I don't think that this thread is a joke. In fact, I was the one who initially commented on the first posting. It really pisses me off when folks take the ignorant stance that the U.S. has been living in never-never land and are now being thrust into the "modern world." As i indicated, we have been paying a heavy price for our involvement in contemporary global affairs for a long time. I would assume that in the near future a lot of Americans are going to pay the price so that no one has to experience something like New York. Likewise, it is stupid to make such a statement in a taunting manner and then connect it to a diatribe about the popularity of particular Irish songs. I am not an apologist for the IRA, but as many people have pointed out, they don't slaughter civilians on a large scale and even their attacks on miliary targets often come with a direct warning.