Archives for March 2013

Last year I wrote about the history of Easter. Mostly how it came to get that name since there is no such word in the Bible. Long story short, the holiday got blended with the Pagan celebration of the goddess Ostara a/k/a Eastre. She was, still is I would guess, a fertility goddess so the whole rebirth / resurrection theme fit well with the pagans of the day. And, while odd at its face, the whole eggs, bunnies and resurrection theme has had it’s uses. As I also noted the tradition of handing out eggs replaced human sacrifice. So that was some good news for folks. And, since the traditions were already mangled, Eastern Europeans now celebrate Easter with some fun S&M. Because nothing says “Jesus died for your sins” like a day filled with a few rounds of spank and tickle with a smoking hot brunette. These are the same people who celebrate a child eating demi-god for Christmas, so it all makes sense to them.

Some folks wrote to me to let me know that I had missed the whole Ishtar connection. Since there isn’t one, no, I didn’t. I’ll let Megan Mcardle explain.

My unfavorite new Facebook meme is this bit of sillyness which has apparently been spotted everywhere from the feeds of my college friends to (allegedly) that of Richard Dawkins’ Foundation for Reason and Science:

I immediately knew that this was a bit of nonsense for the simple reason that Easter is an English word. The Greeks and Romans called it Pascha, which is why Easter is Pasqua in Italian, Pascua in Spanish, and Paques in French. How exactly did the name of a Canaanite fertility goddess skip all the way to England from the Middle East without stopping in Rome or Byzantium?

There was (is?) a goddess named Ishatr and she seems to, loosely, be the basis for the goddess Ostara mentioned above but that’s about it. You’re covering about 2,500 years to get from point A to point B just in the names. As to the whole litany of other things allegedly associated with her, they are just wrong. She was noted for killing her lovers, making the animals she had sex with impotent and pissing off Gilgamesh.

That’s not exactly how the story of Jesus’ rebirth goes. Trust me, I’ve read it.

Just because words are homonyms doesn’t mean they mean the same thing. Otherwise anti, ante and auntie would make for interesting families.

“Hi, this is my uncle and antimatter.”

Your great antediluvian.

I digress.

One thing that amazes me is the fact that people seem surprised that Christian holidays have pagan associations. Christianity, for all its many faults, is the most inclusive religion in the world. Initially that inclusion was simply practical. They couldn’t just conquer everyone so they needed to meet them half way if they were going to increase the size of the flock.

And, yes, it is true that Christianity has been the source of some horrid atrocities as well. Just ask a Gnostic if you can find one. People will angrily point that fact out every Christian holiday too.

Face it, Christianity is a roiling dichotomy. It has been since Saul who became Paul donned his sandals on the road to Damascus. That isn’t going to change any time soon.

In the end I look at it this way; there are enough true things associated with religions that I don’t need to make any up. And if you think eggs and bunnies are weird, you just haven’t been to a good penis festival yet.

“Legend Of The Golden Egg Warrior” from CRUSH on Vimeo.

Listen to Bill McCormick on WBIG (FOX! Sports) every Friday around 9:10 AM.
Visit us on Rebel Mouse for even more fun!
contact Bill McCormick

It’s Lenten season and devout Christians surrender pleasures to remind them of their religion’s humble origins. Devout Christians and Jews recently celebrated Passover, the holiday that celebrates (if that’s the right word) the fact that God “passed over” the homes of the faithful during the legendary 10 plagues of Egypt. So the faithful lived. Then they escaped from Egypt. Then they lived in the desert for 40 years and needed food to fall from heaven so they wouldn’t die. That part doesn’t sound like fun. Deserts just aren’t that interesting. Lots of sand, a couple of crazy Bedouins and more sand. The thing is that most people do when they read Exodus’ account of the plagues and so on is assume they’re allegories. There’s a lot of good reasons for that. They sound like they were conceived by some really stoned desert dwellers. Then again 40 years in the desert might melt a few brain cells. Back on February 11, 2011, I wrote about a modern version of the plagues. Back then I noted I still wasn’t circumcised.

For the record, I’m still not.

