Over 260,000 Austrians have signed a petition calling for the EU exit for the country, and now the Austrian parliament must discuss a referendum on the issue. Overall, the 261,159 people who signed the petition represent 4.12 percent of the electorate.

Unlike Greece, Austria is an extremely wealthy nation, with one of the highest standards of living in the world. Which kind of makes you wonder, right? Everyone has been talking about the consequences of what would happen if a financial basket case like Greece leaves the EU, but what happens if one of the more stable and functional nations leave? What if the people who are carrying the weight of the insolvent, decide that they’ve had enough?

All this talk about Greece causing the unraveling of the EU hasn’t taken wealthy nations into account, even though the whims of their populations should really scare EU leaders. The woman who launched the petition claims that if their country leaves, each household would save 9,800 euros per year. If that’s truly the case, then it doesn’t sound like the EU can spare Austria.

For many observers of Europe’s torn political landscape, it is hardly a wild exaggeration to suggest that Juncker is a man who not only regards economy with the truth as some kind of badge of office, but also has a well-honed knack of offending people. In an unflattering profile in London’s Daily Telegraph, published soon after Juncker took office as commissioner last November, he was portrayed as the face of “old Europe”, one of the last believers in a federal Europe and a practitioner of the “wheeling and dealing that led to the flawed euro and EU constitution”.

Juncker dismisses such criticism. “Despite what you may read in the British press, I do not want a United States of Europe,” he told Euro MPs. “I do not believe Europe can be constructed against the nation state.” Yet the Greek complaint of insincerity is one Juncker has made it hard to shrug off. While it may be naive to believe that men and women of power and influence never resort to half-truths, Juncker must be a rarity in publicly presenting the necessity to lie as a virtue.

In an earlier stage of the long-running Greek debt crisis, he offered the thought: “When it becomes serious, you have to lie.”

Perhaps the left in the UK should re-consider their pro-EU stance.

Whilst it is true that the Greeks borrowed excessively, they did so because the ECB set the euro bank rate too low for their economy at the time. And the reason for the low rate was to accommodate the earlier turn down in the German economy (by far the largest in the EZ) in the 2000s.

As numerous economists and many eurosceptics warned 15 and 20 years ago, a “one size fits all” monetary policy does not work. Unless, of course, there is centralised tax raising and wealth re-distributing powers to cope with the strains and misery evident in southern EU countries now. And this means a “United States of Europe” is likely, unless the euro collapses.

So UK voters who think they can continue with the EU status quo are in for a shock: given the survival of the euro, a vote to stay in the EU will inevitably result in the UK embarking on a path of being completely dissolved into a new EU superstate. It would be a massive political upheaval with huge attendant risks for business and jobs, and a far greater change than restoring our independence.

Greece will leave the eurozone:

That is what the EU says, and is likely to happen. Without a deal, it will be cut off from long-term funding from the European Central Bank, and will have to default more widely on its debts. The assumption is that it will effectively devalue by printing its own currency, and start again. However, both the Greek government and some financial analysts say there is no reason why it should not default on its debts, agree a new financing deal, and stay in the euro. Although the EU will not want to agree this, it may in the end prefer it to a breach of the principle that eurozone membership is irreversible.

Greece will run out of cash:

All eyes will turn to the ECB, which on Monday will have to decide whether to continue to extend its emergency financial lifeline to the Greek banks. The Greek banks are at risk because they carry a heavy exposure to their government's own debt. If the government can’t pay, and the banks go bust, then … it is not clear what happens to savers’ money.

Greece will have to find a factory to print drachmas:

British firms like De La Rue, which prints 150 currencies worldwide, are believed to have been contacted with a view to providing such services. It's done in great secrecy to prevent currency speculation. The other big problem is the logistical challenges of switching a currency. All ATMs, computers and other machinery of commerce that bears the euro symbol will have to be adjusted. It could, and would, take months.

Greece’s economy will (still) be in ruins:

Many Greeks see the austerity reforms as a much-needed measure to make the country more economically dynamic. They fear that leaving the Eurozone will make Greece even more backward, and remove the one powerful check on Syriza's more radical elements. Feelings are running high on both sides.

What does it mean for the rest of us?

Britain has looked on from the sidelines - but the No vote is a shot across the bows of EU leaders that they cannot take risks with public opinion in eurosceptic nations. On the other hand, Britain’s economy is at risk - as is the rest of the world’s - if the eurozone begins to melt down. EU leaders are confident it will not, but they have been wrong before.

