No, no, and no!

Living in France, I didn't vote in yesterday's referendum on the Lisbon treaty, but I'm pretty sure I would have voted against. Unlike some in office, I might have even made the effort to read a summary of what we were asked to vote for. There was a time when I believed in greater European integration for economic self-defense against the established and upcoming economic giants of the world - 300 million people have a lot to say, but if you took the entire population of Ireland and plopped them in India, I'm not sure anyone would notice.

More recently however I've become skeptical of centralised power and big bureaucracies. A big government is just as likely to screw its own people as defend against foreign interests.

It's kind of sickening to see other European politicians slamming the Irish people for their decision, regardless of how poorly the decision might have been made. Those politicians know where Lisbon would be if their own peoples had a say in the matter. "21% of Irish people decide the fate of 300 million Europeans" - WTF? Is it preferable that a few dozen politicians make this decision? Do you, like, *trust* your leaders??

Back in the Dark Ages, legend has it, Ireland "saved civilisation" by taking the scholarly works of the Holy Roman Empire with them as they fled to the safety and isolation of this little island far from the wanton destruction of heathen invaders from the North. It's kind of funny to think this country, with its silly insular, provincial political factions, might now be the last outpost of democracy in Europe.

On a completely unrelated note, and I hope you'll forgive me for being irrelevant, reddit kindly pointed out this video (52 mins) of an academic demolition of standard WTC collapse theories. It says much the same as 911 Mysteries, but without all the drama and excitement. Just a simple analysis of publicly available knowledge - photos, videos, and witness accounts.