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November 15, 2006

SF at Holyrood For Talks on Peace Process

News About Ireland & The Irish

TH 11/15/06 Sinn Fein At Holyrood For Talks On Peace Process
OF 11/14/06 Taoiseach To Meet Fullerton Family This Week
UT 11/14/06 Police Chief Says There Is A "Hierarchy Of Deaths" In NI
GI 11/15/06 FBI Refuses To Comment On Art Investigation
BT 11/14/06 Opin: Loyalist Terrorists Prepare For Change
BT 11/14/06 Opin: Is This The Way Forward For Policing?
NH 11/14/06 Opin: Hard-Hitting Judgement Confirms All Suspicions
EX 11/15/06 O'Dea Pulls Out Of Launch For IRA Man's Biography
TS 11/16/06 Michael Flatley Seriously Ill in Hospital
HC 11/13/06 Prison Show On Big Screen
UC 11/13/06 Crossroards: Peace Process & Future Of A United Ireland

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http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/74595-print.shtml

Sinn Fein At Holyrood For Talks On Peace Process

Robbie Dinwoodie
November 16 2006

A delegation from Sinn Fein arrives at Holyrood today for a
series of cross-party talks on the peace process in Northern
Ireland.

The day kicks off with meetings with civil servants from the
Justice Department on moves to tackle sectarianism before a
series of meetings with parliamentarians.

This includes lunch with representatives of the SNP, which is
believed to be the first time such a meeting has taken place
between the two parties.

The SNP has insisted that this meeting between Scottish and Irish
nationalists is a private one, as the party has always been
sensitive about any such linkage with what was the political wing
of

the IRA.

A spokeswoman for the SNP said: "We are keen to meet with all
sides in Northern Ireland to encourage any way in which we can
help to move the peace process forward."

The Sinn Fein delegation is also meeting representatives of the
Scottish Socialist Party, Solidarity, the independent MSP Margo
MacDonald and trade unionists during the one-day visit to
Holyrood.

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

http://www.oceanfm.ie/onair/donegalnews.php?articleid=000003770

Taoiseach To Meet Fullerton Family This Week

Nov 14, 5:41 Pm

The Taoiseach is to meet with the family of murdered Buncrana
councillor, Eddie Fullerton in Dublin on Thursday next.

The Sinn Fein councillor was murdered in 1991 which sparked a
campaign to have an independent inquiry into alleged collusion of
loyalist paramilitaries and state forces in his death.

The matter was raised by Sinn Fein during the St Andrew's
negotiations last month.

Local party councillor, Padraig MacLochlainn has welcomed the
development as "a hopeful sign that the Government is now
prepared to listen to the Fullerton family's demand for truth and
justice."

He said last week's new report issued by the Derry based Pat
Finucane centre showed it is clear that collusion was an official
British Government policy in Ireland.

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

http://u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=77877&pt=n

Tuesday 14/11/2006 09:29:44

Police Chief Says There Is A "Hierarchy Of Deaths" In NI

A police team which is considering over 3000 Northern Ireland
conflict deaths should cost much less than public inquiries into
four controversial killings, Sir Hugh Orde has said.

By:Press Association

The Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable said last
night that the Historical Enquiries Team was making an honourable
attempt to examine thousands of cases and warned that the impact
of the four public inquiries could be marginal.

The British government has appointed panels to hold public
inquiries into three deaths in which British security force
collusion is suspected.

A fourth probe, into the 1989 murder of Belfast solicitor Pat
Finucane, has been delayed.

"A piecemeal approach to history is doomed to fail and is
divisive," said Sir Hugh.

"I have been privileged to meet many families from across the
divide during my time here and it is hard to explain why
currently there is a hierarchy of deaths when it comes to looking
backwards.

"It is worth noting that I constantly predict that the cost of
the HET, which is an honourable attempt to examine thousands of
cases, will cost substantially less than the legal costs of the
latest public inquiries."

The HET, with a budget of œ34 million, is re-examining 3268
killings between 1969 and the 1998 Peace Accord.

The team has another five years to complete its work, with a
target of 40 cases a month, after being established last January.

