32 Comments

• seanomelbourne | Feb 23, 2011, 05:18 PM EST

  Irishmike 1 am relaxed but I do find it unsettling when people Bull-s and try to dress up their ramblings as fact. You can have the pint I'll have a Jameson 18yr.old Mike.

• IrishMike71 | Feb 23, 2011, 03:38 PM EST

  wow! you guys need to duke it out in the street, then shake hands and go into the nearest pub and have a few shots of the ol' Dew and a few pints. Relax!

• seanomelbourne | Feb 20, 2011, 05:57 PM EST

  Realist Your justification of orange bigotry amuses me and your lies disappoint me or maybe it's your leap into the unknown.Firstly the McBride principals were ratified and became law in 1998.secondly the reference the 25 mile zone is an acceptable distance for people to travel to work,unless Bushmill is some sort of mini state within a contrived mini state and thirdly the reference to the shipyard where Catholics were thrown Off ships and hounded out by your orange mates, until the closure of the yards.You see it all happened in my life time and fortunately I am not one of the victims you scorn.The nationalist population in the north of Ireland had to fight for what you bigots took for granted you hypocrite,at least be honest and cease hiding your bigotry.Just for the record the city of San Francisco refused to stock Bushmills in there dining room and I refused to stock it in my hotel in Australia and we were not the only ones to do so.Maith an fear laith

• maloney | Feb 20, 2011, 02:47 PM EST

  realist..thanx for the kind words, now get out of Ireland. Screw being PC.

• Ulsterman | Feb 20, 2011, 02:45 PM EST

  How many Protestants--and other religionists--does Jameson's employ? (Just wondering.) By the way, aren't there more churches in Ireland and Northern Ireland than pubs? Comments please.

• hancock | Feb 20, 2011, 10:30 AM EST

  Realist you play the victim card like a fiddle yourself. Always wondered why an Orange Englishman loved to play on Irish American site sooooo much.

• Realist | Feb 20, 2011, 07:21 AM EST

  maloney: My compliments sir....for unlike most of the other usual suspects here, at least you openly admit to being an anti-Protestant bigot.

• Realist | Feb 20, 2011, 07:18 AM EST

  seanomelbourne: Lol....I quoted 2003 figures because that is when the MacBride assessment was conducted - hope that explains things for you. My friend you wrote, and I quote, that Bushmills Distillery "refused to employ catholics". Basically, your entire response is predicated on a lie, unless of course you can substantiate that with an official reference. Can you? I also have a copy of the MacBride principals and I still can't see where it mentions a 25 mile radius or any other such requirement. Where did you get your 'current' figures for the company's ethnic breakdown? I notice all your other figures are in the dim and distant past tense, such as those for the shipyard - how far back did you have to go for that then? I also notice you chose not to answer my questions: How many Protestants are employed in firms in Londonderry or South Armagh? Care to share some Bushmills sales figures for the year (2003)? You see, that's the problem with constantly playing the victim card - every now and then, someone, if he/she can be bothered, will call you out on it....lol.

• seanomelbourne | Feb 19, 2011, 10:56 PM EST

  Realist fudging figures!! the catholic population living within a radius of 25 miles is approx 32% Bushmills are noted for it's anti Catholic bias.I find it interesting you quote 2003 figures and they still(no pun intended)only have a non-protestant workforce of 13%. To put your argument into perspective Belfast has about 50% Catholics yet the shipyards had about a 95% protestant workforce and I can assure you the other 5% of workers were performing tasks that protestants wouldn't perform If you want to justify religious or ethnic bias be man enough to say so and not hide behind inane phrases like "playing the victim" I said "proper Irish Uisce Beatha" not "proper Irish".If you wish to deliberately misquote me to justify stupidity on your part so be it.

• maloney | Feb 19, 2011, 09:33 PM EST

  realist..the 13.3% were the only ones who actually worked & had a clue. As far as the Garda, they interviewed 25,000 protestants but could only find 12 with no criminal records & honest enough to hire..

• Realist | Feb 19, 2011, 07:16 PM EST

  seanomelbourne: Well I have the report in front of me and nowhere does it state or even hint that Bushmills Distillery "refused to employ catholics". I know your default position is to play the victim but please don't lie. The company actually employed 13.3% Roman Catholics which, in a town that is 95% Protestant, is more than representative of the demographics of the area. How many Protestants are employed in firms in Londonderry or South Armagh? By way of comparison, in 2005 the police of the Irish Republic (the Garda), out of some 14000 officers there were only 12 Protestants. Also, "huge sales drop worldwide" really? Care to share some figures for that year (2003)? By the way, I love your phrase "proper Irish" - it speak volumes....lol.

