What Other European Leaders Say About The Treaty Of Lisbon

“Public opinion will be led to adopt, without knowing it, the proposals that we dare not present to them directly … All the earlier proposals will be in the new text, but will be hidden and disguised in some way.”
- Former French President V.Giscard D’Estaing, who helped to draw up the EU Constitution which the French and Dutch rejected in their 2005 referendums and which is now being implemented through the Lisbon Treaty, Le Monde, 14 June 2007
_______

“France was just ahead of all the other countries in voting No. It would happen in all Member States if they have a referendum. There is a cleavage between people and governments … There will be no Treaty if we had a referendum in France, which would again be followed by a referendum in the UK.”
- French President Nicolas Sarkozy,at meeting of senior MEPs, EUobserver, 14 November 2007
_______

“The difference between the original Constitution and the present Lisbon Treaty is one of approach, rather than content … The proposals in the original constitutional treaty are practically unchanged. They have simply been dispersed through the old treaties in the form of amendments. Why this subtle change? Above all, to head off any threat of referenda by avoiding any form of constitutional vocabulary … But lift the lid and look in the toolbox: all the same innovative and effective tools are there, just as they were carefully crafted by the European Convention.”
- V.Giscard D’Estaing, former French President and Chairman of the Convention which drew up the EU Constitution, The Independent, London, 30 October 2007
______

“They decided that the document should be unreadable. If it is unreadable, it is not constitutional, that was the sort of perception. Where they got this perception from is a mystery to me. In order to make our citizens happy, to produce a document that they will never understand! But, there is some truth [in it]. Because if this is the kind of document that the IGC will produce, any Prime Minister - imagine the UK Prime Minister - can go to the Commons and say ‘Look, you see, it’s absolutely unreadable, it’s the typical Brussels treaty, nothing new, no need for a referendum.’ Should you succeed in understanding it at first sight there might be some reason for a referendum, because it would mean that there is something new.”
- Giuliano Amato, former Italian Prime Minister and Vice-Chairman of the Convention which drew up the EU Constitution, recorded by Open Europe, The Centre for European Reform, London, 12 July 2007
_____

“Sometimes I like to compare the EU as a creation to the organisation of empires. We have the dimension of Empire but there is a great difference. Empires were usually made with force with a centre imposing diktat, a will on the others. Now what we have is the first non-imperial empire.”
- Commission President J-M Barroso, The Brussels Journal, 11 July 2007
_______

“The aim of the Constitutional Treaty was to be more readable; the aim of this treaty is to be unreadable … The Constitution aimed to be clear, whereas this treaty had to be unclear. It is a success.
- Karel de Gucht, Belgian Foreign Minister, Flandreinfo, 23 June 2007
_______

“The good thing about not calling it a Constltution is that no one can ask for a referendum on it.
- Giuliano Amato, speech at London School of Econmics, 21 February 2007

Lisbon II: The Fear Is Legitimate, But It Is Manipulated

Tomorrow the Irish people go back to the polls for the second time to vote on the Treaty of Lisbon. That's right, I said "again". Last June, the Irish people rejected the Treaty of Lisbon -- 53% of the vote was NO, with 53% of the electorate turning up on referendum day -- but now they're being asked to vote again. Ireland is the only country holding such a referendum. If you can trust polling data, it looks like this time the Lisbon Treaty (THE SEQUEL) will pass, unfortunately.

I can't vote in this referendum, but if I could I'd vote NO. I wouldn't pull that lever or push that button hard enough. Do I object to the Treaty's contents? Not really. The Treaty is supposed to make the operations of the EU more efficient. Therefore, in theory, the common market -- the basis for peace and prosperity on (most of) the continent since 1945 -- is a good thing and I'm all for it.

However, there is a political structure being built up around the common market and the means that the political classes have employed to obtain their goals are dishonest and undemocratic. The Irish people voted NO last year and the vote should be respected. As it says on the Referendum Commission's Lisbon Treaty 2009 website, clear as day, "The Lisbon Treaty itself has not been changed."

