The Political Thread

[Beaky Smoochies]

Now Beaky my lad, I thought better of you.  I think you and are going to have to have words, if'n you're suggesting that one of the central myths of Unionism can survive even the vaguest encounter with historical and archaeological analysis.  I've no problem with people holding odd beliefs, but id prefer if they didn't assert them as fact.  It's only a short hop to parroting the sectarian tracts I was exposed to as a proddy kid that claimed that prior to the modernising christianising interventation that was the Plantation the Irish peasant tied a simple plank to the tail of his horse and called it a plough.

Perish the thought, Tordel' my friend, and it wasn't the Plantation I was referring to specifically, but rather the overarching influence of the British cultural and political system in the Emerald Isle.  To suggest that the poor Oirish were backward before us enlightened Chosen -  - made it over the Irish Sea was not what I was saying nor meant, the best recommendation I could make for more specificity on this matter is to watch the excellent RTE documentary series, What Have The Brits Done For Us? , broadcast recently, it was very, uh, enlightening... and that was from an Irish perspective!

[JOE SOAP]

The truth is, and some here may be surprised to hear me say this, I actually think the northern Protestants missed an absolutely unprecedented, never-to-be-repeated opportunity in 1921 to name their price for participation in an independent Ireland - albeit one under the Crown with Dominion status - had Carson, Craig, and co. seen the writing on the wall, and threw their lot in with the rest of the island (retaining the northern Parliament at the same time), they could have practically written the eventual Constitution themselves, so desperate would The Big Fella' and his crew been to have the entirety of the island as a singular nation state.  It is my opinion that northern Protestants held all the cards at that time, and had no need to play bluff, they could simply have spelled out their terms and conditions for joining an independent Ireland, and within reason, the Irish nationalists would have agreed, that opportunity will never come again, the Irish question could have been permanently settled there and then, and tens of thousands of people would not have paid the price with life and limb...

A lot of ifs and assumptions there about people that doesn't really take into consideration the beliefs, reality of living and being human in the respective time. It's an unfalsifiable argument, can't be proved or disproved because it never happened and likely couldn't because it was never truly desired by either side, and if it did, could have had worse consequences. Collins & Co being ideologically driven just didn't want to live under the crown.

[Mikey]

I meant the really important decisions, Mikey- like who, how and when you fuck- the city in question being Vatican City.

Fair enough, but you did specifically mention the young nation that is the Irish Republic! And up until the Reformation, pretty much everyone else in Europe was in the same boat. I'd definitely say the influence the Catholic Church had on the ROI as a nation is mental - but I'll leave that to those with direct experience of living with it.

M.

[maryanddavid]

Can we all not just get along? Think of the children.
See how these guys did it!





This one is even better.

[Spikes]

  Those are fantastic!
What comic are they from?

[IAMTHESYSTEM]

JET Comic appeared from May 1971 to September 1971 when it was merged with Buster! 

That's according to the British Comics.com website.

[maryanddavid]

Yep, its from Jet, so bad its great, it has other such classics as Adares Anglians and Paddy McGintys goat. IPC fostering closer ties throughout the British isles and Ireland in the early seventies!

[Frank]

I really wasn't sure whether to post this, or this, or even if this is the correct thread.

If I hadn't read the second of the above articles, the first would have qualified as the most mental thing I've ever heard of. Having read One Million Moms's bizarre rallying cry, though; the sponsoring MSP seems like a rational human with a finely tuned sense of perspective. Mental, truly mental.

Question: is "fellow snow sports enthusiast" a euphemism for one of the many sexual possibilities that life has cruelly denied me?

[JayzusB.Christ]

I'd like to cordially extend one million fuck offs to those Moms.  If God really is on their side, he's a bigger twonk than they are.

[Emperor]

I really wasn't sure whether to post this, or this, or even if this is the correct thread.

If I hadn't read the second of the above articles, the first would have qualified as the most mental thing I've ever heard of. Having read One Million Moms's bizarre rallying cry, though; the sponsoring MSP seems like a rational human with a finely tuned sense of perspective. Mental, truly mental.

I'm impressed by this about One Million Moms (I wonder what the actual count of moms involved in that is? Eight?): "A project of the nonprofit American Family Association, which is designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center."