• seanomelbourne | Feb 19, 2011, 05:48 PM EST

  Realist Bushmills suffered huge sales drop worldwide because they were in breach of the McBride principals(they refused to employ Catholics).It is not tripled distilled and uses the Scottish distillation method of using peat which gives it that smokey flavour.Prpoer Irish "uisce beathha" uses triple distillation and smokeless fuel.Powers, Paddy,Tullamore or Jameson(18yr.old)drank in moderation is a nice tipple.

• Realist | Feb 19, 2011, 02:27 PM EST

  “We all know how sensitive the Irish get when you bring up the fact that their greatest contribution to world culture is Bushmill's Single Malt." Sounds about right to me Mr Balk. It's even funnier as Bushmills isn't even in the same country to which these Irish claim allegiance - it's in the United Kingdom. Therefore Bushmills - with the oldest grant to distill in the World (1608 from King James I) is actually British....lol. Priceless. Oh, the "victims we know so well....".

• leahforce | Feb 19, 2011, 10:03 AM EST

  Bloomberg has a habit of calling it as he sees it- no arguing that. The Irish as an ethnic group are very much bound to alcohol and alcoholism- oh, no watt....that's right , there are no alcoholics in Ireland, alcoholics go to meetings.

• sirpeter | Feb 18, 2011, 10:26 PM EST

  Georgy..I think you were perving on some homeless immigrant's.I mean the street is their bed. I think you must go out of your way to see these things. I get the feeling you are a bit of a perv Georgy. Those trailer parks aren't very private.Is that what you do? I guess that's where you get your hatred for immigrant's. A lot of immigrant's in trailer parks. By the way..I don't fu*king suffer from fu*king Tourette fu*king Syndrome. You and your fell-fu*kin'-atio. You wouldn't get one if you had a bag of langers *nice bit of Cork slang there.

• seanomelbourne | Feb 18, 2011, 05:38 PM EST

  I'm Dublin born and bred you dumb fool. I've seen more St.Pats parades than you have had southern fried chicken in that trailer of yours . You've seen one parade and your an instant expert. I'll send you a small franger so you can place it over your little head the next time you shove it up your rse.Your a no nothing headline chaser Georgy my friend.You spend all your time chasing conspiracy theories and urban myths.

• Silling | Feb 18, 2011, 01:21 PM EST

  Paddy! don;t you realize that every time you get drunk, you kill thousands of brain cells " I know, but we can afford to loose them.

• GeorgeDillon | Feb 18, 2011, 12:40 PM EST

  seanmelbourne-- You're an idiot. I was telling it like I saw it in Dublin on 3/17 a couple of years back. Maybe you should save up and try to visit Ireland. And I see you tried your usual stunt of inventing a quote for me. I never said fornicating, you fool. In fact what I saw was mostly fellatio. You might know the difference if you got out more. Right now it looks like you never make it to Ireland because you only get as far as some of the nasty bars in Thailand. As for sirpeter, he's mentally unsound, suffers from Tourette Syndrome. Not worth talking to or about. His momma should wash out his smelly mouth.

• sirpeter | Feb 18, 2011, 07:57 AM EST

  maloney..Aussies are all roohumpers..I like it.woundedbandyleg and George Dillon are the same assh*le, Course he could be a lady boy.

• maloney | Feb 17, 2011, 10:54 PM EST

  sirpeter..ya forgot the Aussies are all roohumpers. Thanks alot for clearing up any doubts I may have had about any of the others. I think woundedbandyleg is a female.

• sirpeter | Feb 17, 2011, 09:33 PM EST

  A watered-down bottle of Powers!! Now that's serious!!

• sirpeter | Feb 17, 2011, 09:18 PM EST

  PC sh*t..Ye bore me..The Irish are all drunk's..The English are all football hooligan's and drunks If you can stomach the sh*t English beer. The Americans are all fat bast*rds..The Germans are all Nazi's and Jew killers...The Russian's are all vodka heads..The Nigerians are all scam artists...The Muslims want to kill everybody and can't fly planes..The black's smell like sh*t and are crack heads. The Jews are money grabbing, Muslim killers..There!! Political Correctness at it's finest. Oh!! I forgot..Towngate touches himself while on IrishCentral and then smells his finger,and Woundedbolix was rejected by an immigrant polish special needs, 75 year old woman and hates immigrant's ever since.

