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stonebird

Listed below are comments made by stonebird between Saturday, 11th October 2008 and Friday, 25th September 2009.

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Lisbon fiercely debated 4:14pm on 25 Sep 2009 I am glad someone asked me to explain the treaty, here are two choice bits that OBVIOUSLY the minister has read and understood. (Thanks to other sources for these-)

The text of the Treaty of Lisbon, p. 10:

1) The preamble shall be amended as follows:

(a) the following text shall be inserted as the second recital:

"DRAWING INSPIRATION from the cultural, religious and humanist inheritance of Europe, from which have developed the universal values of the inviolable and inalienable rights of the human person, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law,";

(b) In the seventh, which shall become the eighth, recital, the words "of this Treaty" shall be replaced by "of this Treaty and of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,";

(c) In the eleventh, which shall become the twelfth, recital, the words "of this Treaty" shall be replaced by 'of this Treaty and of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,".

GENERAL PROVISIONS

2) Article 1 shall be amended as follows:

(a) the following words shall be inserted at the end of the first paragraph: "on which the Member States confer competences to attain objectives they have in common.";

(b) the third paragraph shall be replaced by the following: "The Union shall be founded on the present Treaty and on the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (hereinafter referred to as "the Treaties"). Those two Treaties shall have the same legal value. The Union shall replace and succeed the European Community."

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My favorite part of the Lisbon treaty: “Article 61 shall be replaced by the following Chapter 1 and Articles 61 to 61 I. Article 61 shall also replace the current Article 29 of the Treaty on European Union, Article 61 D shall replace Article 36 thereof, Article 61 E shall replace Article 64(1) of the Treaty establishing the European Community and the current Article 33 of the Treaty on European Union, Article 61G shall replace Article 66 of the Treaty establishing the European Community and Article 61 H shall take over Article 60 thereof, as set out in point 62 above.”
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It is incorrect to assume that Ireland will "suffer" if it says no. The "tiger" time was based on relaxed company taxation and education of the workforce. Neither of which were due to Brussels.
A future for cod? 10:27pm on 20 Nov 2008 After cod - tuna. Fishermen in the med. have been scraping the barrel, and there is talk of a total ban on bluefin tuna fishing. This is not unexpected. Scientists wanted half of the finally agreed quota of 16,779.5 tons taken, fishermen illegally took 61,000 tons. Most of that was fished by europeans and then sold/taken (including transferring fish while still at sea) to Japan.

It is not JUST cod, or Tuna , but overfishing of every sort and all over the world.

I agree with frenchderick that the EU politicians just do not prescribe the necessary medicine. They are far too owned by the "free" marketeers, to see that there is always a price. You can also see this emphasis on economic benefit solely for the few, in the new agricultural policy, where French farmers have already demonstrated because they cannot cover cost of production.

Monetary greed, aided by idiots in power, probably means starvation will come before salvation.
A dose of realpolitik 12:33pm on 16 Oct 2008 What are "ethics" if you don't keep to them?
Nothing. There is nothing left if you give away your principles just to help another dictator squash his population. Where does it stop?

I don't care if there is a short-term benefit (realpolitik or "modernised" politics). If you "give away" the fundamentals of your society, then someone alse will want the same dispensation so he or her can make their own short-term benefits.
Chaos on wheels greets Kouchner 1:49pm on 11 Oct 2008 One thing that saddens me is that I have yet to see ONE TV interview of S. Ossetians who were chased out by the Georgians. 30'000 of them fled to Russia but it is as if they don't exist. Most, if not all western Media are guilty of biaised reporting.

The second point is that the Russians have taken back land that the Georgians took during the previous war. The argument that "they move back to 'pre-war positions" avoids the question - which war?

Third/ The Russians won. Why hasn't the other part of the agreement been implemented, that of the return to it's bases and disarmement of the Georgian forces?

4/ Most people seem to have forgotten that it was in response to Georgian attacks that Russia moved and the shameful disinformation put out by "Human Rights Watch" of only 40 S.Ossetians dead, has not been corrected overtly - and it's "new" figures are still suspicious..

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