In Exodus there were 10 plagues rendered by God upon the peoples of the earth. Well, to be more specific, plagues 1, 2 & 3 were for everyone. Plagues 4, 5, 6, 7 & 9 were for everyone but the Children of Israel (hmm, now might be a good time to get circumcised) and the 10th plague would kill the first born child of every family except for those who marked their door with lamb’s blood. The 8th plague, locusts, is kind of unclear on who was meant to be its target. For our purposes here today let’s just assume that the 8th plague is for everyone and deal with the theology later.

In Exodus 7:14-25, the first plague is enumerated; BLOOD. More specifically, blood that fouls waters and kills all the fish and causes birds to drop from the sky. Well, I’m pretty sure we can check that one off as millions of fish and thousands of birds have been dying, en mass, the world over.

In other words we have proof that some of the biblical weirdness can happen. It has happened in our times.

But what about the 10 plagues? Could they have happened?

Richard Gray, who writes for Telegraph UK, says they not only could, they did.

Researchers believe they have found evidence of real natural disasters on which the ten plagues of Egypt, which led to Moses freeing the Israelites from slavery in the Book of Exodus in the Bible, were based.

But rather than explaining them as the wrathful act of a vengeful God, the scientists claim the plagues can be attributed to a chain of natural phenomena triggered by changes in the climate and environmental disasters that happened hundreds of miles away.

They have compiled compelling evidence that offers new explanations for the Biblical plagues, which will be outlined in a new series to be broadcast on the National Geographical Channel on Easter Sunday.

Archaeologists now widely believe the plagues occurred at an ancient city of Pi-Rameses on the Nile Delta, which was the capital of Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh Rameses the Second, who ruled between 1279BC and 1213BC.

The city appears to have been abandoned around 3,000 years ago and scientists claim the plagues could offer an explanation.

Climatologists studying the ancient climate at the time have discovered a dramatic shift in the climate in the area occurred towards the end of Rameses the Second’s reign.

By studying stalagmites in Egyptian caves they have been able to rebuild a record of the weather patterns using traces of radioactive elements contained within the rock.

They found that Rameses reign coincided with a warm, wet climate, but then the climate switched to a dry period.

Professor Augusto Magini, a paleoclimatologist at Heidelberg University’s institute for environmental physics, said: “Pharaoh Rameses II reigned during a very favourable climatic period.

“There was plenty of rain and his country flourished. However, this wet period only lasted a few decades. After Rameses’ reign, the climate curve goes sharply downwards.

“There is a dry period which would certainly have had serious consequences.”

The scientists believe this switch in the climate was the trigger for the first of the plagues.

The rising temperatures could have caused the river Nile to dry up, turning the fast flowing river that was Egypt’s lifeline into a slow moving and muddy watercourse.

These conditions would have been perfect for the arrival of the first plague, which in the Bible is described as the Nile turning to blood.

Dr Stephan Pflugmacher, a biologist at the Leibniz Institute for Water Ecology and Inland Fisheries in Berlin, believes this description could have been the result of a toxic fresh water algae.

He said the bacterium, known as Burgundy Blood algae or Oscillatoria rubescens, is known to have existed 3,000 years ago and still causes similar effects today.

He said: “It multiplies massively in slow-moving warm waters with high levels of nutrition. And as it dies, it stains the water red.”

The scientists also claim the arrival of this algae set in motion the events that led to the second, third and forth plagues – frogs, lice and flies.

Frogs development from tadpoles into fully formed adults is governed by hormones that can speed up their development in times of stress.

The arrival of the toxic algae would have triggered such a transformation and forced the frogs to leave the water where they lived.

But as the frogs died, it would have meant that mosquitoes, flies and other insects would have flourished without the predators to keep their numbers under control.

This, according to the scientists, could have led in turn to the fifth and sixth plagues – diseased livestock and boils
Professor Werner Kloas, a biologist at the Leibniz Institute, said: “We know insects often carry diseases like malaria, so the next step in the chain reaction is the outbreak of epidemics, causing the human population to fall ill.”

Another major natural disaster more than 400 miles away is now also thought to be responsible for triggering the seventh, eighth and ninth plagues that bring hail, locusts and darkness to Egypt.

One of the biggest volcanic eruptions in human history occurred when Thera, a volcano that was part of the Mediterranean islands of Santorini, just north of Crete, exploded around 3,500 year ago, spewing billions of tons of volcanic ash into the atmosphere.

