Colossal Spoons
That Dude
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I made Shepard's Pie for my gf for Valentine's day. It took me 2 hours. I think we are eating out for St. Patrick's Day.
I'm sure she'll enjoy that
Irish Pride
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I'm sure she'll enjoy that
kane9321
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kainedamo
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What is everyones opinion on Irish politics? The March elections are next week, and I've been thinking very carefully about who to vote for. Who should I vote for?
I posted this on my livejournal site
Lets talk politics!! [01 Mar 2007|12:16pm]
So lets talk politics! The March elections are approaching fastly, and it will be my first time voting! So I want to make sure I vote for the right people. Basically, I want to make sure I'm not influenced by my own bias, where I've grown up, who my family vote for, and that type of thing. Because I have been considering voting for Sinn Fein, which I guess is a fairly controversial vote.
I was thinking maybe Rachel could help me out by talking a little about politics on her page, and talking about it with her friends. It would definately be helpful to get the perspective of Rachel and her friends. Like I said, I want my vote to be as non-biased as possible and getting other views will help with that.
In the post today I got several leaflets from the different political parties. I had a read through some of them, and here are my thoughts.
EVERYONE seems to be against water charges. Water charges is a big issue, and none of the parties seem to want us being charged to use our water. Whether or not any of the parties can deliver on this is another matter. I think thats something we'd just have to wait and see about. But I guess politics is always like that. A party says one thing, comes into power, and fails to deliver what they promised.
So, on Sinn Fein's leaflet. It has a bunch of bullet points about stuff they want to do, as most parties have on their leaflets. The first thing is "A strategy for Irish Unity and Independence". Now, alot of people across Northern Ireland consider this a moot point. They don't really care one way or the other. Personally, I think at this stage its a little too early to be talking about Irish Unity and Independence. I say give it a few years for the parties to be working together, and then they can start discussing it. I'd like the pros and cons of the idea to be discussed, instead of simply just the idea itself being the only matter. For example, would we benifet economically if we were to unite with the south and break off from Britain. Socially? Culturally? What are the benifets beyond... well, pride? When I discussed this with Barry a few weeks ago, he said that if this were to come about, if the public were going to vote on whether or not we should have a united Ireland, he said it would kick up trouble again. This is probably true. You can't please everyone. But if the benifits were right - if it were the right thing for us in the long term - then screw the people that would kick up a fuss. They belong in the stone age.
Another thing on Sinn Fein's leaflet. "Exposing MI5 and Special Branch collusion". When it came out in the news about the police conspiring with terrorist groups to have innocent people killed, the DUP's immediate reaction was deny, deny, deny. "We don't want a witch hunt". What a ridiculous thing to say. The matter should be investigated properly and those guilty of collusion should be brought to trial. Furthermore, an investigation would benifit both communities.
"A £10 billion Peace Dividend from the British and Irish Governments".
"Increase funding for children with special needs".
"Campaign for an effective social and affordable housing strategy" - This is very important, as house prices in this country are ridiculous. Its pretty much impossible for first time buyers to find a home, unless you're filthy rich. £200, 000 for a small crappy house in a crappy area is ridiculous.
And on the leaflet theres a bunch of other stuff, like getting youth facilities, strong equality and human rights programmes, stuff about jobs, etc.
One thing on the leaflet I am frustrated by is that several of the points are written in Irish. One of which is clearly saying something about the 11 plus, but I can't read Irish. And niether can most people in this country. I think this type of thing would put off voters.
The SDLP leaflet really isn't very informative at all. There are only a few points, and a paragraph talking about how much experience the canditate has working on boards and being a formal principal. For all I know, the canditate could have been a really ****ty principal! Though I think I will look up the specific canditates myself on the Internet. But yeah, really uninformative leaflet. "Health - ensure better care in the community". ANYONE can say that. Oy! One issue I have with the SDLP is that they're always attacking Sinn Fein. The SDLP is supposed to be the less extreme choice, more of a middle ground. They shouldn't attack other parties, especially a party that wants alot of the same things.
But in that respect, nobody is as bad as the DUP. It actually says this on their leaflet - "Any unionist votes which are cast for minor unionist parties will be votes, which could directly help Sinn Fein increase its number of ministers in any Executive and increase the chances of Martin McGuinness becoming First Minister". And of course, their first paragraph talks about how they forced the IRA to decommission (hopefully people don't have short memories and remember how even when the IRA decommissioned the DUP still complained) and how they forced the IRA to shut down its criminal empire. These are lies, basically. The IRA gave up their weapons because thats what the Catholic people wanted them to do - thats what people voted for when they voted for the Good Friday Agreement - the agreement which the DUP were heavily against. I hope people don't have short memories in this regard.
