[Mike]

Maitland, what are your thoughts on this one? Are there any pluses or minuses for Scotland riding on this referendum?

[Maitland]

The Lisbon Treaty will be ratified of that I have no doubt. The run away train that is the European Union will not allow the Irish or any other nation to stand in its way. It is full steam ahead for the United Nations of Europe. The Irish have already voted once against it and because this wasn't acceptable they have been asked to vote again and are expected to vote yes.

I agree with UKIP and Nigel Farage but not on a UK basis.

It is bad enough just now here in Scotland being part of the British Union but we do have some sort of say through devolution but to be part of a larger expanding Union, the EU would be a disaster for Scotland.

The people of Scotland would be represented by the UK Government not the Scottish Government. Yes we have members of the European Parliament but these members are representative of the UK and not Scotland, irrespective of what party they are from they are representing a Region of the UK and in the eyes of the EU Scotland is nothing more than that, a region of the UK. That would only get worse in an expanding EU.

Once this treaty is ratified there will be a EU President (Tony Blair no doubt). There is talk of an EU army and far more centralisation. This is a super nation in the making let there be no doubt about that.

Scotland will be lost on the periphery. Our history and our culture will over time be lost and that my friend will be a disaster.

As you know the Scottish National Party want to be part of that disaster. They seem to think that Scotland would be well represented in Europe once she is an Independent Nation. Yes I would agree to an extent, we would but in the long term we will just be a wee nation of many swallowed into the United Nations of Europe (UNE).

If the Irish vote yes then it will be full steam ahead. If they vote no then it will be full steam ahead behind doors. I think a no vote will cause problems but in the long term I don't think we can stop the inevitable.

M...

[Maitland]

I won't give you my opinion on the writer of this article However it is a good read.

Why Irish voters are backtracking on the Lisbon Treaty - Telegraph Blogs

M...

[Mike]

I saw that article yesterday. I am lost as to exactly why the Irish are being forced to vote a second time. Other than it being a case of 'we didn't like the results of the last vote, so we're going to keep doing this until you get it right'.

It's a shame to see this happening. The typical American still hasn't awakened to the fact that American liberties are being stripped from us every day. Americans applauded the North American Free Trade Agreement when Clinton signed it into existence. Americans barely noticed when Bush signed the Central America Free Trade Agreement into existence. Most of them are now standing around, scratching their backsides and trying to understand what happened to all the American jobs.

For years there have been many groups and individuals that have been vocal about the globalization of our country, but they have always been ignored as being nay-saying conspiracy theorists. And the liberals are still scoffing so loudly they cannot hear their puppet President talking about bringing about a single-world economic system, or a new world order.

Something that has me very concerned is the current world push to remove the dollar from world trade and use the Euro instead. Our dollar is now worth less than four cents and if the Euro supplants it, we are going to end up with a hyper-inflated economy similar to Zimbabwe's approximate 5,000% rate of inflation. Yes, that is five thousand percent. Ask the average American the current price of gold and what that means to the dollar and they will give you a blank stare.

For the life of me, I cannot understand how people can be so apathetic with respect to the governments that control every aspect of their lives. The only way people can make changes is to educate themselves, to become active and to vote.

I don't know who to attribute this quote to, but I found it interesting -

"When you let people do whatever they want, you get Woodstock. When you let governments do whatever they want, you get Auschwitz."

[Maitland]

It is a long time away yet but a new world order there will be.

One Nation one currency, one people.

M...

[Mike]

I don't believe it is as far away as people like/want to think.

[Mike]

Well, the vote in Éire doesn't appear to have gone well.

I suppose if the vote had been no the second time around, they would have just kept repeating it until they got the result they were looking for. And that is a sad situation.

[Maitland]

67% in favour. Poland to sign within the next couple of days and the Czechs have it going through their courts but likely to sign.

The only saving grace (and I hate to say this) may be David Cameron and the Conservatives. They have promised a referendum in the UK if it is not ratified by all 27 member states but given that he will probably not be in power until May 2010 then I suspect that all 27 states will by then have ratified it and the Conservatives will renege on that and not hold that referendum.

The Irish have just given up their sovereignty and giving the green light to The United Nations of Europe. By voting yes today the Irish seem to think that more money will come their way through the EU, helping them out of the recession and moving their economy forward. They would have came out of it anyway without the help of the EU.

A very disappointing result and one that will effect us all.

M...

[Maitland]

The Irish after their No vote 16 months or so ago wanted gaurantees regarding certain aspects of the Lisbon Treaty (European Constitution).

Quote

The legally binding "guarantees" state that Lisbon will not affect key areas of Irish sovereignty, such as taxation, military neutrality and family matters such as abortion - significant issues in last year's campaign in Ireland. But they have not yet been attached to the treaty.

You would have thought that they would have waited to see if these gaurantees were actually attached to the treaty before voting yes. You don't think that the Europeans would NOT attach these gaurantees to the treaty, would you?

M...