Just imagine the good an actual one million moms could do if they put there mind to it and didn't get too worried about whether a comic would engay their kids.

Question: is "fellow snow sports enthusiast" a euphemism for one of the many sexual possibilities that life has cruelly denied me?

My understanding is that it is a sexual depravity involving an icing bag containing a 70/30 mix of icing/cocaine, not to be confused with a Kentucky Piper.

[Zarjazzer]

I wonder if they think the worlds really 4000 years old.
They have managed to get some TV programmes stopped that they didn't like, including one that was "nasty" to Christians. That 'ull save America.

Damn. I wanted to corrupt America's youth but the lousy media and right wing internet crazies have beaten me to it.

[Beaky Smoochies]

I'd like to cordially extend one million fuck offs to those Moms.

Why?  Isn't their point of view as valid as anyone else's, or does that only apply to those of a liberal disposition, I for one wholeheartedly agree with them, kids read comics to be entertained and, like it or not, do form opinions based on what they read and see, and while Marvel have a first amendment right to print what they like (within the law), the One Million Moms also have that same God-given right to speak up when they feel someone's pushing a radical political agenda down their kids' throats, more power to 'em I say and long may they continue...

[Beaky Smoochies]

Anyway, enough of that 'moral majority' crap (round of applause heard all round), something much more interesting is afoot - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/scottish-politics/9290226/Campaign-for-Scottish-independence-launched.html - this is going to be a REALLY interesting next two-and-a-half years, the SNP are going to have a steep uphill climb to convince a 51%-plus majority in Scotland to go it alone, but considering what effective and canny political operators they are, I wouldn't bet against them.

Personally, I think it's a pity that Scotland wasn't always an independent nation, they always were and still are a culture apart from England and Wales, and had they remained independent, they would be more like Northern Ireland (minus the constitutional turmoil); a country divided along religious lines with sectarian tensions bubbling up every now and again, the Protestants voting largely for the center-right party(s) and the Catholics voting largely for the social democratic ones, I still feel a deep cultural connection to Scotland and I lament the fact I wasn't born and raised in a sovereign country with a strong and largely singular cultural identity (as opposed to an artificially created province like N.I. with it's sharply divided identities) to call our own, as for me, if I lived in Scotland, I'd be voting 'Yes' in 2014...   

[Frank]

I'd like to cordially extend one million fuck offs to those Moms.

Why? Isn't their point of view as valid as anyone else's, or does that only apply to those of a liberal disposition

Nobody else is trying to tell folk what they can say or what they can read. Kiefer Sutherland and Murdoch's Fox network used 24 as a vehicle to articulate a particular world view at a crucial point in The War On Terror; I didn't really watch it. Phoning the Ford motor company to demand they withdrew their cringeworthy sponsorship of the show, so nobody who liked it was allowed to make their own mind up- as 1MMoms advocate- seems mental. If this shower of eejits are clearly opportunist dicks, why not The Moms?

kids read comics to be entertained and, like it or not, do form opinions based on what they read and see

Special interest groups never seem willing to admit they just don't like something, and instead pretend to be acting in the interests of some other, powerless group: children, the feeble-minded, minorities, etc. Reducing all culture to something someone (who, exactly?) thinks will have an improving effect on toddlers' minds seems a good way to kill off intelligent entertainment and independent thought, especially since the readership of the X titles is experiencing the same demographic slide beyond the age of majority as all comics.

Marvel have a first amendment right to print what they like (within the law), the One Million Moms also have that same God-given right to speak up when they feel someone's pushing a radical political agenda down their kids' throats, more power to 'em I say and long may they continue...

Why should the injunction in your signature quote- for government to fuck off out of other peoples' business- not apply to any organisation? The attempts of political parties to foist their agenda on other people don't seem any more or less pernicious than an organisation trying to limit the choices available to those who do not share their morality or their beliefs.

[Modern Panther]

Been reading the comments section of the recent BBC website story on the launch of the independence campaign; the level of uninformed spite launched at anyone who isn't pro-Union is terrifying.  The number of people who are happy to announce that Scotland is a subsidy junkie incapable of governing itself is truly worrying, considering that anyone who actually wanted to see the figures on the Scottish economy could easily find them.

Like a Million Moms, all opinions are not created equal: some are considered and open to change based on fact.