So yeah, any party whos main point is "we don't want THEM in power, so vote for us" is a party that can **** themselves. Not to mention the DUP are just bigoted bastards. They kicked out one of their members when it turned out he was a homosexual. The DUP were against a law which forbiddes sexual discrimination - "For two hours at Stormont, assemblymen debated a motion proposed by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to condemn the UK government's Equality Act or Sexual Orientation Regulation, which it argued shall place Christians and their organizations on the "wrong side of the law", forcing them to provide goods and services to homosexuals regardless of their moral and religious convictions and opening them up to charges of harassment." "All six of the world's major religions are opposed to homosexual practice. Judaism, Islam and Christianity all teach that homosexual practice is sinful," said DUP's Jeffrey Donaldson.
In the news recently, it was said that Northern Ireland is one of the most bigoted places in Europe. Do we really want the DUP representing us?
This, and other things, are reasons why it frustrates me endlessly when people say "DUP and Sinn Fein are as bad as each other". They absolutely are not. My opinion - the reason politics fell apart earlier this decade is because of the DUP. The DUP were also opposed to the Good Friday Agreement. They're always trying to hold this country back! In fact, that is their entire purpose. They would be happier if we were back in the "good old days". And they fear monger in their own communities. They try to make Protestants paranoid that if Sinn Fein were in power, Protestants would no longer be welcome. Which is ridiculous. Protestants have just as much right to be here as Catholics. Sinn Fein have proven, time and again, that they want to leave the past behind. They want to leave violence behind - and they want to see this country move on.
The Alliance party's leaflet is good. I like the part that says "Alliance will abolish tuition fees for students in local Universities". I can get behind that! And "Alliance will introduce personal care for those living in residential and nursing homes". A good idea. They'll invest in public transport too. "Alliance supports equality of opportunity for all. We have secured 'Hate Crime' laws, creating stiffer sentences for racial, sectarian and homophobic attacks". I never really knew much about the Alliance party, but they seem pretty decent to me.
So, thoughts anyone?
I posted this on my livejournal site
Lets talk politics!! [01 Mar 2007|12:16pm]
So lets talk politics! The March elections are approaching fastly, and it will be my first time voting! So I want to make sure I vote for the right people. Basically, I want to make sure I'm not influenced by my own bias, where I've grown up, who my family vote for, and that type of thing. Because I have been considering voting for Sinn Fein, which I guess is a fairly controversial vote.
I was thinking maybe Rachel could help me out by talking a little about politics on her page, and talking about it with her friends. It would definately be helpful to get the perspective of Rachel and her friends. Like I said, I want my vote to be as non-biased as possible and getting other views will help with that.
In the post today I got several leaflets from the different political parties. I had a read through some of them, and here are my thoughts.
EVERYONE seems to be against water charges. Water charges is a big issue, and none of the parties seem to want us being charged to use our water. Whether or not any of the parties can deliver on this is another matter. I think thats something we'd just have to wait and see about. But I guess politics is always like that. A party says one thing, comes into power, and fails to deliver what they promised.
So, on Sinn Fein's leaflet. It has a bunch of bullet points about stuff they want to do, as most parties have on their leaflets. The first thing is "A strategy for Irish Unity and Independence". Now, alot of people across Northern Ireland consider this a moot point. They don't really care one way or the other. Personally, I think at this stage its a little too early to be talking about Irish Unity and Independence. I say give it a few years for the parties to be working together, and then they can start discussing it. I'd like the pros and cons of the idea to be discussed, instead of simply just the idea itself being the only matter. For example, would we benifet economically if we were to unite with the south and break off from Britain. Socially? Culturally? What are the benifets beyond... well, pride? When I discussed this with Barry a few weeks ago, he said that if this were to come about, if the public were going to vote on whether or not we should have a united Ireland, he said it would kick up trouble again. This is probably true. You can't please everyone. But if the benifits were right - if it were the right thing for us in the long term - then screw the people that would kick up a fuss. They belong in the stone age.
Another thing on Sinn Fein's leaflet. "Exposing MI5 and Special Branch collusion". When it came out in the news about the police conspiring with terrorist groups to have innocent people killed, the DUP's immediate reaction was deny, deny, deny. "We don't want a witch hunt". What a ridiculous thing to say. The matter should be investigated properly and those guilty of collusion should be brought to trial. Furthermore, an investigation would benifit both communities.
"A £10 billion Peace Dividend from the British and Irish Governments".
"Increase funding for children with special needs".
"Campaign for an effective social and affordable housing strategy" - This is very important, as house prices in this country are ridiculous. Its pretty much impossible for first time buyers to find a home, unless you're filthy rich. £200, 000 for a small crappy house in a crappy area is ridiculous.
And on the leaflet theres a bunch of other stuff, like getting youth facilities, strong equality and human rights programmes, stuff about jobs, etc.
One thing on the leaflet I am frustrated by is that several of the points are written in Irish. One of which is clearly saying something about the 11 plus, but I can't read Irish. And niether can most people in this country. I think this type of thing would put off voters.
