SATURDAY NIGHT MISHMASH.

The Police contemporaries "UK" were a, you guess it, UK group who disappeared from the scene even a few years earlier than their illustrious countrymen. UK was formed in September 1976 by John Wetton (vocals/bass guitar) and Bill Bruford (drummer). For a short while Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman joined, until he was called back by his label, A&M Records, who did not like Wakeman's side project. Bruford and Wetton then had quite some difficulty to find stable musicians, first unsuccesfully trying to draw in Robert Fripp (from King Crimson), then succeeding to bring in Allan Holdsworth (Soft Machine, Gong) - and losing him after a US tour in 78. Another member was Eddie Jobson, a violinist/keyboardist who had worked with Roxy Music and Frank Zappa. In the meantime, they had released their nameless debut album, but it wasn't until 1979, when Bruford himself had already left, that UK finally scored a first hit. This was Rendez-Vous 6:02, from the album Danger Money. I instantly liked it, or perhaps "like" is not the correct word. I found it interesting at first, began to like it only after. It's some kind of light, ethereal rock - they called it progressive rock back then - and I guess it requires most people a few hears before it ticks. Or does not. Here it is.





In 1980, UK disbanded because Jobson and Wetton could not agree on the line to follow. Either way, during its short and tumultuous existence, UK's distincitive sound was the product of skilled musicians, who blended together a curious mix of jazzy harmonies, electric violins, close harmony vocals, odd time signatures, and a variety of synthesizer sonorities. At any time the band had great potential, yet for some reason its members could never find the chemistry that sticks together a truly successful group. Regular reader Mark may be interested to know that they worked together with Jethro Tull and even performed as their opening act on a US tour.


Fast forward to 2002. Moby. Extreme Ways. Moby is an asshat. So is Matt Damon. Yet I like the music from the former and (most) movies from the latter. As Mark said on a previous thread, you "don't have to agree with a music artist's politics to enjoy their music." Likewise, while I consider Damon an absolute scumbag for his political stance, I have no trouble admitting he was a perfect cast for the great Jason Bourne series.




Interesting to know from the wikipedia entry is that from 1982 to 1985 Moby was in a hardcore punk band called the Vatican Commandos (bwahahahahahaaaaa!!!!), who "released an EP called Hit Squad for God." And reading that he was also in a Joy Division-inspired post-punk group called AWOL, brought back sound memories from the punk age (Joy Division was quite good in my book). Oh yeah. If you liked Extreme Ways, you might also want to listen to Lift me Up. And if you are a sensitive, caring character, like American Muslim, I can counsel Slipping Away. Both songs are from the album Hotel (2005). Just a hint.

Some trivia you can score with. Moby's real name is Richard Melville Hall, and he allegedly got his nickname from his parents because of an ancestral relationship to Moby Dick author Herman Melville, who supposedly was his great-great-great-granduncle!

Good night.


MFBB.

EUROPE FINANCES MOSQUES. MUSLIM WORLD CLOSES CHURCHES. NO PROBLEM FOR OUR TRAITOR POLITICIANS.

A report from the Vlaams Belang website. On March 31, a VB delegation demonstrated against the recognition of yet another mosque by the Ministry of Interior Affairs. Recognition means a.o. that the imams are paid by the Belgian State. In case of financial shortages, the Province will make good the deficit. I am not kidding.

KORTRIJK 31.03.2009 13.07h Around 350 Flemish-nationalists gathered yesterday in Kortrijk to protest the Attakwa mosque's recognition. The mosque's chairman, who has been living in Flanders for 35 years, only speaks arabic and French. The biggest prayer house [in the provinces of East and West Flanders - MFBB] can accomodate 1,500 people and is led by an imam who only speaks arabic. As if that is not enough already, the people of Kortrijk will in addition shortly receive a minaret.

This affair was reason enough for Vlaams Belang to peacefully demonstrate against the increasing islamization of our cities. A short demonstration illustrated our party's demands. Immigrant rioters threw stones and sticks to our demonstrators. They were backed up by MP's Philippe De Coene (Socialist Party) and Bart Caron (ex-Spirit, now Groen!]

