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It's the end of Britain as we know it (EU Treaty of Lisbon)
The Christian Science Monitor ^ | March 24, 2008 | Stephen Webbe

Posted on 03/24/2008 12:57:02 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

London - You might want to take that vacation in England just as soon as you can – before its 1,000-year run as a sovereign nation comes to an end.

This winter, 27 nations of the European Union (EU) signed the Treaty of Lisbon. You may think, "Innocuous enough," as Portuguese-inspired visions of the Tagus River and chicken piri-piri swirl before your eyes.

But for England (Britain, actually) the Treaty of Lisbon isn't that appetizing. That's because, if ratified, it will become the decisive act in this creation of a federal European superstate with its capital in Brussels. Britain would become a province and its "Mother of Parliaments," a regional assembly. And that's no small humiliation for a country that gave the world English and saved Western civilization in the Battle of Britain in 1940.

The Eurocrat elite in Brussels might not admit it, but the Treaty of Lisbon is essentially a constitution for a "country" called Europe. More bluntly, it's a cynical repackaging of the EU Constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair promised to put the EU Constitution to the British people in a referendum. But his successor, Gordon Brown, has reneged on that promise. He insists that the Treaty of Lisbon is shorn of all constitutional content and that it preserves key aspects of British sovereignty. On March 11, the bill to ratify the treaty cleared the House of Commons. And now the Brown government is poised to win passage in the House of Lords, too.

But British resistance is stirring.

(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Government; Politics/Elections; United Kingdom; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: britain; brussels; commonmarket; edwardheath; eu; eurabia; europe; europeanunion; gordonbrown; houseofcommons; houseoflords; ireland; margaretthatcher; motherofparliaments; parliament; queenelizabethii; scotland; sovereignity; sovereignnation; sovereignty; supranational; tonyblair; treatyoflisbon; unitedkingdom; wales
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The shape of things to come for us?
1 posted on 03/24/2008 12:57:06 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

No. Not in my lifetime. Not so long as I draw breath.


2 posted on 03/24/2008 12:58:36 PM PDT by PeterFinn (I am not voting for McCain. No way, no how.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Remember the old line: “There will always be a Britain?”

Apparently not.


3 posted on 03/24/2008 12:59:52 PM PDT by Brilliant
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

A New Empire? Maybe as a whole they’ll get their Sh!t together?


4 posted on 03/24/2008 1:01:44 PM PDT by Bringbackthedraft ( Clinton/Obama .. Obama/ Clinton ... Mc Cain/Obama .. Mc Cain/Clinton ... What a Choice!? Puleeeze!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The story continues: Now the Lisbon Treaty gives [the EU] those requisites of nationhood it's always lacked: a president, a foreign minister (and diplomatic corps)...

And why should this nation have two permanent seats on the UN security council, and 27 seats in the general assembly?

5 posted on 03/24/2008 1:05:23 PM PDT by omega4412
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The shape of things to come for us?

The treaty sounds like a lot of paper B.S. Sure it's onerous and a threat to sovereignty and England—until Britain (or any country) just pulls a "Kosovo" and rips it up. Whadda they gonna do? Subdue the Brits with cheese grenades?

An overlordship of pansies is hard to enforce.

6 posted on 03/24/2008 1:05:56 PM PDT by SamuraiScot
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

7 posted on 03/24/2008 1:08:15 PM PDT by Content Provider
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Just call the whole thing Lisbonistan, and be done with it.


8 posted on 03/24/2008 1:09:05 PM PDT by JZelle
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

No external force could ever defeat such a strong and powerful Nation. No, the defeat must come from within. This painful truth is working today in both Britain and the US. Collectively the West has lost its way and faith.


9 posted on 03/24/2008 1:10:04 PM PDT by mad puppy (Never have I felt so politically radical and I swear I didn't move an inch.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The beast power is rising....

Rev 13:1 And I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads names of blasphemy.

10 posted on 03/24/2008 1:11:28 PM PDT by DouglasKC
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; All

Lisbon Treaty website:

http://europa.eu/lisbon_treaty/index_en.htm


11 posted on 03/24/2008 1:18:27 PM PDT by kiriath_jearim
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The Grand Caliphate of Eurostan.
With its capital of Brusselabad.


12 posted on 03/24/2008 1:22:38 PM PDT by BuffaloJack
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
It's the end of Britain as we know it (EU Treaty of Lisbon)

It was smart of Tony Blair to convert to Catholicism. He's going to need to make one hell of a confession if he hopes to get to heaven: killing a nation is surely a mortal sin.