Nadine von Blohm, from the Institute for Atmospheric Physics in Germany, has been conducting experiments on how hailstorms form and believes that the volcanic ash could have clashed with thunderstorms above Egypt to produce dramatic hail storms.

Dr Siro Trevisanato, a Canadian biologist who has written a book about the plagues, said the locusts could also be explained by the volcanic fall out from the ash.

He said: “The ash fall out caused weather anomalies, which translates into higher precipitations, higher humidity. And that’s exactly what fosters the presence of the locusts.”

The volcanic ash could also have blocked out the sunlight causing the stories of a plague of darkness.

Scientists have found pumice, stone made from cooled volcanic lava, during excavations of Egyptian ruins despite there not being any volcanoes in Egypt.

Analysis of the rock shows that it came from the Santorini volcano, providing physical evidence that the ash fallout from the eruption at Santorini reached Egyptian shores.

The cause of the final plague, the death of the first borns of Egypt, has been suggested as being caused by a fungus that may have poisoned the grain supplies, of which male first born would have had first pickings and so been first to fall victim.

But Dr Robert Miller, associate professor of the Old Testament, from the Catholic University of America, said: “I’m reluctant to come up with natural causes for all of the plagues.

The problem with the naturalistic explanations, is that they lose the whole point.

“And the whole point was that you didn’t come out of Egypt by natural causes, you came out by the hand of God.”

Dr. Robert Miller misses the beauty of the concept of God. It’s not that He creates crap out of nothing, it’s that He can alter what exists to do what He wants. Aside from the whole create the firmament thing, every miracle in the Bible can be recreated. Does that mean they are proof that God doesn’t exist?

Oh wait, science has figured out how nothing becomes something.

Guess what, it could simply reaffirms what I just said. That is what faith means. It doesn’t mean hating anyone or fearing anyone or hiding from anyone. It just means that you can live with the idea that you’re not the most developed being in the universe.

God knows I’m not.

NEW GOD FLOW (Unofficial Fan Made Video) NSFW from nachojohnny on Vimeo.

Follow us on Twitter!
Tweet

Visit us on Rebel Mouse

Pop quiz, if you’ll pardon the expression. What do Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont & Virginia have in common? You can marry your first cousin in every one of them. Well, as long as your first cousin is a member of the opposite sex anyway. But all is not lost. If you’re in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont or Washington D.C., then you’re one of the lucky few who can marry your gay first cousin. In fact, if you’re in Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, New Mexico & Vermont you can even have sex with the horse you rode to church after you marry your cousin. Which means that in Connecticut you can marry your gay first cousin while having sex with a horse and be completely within the law.

Plan your vacation now.

But, before you rush out the door you need to be aware that one state listed above puts a serious limit on your fun. You see, for all the debauchery that’s allowed, Alabama won’t you let you brew your own beer.

Yeah, that was what they spent their citizens’ tax dollars on this week.

If you’re in a state where cousins can legally marry each other, but home brewers are forbidden to practice their craft, you must be in Alabama.

Indeed, Alabama now stands out as the only state where home brewing is illegal. Mississippi voted this week to legalize the hobby lager lovers and hopheads in America have enjoyed, even before George Washington and Sam Adams boiled up their first brews.

Alabamans don’t just get slapped with a ticket if they start mixing up a batch. It’s a felony.

But to a feisty band of Yellowhammer State tipplers, it’s ridiculous for the government to meddle with their malt. They won’t be satisfied until Alabama has the same rights enjoyed everywhere else in the country.

“This is not about alcohol. This is about civil liberties,” said Kraig Torres, owner of Hop City Craft Beer and Wine in Birmingham. “If I went around in Alabama and said, ‘you can’t have a gun in your house,’ I’m pretty sure people would be upset.”

Residents who want to buy shotguns, rifles or handguns don’t need permits, licenses or registrations. However, it’s unclear how regulations apply to gunsmiths who forge firearms in their residences.

Torres lives in Georgia and operates his flagship store there. While he’d like to sell beer-making ingredients and cookbooks in his Birmingham venture, he has gotten into trouble with the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.

In September, before he opened Hop City, state agents inspected the store. Torres said they confiscated $7,000 worth of beer-making kits and cookbooks on a follow-up visit. A lawyer for the beverage control board told HuffPost that Torres removed them from the store after he was told they were contraband.

