PARIS AIR SHOW 2005 UPDATE.

It’s already again some ten days behind us, but from June 13th – June 19th the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget airport took place, Europes Mecca for the Aeronautics and Aviation industry where thousands of companies and customers, military and civilian alike, meet. As it happened, the Outlaw Dad was there, since he could hike a ride on a SABCA bus. SABCA is a leading Belgian aeronautical manufacturing company, and although it is not a part of Airbus Industrie, some work regarding the fuselage is being done by them, a.o. the construction of the so-called Rear Center Lower Shell. Anyway, SABCA workers had the chance to go to Le Bourget by bus and via an acquaintance my dad managed to hop onto it. Below are some pics he took, using a Nikon Coolpix 4800:

Boeings 777 Worldliner, with a range of almost 17,500 kilometers, and its future 787 Dreamliner, with a slightly less range of maximum 15,700 kilometres, are the workhorses that will have to make Boeings strategy for 21st Century Passenger Air Transportation work. I suppose most of you know that Boeing placed its bets on passenger transport becoming more of point-to-point travel in smaller, large-range aircraft, given the growth of dozens more of cities with several million inhabitants. Airbus, on the other hand, believes air transport will become a matter of gathering large numbers of passengers in hubs on designated main airports on the respective continents, and then fly them across. This view resulted in the birth of the A380, capable of ferrying 555 passengers at ranges up to 15,000 kilometers. Personally, I think the next decade will be Airbus’, as not only the A380 has the range of Boeings 787 but can transport more than twice its number of passengers, but also since, no matter how many new big cities emerge, large (ever larger) crowds will always want to fly to London, Paris, Washington or Shanghai. Plus, Airbus has plans to directly compete with the 787 with yet another aircraft of its own, the A350.



To be sure, in recent months Boeing has had some reason for optimism, since sales for the 787 have soared. Indeed, 787 Project Manager Mike Bair could proudly announce that Boeing has signed up 266 orders from 21 airline companies. After all the A380 publicity of this spring, the fuss caused by Harry Stoneciphers sudden departure and a looming legal clash with Airbus in the WTO arena, I can imagine the promising sales come as a relief. Still, I can’t help but think that by refusing to produce a successor to the 747, Boeing has shot itself in the foot. More on that later.

By any standard, the Paris Air Show 2005 was a great success. There were 1,924 exhibitors, 137,000 trade visitors and 257,000 visitors from the general public. Star of the show was, for Europeans of course, the A380 Superjumbo, see in flight pic above.


As you may recall from an earlier post, Airbus Industrie is a part of EADS, or European Aeronautical Defence and Space Company. Do me a favor and forget for a moment the grudges you possibly bear towards Airbus (like I said, more on that later), since EADS has an American branch, called EADS North America. Whilst directly employing only some 2,600 people as of now, it is estimated EADS North America supports already up to 100,000 American jobs. Capitalism and free markets at its best:

EADS North America is the U.S. holding company for the North American activities of EADS, the world’s second largest aerospace and defense company, and the largest in Europe. As a leading supplier and industrial partner in defense and homeland security, commercial aviation, helicopters, telecommunications and services, EADS North America – together with its parent company, EADS – contribute more than $6 billion to the U.S. economy annually, supporting 100,000 American jobs.


MFBB

In case you missed it, the Supreme Court pretty much destroyed property rights in this country yesterday. These guys are pissed; you should be too.

NOT GONNA SHUT UP. F*CK TARIQ RAMADAN & HAIL TO THE HEROINE

From Dhimmi Watch, author Hugh Fitzgerald:

What will happen in Europe if it is islamized? If there are already people removing statues, however banal those statues may be, from art expositions now, what will happen in 10 years? In 20 years? Already statues have been vandalized or destroyed by Muslims – in the Piazza del Popolo, and in a church in northern France (a statue of Mary and Jesus). Muslims have been recorded discussing their plans to destroy a celebrated fresco in Bologna that depicted Muhammad in Hell. What else is happening, and is being suppressed from us by worried European governments, whose elites, having been responsible for permitting millions of what are clearly enemy aliens, a classic fifth column, behind our own lines, cannot bring themselves to recognize the problem, and instead are intent on hiding the full truth from their own populations – populations that are getting fed up?

In France, one out of every three babies born is now a Muslim. In 20 years, one out of every three 20-year-olds will, therefore, be a Muslim. What is to be done? Anything? Nothing?

When will the Western world begin to realize it faces a mortal threat, small now but growing, and growing precisely to the extent that its Muslim population grows, learns the local languages, learns to present itself with all the cunning suavity of Tariq Ramadan, to ensure the constant confusion and fear that is easy to spread, apparently, among Infidels -- all too willing to deny the evidence of their senses.


From The Wall Street Journal, by Tunku Varadarajan:

NEW YORK--Oriana Fallaci faces jail. In her mid-70s, stricken with a cancer that, for the moment, permits only the consumption of liquids--so yes, we drank champagne in the course of a three-hour interview--one of the most renowned journalists of the modern era has been indicted by a judge in her native Italy under provisions of the Italian Penal Code which proscribe the "vilipendio," or "vilification," of "any religion admitted by the state."

In her case, the religion deemed vilified is Islam, and the vilification was perpetrated, apparently, in a book she wrote last year--and which has sold many more than a million copies all over Europe--called "The Force of Reason." Its astringent thesis is that the Old Continent is on the verge of becoming a dominion of Islam, and that the people of the West have surrendered themselves fecklessly to the "sons of Allah." So in a nutshell, Oriana Fallaci faces up to two years' imprisonment for her beliefs--which is one reason why she has chosen to stay put in New York. Let us give thanks for the First Amendment....

If you are a dhimmi, don't read the whole thing.





MFBB

At the risk of making this blog a "Mark-Steyn-a-Thon", I give you this.

I think I will stop having political arguments altogether and simply carry around the entire library or Steyn's writings to hand out when lefties come a callin'.

NUKE SPAIN BEFORE IT SPREADS!!!

Spanish men who refuse to lift a finger around the house are facing new legal sanctions. MPs in Spain have drawn up a marriage contract for use in civil ceremonies which obliges men to share household chores and the care of children and elderly family members. The new law, which will be introduced this summer in Spain, promises a revolution in a country where nearly half of all men admit to doing no housework at all.

Well, I'd say that it shows that Zapaterlain is in charge, huh? Soon we can expect legislation making it possible for fathers and sons to marry, and laws imposing minimum dimensions for goldfish aquariums.

Santi's trying to make up for lost time. He gives up on the ironing board and heads for the bathroom, ready to clean the mirrors. He is a man with a mission. The contract he will sign at his civil wedding ceremony this September will oblige him - by law - to share domestic responsibilities with his partner. Failure to do so will affect the terms of a divorce settlement, should he ever find himself in that position. But even as Santi cleans up his act, Aintzane, his wife-to-be, says she remains sceptical about the new law.

