Iris Robinson MP

More quotes from Iris
“I stand by my faith and the word of God that man was created in the image of God and that woman was created from the rib of Adam to be his helpmeet and companion. That is the natural progression of procreation.
The word of God says that procreation is through a man and a woman”
Which is biologically correct…
and I’d be the first person to become concerned if homosexuals or lesbians were to conceive a child together… well perhaps the third person.

I wonder if it’s worth asking hubby Peter if she ever takes it in the arse?

My favourite joke is told by an Irishman [Dave Allan].

It is funny, and like the very best lokes contains a serious message……..it goes like this.
NB obviously, I make no claims to be able to reproduce Allen’s masterly delivery.

Following the death of a hunchback a rather earnest, and pompous village priest is admonishing the parishoners at the mans funeral.
“I don’t know how you lot have the nerve to show your faces”, snorts the Priest.
“None of you ever had a kind word to say for the hunchback when he was alive”.
“When kids weren’t throwing rocks at him, adults were either taking the piss, or ignoring him in the pub”.
“You lot are a disgrace” concludes the vengeful priest.
“Now, I’m going down to the vault to pay my final respects”.

The priest makes his way deep into the bowels of the spooky old church.
The tormented hunchback lies alone in the crypt.
His final resting place is an open coffin………….heavy coins covering both eyes.
Due to the severity of spinal curvature his chest is bound by a creaking old leather strap.

Suddenly the ligature gives way and the hunchback appears to lurch forward.
The pennies fall from his eyes as he emits an involuntary gasp of air.

“Holy mother of god”, screams the Priest as he turns to run.
But in his frantic attempt to escape the sleeve of his billowing cassock catches on the door handle, impeding his desperate escape.

“Let go, you humpty backed bastard” screams the priest, “get your fucking heathen claws off me”.

Allen was notoriously scathing about religious bigotry in Ireland.
I would much sooner he [or commentators like him, since Allen is sadly no longer with us] dealt with the likes of Iris Robinson, rather than suppressing the admittedly discriminatory bilge she seems to believe in, or expects others to.

I wonder if Iris remembers this ?
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=.....re=related

Mock all you like. Iris, Peter Robinson, Iain Paisley ( the founder and former leader of the DUP ) and the DUP itself are the products of a troubled land. I couldn`t understand it all before I went to Northern Ireland but very quickly I got consumed by it. I strongly suspect that if I`d have been born on the Falls Road, I`d have been in the IRA and if I`d have been born on the Shankill I`d have been a UVF man. Say what you like about the DUP and the Free Presbyterians ( one and the same thing ) they didn`t pick up arms and kill and maim the opposition. In reality, I suppose, that makes them better people than me. Instead they found succour in their, rather too fundamentalist, Christian belief. Believe me, these people needed to find succour in something.

Now you can look at this superficially and get pompous or you can think about it and learn something. If you think Iris should be banned, you`re a “blithering idiot”.

BTW, my final sentence ( above ) isn`t directed at E. Self explanatory really as if he thought Iris should be banned he wouldn`t have posted her up. Just trying to avoid detention.

I think there is something about ‘removing the plank from your own eye’ before trying to remove the speck from someone elses. I also think that people have a responsibility to practice rather than preach.

Against this I think we should challenge other people about their thoughts and opinions when they clash with our own ideas about what is ‘right’or ‘good’. However we need to be able to be challenged, more than we set about challenging others.

I grew up in the south west, and never met a black person till I was 21 and living in the south east. It took me a long time to get used to having both professional and personal relationships with black people, and I still struggle with it. I don’t think black people are second class or should be treated differently, but I am very aware that I interact with black people in a differnt way to white people - especially if they have moved to the UK and still have an accent to their english.

IMO Iris Robinson has a responsibility to consider what she says and the effect it will have. If free speech is a responsibility, as opposed to a right to say what you want, when you want, to who you want, how you want, it changes the game.

To quote Austin Powers ‘We’ve got freedom and responsibility, it’s a very groovy time.’

Will

It is true that Iris Robinson is not banned from the site, but then I’m not aware of her actually using it on any kind of regular basis. I don’t really feel like e-mailing DeeDee Ramona or Serotonin Sister to ask, “Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the Democratic Unionist Party?”

Part of the hoo-hah was over this particular comment by Iris Robinson:

“I have a very lovely psychiatrist who works with me in my offices and his Christian background is that he tries to help homosexuals - trying to turn away from what they are engaged in,”

The psychiatrist in question is one Paul Miller, who claims to use psychotherapy to turn gay people straight. That said, his views are somewhat different to Robinson’s in that he only does the therapy with gay people who have indicated that they want to become straight.

From the interview:

Dr Miller said that if a homosexual person worked through his course and decided that if they wanted to be “gay-identified to the world” that it was fine and he would not seek to stop them.

So…the question is, is it ethical for psychiatrists to try to help a consenting adult switch from being gay to straight?

The liberal in me says that homosexuality is not a mental illness, and therefore psychiatry shouldn’t be involved. The libertarian in me, on the other hand, says that if they want to change, then perhaps they should be offered help to do so.

But then as well as ethics, one also should look at whether the therapy is actually likely to work. I haven’t looked at the evidence base, but I’m told that attempts elsewhere to “cure” homosexuality through psychotherapy invariably don’t work. In which case offering false hope of such a “cure” might only prolong anguish when it might be better instead to encourage self-acceptance.