Yanis Varoufakis wrote on his blog that he had been "made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted 'partners', for my... 'absence' from its meetings". The prime minister had judged this to be "potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement", he noted, adding: "I shall wear the creditors' loathing with pride."

Greece's governing Syriza party had campaigned for a "No", saying that the bailout terms were humiliating. Mr Tsipras said late on Sunday that the Greeks had proved that "democracy won't be blackmailed." Speaking in a televised address, he said: "Given the unfavourable conditions last week, you have made a very brave choice. But I am aware that the mandate you gave me is not a mandate for rupture."

He said that Greece would go back to the negotiating table on Monday, adding that an International Monetary Fund (IMF) assessment published this week confirmed that restructuring Greek debt was necessary. But some European officials had already warned that creditors could take a "No" vote to mean that Greeks had rejected further talks.

European leaders were varied in their openness to more talks with Greece after the vote. Germany's Deputy Chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, told local media that renewed negotiations with Greece were "difficult to imagine" and that Mr Tsipras had "torn down the bridges" between Greece and Europe.

However, Italian and Belgian ministers were more conciliatory, with Belgium's finance minister saying that the door remained open to restart talks "literally, within hours".

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who heads the eurozone's group of finance ministers, said the referendum result was "very regrettable" for the future of Greece.

Meanwhile, Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament, warned that Europe was entering "a very difficult and even dramatic time" unless the Greek government made "meaningful" proposals in the coming hours.

Greece had been locked in negotiations with its creditors for months when the Greek government unexpectedly called a referendum on the terms it was being offered.

“We still have another stock market bubble and another housing bubble going on, but the big bubble I think is in the bond bubble,” he said Thursday on the Alex Jones Show. “It’s been going on for 35 years, taking interest rates from 21% down to actually negative.” “[Central banks] have been getting away with it, so this means distortion, and not only is there money involved, but it has also distorted all the investments made during this time.”

And the biggest distortion this encouraged, Dr Paul added, is debt. “It encouraged debt for a lot of people, but in particular government,” he continued. “As long as our government is able to print the reserve currency [the US dollar], it’s going to limp along, even though our economy is limping along, but that will come to an end.”

“Right now we’re starting to see the whole thing coming apart; I mean we look at Detroit as an example, we see what’s happening in Greece, they’re worrying about what’s going to happen after Greece is actually recognized as totally bankrupt and there will be other countries.” Dr Paul also warned that the central banks will keep trying to delay the inevitable by printing and spending even more money. “But that’s coming to an end,” he said. “The day of reckoning is at hand.”

And on October 20th of this year, the IMF is expected to announce a reserve currency alternative to the US dollar, which will send hundreds of billions of dollars moving around the world, literally overnight. According to Juan Zarate, who helped implement financial sanctions while serving in George W Bush’s Treasury department, “Once the [other currency] becomes an alternative to the dollar, rules of the game begin to change.”

And Leong Sing Chiong, Assistant Managing Director at a major central bank, said this dollar alternative “is likely to transform the financial landscape in the next 5-10 years.”

The ruling from Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian came after Sweetcakes By Melissa owners Melissa and Aaron Klein were found guilty in a preliminary finding earlier this year of discrimination based on sexual orientation. Oregon law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.

“This case is not about a wedding cake or a marriage. It is about a business’s refusal to serve someone because of their sexual orientation. Under Oregon law, that is illegal,” the bureau’s order said.

The couple reacted to the ruling in a Facebook statement. “This effectively strips us of all our first amendment rights. According to the state of Oregon we neither have freedom of religion nor freedom of speech,” the statement said. “We will NOT give up this fight, and we will NOT be silenced. We stand for God’s truth, God’s word and freedom for ALL Americans.”

Propaganda is truth if told by Washington and its puppets, such as the EU Observer. The EU Observer, little doubt following Washington’s orders, has denounced RT and Sputnik News for “broadcasting fabrications and hate speech from their bureaus in European Union cities.” Often I appear on both RT and Sputnik. In my opinion both are too restrained in their reporting, fearful, of course, of being shut down, than full truth requires. I have never heard a word of hate speech or propaganda on either.

Washington’s propaganda, perhaps, but not the Russian government’s.

