EU SHENANIGANS

They are trying to give themselves power to jail British and other national citizens

EU shoots itself in the foot: "Brussels has been given the power to compel British courts to fine or imprison people for breaking EU laws, even if the Government and Parliament are opposed. An unprecedented ruling yesterday by the supreme court in Europe gives Brussels the power to introduce harmonised criminal law across the EU, creating for the first time a body of European criminal law that all member states must adopt. The judgment by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg was bitterly fought by 11 EU governments, including Britain, and marks a dramatic transfer of power from national capitals to Brussels.....

Some national government officials said that the issue was so sensitive that EU lawmaking would grind to a halt and member governments would refuse to pass legislation rather than accept harmonisation of criminal law. One diplomat said: "This stuff is political dynamite in the UK, Holland, Italy, Scandinavia, and Eastern Europe, where they are as keen on their sovereignty as anyone. Imagine how Italians would react if their criminal law was rewritten at EU level. Ironically, it means less will be done at EU level.""

I doubt in any case that any attempt to enforce such EU edicts in Britain would get past the House of Lords. The Law Lords could well rule that Britain is not bound by something outside specific treaty obligations. Note this comment: "Gerald Barling, QC, a leading European expert, said that the European court had declared that the powers to introduce harmonised criminal laws were already there. "But that in itself is arguable - the Community treaty itself does not directly say so," he said".

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ELSEWHERE

Putting America under foreign rule: "Though John Roberts may be on the firing line this week as his Senate hearings begin, it's sitting Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy who is making big court news. In the Sept. 12 New Yorker, legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin pens a profile of Kennedy, who vigorously defends his use of foreign laws and constitutions to interpret U.S. laws and our Constitution. Some in Congress believe Kennedy's position - and those of several other Court Justices - is a clear violation of both U.S. law and the Justices' own solemn oath to uphold solely the U.S. Constitution.... The use of foreign and international laws in deciding Supreme Court decisions has outraged many present and former policymakers in Washington. "Relying upon foreign law, particularly international covenants to which the United States is not a party, is an illegitimate source of interpretation for the Constitution," former Reagan administration Attorney General Edwin Meese told NewsMax. "It is impossible to reconcile foreign customs or opinions of law with the meaning of the Constitution," he added..."

Is this the ultimate madness? They are disarming the National Guard in New Orleans.

American Fascism? "'All Our Visitors Bring Happiness,' reads the wrought iron sign on the front column of Albert Cousin's 102-year-old Victorian house. Not Wednesday. Sheriff's deputies in body armor and holding rifles came to try to force Cousin and other residents of St. Bernard Parish to get out of town. ... For the past few days, residents have found comfort in food and water brought by units of the Georgia National Guard, who arrived Labor Day weekend. ... With such efforts under way, the rousting of residents was left to deputies from neighboring parishes, and law enforcement members from as far away as Oklahoma City. The forced eviction of stubborn occupants of this parish, the first community downriver from New Orleans, is more aggressive than similar efforts in the city."

Great stuff!: "Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee said he has 'commandered' the Sam's and Wal-Mart stores in the parish and ordered them to open as soon as possible. Lee said he took the action after he learned that a Wal-Mart store wanted to open recently but was told by FEMA officials that it could not. 'I am upset with FEMA and some of their regulations,' Lee said. After talking about the situation concerning the Wal-Mart on Thursday, Lee said he briefly talked to Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-New Orleans on Friday. He asked her to check on the situation and find out if there was a legitimate reason to keep the store closed. But because of communication difficulties, he did not hear back and took the situation in his own hands. Lee said he gave handwritten notes to Wal-Mart stores in Harvey and Kenner saying they were ordered to open as soon as possible. Lee said Parish President Aaron Broussard agreed with the decision. Lee said anyone from FEMA who tries to close either store will be arrested by deputies."

FEMA should be shut down : "What if there was no such thing as FEMA? I asked myself that question after reading about the Federal Emergency Management Agency's bungled efforts to serve the poor and suffering in the area formerly known as New Orleans. Following Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, FEMA was criticized for inaction, epitomized by Director Michael Brown's August 29th memo suggesting workers be allowed two days to get to the ravaged region. (Incredibly, Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke defended the two-day delay as necessary to provide workers with adequate training.)"

Labor regulations suspended to "aid hurricane recovery": "Last week President Bush, in order to speed the hurricane recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast, suspended labor regulations that control wages for workers employed by federal contractors. The additional flexibility will help create new jobs and speed the rebuilding process, raising the larger question of whether the rules should be reinstated even after the emergency has passed. The so-called 'prevailing wage' regulations which date from the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act require that federal contractors pay employees a government-determined minimum wage."

"Living wage" laws don't help low-income families: "In July, Sonoma, California passed an ordinance requiring certain employers to pay $11.70 an hour with health benefits or $13.20 without health benefits, indexed to the consumer price index. The ordinance applies to companies with a city service contract worth at least $10,000, nonprofits with city contracts of at least $75,000, and companies that receive city loans or economic assistance worth at least $100,000. But a new study of 'living wage' laws indicates the Sonoma City Council's decision may not help those the law is intended to benefit."

For old-timers or those who are interested in the history of American conservatism, there is a good review here of a recent book by Priscilla Buckley, sister and co-worker of Bill Buckley.

Chris Brand has a HUGE coverage of the controversy over male/female differences in IQ which I have just posted here

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. And on Social Security see Dick McDonald

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Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)

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