Separate inquiries are to be held into the murders of Rosemary
Nelson, Robert Hamill and Billy Wright.

Solicitor Mrs Nelson was killed in an under-car booby trap bomb
explosion outside her home in Lurgan, County Armagh, in 1999.

Loyalist Volunteer Force leader Billy Wright was murdered inside
the Maze Prison by jailed Republicans in 1997.

Mr Hamill, a Catholic, died in hospital after being attacked by a
loyalist mob in Portadown in 1997.

Mr Finucane was shot by members of the Loyalist Ulster Defence
Association at his north Belfast home in 1989.

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

http://www.galwayindependent.com/news/9295.html

FBI Refuses To Comment On Art Investigation

The FBI has refused to comment on claims that a team of agents is
coming to Galway in a bid to locate priceless works of art stolen
from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990.

Among the pieces stolen during the famous raid were a work by
Vermeer and three works by Rembrandt. In total over ?300 million
worth of art was taken.

On Sunday, a national newspaper reported that a team of FBI
agents are to come to Ireland as the investigation into the
stolen paintings continues.

The 'News Of The World' story alleged that the FBI believes that
the provisional IRA have at least one of the paintings stashed
somewhere in Galway.

However, when contacted yesterday by the Galway Independent, a
spokesperson in the FBI's field office in Boston refused to get
into a discussion on any specifics as the investigation is on-
going.

The investigation, which has been ongoing for over 16 years now,
has seen the FBI focus on the IRA, the infamous Boston mob boss
James 'Whitey' Bulger (the gangster that inspires this year's hit
movie, The Departed), as well as a well-known art thief.

Even today, a ?5 million dollar reward is offered for the safe
recovery of all the stolen items in good condition.

The daring heist took place on March 18 1990 when two men,
dressed as police officers managed to gain entrance into the
world famous Gardner Museum in Boston.

While in the museum, the thieves seized art worth over ?300
million before making their getaway.

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=714424

Opin: Loyalist Terrorists Prepare For Change

Brian Rowan

'Significant' statements to follow November 24 political deadline

14 November 2006

Loyalist paramilitary leaders have begun preparing their members
for significant statements that will change the Ulster Volunteer
Force and Red Hand Commando organisations, it can be revealed
today.

A statement read on behalf of the 'Brigade Command' of the UVF
last Sunday said Northern Ireland may be on the verge of "finally
achieving a durable political settlement".

The loyalist organisation was speaking to hundreds of its
'volunteers' at UVF Remembrance events.

It said the changes taking place in Northern Ireland would place
"significant challenges at the doorstep of this movement".

The organisation would have to be "visionary" in its outlook and
"courageous" in its actions.

During the week of the St Andrews negotiations, the most senior
figures in the UVF and Red Hand Commando met outside the United
Kingdom to prepare statements on the future of both
organisations.

Those statements will deal with a range of activities including
recruitment, training, weapons procurement, targeting and
punishment attacks, and are expected to say something on the
question of loyalist weapons.

The loyalist organisations are waiting on the outcome of the
current political negotiations, before making their statements
public.

In recent interviews with this newspaper, the UVF said it would
make a statement "on future intent" after the November 24
political deadline - the date now set for the nominations of
first and deputy first ministers at Stormont.

The secret talks were to develop that statement - a statement
expected to set out a new position on a range of paramilitary
activities and to deal with the question of weapons.

The UVF and closely-associated Red Hand Commando are also drawing
up a new "code of conduct".

In recent interviews, the paramilitary leadership expressed
concerns about the possibility of a political 'Plan B' if the DUP
and Sinn Fein failed to reach agreement.

UVF must decide where it sits inside new political context

Analysis

There is only one message to be found in the reading between the
lines of what the UVF had to say on Sunday.

This was one of those occasions when the loyalist organisation
talked to itself - to its broad membership - hundreds of its
'volunteers' - at the various UVF/Red Hand Commando Remembrance
events.

And what it had to say at the weekend was clearly designed to fit
with the political backdrop and the possibility of what might yet
develop out of the St Andrews Agreement.

