General Politics Discussion Topic [closed]

Originally posted by wtshnnfb01:[..]

Best theory I've heard, is that there trying to encourage violence against them so that they can file lawsuits. As it is, I joined the Patriot Guard Riders on Facebook. There a group who serve as a kind of counter too them for soliders funeraels. Originally, they started as a bunch of vets, who liked motercylcles, but know they'll let anyone join, as long as they have respect, for those that would give there lives in service too there country or there fellow man. As soon as I find out how, I want to join the real part, not just the web portion.

Originally posted by katherine94:[..]
I'm just amazed that these people can be so...hateful Who pickets at funerals for soldiers, honestly?

Originally posted by wtshnnfb01:[..]

I'm guessing that you can see how, me being a potential military recruit is personally offended by them.

Originally posted by katherine94:[..]
I can totally understand you being offended. More than half of my family has served in the military, so I'm also a bit taken aback However, I think just about anyone would be upset by this, military connections or not

Originally posted by wtshnnfb01:[..]

I'm also offended, since one of my best friends is gay/bi (I cant remember which. I'm not the kind of guy who brings up that kind of shit. Too each there own.). He's one of the nicest guys I know, and unless you knew him, you'd never know just by looking at him. He's also the best fingerpick guitarist I know, but its hard to get too see him play, since he suffers from mild stage fright.

Originally posted by katherine94:[..]
Yeah, as a supporter of gay rights, that also upset me.

Originally posted by wtshnnfb01:[..]

I genreally dont expend much energy when it comes to gay rights that much, but only because they dont affect me. That isin't to say I discriminate against them. On the contraey. I often stand up for them in rights arguements.

I encourage you to join the patriot guard, proudly provideing peaceful interference at soliders fundreals since 05 if i recall right. Membership is free, and there are no requirements. No such organization yet exist for gay funearels, but if those assholes keep it up, its only a matter of time before one pops up, and when it does, you can bet, I'll be there.

http://www.patriotguard.org/

Originally posted by Guardian
Pricing out the free press
Slovakian politicians have found a risk-free method of silencing critics and making money – sue them for libel

Unfortunately Britain isn't the only European country where libel laws act as a barrier to free speech. Slovakian politicians have a long history of using defamation proceedings to suppress criticism. In the latest incident the country's prime minister Robert Fico took exception to a cartoon printed in a daily newspaper, the SME. The cartoon, by Martin "Shooty" Sutovec, depicted a doctor examining an x-ray of the prime minister's spine while declaring that what he felt was a "phantom pain". The prime minister is demanding €33,000 in compensation, claiming that the cartoon made fun of his health problems and ridiculed him.

As incredible as it might sound in a modern European democracy, Fico is likely to win. This year alone, the prime minister has been awarded €92,000 in damages from various libel cases against the press, including €66,000 in a case where a paper was unable to prove that Fico had called two journalists "dirty bastards".

To put this in context, the average salary in Slovakia is around €700 (£640) per month, or €8,400 per year.

It is difficult to see what the prime minister has to be so humourless about. Fico, with his brand of old-school socialism, enjoys a popularity rating that almost assures him victory in the next election. This is despite a recent analysis by the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO) which found that the quality of democracy in Slovakia is deteriorating, with cronyism, corruption and authoritarianism being major features of Fico's three-year-old coalition.

Fico's introduction of a controversial press code in April last year further limits the freedom of the press. The code grants the right to correction and reply, within three days, to anyone who feels that their "honour and dignity" were harmed by a published article. The code forces the press to give individuals the same space in the paper as the offending article to reply. Even more bizarrely, this applies whether the information published was true or not. Non-compliance carries a maximum fine of €4,980.

Unfortunately the prime minister is not the only powerful individual who is libel-happy. This year alone a total of €358,804 (close to £326,000) has been awarded to various high-ranking individuals, including Fico's two coalition partners. And it's not just politicians; even the newly appointed supreme court president Stefan Harabin is libel-happy – he has been awarded €64, 467 in two actions this year. In the most recent case, Harabin didn't sue for a printed apology, but he did successfully appeal an initial ruling awarding him a much lower sum in damages. Further proof that money – and not personal honour – is the main motivation here.

If the courts in Slovakia continue to rule against the media – and why wouldn't they, their president is clearly in favour of such a profitable pastime – the press can appeal cases to European court of human rights in Strasbourg. The problem is that the only case which had been taken (and won) there was the case of Martin Klein, a Slovak journalist sued for an article about the then Bratislava-Trnava archbishop Jan Sokol in 1997. The Strasbourg court ruled in favour of Martin Klein in 2007 but the process took over a decade, resulting in a ruling that the Slovak courts ultimately chose to ignore.

Perhaps the real problem with Shooty's cartoon was the implication that Fico is spineless, but watching him batter the free media into a cowering silence, it seems odd to accuse him of weakness.

One thing is clear: If the trend of suing newspapers continues – and there is little reason to see why it won't, since it presents a risk-free method of both accumulating personal wealth and silencing critics – the deterioration of democracy in Slovakia will certainly continue.

by David Smith

Originally posted by yuri31:So, that's it. The Czech Pesident signed the Treaty of Lisbon. Welcome to the United States of Europe.

Originally posted by BBC
EU reform treaty passes last test
The president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, has signed the EU's Lisbon Treaty, the final step in the charter's ratification.

The treaty was drawn up to streamline decision-making in the EU, and is a watered-down version of a draft EU constitution rejected four years ago.

Among its measures, it creates a European Council president and alters the way member states vote.

The treaty could now come into force as early as December.

The Lisbon Treaty's supporters say it will allow the EU to operate more efficiently and give it greater influence in world affairs.

Critics say it will cede too many national powers to Brussels.

Speaking in Washington ahead of an EU-US summit, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso welcomed the removal of the "last hurdle" to the treaty's passage.

"I think that the transformational potential that is there, the new external profile for the European Union, will be felt immediately," he said.

In the UK, William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary for the opposition Conservatives, said it would no longer be possible to hold a referendum on the treaty if his party won a general election next year.

The party had previously argued that the treaty should be put to a popular vote.

Court 'bias'

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown welcomed the ratification, and said it marked the end of years of debate.

"Today is a day when Europe looks forward," he said.

The Czech Republic was the last of the EU's 27 member states to ratify the treaty.

Mr Klaus signed it shortly after the Czech constitutional court rejected a complaint against it, ruling that it was in line with the Czech constitution.

Announcing in Prague that he had signed the treaty, the Czech leader accused the court of bias and said the Czech Republic would "cease to be a sovereign state".

The Eurosceptic Mr Klaus had recently said he would no longer attempt to block the treaty, after receiving the promise of an opt-out from the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Mr Klaus said the opt-out was needed to avoid property claims from ethnic Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia after World War II.

The Lisbon Treaty replaced an earlier draft constitution that was rejected in referendums in France and the Netherlands in 2005.

The treaty was initially rejected in a referendum in Ireland, before being endorsed in a second Irish referendum last month.

It would create two major new posts: a new European Council president who would serve a term of two-and-a-half years, and a new foreign policy chief whose role would combine those of the existing foreign affairs representative and external affairs commissioner.

In addition, the treaty will alter voting procedures, with national vetoes to become the exception rather than the rule in most policy areas.

For the first time, it will also offer a way out to any member states that decide to leave the EU.

LISBON TREATY
Creates new post of EU president (President of European Council)
New post of high representative for foreign affairs
More decisions by majority vote rather than unanimity
Only Irish Republic held referendum on it - twice ('Yes' vote second time)
Took a decade of negotiations
Was intended to take effect in January 2009