This is the kernel of what really bothers me: the Irish Government -- and the EU -- is using fear and guilt to win votes. Yes, I know, the No campaign has not been entirely honest either. Claims about lowering the minimum wage to less than €2 and overblown claims about the introduction of legalized abortion dishonest and unhelpful. However, the Government (Fianna Fáil and the Greens) as well as the main opposition parties (Labour and Fine Gael) have brought this treaty to be voted upon again. They were defeated in the Referendum last year and insist on running it again, so say what you want about the No camp -- the impetus is upon the Yes side to explain their case and win in a fair and honorable manner. But they won't. They won't even explain what the Treaty does. They just want to flog fear and guilt.

FEAR
"We need to be at the heart of Europe": Nice slogan, but what the hell does that mean? Even before the Lisbon Treaty referendum, Ireland wasn't at the heart of Europe. (The Republic of) Ireland is a nation of around 4 million in a European Union of 500 million. Two of the world's largest economies founded the Union and Ireland has yet to be a net contributor the EU. The past year has shown that peripheral -- and I mean no offense -- states in the EU come second to the overall needs of the union.

"YES for recovery": Read the papers, the EU is already recovering. Germany and France have technically pulled out of recession. The world recession is ending and most forecasters now expect Ireland's economy to resume growth in the first few months of 2010.

"YES for jobs": Jobs are mentioned nowhere in the Lisbon Treaty. As the Libertas poster says, the only jobs saved by the Treaty's ratification are the Irish Government's, as they can be assured that for "delivering Ireland" they'll get cushy jobs in Brussels.

GUILT
"We owe it to Europe": Sorry, you don't owe them anything. Has the EU helped Ireland? Certainly. Ireland's economic miracle had a lot to do with membership in the EU, but that doesn't mean Ireland has to lay down and be a doormat for every treaty proposed. If it's bad for the EU and bad for Ireland, the people of Ireland have every responsibility to STOP the direction that the union is moving in.

"Europe's done so much for us": More guilt. Sorry, Ireland is a member of the EU. All the countries of the EU have reaped benefits, some more than others. It's part of being in a UNION.

All the while we're forgetting WHY the Lisbon Treaty exists in the first place. Because the powers-that-be in the European Union learned their lesson about referendums back in 2005 when the voters of France and the Netherlands both said NO to a European Constitution. Voter turnout in both referendums was 63%. In France the NO won 55% of the vote and in the Netherlands the NO won 61.5% of the vote. So how did the EU respond? Did they respect the will of the people? No way.

They moved around the wording of the Constitution, called it a Treaty and had the majority of member states ratify it quickly (without going to referendum) before their people could really do anything about it. So now we have the Treaty of Lisbon.

French Constitutional Referendum: FAIL
Netherlands Constitutional Referendum: FAIL
Lisbon Treaty Referendum (Ireland): FAIL

Take the hint, EU! The people of Europe don't want a Constitution. They don't want a constitution called a Treaty. They DO want a European Union that respects the will of the people. But that's just too much to ask.

The EU wags its finger and says, "Ireland, vote as you're told. Don't make us run a third referendum."

Rant over.

Non-Emo And Emo Just Before It Started Sucking... BAD

One of my favorite bands, Planes Mistaken For Stars, check the video!

Pardon me, but I'm a rabid rock music fan and a bit of a geek when it comes to these things, so I'm going to talk about a genre of rock'n'roll as if it's a matter of life and death for a bit.

I love lists, especially when these lists' titles include the words "Top" "Ever" or the phrase "of all time." I was always a sucker for the marathon list shows on VH1 when I was living in the US. Perfect hangover TV. Last week Paste magazine posted a great addition to music geekdom, 10 Bands That Prove Emo Wasn't Always For The Hot Topic Tween Set, a list that is, in my opinion, long overdue. I feel this way probably because "emo" -- or what used to be emo -- was sort of my gateway drug into underground rock. It was the non-radio music that friends in high school passed my way that opened my eyes to the fact that a) most music on the radio was crap and b) there were endless genres and styles of rock music to be heard if only you put in the effort to look.