In other words, the way Washington has the news world rigged, not even independent news sites can speak completely clearly. The Western presstitutes have succeeded in creating a false reality for insouciant Americans and also for much of the European Union population. A sizable percentage of these insouciant peoples believe that Russia invaded Ukranine and that Russia is threatening to invade the Baltic States and Poland. This belief exists despite all intelligence of all Western governments reporting that there is no sign of any Russian forces that would be required for invasion.

The “Russian invasion,” like “Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction and al Qaeda connections,” like “Assad of Syria’s use of chemical weapons against his own people,” like “Iranian nukes,” never existed but nevertheless became the reality in the Western media. The insouciant Western peoples believe in non-existent occurrencies. In other words, just to state the obvious noncontroversial fact, the Western “news” media is a propaganda ministry from which no truth emerges.

Thus, the Western World is ruled by propaganda. Truth is excluded. Fox “news,” CNN, the NY Times, Washington Post, and all the rest of the most accomplished liars in world history, repeat constantly the same lies. For Washington, of course, and the military/security complex. War is the only possible outcome of propaganda in behalf of war. When the irresponsible Western media brings Armageddon to you, you can thank the New York Times and the rest of the presstitutes for the destruction of yourself and all your hopes for yourself and your children.

Even when the motives behind this rigidly calibrated reorientation of societal language appear well-intentioned — discouraging racism, condemning violence, denouncing discrimination and hatred — inevitably, the end result is the same: intolerance, indoctrination and infantilism. It’s political correctness disguised as tolerance, civility and love, but what it really amounts to is the chilling of free speech and the demonizing of viewpoints that run counter to the cultural elite.

As a society, we’ve become fearfully polite, careful to avoid offense, and largely unwilling to be labeled intolerant, hateful, closed-minded or any of the other toxic labels that carry a badge of shame today. The result is a nation where no one says what they really think anymore, at least if it runs counter to the prevailing views. Intolerance is the new scarlet letter of our day, a badge to be worn in shame and humiliation, deserving of society’s fear, loathing and utter banishment from society.

For those “haters” who dare to voice a different opinion, retribution is swift: they will be shamed, shouted down, silenced, censored, fired, cast out and generally relegated to the dust heap of ignorant, mean-spirited bullies who are guilty of various “word crimes.” We have entered a new age where, as commentator Mark Steyn notes, “we have to tiptoe around on ever thinner eggshells” and “the forces of ‘tolerance’ are intolerant of anything less than full-blown celebratory approval.”

In such a climate of intolerance, there can be no freedom of speech, expression or thought.

However, psychiatrists are now beginning to advocate redefining pedophilia in the same way homosexuality was redefined several years ago. In 1973 the American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. A group of psychiatrists with B4U-Act recently held a symposium proposing a new definition of pedophilia in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders of the APA. B4U-Act calls pedophiles “minor-attracted people.” The organization’s website states its purpose is to, “help mental health professionals learn more about attraction to minors and to consider the effects of stereotyping, stigma and fear.”

In 1998 The APA issued a report claiming “that the ‘negative potential’ of adult sex with children was ‘overstated’ and that ‘the vast majority of both men and women reported no negative sexual effects from childhood sexual abuse experiences’.” Pedophilia has already been granted protected status by the Federal Government. The Matthew Shephard and James Byrd, Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act lists “sexual orientation” as a protected class; however, it does not define the term.

Republicans attempted to add an amendment specifying that “pedophilia is not covered as an orientation;” however, the amendment was defeated by Democrats. Representative Alcee Hastings (Democrat for Florida) stated that all alternative sexual lifestyles should be protected under the law. “This bill addresses our resolve to end violence based on prejudice and to guarantee that all Americans, regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability or all of these ‘philias’ and fetishes and ‘isms’ that were put forward need not live in fear because of who they are. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this rule.”

The White House praised the bill saying, “At root, this isn’t just about our laws; this is about who we are as a people. This is about whether we value one another — whether we embrace our differences rather than allowing them to become a source of animus.” Earlier this year two psychologists in Canada declared that pedophilia is a sexual orientation just like homosexuality or heterosexuality.

So, a young teen in Seattle can’t get a coke at her high school, but she can have a device implanted into her uterus, which can unknowingly kill her unborn child immediately after conception. Or, if she uses another method, she can increase her chances of health risks for herself, especially if using a new method.