We know the UVF position; that it is waiting for the outcome of
the latest negotiations, waiting to be sure that Northern
Ireland's future is in the hands of local politicians, waiting to
be sure that the British-Irish Plan B has gone.

In other words the UVF is waiting for Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams
to get on with the business of the St Andrews Agreement, and,
while it waits, the loyalist organisation is preparing its
membership for change.

You can hear it in the words of last Sunday. There was no detail
of what precisely is meant by change, but the tone of what was
said in a prepared script across Northern Ireland was about
setting a new direction for the loyalist organisation.

At the top of the UVF - inside what is called the Brigade Command
- there now seems to be a settled view that Northern Ireland is
finally on the verge of a durable political settlement.

And the challenge for the loyalist organisation - the challenge
for its leadership - is how it places itself inside this new
political context.

At the weekend that leadership told its members that the
political changes in Northern Ireland will place "significant
challenges at the doorstep of this Movement".

And clearly the paramilitary leadership knows that if its
response falls short of those challenges, then it could be left
behind - left behind in the new politics beyond the St Andrews
Agreement.

The UVF leadership message at the weekend was that "it will not
be denied a stake in the future of this country".

So, it is suggesting it won't be left behind.

We know that in the week of the St Andrews negotiations, the most
senior figures in the UVF and Red Hand Commando leaderships met
outside Northern Ireland - outside the United Kingdom.

They were thinking through their responses to the new politics
that are likely to emerge in the not-too-distant future, and they
were getting their words and their positions prepared - written
and ready to be spoken when the right political moment presents
itself.

The statement of last Sunday was preparing the ground - and the
UVF and Red Hand Commando organisations - for the inevitable next
steps.

And, so, the memberships of those organisations were told that
they must be "visionary" in their outlook and "courageous" in
their actions.

"Genuine volunteers" would have nothing to fear from what lies
ahead. The precise detail of what lies ahead will be known to
only a small number of paramilitary leaders who sit at the very
top of the UVF organisation.

They have spent a long time listening to those who fill the ranks
below them - listening in a consultation process that stretched
across Northern Ireland and then into Scotland and England.

That leadership will know that the time for talking is over and
that the time for doing is getting ever closer.

And that doing will be measured against other things - the new
political circumstances and a situation in which the IRA has
ended its armed campaign and put its weapons beyond use.

It is unlikely. No, it is unrealistic to think or believe that
the UVF will match all of that in one statement or in one set of
actions.

What is more likely is some sort of phased approach - a statement
that deals with activities such as targeting, recruitment,
training, weapons procurement, punishment attacks and
intelligence gathering and which says something about weapons -
something by way of reassurance.

Running alongside this - internally within the UVF and Red Hand
Commando - there will be a new 'code of conduct' setting new
rules to match the new status of the organisations.

And in the bringing together of all of this, the message that has
to be clear is that the loyalist war is also over - that is the
part of the loyalist war that the UVF and Red Hand Commando have
responsibility for.

I think this is where the paramilitary leadership wants to end
up. I think we are getting closer to that point, and I think a
confirmation that political business is going to be done by the
local parties will bring the new thinking and the new words of
the UVF out into the open.

Those words are waiting to be spoken by way of a loyalist
contribution to the new circumstances that the British and Irish
Governments hope can grow out of the St Andrews Agreement.

If the loyalists say and do all that is being hinted at, then it
should be a significant moment.

It won't be everyone's idea of perfect, but it will be better
than what we've got, and it will give a more solid foundation to
our developing peace.

We are seeing at the moment, in what's happening within
republicanism, that it is not possible to bring everyone on this
journey.

Loyalists too will lose people - those who can't and won't
change. That is another of the inevitabilities of a process that
is about making war into peace.

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/story.jsp?story=714378

Opin: Is This The Way Forward For Policing?

14 November 2006

With all eyes focused on the November 24 deadline for the next
step in the restoration of devolution, it is hardly a coincidence
that a delegation of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs)
from Merseyside and Lancashire Constabularies is visiting
Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein have yet to declare their support for
the PSNI and, without such a pledge, there is little prospect of
the nomination of shadow First and Deputy First Ministers going
ahead as planned.

