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Reply to Intelligent Design in Religion JoeUser Forums

Rachel, Great stuff. Good to see the Enlightenment being defended. And a Bill Hicks quote too! I wish he was still alive, I'd love to hear his take on the Iraq war etc.

Reply to Intelligent Design in Religion JoeUser Forums

Helix, "When was the last time anyone forced anything on you religiously?" Hmm. Unlike some of us, you didn't have the "privilege" of growing up in Northern Ireland, did you?

Reply to My Friend, Soupy in Misc JoeUser Forums

Thanks for your comments, Meghan and kingbee, glad you liked the blog. "Beattie" (Gerry?, Bram?), If I ask you to ask me if I'm bothered, it means that I'm not.

Reply to A Poli-Blog Primer in Pure Technology JoeUser Forums

How come you don't mention my blog under lunatic?

Reply to Secularism and Morality in Philosophy JoeUser Forums

Good stuff, Larry nice to see you putting up articles again. This is the key part: So we find gentle Catholics embracing the Inquisition, the soldiers of Martin Luther murdering priests and nuns during the sack of Rome, which perhaps killed as many as 45,000, and certainly we find this concept of religious purity alive and well in the Jihadists today. For me, religion is negative, it sets one person against another. Perhaps for

My Friend, Soupy in Misc JoeUser Forums

I haven't been looking forward to writing this blog. I've known for some time that my best friend Soupy, known to Joeusers as johnsoup, will be leaving Korea. Knowing his dislike of presents, I promised to write a blog about him in lieu of a going away gift. There is the possibility, as I'm sure John will welcome, that this will lead me to write about my emotions; a v

Reply to Nazi Slur Hides Ireland's Shame in Current Events JoeUser Forums

What Mary McAleese said was deeply offensive to the Protestant people in the north. Many Protestants (and Catholics too of course) gave their lives to defeat fascism. I am a northern Protestant and the idea that I was brought up to hate Catholics would certainly be news to my parents and teachers. The President has quite rightly apologised for the offence she caused. In my opinion, this comment is not indicative of her attitude towa

Reply to Arms And Taiwan in International JoeUser Forums

Thanks for your comment, Lucas. Taiwan has sometimes been ruled from Beijing and sometimes not, it is not historically speaking, an inalienable part of China. The country was briefly independent in the late 19th century (it was Asia's first republic). Then the Japanese ruled it as a colony until 1945 when the Kuomintang took over. In 1949, having lost the civil war, the KMT fled to the island and set up a government there.

Loyal To Ourselves Alone in International JoeUser Forums

At the top of the Newtownards Road in east Belfast stretches one of the longest murals in Northern Ireland (NI), a collection of street art celebrating loyalist paramilitarism which encompasses an entire block. Alongside the predictable images of masked gunmen, there are some more un

Reply to Racism, Alive and well on the left side in Current Events JoeUser Forums

Dr. Guy, "They are free to roam about as they please!" This is a ridiculous point. Have you not heard of the closures, the checkpoints, the roadblocks? Movement between cities in the West Bank is very difficult.

Reply to History Test in Politics JoeUser Forums

I have been the victim of profiling while travelling in England. I fit the bill for what their security services see as a terrorist. I am young, I am male, I am from Belfast. To those of you who applaud profiling I can only say, wait till it happens to you.

Reply to 2004: R.I.P. in International JoeUser Forums

Ween, Hmm, you appear to know the origins of my "nom de blog". Do I know you?

What Window Of Opportunity? in International JoeUser Forums

It is only two months since the death of Yasser Arafat, yet already the new political lexicon created by his demise has descended into meaningless cliche. I refer here to the oft-quoted "window of opportunity" ( WofO ) which, we are led to believe has been opened by Abu Ammar's passing. This term has quickly become the hopelessly innacurate short-hand of the pol

Reply to Why did go into Iraq again? in Politics JoeUser Forums

Sinister, Great post, but did you have to quote Brad's entire article? Brad, You're engaging in crude historical revisionism. You overlook the fact that WMD was the primary reason presented by Bush for his war. There were other reasons, but they were very much secondary. drmiler, "You guys *still* don't seem to get it. ALL the major intel agencies thought Saddam had WMDs" If you put the words "migh

Reply to Being Overrun with Right Wing Crazies in Politics JoeUser Forums

Sandy, my hand is metaphorically in the air.

Reply to Abbas: This Spade Is Indeed A Spade in International JoeUser Forums

Manopeace, Thanks for your comment. I agree that Abbas is genuinely interested in peace but this makes not the slightest difference if Sharon is not also interested in peace. For the record, I'm not an Abbas supporter, I just think that he was right to say what he said. I'm more of a Mustafa Barghouti man myself.

Fascism Lives And Breathes In Ireland in International JoeUser Forums

Link Actions like this are "worthy" of the Brownshirts. My deepest respect to Eugene and his family for standing their ground.

Reply to Warning to Michael Moore from Clint Eastwood in Politics JoeUser Forums

I am genuinely shocked that a blog applauding a murder threat is on the homepage. Shame.

Reply to Abbas: This Spade Is Indeed A Spade in International JoeUser Forums

Larry, thanks for your comment. I have also read these reports wherein Israel claims either that most of those killed were not children or that some of those killed were members of Hamas. I do not believe a word the IDF says. It is in their interest to portray those they kill as terrorists, whether or not this is the case. Same thing went on in Northern Ireland for years. The link I provided to the Guardian article contains this pa

Thanks, Harry in Current Events JoeUser Forums

There's never a good time to go to a fancy dress party as a Nazi soldier but Prince Harry managed to choose a most inappropriate moment to make his sick joke. He was pictured in his fascist get-up only two weeks before the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. His idiotic actions have caused outrage and deep offence. Quite rightly he has apolo

Abbas: This Spade Is Indeed A Spade in International JoeUser Forums

One of the most infamous incidents in the history of the House of Commons occured in 1972 during a debate about the murder of 14 civilians in Derry by the British army - Bloody Sunday. At one point Bernadette Devlin, who had witnessed the slaughter first-hand, rose from her seat, strode across the august chamber and punched home secretary Reggie Maudling in the mouth.

Reply to A lesson to us all in Blogging JoeUser Forums

I'm at work right now. I love my job, my boss and all my fellow employees by the way. Just for the record

Reply to You might be a Right winger if... (a response to Dr Guy) in Politics JoeUser Forums

Great stuff, Champas. You're quite right to bemoan the abysmal level of spelling on this site as well.

Reply to 2005: The Future Is Like A Foreign Country in International JoeUser Forums

Thanks, Rachel. Regarding your point about leaning on Sharon, the sad fact is that even if he wanted to withdraw from the West Bank (which he most definitely does not), he couldn't do it. There's a price for Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and that price is civil war. Yitzhak Rabin started a process which may have led to some settlements being abanoned. We all know what happened to him.

Reply to 2004: R.I.P. in International JoeUser Forums

Link Excellent piece about the "window of opportunity".