Lisbon eh… what’s that all about.

There is nothing sexy about the Lisbon Treaty, there is no great gain for the man on the street… Depending who you speak to voting yes to the Lisbon treaty will create an EU superstate, introduce abortion to Ireland, give the EU total control over our laws and taxes, create an EU army which we will all be conscripted into and will place a cap of one child per family!

I’m all for free speech and debate… but it helps if both sides are at least prepared to stick to something resembling the truth.

My sister told me she is voting no becuase what she read on the Libertas website-

“The Government’s referendum bill makes it completely clear that after Lisbon, the EU will have the final say over nearly all major issues of importance to the Irish people.”

If thats not scare moungering I don’t know what is! The Lisbon Treaty specifies that the constitution of every member state is the over riding document in that country… nothing the EU does can over ride that!

The Lisbon Treaty is designed to reorganise how the EU goes about its business. It changes the way in which decisions and laws are made and how they are implemented. It is required because the institutions which ran a 15 state EU are not sustainable for a 27 state EU.

This treaty is not anti democracy as some would have you believe… It is anti bureauracy. It is designed to make Europe a better place to live for its citizen and to give Europe a stronger voice on the world stage hopefully preventing the type of unilateral actions by a US administration that have defined the international stage over the last decade.

This Treaty will:

- Strengthen the EU’s capacity to bring greater economic prosperity, which we have shared and will continue to share.
- Equip the EU to better deal with global warming; energy security and cross border crime, because we cannot do this on our own.
- Limit the size of the European Parliament and the European Commission so that we have less bureaucracy and more efficiency.
- Create a new EU Foreign Affairs Representative who will give us a stronger voice on the world stage, in the UN and dealing with developing countries needs. As China and other regions organise it is important we are not left behind.
- Make the Charter on Fundamental Rights legally binding on EU Institutions and Member States when implementing EU Law, thereby safeguarding the rights of Irish citizens.
- By extending the powers of our MEPs and strengthening the role of Dáil & Seanad Éireann, make Europe more accountable.
- Ensure that the EU exercises those responsibilities – but only those responsibilities – that can be carried out more effectively by commonly agreed policies than by Member States acting separately.

For those who want more info on the treaty I would suggest:-

www.Libertas.org  www.no2lisbon.ie

http://www.europarl.ie/lisbontreaty_meps.html?gclid=CNuc2oeP1pICFQd3MAodRnDm6g

http://www.finegael.ie/treatyoflisbon/index.htm

Well… its all getting very exciting in the States. The level of interest in this years primary season is unprecedented this side of the Atlantic. Even at work my politically agnostic colleagues are debating the ups and downs of each candidate’s progress…

So I put to you loyal Bifsniffers… predict the winner! I’ll settle for a Republican and Democratic nominee for now, but if anyone is willing I’ll accept outright winners too!

For the record I’d like to see Barak Obama take the oath on Jan 20th 2009!

Having pounded the pavements, knocking on hundreds of doors and spoken to my fair share of nut’s (as well as plenty of perfectly “normal” people) I was to put it mildly gutted when Fianna Fail got back in to government. Now as the summer draws to a close and the school kids politicians return after their holidays my thoughts turn to the road ahead.

Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying that the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” So I’m hoping that over the next few years that Fine Gael can change the record and be a different kind of oposition party.

What is it that works for FF that Fine Gael just cannot seem to tap into? Why don’t people care about the obvious levels of corruption in FF? And more importantly what must FG do at all levels of politics in this country to get into government?

 I’m not necessarily looking for big policy issues…

What I really want to know is what do you want from your local politician?

According to the Guardian this morning the RAF (that’s the Royal Air Force for those not up on their military acronyms!) had to scramble fighter jets on Tuesday to intercept two unidentified aircraft which turned out to be Russian military planes. The Russians turned back before reaching UK airspace and no direct contact occurred however the fact that the RAF felt the need to scramble is in itself worrying.

This comes in the same week that the UK sent four Russian diplomats home as relations between the two nuclear powers worsens. Coincidence? Perhaps, but I think not. We could be witnessing the beginnings of a very serious situation.

Although it is unthinkable and beyond comprehension for those of us living the dream in Celtic tiger Ireland statistically Europe is due a good scrap. Those of us who survive to tell the tale might rue the day we heard the name Alexander Litvinenko.

There are fears in some circles that President Putin is A: Gunning for a fight and B: Looking for any excuse to install himself leader of the Russian Federation beyond the end of his present term in office. We have in the world today a disturbingly blood thirsty bunch in power. It is easy for us to forget that many of our EU neighbours are effectively at war alongside the US while the Russians continue to fight the 2nd of their wars in Chechnya… So is it really that far fetched to suggest that the UK and Russia might square up?

What would the consequences be for us? Given our inablilty to defend ourselves against a well motivated rogue FCA unit and our proximity to the UK I would suggest their might just be a dip in house prices!

Someone should really write an idiots guide to flying or more specifically… ”The Complete Idiots guide to packing, arriving at airports, checking in (with particular attention given to families and groups), going through security, pre-boarding, finding your seat, landing- sit the fuck down and leave your bloody phone off- disembarking and waiting for your bag!”

In general I like people, really. I also love traveling. Why is it so that when travelling the one thing that wrecks my head more than any delay, more than any dirty hostel, more than any dodgy local dish is the behaviour of my fellow air travellers?

This rant was inspired by flying home this morning from Spain with everyones favorite low fares airline. While standing in an endless queue behind row after row of fool with bags bulging full of every item in their wardrobe, none of whom seemed to have their passport handy, all of whom seemed to have incredible difficulty with tricky questions such as “How many bags do you have, how many passengers etc etc… My long suffering girlfriend was enduring her first Ryanair experience and was blaming the whole affair on Michael O’Leary.

But the question occurred to me… What did Ryanair have to do with it?

Did Mr. O’Leary pack anyone’s bag? Did they hide the fact that you can only bring 15kg? Did he sneak about the queue hiding passports at the bottom of peoples check in luggage? Is it Ryanair’s fault that there has been no media coverage of all this terrorism and so people are surprised that they can’t bring water, or bottles of wine passed security? Nope none of this is Ryanair’s fault… It is the muppets who fly with them.

PS My personal favorite occurs in the baggage hall post arrival. Why oh why must everyone… I mean single person on the plane try and stand on the luggage carousel as the bags come out? Why? Why must mom, dad, three kids and granny stand right up on top of the bloody thing?