The concept of responsible local citizens helping out the regular
police service with everyday problems has been accepted in
Britain for several years and the first PCSOs were appointed in
2000. They are regarded as the friendly face of law and order,
well known in their communities and capable of dealing with minor
crimes.

The PSNI, as well as the Policing Board, have supported extending
the scheme to Northern Ireland but, before the public is
convinced, more would have to be known about the way it works.
Conditions in northern England are so different that it may have
to be altered, to serve a society with a long history of division
and violence.

Certainly the idea is attractive, as in Britain the role of the
PCSO is to support police patrols and tackle anti-social
behaviour. Members are uniformed and, although they can detain
people for 30 minutes, they have no formal power of arrest. In
Britain, they may have only a few weeks' training, but can earn
up to œ25,000.

As Deputy Chief Constable Paul Leighton has said, it is envisaged
that PCSOs will become part of the PSNI's neighbourhood policing
teams. They would help reduce the fear of crime, but "most
definitely" are not seen as a replacement for full-time or part-
time officers. In fact, they would plug the gap created when
thousands of full-time reserve officers lost their jobs in the
aftermath of the Patten reforms, to make way for more Catholics
entering a slimmed-down force.

Already Jimmy Spratt, a DUP councillor and former head of the
Police Federation, has criticised the plan as "a halfway house to
proper policing". Yet although PCSOs would have limited powers,
and would need police protection initially, experience in Britain
has shown how valuable they are, keeping an eye out for trouble
and forming an acceptable link between police and local
communities.

Whether the places where policing is most difficult in Northern
Ireland are suited to this initiative remains to be seen. It will
take brave individuals to come forward where paramilitary
organisations are active. But as a means of easing communities
into acceptance of normal policing, in both republican and
loyalist areas, it is certainly worth trying.

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

http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/irish_news/arts2006/nov14_Judge_Girvan_confirms_all_suspicions__SMcKay.php

Opin: Hard-Hitting Judgement Confirms All Suspicions

(Susan McKay, Irish News)

Does anybody think Peter Hain's bid to be appointed second in
command of the government of the UK will be scuppered or even
damaged by the fact that the secretary of state has been found to
have abused his powers, breached the Good Friday Agreement, acted
out of an improper motive, withheld evidence and misled the High
Court in Northern Ireland?

And in relation to the most sensitive issue of all, the needs of
the victims of the Troubles? No?

No. Last week's extraordinarily hard hitting judgement from Mr
Justice Girvan shows only what we already knew, that Hain is
arrogant, high-handed, incompetent and, overwhelmingly,
indifferent.

These are, of course, excellent qualities for high office in the
British Labour party. Prerequisites, even. That this disgraceful
behaviour occurred in Northern Ireland will help. Normal
standards don't apply on the outer edges of empire.

Last Monday saw the publication of a damning report showing
evidence of collusion in murder between the security forces and
loyalist paramilitaries, with the authorities still refusing to
tell the truth.

Three days later, Mr Justice Girvan slammed the secretary of
state, the permanent secretary at the Northern Ireland Office,
Jonathan Phillips, and the head of the NI civil service, Nigel
Hamilton, for their handling of the appointment of the victims
commissioner, Bertha McDougall, and for their efforts to cover up
their wrong doing in the courts.

Hain has form on this. His appointment of two Orangemen to the
Parades Commission is to be challenged in the House of Lords. He
created a wholly unnecessary furore by re-arresting the Shankill
bomber Sean Kelly at the behest of the DUP and then releasing him
at the behest of Sinn FEin.

The truth about this most recent debacle emerged despite Hain's
best efforts to keep it concealed. Relatives for Justice, which
brought this case along with Brenda Downes, submitted numerous
questions under Freedom of Information legislation and were
repeatedly refused answers. Documents were designed to mislead
the courts.

As the judge pointed out, the government is in a powerful
position - it "holds the cards". If it does not make itself
accountable to the people and if it is allowed to cover up the
way it makes decisions, "such a practise would engender cynicism
and lack of trust in the organs of state and be deeply damaging
to the democratic process".

