Mick, thank you.

I really wasn't trying to offend anyone: North, South or British. I do know the history fof Ireland--not as well as a scholar, but I know it. I know that historically the Irish had their country split by England. I know that Protestants and Catholics have difficulty getting along, maybe nowhere so much as in Ireland. I do understand 'gang' menntality because I came from a district that had gangs because we needed to have gangs for protection.

I look at the country--no, the Island of Ireland--and I see from afar a beautiful place with myth and legend intertwined; with what I really think is the most beautiful music on Earth; with writers and poets who can hold thjeir place with the giants of literature of this or any other time--and I also see evil, ugly, perverted bastards who would kill a child to further their cause. We see this in the mid-East. We see this with self-appointed fanatics who would corrupt the very heart of Holy to reach a place from which to declare, "Hey, boyo, we WON." What can anyone win by spilling the blood of people whose real heroism lies in living life, raising families, and just going about the daily things we take for granted. No, sir, I think the things done in the name of this cause and parenthetically most other causes degrade humanity. The Cause has a life of its own, and it is not dedicated to justice now--if indeed it ever was.

BM