Irish Central has picked ten great castles in Ireland to rent for vacation. All of them reek with history and guarantees a unique vacation. Can't guarantee you that they are not haunted but at least they will be interesting ghosts! Here are the top five:

1. Ballyportry Castle, County Clare

For those of you who are “Game of Thrones” obsessed this is the castle for you. This tower house stands 90-feet tall over the mystical rocky landscape of the Burren.

Ballyportry Castle was built by the O’Brien family in the late 15th century and served as the family residence during the 16th and 17th centuries until it fell into disrepair in the following century.

Archaeologists restored the tower house in the late twentieth century. Ballyporty Castle’s six bedrooms can hold up to eight overnight guests.

2. Belle Isle Castle, County Fermanagh

Constructed in the 12th century for the MacManus and the McGuire families, Belle Isle was originally called Ballymacmanus.

Belle Isle changed hands in the early 17th century to soldiers Paul Gore. Since then the castle has had multiple owners who have expanded the castle and added gardens and other features to the estate.

There are three cottages, which house four to six adults that are also available for your stay. The nine bedrooms furnished with antique pine furniture will house up to seventeen of your friends.

3. Cloghan Castle, County Galway

Cloghan Castle was built as a fortress in the 12th century and was inhabited until the 15th century.

The castle’s architecture includes the typical Norman features of arched doorways, circular turrets and battlements. After falling into disrepair, the castle was restored over the course of several years in the late 20th century.

Cloghan Castle has seven bedrooms that can house up to seventeen guests.

4. Fanningstown Castle, County Limerick

Invading Normans built Fanningstown Castle as a defensive outpost in the late 13th century. Dominick Fanning helped lead the resistance against Oliver Cromwell in the middle of the 17th century and he did not survive.

Restoration on the castle began in the middle of the 20th century. Fanningstown Castle’s five bedrooms house up to ten guests.

5. Killahara Castle, County Tipperary

Thomas Butler built Killahara Castle in 1495 as part of a defensive system to protect Butler lands in Tipperary. The castle replaced an earlier timber construction built in 1185.

Restoration begun in the early 21st century has preserved the five stone levels of the castle for future use. The seven bedrooms provide room for up to fourteen guests.

SEE THE REMAINING FIVE CASTLES HERE>>>>>>

 

 

 

Architizer.com has explored the plans of architect Zaha Hadid Architects to build a transit center in Saudi Arabia. The site describes this new daring architectural proposal:

Zaha Hadid Architects‘ proposal for a new intermodal transit station for the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, at first glance looks something like a cruise ship with a sharp prow cutting through the desert. This was part of the inspiration, in fact, as the sine waves that roll across the façade and organize the interior are derived from complex wind-generated waves of sand.

The waves also symbolize the bustling activity that will fill the station: Serving three new metro lines, as well as a monorail, the King Abdullah Financial District Metro Station will be handling thousands of people a day, especially since Riyadh has doubled in population to 5 million since 1990.

Perforated façade panels contextualize the station as well as provide much needed shading from solar gain, demonstrating that the screen trope for dealing with Middle Eastern situations is far from exhausted. Since the station is near a busy highway, it makes sense that its exterior expression would be a bit hard, but the interiors are fully equipped with the typical sumptuous oil state décor of white and gold.

 

 

Hate by James Stephens

My enemy came nigh,
And I
Stared fiercely in his face.
My lips went writhing back in a grimace,
And stern I watched him with a narrow eye.
Then, as I turned away, my enemy,
That bitter heart and savage, said to me:
"Some day, when this is past,
When all the arrows that we have are cast,
We may ask one another why we hate,
And fail to find a story to relate.
It may seem then to us a mystery
That we should hate each other."

Thus said he,
And did not turn away,
Waiting to hear what I might have to say,
But I fled quickly, fearing had I stayed
I might have kissed him as I would a maid.

 

 

This weekend in an opinion piece in the Las Vegas Sun, conservative and former Republican National Chairman Ken Mehlman made the case that being for marriage equality should be a conservative cause.

As Nevada debates repealing its anti-marriage equality amendment and looks for ways to legalize it, Mehlman urges Nevada Republicans to get behind this issue:

What do Vice President Dick Cheney, Gen. Colin Powell, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, Clint Eastwood and more than 130 top officials from the Reagan and both Bush administrations have in common?

All are proud conservatives. Each spent much of their careers fighting on behalf of smaller government. And all support civil marriage for gay couples. Two weeks ago, their ranks increased to include state Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, who took a principled stand in favor of repealing Nevada’s current constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and replacing it with protections that will provide all loving, committed couples in the state the freedom to marry while also protecting religious freedom for churches that feel differently on this issue.