Due to what emo has come to represent -- the latest commercialization and commodification of a trend in the rock underground -- it's a bit embarrassing to admit you like any anything in this genre, but the bands and the music from this period (late 1990's) were great, so screw it. I was an emo kid. For the record, I never wore skinny jeans or died my hair black or got a reinvented Flock Of Seagulls haircut. But the music, for a few years, was great.

Reading through this list is essentially flipping through the bands that provided the soundtrack to my life between 1998 to 2001. The categories of underground music, especially indie, punk and emo, get really blurred in those years, so for the sake of simplicity I'm just referring to it all as emo. Of the ten emo artists/albums on the , I've only ever avoided listening to one band, Texas Is The Reason, and I really don't know how I did that considering that at college I had free internet, access to Napster and plenty of free time to investigate, which was most important. As much as I enjoyed listening to new music, I enjoy finding new bands to listen to. Finding about about emo led me to investigate other types of punk, those bands led to hardcore, those bands have led me to heavy metal.

But I guess I could consider myself lucky to have moved away from emo at about the time it became a parody of itself. At about the time I discovered Converge and more aggressive styles of rock, emo was getting tons of media coverage and the bands that had really introduced me to underground rock were making some questionable albums. Alkaline Trio -- never even really emo, but more pop-punk -- have never quite recovered from From Here To Infirmary, although there have been songs like "Sadie" that have been excellent. Saves the Day -- another pop-punk band lumped into the emo category due to their overly confessional lyrics -- nose-dived with In Reverie and have reverted to a more snotty punk style with their last two albums but the tunes aren't quite as catchy. After being bored to tears with the "new direction" of The Get Up Kids (this was back in 2002), I haven't listened to anything they've done since. A lot of the others (Mineral, Braid, Penfold) broke up and the bands that replaced them brought with them a cartoon-ish aesthetic that would make enjoyment of the music difficult even if it wasn't over-produced corporate pop in the guise of punk rock.

But at some point you have to cut the chord. I had bought a studded belt when I decided that I was REALLY into underground music. I wasn't just listening to emo at this point, I was listening to hardcore, punk and trying anything else that came my way. Anyway, I wore that belt all the time. I wore the uniform. Black band t-shirt. Dark jeans. Studded belt. Converse All-Star sneakers (which I've always worn anyway). Then one day I saw a 12-year old girl come out of a Hot Topic in a mall in Virginia wearing the same belt I was wearing. Except it was hot pink. It doesn't change the fact that I enjoyed the albums (and still do) but it drove home, once and for all, all the misgivings I had about where the genre was headed and that "emo" had become very quickly: the music industry's latest victim in taking a good thing and selling it to death.

I can recommend every artist and album on the Paste magazine list, plus I'll recommend a few others that I enjoyed when I was an emo kid:
- Mineral (emo)
- At The Drive-In (not emo)
- Planes Mistaken For Stars (neither were PMFS, but they were really great and toured with some emo bands)
- Penfold (definitely emo)
- Fairweather (in the same vein as Alk3 and Saves the Day, went to my high school)
- Hot Rod Circuit (emo/punk)

Ch ch ch changes! For Me and For NAMA?

Back at work this week and my wife is back from a three-week trip to the US. She brought back three pairs of jeans for me and about a billion things for baby, several I didn't know existed. More to follow on this. My wife's former nanny says my life is over as I know it when the baby arrives. I'd like to think it's just changing, and for the better.