The SDLP leaflet really isn't very informative at all. There are only a few points, and a paragraph talking about how much experience the canditate has working on boards and being a formal principal. For all I know, the canditate could have been a really ****ty principal! Though I think I will look up the specific canditates myself on the Internet. But yeah, really uninformative leaflet. "Health - ensure better care in the community". ANYONE can say that. Oy! One issue I have with the SDLP is that they're always attacking Sinn Fein. The SDLP is supposed to be the less extreme choice, more of a middle ground. They shouldn't attack other parties, especially a party that wants alot of the same things.
But in that respect, nobody is as bad as the DUP. It actually says this on their leaflet - "Any unionist votes which are cast for minor unionist parties will be votes, which could directly help Sinn Fein increase its number of ministers in any Executive and increase the chances of Martin McGuinness becoming First Minister". And of course, their first paragraph talks about how they forced the IRA to decommission (hopefully people don't have short memories and remember how even when the IRA decommissioned the DUP still complained) and how they forced the IRA to shut down its criminal empire. These are lies, basically. The IRA gave up their weapons because thats what the Catholic people wanted them to do - thats what people voted for when they voted for the Good Friday Agreement - the agreement which the DUP were heavily against. I hope people don't have short memories in this regard.
So yeah, any party whos main point is "we don't want THEM in power, so vote for us" is a party that can **** themselves. Not to mention the DUP are just bigoted bastards. They kicked out one of their members when it turned out he was a homosexual. The DUP were against a law which forbiddes sexual discrimination - "For two hours at Stormont, assemblymen debated a motion proposed by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to condemn the UK government's Equality Act or Sexual Orientation Regulation, which it argued shall place Christians and their organizations on the "wrong side of the law", forcing them to provide goods and services to homosexuals regardless of their moral and religious convictions and opening them up to charges of harassment." "All six of the world's major religions are opposed to homosexual practice. Judaism, Islam and Christianity all teach that homosexual practice is sinful," said DUP's Jeffrey Donaldson.
In the news recently, it was said that Northern Ireland is one of the most bigoted places in Europe. Do we really want the DUP representing us?
This, and other things, are reasons why it frustrates me endlessly when people say "DUP and Sinn Fein are as bad as each other". They absolutely are not. My opinion - the reason politics fell apart earlier this decade is because of the DUP. The DUP were also opposed to the Good Friday Agreement. They're always trying to hold this country back! In fact, that is their entire purpose. They would be happier if we were back in the "good old days". And they fear monger in their own communities. They try to make Protestants paranoid that if Sinn Fein were in power, Protestants would no longer be welcome. Which is ridiculous. Protestants have just as much right to be here as Catholics. Sinn Fein have proven, time and again, that they want to leave the past behind. They want to leave violence behind - and they want to see this country move on.
The Alliance party's leaflet is good. I like the part that says "Alliance will abolish tuition fees for students in local Universities". I can get behind that! And "Alliance will introduce personal care for those living in residential and nursing homes". A good idea. They'll invest in public transport too. "Alliance supports equality of opportunity for all. We have secured 'Hate Crime' laws, creating stiffer sentences for racial, sectarian and homophobic attacks". I never really knew much about the Alliance party, but they seem pretty decent to me.
So, thoughts anyone?
kainedamo
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Irish music rules. Ever listen to The Cranberries?
Lord Doom
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Yep! I once heard this Irish song that was SO Irish, I could barely understand a friggin' word they were sayin'. It was STILL a REALLY awesome song, though.
t:
kainedamo
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I like the names of the political groups in Ireland.
The Alliance.
We have loads.
The Workers Party
The Green Party. Bunch of dirty hippies.
The Socialist Party
DUP
Sinn Fein
SDLP
UUP
PUP
We have loads of parties.
Son Of Logan
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Ah... the annual "St. Patrick's Day is Coming" thread.
X-Chick
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X-Chick
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Ah... the annual "St. Patrick's Day is Coming" thread.
So you've been here for what? Two of them?
jaguarr
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My wife agrees with you on that. She's got a fetish for us blue-eyed blondies that are blessed with the Luck O' The Irish. At any rate, please continue with the licking and such with Kaz.
jag
X-Chick
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Lord Doom
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The Luch O' The Irish runs pretty long in my family, if ya know what I mean.My wife agrees with you on that. She's got a fetish for us blue-eyed blondies that are blessed with the Luck O' The Irish. At any rate, please continue with the licking and such with Kaz.
jag
Son Of Logan
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jaguarr
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The Luch O' The Irish runs pretty long in my family, if ya know what I mean.
I pretty much didn't need to nor want to know that.
jag
Lord Doom
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Yeah you did. Admit it.I pretty much didn't need to nor want to know that.
jag
jaguarr
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X-Chick
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