The high school, Chief Sealth International, a public school, began offering the devices in 2010, made possible by a Medicaid program known as Take Charge and a non-profit, Neighborcare. Students can receive the device or other method free of cost and without their parent’s insurance. And while it’s lauded that the contraception is confidential, how can it be beneficial for a parent-child relationship when the parents don’t even know the devices or medication their daughter is using?

As it turns out, Chief Sealth isn’t the only school in Seattle doing this. As CNS News reports, more schools are fitting young girls — as young as 6th grade — with the devices and doing so without their parents knowing.

"What I really like about the man is his incredible sense of humour,” he said. “The problem is, I don't get annoyed when he talks rubbish. I get terribly annoyed when he's right. And on some issues he is right too often. If he criticises the EU for not having a migration policy that is effective he is right. He is absolutely, completely wrong with his solutions. But to start criticising the EU for not dealing in the right way with the migration crisis is right.

"The problem with Ukip and the extreme right, Mr Le Pen, Mr Wilders, they are really good at making an analysis of the problem. And they immediately go completely overboard in providing a solution that would never work and is morally completely unacceptable,” said Mr Timmermans, the First Vice-President of the European Commission and a former Dutch foreign minister.

The Commission has tried and failed to win support among member states for a compulsory quota system to distribute tens of thousands of migrants that have arrived across the Mediterranean. Mr Farage has said the policy would “lead to half a million Islamic extremists coming to our countries and posing a direct threat to our civilisation.”

Mr Timmermans said the European Union must be “more clear” to the public about the “consequences” of membership of the bloc and the single currency upon national sovereignty and policies, despite regarding the institutions as beneficial overall. "We have… in the past we have not been clear about the consequences, because we thought it is good and people understand it is good for them” he told an event in Brussels hosted by Politico, the news website. “But people are having second thoughts all across Europe."

It is the same word that will top the ballot sheet when Greeks vote in a snap referendum this Sunday on creditor demands, and prime minister Alexis Tsipras is not shy in evoking the same spirit of wartime resistance. His speech to the nation on Wednesday night was peppered with talk of ultimata. He accused “extreme Right-wing circles” of forcing the closure of the Greek banks and the imposition of capital controls through liquidity asphyxiation.

He lashed out at “authoritarians” in charge of the IMF and EU institutions. He spoke of attempts to blackmail the Greek people. And he vowed to campaign against the creditor package - which, strictly speaking, is no longer on offer - deeming it the “destruction of Europe”. Where this will take him, and take Greece, is anybody’s guess. The latest Efimerida ton Syntakton poll shows the “No” side leading by 54 percent against 33 percent for “yes”. But that lead - if it really exists - may evaporate as the ghastly consequences of financial collapse become clearer by the day.

If Europe’s creditor powers have succeeded in bringing Greece to its knees, they have paid a fearful price themselves. As Pyrrhus said after the battle of Asculum: “Another such victory, and we will be utterly ruined.” We can already see that the EU itself has suffered a reputational catastrophe on several fronts. This is of far greater importance in the sweep of events than daily twists and turns in Athens.

Few people understand that the fate of Western liberty, what remains of it, is at stake in the conflict, and, indeed, the fate of life on earth. Certainly the German government does not understand. Sigmar Gabriel, a German vice-chancellor, has declared the Greek government to be a threat to the European order. What he means by the “European order” is the right of the stronger countries to loot the weaker ones.

The “Greek crisis” is not about debt. Debt is the propaganda that the Empire is using to subdue sovereignty throughout the Western world. The Greek government asked the collection of nations that comprise the “democratic” European Union for one week’s extension on the debt in order for the Greek people to give their approval or disapproval of the harsh terms being imposed on Greece by the EU commission, the EU Central Bank, and the IMF with Washington’s insistence.

The answer from Europe and the IMF and Washington was “NO.” The Greek government was told that democracy doesn’t apply when creditors are determined to make Greek citizens pay for the creditors’ mistakes with reduced pensions, reduced health care, reduced education, reduced employment, and reduced social services. The position of the Empire is that the Greek people are responsible for the mistakes of their foreign creditors, and the Greek people must pay for their creditors’ mistakes, especially those mistakes enabled by Goldman Sachs.

As has been proven conclusively, the Empire’s claim is false. The austerity measures that have been imposed on Greece have driven down the economy by 27%, thus increasing the ratio of debt to GDP and worsening the financial situation of Greece. All austerity has accomplished is to drive the Greek people further into the ground, thus making debt repayment impossible.