Alabama maintains a fervent temperance movement. It’s been 80 years since Prohibition’s demise, but there are 25 dry counties in the so-called “Heart of Dixie.” Some teetotalers there wish the libations had never started flowing again.

“We’re talking about a mind-altering, addictive drug,” said Joe Godfrey, a pastor and executive director of ALCAP, a group that opposes loosening any restrictions on alcohol. “This isn’t barbecue. People are killed on the highways. You hear all the time about people being killed under the influence of alcohol. You never hear about people getting killed by barbecue.”

Torres’ experience was a rare instance of the state enforcing the home-brewing ban, according to interviews with home brewers and an Alcoholic Beverage Control Board lawyer. Just this month, however, a prosecutor in Mobile County was disciplined for flouting the home brew restrictions, Al.com reported.

Home-brewing advocates said the felony status scares away some and forces others into the shadows even though the chance of punishment looks slim.

“Home brewers would like to be able to practice their hobby in the open. They have to be fairly secretive,” said American Homebrewers Association Director Gary Glass. “It just doesn’t make sense that it would be prohibited. Many of the Founding Fathers were home brewers including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.”

Bills to legalize home brewing sit in both houses of the Alabama legislature awaiting a vote. It’s the third straight year legislators have proposed changes to the home brew law.

Partisan squabbling on unrelated issues may derail it again, according to observers and local media reports.

“We hope it passes so we can move onto more important business,” said Bob Martin, an ABC board lawyer. “We really don’t care. It’s a hobby. It’s not our real concern unless we found out someone was making it and selling it illegally. Generally, we’re not going to go into their homes.”

If passed, the bills would allow Alabamians to whip up limited quantities of intoxicating drinks like beer and wine. Liquor would remain off-limits. It would also pave the way for tasting events and competitions, advocates told HuffPost.

Home brewing was for outlaws and scofflaws throughout the country as a result of Prohibition until then-President Jimmy Carter signed a federal law decriminalizing the pastime in 1978.

Hobbyists cheered Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant for ending the state’s ban this week.

“I’m going to have a pint with friends at our local bar in town and then open a bottle of home brew at home” to celebrate, said Craig Hendry, president of Raise Your Pints, a group that hired lobbyists to overturn the ban.

“We want to be talked about in a positive light, not as another state that was the last to do something.”

I should note that incestuous marriages are also legal in Alabama. That’s right, you can marry your sister or brother as long as you’re sober.

Obviously this is a state where common sense went to die. But, if you’re still intent on taking the family down there so ya’ll can marry each other, here are a few other laws you’ll need to be aware of.

• Bear wrestling matches are prohibited.
• Boogers may not be flicked into the wind.
• Dominoes may not be played on Sunday.
• It is considered an offense to open an umbrella on a street, for fear of spooking horses.
• It is illegal for a driver to be blindfolded while operating a vehicle.
• It is illegal to impersonate a person of the clergy.
• It is illegal to maim oneself to escape duty.
• It is illegal to wear a fake mustache that causes laughter in church.
• It is legal to drive the wrong way down a one-way street if you have a lantern attached to the front of your automobile.
• Masks may not be worn in public.
• Putting salt on a railroad track may be punishable by death.
• Women are able to retain all property they owned prior to marriage in the case of divorce. However, this provision does not apply to men.
• You may not have an ice cream cone in your back pocket at any time.
• You must have windshield wipers on your car.

What scares me is the fact that each of these laws were enacted in response to the actions of their citizens. There was a blindfolded dude driving a car with no wipers while flicking boogers on his way to watch a bear wrestling match (the ursine kind, not the hairy gay guy kind, they have standards you know) with an ice cream cone in his back pocket.

Yep, welcome to sweet home Alabama.

Listen to Bill McCormick on WBIG (FOX! Sports) every Friday around 9:10 AM.
Visit us on Rebel Mouse for even more fun!
contact Bill McCormick

Life is full of lessons. And lessons learned by one generation do not necessarily benefit the next. Children of my era were tossed from our homes and told to go play. Nowadays a parent would have to be insane to do that. The risk of a child being killed is simply too great. When I was young I was told how to treat a lady. My grandmother would flail me if I failed to follow those rules. Above and beyond showing respect I was taught to open doors and help her sit at a restaurant. I recently did that for a nice lady I’d met and she politely mentioned that she wasn’t crippled. So we live, we learn and things change. Still and all there are some things that don’t change. Or so we tend to believe.

