French 'Non' puts EU in turmoil

[Alanoll]

Just because I remembered this that someone told me, but it's a long standing joke from the beginning days of google in the states

Go to Google, Type in the box: French Military Victories and hit "I'm Feeling Lucky"

You'll notice that it now points to an AlbinoBlackSheep.com page, but it used to be Google's response to that phrase. Google also had a few others, like "What's the meaning of life, the world, and everything?" and it'd spit out the phrase from HitchHiker's Guide to the Universe.

I'm sure Google's programmers added these little jokes, because there are quite a few of them, but yeah.

(I by no means think the French don't have any military victories, I can name quite a few. But this could be partly where the stereotypical French "losers" sentiment comes from in the states, especially in the age of the internet)

[dman]

I think Europeans are wise to be skeptical of this. In America we were promised many of the same benefits touted by EU supporters with our North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). What we got was outsourced jobs (almost impossible to get work as programmer) and a flood of illegal immigrants. I have nothing against free markets and fair competition, but that's not what we have.

Think long and hard before surrendering any of your sovereignty to a “quasi-governmental” body run by bureaucrats.

[Nanaki]

The Netherlands voted "no" by 60%. Owned.

[Bâshrat the Sneaky]

The Netherlands voted "no" by 60%. Owned.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

63%, to be correct

[sven]

well.. this is kinda like the quebec referendums. the french got pulled into the country of canada back in the 17th century, against their will, and now they want to seperate and become their own state. if you pull a country into this alliance without the populations consent, your really going to get screwed over in the long run. keep everything how it is now, and you wont have any problems. try to change everything, and be disliked, you'll end up like george bush, hated by half the world.

[Zxian]

well.. this is kinda like the quebec referendums.  the french got pulled into the country of canada back in the 17th century, against their will, and now they want to seperate and become their own state.  if you pull a country into this alliance without the populations consent, your really going to get screwed over in the long run.  keep everything how it is now, and you wont have any problems.  try to change everything, and be disliked, you'll end up like george bush, hated by half the world.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't think that it's quite the same as the Quebec referendums. European countries have been independent for centuries and are now considering the possibility of working together as a whole. Quebec (Lower Canada as it was known back then) was formed as part of a new country. If Quebec were to separate from the rest of Canada, it would have a fairly difficult time being self sustaining. There's a lot of federal money that's flowing back and forth into Quebec...

I understand how people might feel about that though... I was born in Montreal, but I don't understand why there's a need to break away from the rest of the country. If anything, the western provinces should break away first, since we're not getting much representation in parliament.

Sorry for the bit of derailment... just my two cents.

And yeah, from what I had heard from my familiy in Holland, that one was going No as well...