super, passionate, intelligent writing Queenie - thanks and welcome!

hey Queenie, speaking of Liv, it was announced today her father and stepmother are separating (sad face)

i believe whats occuring is that folks are being forced into apathy. What the sweet mother of fuck would we waste our time for? Agreements are made and things are signed and x's are made left and right, and folks get let down. What happens is i see the generation i am nominally a part of becoming disenfranchised, and thank sweet god, actively shrugging and saying go fuck yourselves. the estate i live in is still full of folks who give more than the rancid toss i could give regarding loyalist / republican grievances. however, in my day-to-day travels i encounter these sorts very, very rarely. as opposed to every waking hour, as it was five years ago. folks are starting to think beyond thier own doorstep, starting to actively discuss issues that folks outside of stormont actually give a shit about. meetings are held for to discuss the far east, and they are much, much more vibrant, energetic houses of discourse than the shuffling grumbles of the half-dozen pricks stood round the fireplace in the arse-end of a pub someplace. The politics of seperatism are becoming threatened, and i can't wait until the final nail is hammered. the folks who are taking positions of power, they don't have time for this cock-spray. these petty divisions are being eradicated and i couldn't be happier. let them crumble and fall, every last one of them. it's time the gallileo's took the mic, i think.

Is there a defining line between being a freedom fighter or a neigbourhood thug? Great post Queenie.

Thanks, Queenie. I almost puked when I saw the picture of GA, too.

What makes you so sure that Gerry Adams is the leader of the IRA, or ever was? Because the TV and Radio say he is? They said there were WMD's in Iraq too, did you believe that?

Why would he lie anyway? Martin McGuinness doesn't make any secret that he was once fairly senior in the IRA, so why would Gerry Adams be so vehement that he wasn't? Unless, er, he wasn't.

As far as I know, there was always a policy of trying to keep those who would be useful to the political struggle away from guns, and vice versa, so maybe somebody in the IRA realised Gerry Adams's potential early on and steered him away from the physical force school. I don't know of course, but neither do you...

Maybe we should ask Liv Tyler for her analysis.

Actually, the US government said there were WMD in Iraq & most of the press reported that credulously enough. But a good portion of the press and many other independent observers cast doubt on the assertion in part or whole.

Gerry Adams never having been in the IRA, however, has never been asserted by anybody except Gerry Adams.

Now, I'm just a stupid American, and I'll probably get the FBI or CIA or some other "secret" US Government spy organization after me for saying this, but I think the struggle between Sinn Fein, the IRA and the British government is a great one. I say that because the United States twice had to force the British out of our country because we got tired of being an ruled by an oppressive government.

Why should the British continue to occupy Northern Ireland? What purpose does it serve? What do they gain from holding one sixth of the island of Ireland? I can't figure it out. Maybe it just good ol' British pride that keeps them occupiers in Northern Ireland or maybe they are just assholes.

So what if Gerry Adams or anyone else were members of the IRA? They were fighting for what they believe in. I hope that the Irish are able to boot those sorry sons of bitches out of their country. I would prefer to see a peaceful withdrawl, but whatever. One good way to settle this matter is for the British to suck it up and let them go. They have given so many of their other colonies and territorial holdings independance from the old empire, why not Northern Ireland?

Peace.