Posted on 05/30/2006 12:12:59 PM PDT by Irish_Thatcherite
By way of response:
You have laid out a well reasoned "glass is half full" argument. I will, however, maintain my "glass half empty" position.
In either case it argues for further progress along the lines envisioned by Tone and Bertie in the Good Friday Accords. It seems to me that a shift to a Fine Gail/"Labour" coalition government is a move in the wrong direction: in respect to economic policies especially; but also as regards the preservation of a distinct Irish culture and the laudable aspects of it; and progress toward peace and unity. In any event, let's hope for the best.
BTW, I would not advise the use of the U.S. educational system as a model the Irish should emulate. Rather, it is more a hydra that afflicts us that we cannot be rid of. Cut off one head and another bites you in the tail. It is a state monopoly that responds to the demands of the unions and bureaucrats that control it; the needs of students and the desires of their parents are secondary if not tertiary concerns. It also is run with all the efficiency and fiscal control one expects from a government monopoly. Needless to say, the unions and bureaucrats are not only utterly securlar in their outlook as regards family and life issues, they are fundamentally leftist and unpatriotic in their world view: the very definition of a Fifth Column. You need not search hard in the domestic threads on this board to find ample examples of their perfidy.
Best wishes,
I_l
It's something that's best not ruled out - but often the main reason I mention the possibility of a Loyalist bombing in the south is to throw my critics here on FR off a bit - the IRA are the biggest danger at the moment, but we must mention the Loyalist terror groups, in order to show we aren't 'Orangemen' or 'Unionists'.
We got a bit off topic on this thread but just imagine the crack if oul Martin DID turn out to be a British agent!
hehe, I think Himmler and Goering were spies for the Allies!! ;)
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