Meanwhile, it's only two weeks to go before I start my Master's degree at UCD. Despite the short timeline, I still do not have a course schedule or a textbooks list. I also don't have my GI Bill in order -- they lost my paperwork and it'll now be mid-November before I see a cent from Veterans Affairs in the US -- so I'm going with a Stafford Loan to pay for things up front. This isn't unusual. My brother-in-law starts his new course in two weeks and doesn't know if he's staying in Galway or moving to Dun Laoghaire! Slightly stressed about this whole working, studying and -- oh yeah -- baby on the way in December.

In Irish news, there is quite a bit of coverage of Sen. Ted Kennedy's death in the US. He was quite active in the northern peace process and supposedly persuaded President Clinton to give Gerry Adams a visa to the US during the peace process. While I wouldn't be a fan of all of his politics in the States, the guy was in public service for a long time, came from an illustrious family and was influential in Irish politics as well as American politics, so rest in peace, sir.

The other big stink is that yet another group of economists have published their opposition to the proposed National Assets Management Agency (note: the headline has nothing to do with the content of the op-ed). Basically the Government is establishing a "bad bank" to take some €90 billion (book value) in loans off the Irish banks' books, in exchange for bonds. Each loan will be valued in accordance with its "long-term economic value", a term lifted from an EU ruling a few months ago; this is supposedly neither the peak price (at which most of the loans were made to property) nor the current market price (commercial property values and development land values are down at least 50% from peak).

Nationalization of the banks is inevitable, in my opinion. The loans will be written down to such an extent that the Government has no choices other than to re-capitalize or take significant equity shares. It might not be total nationalization of the banking sector, but it'll be close. The Government seems to be sticking to the original NAMA plan, but we'll see what shape the legislation actually takes in September when it's debated in the Dáil.

A rebuttal to the op-ed by Alan Ahearne, economic advisor to the Department of Finance, is here.
You can read up on some debate about NAMA from academic economists at www.irisheconomy.ie.

The Bridge Collapsed But It Didn't Ruin My Weekend

Picture: Belfast Telegraph

Last weekend I had another weekend trip to see family of the in-laws. Having gone west to Galway previously, this time I headed north on the train towards Belfast, getting off at Newry, County Down. Well, I would have taken the train to Newry, except there was a minor disaster on the Dublin-Belfast rail line, in that a viaduct over the Malahide estuary collapsed around 6 p.m. on Friday. Luckily, no trains were running on that track and a fast-thinking train operator going the other way alerted Iarnród Éireann. As it turns out, the railway company was warned about the erosion by a leader in the Malahide Sea Scouts. The repairs were supposed to take 3 months, but now reports are that it will take much longer. You can't just patch up a downed bridge...

Well, I arrived at Connolly Station at 8:30 for my 8:45 train and found out that I'd be bussed to Drogheda with all the other passengers. There we'd pick up the train and keep on going. I ended up getting into Newry about an hour later than planned, but it sure is better than ending up in the Malahide estuary. It could be worse, I could be living up north and commuting to Dublin, in which case the traffic is now awful due to all the former rail commuters clogging the roads. Thank God for my bicycle and small apartment in the city centre.

Newry, as I've written before, is a border town nestled into the foothills of the Mourne Mountains just up the canal from Carlingford Lough. On Saturday night I enjoyed a delicious steak dinner at Whistledown Inn, which is in nearby Warrenpoint. The restaurant looks out over the lough and the mountains on either side that dive into the Irish Sea. Dinner was delicious -- I recommend the steak with Jameson whiskey sauce. After dinner myself and my buddies headed to a hole-in-the-wall pub which my friends referred to as "Molly's" but I think it was the Duke Bar. But a friend was bar-tending so the service was quick, even if the taxi home was not. Took an hour to get a taxi. If you like a dark pub where you have to get friendly with the people around you because there's not much space, this is the place for you.

