Pints!

[@BigBen52]

"The concrete makes a city of my town"...from the song 'Dublin In the Rare Auld Times". What a great line. It sums up all the incongruities that come with the word "progress".

[@BigBen52]

Good points, Lance, about fear and risks and the loss of freedom. There's an old American expression "Lord willing and the Creek don't rise". Few people realize the 'Creek' in that statement were the Creek Indians not a body of water. Life back then was precarious every day, but those brave souls fought every day to keep their freedoms usually without any help from government. Today, most folks don't lift a finger to stop the erosion of rights.

[@BigBen52]

Rare that I'm in that area (occas RI), but I'll definitely stop by if I am. Thanks for the invite! BB

[@BigBen52]

Give them time! Pretty soon they'll be taxing our beer by the milliliter! lol

[@BigBen52]

Yeah, it's definitely hard to coordinate conversations across 6 or 8 time zones, not to mention work schedules.

[@archtopbrownie]

Ben. Good vid. I don't know if you know the source of your quote but it was Will Rogers who said, "Look on the bright side of your taxes folks. Thank God we don't get as much government as we're paying for." Cheers.

[@BigBen52]

Yep, that's me! I played the music on about half of my vids. Great comment from St. Augustine. Thanks for commenting!

[@BigBen52]

Well said!

[@pixiehorse]

noting like a pint of guinness in an pub!

[@BigBen52]

Welcome to the club.

[@BigBen52]

Quote for the Day: Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Ben Franklin

[@BigBen52]

The Old World is now a Brave New World, to paraphrase another appropriate book......which one do you like better???

[@BigBen52]

Thought for the day: 'Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.' - Ronald Reagan

[@BigBen52]

Excellent question. Individuals are cleverly (at this time)not directly taxed by the EU. Member countries 'pay what they can afford' based on their GDP. They get allocations back from the EU. On paper Ireland gets back more than they give....but it would have been better to have kept the entire amount put!

[@BigBen52]

Quote for the Day: Mankind is at its best when it is most free. This will be clear if we grasp the principle of liberty. We must recall that the basic principle is freedom of choice, which many have on their lips but few in their minds. Dante

[@BigBen52]

OK, Rick, but don't say I didn't warn ya when the World Bank and EU say you have to pay 20 Euro for a half-LITER of Carlsberg, drive a refurbished Yugo, and you can't shake your hips like Elvis!

[@BigBen52]

Very wryly put, BLZ!

[@archtopbrownie]

Fear is at the root of our loss of freedom. 100 years ago people weren't sure they would be safe every minute of the day. Life was risky. Today your chances of getting killed by a terrorist are minute compared to your odds in an automobile. Yet, we are ready to sacrifice all for a false sense of security. I thank you and Will Rogers thanks you for the cool video and the enlightened point at the end.

[@BigBen52]

Yeah, JR, "raising a litre down at the pub" just doesn't have the same ring to it, does it? Thanks for seeing the bigger picture, tho.

[@BigBen52]

Quote for the Day: Definition of Irish Alzheimers: We forget everything except the grudges. Judy Collins

[@BigBen52]

Actually, it would have taken only 269 voting the opposite direction. Who says every vote doesn't count?

[@BigBen52]

Thanks, BW, for pointing out the American Electoral College system. It is a strange form of democracy, but we can see how slim a majority it takes for something wrong, or right, to happen. A friend of mine quotes "Democracy is like two wolves and a sheep deciding what's for dinner".

[@BigBen52]

Quote for the Day: "Pessimist: One who, when he has the choice of two evils, chooses both." Oscar Wilde

[@BigBen52]

Free pint to the first person to name that tune...the first one, not the last one.

[@BigBen52]

t some point in the future EU taxation, EU laws, EU standards, EU military service will be forced upon us and replace who we are. I am not being paranoid or giving a knee-jerk opinion....it has already started. Chronologically, Ireland JUST BECAME Ireland. I, for one don't want to lose the reason she is so beloved.

[@BigBen52]

Yeah, we gotta stop meeting like this, people are beginning to talk!

[@BigBen52]

And, before anyone brings up that Afghanistan produces 90% of the worlds opium, I'd sure like to know who and how they got the pre- and post- figures for that number. If it's that easy to measure, don't we think someone would have sprayed Agent Orange by now????

[@BigBen52]

For example, if Ireland puts in 40B Euro and gets back 50B, she appears to be 10 ahead. However, it would have been much better just to have kept the original 40B.

[@BigBen52]

One by one our freedoms and our standards and our way of life are being taken away. The dominoes are starting to fall.

[@BigBen52]

My purpose of making this video was to show how easily a faceless, totalitarian government can strip away our individuality. More later.

[@BigBen52]

And, how many wars were fought with the same good intentions? Viet Nam, Korea, Bosnia, Cambodia, and Iraq (if you believe there are 300,000 dead in mass graves there) come recently to mind. And, isn't this the purpose of the UN???? Do we need another UN???

[@BigBen52]

Maybe this is a "sign" of things to come: 500 Internal Server Error I'm really getting sick of that one!

[@BigBen52]

Yeah, I couldn't remember the exact date of the Falklands (I'm sure a gaucho could inform me, tho), so I tried to use a 30 year cutoff on ya. lol. North Korea came to mind, too, but there really haven't been any shots fired there in a long time.

[@BigBen52]

And, why does the UN not have an army? Should the EU become the 'policemen of the world' instead of the UN? When a country disregards 16 UN Resolutions, should the EU army step in? Need I remind you that's how the US Congress and 20+ coalition countries justified the invasion of Iraq?