Nuke Spain from Granada to the Pyrenées and from Vigo to Barcelona! It's the only way to contain the plague. I know it sounds an itsy pitsy harsh thing to do, with the Partido Popular still around and all, but: The Lord will be able to tell the goodies from the baddies. All right, maybe the Prez can invite Aznar just before to have BBQ and Tapas Locas in Crawford.


MFBB

Here is an excellent post over at The Jawa Report giving a proper kick to the balls of those who equate the frat boy treatment of U.S. POW's to Saddam Hussein's regime.

WARNING: Graphic images.

Hat Tip: Jonah's Military Guys

Mark Steyn bitch slaps the "Gitmo=Gulag" crowd. Game, set, match.

I wonder why France can't compete anymore...

I absolutely fucking despise Jimmy Carter.




Click on the pic and check out the site, it's pretty amusing.

(Hat tip to Barb (Righty in a lefty state)

It looks like SUV haters have one fewer reason to be upset.

Just so you peons know, I had a hand in ending the cold war. Well, actually I spent five years working for the guy who helped end the cold war. No, I did not work in the Reagan administration, I worked for Ted Turner.

Here's more proof that no matter what we do, it's all our fault.

"KARACHI, Pakistan - A mob angered by an al-Qaida-linked suicide bombing in a Shiite mosque set a KFC restaurant on fire in overnight rioting, killing six employees and bringing the day’s overall death toll to 11, police said Tuesday."

What a lovely culture. "Radical Islamists have killed our Muslim brothers! Burn down the imperialist makers of chicken!"

THE FRENCH VOTED "NON".... WHY ALL THE FUSS?

France has some 61 million inhabitants. The enlarged EU some 451 million. In other words, about 1 in every 7.4 Europeans is a Fwenchman. Can someone please tell me then why the whole world was looking at France’s vote as if the frogs would decide the passing of the very first European Constitution all by themselves???





Anyway, Sunday’s voting was an important event indeed. After all, voting for the referendum does not take place in every EU member state. Take a look at the map: the countries in orange are where the constitution is ratified through a popular referendum. There are only 9 of them – out of a total of 25. In the remaining pink-colored countries, the constitution is ratified in Parliament. Check out David's Medienkritik to see how that happened in Germany.

Now take a closer look. You see a number of pink countries with a red mark: in those states, at the time the graph was printed, the document in question HAD ALREADY BEEN RATIFIED. We are talking about Italy, Spain, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Greece – together accounting for roughly 215 million Europeans!!! And, since a notorious collection of Belgian insomniacs sometimes referred to as MPs sluiced the dragon through the Belgian House of Representatives last week, in fact some 225 million Europeans – or 50% - have already "agreed" on the EU Constitution!

Why did the French "non" have such a profound impact then? Well, it’s the largest country yet where ratification is through the people’s will. France is a founding member of the EU – the greatest European thinker, hell, the European Father, Jean Monnet, was a Frenchman. All true. However, the main reason for the importance of the French vote is of course that it takes only ONE country to disagree to put the whole undertaking in jeopardy. Buried somewhere in the "constitution" is an article, more precisely Art. IV-443-3, dealing with the event that Europes Bill of Rights is not approved of. It stipulates:

"If, two years after the signature of the treaty amending this Treaty, four-fifths of the Member States have ratified it and one or more Member States have encountered difficulties in proceeding with ratification, the matter shall be referred to the European Council."

Those two years end on October 26, 2006.

Like someove or the other said, there is no Plan B. Basically, now already the collection of Euro elitists each on their own trying to tug at Europes rudder are clueless. Poland has to vote yet, the UK, but... there is already one member state which said "NO". France, with a whopping 54,87%. On Wednesday, June 1st, there may be a second: the Netherlands.


Hmpf. To give you an idea of how I am looking at the whole shenanigan: given the possibility to cast my vote (socialists and greens blocked that), it would in all likelihood have been a "NO" too. Those of you who have been around long enough to remember my early EU posts know I’m a European pur sang. To put it bluntly: I’m ALL for a European Superstate. I see it as the only way for us Europeans to matter in tomorrow’s world. Suggesting that we should remain as we are – a squabbling conglomerate of relatively small and simply small states, strong economically but inherently weak politically and militarily – makes as much sense to me as advocating that the US should go back to being just a loose confederation of Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York etc… again. Utter nonsense in other words. Europe HAS to become truly unified, with member states subordinated to the supranational level. With one single President US-style. With a Congress-like Parliament. With a highest judiciary resembling the US’s. THAT’s what we need to move forward to. Of course, I would also want to see this Europe – the USE – as one leg of a Grand Transatlantic Alliance, with the USA being the other leg. I understand that is a scenario most Americans consider highly unlikely, given Europes disgusting show of cowardice and betrayal of the past years. But – I’m betting on a European Right getting stronger – which IS happening, make no mistake. And I’m betting on world events spurring us towards each other. I’m betting on the dynamics seen when people go to church again in times of war, if you get what I mean.

Now, this Constitution is meant as a step towards achieving that goal of a truly unified Europe. It calls a.o. for a fulltime post of President with a term of maximum 5 years, instead of the unwieldy, make that plains silly - six-month rotating presidencies. It will create the post of an EU Foreign Affairs Minister to present and defend a common European policy. It stipulates that the European Parliament must become a legislative power in its own right, approving all proposed EU laws.

Still I would vote "NO".

Because in my country, the job our politicians have done in explaining what the Constitution stood for and what it contains, was nonexistent. More, it was a disgusting show of utter disregard for what truly lives among Europeans. Here we have a 364-page document, plus 460 pages of annexes. 448 articles in all, and guess what? We, the John Q’s in the street, know Jack S. about it. Oh, there were fancy TV ads saying that if we voted "NO" it would open the doors again to Auschwitz and Treblinka. Oh, for the aficionados there are downloadable versions. If you are interested, this link might help. But hey, they can’t seriously expect from us to study that and comprehend it fully in so short a time since internet versions became available. Also, a turf like that is NO thing to carry around should you feel compelled to. 11 pages would come handier. So, do your homework better next time ladies and gentlemen politicians. Reduce the whole thing. Make it a transparent and easily readable document. Be honest: if you prepare a document – or a contract, treaty or whatever – the size of the Bible and expect people to approve it KNOWING FULL WELL that possibly only 1 in 500,000 Europeans, perhaps less – has actually read and understood the thing, how can you be surprised when people reject it???

Possibly you kidd yourself Europeans would vote "yes" because you have practically been pretending the Constitution is a Bible. Alas, no such luck guys. If you suggest at every occasion that in the case of a "no", "non", "nein", "nee" or "nej" you will still go ahead with the thing, you are not exactly doing wonders for your credibility – and for the credibility of your "Bible" neither, even if it is full of good intentions.

You wanna hear my advice eejits? Better no Consitution than a Bad Constitution. Even if I’m all for Europe, I suggest to blow off some steam and postpone the whole thing for two years. Forget that Oct 26 deadline. The line is dead already. Immediately start working on a decent paper. Make your aims honest and clear. Write something that fits in one’s backpocket. And stop thinking we are A-holes who will swallow everything just because you say it tastes good.