Sadly a school in Maryland has joined a growing, and disturbing, list of schools that seems hell bent on turning kids into soulless automatons. They have banned hugging. And homemade cookies.

From the same state that suspended a 7-year-old for turning his Pop Tart into a Pop Tart shaped like a gun, comes a ban on hugging.

Southern Maryland Newspapers Online reports on the new guidelines for visitors, parents and students for St. Mary’s County public elementary schools:

Birthday invitations should not be handed out at school, Hall said, because students who are not invited could have their feelings hurt. She said school PTAs could develop phone and email contact lists, with parents’ approval, to distribute.
Foods for celebrations should be limited to store-bought items that contain ingredient lists so as not to interfere with children’s food allergies, according to the rules.

Parents visiting the cafeteria should not hug or touch children other than their own, nor should they discipline other children, the guidelines say. Parents should also not walk with their child when he or she leaves the cafeteria.

Other changes include limiting recess visits for parents, prohibiting visits from siblings and a new ban on approaching teachers in person to schedule meetings. Visitors must also now check in with the front desk and have their photo taken. The complete list of rules can be read in the Best Practices on School Visitors document.

The rules were chosen by a panel of parents and teachers over four meetings.

To the best of our knowledge, the school has no current plans to ban Flamin’ Hot Cheetos or award-winning books.

This isn’t the first school hugging ban. Schools in Oregon and Florida banned two people wrapping their arms around each other in 2010. For a variety of reasons, the act of expressing emotion with physical contact was also banned in schools in New Jersey, Brooklyn and New Zealand in 2012.

I may be childless but I’m not clueless. When I have made foods for my nephews and nieces to take to school I always include a list of ingredients. In fact, to make it a fun project, I have the kids write the lists. Considering that several commercial brands have been shown to contain ingredients that are not listed or are in radically different amounts than listed, I’m not sure what benefit this rule has.

And the no hugging thing is stupid. Do they really want to reinforce the idea that all adults are possible pedophiles?

The more kids are forced to do things alone and without contact the more likely they are to grow up to be like Tyree Carter; library lover and public masturbator.

Here’s the real reason your pages were stuck together.

Tyree S. Carter, 20, was allegedly caught openly masturbating in the Racine Public Library in Racine, Wisc. Wednesday morning.

The employee who spotted Carter says he was “standing in the open, not trying to conceal the act,” according to a criminal complaint obtained by The Journal Times.

Police say Carter ultimately admitted to the act, saying it was the first time he had done it in public.

Carter’s bond was set at $1,000, and on Thursday, he bonded out of jail on the condition that he “stay out of all the libraries on the face of the earth,” court records state.

Brian Mackus, a former page at the Edison Public Library in Edison, N.J, says he’s not terribly surprised that someone was masturbating in a library.

“It’s not uncommon for people to use public terminals for adult material,” he told HuffPost Weird News. “Some of our terminals in the children’s secton had outside Internet functionality turned off to prevent this very thing.”

Nevertheless, Mackus, 28, did not recall any specific incidents of someone masturbating at the Edison library.

“The worst I had to deal with was taking body books away from giggling middle schoolers trying to make sense of a poorly drawn vagina,” he said.

Kids giggling at naughty bits is a timeless tradition. I did it, you did it, all God’s chillens did it. That is a long leap from whipping it out in public and grooming the one eyed wonder weasel.

Of course, to one family, masturbation is the only way to go. And, in their case, I find that I heartily agree. You see they’re actively trying to reduce the number of stupid people and they’re doing it by leading by example. They have stopped breeding.

Most of the doomsday hoopla disapppeared after the overhyped Mayan prophecy date of December 21, 2012 came and went, but there are still people making life-changing decisions about the supposed impending end of the world.

Take Brad and Krystal, a couple with three children from Tulsa, Okla. Fearing that a catastrophic economic collapse and the end times are right around the corner, they decided it’s just not a good time to have any more children.

