ADMIRING BRITS CHEER ON THE =91FIGHTING IRISH=92 AS THEY STAND UP TO
TOTALITARIAN EU LEVIATHAN - =91Euro Capitals Edgy: Irish Euro Vote Comes
Down to the Wire=92 =96 =91Lisbon Treaty: Failure To Hold A UK Referendum
'An Attack On Fair Play', Says Stuart Wheeler In High Court=92 =96 =91Come
On Ireland: Say =91No=92 To The Treaty=92 =96 =91Brits Want looser Ties
With=
The
EU=92 - =91Dev Would Have Smiled At Irish 'Batting' For Britain - Speak
for Ireland on Thursday! Come to that, Speak for England too!=92 - =91Yes
Side 'Brow Beating' Irish Public On Treaty=92
- o O o -
Euro Capitals Edgy: Irish Euro Vote Comes Down to the Wire
By Harry Browne,
CounterPunch.Org,
June 9, 2008
Dublin - The more the Irish people know about the Lisbon Treaty, the
less they like it. That=92s the message of the opinion polls as we draw
close to Ireland=92s June 12th referendum, which is decisive for the
future of European Union institutions.
It=92s going to be close. The media panic about the possibility of a No
vote on Thursday hasn=92t dwelled on such details as polling-margin-of-
error and the huge body of undecided voters. But there=92s no doubt that
the momentum toward the No side has been real, and Ireland could well
force the EU governments back to the old drawing board--for a second
time, after the rejections of the similar EU Constitution by French
and Dutch voters in 2005.
The main problem faced by a virtually complete assortment of the Irish
and EU powers-that-be is that there is no obvious positive reason to
vote Yes. =93To Make EU Institutions Function More Efficiently=94 is not a
slogan to stir the blood, especially when folks suspect those
institutions are up to no good to begin with.
What=92s more, the =91reforms=92 envisioned by Lisbon--e.g. more majority
voting instead of unanimity, fewer commissioners--were allegedly
required after the expansion of the European Union to 25 countries in
2004 (it=92s now 27). But no one has noticed Brussels and Strasbourg
seizing up with legislative gridlock under the current arrangements--
and again, most people think they wouldn=92t much mind if they did.
The underlying issues, and the reason that Ireland alone is holding a
referendum on this treaty, have been dealt with previously in
CounterPunch. What is notable as the voting approaches-- it has
actually started already on a few offshore islands--is that the Yes
side has moved its argument forward from =93come on, we like Europe=94 to
=93we=92ll make a terrible mess if we vote No and this is no time to be
getting Europe annoyed=94. Ireland=92s always fragile self-esteem has
already taken a blow over the last year or two as the Celtic Tiger
limps off the scene; and new Taoiseach (prime minister) Brian Cowen
seems to be shouting breathlessly every time he comes on TV, all about
the trouble we=92ll be in if No emerges victorious.
That shouting could yet work: if I were a betting man I=92d stick a few
euro on a narrow Yes victory. The main farmers=92 lobby has joined the
Yes side, after strong-arming the government into a commitment to veto
any WTO agreement that isn=92t favorable. Moreoever, the prime opinion-
forming media outlets are amplifying the elite=92s panic. (A couple of
British-owned papers backing the No side have kept the press wars
interesting, if not honest or well balanced.) Ad hominem attacks on
the No side have been stepped up.
But the No side, which ranges right across the political spectrum, has
kept throwing up objections to the Treaty and stayed on the offensive.
Some of the objections are dubious--abortion will not be brought into
Ireland thanks to Lisbon, however much this prospect seems to have
engaged and enraged some conservative voters. And the fuss about
keeping =91our=92 commissioner at the EU table and ensuring Ireland can
continue to have the EU=92s lowest cor****ation tax is neither very
progressive nor based on a sound reading of how most Irish people=92s
interests have been served historically.
Sinn Fein, which had a terrible election last year, has virtually led
the No campaign and deftly plucked arguments from left and right
alike. But it would be fair to say that it has kept its emphasis to
the left, and the party has helped to boost the left=92s No voices,
raising objections relating to workers=92 rights, the possible
privatization of public services and the militarization of the EU. It
has made for an interesting month of debate: it=92s rare, for instance,
to hear so many, and contending, trade-union voices in the media.
And the popular energy is on the No side. While establishment
politicians use the referendum campaign, and the accompanying
relaxation of the litter laws, to stick up photos of themselves on
lampposts across the State, sometimes beside the tiniest of =93Yes=94
pleas, a motley assortment of No campaigners has plastered the island
with slogans.
That energy, and a decision by the electorate that the burden of proof
should be on those who wish us to change existing political
arrangements and power structures, could yet yield a No victory when
votes are counted on Friday. Whoever wins, the arguments about who
wields power in Europe and to what purpose have only just begun.