MFBB



N.B.: for those who may have missed the link in the above post, you can find the proposed EU Constitution here.

It appears the French have done the right thing (for the wrong reasons) and shot down the EU constitution(for now). The following quote from the article amused me:

"Many voters wanted to punish Chirac and his conservative government"

Only in Europe could Jacques Chirac's government be considered "conservative".

If these early reports are accurate it is a good day for Europeans, although I suspect most won't appreciate it.

EUROPE COMMITS SUICIDE.

Right under our noses.

I may have to learn how to use the FNC after all.



UPDATE:

Fjordman from Norway who, in the absence of decent Swedish bloggers (have they been silenced already) covers Sweden for us, has an interesting story on tow Swedish svhoolgirls who were sent home for wearing sweaters with the Swedish flag.




The photo shows the girls in question, Linda Larsson and Charlotte Bertelsen. In case you understand Swedish (fat chance), here is the story as it appeared in a Swedish newspaper.


Now, Fjordman, who has become somebody on Scandinavian blogger forums (hell, in the blogosphere for my part) cites a poster, a woman in Sweden, commenting on the affair. Just scroll down the discussion Is Swedish Democracy Collapsing? till you come across the post by the poster "perpetrator" (what's in a name) of Friday May 20, 9.20am:

it seems you know extremely little of the political climate in sweden. the swedish flag has become a nazi symbol. ordinary people don't WEAR patches with the swedish flag -- only nazis do. thus, if you as an immigrant see a person wearing one, the natural response is to feel unsafe. i doubt these girls were sent home from school ONLY because of the patch, a very good guess is they were notorious nazichicks.

Fjordman again:

So, wearing a sweater with a tiny flag from your own nation makes you a "notorious nazichick". Welcome to a parallel universe.

Oh boy. If there are intellectuals and reformers busy on defining a moderate version of Islam, they better had it coming quick. Since you are in the business of scrolling down, you may want to continue here. Sometimes I get the feeling it's five (hours) past twelve.


MFBB

I'm not making this up:

...doctors are calling for a ban on long pointed kitchen knives to reduce deaths from stabbing.

What next, cheese graters?

This story is just unbelievable. The Chirac government is already planning to ignore what looks to be a "non" vote on the EU constitution.

Listen to this pathetic whining by Senator George Voinovich speaking about the upcoming vote on John Bolton becoming the official U.N. ball-kicker.

In my mind's eye I picture Zell Miller walking up, grabbing him by the lapels, telling him in no uncertain terms to get his shit together and act like a man and then giving him the mother of all headbutts - completely caving in Voinovich's face.

I found this over at Radio Blogger.

You might have better luck saving it to your hard drive and then playing it.

What in God's name is the matter with Senator John "Assclown" McCain? It wasn't enough that he fucked us with McCain-Feingold? And don't forget McCain-Kennedy.

Now he's come up with this.

There's nothing wrong with John McCain that a tub of bear lard and a couple of Karelian Bear Dogs couldn't solve...


Hat tip to Drudge

I try and try, but I just can't seem to get myself to give a crap about the stem cell debate.

Thanks for listening.

Here is an interesting little piece by John O'Sullivan on why it would be a good thing for the U.S. if the EU constitution is shot down by voters.

At least some European countries allow their citizens to actually have a say in important political matters - it blows me away that France is actually one of them...

Hat tip to the Corner.

I love this bumper sticker:



I found it over at the Righty in a lefty state blog which has a story about their counter-protesting an anti-war march this past Armed Forces Day.

Call me a sick bastard but this is funny.

I want to see the video.

"Poll after poll predicts that the French will reject the constitutional treaty in a referendum on Sunday."

Hmmm. Maybe the French don't have their heads completely up their asses...

Last night I decided to catch Bill Maher's HBO show, since I had not seen it up until then. While I tend to disagree with Maher's politics, I've always thought he seemed more rational and open minded than most of the other voices on the left. Not any longer. I could not believe how far off the deep end he has gone. In a nutshell, he firmly believes that both the 2000 and 2004 elections were stolen, (the latter via rigged voting machines) that Bush supporters "don't care about the law, they just care about the Bible", and of course all the other various and sundry "Bush is an idiot" jokes that everyone has heard a million times. Maher even stumbled into a huge gaffe on the Newsweek/ Koran flushing story. Clearly the show was recorded before this story was debunked, but he wasted no time in driving home the point that "this sort of behavior (by our troops) is what puts us in danger; it makes these people want to kill us." I wonder if he will be so hard on Newsweek. After all, if this sort of behavior makes us less safe, shouldn't the false reporting of it do that same? There's a disgusting irony in his open contempt for American Christians, whom he mocks at every turn, and the free pass he gives to Muslims that riot and kill because of a single copy of the Koran being flushed down the toilet. If Christians behaved that way because of a Bible desecration he would be the first to cut them down. As if his own spin weren't enough, he had a little round table discussion, sort of like what Dennis Miller did on his show, but unlike Miller (and 90% of other shows like this for that matter) Maher had 3 liberal guests, including Gore Vidal and Al Franken, and they spent the whole time talking wild conspiracy theories. Even Bill O'Reilly, for all his bullshit, will have people with opposing views on his program to actually have a discussion, not a preach to the choir session.

It's really too bad, because guys like Maher used to keep things honest, but he's become just another liberal so enraged with Bush's reelection that he can't see straight any more. I'm sure HBO will keep his show on for a good while, but I'll bet his numbers are garbage. This is the kind of drivel that's driving down subscription rates and viewership of the MSM all over the country. I mistakenly thought Maher was above it all.

DON'T WANNA STIR UP THINGS, BUT...


On Friday, May 13, 2005, Sheikh Ibrahim Mudeiris held a sermon (khutba) broadcast by official Palestinian Authority Television. In it, he vowed that "one day Islam will rule America, Britain, and the entire world". Plus, wipe out the jews. View clip here. MEMRI TV, item no. 669.





Full transcript here. Excerpts:

Ask Britain what it did to the Jews in the early sixth century. What did they do to the Jews? They expelled them, tortured them, and prevented them from entering Britain for more than 300 years. All this was because of what the Jews did in Britain. Ask France what it did to the Jews. They tortured them, expelled them, and burned their Talmud, because of the civil strife the Jews wanted to spark in France, in the days of Louis XIX. Ask Portugal what it did to the Jews. Ask Czarists Russia, which welcomed the Jews, who plotted to kill the Czar - so he massacred them. But don't ask Germany what it did to the Jews. It was the Jews who provoked Nazism to wage war against the entire world, when the Jews, using the Zionist movement, got other countries to wage an economic war on Germany and to boycott German merchandise. They provoked Russia, Britain, France, and Italy. This enraged the Germans toward the Jews, leading to the events of those days, which the Jews commemorating today.

But they are committing worse deeds than those done to them in the Nazi war. Yes, perhaps some of them were killed and some burned, but they are inflating this in order to win over the of the media and gain the world's sympathy. The worst crimes in history were committed against the Jews, yet these crimes are no worse than what the Jews are doing in Palestine. What was done to the Jews was a crime, but isn't what the Jews are doing today in the land of Palestine not a crime?!