Cynicism is paralysing. It plays into the hands of those who want
to maintain a corrupt status quo. Cynicism says in the face of
injustice, do nothing. Nothing will change anyway. There is more
than enough cynicism around in this place. There is also such
severe lack of trust in the state that we don't even have
devolved government. The democratic process is so deeply damaged
that four out of 10 people don't even bother to vote.

That was, of course, why the Good Friday Agreement and the
legislation that flowed from it included all kinds of measures
and strategies to protect human rights, outlaw discrimination and
ensure cross-community support for decisions of government.

The code for public appointments includes terms like merit,
independent scrutiny, equal opportunities, probity, openness and
transparency. Mr Justice Girvan said these were among the
overriding principles to which the government was wedded. Hain
trampled all over them. He was "in fundamental breach of all the
relevant codes relating to the making of public appointments".

Hain appointed Ms McDougall because the DUP asked him to. He
consulted no other political party. He did it knowing it was a
divisive move which would offend nationalists.

There is something very poignant about the fact that the two
women at the centre of this case are both themselves victims.

Bertha McDougall's husband was a part-time RUC man killed by
republicans. Brenda Downes's husband was a civilian killed by the
RUC. The judge acknowledged that both had suffered grievously.

The DUP sees Ms McDougall as a victim but their disgraceful
behaviour at St Andrews last month, when they verbally abused and
sneered at Protestant victims who were in the company of
Relatives for Justice, shows that they have no respect for people
like Ms Downes.

For trying to pander to Paisley, Hain and his advisors have been
shamed in the High Court. They must not get away with playing
politics with the rights of those most hurt by the Troubles. It
is crucial that the 'immediate and searching inquiry at a high
level' into the 'very serious issues' raised by this case, as
proposed by Mr Justice Girvan, should be established.

The NIO is, needless to say, silent.

November 15, 2006

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http://www.irishexaminer.com/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=ireland-qqqm=ireland-qqqa=ireland-qqqid=18402-qqqx=1.asp

O'Dea Pulls Out Of Launch For IRA Man's Biography

By Jimmy Woulfe, Mid-West Correspondent

DEFENCE MINISTER Willie O'Dea was at the centre of another
embarrassing gaffe last night after it was claimed he was forced
to pull out of the launch of the biography of the famed Limerick
IRA man Sean South of Garryowen.

The minister, who is also from Limerick, withdrew from the event
claiming he did not realise who the book was about when he agreed
to do the launch. The biography by Des Fogerty is entitled Sean
South of Garryowen.

Mr O'Dea rejected claims by the family that he came under
pressure from his own officials to pull out.

Sean South, whose death inspired a famous rebel ballad, was shot
dead along with another IRA man, Fergal O'Hanlon, during an
attack on the RUC barracks in Brookeborough, in January 1957.

Mr O'Dea said: "I thought the book I was to launch was about
somebody else."

However, Owen South, a well-known photographer and nephew of Sean
South, challenged the minister's version of events.

"The publisher got a call from the Department of Defence saying
the minister would not be attending the launch at Peter
Clohessy's bar next Saturday night," he said.

"It was the department and not the minister who contacted us to
say he would not be turning up. For the minister to say he did
not know at the outset who the book was about is rubbish. He knew
all along the book was about Sean South. Obviously there was
pressure from his own department or somewhere not to turn up."

Mr O'Dea said that when he accepted the invitation to launch the
book, he did not realise it was about Sean South.

"I did not realise it was about Sean South until the other day
and I did not think it would be appropriate for the Minister for
Defence to launch a book about Sean South," he said.

Mr O'Dea denied he was warned by officials in the Department of
Defence not to do the launch.

"It was my own decision. To be honest I assumed the book was
about somebody else as I did a book launch some time ago about
the city fishermen.

"I only realised the book was on Sean South when my diary was
being checked and somebody got in touch with my office. I don't
think it appropriate for me to be launching a book on Sean South.

"We are trying to bring peace in the North," he said.

Mr O'Dea said his decision to withdraw from launching the book
was no slight on the South family.