(Harry Browne lectures in Dublin Institute of Technology. His book,
=91Hammered by the Irish: How the Pitstop Ploughshares disabled a US war-
plane =96 with Ireland=92s blessing=92, is forthcoming from Counterpunch
Books. He can be reached at: harry.browne@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
)
Source: http://www.counterpunch.org/browne06092008.html
- o O o -
Lisbon Treaty: Failure To Hold A Referendum 'An Attack On Fair Play',
Says Stuart Wheeler
By Graham Tibbetts
Daily Telegraph, UK,
9 June, 2008.
Failure to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty would be a breach of
the Government's promise and an attack on "fair play", the High Court
has heard.
Conservative party donor Stuart Wheeler has argued the agreement is
the same as the EU Constitution Treaty in all but name
The millionaire businessman Stuart Wheeler, a Conservative party
donor, claims the agreement is effectively the same as the now-defunct
EU Constitution Treaty in all but name.
He is seeking a judicial review of Gordon Brown's decision that the
new treaty - unlike its predecessor - does not require ratification by
the electorate.
"The Government promised a referendum and should keep its promise,"
said Rabinder Singh, QC, for Mr Wheeler.
At stake was "good administration, fair play and straight dealing with
the public", he said.
The High Court in London heard that the prime minister's predecessor,
Tony Blair, had pledged to hold a referendum prior to the ratification
of the Constitutional Treaty, which ended when proposals for an EU
Constitution were voted down by the French and Dutch in 2005.
Mr Singh argued that promise had given rise to "a procedural
legitimate expectation that a referendum would be held in respect of
that Treaty - and by implication any Treaty containing substantially
similar terms, whatever its name".
He told Lord Justice Richards and Mr Justice Mackay the evidence
showed that the subsequent Lisbon Treaty and the Constitutional Treaty
were "materially the same".
This was sup****ted by statements from leading figures, including
Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the author of the EU Constitution proposals.
Lawyers representing the Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary and the
Speaker are fighting Mr Wheeler's application for judicial review.
They say the application has been brought for the "inappropriate
purpose" of seeking to "change the political atmosphere" by obtaining
a court judgment critical of Government decisions "for use as a
political manifesto".
The two-day case is being heard just days before voters in Ireland,
the only EU state holding a referendum, go to the polls.
An Irish No vote on Thursday to the Treaty - which paves the way for
greater European integration, an EU presidency and the abolition of a
host of national vetoes - would kill it as it must be passed
unanimously by all 27 states.
Mr Wheeler, 73, who made more than =A330 million from the spread-betting
firm IG Index, has raised around =A3170,000 from donors in addition to
his own money to provide a fighting fund.
The Daily Telegraph's campaign for a referendum has gathered more than
100,000 signatures of sup****t.
The case continues.
Source:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/2099457/Lisbon-Treaty-fa=
ilure-to-hold-a-referendum-'an-attack-on-fair-play',-says-Stuart-Wheeler.htm=
l
- o O o -
Come On Ireland: Say No To The Treaty
In the absence of a UK referendum on Brussels, the public has a chance
to veto the EU constitution in all but name
The Sunday Times, UK,
June 8, 2008
When campaigning began for Thursday=92s Irish referendum on the European
Union=92s Lisbon treaty, few thought there was the remotest chance of a
=93no=94 vote. The massed ranks of the Irish Establishment lined up in
smug anticipation of a resounding victory for the =93yes=94 campaign.
Brussels regarded the referendum as a mere diversion, confident that
Irish voters would apply the rubber stamp in the appropriate place.
Even the bookies thought there was more chance of a Shergar winning
the Derby.
Whatever happens this week, those cosy assumptions have been thrown
out of the window. Alone among the Irish media, this newspaper, which
is one of the biggest selling broadsheets in the republic, argued the
case for a no vote. The latest opinion poll, showing the no camp in
the lead (although admittedly with a large number of =93don=92t knows=94)
has alarmed the Establishment. Could it be that Irish voters will do
the right thing, which happens to be the exact opposite of what
Brussels wants?
That they should reject this treaty is not in doubt. In Britain and in
other European countries, the constitution =96 in all but name =96 is
being foisted on citizens without an op****tunity to have their say.
Gordon Brown insisted wrongly that Labour=92s manifesto commitment to
hold a referendum on the constitution did not apply to the Lisbon
treaty. But parliament has so far failed to hold the government to
account and the treaty is making its way into British law. Only the
Irish can stop it by sending Europe back to the drafting board. This,
of course, is the scare tactic adopted by the yes campaign. The
European Union, they say, will be thrown into chaos by an Irish
rejection of the treaty. It is a desperate and dishonest tactic.
According to Ireland=92s independent referendum commission, in the event
of a no vote =93the EU would continue to operate under its present
rules=94. The chaos theory is bogus.