We have ruled the world before, and by Allah, the day will come when we will rule the entire world again. The day will come when we will rule America. The day will come when we will rule Britain and the entire world – except for the Jews. The Jews will not enjoy a life of tranquility under our rule, because they are treacherous by nature, as they have been throughout history. The day will come when everything will be relived of the Jews - even the stones and trees which were harmed by them. Listen to the Prophet Muhammad, who tells you about the evil end that awaits Jews. The stones and trees will want the Muslims to finish off every Jew.

Apart from the fact that this dude obviously wasn't an ace in history - I have heard of only eighteen Louis, not nineteen - plus, I seem to recall 6 million jews were burned rather then "some" - this piece to me seems to come right out of a lunatics' mind. Highly illogical too.

In his State of the Union address, President Bush said that he would ask Congress to approve $350 million "to support Palestinian political, economic and security reforms."

Someone tell him to watch MEMRI TV. Hat tip to LGF.


MFBB

Gosh, that was nice of Newsweek to apologize for its erroneous story about desecration of the Koran by U.S. troops.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Newsweek magazine said on Sunday it erred in a May 9 report that U.S. interrogators desecrated the Koran at Guantanamo Bay, and apologized to the victims of deadly Muslim protests sparked by the article.

Editor Mark Whitaker said the magazine inaccurately reported that U.S. military investigators had confirmed that personnel at the detention facility in Cuba had flushed the Muslim holy book down the toilet.

The report sparked angry and violent protests across the Muslim world from Afghanistan, where 16 were killed and more than 100 injured, to Pakistan to Indonesia to Gaza. In the past week it was condemned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Malaysia and by the Arab League.

On Sunday, Afghan Muslim clerics threatened to call for a holy war against the United States.

I bet they couldn't wait to get that story to press and now U.S. troops are in a heightened state of danger and at least 16 are dead around the world. Nice going Newsweek.

Another observation - Muslim clerics the world over have their towels in a bunch over this but we hear nary a peep when "insurgents" massacre 30 or 40 of their fellow co-religionists. Say it with me now, "Islam is a religion of peace. Islam is a religion of peace..."

This story makes me chuckle. These enviro-weenies have created such a gloom and doom scenario(mostly in their own fevered minds) about global warming that some are now beginning to advocate the ultimate heresy - nucular power.

I'm going to drive my evil Ford Expedition around the corner to buy some popcorn so I can sit back and enjoy the bloodletting show. Care to join me?

MEANWHILE IN AFGHANISTAN...

Drazil, if you are out there, you may remember we had a conversation a while ago as to the armament of Belgian Pandur APCs in Afghanistan. It appears some examples are armed with the .50 and others with the MAG 7.62mm, as is evident from these recent pics taken from the Belgian Army site. To the left, Pandur with .50 cal. To the right, below, with the MAG. Pictures taken somewhere in April on a shooting range near Kabul.











The troops shown belong, as far as I know, to the 12th-13th Line Regiment. The incongruous name stems from the fact that in 1976 during a rationalization a merger took place between the 12th and 13th regiments. The 12th Line Regiment was the oldest active Belgian Infantry Regiment, as it originated from a volunteer corps established right after the Belgian Independence on March 31, 1831. Of all the units in the Belgian armed forces, it has always had the highest number of awards. It proved itself particularly during the 1914 campaign, during which the Belgian Army slowly fell back, over a period of two months and a half, from Liège towares the westernmost corner of the country, behind the river Yser. Its outstanding reputation was such that our King, Albert I, on April 5th, 1915 wrote:


"I have chosen the 12th Regiment of the Line for my son's military formation because this regiment during the past campaign has distinguished itself the most for its bravery."

Albert I - De Panne - 5 april 1915


The 13th Regiment of the Line was raised in 1874 and disbanded again in 1947. Re-established in 1976 as an anti-tank unit, it was then merged with the 12th and got its final name in 1984, "Régiment 12ème de Ligne Prince Léopold - 13ème de Ligne", referring to King Albert's son, Leopold. The 12th-13th is garrisoned in Spa to the southeast of Liège. WWII buffs may recall that Spa was the place where, prior to the Battle of the Bulge, General Hodges, commanding general of the US 1st Army, had his HQ established (which during Peipers dash for the Meuse consequently had to be evacuated).

The photos show the new desert camo as worn by Belgian soldiers in Afghanistan right now. Of course, with the continental camo pattern on helmet and Kevlar jacket, the effect is a bit weird.

And on Thursday, May 12th, President Karzai was in Brussels for EU talks. He used the occasion to visit the House of Representatives and thank Belgium for its efforts. President Karzais visit was a welcome opportunity for the parents of Hélène De Beir, who was a Belgian project coordinator for Doctors Without Borders in Badghis, Afghanistan, to ask about the proceedings in the investigation of the murder of their daughter. In June 2004 she was murdered, allegedly by Taliban, in Afghanistan, along with two colleagues and their Afghan driver and translator.

Pesonally, I think some of the news coming out of Afghanistan has been rather distressing a bit. As I mention the case of Mrs. De Beir, I recall that just this week I read in a newspaper that one of the prime suspects of the murder was a Police Chief... reinstated lately in March. Then of course most of us have heard about the recent demonstrations against the US in some Afghan cities. Crowds consisting of students and even children shouting "Death to America", "Death to Bush" and things like that. All so, it seems, because of a Newsweek article where some dipshit editor found nothing better than circulate a story about Guantanamo guards placing a Quran on a toilet (and even flushing one down).

I don't know how it is with you, but if I read crap like that I'm not so much incensed because of shoddy reporting putting lives from US military personnel at risk again, but because these fuckwads, just three years after having been liberated from vile oppressors and receiving massive aid to get their backward country back on its feet again, think it's appropriate to chastize Uncle Sam. When I saw these assclowns, dirty towels wrapped around their heads, eyes towards infintiy and brains switched off, I had this idea that it would be nice to call in a Spec...(censored).

Oh well. We'll see how it all plays out. But what I see thus far in the Muslim World is not exactly encouraging. Excuse me, but this guy may very well show the first signs of losing his patience with Islam.


MFBB

Goddamnit!

Something needs to be done about immigration. Now.

Gosh, I love Condi.

This was not the brightest of ideas.

Leave it to the Frogs...

Interesting. The Senate voted 100 to 0 to approve the $82 billion emergency war-spending bill.

Funny, how a few months and no looming election can change things...

Disadvantages of pissing off America.

I particularly like the last one.

WHY THIS WAR NEEDS TO BE FOUGHT.

From summer 2003 to late fall 2004 the scumbags mostly attacked US military personnel. Ever heard about CEV's? That stands for Combat Effectiveness Value. Losing 30-50 of their own for every US soldier KIA, by late fall even the dumbest jihadists had found out that their CEV was somewhat less than that of the average US infantry troop.