[@BigBen52]

Yes, glad to hear Miliband and Denmark might reject it again. Giving up sovereignty? We already have. 'They' already want to send peacekeepers (troops) to Sudan....makes the EU no better than Bush in Iraq, don't you think? Also, I think it no coincidence that housing costs have more than doubled since 2001, especially when the first 100,000euros of a new home's cost goes directly to the government.

[@BigBen52]

I thought you especially might enjoy that one. Sliante!

[@BigBen52]

It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself-anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face ... was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime ... George Orwell

[@BigBen52]

You are right, my friend, about Sudan, but arriving with guns and rocket launchers is not the way. We can easily get sucked into a prolonged war like Iraq where our Irish or British or Lithuanian sons die because someone in Brussels thought "it was the right thing to do".

[@BigBen52]

There is some hope that since several Mideast nations on opposite sides have nukes, that they won't use them for fear of mutual destruction, sort of a Mideast version of the Cold War. But, I fear someone will sneak one into Israel, and the Israelis will launch.

[@BigBen52]

Kinda my point, Three Elvi. Interestingly, the UN Charter is set up so that one nation on the Security Council can 'go it alone' as US/Bush did. I fear the EU will be just as bad. Witness now that the "EU force" going to Chad is 50% French.

[@BigBen52]

I think, BW, that we can achieve the economic gains (against China, etc) by simple treaties. But a truely federated US of Europe is an entirely different ballgame where socialism, conscription of armies, and forced moralities eventually will be put into the hands of just a few men.

[@BigBen52]

This isn't decades down the line, my friend, this is now Sept 2007: "the (EU) 3,000-person force will have a more-robust mandate and better equipment, including aircraft and attack helicopters, than the largely African force that is about to deploy in Sudan's western region under combined African Union and UN command and control." You think it's a coincidence or Bush's fault that the Russians have been sending long-range bombers into British and Scandanavian airspace this month???

[@BigBen52]

I was not trying to make a direct comparison of Iraq and Sudan except in principle. Now we can add 3000 troops to Chad to the equation. The push is for a true multi-national EU force. Do Irish or French or Lithuanians want to send their kids ARMED into a foreign country? As soon as we strap on a gun and send assault helicopters, we are invaders just like Bush in Iraq.....and we have stepped far beyond just a convenient economic unity.

[@BigBen52]

Sorry, out of town for two days to reply. Yes, the education level has increased, but it brought massive immigration and cost of living increases. I liked the Ireland of 1999 better. Even Guinness costs twice as much now! lol

[@BigBen52]

And, for good measure, don't forget NATO.

[@BigBen52]

Your dad sounds like a great guy, and, apparently from a good family....or to paraphrase George Bush....the tree didn't fall far from its nuts!

[@BigBen52]

To the EU...be it ever so humble!

[@BigBen52]

"Decades down the line" was a comment on "a federal state of europe"...do you not see the danger of a military force even before there is a state? A force that has already stepped beyond a defensive purpose, and onto another continent? The people of Europe might want an economic union, as you said, but they are not signing up to be the policemen of the world, which is why the US is hated.

[@BigBen52]

Yes, I agree, with unity there is strength. But we already have treaties for that purpose. Wake up. The handwriting is already on the wall of the military intentions of the EU before the ink even dries on a referendum to authorize it! Do you think the Islamic population of Chad and Sudan and the rest of central Africa will think of us as humanitarians or invaders????

[@BigBen52]

Hey, Rick, what do you see the Dane's biggest objection to the EU? The political implications or the economic? BW once mentioned that the Irish get big benefits from it, but I'm inclined to disagree since Ireland has the 2nd highest GDP per person. I think Irish taxes are going to the eastern European countries.

[@BigBen52]

So, you think it is OK for the EU to send soldiers and assault helicopters to Africa, but not the UN?

[@BigBen52]

I better not answer that, the EU police are probably already looking for me! lol

[@BigBen52]

Well, to be devil's advocate, there were plenty of quotes from Clinton and many world leaders that Saddam DID have WMD's. And, we KNOW that he did wipe out entire towns of up to 5,000 people with gas. Buried jets were found in the desert...so god knows what else is out there. It's doubtful Saddam actually vaporized the stuff. Justification enough? Hindsight is easy.

[@BigBen52]

Well, you guys have certainly become best mates while I was away! Drinking and carousing all night long....lol...alright, be off with ya then and maybe we'll pick this up later. I see WW3 looming on the horizon.....

[@BigBen52]

Hey, BritishWatcher, I have an interesting hypothesis for you.....why not invite Russia into the EU? Technically, they are european. Certainly would add to world stability both politically and economically.

[@BigBen52]

Come now, BW, I know you're smart enough to realize that the money from member states IS TAX MONEY from their people. The states just don't print extra money...hmmm, I guess that's another topic for debate, eh?

[@BigBen52]

Well, to be honest, probably start WW3 with the Islamics. Try to name a conflict in the last 30 years that they weren't involved in.

[@BigBen52]

You guys haven't exchanged phone numbers, too, have you? Now THAT would be girlish....lol

[@BigBen52]

It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it. God knows the UN is impotent. So.....you think the EU should take the job....and all the glory that goes with it? LOL

[@BigBen52]

But, I can see scenarios like Iran or Pakistan getting their knickers in a wad and stepping over the line, dragging buffoon Chavez and therefore Kim Jong Il into it. Then India, who hates Pakistan.....and let's not forget Israel is an easy target who would surely draw in others.

[@BigBen52]

If you have the gonads and can do better, ciaranleahy17, you're welcome to post a video response here. I'll be glad to post it so the rest of the world can comment on your success or failure.