"No- I would not toss out a song for a simple excuse. It would have to not fit my use in many ways.."
So where does that leave your original argument?
"...and (I) drink the pope's free beer" ??????????????
"I myself am methodist"
"Why would one belong to one religion and think that any other was right?"
?????, I suppose, as a lecturer of Irish studies, you never got to read up on Calvin.
"..The reason we do not see more of a unionist presence at cultural events is not due to much more than their organizational inneptitude and conservatism two things I encouraged them to deal with and two things they failed to do."
Now I DO know that your head is in the clouds.
"IMHO it is better that you deal with the issue and logic of the thrad rather than the personality and history of the writer."

Conrad...you don't have a 'humble opinion', I'm afraid. Trimble is trying to keep people like you from taking over and hi-jacking the process. If you had any conscience, you wouldn't have 'given up' and stayed supporting him, for by God he needs that kind of support now. I, too, talked to him, at a reception the Irish Ambassador to Norway gave on the occasion of the presentation of the Nobel Peace Prize. He was in a sticky wicket then, and he barely scraped through this time.

If you are not part of the re-conciliation process, Conrad, you are against it. The comments I made about you above were not 'meant' to be personal. Purely a statement of fact. Yours to me, on the other hand, were.

The unfortunate thing about ANY song, or ANY tradition, is that without 'appeal' they stagnate. I would hardly say that the singing of Republican songs of resistance is increasing to any great degree. But when songs lose their appeal, there is nothing you or I can do about it. Especially if those songs relate to the suppression of a section of the population. Remember, also, that a lot of the Irish tradition, and I mean the Island of Ireland, has been lost in the mists of time. I think the Orange tradition has survived gallantly, given the circumstances don't you?
It is also an unfortunate thing that the only gripe we hear from the more right-wing Unionists is the need for a greater slice of the collective cake.
I need hardly remind you, as a lecturer in Irish studies, of the incident that fuelled the birth of the Civil Rights campaign. I'm not talking about 'Burntollet' here, but you, as an avid student, will know exactly what I'm on about, the same way you knew what 'Kicking the Pope' entailed.

Conrad, you are a trouble maker in a number of guises, whose only purpose is to be some sort of 'devils advocate' on this forum. You are all that is offensive about Unionism, and you are giving what is trying to be achieved in MY HOME, a bad name.
You are a back-seater, and enlightened Unionism wouldn't give you the time of day, thank God.
Traditions come and go, my friend, as surely as the water flows to the sea. And species become extinct too, when they lose the power to adapt to their environment.

I feel a bit sorry for you, in a way.

B.