• sirpeter | Feb 17, 2011, 08:16 PM EST

  Calm the passion..You people worry to much about stereotypes and the Irish drink to much and we'll both meet our maker much to soon because of it..But the Irish will arrive much happier ;))

• gaillimh | Feb 17, 2011, 08:06 PM EST

  alex balk is a racist plain and simple and part of the jewish hypocrisy : say one word about them and you'll get murdered,almost, but they can say what they want about other groups. Here's one for them : stop the murder of Palestinian women and children and give them a proper state of their own. Now take that you money grabbers.

• seanomelbourne | Feb 17, 2011, 05:34 PM EST

  GeorgeDillon doe's not approve of stereotypes but!!One weekend in Ireland and he suddenly becomes an expert.Your stereotype is a "drunken holy Ireland and people fornicating on every street corner"This is your view. Give yourself a break hypocrite.

• SeamusXXX | Feb 17, 2011, 01:41 PM EST

  Why don't WE just stop making fun of ourselves over booze. That is a license for all to do likewise. Can we not get laughs some other way ??

• SeamusXXX | Feb 17, 2011, 01:39 PM EST

  Sad to say making fun at others expense will not go away (at least not overnite) and I too wince at a stereotype. I indeed was one to poke fun at others regardless of color, race or creed. Having said that I get so angry and upset when we (The Irish) are abused over our drinking habits. Do we deserve it ?? So many movies and books have been created and where an Irishman or woman is involved he/she usually is associated with booze............................. I have learned to be politically correct and now always consider how i would receive a stereotypical comment before I make a remark

• GeorgeDillon | Feb 17, 2011, 01:20 PM EST

  Listen Irish, if you don't like the stereotype stop getting drunk so much. And Americans, if you think the stereotype is unfair, be in Dublin on St Patrick's Day a month from now. You'll see so much drunkeness, fightin' and vomitin' that you'll wind up agreeing 100% with Bloomberg. But if your stereotype is of Holy Ireland, or that the Irish are kind of backward about sex--that'll change too when you see the truly astonishing amount of al fresco afternoon sex acts that I saw in Dublin on 3/17 a couple of years back.

• jamieLM | Feb 17, 2011, 11:49 AM EST

  Some stereotypes refuse to die. It's not just the Irish who are battling annoying stereotypes. In the upper Midwest, stereoptyes are kept alive with the "dumb Swen & Ole" jokes between the Swedes & Norwegians who are always "eating lutefisk" and saying, "I tink I vill go dere in Minn-e-so-ta." Garrison Keillor makes a fortune poking fun at the Scand. Minnesotans on his weekly radio show and in his books (Lake Woebegone). Not too long ago people were telling the "dumb Pollock" jokes. "How many Pollocks does it take to screw in a light bulb? 2 - one to hold it and one to screw it in." People say, "He tried to Jew me down (on the price)." All Jews love making money (like others don't?) and the joke is: At Christmas the Jews join hands and dance around their cash registers singing, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" (which is the title of a well-known hymn in America). Lately, I've heard the "towel-head" jokes. The "damn Yankees up North" joke about the "lazy Southerners who are all married to their cousins." Intelligent people know that stereotypes infer "ALL" and that's what's wrong with them. Stereotypes don't define the ENTIRE ethnic group. Not all black people can sing and dance and like to eat watermelon and chicken. People can despise these stereotypes, but as long as there's a grain of truth to them, it's hard to get rid of them. Maybe we can protest loudly, but also acknowledge the human flaws and characteristics, found in all ethnic groups, that gave rise to these stereotypes, and admit that, "Yeah, some of us are/were like that."

• MalcomAC | Feb 17, 2011, 10:31 AM EST

  How many people who are offended by the stereotype of the drunken Irish also support Notre Dame's "Fightin' Irish" with the logo of the red-nosed [drunken] elf with his fists up? Just curious.

• antoman | Feb 17, 2011, 09:05 AM EST

  People may think us Irish are a complex mechanism for converting alcohol into urine but there's more to us than that. :)

• averagejoewa | Feb 17, 2011, 05:38 AM EST

  I wonder if Alex Balk would feel the same way if an Irish-American politician were to make jokes about greedy Jews and Jewish swindlers since there are plenty of those around as well (remember Bernie Madoff?).