Thus, from late fall 2004 they shifted their attention to Iraq's newborn security personnel: Iraqi Police, Iraqi National Guard, NIA (New Iraqi Army). While they were quite successful blowing up raw would be recruits standing in a row sittingducklike and cutting off the heads of unarmed soldiers returning from furlough, by March 2005 it had become clear they could not fool the Iraqi forces forever.

Ergo, they once again had to go look for an adversary they could cope with. As most of you know by now, given the recent spate of terror attacks against unarmed civilians, it looks they have finally found their match:




Picture released by the U.S. Army Tuesday, May 3, 2005 shows a U.S. Army soldier comforting a child fatally wounded in a car bomb blast in Mosul, 360 km (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, May 2, 2005. 15 Iraqis were wounded in the combined suicide bomb attack. (AP Photo/U.S. Army)


I must admit that the past few months - say, from February on - I felt rather disappointed in the lack of a clear signal emerging from the Muslim world that there is an understanding that Americas actions in the GWOT are not meant to undermine Islam, but rather to spur it into re-evaluating and re-explaining its core beliefs and adapting them to modern times. Unshackling the Islamic Faith from the burden of fourteen centuries of rigid interpretations of Quran and Hadith.

Then just recently, I stumbled upon this. Can I - we - have some hope please?

The Muslim world is changing. Three years after the atrocity of 9/11, it may be in the early stages of a reformation, albeit with a small "r". From Morocco to Indonesia, people are trying to develop a more contemporary and humane interpretation of Islam, and some countries are undergoing major transformations.
Much of the attention is focused on reformulating the sharia, the centuries-old body of Islamic law deeply embedded in a medieval psychology. The sharia is state law in many Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan and the Sudan. For many conservative and radical Muslims, the sharia is Islam: it cannot be changed, and must be imposed in exactly the shape it was first formulated in the ninth century.

Since 9/11, there has been a seismic shift in this perception. More and more Muslims now perceive Islamic law to be dangerously obsolete. And these include the ulema, the religious scholars and clerics, who have a tremendous hold on the minds of the Muslim masses.

The article points to numerous examples, including recent revisions in family law in Morocco, where women are now given equal rights in marriage and custody law, in India, and in Malaysia. Most importantly, where such changes are taking place, they are supported by the religious leaders who have justified the changes by reference to the Quran and to Islamic tradition...

Elsewhere, the focus is not so much on Islamic law as on Islam as a whole. In a general election last March, the Malaysian prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, argued that Islam was almost totally associated with violence and extremism and needed to be formulated anew. He called his new concept "Islam Hadhari", or progressive Islam. It was pitted against the "conservative Islam" of the main opposition party, the Islamic Pas. For the first time, the governing coalition won more than 90 per cent of federal parliamentary seats. Pas, and its version of Islam (full implementation of the sharia, without modification; a leading role in the state for religious scholars; and so on), were routed.


Prime Minister Badawi is, it looks, a welcome change compared to his successor, the fanatic Dr. Mahathir, who quit office with a notorious speech chastizing the jews and lamenting the fact that the Islamic people not so much fail to produce their own consumer goods, but rather their own weapons. Listening to Mr. Badawi, I sincerely hope Mahathir may soon become a ghost from the past. The article concludes with:


Muslims worldwide are acknowledging the need for fundamental change in their perception of Islam. They are making conscious efforts to move away from medieval notions of Islamic law and to implement the vision of justice, equality and beauty that is rooted in the Koran. If such changes continue, the future will not repeat the recent past.


If you are a bit suspicious as to the origins of said article, you may want to read Stephen Schwartz, whom some of us know via Tech Central Station, since he seems to echo the abovementioned viewpoint in this article over at Frontpage Magazine:


...Unlike the radical Islamists of the "Wahhabi lobby," represented by such aggressive and militant groups as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Muslim Students Association of the U.S. and Canada, and others, we do not fantasize an Islamic conquest of America; nor do we preach the supremacy of Islam. We call for nothing more than a place at the big table of American religions. We do not demand control of the whole table, or a table of our own, separate from other Americans. We welcome sincere interfaith cooperation with Jews, Christians, and others, whom we believe share in the grace of almighty Allah. We affirm, in the words of Qur'an 2:62, "Believers, Jews, Christians, and Sabaeans -- whoever believes in God and the Last Day and does what is right -- shall be rewarded by their Lord; they have nothing to fear or to regret."


I hope they are right. Boy, do I hope so. In the meantime, KUDOS for the US Soldier, for it is him who stirred the hornet's nest - it is him, or her, who brought about the so necessary change in the Middle East.

MFBB


UPDATE:

It appears the man who took this photo is a freelance writer by the name of Michael Yon, who is embedded with a Mosul-based Stryker brigade. I got this info via Cdr. Salamander. The terrorist actually DROVE THROUGH A BUNCH OF PLAYING CHILDREN TO GET TO A STRYKER COLUMN!!! One of the victims was this little girl, who died at a US Army hospital. The soldier holding her is actually Major Mark Bieger, a 35-year old West Point graduate and father of three.

More on Michael Yon's blog (hat tip to Cdr. Salamander):


Major Mark Bieger found this little girl after the car bomb that attacked our guys while kids were crowding around. The soldiers here have been angry and sad for two days. They are angry because the terrorists could just as easily have waited a block or two and attacked the patrol away from the kids. Instead, the suicide bomber drove his car and hit the Stryker when about twenty children were jumping up and down and waving at the soldiers. Major Bieger, I had seen him help rescue some of our guys a week earlier during another big attack, took some of our soldiers and rushed this little girl to our hospital. He wanted her to have American surgeons and not to go to the Iraqi hospital. She didn't make it. I snapped this picture when Major Bieger ran to take her away. He kept stopping to talk with her and hug her.


Meanwhile, moonbats in Europe and elsewhere are chanting "Victory to the Iraqi Resistance":




I don't care if you are Buddhist, Jew, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, animist or whatever. I'm asking you to pray for this little girl and her friends who died because of a specimen I don't even want to call a swine for fear of insulting swines. If you are an atheist or agnost, ponder for a moment the terrible fate of this child and the agony of her parents. Let us all think if we can't do a little of our own to help Iraq achieve its goal of becomeing a free and prosperous nation where children can grow up peacefully.

Just one of the reasons I don't call myself a Republican...

ICH WAR AUCH EIN BERLINER.

But just for one day. Hi all. Every year around Easter I’m visiting with my wife and kid my mother-in-law and brother-in-law in the Polish city of Wroclaw. Since my company is a member of the German-based commercial group MHK and this feted its 25-year anniversary in Berlin last Saturday, April 16th, we decided "om het nuttige met het aangename te verenigen" – to combine the useful with the agreeable – as they say over here in Belgoland. So we off to Berlin.