13 posted on 03/24/2008 1:22:57 PM PDT by snarks_when_bored
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

If you think about it, Britain is a relatively small country with not so many natural resources that against all odds managed to build an empire. Since WWII, the British Empire has been on the decline, as has British culture and demographics. At this point, why *should* Britain occupy any more lofty a position in the grand schema of things than say Poland or even Kazakhstan?

Empires rise. Empires fall. I don’t see any more point in waxing nostalgic over the fallen glory of the British empire than I do over the fallen glory of the Ottoman or Spanish empires that preceeded it.


14 posted on 03/24/2008 1:24:09 PM PDT by RKBA Democrat (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The Globalists are quite busy..


15 posted on 03/24/2008 1:26:38 PM PDT by hosepipe (CAUTION: This propaganda is laced with hyperbole....)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I hope this doesn’t come to pass. What has Queen Elizabeth to say?


16 posted on 03/24/2008 1:27:01 PM PDT by Beowulf9
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To: RKBA Democrat

Yeah and by your logic pretty much soon enough there will be no need to lament the fall of the American (Empire) nation too..!


17 posted on 03/24/2008 1:30:43 PM PDT by JSDude1 (http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=56306 "MoveON McCain" To find McCain's Sorros)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The could not effect the dictatorship via “voluntary” constitution so the Brussels Effets will create by treaty fiat.


18 posted on 03/24/2008 1:30:54 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: RKBA Democrat

If the British Empire is done, then the British Museum should send the looted artifacts back to their countries of origin...


19 posted on 03/24/2008 1:34:35 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The EU has long been run by totally left wing anti-American Communist. It is a disgrace to the world and our saving them twice from total destruction.


20 posted on 03/24/2008 1:37:26 PM PDT by YOUGOTIT (The Greatest Threat to our Security is the US Senate)
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To: JSDude1

“Yeah and by your logic pretty much soon enough there will be no need to lament the fall of the American (Empire) nation too..!”

I think it was Mark Steyn who noted that cultures die by suicide, not murder. I hope we choose to live on as both a dominant nation and culture. I think that there is a lot of America and our culture that is very much worth preserving and expanding. Unfortunately, my opinion is probably not shared by the majority of the American populace at this point.


21 posted on 03/24/2008 1:43:34 PM PDT by RKBA Democrat (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!)
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To: DouglasKC

Give me a break.


22 posted on 03/24/2008 1:45:27 PM PDT by ffusco (Maecilius Fuscus,Governor of Longovicium , Manchester, England. 238-244 AD)
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To: mad puppy
No external force could ever defeat such a strong and powerful Nation. No, the defeat must come from within. This painful truth is working today in both Britain and the US. Collectively the West has lost its way and faith.

Not true. When threatened from without, the bureaucracy in Brussels will be too busy shuffling paperclips to mount a serious defense. Recall their inability to do anything about Bosnia-Herzegovina without the United States. The same will happen if they're externally threatened.

Germans would die to defend Germany and the Italians Italy, but who wants to throw his life away defending the rights and priveleges of a bunch of Euro-bureaucrats?

23 posted on 03/24/2008 1:46:05 PM PDT by E. Cartman (Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“This winter, 27 nations of the European Union (EU) signed the Treaty of Lisbon”

therefore :

Europe = Lisbon
Europeans + Lisbeons


24 posted on 03/24/2008 1:50:28 PM PDT by daku ("My dream continues with ferocity, thank you.")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The 27 member nations that belong to the European Union.

Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom


25 posted on 03/24/2008 1:51:09 PM PDT by chainsaw ( No black racist Muslims in the WH.)
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To: Brilliant

Dany Kaye [imitating Hitler in a movie]: “There vill alvays be an England. But they’ll be driving Volkswagens!”.


26 posted on 03/24/2008 1:52:35 PM PDT by PzLdr ("The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am" - Darth Vader)
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To: Bringbackthedraft

“Maybe as a whole they’ll get their Sh!t together?”

sarcasm?? i hope


27 posted on 03/24/2008 1:59:01 PM PDT by Wuli
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
That's because, if ratified, it will become the decisive act in this creation of a federal European superstate...

Key now is this ratification process, although it is clear that the drumbeat will continue regardless. Look, for example, on how the EU constitution has marched on despite its clear rejection at the hands of the French electorate. Silly people - they actually thought it was up to them. It isn't.

28 posted on 03/24/2008 2:05:06 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: RKBA Democrat; All

it’s not about “empire”

failing to understand the importance of britain’s national sovereignty, you like fail to see the value of our own

it’s not about “empire”

other than a bunch of european socialists trying to create a new one


29 posted on 03/24/2008 2:05:35 PM PDT by Wuli
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To: RKBA Democrat

Why *should* Britain occupy any more lofty a position in the grand schema of things than say Poland or even Kazakhstan?

