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Generally any incident (of which I see examples on a daily basis) in which those who contribute least to society take the most from it.

apples obession with combating piracy leaves it difficult if not impossible to back up your songs if you have put your settings to 'manually manage your songs'. You would select this if you only wanted to store your songs on your ipod but not on your laptop. Problem is once youve done this it seems they are trapped there forever and can't be returned to your laptop. (for backing up, sharing etc..)  Does anyone know what i'm ranting about? Anyone know any way round this?

By dictionary definition we are. The reality however is that only an unfortunate few of us have had our lives turned upside down by this recession. The majority of us have had to tighten the belts a bit but we can't complain with our standard of living specially when we look around the world. Personally speaking I think most of us were living above our means anyway especially considering how poor the economy in Northern Ireland was.

ne1 ne idea when the reserve championship will kick off?

I'm on the basic package with bt vision. Think its great! Theres always something to watch in the ON DEMAND feature which is updated weekly. Love the pause/record/rewing and record features. You can now also watch the BBC Iplayer through the tv now 2.

21 Aug. 14:00
2011 Tyrone SF

Carrickmore   
5/2
Dromore   
3/1
Errigal Ciaran   
7/2
Coalisland   
9/2
Ardboe   
5/1
Omagh   
11/2
Clonoe   
15/2
Donaghmore   
14/1
Killyclogher   
20/1
Trillick   
20/1
Cookstown   
28/1
Eglish   
28/1
Moortown   
28/1
Moy   
28/1
Derrylaughlin   
40/1
Greencastle   
40/1
Each-way bets 1/3 odds first 2

Omagh and Clonoe great value imo

who is offering these odds?

Thats what I am tryiing to establish, if there are any such people with a similar view. In regard to what you were saying about the wide spectrum of views amoung the SF electorate eg business men I would imagine some of them vote for SF as a means to an end!

I would be of similar view to yourself and my own political views would be middle right, but given the general thinking of people in the North there is no way a middle right nationalist party would survive.  Real 'politics' as such has never existed in the North as primarily our voting has been based along nationalist / loyalist lines and very few of our 'politicians' can actually handle themselves when faced with questions based aroung tax rates, inflation, the general economy etc... which is why Stormont is in such a mess. 

Economically the 6 counties are too dependent on state handouts, governement sponsored jobs etc... that it wouldn't 'pay' to argue for middle right politics, just compare the number of civil service jobs here compared to the south or the UK. 

If a middle right party started there would be a fear that it would split the nationalist vote and let in unionists so therefore it is very unlikely to happen.  Would you vote for a middle right unionist before you vote for a leftist nationalist just because they are middle right?  Very few would.

Real politics has never existed here before but its starting to rear its head. Voters are starting to become interested in political issues other than the constitutional question. As regards splitting the vote; its an age old fear, but if you were to assume that seats lost by SF/SDLP went to this new entity and not to Unionist candidates I fail to see how it could weaken nationalism.

You pose a very good question, based on a wrong assumption, that all Republican/Nationalist parties are left of centre. There are many historical reasons as to why they are perceived to be so, and their own rhetoric adds to this impression. The fact is that no labour movement has ever prospered North or South. The parties which have been successful, FF and FG in the south, Unionist,SDLP and latterly SF in the North, are all broad church parties, with a strong vein of social conservatism and a practical flexible outlook on ecomic matters, which appeals to the working and middle classes. The fact that both socities were largely rural facilitated this stance, as did partition which prevented the development of normal class politics. The strong influence of all the churches was also a major factor.  Even with the move towards a more Urban based electorate,  the decline in Church influence, and the heat being taken out of the partition debate, there is little sign that attitudes will change. In short, there is no place in Ireland for a left wing party

Firstly I wish this assumption was wrong but it isn't. The social conservatism you attribute to SF and SDLP was only present (tolerated) because of the strong influence of the catholic church, the absense of an actual economy and the conflict in the north which meant that neither party had to formulate any actual policy.
Now that the business of politics has began here and the influence of the chuch is in terminal decline you will see that they are infact left wing parties!

A NI with a self sustaining private sector and an efficient public sector is a fundamental requirement to achieve a UI. The problem is that SF are largely incapable of promoting this as they largely see themselves in the business of distributing wealth rather than creating it.

Very true...

Thats what I am tryiing to establish, if there are any such people with a similar view. In regard to what you were saying about the wide spectrum of views amoung the SF electorate eg business men I would imagine some of them vote for SF as a means to an end!

I understand the historical rationale but from a current perspective I don't understand why this political view point seems non-existant or at least unrepresented.

Why is Nationalsim/Republicanism so synonymous with Left wing politics? Both Nationalist parties in the North are socialist/liberal. If a nationalist/republican had a slightly more conservative political outlook they would find themselves completely unrepresented.

Our culture of entitlement has been created by an overly generous welfare state.

Are you seriously questioning the spirit of volunteerism in Ireland on a GAA discussion forum???

and what about the uVf, lVf etc...!!! 

The Star of david is used to show support for the right of a state eg Israel, UK to occupy the territory of another people if they are militarily capable of doing so. However the presence of an oppressor in each respective conflict is where the similarities end. The differences between the 2 and the many reasons this action shows ignorance are too numerous to list.

The Scottish flag is flown as a tribute to the large no. of scotts who, ironically, battle hardened from their own history of oppression from England were seen as the ideal candidates to settle on the land stolen from Irish farmers in the North of the country. It remains to be seen if this flag will still be used here when Scotland inevitably votes in the 2nd Term of their current Govts time in office(a manifesto pledge by the SNP who not only were the largest party at the last election but who recieved enough of a mandate to form a majority govt) to leave our Loyalists' beloved Union. This brings us nicely on to the Union flag which itself is under threat due to the soon to be missing blue and white portion!