Chang

those damn hungry ghosts eating only burnt up toast need no gastric band

It is interesting that many of the "new" states hoping to enter the E.U. have centuries of hatred and animosity towards one another. Serbia and Montenegro despising their Turkish and Albanian neighbours. The E.U. bureaucrats do not seem to regard past history as being of any importance. They feel that all that has gone before can be forgotten as we enter the brave new world they are so busy creating for us.

The European Superstate see's itself as an ever expanding empire in which the boundaries of Europe are pushed out into the Near East. The Superstatists see this as an investment in the future but we must remember that such an investment will benefit some but not others. The Home Secretary Theresa May has warned against letting Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey join the EU, saying that they are ‘countries with poor populations and serious problems with organised crime, corruption, and sometimes even terrorism.’ Despite this, it is the Government’s position to support these countries’ membership bids. The UK government has agreed to pay £1.2 billion under the EU’s Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance to these countries between 2014 and 2020, or £169.5 million per year. This is half the annual NHS Cancer Drugs Fund. The EU Commission describes this as an ‘investment in the future of the EU’, which ‘creates incentives for EU future members’. In addition, the UK will pay Turkey a further £640 million as part of the recent EU-Turkey deal designed to facilitate Turkish accession to the EU.

in garments of light we prance and dance on thin ice life short but merry

Davey Jones has many sea chests boxes and baskets one size fits us all

Socialism is a soapy sponge that soaks up all it touches until all that is left is desiccation. Hence the term "Socialist Sponger."

Yes we are all in this together so please remember. When you have one foot stuck in the shite it is never a good idea to plunge the other one in - in an effort to haul yourself out. Politicians, especially those of the liberal and socialist persuation, tend to forget this.

"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." We really could not have made you up Kirran.

The "Modern Left." Now there is a term to conjure with.

You may find this thread of interest. http://www.thedaobums.com/topic/38911-socialism-does-work/

I rather like Cambridge though it does have an unpleasant air of left wing Liberalism about it.

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is a series of trade negotiations being carried out mostly in secret between the EU and US. As a bi-lateral trade agreement, TTIP is about reducing the regulatory barriers to trade for big business, things like food safety law, environmental legislation, banking regulations and the sovereign powers of individual nations. It is, as John Hilary, Executive Director of campaign group War on Want, said: “An assault on European and US societies by transnational corporations.” Since before TTIP negotiations began last February, the process has been secretive and undemocratic. This secrecy is on-going, with nearly all information on negotiations coming from leaked documents and Freedom of Information requests. 1 The NHS Public services, especially the NHS, are in the firing line. One of the main aims of TTIP is to open up Europe’s public health, education and water services to US companies. This could essentially mean the privatisation of the NHS. The European Commission has claimed that public services will be kept out of TTIP. However, according to the Huffington Post, the UK Trade Minister Lord Livingston has admitted that talks about the NHS were still on the table. 2 Food and environmental safety TTIP’s ‘regulatory convergence’ agenda will seek to bring EU standards on food safety and the environment closer to those of the US. But US regulations are much less strict, with 70 per cent of all processed foods sold in US supermarkets now containing genetically modified ingredients. By contrast, the EU allows virtually no GM foods. The US also has far laxer restrictions on the use of pesticides. It also uses growth hormones in its beef which are restricted in Europe due to links to cancer. US farmers have tried to have these restrictions lifted repeatedly in the past through the World Trade Organisation and it is likely that they will use TTIP to do so again. The same goes for the environment, where the EU’s REACH regulations are far tougher on potentially toxic substances. In Europe a company has to prove a substance is safe before it can be used; in the US the opposite is true: any substance can be used until it is proven unsafe. As an example, the EU currently bans 1,200 substances from use in cosmetics; the US just 12. 3 Banking regulations TTIP cuts both ways. The UK, under the influence of the all-powerful City of London, is thought to be seeking a loosening of US banking regulations. America’s financial rules are tougher than ours. They were put into place after the financial crisis to directly curb the powers of bankers and avoid a similar crisis happening again. TTIP, it is feared, will remove those restrictions, effectively handing all those powers back to the bankers. 4 Privacy Remember ACTA (the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement)? It was thrown out by a massive majority in the European Parliament in 2012 after a huge public backlash against what was rightly seen as an attack on individual privacy where internet service providers would be required to monitor people’s online activity. Well, it’s feared that TTIP could be bringing back ACTA’s central elements, proving that if the democratic approach doesn’t work, there’s always the back door. An easing of data privacy laws and a restriction of public access to pharmaceutical companies’ clinical trials are also thought to be on the cards. 5 Jobs The EU has admitted that TTIP will probably cause unemployment as jobs switch to the US, where labour standards and trade union rights are lower. It has even advised EU members to draw on European support funds to compensate for the expected unemployment. Examples from other similar bi-lateral trade agreements around the world support the case for job losses. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the US, Canada and Mexico caused the loss of one million US jobs over 12 years, instead of the hundreds of thousands of extra that were promised. 6 Democracy TTIP’s biggest threat to society is its inherent assault on democracy. One of the main aims of TTIP is the introduction of Investor-State Dispute Settlements (ISDS), which allow companies to sue governments if those governments’ policies cause a loss of profits. In effect it means unelected transnational corporations can dictate the policies of democratically elected governments. ISDSs are already in place in other bi-lateral trade agreements around the world and have led to such injustices as in Germany where Swedish energy company Vattenfall is suing the German government for billions of dollars over its decision to phase out nuclear power plants in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan. Here we see a public health policy put into place by a democratically elected government being threatened by an energy giant because of a potential loss of profit. Nothing could be more cynically anti-democratic. There are around 500 similar cases of businesses versus nations going on around the world at the moment and they are all taking place before ‘arbitration tribunals’ made up of corporate lawyers appointed on an ad hoc basis, which according to War on Want’s John Hilary, are “little more than kangaroo courts” with “a vested interest in ruling in favour of business.” So I don’t know about you, but I’m scared. I would vote against TTIP, except… hang on a minute… I can’t. Like you, I have no say whatsoever in whether TTIP goes through or not. All I can do is tell as many people about it as possible, as I hope, will you. We may be forced to accept an attack on democracy but we can at least fight against the conspiracy of silence.

