Fun & Games with Sinn Fein

According to this, this and this, the IRA is in deep dog doo on both sides of the Pond. Hell, if you can't even get Ted Kennedy to lift a pint of Irish Whiskey with you, it must be bad!

I think what the politicians are asking for is a bit much, tho. I douby that many here in the U.S. know who the good Reverend Ian Paisley is (he's the rep in parliament for the Protestants, Adams is the same but for the Catholics), but picture a white Jesse Jackson after taking lots of really, really bad acid.

Now, the current excuse for killing each other is that Great Britain is officially Protestant - CofE specifically. The Republic of Ireland is sovereign, but Northern Ireland is the same as Wales and Scotland - which pisses them off as well, but that's for a different blog.

The Irish have been happily killing each other for centuries for other (or no) reasons. I'm quite certain that if Good Queen Lizzie (God bless 'er - and all who sail in 'er) were to put a stop to the National Religion, the boyos would find something else about each other that they didn't like.

The last time I looked, England wasn't at war with Spain or France any more, so I don't think they have to worry about being suddenly invaded by Catholics; an 'Anti-Reformation' doesn't look to be a starter either. Henry VIII's divorces are a thing of the past, so how 'bout it England? That one requirement that everyone in Britain has to be Protestant has caused enough problems, hasn't it?

Just askin', ya unnerstand.