Anybody who has tried to plough through the reform treaty will quickly
realise that it has met the test set by Giuliano Amato, the former
Italian prime minister, who said it =93should be unreadable=94. Val=E9ry
Giscard d=92Estaing, the former French president and architect of the
constitution on which the treaty is based, said =93public opinion will
be led to adopt, without knowing it, the proposals that we dare not
present to them directly=94. Last month in Ireland we published the
treaty in its entirety in order to demonstrate how successful that
strategy has been.
Nobody should sign up for something they do not understand. But there
are other reasons for rejecting the treaty, not least that it is a
reheated version of the constitution thrown out by French and Dutch
voters in their referendums in 2005. Those voters are not being given
the chance to decide again. If Ireland rejects the treaty this week,
Brussels will no doubt find some way of getting around it. That battle
is for another day. The first requirement is for a no vote this week.
It is one occasion when many of us will have no hesitation in saying:
come on Ireland!
Source:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article4087=
614.ece
- o O o -
Brits Want looser Ties With The EU
By Vince Soodin,
The Sun, UK,
9 June, 2008.
A CLEAR majority of British voters would back a looser relation****p
with the European Union in a referendum, according to a poll released
today.
Some 41 per cent of those questioned said they would like Britain=92s
relation****p with the EU to be based on trade and co-operation - but
opting out of political and economic union.
This is compared with 27 per cent who want the UK to remain a full EU
member and 26 per cent who favour withdrawal.
And when asked how they would vote in a referendum, 64 per cent said
they would back a renegotiated looser relation****p, against 26 per
cent who would oppose it.
However, only 36 per cent of those sup****ting the change thought there
was a good chance of achieving it, with many saying that no British
Government would ever enter the required negotiations or that other EU
nations would not agree a new arrangement for the UK.
Some 57 per cent said the UK should leave the EU if other European
nations blocked an attempt to renegotiate its member****p.
Source: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1267834.ece
- o O o -
Dev Would Have Smiled At Irish 'Batting' For Britain
by Mary Kenny,
Irish Independent,
June 9 2008
It is a moment in history to savour: and if De Valera is up there
playing his harp in the great hereafter -- he must surely be out of
Purgatory by now -- he must allow himself an ironic smile.
For the first time since -- probably -- 1169 AD, many of the British
electorate are looking to Ireland to defend the principle of national
sovereignty next Thursday.
It is a matter of widespread bitterness in the United Kingdom that the
people have not been permitted a referendum vote on the Lisbon Treaty,
which is, after all, about forming the constitution of the European
Union. Gordon Brown all but promised such a referendum, but like so
many politicians once they get into office, promises and deeds are two
different things.
And so, in that strange historical turnabout, for those Brits who care
about a national relation****p with the EU, Ireland must now also bat
for England.
It is a situation full of paradoxes. If the 'No' vote in this country
is most clearly identified with Sinn Fein (and also with the small
Socialist party), in Britain, the 'No' vote would most be most
strongly sup****ted by those traditional United Kingdom Independence
Party sup****ters, Tories (and Unionists) who would abhor the likes of
SF. Perhaps this is not as much of a paradox as it looks: I have
always thought that UKIP's motto should be: "Ourselves Alone".
But the question at the heart of any form of national party is a
legitimate one: what is sovereignty? Is the nation state not entitled
to its sovereignty? God knows enough blood -- and ink -- has been
spilled to affirm Irish sovereignty over the centuries and the
decades.
=46rom the 1930s until the 1960s, De Valera and his Fianna Fail
adherents affirmed, over and over again, the right to Irish
sovereignty. Dev himself carried out an often bad-tempered
correspondence with British officials -- and with the king's private
secretaries -- making point after point about Irish sovereignty. He
forbade his emissaries to attend British coronations to underline
Ireland's sovereignty. He even forbade them to put on a ribbon of
bunting on the Irish High Commission in London for George VI's
coronation.
He went so far as to try and stop the British monarch from having a
harp on the heraldic flags, claiming that this emblem belonged
exclusively to the Irish people. The heraldic scholars had to dig up
historical do***ents going back to the 16th-century showing that it
was "custom and practice" to retain the harp quartering on the
monarch's flag: and anyway, the Ulster-Herald-At-Arms justified it (as
the six counties also had a claim on Irish heritage).
Irish sovereignty was a matter of excessive touchiness for the leaders
of this country for so many decades. If a Canadian military plane
skirted the Irish Free State's airspace on a wartime mission to
Northern Ireland, apologies for infringing "sovereignty" were demanded
by Dublin.
And now Dev up on his heavenly cloud sees the strange sight of Ireland
voting on a matter of sovereignty: in which the ceding of sovereignty
is urged by his own party, Fianna Fail, and the upholding of Irish
sovereignty urged by the successors of Winston Churchill.
