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Re: The British Secret Serv...

Russ
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SubjectRe: The British Secret Service...[was Re: Republicanism still an offence in Eng
FromRuss
Date2002-04-23 23:41 (2002-04-23 23:41)
Message-ID<20020423174155.01774.00001917@mb-cg.aol.com>
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Newsgroupsalt.fan.tolkien
FollowsDavid Flood
FollowupsMichael O'Neill (17h & 26m) > Russ
In article <aa4ijb$7tcgo$2@ID-121201.news.dfncis.de>, "David Flood" <NOSPAMmaoltuile@utvinternet.ie>writes:

David Flood
and you and your tag team-mate can disappear off to wherever you reappeared from.

Isn't that the truth. Curly (aka Oje) is strangely protective of Moe (aka MSR). I recall fondly Curly calling me some very impolite things (specifically a certain word colloquially referring to the female genitalia) for me having the temerity to prove that said the Moe was blatently misrepresenting the results of the unification referendum held in Northern Ireland some years back:

"In article <2001040319281871187@asgard.zetnet.co.uk>, Mike Scott Rohan <mike.scott.rohan@asgard.zetnet.co.uk>writes:

I was able to tell him there'd

been one in the 1970s, under the same voting system as any British election and therefore not open to manipulation, and that the idea was rejected by a huge majority, including Catholics.

Hey genius. The Catholics *boycotted* that referendum.

Hey, genius -- IRA supporters boycotted it. The majority of the Catholic community, fortunately, did not. Just as the vast majority of the Catholic community has never voted for the IRA.

Wrong. You should get your facts straight. The March 8, 1973 referendum was boycotted by a pan-nationist front, not just Sinn Fein. Did it ever occur to you why the vote was 99% -1%?? Do you really believe your statement above or are you just misrepresenting facts?

Anyway, the official vote breakdown of the 1973 referendum is as follows:

Remain in UK: 591,820 representing 98.9 percent of the valid votes cast Join Ireland: 6,463 representing 1.1 percent of valid votes cast Spoiled Votes: 5,973 Non-voters: 425,828

So you are wrong. That vast majority of the Catholic community did boycott the referendum - unless of course, you wish to admit that the 425,828 non-voters were all IRA supporters.

As to yout last point, you are also incorrect. Assuming you are equating Sinn Fein with the IRA (as unionists are wont to do), since Sinn Fein currently polls 40% of the nationalist vote (i.e. SDLP plus Sinn Fein), and rising each election, it appears there is significant acceptance, if not support, for militant republicanism.

Russ"

Surprisingly (not), MSR never had the balls to reply to me. Instead, the Swedish cavalry arrived and posted this bit of wisdom:

"That was 28 years ago, when conditions were very different. Do you really think that necessarily reflects attitudes today, or ar you just an arrogant, abusive twat?"

I'm actually quite pround of my reply to the dirty mouthed Swedish cavalry:

"It seems you are a classless boor for using language like that.

Perhaps you should read the thread because you're obviously misunderstanding it. Mike Rohan is the one who first cited the referendum. He cited it as proof that the "vast majority" (I think were his words) of people in Northern Ireland supported the union. I replied that that referendum is proof of nothing because it was boycotted by the nationalist population. He then said that only the IRA supporters boycotted it. I replied with the official vote figures showing he was wrong.

It was *Mike* who brought up the 28 year old referendum and misleadingly cited it to support his point. Not me.

[snip the official vote breakdown of the 1973 referendum]

[snip]

So you are wrong. That vast majority of the Catholic community did boycott

the

referendum - unless of course, you wish to admit that the 425,828 non-voters were all IRA supporters.

"Admit"? You think that is proof that they were (back in 1973)?

You should read the message I was responding to. *Mike Rohan asserted that only IRA supporters boycotted the referendum.* I was sarcastically questioning whether he still took that position after being presented with the actual vote tally."

<schnip>

Thus faced with superior force and leadership, the Swedish cavalry departed the battle, with not a word in response, leaving yours truly in command of the field.

Russ

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Michael O'Neill (17h & 26m) > Russ