The obligatory meeting with the group’s 2004 financial roundup and strategy talks was mostly what business meetings without clear-cut objectives are: lots of blah-blah-blah and yawning. However, I did not regret the 200-kloms detour for, a.) I got to collect my year’s bonus, hoorah, and b.) we took the opportunity to do a little sightseeing in Berlin, which had changed an awful lot since I was last there on a drab late autumn day in 1989, only months before the Wall came down. Not gonna make this a long thread, but I got some pics and info to share with you:



The first one is a photo of the Reichstag, the German Capitol so to say. This monumental piece of late 19th Century architecture has a troubled history. After its completion in 1894 it was officially designated as the place where the German people’s representatives should gather. It being still the time of Wilhelm I and Bismarck, these parlementarians had precious little power. Only in 1916, when unrest among the population resulted in the Kaiser’s authority eroding, was the inscription "Dem Deutschen Volke" (For the German People) added. In the twenties however the Reichstag did start to function in a truly democratic way – but not for long. Months after Hitler came to power, in early 1933, the Plenary Hall was set on fire – allegedly by a young Dutch Communist, Marinus Van Der Lubbe, but in reality by the Nazis themselves. They used the turmoil in the wake of the event to force through oppressive legislation, such as the Reichstagbrandverordnung and the Ermaechtigungsgesetz, bills which essentially suspended the legislative role of any parliamentary body. In short, they killed Parliament and allowed the Fuehrer to rule by decree. All in all a monstrous course of events. For those fools who liken 9/11 and the ensuing Patriot Act to the Fire in the Reichstag and the Nazi laws killing off democracy I recommend studying German history from 1933 to 1945. Maybe they also can check out whether Hitler sought for, and obtained, a Resolution 1441-like permission from the League of Nations to liberate Czechoslowakia and Poland.

Anyway, from 1933 on the building was mostly an empty charred hulk, although when the Russians entered Berlin in late April 1945 they seemed for some reason to regard it as a symbol of National Socialism, for they threw lots of troops against it – and the tenacious defense by Waffen SS units may have strengthened them in their conviction. Some of you may recall the famous photos of Russian soldiers hoisting the Soviet flag on top of the Reichstag (at the very moment this happened, there was still fierce fighting in the building’s basement).

During the Cold War, as West Germany (the Bundesrepublik) had its Bundestag (parliament) in Bonn whereas East Germany (the Deutsche Demokratische Republik) had its Volkskammer first in makeshift quarters, then from 1976 in the Palast Der Republik, there was little use for the Reichstag. That changed in 1990 with the reunification of East and West Germany, and the parliamentarians of both republics once again took seat in the imposing building. Under the guidance of the British architect Sir Norman Foster important transformations took place - in fact only the outer walls remained as before. He provided light for the Plenary Hall through an ingenuous system of mirrors placed in the gigantic glass and stell dome replacing the original dome. The renovation would cost 600 million DM (think in excess of 300 million US$). This is a really good link with marvellous photos.


The second pic shows the impressive Television Tower, or Fernsehturm in German, as it rises 365m high over Berlin’s Alexanderplatz. It was commissioned in 1969 (building started in August 1965) and meant as a showcase of East-German ingenuity and building and engineering competency. The 250m high concrete shaft weighs 26,000 tons and carries the 4,800 ton heavy ball, which houses a.o. a rotating restaurant (360° every ½ hour). The aerial carrier on top of the "Kugel" weighs another 245 tons. A lift takes you up in 38 seconds. The Fernsehtower is Berlins tallest building, that’s something you can use in a quiz. Good links here and especially here.





And last but not least, a remnant of the division which once existed between East and West Berlin: Checkpoint Charlie. In 1961 the then DDR Head of State Walter Ulbricht ordered the building of the infamous Wall dividing East and West Berlin since for some reason the marvellous living conditions in the East were not at all appreciated by the spoiled East German workers. On August 13, 1961 the Wall was a fact, and from that moment on tourists from abroad, diplomats and military personnel of the Western Powers were only allowed to enter East Berlin via the crossing point at Berlins Friedrichstrasse. It was named Charlie because there was already a Checkpoint Bravo at Dreilinden and a Checkpoint Alpha at Helmstedt. Checkpoint Charlie was removed on June 22, 1990. The former Allied guardhouses are now located in the Allied Museum. The shack you see in the middle is in fact a copy of the American guardhouse, erected on the original place on August 13, 2000. Checkpoint Charlie 101 here.


MFBB

Got an iPod, Michael? If not, and you want one, for the love of God don't buy one in The Netherlands!

Looks like GM, icon of the American auto industry, is in deep trouble.

Ok, there's no doubt that these guys have made a series of management errors over the years, but I can't help but think that if this massive corporation goes down, the words "Killed by the UAW" should be inscribed on its grave stone.

I thought it appropriate on April 15 to post this diatribe from T. Coleman Andrews, who is a former commissioner of the IRS:

(I ripped this off from Neal Boortz's site. Boortz is a huge pusher of the FairTax plan, and has just finished a book with John Linder (R) Georgia on the subject.)

"Congress went beyond merely enacting an income tax law and repealed Article IV of the Bill of Rights, by empowering the tax collector to do the very things from which that article says we were to be secure. It opened up our homes, our papers and our effects to the prying eyes of government agents and set the stage for searches of our books and vaults and for inquiries into our private affairs whenever the tax men might decide, even though there might not be any justification beyond mere cynical suspicion.

The income tax is bad because it has robbed you and me of the guarantee of privacy and the respect for our property that were given to us in Article IV of the Bill of Rights. This invasion is absolute and complete as far as the amount of tax that can be assessed is concerned. Please remember that under the Sixteenth Amendment, Congress can take 100% of our income anytime it wants to. As a matter of fact, right now it is imposing a tax as high as 91%. This is downright confiscation and cannot be defended on any other grounds.

The income tax is bad because it was conceived in class hatred, is an instrument of vengeance and plays right into the hands of the communists. It employs the vicious communist principle of taking from each according to his accumulation of the fruits of his labor and giving to others according to their needs, regardless of whether those needs are the result of indolence or lack of pride, self-respect, personal dignity or other attributes of men.

The income tax is fulfilling the Marxist prophecy that the surest way to destroy a capitalist society is by steeply graduated taxes on income and heavy levies upon the estates of people when they die.  

As matters now stand, if our children make the most of their capabilities and training, they will have to give most of it to the tax collector and so become slaves of the government. People cannot pull themselves up by the bootstraps anymore because the tax collector gets the boots and the straps as well.  

The income tax is bad because it is oppressive to all and discriminates particularly against those people who prove themselves most adept at keeping the wheels of business turning and creating maximum employment and a high standard of living for their fellow men.  

I believe that a better way to raise revenue not only can be found but must be found because I am convinced that the present system is leading us right back to the very tyranny from which those, who established this land of freedom, risked their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to forever free themselves..."  

T. Coleman Andrews.  Andrews Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service for three years, from 1953 until 1955.

THE GATES OF HELL ARE OPEN IN IRAQ

I could have used another fancy title, like "THE STAVDA WATCH" , "BELGIAN COMMIES ARE AT IT AGAIN", or "GULP???". Instead I chose this one. It’s the literal translation of the caption above the article shown below, as it appeared in this weekend’s edition (April 9/10, 2005) of leading Belgian newspaper "The Daily Crap", aka "De Standaard" aka "The Stavda" aka whatever wait till we smoke your rat’s hole out.





