We forget the lessons of history at our peril. In the midst of plenty, the Roman people forgot what freedom entailed. They forgot "The Essence of Freedom is the proper limitation of government". When government grows peoples' freedoms recede.

For those who have not fully grasped that successful western nations are founded on Republican principles, this video gives excellent instruction on the differences between the 5 main forms of government and why total democracy is bad for you. An old saying - Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.

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Václav Klaus hands over Presidency of the EU to Sweden as his term comes to an end. He has been able to slow down the "Ever Greater Union Express" for these last six months, As he said to the 16th Summit of Presidents of Central, Eastern and Southern European states on June 16th.

... we are concerned about the fact that the decision-making in the EU is becoming increasingly distant from the citizens, about the fact that various integration initiatives are not based on authentic interests of the member states and their citizens, but are rather prefabricated and imposed from above.

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"Andrew Symeou has won the right to take his fight against extradition to the House of Lords ... A panel of Law Lords will shortly decide whether to agree on a full hearing" says Private Eye, Issue 1239, page 9, under the Brussels Sprouts column.

As Private Eye also says, this is "a blow to the status of the EU's controversial European arrest warrants (EAWs)." For more information on this case and its wider implications, see:

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A fundamental principle of the British Constitution is "the sovereignty of Parliament". But nowadays decisions of the European Union have to be observed because of the treaties that Britain has entered into; and British courts must observe the judgements of the European Court and the new Human Rights Act.

From "Life in the United Kingdom, A journey to Citizenship", The Home Office, printed by The Stationery Office, 2005

Think about that word "observed" and then read Peter Hitchens very clear summary of where we stand with the European Union, in The Daily Mail, 21^st June. "The Eurosceptics are just as phoney as President Blair", when talking about the time after the acceptance of the Lisbon Treaty. An extract follows below:

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The Badman Report on the Review of Elective Home Education in England is a travesty of report writing in that its conclusion appears to have been decided before pen touched paper, but worst of all, it is yet another attack on the basic freedoms that we have taken for granted for so long, in England. It complies with some unwritten government rule, that anything outside of its control, must be brought within. Badman has failed to understand that it is the collapse of the family unit and the failure of Social Services that has resulted in a number of horrific child abuse cases, not the fact that many children are educated outside of what many describe as a failing education system.

However, this report does have a future. It should be used, in academia, as an example of how not to write a report. To give an analogy.

If someone asked you to write a report on a bridge that they wanted pulled down, you could use the Badman report as an example of how to write it. You would say that it was not built using the latest materials, did not conform to metric measurements, the ballast varied from side to side and different bricks were used as the construction progressed. You asked modern bridge building experts for their opinion who said that its strength was difficult to judge because of its construction and no modern assessment system could be used on it, so it should be pulled down. Anyway, it was ugly. Even though almost no bridges of this construction had ever failed unlike those modern bridges which suffered from concrete cancer, and those that had been made of box section steel before the problems of internal corrosion had been understood. You would then bring in UN and EU regulations to bolster your case for destruction and selectively use any other regulations that you could find. The fact that this is an excellent bridge, built stronger than its modern examples, and was likely to last longer than them, is immaterial. It has to go and the report must say so. But back to the report.

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Look at the massive databases, shared by many that intrude into your lives; the unwanted ID Card subjection; the intrusion into your emails; your lack of free speech; your inability to protest freely; the politicisation of the increasingly oppressive British police; arrest and deportation without examination of the evidence and remember this particular anniversary today. This is especially poignant, as we go to the polls to elect MEPs who have little real power over an unelected, unaccountable European Commission that increasingly runs the detail of our lives. Look at the lessons of history and learn.

 

See also AFP. "China faces dark memory of Tiananmen"

 

"The time to guard against corruption and tyranny is before they shall have gotten hold of us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold, than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after he shall have entered." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia, 1782.

That poses another question Representing you at what? With most of our UK legislation coming from the Commission, over whom the EU "Parliament" has remarkably little power, no one represents you against the seat of government. However, you can join in the game of electing MEPs, for whatever good that will do. They do have a tiny voice, and if enough of them get together to challenge the Commission (unlikely) it is possible that they could influence it.

 

I've received my voting paper (see below for a larger view) and have to ask, whom am I electing? I can only vote once for a party, so it seems. I know some of these individuals, some, in the same voting block, that I wouldn't trust with a 50p piece and others that I would really like to see in the Brussels toy parliament as they understand where the EU is trying to go. One of the best candidates, IMO, is no 6 in a party block so probably stands little chance even if all those voting for that party were only thinking that they were voting for that candidate. What a mess. What an insult to democracy.

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OK, not quite true, however read this press release from one of my favourite Lords, Lord Stoddart, where he encourages Labour members to vote UKIP and exlains his reasons why.

 THE PRESS OFFICE OF
The Lord Stoddart of Swindon

(Independent Labour)

News Release

26.5.09

Lord Stoddart of Swindon Says VOTE UKIP

Lord Stoddart of Swindon, the Independent Labour Peer and former Labour MP for Swindon, who usually spurns European Parliamentary elections, has decided to use his vote on 4th June for the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and has encouraged other Labour voters to do the same.

 

[Phot: Lord Stoddart at the House of Lords Defence Event, January 26th 2009 - published in Freedom Today March 2009)

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Nobody wants the things that we on the eurosceptic side warn about; then somehow all those things happen and we are told to move on. Nobody is a very powerful person. Helen Szamuely from Your Freedom and Ours

 

A thought as we approach an election that is about the European Union, not about Gordon Brown

 

(Stamp from The Saxon Times)

Many people are waking up to the fact that the House of Commons is becoming increasingly irrelevant. Law after law, issued by EU directive, or some other method, becomes British law through use of the Statutory Instrument. Thus, MPs fail in their primary duty of scrutinising legislation to ensure that we, the public, are protected from bad law.

The Daily Mail, on May 25th (Jacqui Smith denies MPs the chance to vote over police storing innocents' DNA) highlights a prime example of this failure of government, reporting:

 Jacqui Smith was yesterday accused of trying to bypass Parliament by denying MPs a vote on the DNA database.

It means there is no chance for a debate on plans for police to store innocent people's 'genetic fingerprints' for up to 12 years.

 

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