Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Rictor on May 30, 2005, 12:13:24 am
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4592243.stm
My guess is that Chirac or whoever comes after will pay lip service to the No side, but still go ahead as if nothing had happened. The EU is too far along to be turned back now, for better or worse.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4538249.stm
Its the english. Their plotting against us :lol:
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the voters didnt even know what they were voting for what was it 3000 pages? who the hell do you thingk read the while constitution hehe
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Why the hell do legal documents these days take sooo much paper but still fail to please the same proportion of people?
Edit: And maybe no great thinker has said this, but I think that for in order for a law to be effective, it must be understood by those that it applies to, both in reason and in wording.
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This certainly doesn't improve my view of the french... :doubt:
Altough I must say naming the EU Constitution as Constitution was a very bad idea. Lot of people seem to think it takes away their national independence.
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I find it ironic that the french are always the ones turning down EU/EEC treaties
Oh well, back to the drawing board for another treaty to replace the treaty of Nice.
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It's strange, and what happens if they are the only 'no' voters? Unlike the other 6 billion people on the planet, I don't actually hate the French, but I really don't understand them for this...:blah:
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The treaty of Nice states that this treaty would have to be aproved by all member countries for it to replace it. So even if all the others say yes, and the french say no, it won't happen. What remains to see is if the french no is going to be a definitive one. If it is, this treaty is dead.
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I think they voted NO out of simple ignorance of what they were voting for. Seems to me the media should have done a better job explaining to the people what the constitution really is, instead of playing with common folk´s fear and desires. They probably thought they were going to be invaded by eastern europeans if they voted yes.
Those poor saps, they get invaded just the same. :D
Like it says in my favourite comic book, "Ils sont fous, les gauloises!!" And the romans too, by Toutatis!!
:p
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Originally posted by Clave
It's strange, and what happens if they are the only 'no' voters? Unlike the other 6 billion people on the planet, I don't actually hate the French, but I really don't understand them for this...:blah:
They won't be the only No voters anyways; I think Denmark and Poland (at the very least) were also expected to vote No.
I'm ambivalent on the whole thing; I haven't read the Constitution thingy, although I'm automatically wary of the "They'll steal the pound and come over and take our women and children and jobs and NHS!!! We fought a war to avoid this!!!111oneone" knee-jerk reaction from the likes of UKIP and the Daily Mail.
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Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't ratifying the EU constitution transfer some sovereignty away from Paris and to Brussels? I guess in my mind, I'm already looking ahead 30 years or so, to when much, if not most, of the decision making power will end up with the EU parliment. Once started, centralization is a difficult trend to stop or turn back, which is why I'm weary of the EU.
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Erm, actually aldo the bigger concern is loss of sovreignty (sp?) and tighter integration into an economy which is failing compared to our own.
British economics are wildly different from European ones at the moment. There is no benefit for us in going deeper into Europe.
More importantly: A nation has a constitition, an alliance or trading bloc has treaties. Before anyone points out we could withdraw if things got dodgy, the last time someone tried to pull out of a constitution with this many states, there was a civil war (read: US).
Edit: And for the record I agree with quite a few of the principles within the constitution, e.g. protection of free trade rights, competition, etc. In principle. We are both intelligent enough to realize that it would never actually work like that. The ruling elite in the EU are now bordering on the autocratic.
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Originally posted by Rictor
Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't ratifying the EU constitution transfer some sovereignty away from Paris and to Brussels? I guess in my mind, I'm already looking ahead 30 years or so, to when much, if not most, of the decision making power will end up with the EU parliment. Once started, centralization is a difficult trend to stop or turn back, which is why I'm weary of the EU.
In the words of Gorbachev (sp?) - Why are you rushing headling into a system we are in the process of dismantling?
Global government comes in two forms: 1 - Churchillian common-goals/freedoms/rights. 2 - Neo-Liberialist/Socialist/Conservative centralized power/Increased State power/reduction of individual rights for the "greater good"/Loss of individual identity overall.
Guess which one Europe is currently heading for in it's current state?
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Lol, maybe now the US won't be the only ones who hate the French :D :p
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Originally posted by Unknown Target
Lol, maybe now the US won't be the only ones who hate the French :D :p
while meant as a joke, it's just far too much generalisations to be funny.
I'd vote no, but I don't get to have a say - the asshat in charge don't want to have yet another "no" in a vote. and yes, I've read a little about what this constitution is about. not a whole lot, because as I said, I don't get to vote on it.
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Funny how the UK will only get a vote if TB can get a positive result, or so it may seem
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Bobboau.nations["france"].respect()++;
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lol
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So what exacly did they object with?
