Hello again my dear friends and people of the internet. As promised, I'm delivering a follow up to "The Ink And The Quill" for you all on this evening.

Anyway, as we all know, the Lisbon vote Round 2, went to the yes campaign.
But alas, the Irish people went out there and voted. Sure, a large number of them were probably under this Political Blanket ( I hear by coin that phrase) created by the mixture of an economic catastrophe in which people are uncertain about their future, and propaganda to emphasis this as much as possible. Anyone who who can think freely can see that this was the case.

Of course, nothing at this stage can change the outcome. I respect the power of Democracy and this result, despite it being hurtful towards her. I will not be asking for another referendum, and I will nearly guarantee that most, if not all, of the No Campaigners will do the same. I found it EXTREMELY ironic seeing some of the Yes campaigners, particularly politicians, saying how they "respect the will of the Irish people" and how they "respect Democracy". If you really did you wouldn't have pushed and brought on another round onto us. By all legal means, this treaty was dead as of June 12th 2008. But no, you and the Eurocrats thought it best to abuse Democracy for your own political interests. How many of you read the treaty? Very few I bet.

I also extend my hand to all of the near 600,000 people who kept to their stance and voted No on this treaty. Despite the attempts to secure you under the Political Blanket, you still went out there and let the world know that you opposed this completely. Every vote counts.

I'd be extremely interested now in seeing how the country is going to start magically producing jobs, and bringing back recovery. Those of you who voted yes because of this are going to get a very unpleasant surprise in the next year or so when your promises that you clung so tightly to, are broken before your eyes. It just might make you wish that you listened to me, the one who refuses to shut the fuck up. It might make you realize that you voted for the wrong thing.

I think I'll leave it at this. So as the treaty is brought through ( hopefully the Czech President won't bring it through...), just sit and watch how the things I brought up in my last blog, as well as the other issues that No Campaigners were bringing up, start to slowly unfold before your eyes. You've taken another step towards a police state. But when you finally realize this, is will, unfortunately, be far too late for you. Go against the grain; eat from the Tree of Knowledge of good and bad. Question, not accept.

Until next time,
With Love
Emmanuel Goldstein.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen of the internet.

After being on quite an extended break from this all, I'm back.

You might be already asking "what's he going to be on about this time?" Or something along those lines. Well, my friends, there's oh so much I could write about.

But I think that there's something in particular that needs attending to. And that's this whole Lisbon treaty shenanigan.

First let me just say that this blog is dedicated to two of my good friends, they know who they are.

Where to begin?

Why You Should Vote No

- As we all know, the Irish people spoke out in June of 2008 against this Lisbon Treaty. And as we know, our beloved government thought it better to ignore the Irish people and abuse democracy by putting forward a second round of the treaty! But what's this? There's some sort of guarantees? Legally binding guarantees that will actually have meant some sort of change to the initial treaty? NO. These "guarantees" have as much legitimacy as Brian Cowen coming up to you or I right now and saying that he would give me one million Euro for being a loafer. Ie, complete bullcrap. These guarantees are not legally binding. There is NO CHANGE in the actual treaty. So you're just voting on the same piece of incomprehensible wording again.

- I've noticed an awful lot of people this time around saying that we need Europe; they've been good to us and won't be anymore if we reject this. This is probably one of the biggest lies I've heard on the campaign. As of a few years ago (ie, pre Lisbon) Ireland has been contributing more to the EU than it received. It will continue to be this way; nothing will change at all. We will still be contributing even more money to the EU, while we receive even less. I don't see how this is "needing Europe more" to be quite honest. If we turn down this treaty, then they're going to have to continue the running of Europe as is. Which they don't seem to have any problem doing, if I might just add! We can't get "kicked out" of the EU. And these claims that Ireland will be outcasted is completely false. We'll be as much of a member-state as any other country. We will just be the ones who were lucky enough to speak for the vast majority of Europeans who can't have a voice because their governments thought it best to pass this through in parliament.

- The yes campaigners have been saying that this is going to make Europe more democratic. How so? First of all the fact that we have to vote on this AGAIN presents to us a very undemocratic treaty/stance. In the words of Eamon Gilmore after Lisbon Round one: "The Treaty is dead. There will be no 2nd vote."- Interesting comment there, Mr. Gilmore. It seems like, once again, you've sold yourself out.
Ireland is to keep their commissioner: Yes, for the first 5 years. After that, the 27 current commissioners will be cut down to 2/3rds of the EU member-state population. Ie, 18. So we have no guarantee that we will have one after that. Not just that, at present, we can select our own commissioner. After Lisbon, we can only "recommend" a commissioner. The commissioner is decided on by the EU president. Not only this, the Lisbon Treaty contains the EU constitution which the Dutch and French people refused to vote for in 2005. And the new positions it would create wouldn't be elected by the people of Europe, but by politicians that have seemed to have sold us all out. And let's not forget the fact that Ireland's voting power is actually reduced under Lisbon. While the powerhouse nations, Germany, France and the UK gain significantly. If I remember correctly, they're also some of the largest arm producing nations in the world. Which brings me to my next point.

- Irish Neutrality? If one was to do their research, they would learn that Ireland, under proper Neutral terminology, is not a neutral country. How so? What were/are those big jets flying through

Don't worry, this isn't another political rant or anything like that.
It seems like so long ago that I moved here.. It's hard to believe that it's only 5 years to the day.

My how things have changed.
I often wonder how things would have turned out if I didn't move here. Obviously, I would have never met any of you reading this (if anyone actually does). And I may have turned out differently, much differently I suspect.
But at the same time, I often wish it never happened, the move that is. I won't go on into details unless you want me to.
I suppose the best way to stay neutral is just to end this with something simple like:
So there it is, I've been here half a decade already... Hard to believe... It feels so much longer...

Oh well.