“We would not want for her to be pregnant and in a bunker,” Brad said

The couple, who wouldn’t let their last name be used, are featured on the March 19 season finale of the National Geographic series “Doomsday Preppers.”

Besides holding off on more kids, they’ve prepared for their doomsday fantasies by taking family vacations to bunkers, instead of traditional choices like the beach.

Krystal says the decision to cap their brood wasn’t approached lightly.

“It’s been a long hard decision to not pursue [a family],” she said. “But we look at the fact that if we have to go into the bunker, I’ve had my first son C-sectioned, so my next one would have to have a C-section at that point.”

It’s a painful, but pragmatic decision, according to Brad.

“Without the medical attention that she would need in the bunker, she would probably not make it,” he said.

Now that’s a style of family planning we should all endorse. If you’re dumb enough to believe in the apocalypse or fairies or anything like that you should immediately remove yourself from the gene pool.

Also, while you’re at it, don’t vote either.

Thanks.

Crystal Castles – Insulin (NSFW Music Video) from David Dean Burkhart on Vimeo.

Listen to Bill McCormick on WBIG (FOX! Sports) every Friday around 9:10 AM.
Visit us on Rebel Mouse for even more fun!
contact Bill McCormick

Back on March 17, 2011 I posted an often overlooked aspect of St. Patrick’s day. For example, every red headed Latin person you meet is part Irish. There is no exception to that rule. Why that is so is the subject I wrote about then. I mentioned this yesterday to a red headed Latina and she called shenanigans. Well, actually she said a wide variety of disparaging things about my possible heritage and diminished intellect, none of which are acceptable for sharing in public. So, for Rosa, I am re-posting the original story.

******************

The little, poorly made, nameplate on my desk says World News Center. Since that is so, I feel it is my duty to look beyond the musty confines of my locale and imbue you with knowledge of the greater world around you. I can already hear some of you saying, “Hey Doofus! It’s St. Patrick’s day. We already get that. Wear green, drink beer! What else do you need to know?” Well, ye of little knowledge, you’d be surprised. St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland, for example, bears no resemblance to the Bacchanal celebrated in America. It’s a somber, religious, holiday where people pray for enemies to no longer taint their shores and for blessings to be laid upon their homes and families. To be polite, it’s not exactly a wild party.

More importantly to our blog here today, it’s a Catholic holiday. I point this out not to exclude any other religions but to explain something that happened around 150 years ago that is very important to a lot of people.

The Irish in America at that time were trying to fit in. Many joined the military. There they were subjected to abuse, both verbal and physical, by the Protestant leaders who ran things. Even so, they fought and died for their new country. They fought insurrectionists, they fought Indians, they fought anyone they were told to fight until 1848. That was when they were told to fight Mexicans. More specifically, Catholic Mexicans.

Combined with the abuse and torment heaped upon them by Protestant officers, that was too much for them to bear. The Irish, en masse, defected to the Mexican army. While almost none of the soldiers spoke Spanish, that didn’t matter. Since they were Catholic, and had their priests with them, the priests spoke Latin. Just like the Mexican priests did. Just like all priests did back then. All negotiations for land, intermarriages and service in the Mexican army were handled by the priests.

The Irish knew they would be facing a far superior force in the American army and that their future looked to be short. They did it anyway. What happened next is why there’s a Día de San Patricio in Mexico and other Latin countries to this day. Viva San Carlos has the rest of the story.

Dubious about why they were fighting a Catholic country and fed up with mistreatment by their Anglo-Protestant officers, hundreds of Irish, German and other immigrants deserted Taylor’s army and joined forces with Mexico.

Led by Capt. John Riley of Co. Galway, they called themselves the St. Patrick’s Battalion (in Spanish, the San Patricios) and fought against their former comrades in all the major campaigns of the war.

The history of the San Patricios is a woeful tale of angry, bewildered, naive, or calculating young men, from varied backgrounds, who deserted for a myriad of reasons and paid a fearful price.

The San Patricios, in the words of one Mexican general, “deserved the highest praise, because they fought with daring bravery.” But eventually, Mexico surrendered, ceding almost half its territory to the United States.

Each San Patricio who deserted from the US side was interned after the war in Mexico and subsequently given an individual court-martial trial. Many of the Irish were set free, but some paid the ultimate price. Roughly half of the San Patricio defectors who were executed by the US for desertion were Irish.