The caption is capitals under Talabani's photo reads: "THE ATTITUDE OF THE US TOWARDS SYRIA AND IRAN IS NOT AT ALL MEANT TO STIMULATE DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM".


Said article is the rotten fruit of a imperfect brainstorm inside the head of a fella named Ayatollah Jawad al-Khalisi, who is the Secretary-General of an outfit called the Iraqi National Constituent Congress. On June 17, 2004, Auntie Beeb had this to say about the INCC:


The Iraqi National Constituent Congress has brought together prominent Sunni and Shia figures to oppose the US-led occupation of Iraq. It was formed in May 2004 and is led by the respected Shia cleric Jawad al-Khalisi.

On its 16-strong leadership panel are other Shia leaders, and also Sheikh Harith al-Dhari, leader of the Sunni Muslim Ulema Council (note from MFBB: the Association of Muslim Scholars).The group's 500 members also include Kurds and Arab nationalists.
It has pledged to boycott any US-sponsored political group, including the Iraqi Governing Council, to re-establish the national army and to restore sovereignty under the auspices of blah blah blah...


Ok, now that you know that, I’ll have the honor of providing some translated excerpts. Watch out though:

"The US-British occupation of Iraq is poisoning all political processes in my country and across the Middle East. The elections held under the control of the occupying forces in January were neither free nor fair.

The occupying powers are now following a policy of divide and rule, encouraging sectarian and ethnic divisions and imposing them on all the institutions they have created.

Incidents such as the recent kidnapping of an Italian journalist, released only to be received by a hail of bullets from the US liberators, have fuelled widespread suspicions in Iraq as to who is in fact responsible for many of the terrorist acts - kidnappings, assassinations, and indiscriminate bombing and killing -that are engulfing the whole of Iraq...

Not one of the terrorist crimes has been solved and not a single perpetrator put on trial. After each major terrorist crime, the arrest of perpetrators is proclaimed, using names and personalities spread by the US-controlled media...

These crimes are a taste of the hell created by the US project in the Middle East..

In the same way, the Iraq crisis cannot be resolved by patching up a detested occupation with fraudulent elections and sectarian and ethnic caucuses supported by the occupiers...

The US today is still the ally and backer of many such tyrannical regimes in our region and elsewhere..."


Had enough? I certainly do. Now, take a look at how this article was published in the Guardian, since "De Standaard" copyrighted it from that newspaper in the first place. I'd say that Belgians beat Brits in opinionmaking.


…and compare it with the way The Pride of Belgian Journalism puts it, above. The format you see is the one used in the "Opinie & Analyse" pages (Opinion & Analysis, I’m sure you were smart enough to figure that out). In these pages, De Standaard’s selected, ahem, analysts review global political issues and offer, well, opinions and analysis, in other words informed comment. The way Mr. al-Khalisis ramblings were trusted onto precious Flemish recycled paper however tends to lead the innocent, or shall we say, the silly reader to take what is printed for granted. The article and the way the layout is done leaves no room on the page for other topics, since below it (not shown), there’s just an overview of De Standaard staff explaining who does what.

My point is, I’ve been looking on the Web for more info on Jawad al-Khalisi. I’ve been querying on ITM and Big Pharaoh, searching for election results here and there and, to cut a long story short, found no evidence whatsoever that this dude represents anything more than "vijf man en een paardekop", or five blokes and a horsehead, as we here in Flemingland say. Meaning the INCC Secretary-General weighs in on Iraqs political decisionmaking about as heavily as Camilla Parker-Bowles.

Now the question is: WHY for God’s sake would newspapers like the Guardian or De Standaard be willing to spend so much attention to a dipshit raving Khomeini clone whom they think worthy of offering his insights on Iraqi democracy while he can’t in all likelihood tell the US’s electoral processus from, say, Zimbabwes? The answer is simple: a nice rant fitting exactly in the gloomy picture they so LOOOOOOVE to present. Looooooooots of sappy quotes castigating the evil US of A.

Ladies and gentlemen, make no mistake. Drivel like this is no exception. Like I said time and again before, "news" like this is the rule. Comprendo? Now if you feel ever so apt to blame the euroweenies for their ungrateful attitude towards Uncle Sam, try to imagine for a moment how YOU would look at your government if you were fed nonsense like this not for two months, not for two years, not for two decades, no, for FORTY GODDAM YEARS!!!!

Oh, I know how proud you all are of your "winner-takes-all electoral system". And frankly, you have every right to. It makes for clean and straight politics and quick formation of administrations. No mess like in Europe or Iraq (ok, forget 2000, blame that on, uh, Bush). We all know the fancy maps of the States with Jesusland colored bright red and some fringe areas on the east and west coast in blue huh? Now, while that’s a nice way to illustrate Dubyas victory, you’d maybe do well to ponder how the map would have looked if you had adopted Europes representative system. The States would be Purple from LA till Bangor and from Anchorage to Nogales folks.

By which I mean to say: you had FOX. You had Power Line. You had the WSJ. You had Buckhead. You had Rush Limbaugh. You had LGF. You even had Sandy Bergers, Joe Wilsons and Dan Rathers screwups. AND STILL Bush won only by a – admit it – narrow margin!!! Now, over here in the Union of Nanny States we have NOTHING of all that. But we have PLENTY of stinkin sh*t like The Stavda. Why are you surprised Europe is anti-American?

The media is the key people. Take my word for it. I won't say it twice. The media is the key. The media is the key. The media is the key. The media is the key. the media is the key. The media is the key. We need a European FOX. For starters. Presto.


MFBB


UPDATE:

In Iraq The Model's comments section, I asked the Fadhil Brothers and the other posters if they knew who this Jawad al-Khalisi was. Omar was so kind to answer me by email not two hours later:

Hi Michael,
regarding your question on the comment section:

I actually don't think that this Ayatollah is a member of the National Assembly because he was against the elections in the 1st place.
but still, the constitution drafting society may include many members from outside the Assembly. I will do more research on this and update you if I happen to find any further information.

Best my friend,

--
Omar.
www.iraqthemodel.com


So. This guy al-Chalico is in all likelihood not even a member of the 275-strong Iraqi Assembly. I gather he means doodley-squat in Iraqi politics. The Graudian and De Standaard see fit to give the A-hole a FORUM.... just because he says what they LOVE TO HEAR. Thanks Omar. May you eat Belgian Fries at least once in your lifetime.

THE BOEING-AIRBUS SAGA.

For some time I have been wanting to write some stuff on the Boeing-Airbus mêlée, since it is reminiscent of the greater economic struggle being waged between the USA and the EU. Its example can thus not only highlight the pitfalls but also the mutual benefits of economic interaction between adversaries which sport both striking similarities as well as radical differences in philosophy and approach.