Truly, in history, everything eventually comes full circle.
Of course, the Lisbon vote is not just about sovereignty: it is also
about bread-and-butter issues, the most vital of which is the question
of cor****ation (or business) tax. It is another paradox that the most
leftwing political parties, usually so opposed to mercantile
capitalism, are in effect championing a crucial issue of free market
economics. As everyone knows, cor****ation tax is 12pc in the Republic.
In France, it is over 34pc. In Germany it is more than 38pc.
The Franco-German dominant leaders in the EU are resolved to
"harmonise" these taxes, "so as not to distort competition", as the
French put it.
Once the Lisbon treaty is ratified (and France takes over the EU
leader****p from July 1), then the economic sovereignty of setting such
taxation is doomed.
There is an eye-catching 'No' street poster all around the country
proclaiming: "People died for your freedom". In a way, that is a
complex argument, because other people also died to defend the freedom
of Europe from the Nazi threat, and the European project has certainly
helped to ensure that peace and democracy prevail on the continent.
But it is certain that the project of Irish nationalism, since the
foundation of the state, and of course before it, was to assert Irish
sovereignty at every turn. The respected historian John A Murphy has
written that without De Valera's nagging, persistent and sometimes nit-
picking insistence on Irish sovereignty, the Celtic Tiger itself would
never have happened. So speak for Ireland on Thursday! Come to that,
Speak for England too!
(Mary Kenny's book about Anglo-Irish relations "Crown and Shamrock"
will be published by New Island in the autumn)
Source:
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/dev-would-have-smiled-at-=
irish-batting-for-britain-1402341.html
- o O o =96
Yes Side 'Brow Beating' Public On Treaty
By Darina Daly,
The Irish Times,
9 June, 2008.
A No campaigner in the Lisbon Treaty today accused the Yes side of
"brow beating" the public into voting for the treaty and of
misrepresenting key issues in the debate.
Richard Boyd Barrett, of the People Before Profit Alliance, today
accused those campaigning for a Yes vote in Thursday=92s referendum of
raising =93straw-man=94 arguments as part of their campaign tactics. He
also accused some sections of the media of ignoring the real issues by
over-focusing on business interests in the debate.
In a statement, Mr Boyd Barrett said recent polls showed that the No
sentiment is dispro****tionately coming from the working class and
young people who are directly affected by issues such as workers
rights and public services.
He said that key areas of the debate such as public services,
privatisation, EU militarisation and neutrality are being underplayed
or simply ignored, with the Yes side trying to =93brow beat the public
the public into voting for the treaty using fear and the dishonest
argument that it was about being pro- or anti-Europe=94.
Mr Boyd Barrett described the Treaty as an erosion of democracy as it
would give =93greater power to people who are either not elected at all
or who are not directly elected by Irish citizens=94.
The People Before Profit Alliance will continue its campaign today on
Grafton Street in Dublin. Speakers will include Mr Boyd Barrett, group
co-convenor Ailbhe Smyth and Kieran Allen, a member of Siptu's
education branch.
Source: http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0609/breaking30.htm
(These news stories are posted under =91Fair Use=92 provisions)
See also:
The Elite=92s Secretive Plan For A =91North American Union=92
http://www.mimico-by-the-lake.com/NAU1.HTM
http://www.mimico-by-the-lake.com/NAU2.HTM
http://www.mimico-by-the-lake.com/NAU3.HTM
=91The Plan For Three World Wars=92
http://www.mimico-by-the-lake.com/3WARS.HTM
Ready and Waiting: 'The Constitution for the Newstates of America'
http://www.mimico-by-the-lake.com/NEWSTATE.HTM
'Astounding Quotes From The Political And Financial Elite On The
Planned New World Order' http://www.mimico-by-the-lake.com/TRAGEDY.HTM
Archived =91New World Order Intelligence Update=92 Articles on the =91New
World Order=92
http://www.mimico-by-the-lake.com/sect22.htm
- o O o -
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before the recent massive Gansu And Sichuan earthquakes in China.
Was this a HAARP hit?
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Weather Modification, 'Black Ops' Or For Biological Warfare
And Mass Vaccine Testing?'
http://www.mimico-by-the-lake.com/BLACK-OP.HTM
And see also...
'Nikolai Tesla And Soviet Scalar Electromagnetic Weapons'
http://www.mimico-by-the-lake.com/SCALAR.HTM
- o O o-
Did Tsar Nicholas II Of Russia And The Romanov Royal Family Die In The
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History says 'NO', but some surprising voices say 'YES!'
Read online or download for free the 1920's book, 'Rescuing The Czar:
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You'll find a wide range of other free online classic history and
travel books (on English history, American History, Canadian History,
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Check frequently for new free online ClassicTravel Book titles at
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And for free online Classic Christian Books and Writings=85
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- o O o -
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