"Ger South (brother of Sean South) and Owen South (nephew) are
people I know very well. They are fine decent people. If I had
realised at the beginning, I would not have agreed to launch the
book in the first place," he said.

"I regret any inconvenience by initially accepting the
invitation. I did not take the time to find out what the book was
about. It was a genuine mistake and it would have been worse if I
went in and did it."

Last year, Mr O'Dea was heavily criticised after posing with a
gun following gangland shootings that left three men dead.

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

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006530340,00.html

Wife Vigil For Ill Riverdance King

By Fiona Wynne
November 16, 2006

RIVERDANCE legend Michael Flatley was seriously ill in hospital
last night with a mystery bug.

The Irish superstar fell sick at his London home and was rushed
to an exclusive private clinic.

His pregnant wife Niamh, 32 - whom he married just four weeks ago
- was keeping a vigil at his bedside.

The remaining dates of Flatley's sold-out Celtic Tiger European
tour have been cancelled.

His spokesman confirmed: "Michael is seriously ill."

Flatley, 48, complained of being unwell last week and has been in
the London Clinic in Harley Street for several days. A pal said
last night: "Michael is very weak. The condition has attacked his
whole body. Doctors are still running tests to figure out if the
infection is bacterial or viral. But they are calling it an all-
system infection.

"Michael first felt under the weather while getting ready for his
Celtic Tiger tour at his London home.

"His condition deteriorated very quickly, and he was immediately
rushed into hospital.

"Doctors have already told him it's unlikely that he'll be able
to dance again for at least three months."

It is understood Flatley first attended the clinic two weeks ago
but was allowed home.

Over the next month the multi-millionaire was due to perform in
Russia, Germany, England and Belgium. His tour should have kicked
off last week in St Petersburg and was due to come to a dramatic
close with sold-out dates at Dublin's Point Theatre on December 2
and 3 and London's Wembley Arena on December 6.

Just two weeks ago Flatley and Niamh announced that she is
expecting their first child.

The dance king married his leading lady in a lavish ceremony in
Co Cork, Ireland, last month after a whirlwind romance.

They met on the set of Riverdance in 1993, but only became an
item earlier this year.

That was just after Flatley's split from fiancee Lisa Murphy
following almost six years together.

Father Aidan Troy, who married Flatley, was shocked last night
over his condition. The parish priest of Holy Cross in North
Belfast said: "I spoke to him about two weeks ago and he was in
hospital in London.

"I asked him at the time how he was and he said, `Fine, I'll be
out in a while'."

Father Troy, who has been a close friend of the dancer for
several years, added: "I'm obviously concerned having just been
involved in his wedding.

"Genuinely I'm shocked. Without being unkind he's not 18. I
thought initially it may be exhaustion or stress."

Flatley - born in America of Irish parents - has a gruelling work
schedule.

In 1998, he collapsed while on stage in Australia and doctors
diagnosed exhaustion.

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

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4329752.html

Nov. 13, 2006, 10:54AM

Prison Show On Big Screen

A documentary focused on RAY HILL is much like his radio show:
spontaneous in the studio

By ALLAN TURNER
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

----
PRISON LIFE ON THE AIR

 What: Free screenings of Ray Hill's Prison Show , a documentary
by Brian Huberman
 When: 8 p.m., Friday-Sunday
 Where: Rice University Media Center, University at Stockton
 On the radio: The Prison Show airs 9-11 p.m. Fridays on KPFT,
90.1 FM
----

He was in prison. She was in love. She gave up a good job with
the criminal justice system to marry him by proxy. It was a
sizzling romance played out over the airwaves of Ray Hill's
weekly call-in prison show.

Week after week, listeners thrilled to the wife's one-way
conversations with her sweetie. When it all went sour, thousands
in radioland grieved as the disgruntled wife demanded a divorce.

Such is the stuff of Hill's Friday night The Prison Show on KPFT-
FM. Maybe the program, now in its 26th year, doesn't pack the
visceral wallop of Jerry Springer, but it comes close. Listeners
are family. A lot of joy and pain blasts across the ether.

"It's good radio," said Hill. "It's all the ethos and the pathos
and the eros of people's lives in prison. I have no idea what's
going to happen. I just turn on the microphone."

