Cullen & Murphy’s Bulger Book A Winner –I have ordered it,  so I haven’t read it yet, but the true crime story of Whitey Bulger as written by the Globe’s Kevin Cullen and Shelley Murphy is no doubt the real thing. It has it all, say the early reviews. Cullen and Murphy have decades of experience in covering Whitey and the Boston underworld and as journalists and urban historians they have written what will likely be the definitive account of the Bulger era, warts and all.

Jimmy Breslin, Pulitzer Prize winner and columnist, calls it “Easily the best story about crime I’ve read.” Michael Connelly, the biggest-selling fiction crime writer in America, describes the Cullen-Murphy book as “The definitive story...a masterwork of reporting. A good friend and longtime university professor and book reviewer says it is “Absolutely riveting, disturbing, troubling, and wonderfully written.”

 There have been a succession of books about Whitey and Southie and the myths about the longtime crime boss and accused murderer, but if the early line from reviewers is even close to accurate none have come as close to the bone as the Cullen-Murphy writing team.

 Eire Society Honors Sister Lena Deevy – After 24 years as executive director of the organization she founded, Boston’s Irish International Immigrant Center, Sister Lena Deevy is stepping down, effective April 1. (See story on Page One). Her energetic and committed stewardship of the IIIC has been recognized by Ireland and America with national honors from both countries, and now it is time to honor the immigrants’ friend here at home. Sister Lena will be feted at the Eire Society’s annual Gold Medal dinner on Thurs., April 25, at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. Previous honorees have included President Kennedy, George Mitchell, Cardinal Cushing, Siobhan McKenna, Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, The Chieftains, John Hume, and Seamus Heaney. Reception at 6 p.m., dinner at 7. For information or ticket reservations, contact Barbara Fitzgerald at 617-698-8758.

Senator Warren Comes Out Swinging – In an earlier meeting with the media following her election, Elizabeth Warren was low key, showing little of the dynamism and sure-fire resolve she displayed on the campaign trail. That was then. This is now!  Her inaugural appearance as a member of the Senate Banking Committee saw the tenacious Warren at her patented best as friend of the consumer and dogged pursuer of a table full of senior banking regulators.

 Her question at the hearing for Elisse Walter, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, cut to the core of the appalling lack of US government indictments of Wall Street money managers, when she asked Walter, “Can you identify the last time you took the Wall Street banks to trial?” The reply from the SEC chair to Warren was telling, “‘I’ll have to get back to you with the specific information.”

Watching the edgy exchanges between the regulators and the Bay State’s senior member of the Senate, reminded this viewer of something out of a “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington-type film, where constituents, yes voters, actually have a voice and are heard.
Ryanair Pursuit Of Aer Lingus Stalls –  The decision of the European Commission to deny Michael O’Leary’s Ryanair bid for Aer Lingus likely hinged on the anti-competitive aspects of Ryanair’s proposal. But not to be ignored when analyzing the EU decision is the unwavering opposition of the Irish government, which retains a partial stock position, a 25 percent stake, in Aer Lingus.
O’Leary has long coveted Aer Lingus, long known as Ireland’s National Airline, because O’Leary believes that his short-haul carrier (famous for low fares and novel if bizarre marketing) would give Ryanair a big boost into long-distance flights and a good piece of the North American air traffic.

Ryanair continues to be a profit-maker but in recent times has implemented or at least tried to exact fees for everything from in-flight toilet use to draconian baggage and booking charges. In this observer’s opinion, Aer Lingus can find a far more compatible partner than Michael O’Leary and Ryanair.

Seamus Heaney, The Poet As Realist – All the polling from a variety of sources strongly suggests that a united Ireland, as Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein have been promoting via a referendum, is not on. Even in Catholic/nationalist areas there is solid support for the present status quo.

Change is often traumatic and with the border between the six counties and the twenty-six more a mindset than a reality, there seems to the average nationalist punter (and certainly his unionist neighbor) no cause for undue haste.

And that’s what Seamus Heaney, Ireland’s Nobel Laureate and poet of the ages, also believes. In a recent interview in The Times, Heaney suggests that these are “very dangerous times indeed.” He strongly suggests that there still remains much work to be done to bring the divided communities closer together.  Heaney cites the damage the flag protests have done to both unionists and nationalists to the point that the unity issue may best be left for another day. He also believes that the North’s reputation has been harmed by street riots. “Now is not the time,” Heaney believes.