Freedom of Americans across all races is why the Republican Party was founded. And our most important accomplishments, from the economic growth unleashed when we’ve lowered taxes and reduced regulation to the fall of the Berlin Wall, have resulted when we promoted freedom.

Our concept of freedom is based in the Declaration of Independence, where every American was provided by their creator, not government, with the right to pursue happiness.

What freedom could be more basic and personal than the right to marry the person you love?

If we are serious in our belief that every citizen is endowed by his or her creator with the right to pursue happiness, then how can this not include the freedom to marry? What could be more central to a person’s happiness? And alternatively, if we want a smaller, less obtrusive government, shouldn’t individuals, not politicians, decide who they can marry?

Maximizing freedom isn’t the only conservative value enhanced by allowing civil marriage for same-gender couples. It will promote stability, responsibility and commitment — family values that conservatives often encourage in public policy.

Marriage encourages people to think beyond their own needs, to create loving households, to build a support network so people can be cared for in sickness, old age and hard times.

Shouldn’t we want these conservative values to be available to all families? As Ted Olson, solicitor general for President George W. Bush, who has successfully argued some of the most important conservative cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, recently wrote: “The fact that individuals who happen to be gay want to share in this vital social institution is evidence that conservative ideals enjoy widespread acceptance. Conservatives should celebrate this.”

Finally, the proposed amendment approved by Kieckhefer and his Democratic colleagues adds new protections that strengthen religious liberty while advancing other critical values shared by so many Americans of faith.

If passed by the Assembly in the coming weeks and by both chambers again in 2015, the amendment would give Nevada voters the final say in whether to allow same-gender couples to obtain a civil marriage license. The amendment would not require a private religious institution to recognize or perform a wedding. Churches and religious institutions would be protected against litigation, and their nonprofit tax status could not be challenged based on their views regarding marriage.

As Republicans, we respect the individual and work to empower people to live as they see fit, with as little intrusion by the government as practical. This idea is grounded in the Golden Rule to treat others as we would like to be treated.

Put yourself in your neighbor’s shoes. How would you feel if, even though you paid the same taxes, potentially served in the same military and followed the same rules as your neighbor, your government denied you the right to marry the person you love?

Among Republicans in national polls, support for marriage has increased by 50 percent in the past three years, and a growing majority of conservatives under 30 now favor this basic freedom.

This isn’t surprising. The freedom to marry is consistent with core conservative and American values — limited government, personal responsibility, commitment and, above all, freedom for all.

 

 

 

For many on the right, racism is the root of an otherwise inexplicable resistance to the first African-American in the White House. A shrinking rump of older, rural, white America simply can't abide the country they assumed they would always rule now being in the hands of the "other."

- Robert Shrum

Writing in his weekly column for The Daily Beast, author and commentator Robert Shrum calls out the Republicans for their destructive behavior. Their relentless effort to destroy President Obama has been taking place since day one of his administration. Forget how harmful it is to the country. They have paralyzed Washington and any hope of constructive bi-partisan cooperation in the economic recovery or any other urgently needed program.

This is one of Shrum's best columns:

I've written that in the end, congressional Republicans won't agree to move forward on the budget, tax reform, immigration, job creation, or any other issues that matter to mainstream America before the presidential elections. But the fall of 2016 is a long time away, and they have to do something in the meantime. Now we know what it is.

It's not much different from what they've done, or haven't done, all along: obstruct Obama. Traduce him, delegitimize him—and slow economic recovery in hopes that voters will cast a protest vote for the GOP. It worked in 2010, and failed miserably in 2012.

Conservatives are back at it again because the GOP lacks any coherent program other than cutting taxes for the wealthy. Republicans are deeply divided—between the government-hating Tea Party Torquemadas and an establishment that dreads primary defeat, or in John Boehner's case, defenestration as speaker; between the isolationists like Rand Paul and the neo-cons and John McCain.

The animating principle of today's GOP is relentless animus toward the president.

The hard-core base simply rejects his reelection; 49 percent in a Public Policy Poll claim the White House was stolen for Obama last November by groups such as Acorn, Republican-demonized grassroots organization that had disbanded two years earlier. For many on the right, racism is the root of an otherwise inexplicable resistance to the first African-American in the White House. A shrinking rump of older, rural, white America simply can't abide the country they assumed they would always rule now being in the hands of the "other."