It is obvious that in West Flanders too, it's five to twelve. After Kortrijk, Waregem and Ostend will, too, shortly have an official mosque - thus financed with your taxpayer money. All traditional parties AND Lijst Dedecker voted FOR the Ostend mosque. Who stops the madness?

Thus, by beginning to finance mosques on a grand scale, Belgium follows the lead of France, Sweden, The Netherlands etc etc etc. In an age when Christians and people of other religious beliefs in muslim lands are increasingly persecuted, this development is nothing short of insanity. Sometimes, reality even beats fiction. In Tours, France e.g., recently the first stonelaying of the city's mosque took place. Present was, a.o., the Algerian Minister of Religious Affairs, Bouabdallah Ghlamallah. From The Brussels Journal:

Two French websites – Islamisation, administered by Joachim Véliocas, and Bivouac-Id – have posted reports on the laying of the first stone of the new Grand Mosque of Tours. Notable among the dignitaries present were the Algerian Minister of Religion, the Socialist mayor of Tours, Jean Germain, and… the archbishop of Tours, Monsignor Aubertin.

Tours will have its Grand Mosque when the 5 million euros necessary for its financing have been found – in 3 years, at the earliest. A quarter of the sum has already been collected. The land was purchased by the Paris Mosque, subsidized by Algeria. On November 29, 2008, amidst great ceremony, the first stone was laid. In 732, a Muslim army was defeated outside the city of Tours by Charles Martel and the Franks. The Battle of Tours was one of the most decisive battles in history since it stopped the Islamization of Europe (at least for 13 centuries). Adolf Hitler bitterly regretted that the Muslims had not won in Tours.

The Algerian Minister of Religion, Bouabdallah Ghlamallah made a stopover in Tours to attend the laying of the first stone of the Grand Mosque of Tours, before taking off for Saudi Arabia... a land where the practice of Christianity is forbidden, as in Algeria where spreading it is punishable by heavy fines and prison sentences! But Algeria will contribute up to 490,000 euros towards financing the mosque.

Bouabdallah Ghlamallah distinguished himself earlier in the year through his sense of inter-religious dialogue, so dear to the hearts of French bishops. He closed 10 churches, justifying his actions by saying: “I associate evangelization with terrorism.”

On June 24, 2004, Bouabdallah Ghlamallah denounced the evangelization of Kabyles (Berbers) in Algeria during a press conference in Algiers. He repeated that Islam was the “religion of the State and of all Algerians”, then warned that preaching Christianity would result inevitably in a confrontation: “There will be bloodshed.”

In Europe, ministers are tripping over each other to get mosques where hatred of the West is preached, financed. In the muslim world, churches are being closed on a daily basis. Future historians will have a hard time explaining the collective madness ruling from the North Cape to Gibraltar and from Eire to Budapest.

You may have noted that the mayor of Tours, Jean Germain, is a member of the French Parti Socialiste. But, I suspect you suspected that already.



MFBB.

ISLAMIC CANCER SPREADING FAST THROUGH EUROPE (4).

Over at The Brussels Journal, contributor Tiberge has a post dealing with a recent article by René Servoise, former French ambassador to Indonesia:

A mutation of our nation is in progress. It is growing, it is profound but uncontrolled. In all likelihood, the immense majority of Frenchmen are unaware of it.

Hundreds of thousands of Muslim families, from North Africa, the Middle East and black Africa - whose religion, aspirations and mores are radically different from ours - now live on our soil. Their birth rate is higher than that of European families. What is the consequence? Within 30 years the population of Islamist culture could be in the majority among those 40 years old or younger. "In France, we will have between 6 and 8 million Arabs by the years 2005 - 2010," said Edgar Pisani, honorary president of the Arab World Institute. We have been duly warned: this is a radical transformation (political, economic, cultural and social) of our society.

This mutation is in progress at the very moment when, to use Toynbee's expression, "an external proletariat" is forming on the southern and western shores of the Mediterranean Sea. This army of reservists came about as a result of the birth rate of these peoples, and the absence of an economic policy capable of guaranteeing them a decent life in their homeland. In front of them lie France, Italy, Spain and Germany, lands of mirage, highly developed, with guaranteed employment, free social protection and education. Who could resist the call of this "promised land"?

