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April 26, 2005

Bliar?

Well, it took some time, but it finally hit the hustings.

TBCs said Blair was lying. The trouble is that it's very hard to believe that Joe Voter will get excited about the sort of detailed procedural lying which is being talked of. As any fuel no the prime minister basically has the right to take his country to war, subject to a parliamentary vote, and that's what he got, and that's what he did. There may have been some caveats in the Attorney General's legal view which were not made explicit, and it is just possible that a tiny bit too much was made of some distinctly dodgy intelligence, but hey, it was in the greater good. (honest!) The Lib-dems have some sort of a case, in that they always said it was a bad thing, and still do.

Still, I suppose it will make a great campaign poster for TBCs. (click image to make your own!)

Constitution

One of the things that's getting very little coverage in this election, is Europe. In particular, only very few people have pointed out that the constitutional referendum in France, shortly after the general election in UK, is probably more important to the future of 'hard working families' than the general election result itself. If it passes ZNL will have to have a referendum too, and given their resources and skill will probably win it. If not, all bets are off. (At least for the moment. As any fule no official EU policy is to keep holding referenda till the people get it right). Anyway, if you would like to read the new Euroconstitution you can here.

I challenge you to dip into this document ANYWHERE and not find something stupid, meaningless, wrong or inappropriate. Constitutions are supposed to be top level documents providing a framework against which all other legal decisions, or laws, may be judged. This is not such a document, comprising, as it does, some 349 pages of utter tosh. (Compare with the US constitution which, I believe, comprises 11 pages.) Considering it was written by a French guy who fancies himself an aristocrat (but is not) and who obtained a significant part of his wealth by accepting diamonds, probably as some sort of bribe, from an alleged cannibal, I guess we should not be too surprised.

Here is a sample, genuinely plucked at random: -

"European laws or framework laws may establish measures designed to encourage cooperation between Member States through initiatives aimed at improving knowledge, developing exchanges of information and best practices, promoting innovative approaches and evaluating experiences, excluding any harmonisation of the laws and regulations of the Member States;"

What does that mean? Why is it in a constitution?

OK, you say, 'what should be in a constitution?' Well, pretty much the same sort of thing that should be in a manifesto. Top level, overview sort of stuff. Three examples: -

1) A TBC govenrment would reduce government budgets to less than 35% of GNP. (The subtext here is small govenrment, low interference, more choice. Governments don't actually run things, people do, and the businesses and associations they form. Lighthouses used to be private, lifeboats still are, and a charity to boot.)

2) A TBC government would never introduce or use retroactive legislation. (subtext. If you retrospectively declare something illegal you have a tool to lock up anyone who disagrees, or has ever disagreed, with you. It is fundamentally totalitarian, which is why ZNL were happy to use it. Remember the fat cats?)

3) A TBC government would repeal one law, at least, for every law enacted. (subtext. there are just too many.)

But it will never happen.

15 Minutes of fame.

Here's Rocky van de Benderskum. He's standing at Canterbury for the Legalise Cannabis Alliance.

Surprisingly, "Rocky, 46, an artisan, believes that adults should be able to decide legally on whether or not to use cannabis."

Last time TBC's got nearly 19,000 votes, over 2,000 more than ZNL. No one else got more than 20%


Good luck, Rocky!

Political betting projection Election Outcome LAB majority 80 seats

Posted by Flo Ting Voe Tah at April 26, 2005 11:08 AM

Comments

Posted by: Annie at April 27, 2005 05:31 PM

Posted by: prescott at April 27, 2005 10:29 PM