JFK memorabilia auction stirs memories –Dave Powers, special assistant to President John F. Kennedy, who in his lifetime traveled from Charlestown in 1946 to Dallas in 1963 with Kennedy, died in 1998. His family, in preparing to sell the Powers’s home in Arlington, came upon a political treasure trove from Dave’s 17 years with JFK. The large collection of photos, artifacts, and personal Kennedy-era objects went to auction last month and brought in nearly $2 million.

The news of the auction and photographs of the leather bomber jacket with the presidential seal that JFK gave to Powers brought back warm memories of visiting with Dave at his office at the JFK Library & Museum. During the decade of the ‘80s, I was the editor of the Irish Echo in Boston and I would stop by the library to visit with Dave from time to time. He would reminisce from behind his desk in a smallish room that seemed more cramped museum than curator’s office. It was a continuing history lesson that I devoured.

Many times Dave would be wearing the old bomber jacket, once noting that it was his favorite item from “President Kennedy.”  The auction price in mid-January for that bomber jacket was over half a million dollars.

We talked about many things but as a history buff, I was more the listener to the unique travels and adventure of this former townie who was at President Kennedy’s side until Dallas, and then spent 15 additional years organizing the president’s archives and personal possessions at a government facility in Waltham until the presidential library opened at Columbia Point in Dorchester in October 1979. 

On many occasions Dave recalled JFK’s June 1963 visit to Ireland and how happy the president was on the trip. He repeated JFK’s words that he would have loved being a candidate in Ireland and also about returning there after his years as president.
Not on every visit but on very special occasions, Dave would ask me to pull down a bottle of Irish whiskey from a standing cabinet behind where I sat and we would share a quiet toast together. I’m not sure what the rules were then about drinking in government offices but I am sure that the statute of limitations is long past.

John Kerry’s Ancestors Aided Famine Relief –The newly appointed US Secretary of State is not Irish but John Forbes Kerry’s ties to Ireland are strong as a direct descendant on his mother’s side of Captain Robert Forbes and his brother John Murray Forbes. During the heartbreaking 1840s in Ireland as millions were dying from starvation or emigrating, John Kerry’s ancestors defied a ban on the use of US government funds for famine relief and sent tons of  food by ship to Ireland.

These and other fascinating details of John Kerry’s ancestors and the seminal role in famine relief played by the Forbes brothers are the product of research by a popular Boston personality, Dr. Francis Costello, a historian, author, and economic consultant. Costello, who is based in Belfast, is writing a book on the global impact of the Great Famine and is the author of several books relating to Irish history.

He has unearthed the details on the Forbes brothers’ outfitting and staffing of a number ships out of Boston loaded with critically needed food for the starving Irish. During the severest days of the famine the Forbes brothers sent food and other essentials directly to Irish ports with a value in today’s value that would be $30 million. The two Forbes-sponsored ships that carried the food to Ireland, according to Costello, were the Jamestown and the Macedonian.

Unionist-Sinn Fein Election Comes with A Subplot – There will be a unique contest in mid-Ulster on March 7: the election of a new member of the British Parliament to replace Martin McGuinness, who is stepping down to concentrate on his Belfast leadership duties. What is different and unusual about this particular contest is that it pits two men against each other who share a terrible moment from the Troubles. Nigel Lutton, a unionist, is facing the Sinn Fein candidate, Francie Molloy, in the Westminster by-election.

The two men know each other, they have a history. Lutton’s father, Frederick ,was shot dead by an IRA gunman in 1979 in Moy, County Tyrone. His opponent this month, Molloy, a veteran republican, was once accused in the murder of the elder Lutton. However, Molloy has always strongly denied involvement in the Lutton attack. Other political factors, logistics, and voter numbers, will decide the by-election, while the truth of what happened 30 years ago remains undetermined but, as always, poisonous.

Moloney and McIntyre To  Move Forward on BC Case – In a statement on Feb., 12, Edward Moloney and Anthony said, “We will continue to press ahead with our petition [separate from the BC appeal] to the US Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari, and we will keep a watchful eye on developments in the Boston College appeal as they unfold.”

At issue is material about the Troubles era in a BC archive of interviews that the police in Northern Ireland have demanded by subpoena, a move that the US Justice Department so far has acceded to, pending resolution in the courts.

The two men, organizers and interviewers of the oral history of participants in the Troubles, are contending that “ they are entitled to be heard on these matters which involve the First Amendment rights of academics and journalists in the confidentiality of sources and materials in opposition to subpoenas issued on behalf of foreign law enforcement agencies.”

The government has admitted, the Moloney-McIntyre statement says, that Boston College’s appeal “continues to present a live controversy in spite of the death of Dolours Price [a controversial figure from the Troubles time], whose public remarks...were the excuse by foreign law enforcement agencies to raid a confidential academic archive housed at Boston College...” Stay tuned.

