European Union Consultation – Including ban on use of projectiles .

[Mr. X]

For all that hard work the EU have decided to throw the rule book away and start again. Allowing individual countries and commerical fishermen greater say -- anybody else think that sounds like a recipe disaster?! Perhaps I am being overly pessimistic, certainly the current system is not working well enough.

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Consensus on EU fisheries change
BBC NEWS | World | Europe | EU begins fisheries policy review

This one is an interesting critique.
BBC - Richard Black's Earth Watch: EU fisheries paper catches the drift

Rather than clutter up this thread, I have start a new thread to discuss this:
http://forums.deeperblue.com/regula...row-out-rule-book-start-again.html#post768243
​

Remember this makes your EU votes in the upcoming election more important than ever. Remember also that the Greens are against hunting and fishing, including spearfishing.

 

[Mr. X]

I was speaking to a colleague today and he mentioned he was thinking of voting Green in protest at our shambolic major parties. He was not aware that the Greens are not as huggable as you might assume - they want to ban hunting, shooting and fishing..

I know most spearos, their families & friend care passionately about the environment, conservation, fish stocks, pollution, over population, the countryside, even "global warming" or should I say "climate change" in some cases. Please see past the name of the Green party and look at their agenda, policies & plans. The Greens have been a more powerful force on the continent than here - we should not under estimate them. The media informs us that many will be protesting against the major parties in the forthcoming EU & council elections in the UK. With this in mind, I suggest you inform any potential Green voters of their extreme stance against hunting, shooting & fishing as part of their vegan agenda (some of my best friend are vegans - but there are limits). Also, the media seem to be promoting certain alternate parties over others (Libertas appear favoured, UKIP gets mixed reviews while the BNP is not approved of by the media). Whoever you vote for (there are many options), consider finding out where they stand on spear fishing before voting for them, or you may vote away our favourite pastime.

I am not trying to stir things for the main parties, they've done a pretty good job of that themselves. In fact I've pretty much decided to vote for the one which most closely shares my view of things. One that I feel confident will protect our right to spear fish, among other things.

BTW the Green MEP who responded that she is against spear fishing, hunting, etc. when asked to help us was on Question Time on the BBC last week. She failed to mention their radical plans for hunting, shooting & fishing. St. Joanna Lumley, Gurkha spokesperson, came out for the Greens last week -- admirably she has the best of intentions, talking of planting more trees and such (excellent!); I wonder if she is aware of their stance on hunting, shooting & fishing?

 

[Kars]

I think you're much to kind for those politicians Mr X, how many times do they need to 'accidentally' screw up before we get it's not accidental?

I would rather see every candidate tested for psychopathy, and every other person in position of responsibility over others.
Things would look rather different when you consider organisations will mirror their leaders eventually.

Recommended literature:
Robert Hare's Page for the Study of Psychopaths, "Sociopaths", Violent Offenders, Serial Killers...
Political Ponerology Home

 

[Mr. X]

You mis-understand me Kars, I don't think they accidently screwed up. I think they deliberately manipulated their system to enrich themselves - for that they are being punished. However, MPs in the UK, are probably underpaid by about £20K pa IMHO (although with the shortened hours and all the holiday time they get, you could argue it is only a part-time job, in which case they are overpaid). Those in London and within an hours commuting distance don't need second homes though, at least not at my expense.

When I said they are doing a good job, I meant a good job of grinding the country into the ground.

One party has come into line with my thinking on Europe. It is one of the big three or four (now that Labour has fallen behind UKIP in the polls). So I have decided to vote for them in the EU election rather than waste my vote for a party whose positions I don't know. Our campaign on this thread provided some useful insights into which parties helped, hindered and which just acted like hat stands (did little or nothing).

I wonder if it is worth voting Labour just to keep the Prime Minister in office until the next general election?!

 

[Kars]

Frankly Mr X, I don't vote at all for the EU parliament. I don't like to approve of the system, and voting for any person or party there is validating exactly the system I'm against.

I don't participating in games with people who cheat, cheating all the time.

Democracy is a con, and this is coming out through expositions like the EU Constitution referenda. The people of France, The Royal kingdom of the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland have proofed through their clear 'no-vote', how much respect the elite have for democracy and the people. Remember the 'rule' supposedly was that every country had to say 'yes' or the treaty would be off. Now, did they follow up? In practice, NO. However they did change the treaty, reducing the letter type, to make the treaty appear smaller.
Video: [http://www.wiseupjournal.com/?p=173]

I don't have any confidence, nor want to validate the system, the only way you can, by not voting.

They cannot say we wanted all these laws, when no one votes them in. It's an illegitimate government, it's governance.

That's my current view, and it's not the most popular, because people WANT to believe in the good of the people they surrender their rights to.
You can say they deserve the leaders, the predictable way they take the country, they choose. But it's too easy to bash the general public, like the elites like to do, but there is much more to it when you start thinking things through.

Love, Courage and Water,

Kars

PS. Mr X, I know you choose not to alienate the general audience, by keeping your message 'positive' and concise on topic, spurring people to do more research. I agree, as well as to your wise approach.

 

[Mr. X]

You are right Kars, I was shocked to learn how undemocratic the EU is. The Americans would never have accepted such a system.

I voted this morning (as they say in Chicago: "Vote early, vote often" ). I was very surprised at how many parties there were to choose from. The ballot paper was almost a metre long. GOLD RUSH! Many of the parties seem to be aimed at cleaning up the EU (it must be VERY dirty) - with little indication of what else they have in mind. Unfortunately, I had never heard of most of the parties nor any of the candidates except those featured on this thread. My local council posted no party or candidate information before hand, nor did the local BBC web portal. What kind of democracy is this when there is no media coverage of all these parties and candidates? I've only seen one MEP candidate from each on the major parties featured on local TV (Points West).

I just found this:

BBC NEWS | Politics | At-a-glance: Party-by-party guide​

Here are the results for the South West from the last election in 2004: ukpollingreport.co.uk South West European Elections
Worth reading. 4 MEPs are standing down (one already did) :hmm I wonder why?

Finally, the 2 page list of South West candidates: [ame="http://www.scribd.com/doc/15259894/SouthWest-Candidates-for-European-Elections-2009"]SouthWest Candidates for European Elections 2009@@AMEPARAM@@/docinfo/15259894?access_key=key-edp1y8w7dvxr9srcvij@@AMEPARAM@@15259894@@AMEPARAM@@key-edp1y8w7dvxr9srcvij[/ame]