Physician, heal thyself.

enlightening brew my coffee at breakfast time calms and enlivens

you me universe a circle in a spiral a wheel within a wheel

I would not suggest study of the books by Dr. yang jwing-ming. He is not a man to use one word where five will suffice and makes hard work of explaining the simplest of concepts. Before deciding whose books you wish to study you must first decide your goals. You mention tai chi. Do you wish to practice tai chi as simply an aid to health or do you wish to pursue it as a martial art. when you can answer that question then you can begin to look at the various styles. You should also consider if there is a class which you can attend as learning from books and videos will not take you as far and as swiftly as a good local instructor. the same can be said for Qigong. What do you hope to achieve and what local classes could you attend.

To say that the European Super State is responsible for every good thing that has come our way regarding human rights is erroneous. The video suggests that were it not for the ECHR we would be cowering in fear in a totalitarian state and that is beyond ridicule This video was however produced by The Guardian (Defender of all things left wing and liberal) and so we must expect pro E.U. bias. Thank you for posting it gatito.

i'll stand on my head and i'll talk through my backside much sense and wisdom

Steady on old boy. We are talking about England - Home of Democracy.

This is true and the great fear is that should we vote to remain slaves to the E.U. then the Government may take it as a public vote to give them carte blanche to do what they like regarding Europe. My own view is that if we vote to remain as a slave state then it will harden the hearts of those who are opposed to the E.U. and any pro European government would be walking the sharpened edge of a razor.

They say that a picture paints a thousand words and if that be the case then surely a video paints a million. Sadly this is not the case. the video shown above could depict immigrants looting water from the London Marathon. It could also, as suggested, show people taking water left over from the Marathon which they had been informed they could take.

If the people of Britain vote to remain within the European Super State then so be it. Yes it will be sad and we will have been badly let down by the pathetic, the apathetic, the socialist and the liberal. But it will be as it will be. We, as individuals will still, thank the lord, be able to pursue a path of rational self interest. They cannot as yet deprive us of that.

call the waters back cried King Canute to the sea my feet must stay dry

Nigel Farage was on Sky News this morning talking about President Obama's intervention into the EU Referendum and said the President was driven by bigger considerations than just being anti-British. "There is a bigger motivation and that is, with this trip, and with what he has said, he has guaranteed his financial future. He has done the bidding of the giant American corporates who want Britain to stay in the EU. "Why? Because they want this Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership deal done so that the big American corporates can buy up chunks of our public services, including the National health Service - that's a bigger motivation. "The issue here is that he is spouting a line, he is saying he doesn't think the UK should be an independent, sovereign democracy." Another more interesting point regarding Obama's pro Super State speech was his insistance regarding the difficulties Britain would face renegotiating trade aggreeements with the USA should we leave the E.U. This was the same speech in which he spoke of the "Special Relationship" still going strong. It is all rather pathetic if one gives it any thought, which most people don't.

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast; Man never is, but always to be blessed."