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Originally posted by Bobboau
Bobboau.nations["france"].respect()++;
:nod:
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I am dissapointed with the results of this election. Not because the majority voted 'no', but because they basically voted against the government, not against the constitution. If they would have voted against it because they read it and didn't agree with it, that would have been anoether matter.
I find it worrying if people won't bother reading it. I have it, and while it does span 340 pages, it has a lot of empty space in between (what a waste of paper...) and the various parts are clearly labeled, so it isn't hard to read at all.
But, if the "common" people won't even bother to find out what the constitution is really about, then they shouldn't be allowed to take part in the decision-making process at all, correct? ;)
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Incorrect. The people have a right to decide their own fate, even if some of them are not entirely aware of what that fate is. That is the price of democracy. We have the right to choose.
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I'd vote yes if I had that ability...
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Originally posted by vyper
Incorrect. The people have a right to decide their own fate, even if some of them are not entirely aware of what that fate is. That is the price of democracy. We have the right to choose.
I was merely being sarcastic.
I myself don't believe into any political system, and I generally consider humans to be stupid, arrogant animals, something which no political system, let alone democracy can help.
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Forgive me but most european politicians (UK government esp.) would agree with your sarcasm in deadly seriousness.
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WHAT THE HELL?
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=20248&name=VVD+abandons+advertwith+Holocaust+images
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005240146,00.html
(apologies for having to use The Sun, but this isn't on the main newswires yet)
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Originally posted by vyper
Forgive me but most european politicians (UK government esp.) would agree with your sarcasm in deadly seriousness.
Should I try for politics then? ;)
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It's the French, what else would you expect? o.O
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Originally posted by vyper
WHAT THE HELL?
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=20248&name=VVD+abandons+advertwith+Holocaust+images
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005240146,00.html
(apologies for having to use The Sun, but this isn't on the main newswires yet)
:wtf: :doubt:
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It's like the Cancer ads with the Eva Cassidy track on it, you see, in my opinion, that is generating Terror/Fear to achieve your goals (money for Cancer research is a good thing, but do the ends justify the means?) which is Terrorism.
I'd like to point out for the record that 1 in 3 people in the UK do NOT get cancer at some point in their lives, the actual survey was that 1 in 3 people who tested for Cancer were positive. That really pisses me off when I read it on those ads.
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Originally posted by vyper
The ruling elite in the EU are now bordering on the autocratic.
nonsense. anyone trying to compare the EU with something resembling a dictatorship/USSR is a scaremongering populist.
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function EU() {
while(true) {
producePaperwork();
if (rand(0, 1) < 0.000000000000000000001)
doSomethingUseful();
else
increaseRegulation();
}
}
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Originally posted by Crazy_Ivan80
nonsense. anyone trying to compare the EU with something resembling a dictatorship/USSR is a scaremongering populist.
And anyone who needs a historical comparison like Russia to understand the nature of an autocracy isn't viewing a bigger picture. Europe is being run by men who have no notion of democracy.
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Now you know how we feel :D
But my question still hasn't been answered: what exactly is this constitution proposing? And why does no one seem to like it?
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Probably the fact that Germany is going to get a huge leap in voting matters if this constitution does pass, because of it's huge demographics.
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Mmmm, the dutch said NO aswell... This doesn´t bode well for the EU.
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It certainly doesn't bode well for the Constitution, but the simple fact is that if they run a Democracy, then they will have to expect to get rebutted by the majority at times. What concerns me more is how many countries will pump out some weak excuse about the public being 'too poorly informed' to make the decision and go ahead anyway, because of the personal gains for the people involved.
That is what concerns me about a lot fo Western governments, they talk Democracy, but Democracy ends at the polling station for them, the 4 years after are becoming nothing to do with Democracy and elections are becoming a 'Choose your Dictator' competition.
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Hmm, another defeat. It won't stop the EU, only slow it down a step and postpone the inevitable...but still. Vyper should be pleased.
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vyper approves of this result ;)
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Originally posted by Ghostavo
Probably the fact that Germany is going to get a huge leap in voting matters if this constitution does pass, because of it's huge demographics.
Hasn't Germany already accepted the Consitution? And with France+Holland rejecting it, as well as, needless to say, the UK when the time comes, they're really going to be taking centre stage.
Originally posted by Crazy_Ivan80
nonsense. anyone trying to compare the EU with something resembling a dictatorship/USSR is a scaremongering populist.
I'm not so sure. There is a very real and frightening downside to the social democratic system embodied by the EU. While not really fascistic in nature, it is very definitely state interventionist, and I think the possibility of a hugely powerful nanny state is quite dramatic..
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Germany and Spain have accepted it. Spain by referendum, Germany by government policy.