Don't Ever Drink The Banana Bread Beer

The wife is out of town on business (and on vacation with 'rents) so I thought I'd head to Galway for some beer-drinking with the bro-in-law. Rather than hit the Quay Street-to-Eyre Square route (where I seem to run into more Americans than I would in downtown DC), we stayed on the west side of the River Corrib and hit up a few great places to try new beer, starting with Bierhaus. Bierhaus, despite the German name, is a pretty typical Irish pub but with a bit of an indie twist. There's a live DJ spinning records (it was classic soul on Saturday night) and as expected behind the bar there are numerous craft beers and imports to try. I started with a Galway Hooker but then we moved on to a REAL Budweiser, the Budvar.

Next stop was Salt House, just off the river. Here's where me made a huge mistake. We tried a nice German pilsener to start, then we had something else and then my brother-in-law says to me, "Have you ever seen this?" and he points to Banana Bread Beer. Now, I like trying new things, so on our next round we ordered one 500ml bottle of the BBB and split it between two pint glasses.

One of the biggest drinking mistakes of my life.

It was disgusting. The description on the Salt House website says: "Tropically fruity; its ripe banana flavour, emphasised by a hint of bitterness, comes from the addition of real fair trade bananas and finishes with an emphatic, steely dryness." Proof that fair trade doesn't mean better taste -- and that no matter what craft brewers say, some fruits just don't belong in beer -- it was revoltingly sweet and strange from the beginning. I swigged it as fast I could because I couldn't bare to let €6 of alcohol on a night out go to waste... another big mistake. The BBB ruined my stomach for a night.

Not even the lovely flavor of an Affligem Blond could save me. I had to take it slow for the rest of the night. However, we managed to have quite a little session. At Massimo's (a bit more lounge than pub) we had some Carlsberg and Paulaner, and finally we made our way to Roisin Dubh (a Galway music venue of note) for the late bar. I've never been to a gig at Roisin Dubh, but it's a great atmosphere and as the bars in Galway close, Roisin Dubh keeps going to 2 a.m. so it gets a bit crowded.

But all was not lost. Despite Banana Bread Beer tearing a hole in my stomach, I had a nice young lady approach me who I had to politely inform I was married. I then texted my brother and got her info for him. Long-distance wing-man, WHAT'S UP?!?!?? I then talked extreme music with some metalheads. A good night all around.

Galway is a great night for a few drinks out... or a lot of drinks out. While I'm not a fan of the lack of planning that went into the suburbs, Galway city centre is a really great place to party. Oh, and the Salt House is a great pub, I just picked the wrong beer.

For my melancholy weeks without my lovely wife, here's some William Elliott Whitmore:

Beer And Buy American!

I did a guest post over at Frank Chow's blog about this garbage Beer Summit controversy. Apparently American beer makers are upset that no American-owned beers were consumed when President Obama met Professor Gates (Harvard) and Sergeant Crowley (Cambridge Police).

U2 sucks even more

I've blogged before about Croke Park. It's located in a northside residential neighborhood. Well, after three nights of U2 concerts, the residents then had to put up with about 48 hours of clanking, screwing, hammering and trucks roaring past their homes as THE CLAW was dismantled.

There was a residents' protest in the morning. U2's crew missed the ferry. The afternoon protest was called off.

Part of the charm of Croke Park is its location. Now, you can say all you want about people choosing where they live and such, but the GAA and U2 did not think of the residents when they planned this out. Croke Park residents are accustomed to a few hours, on game days and event nights, of crowds and they can plan accordingly for several hours of such disruption. They can NOT, however, plan for an almost week-long disruption such as the one they had this week.

I was going to write that I hope U2 misses one of their tour dates, but I just found out that there are actually three "claw" stages in circulation for this tour... WHAT!?!!?!?

Stage facts: the 360˚ tour

U2 have three custom-built “claw” stages for their tour.
While one is in use, another is being dismantled and a third is being constructed for the next concert venue.
The stage designer is Willie Williams, who has been with U2 since 1982. Mark Fisher serves as architect.
A total of 189 trucks transport the stages around. There are 380 drivers and 12 buses.
The U2 entourage constitutes 550 people.
The video screens weigh 56 tonnes.
The claw-like edifice can take 165 tonnes of equipment freeing up more pitchside space for fans. -- Source: Irish Times

U2 Sucks... get over it.

