(Dublin CA) Oct. 11 [Note: This column was written in longhand in an Irish pub in Dublin, Ca., but it will be transcribed on a computer in Berkeley. We will use the Dublin dateline because describing a bar in Dublin and giving it a Berkeley dateline doesn't make sense.]
The Irishman has feelings of guilt because he knows he should be back at the computer writing a column headlined "Ghostriding the Whip"- asking, if Bush constantly disregards laws he doesn't like, why then should conservative Republican kids obey laws they don't like? You know: monkey see; monkey do.
Some say ghostriding is getting out of a car that's still moving and walking along side of it. Some define it as getting out and dancing on the hood and roof of the car while it is still moving forward. One young source said ghostriding the whip means turning out the lights while traveling at about 100 mph on the freeways at night. One other faction is referring to a video game:
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/358255
Writing about it is a good way to plant some Google bait to bring new readers to this website.
Jersey Bill will probably ask why we had to actually go to Dublin to write the column when it would be just as easy to fib and falsify (Would you be surprised to learn that he voted for George W. Bush in 2004?)
There are several reasons why we wanted to go there and take a few notes rather than looking up a few good facts online and then faking it.
First reason: we wanted the actual experience.
Second: We might meet an interesting person (somebody else from Scranton, possibly, or somebody from the other Dublin?) and the only way to see if that happens is to get on the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) go there and write the column in Dublin.
Third: We wanted to send a few postcards to some friends.
We went to Evie's (formerly Patrick's Pub) and found that these days jukeboxes in bars have touch screen selections and some promise that they can use modern technology to play any song. (Don't Irish columnists just love a challenge like that?)
The "Welcome Dublin Magazine"- informed us that many years ago Michael Murray and Jeremiah Fallon came to the area and bought some land from the original Spanish land owner. Soon thereafter James Witt Dougherty came along and bought an even larger amount of land.
Historians quibble about exactly when the area started to be called Dublin. There were two Inns in town and they called the pair the "double Inn."- It's no big surprise that they go all out in that town to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
When Evie's was Patrick's Pub it was owned by a former boxer named James Patrick Condon. Pictures of his boxing days adorn the walls as well as a hat and flag from the USS Nashville and a piece of barbed wire that was used on the DMZ in Korea.
Camp Parks is in Dublin and the bar regulars are very big on supporting the troops. When a Bush-bashing columnist was asked his philosophy on vets, the reply was that anyone who sends troops into battle has a moral obligation to take care of the ones who are wounded and/or disabled. "If you don't want to take care of the wounded then don't send troops into battle."- The vet seemed less than fully enthusiastic about President Bush's commitment to care for those wounded in Iraq.
The regulars also wanted the columnist to note that the place had the cleanest restrooms "of any of the bars you've ever seen."- We've been to bars from Encinitas Mexico to Harry's New York Bar in Paris, and will verify the claim made in Dublin.
After departing from the pub, a goodly amount of time was spent searching (futilely) for the aforementioned postcards. Then it was time to leave Dublin, California.
In "The Dubliners,"- James Joyce wrote: "It filled me with fear, and yet I longed to be nearer to it and to look upon its deadly work."- (Isn't that how many journalists feel about the Bush legacy?)
Now, the disk jockey will play Dennis Day's version of "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnBpVctzOnI>Clancy Lowered the Boom"- and we'll dance the jig on our way out of here. Have a "top o' the morning"- type week.
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