There are ceremonies there twice a year, on September 12 which is the anniversary of the executions, and on Saint Patrick’s Day.

It also clarifies the reasons for the war, and the active participation of immigrant people (most notably Irish but also Scots and Germans) who joined the Mexican side and paid for that decision with their lives.

Heroes
The Saint Patrick’s Battalion in the US-Mexican War, has placed the Irish as a revered race in Mexico; even to this day, an Irish person in Mexico will be told a countless number of times about the famous ‘Irish Martyrs’ who defected from the US Army and gave their lives trying to save Mexico from US aggression from 1846-1848.

A main reason for their hero status in Mexico is derived from their exemplary performance in the battlefield. The San Patricios ultimately suffered severe casualties at the famous battle at Churubusco, which is considered the Waterloo for the Mexican Army in this war. Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who also commanded the armed forces, stated afterwards that if he had commanded a few hundred more men like the San Patricios, Mexico would have won that ill-famed battle.

The importance of these Irish renegades has not waned in Mexico over the years. In 1959, the Mexican government dedicated a commemorative plaque to the San Patricios across from San Jacinto Plaza in the Mexico City suburb of San Angel; it lists the names of all members of the battalion who lost their lives fighting for Mexico, either in battle or by execution.

A major celebration was held there in 1983, when the Mexican government authorized a special commemorative medallion honouring the San Patricios. First there was a special mass at a nearby parish, then school children placed floral wreaths at the plaque; the Mexico City Symphony played the national anthems of both Mexico and Ireland; Mexican officials eulogized the Irish Martyrs, and a few words were spoken by Irish Ambassador Tadgh O’Sullivan.

Beginning in 1993, the Irish began their own annual ceremony in Clifden, Co. Galway, John Riley’s hometown.

While the brave soldiers of Saint Patrick’s Battalion are not particularly well-known outside Mexico, it is clear that their god-like status in Mexico is enough to compensate for the attention they failed to receive in other countries. There is still a fond memory of “Los Colorados” the red-headed Irishmen who gave their lives in the struggle for Mexican sovereignty.

There are Irish names in prominent places – if you can recognize them. There’s “O’Brien City,” for instance, better known as Ciudad Obregon in the northern state of Sonora. Alvaro Obregon (1880-1928) was a famous and admired Mexican soldier and statesman.

Today few towns in Mexico are without a street by the name. O’Brien became the Spanish “Obregon,” just like O’Dunn and McMurphy are changed to American-English “Dunn” and “Murphy.” Sainte mait cuzat! (Irish for “Good health to you.”)

The story of the San Patricios has already been given the film treatment by Mark Day of California and it was shown on RTE earlier this year.

However it has also attracted the attention of Bill McDonald, producer of Silver, and he has shot a new version in Durango in Mexico, with Tom Berenger in the lead role as Sergeant Riley from Clifden!

More extraordinary again is that Prince Albert de Monaco, son of Princess Grace, appears as a member of the San Patricios’ famed artillery crew, “James Kelly”. Actor Mark Thomas, close friend of Prince Albert’s, had a role and involved the prince in the production since he was interested in the San Patricio story and in trying his hand at acting.

“One Man’s Hero” a film of the San Patricio Battalion (a Paramount Release) can now be rented at Blockbuster. It white washes the injustices of the US army against the Mexican civilian population and the burning of churches but at least acknowledges the event in history.

Finally Hollywood tackles the US-Mexican War with dignity.

Many of the Irish who did survive stayed in Mexico, raising families, building churches and becoming a part of the everyday fabric of Mexican life. Other Irish refugees settled in Puerto Rico. Again the priests handled all negotiations and, to this day, there is a San Patricio mall in Guaynabo.

It is also why there are many red headed Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in the world today.

As you can tell from the video below, the Irish have had a profound influence on the world’s gene pool. So, before you go out and dye the city green, take a moment to reflect on the meaning of the day and the many people who died so that you might celebrate it.

DJ Papito Red – Shake It – (Fast and the Furious 4 Internet Promo)

Listen to Bill McCormick on WBIG (FOX! Sports) every Friday around 9:10 AM.
Visit us on Rebel Mouse for even more fun!
contact Bill McCormick