Brown Goes For the Gold as GOP’s Top Candidates Hide – Scott Brown, the former senator but unwilling participant in the John Kerry succession sweepstakes, has taken the Fox Network’s soup and agreed to be a talking head for the Murdoch-owned conservative TV outlet. The last attractive familiar Fox face hired at big bucks was Sarah Palin, who reportedly made a million a year looking good but saying little.

While Brown skittered to the sideline before signing on with Fox, his high profile colleagues in the Republican party have all taken a powder. Neither of the two decent Democratic congressmen are world beaters but Massachusetts is a blue state and that was enough to make Kerry Healey, Charlie Baker, Bill Weld and others decide to wait for a softer landing down the line.

Meanwhile Bay State Republican spokes-people have been trying desperately to put a shine on the sneakers of two-year state Rep. Dan Winslow and former navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez, who are looking for their Scott Brown moment. GOP strategist Todd Domke, who should know better, is pushing the Winslow-Gomez peanuts up the hill, saying, “I think both candidates are strong and surprisingly encouraging.” Of course they are.

New Team Energizes WGBH Radio – It was a pleasant surprise to hear that Jim Braude and Margery Eagan have exited toxic WTKK and signed on for a weekday 12-2 p.m. show on Boston Public Radio’s WGBH, 89.7. The duo’s presence with several of the deadbeats who have been heard on TKK had made some listeners reluctant to tune in that station but they should be flying on public radio, which is a good platform for the intelligent and entertaining Braude-Eagan team.

Bloody Sunday Families Deserve Fair Settlement – One of the lasting verities of life is that money never properly recompenses victims of injustice. This does not mean that those who wreak injustice on others should be excused from reparations or compensation. Not at all!

Forty years after the massacre, and following months of discussion, the British Ministry of Defence has settled on an offer to the families of Blood Sunday victims. The British government has publicly affirmed that “we found no instances where it appeared to us that soldiers either were or might have been justified in firing.” And the killing of 13 innocent people was described by Prime Minister Cameron as “shocking.” The sum total compensation for 40 years of unresolved injustice? A paltry $77,418.09 per family. Laughable if not so painful.

That kind of chump change is regularly awarded in British courts for defamation, libel, or illegal discharge of an employee. Not for decades of trying to tell neighbors that your dead son or husband had no gun, no bomb, no semtex explosives.  We so often hear folks say, “It’s not about the money,” when it is about the money. One of the victim’s families described the government payment as “an insult.” If a similar charge and an admission by the defendants in a US court along the lines of the Bloody Sunday tragedy had been coupled with John Edwards or another sharp tort attorney, the plaintiffs would need barrels to cart off the damages award. $17,418.09 is grossly inadequate to the insult. And yes, it seems it is about the money!

RANDOM CLIPPINGS
It appears that Cohans, the pub in Cong used in the film “The Quiet Man,” is up for sale and has attracted several serious potential buyers. On our last visit to Cong we had chats with some of the movie extras and attended Mass there. … Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, under assault for phone hacking, has had six former employees newly arrested last month. … Polling support for same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland in a survey by the unionist protestant Newsletter shows almost 75 percent in favor. … Pope Benedict, in his leaving and his pledge to stay away from the conclave, has never displayed more grace and a grasp of reality. Re the conclave: It is an absolute moral disgrace and a serious PR blunder to allow the disgraced retired L.A. Cardinal, Roger Mahony, to vote for the next Pope.

The superb linen Hall Library, the Archive of the Troubles, is now online and that’s a treat. … The Irish government has arranged to have many world monuments turned green this St. Pat’s holiday. They await word from Buckingham Palace. … The former CEO of the giant Irish Nationwide was with the company for 37 years and had no computer access in his office. … Fianna Fail, counted as dead last year, has rebounded and leads the polls against Fine Gael and Labour. Amazing! ... It just keeps coming and coming. The new Magdalen Laundry Report has more of the same unspeakable, long-term abuse.

Answered prayers: Red Sox pitcher Dice K has been dealt to Terry Francona and his new team in Cleveland. God is good. … The DUP’s angry unionist, Gregory Campbell, caught Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness and the Derry mayor making a quick exit just before the dinner toast to the Queen. …There appears to be a growing consensus that the two parties in Washington can get together with the president for meaningful immigration reform. …The Financial Times has given a thumbs up on an Ireland deal with Europe’s Central Bank. ...So big deal, Bill Flynn picked up Gerry Adams’s prostate surgery fee in the states. … If Florida Senator Marco Rubio is the successor to Ronald Reagan, they better get a double.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to one and all. Be proud of your heritage: Buy Irish!