E has introduced Iris Robinson’s comments [I think] to illustrate how very quickly we can tie ourselves in knots once we start banning stuff ?

The BNF offends Muslims [to name just one group on their hate list].
Religious fundamentalists offend gays.
NuLab offend anybody with an IQ above double figures.

What to do, what to do………… ?

I think OSB is spot on when he picks up on cultural context - but even so this still only takes us so far, especially if you belong to one of the groups being shat on.

Just think about it for a moment: consensual, and legal sexual activity between adults being likened to paedophilia……… hardly a ringing endorsement of social worth.
In my view it is impossible to dismiss Robinson’s comments as being either light hearted, or off-hand observations.

No, Robinson reflects a deep rooted religious ideology - a world view that is every bit as entrenched as the view of groups like Hamas or the Taliban.

So whose views do we dislike the most ?
The rascist BNP or homophobic religious fundamentalists like Robinson ?

Is she bad enough for the bansturbation list ?
If I was gay and living in Northern Ireland I might just be tempted to say, yes.

For the record folks - to answer Z’s question, as an atheist from South of the border with Catholic, Free Presbyterian and Church of Ireland ancestry, I think I can safely say I have _never_ had the slightest interest in Paisley’s bunch.

Methinks that this kind of bigotry has gone unchallenged in NI in a way that it hasn’t here since the 1980s, because they have, until recently, had other things on their mind there when they talked about bigotry or intolerance.

Just do what everyone else is, laugh, or ignore her, entirely. I spend a fair bit of time in NI for work and the people I meet are nothing like her. She’s a fast dying breed.

ps - I don’t have any time for Paisley but I’ve heard from many sources that he is a very good constituency politician, regardless of your religious persuasion. The catholics in his constituency apparently are staunch supporters and vote for him every time, because of this. He may think they are going to hell, but he’s plenty nice regardless. Just don’t ask him what he thinks of dancing at weddings.

Quite by chance, Mrs OSB met big Iain at the Ulster Memorial on the Somme earlier this month. He couldn`t have been nicer.

I keep half an eye on what`s going on over there and I`d never heard of Iris Robinson. I hope, to God, we can trust Hansard, so we have some accurate reports about what she said but I`m sceptical about her supposed influence. Nu Labour have done things like create Homophobic Crime Units and they have targets. If it was a case of homophobic men seeking out and killing a homosexual in Belfast, I`ll be very surprised. Alcohol, drugs, debts, money laundering, paramilitary rivalry, sectarianism….., one or more of these will be involved. Murder is murder. If homophobia is the motive then add to the sentence. Simple.

Whil I am here. Speaking as a proud born again God botherer I would just like to say Iris’ stated views above are vile and repugnant on so many levels that my brain implodes. She can say what she likes in private, in fact she can say what she likes in public, but when she speaks as a representative of her consituency she should engage her idiot brain before opening her mouth. Obivously if her entire constituency agree with her they are all severely brain damaged morons who should not be allowed out on their own.

The only advantage of having her views publicy aired is that it should allow her to be voted out as quickly as possible at the next opportunity.

Loving the Left Wing Conspiracy theory OSB

There will be No Surrender, Mental. You of all people should know that.

Hope you and yours are well.

@OSB> Ulster says no, but the man from Del Monte says yes .

As you say OSB, anyone I know or have read about who has ever been next or near Paisley (Ian Paisley, not the district West of Glasgow) says the same thing - lovely bloke. It’s weird how he at the same time does things like protest at Westminster when the Pope addressed MPs, complaining that he was the anti-christ.

Public v. private I guess. However, much to his chagrin, cinemas are open on a Sunday these days in Belfast.

Pope as antichrist. Part of of the Westminster Confession of Faith (Chapter 25 Section 6). Which many mainstream churches would say they sign up to. I believe certain clauses are now considered optional, Pope as antichrst being one of the optional ones. Wikipedia has a good write up.

Why would a gay person want to change something that is not wrong or abnormal or disordered? Because they believe it to be wrong, abnormal or disordered. Psychiatrists shouldn’t pander to this self-loathing opinion in much the same way as medical doctors wouldn’t offer skin-bleaching to black people who wanted to be white. Self-acceptance should be encouraged.

Iris Robinson is just s stupid bigotted fool. The world, alas, is choc-full of them.

I’m not very knowledgable on Northern Ireland politics but I *think* the answer to that is that the Ulster Unionists and the Democratic Unionists are two separate parties, so there’s not much likelihood of Iris rubbing shoulders with Camwhore Dave.

And I agree with Beakie. Psychiatrists would be better off encouraging self-acceptance when working with a gay client, rather than offering dubious therapies to un-gay them.

Cameron wouldn’t put up with such rampant homophobia. No matter what you might think of him, he strikes me as a modern person for whom such bigotry and prejudice is pretty much beyond the pale.

wow. I have no idea who she is but I think she’s vile. Comparing a pedophile to gays? Simple not cool at all. I’d live in a town of only gays and it wouldn’t bother me a bit but I would rather ship off all the child molesters to a sinking island surrounded by man eating sharks. They can’t be rehabilitated and are a waste of space. That remark truly makes me feel like I’m going to vomit.