GOP members of Congress are—mostly—not that crude or overt. There is Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe, a climate-denying fabulist and scowling denizen of the modern-day, flat-earth society, who has suggested impeaching the president for "the most egregious cover-up in American history." He means Benghazi, of course—a concocted conspiracy incomprehensible to most Americans.

Republican leaders in the Senate and House distance themselves from Inhofe, because of the inevitable backlash from voters beyond the fevered precincts of the far right. But fanning the fires of anti-Obama resentment enables Boehner to hold together his restive, fractured caucus—and lets Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell constantly revalidate his ideological credentials. They—and Republicans in general—are taking advantage of three events to bash the president.

The tactic—you can't dignify it by calling it strategy—may finally backfire. First, though, the GOP will prosecute month after month of a multifront war on the White House.

CONTINUE READING THE ENTIRE COLUMN HERE.....>>>>>>

 

 

On Friday, the fifth violent and, in this case, deadly hate crime took place in Manhattan in just 14 days. What many in the LGBT community has feared is taking place. The more successful we become in our struggle for freedom the more anger, violence and abuse the community will face. The hateful, abusive and violent rehectoric from the religious right is starting to seep down and give people permission to beat and kill LGBT Americans.

This is an extremely disturbing trend and must be dealt with immediately by all citizens.

The crimes in Manhattan have been brutal and deadly. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and State Senator Brad Holyman have been leading the response against these savage attacks. Both have insisted on immediate action by law enforcement to protect LGBT New Yorkers.

State Senator Holyman outlined the crimes on his Facebook page:

May 5:

Four men allegedly shouted anti-gay slurs as they attacked Nick Porto and Kevin Atkins near Madison Square Garden.

May 7:

A man was assaulted in Union Square by another man who allegedly used anti-gay slurs.

May 8:

Two men reportedly shouted anti-gay slurs as they attacked a man who was leaving Pieces bar on Christopher Street

May 9:

Two gay men were attacked by a group of other men allegedly shouting anti-gay slurs near the 33rd Street PATH Station. Port Authority police officers quickly arrested two of the suspected perpetrators.

May 17:

A gay man, Marc Carson, was shot to death by another man who allegedly assailed the victim and another gay man with homophobic slurs and chased them out of a pizzeria on Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village before the shooting.

Marco McMillian Of Mississippi Killed

In Mississippi last February, an African-American gay man running for Mayor of his town was brutally murdered.  Marco McMillian (above)died a horrible death in a gay hate crime.

Growing up in the closet, we used to be extremely careful about holding hands, any public displays of affection and watching for gangs of youths with baseball bats. Never will I forget one Judge who actually praised a group of youth who had killed a gay man in Arizona. Looking over one's shoulder was a way of life. Living in fear of a beating that the police nor government would even investigate was common among LGBT citizens in the 1950's and 1960's. Hell, often the police themselves would beat you.

Overseas there has been an unheard of escalation of violence.

In the nation of Georgia, thousands of anti-gay protesters led by priests attacked vans filled with LGBT citizens sending many to the hospital. In Russia, the Russian Orthodox Church has incitement violent actions against Russian LGBT Citizens. A twenty-three year old young Russian gay, Vladislav Tornovay, was tortured, raped and killed when he came out to his friends.  In France, citizens beat up gays, burned cars, blocked streets and broke windows in an attempt to stop marriage equality. In Africa, encouraged by some Western religious leaders violence against LGBT citizens is a daily occurrence. Many nations are considering joining those that already prescribe the death penalty for being an LGBT person.

Vladislav Tornovoy killed in Russia

What is clear is that the closer we come to achieve full equality the more violence we will face from those who preach and practice hate. What is equally clear is that such violence must be universally condemned, a priority for law enforcement and totally unacceptable to good people everywhere.

As Council Speaker Christine Quinn stated: 

“There was a time in New York City when hate crimes were a common occurrence. There was a time in New York City when two people of the same gender could not walk down the street arm-in-arm without fear of violence and harassment. We refuse to go back to that time.”

To live in fear in face of such violence can only empower the haters. All of us must be visible and proud. To remain silent in the face of such violence is in itself a crime. For those LGBT citizens who believe they are 'more than just gay', this is a wake up call. The victims were from all backgrounds and the only common factor was that they were simply gay.

(Video is of anti-gay violence in Country of Georgia this weekend)

 

 

Emmelie De Forest won Eurovision 2013 for Denmark with her version of 'Only Teardrops'. Europe goes nuts each year for this contest between nations. Here is the winner!