At the same time, all over the world, roused by immense hopes, Islam is enjoying an unprecedented revival. It is awakening after a long night. It has renewed vigor, pugnacity and ambitions. From Morocco to Indonesia, from the Muslim States of Central Asia to black Africa, more than one billion two hundred million men - young compared to the aging populations of Europe - constitute a "community" (Umma).

It is transnational, motivated by spiritual aspirations, material demands and political ambitions, and (here and there) financed by revenue from oil.

In France, the successive waves of Italians, Poles, central European Jews, Spaniards and Portuguese, had never posed comparable problems of integration. Why? Because they belonged to the European branch. Their religious traditions and their ambition to acquire more individual freedoms facilitated their assimilation. Finally - and this is far from the least important reason - these immigrants expressed a desire to share the destiny of the French nation. To meld into it. Integration cannot be decreed. In order for it to materialize it must be desired by two, this is obvious. And the two must converge. Today, the situation is different, radically different. An active and determined minority among the Islamists refuses integration. Deliberately.

In close communion with Islam (its matrix), it is receptive to orders from abroad, to spiritual counsel, ideology and financial support. And much more. Not only does it intend to keep its identity, but to re-Islamize the non-practicing, if not convert the natives of the host country to the true faith. Islam has never conceived of itself as a minority in a secular State, but necessarily as the majority religion. (...) Exalted by its renewal, propelled both by its demography and its absence of economic development, infiltrating wherever there is no resistance, Islam is advancing like a wave.

The French people can measure its vitality by the number of mosques multiplying on their territory (sometimes with the help of Catholic and lay leaders), mosques run by imams 96% of whom are from foreign countries. Also by the prospect of seeing - in the second half of the 21st century - the fall of Catholicism in France to second rank, leaving first place to Islam.

Thus two dynamics are developing: one inside our borders (...); the other outside (...) Concomitant and convergent, these changes are determining factors for Europe and for the French nation where the demographic stagnation is alarming.

Every nation expresses itself through a subtle, delicate and secret balance between dreams, ambitions and strengths, sometimes contradictory, transcended by a common aspiration to live together and to do great things together. This national identity is for some its soul; for others its genius. Each nation is a plant nourished by a land and a History, pride in its past. "Immediate to the heart of God," it is unique and therefore justified.

How many centuries, wars, concessions, sacrifices and omissions were necessary for France, England, Spain and Germany to overcome - finally - their internal divisions and to become what they are!

If it is fitting - as Montesquieu recommends - to only touch institutions with a trembling hand, what can one say about the respect due the profound harmony of our nation, its internal composition - the measure of its permanence and of its performance?


To the lessons drawn from our past, the present adds new warnings about the future on a daily basis. How can we allow ourselves to be blinded to the point of not seeing the proliferation and the exasperation of ethnic and religious conflicts all around us, since the same causes produce the same effects?

............

The mayor of Reims, Adeline Hazan, inaugurates the new Reims mosque. Mrs. Hazan, wearing a red coat, is a member of the French Socialist Party. I suppose however that you suspected that already.


Mr. Servoise continues...

Are we Frenchmen, after having overcome so many rebellions, insurrections and revolutions, after having liquidated our quarrels between Catholics, Protestants, Israelites and Free Thinkers; between nobles, bourgeois and proletariat, about to allow conditions that foster disintegration to take hold?

Warning. If native Frenchmen fail to be the most numerous, we will see that our days are numbered. If we fail to limit the number of immigrants, we will be judged as wanting in the scales of History. If we fail to affirm our national ambition, we will set the stage for the bursting apart of our nation.

Remember. One day, in Babylon, on the wall of his palace, Belshazzar saw letters written in fire, three warnings: MENE MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN. The prophet Daniel translated them thus:

"God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end."

"You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting."

"Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persians."

For us today the warnings come daily on our TV screens. But no prophet dares translate them.

What kind of France, dear reader, do you hope to bequeath to your children?

The growth of the number of mosques in France since 1985. Dark green areas indicate more than thirty mosques.


Europe is committing suicide.


MFBB.