queen Elizabeth has decided to take a trip to Ireland, and again, expects the Irish people to pay for her security. The Irish economy is destroyed. Emigration has again reached crisis proportion. It is the height of arrogance to assume that Irish people should pay millions of euros to ensure safe passage while she tours the country she and her family have done their best to destroy. All over Ireland, protests are planned for Queen Elizabeth’s visit on May 17th. Irish Americans who wish to show solidarity should join Radio Free Eireann at the Great Hunger Memorial at 290 Vesey Street and North End Avenue in Battery Park City at 1:00 p.m.