Shakespeare
The Magna Carta
Churchill
Wilberforce and the eradication of the international slave trade
The steam engine and the industrial revolution


30 posted on 03/24/2008 2:06:36 PM PDT by flowerplough (Obama's pastor's chickens are coming home to roost.)
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To: chainsaw
If they aren't forced to give up 26 seats in the UN then I say all 50 US States get a seat. Oh and since the US is a charter member of the security council; we get 50 seats there as well.

:)

31 posted on 03/24/2008 2:06:49 PM PDT by AFreeBird
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To: britemp

Ping - need some Brit opinions here. I couldn’t think of any others, but maybe you can.


32 posted on 03/24/2008 2:07:04 PM PDT by fr_freak (So foul a sky clears not without a storm)
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To: omega4412

The EU isnt a nation. Its a supra-national entity, existing on an entirely different plane of social discourse to what has gone before it in the whole of human history. The EU is a 27 nation bloc, and quite rightly each of these countries gets their own seat on the general assembly. That France and the UK each has a respective seat on the security council shows where the power bases were when the UN was created after WWII.


33 posted on 03/24/2008 2:20:53 PM PDT by Rikstir
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To: flowerplough

Adam Smith


34 posted on 03/24/2008 2:21:42 PM PDT by Max in Utah (A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within.)
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To: Content Provider

nice bit of obvious propaganda! you dont expect these educated peeps on FR to fall for it do you????


35 posted on 03/24/2008 2:21:43 PM PDT by Rikstir
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To: chainsaw

Let’s see - 7 HEAD, 10 Horn, 10 Crown:

Austria - Horn
Belgium - Horn
Bulgaria - Crown
Cyprus - Crown
Czech Republic - Crown
Denmark - Horn
Estonia - Crown
Finland - Horn
France - HEAD
Germany - HEAD
Greece - Horn
Hungary - Horn
Ireland - Horn
Italy - HEAD
Latvia - Crown
Lithuania - Crown
Luxembourg - Crown
Malta - Crown
Netherlands - Horn
Poland - HEAD
Portugal - HEAD
Romania - Horn
Slovakia - Crown
Slovenia - Crown
Spain - HEAD
Sweden - Horn
United Kingdom - HEAD

Uh oh.


36 posted on 03/24/2008 2:27:41 PM PDT by Technocrat (McCain-Romney 2008. Crap.)
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To: RKBA Democrat

Because Britain gave life to all the English speaking colonies. Because Britain saved democracy during 1940. Because of our long scientific, cultural, political, literary and technological history.

Because, with the greatest respect, comparing the UK to Poland or Kazakhstan is an insult. We are wealthy, we have a more stable government, we have no recent history of revolution or civil war.

And because we have enough nukes to destroy any nation on the planet.

Unlike Spain or Turkey, we have embraced the post colonial world and are at the forefront of politics. We in the UK dont wax lyrical of the days of empire. Its you boys that do that, as though you’re trying to justify having one of your own.

Get facts right, before speaking ok?


37 posted on 03/24/2008 2:28:51 PM PDT by Rikstir
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To: YOUGOTIT

absolute nonsense. get off your high horse sunshine


38 posted on 03/24/2008 2:31:08 PM PDT by Rikstir
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To: snarks_when_bored
I might also repeat, tho not verbatim, a line from a earlier post...that we maybe looking at our future when observing what's happening with England”.

Then, to follow up on your remark about Tony Blair setting his country down the path it finds itself on...I feel we could say the same thing about President Bush. I voted for the man twice, but over the past several years, his attitude about ignoring the leaky borders, kissing up to Mexico, the so called “North American Treaty”....plans for the super highway, ignoring the gas situation,the out of control spending of the Republican Congress, not vetoing crap bills that came across his desk, and most of all, in my opinion, the ease with which he runs over the Constitution of the United States...I will add, Congress seems to have no trouble doing that also...our rights,the very Sovereignty of our Nation. I'm not saying he alone could have changed some of-this stuff, but a lot of it rests at his feet...he could have done a whole heck of a lot better at watching out for the interests of America. It's fine and dandy to want to “spread freedom to all the other countries”,but his first priority should have been to concentrate on our problems here at home.

And before anyone jumps on me about his responding to terrorism , the war etc...he had my backing going into that war, but when I could see how he kept dragging his feet on the illegal mess, wanting amnesty etc., the less sense and the more hypocritical it seemed for us to be waging war in Iraq, yet totally ignoring the open borders, the invasion, mainly from the South, and ignoring the astronomical cost those illegals cause our schools, hospitals, social services....he either doesn't live in the real world or he doesn't give a da**.