The Prison Show and the personalities that shape it - Hill once
served time for jewel theft - are the subject of a 60-minute
documentary by Rice University film professor Brian Huberman. The
film will screen Friday through Sunday at the Rice Media Center.


Huberman, supported by a financial backer in San Antonio, said he
sought to produce a film that would illuminate the "scandal" of
American prisons.

"What stood out to me," he said, "was the inadequacy of the
prison system and the way in which people rightly or wrongly are
incarcerated and essentially forgotten. There seems to be very
little attempt at rehabilitation. Punishment is the name of the
game."

Huberman, who received his training at England's National Film
and Television School, has lived in Houston 30 years.

"Ray Hill is an icon in several areas of activism," Huberman
said. "We approached him about the project, and he was totally
open to all these things."

Let camera roll

In some ways, Huberman's cinematic approach mirrors Hill's
broadcast philosophy. For about two months in 2005, Huberman set
up his camera in the Pacifica station's cramped Montrose studio
and let it roll.

"I'd just pretty much film the entire radio show," Huberman said.
"It would start with Ray opening his mail during the first hour
and responding to the needs of inmates who sent him letters. Then
it would be him doing the show."

Huberman also concentrated on Hill's life, interspersing segments
that examine his four-year stint in prison for burglary and his
growth as a gay and prison activist. Much of this material comes
from the one-man autobiographical shows Hill has performed here
and in the Northeast.

"I think that the audience will discover that - although the
activism is very strong - there is something much more powerful
going on," Huberman said. "If you listen to the show, the bulk
are families of the inmates, generally women and children. The
film basically is watching Ray listening to these people in the
studio. There's a very powerful human dimension. It is a very
quiet and beautiful gesture."

Huberman noted the children of one inmate appeared at the studio
weekly to sing You Are My Sunshine.

Most of the time, the notoriously expansive Hill lets his callers
do the talking. But, he noted, he occasionally tries to shape
content.

Hill believes his program, highly critical of prison gangs, has
led to a reduction in behind-bars gang membership.

"I have no truck with any group that bonds together to abuse
others," he said.

"I have a captive audience. Even the gangsters listen," Hill
said. "Ray Hill has their mamas and wives. ... Now that we have
their attention, we can talk to them about their responsibilities
and their opportunities to make a difference for the positive. I
know that sounds a little pipe dreamish, but incrementally, over
a long period of time, I think it's working."

allan.turner@chron.com

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

http://upcoming.org/event/126507/

Ireland At The Crossroards: The Irish Peace Process And The
Future Of A United Ireland

Data cNavteq,TeleAtlasc2006 Yahoo! Inc.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006
7:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Where: Dana Building (School of Natural Resources and
Environment)

430 E. University
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
42.2763, -83.736

Category: Education

Description: Featuring Thomas O'Reilly, Sinn FEin MLA,
Fermanagh/South Tyrone

Dana Building Auditorium, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Free and Open to the Public

Sinn Fein, the only all-Ireland political party, is committed to
achieving a 32-County democratic socialist republic and the end
of British rule in Ireland. It is dedicated to achieving a
society free from prejudice and discrimination, and providing
justice and equal opportunity for all in an independent Ireland.

The IRA's decision on July 28, 2005 to formally end its armed
campaign has changed the political landscape in Ireland forever.
This places an enormous responsibility on the British and Irish
governments to finally implement the Good Friday Agreement in all
its aspects on issues like equality, human rights, policing,
demilitarisation and northern representation. It also places a
huge responsibility on the leadership of the DUP to re-engage in
the political process.

Does the recent St. Andrew's Agreement outlined by the British
and Irish governments provide nationalists and unionists in the
north with the opportunity to put partisan politics behind them?
Will Ian Paisley's DUP finally agree to share power with Sinn
FEin on November 24th? What are the prospects for a united 32
county Ireland? Sinn FEin MLA Thomas O'Reilly answers these
questions and more. For more information, please contact Kate
McCabe at katemc@umich.edu.

Co-sponsored by the University of Michigan's Department of
History and the Irish American Unity Conference.

----
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