A tale of my teenage years...

My father is the second of eight children. The youngest of the eight, Julia, was "Aunt Julie" for most of my childhood. Being only 13 years older than me, she was much cooler than any of my other close relatives and she lived with Grandma and Grandpa K, so when we were back on the East coast, she was in contact. I remember discussing the death of Kurt Cobain with her and rolling quarters and dimes with her in Grandma's attic while watching Soylent Green. Anyway, she married a Navy pilot and moved to Florida.

One birthday -- I think I was 13 -- she sent me two CD's that she had: U2's Achtung Baby and Morrissey's Bona Drag. While at the time I didn't care for Morrissey (big mistake), I really liked U2's Achtung Baby. I still do. I think it had been all over the radio the summer before, but I have to give credit where credit's due: Achtung Baby was one of the first ALBUMS I listened to as a single piece of pop art. In the age of iTunes, I still believe in THE ALBUM as art. Achtung Baby had cool lyrics, great riffs, a lot of melody... it just rocked.

MID-RANT, REAL ROCK INTERLUDE: THIS rocks, by the way.


RESUME ANTI-U2 PROPAGANDA: Too bad U2 haven't made an album that good since Achtung Baby. However, the PR and hype machine have made them "THE BIGGEST BAND IN THE WORLD" ever since.

What brings up all this hate, you ask? So this week U2, who are Irish and from Dublin, bring their 360 tour and "the claw" to Croke Park and everyone in Dublin is talking about it.
- Whaddaya up ta dis weekend?
- I'm going to de U2 concert.
What amazes me is that I haven't yet met someone who won't admit that they hate Bono. They'll still go to the show.

It's everywhere. Tickets cost around €100 to €150, but I've heard rumors of tickets for €40. In Paris. I can't believe anyone would pay so much for a concert, much less for a concert where the lead singer is as likely to preach to you about world poverty and social justice as he is to sing a flippin' tune. They just announced they'd be donating €5 million for music education, but maybe they could have lowered their ticket prices. Then there's Bono prancing around the world preaching about world hunger. Then there's -- and this might be petty -- the fact that Bono can't count and the rest of the band doesn't seem to mind: "Uno, dos, tres, catorse."

OH, and every time some famous rock musician dies, there's Bono talking about how they were such an influence on U2. Just recently it was Ronnie Drew of the Dubliners, but I've heard Bono pipe up quicker than Al Sharpton to claim connection with rock acts such as The Ramones, The Stooges and Joy Division. How the Ramones and the Stooges could influence the most radio-ready, Mom-friendly pop-rock in history is beyond me, but hey, Bono knows best.... I paraphrase, but Henry Rollins got it right when he said that U2 were a band that has "lost the will to rock." Here's a band that hasn't: Architects.



PS Before you say that I hate U2 just because Bono is a twat, The Edge has been playing the same riff (or the same echo-effect on a riff) for twenty years. He's cooler than Bono because he doesn't pull all the political preaching, but he's still part of the machine. Yeah.

UPDATE: I just saw the Claw on a friend's Facebook page. Think of all the starving children U2 could have fed if they'd ditched the Claw...

RIP Frank McCourt, 78

Frank McCourt died this week. Author of Angela's Ashes, 'Tis, Teacher Man and Angela and the Baby Jesus, McCourt was something of an overnight success at the age of 60, having been born in New York, raised in Limerick, having lived in New York again, served in Germany during the Korean War, and having taught in New York schools for many years. I read Angela's Ashes and 'Tis, both books I found very sad but very hopeful and enjoyable (in an odd way). If you haven't read them yet, check them out. If you are more into movies than books, the adaptation of Angela's Ashes stars Emily Watson.

From the Irish Times, The Death of Frank McCourt.