39 posted on 03/24/2008 2:32:33 PM PDT by Molly T. (Not voting for the lesser of two evils, been there, done that...)
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To: AFreeBird

Cant work FRiend. No US state is a country in its own right (indeed is prevented from being so by the US constitution), and as such is ineligible for any considerations of general assembly seats. Want more seats, then some of the US states are going to have to secede, but then, they wont be US seats will they?????


40 posted on 03/24/2008 2:34:12 PM PDT by Rikstir
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To: Rikstir
The United States started the same way in 1787; at the time it was generally accepted that if an individual state wanted to leave the Union, it was free to do so. Virginia and New York asserted this right at the time they ratified the Constitution. By 1865, it was firmly established that Virginia and 10 other Southern states were not free to leave at will, at the cost of 600,000 military deaths and many civilian casualties. Just because Britain and France have far longer histories than the American states does not mean that they will not be bound to a permanent union.

It is ironic that nations like Poland and Ireland, oppressed for centuries by foreign powers, are willing to surrender their hard won independence to a supranational state.

41 posted on 03/24/2008 2:38:16 PM PDT by Wallace T.
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; Saoirise

Oh Brittania, what has become of you? From days of old, in Britain’s triumph now to this?

Shakespeare’s Henry V:

(Enter the King)

Westmoreland: O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
That do no work to-day!

KING: What’s he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark’d to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
...Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
that fears his fellowship to die with us.....

WE FEW, WE HAPPY FEW, WE BAND OF BROTHERS;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’re so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And HOLD THEIR MANHOODS CHEAP WHILES ANY SPEAKS
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

Farewell, Henry and farewell Shakespeare. I hope your ancestors wash their lips after they kiss the boots of their enemies.


42 posted on 03/24/2008 2:38:43 PM PDT by 444Flyer (You're It!)
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To: Rikstir

It’s an old propaganda piece... I think it’s from the Maastricht treaty.

As far as “falling for it”, well, I assume everyone will come to their own conclusions as critically thinking individuals, and if they don’t, that’s their own fault.

I don’t think the EU is equivalent to the Nazis... whether they are similar to the Soviets is as yet unestablished. But the key idea is the dissolution of national identity and self-determination in a Faustian bargain with the superpower of the day, and I think that remains relevant.


43 posted on 03/24/2008 2:40:56 PM PDT by Content Provider
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“with its capital in Brussels.” And Brussels, my friends, has a Moslem mayor. Europe? Fuggedaboudit.


44 posted on 03/24/2008 2:42:15 PM PDT by Malesherbes
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“The shape of things to come for us?”

EU or no, Britian was already flying apart. First, the Irish part of the United Kingdom went many years ago. Now, Scotland has a independent parliment that is looking to stage a referendrum on staying in the kingdom. That leaves England and Wales as the UK.


45 posted on 03/24/2008 2:45:03 PM PDT by Owl558 (Pardon my spelling)
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To: Wuli

“failing to understand the importance of britain’s national sovereignty, you like fail to see the value of our own.”

Your post is ironic to say the least. The essence of sovereignty is being able to determine your own national destiny. If Britain wishes to fade into obscurity, as it appears it does, then that is *their* choice to make. I think it’s a dumb choice, but it’s *their* choice.

I’m an American. Britain isn’t my country. As such, I don’t see it as my place to play the UN-EU internationalist and determine oh-so-wisely what another country should or should not do when that choice has little direct impact on my own country.


46 posted on 03/24/2008 2:55:02 PM PDT by RKBA Democrat (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!)
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To: Molly T.

Good golly, Miss Molly... I’m standing right with you on this one!


47 posted on 03/24/2008 2:56:19 PM PDT by GingisK
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To: longtermmemmory

“If the British Empire is done, then the British Museum should send the looted artifacts back to their countries of origin.”

That’s between Britain and the other countries in question.


48 posted on 03/24/2008 2:56:39 PM PDT by RKBA Democrat (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!)
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To: snarks_when_bored; Molly T.; Saoirise; F15Eagle

“It was smart of Tony Blair to convert to Catholicism. He’s going to need to make one hell of a confessions if he hopes to get to heaven: killing a nation is surely a mortal sin.”

Ole’ Citizen Blair is just filling in his resume for a prospective future job after his Quartet gig is over.

“I’ll be president of Europe if you give me the power-Blair”
Former PM consults old Downing Street allies on campaign for new EU role 2/2/08

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/tonyblair/story/0,,2251169,00.html


49 posted on 03/24/2008 3:00:26 PM PDT by 444Flyer (You're It!)
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To: Malesherbes

London has a proto-Communist mayor, as well.


50 posted on 03/24/2008 3:04:12 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (http://www.fourfriedchickensandacoke.blogspot.com)
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