Initially, I meant to keep the story short, but as I began digging into the ample material available on the Net, it became apparent I'd need to make this a fleshed-out post around several chapters or else leave the task to others. Indeed, the intricate Boeing/Airbus Saga is something deserving far more attention than the piecemeal media reporting, and I hope that in the nearby future some author will take up the challenge to devote a volume on the subject. In the meantime, I hope the following post, structured around five chapters, can shed some light and offer new insights on a conflict which, while it threatens to turn ugly, also holds the promise of substantial mutual benefits. The chapters are:


1.) A new era: the Airbus A380

2.) A Brief History of Airbus

3.) The Boeing/Airbus Feud

4.) A difficult choice - and Boeings dilemma

5.) Conclusions


Today, I will submit the first two chapters.



1.) A new era: the Airbus A380.

It must have been a glorious moment for the quartet of key European leaders President Chirac, Chancellor Schroeder, PM Zapatero and PM Blair, marred as all four of them had been for different reasons, when on January 18, 2005, the Airbus management, before a 5,000-strong audience and in the presence of said gentlemen, revealed its new flagship, the A380, to the press. The 73-meter (238ft 8in) long triple-deck passenger jet was proudly displayed in Airbus’s gigantic assembly hall, the biggest building (490m x 250m x 46m) on the site of the so-called Jean-Luc Lagadère factory in Blagnac near Toulouse. The A380, which will eclipse the Boeing 747 as the world’s biggest airliner, can seat 555 passengers in a three-class arrangement, but this can be raised to 800, which is why the official denomination is A380-800. Its specifications are impressive: a wing span of 79.8 m (261ft 10 in), a height of 24.1m (79ft), and a maximum takeoff weight of 560 tons (1,234,600 lb). Thrust is provided by four 302 to 374kN (68,000 to 84,000lb) Rolls Royce Trent RB 967 turbofans or four EA GP-7267 turbofans (EA = Engine Alliance, a joint venture of General Electric and Pratt&Whitney).




For all its innovative technology like advanced avionics and novel materials (a.o. a fibre-aluminium composite material called GLARE), the outward appearance of the A380 is, apart from its size, rather conventional. Indeed, were it not for the double row of windows, the big Airbus would simply look like an upscaled version of the veteran A330/340. That is not to say no trails leading to a distinctly different look have been considered, since one of the numerous models provided for a very wide (twelve seats abreast) rather than high airframe as well as twin tails. But in the end the designers returned to the trusted basic passenger’s jet configuration as we have known it for forty years, a sleek cylindrical body upon swept-back wings with engines podded underneath. It should also be noted that this conventional layout greatly attributes to easier pilot conversion and commonality throughout the Airbus family.





The massive Airbus is, as everyone realizes, the first true competitor to Boeings 35-year old 747. And it shows: on the very day the A380 was presented, January 18, 2005, Airbus could boast 149 firm orders. The company claims the break even point for the gigantic investment is some 260 orders. By contrast, sales for the Jumbo have all but dried up, the few examples sold yet being mostly intended for cargo.


b.) A Brief History of Airbus

The story of Airbus is a study in microcosm of successful European cooperation. It all started in 1970 when Frances Aerospatiale and Germany’s Deutsche Aerospace merged to form the Airbus Industrie GIE (Groupement d’Intérêt Economique, literally Group of Economic Interest) consortium, as by the late sixties it had become increasingly clear that no single European aircraft company could compete effectively with US giants like Lockheed, McDonnell-Douglas and especially Boeing. In 1971 Spains Construcciones Aeronauticas S.A. (CASA) joined, and 1972 saw the launch of Airbus’ first aircraft, the A300, which could transport 226 passengers in a two-class layout. It is interesting to note that by introducing this plane, Airbus directly entered the middle class segment of commercial airliners.

The mid-seventies were by far the toughest years for the young consortium with very few new orders placed (none in 1976!). All that changed after a desperate attempt by Airbus to break into the US market when the US’s bankrupt Eastern Airlines leased 23 A300B4s (initially four) at very favourable conditions (a.o. with maintenance and US certification paid for by Airbus). This apparently boosted airline confidence in the new company enough to resume placing orders. And so, by the beginning of 1978 Airbus had 133 plus firm orders as well as a market share by value of 26 percent. 1978 also saw the introduction of the A310, in outward appearance a shorter A300 but incorporating such novelties as a two-man cockpit and CRT displays instead of dials.

In 1979 British Aerospace became Airbus’s fourth full member. In 1984 the A320 entered the market, setting a new standard as the first commercial jet with fly-by-wire and sidesticks. Now while the A300 and the shorter A310 were essentially middle-class jets, the A320 was meant to be Airbus’s competitor for the so-called "narrow bodies" (single aisle, short range), competing in that field with jets like Boeings 727 and 737, BAC’s One-Eleven and Douglas’ DC-9. The A320 was the first of Airbus’ "small" family, a range that since 1984 has seen the emergence of the A318, for 100 passengers, and the A319, capable of transporting 125 passengers. Linking Airbus’s lower manufacturing end to its middle class was the A321, essentially a longer A320.

Having thus established itself in the market for small and medium-sized commercial jet planes, Airbus then embarked, in 1987, on the production of jets in the "widebody" segment (double aisle, medium to long range), and these would eventually become known as the four-engined A340 (launched 1993) and the twin-engined A330 (launched 1994).

In 1991, Airbus began talks with major international airline companies to investigate the development of a new super-huge passenger aircraft, of which production finally started in 2000. Before the advent of the 747’s first true nemesis though, in 2002, almost ten years after the introduction of the A340, came first two larger versions of this plane with extended fuselages, the A340-600 and the A340-500.

It should furthermore be noted that only in 2001, thus thirty years after its creation, Airbus formally became a single integrated company instead of a conglomerate. Shareholders in the new Airbus company are EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, being the merger between Aerospatiale Matra SA of France, Daimler Chrysler Aerospace AG of Germany and Construcciones Aeronauticas SA of Spain), with 80%, and the UK’s BAE SYSTEMS, with 20% of the new stock.


MFBB

THE TOUR OF FLANDERS

Time flies. It’s not one year yet since on July 3rd, 2004 the Tour de France, that Mother of All Cyclist Races, started – but the string of minor tournaments leading up to it has. That string includes classics like Italy’s Giro d'Italia, Holland’s Amstel Gold Race, and the so-called Spring Classics: Belgium’s Tour of Flanders, Ghent-Wevelgem-Ghent, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and France’s Paris-Roubaix, the "Hell of the North". Tomorrow, April 3, the Tour of Flanders will be held.

I’m covering it this year for two reasons: first, frankly said, I need a break from the (load of ) bad news reporting – and God knows there’s a lot of. There is the developing power struggle between an EU Commission asserting itself and several European governments who think the EU should be meant as a cloak to serve their interests. Most important of all there’s the utter failure of multiculturalism which is becoming more clear day after day with, sadly, the recent surge of violent attacks by mobs of mainly young Moroccans on police patrols in France, The Netherlands and Beligum. More on that later, alas.

Secondly, I thought that this years’ cycling frenzy might interest you since for the first time, US cycling legend and sixfold Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, has decided to participate in at least some of the preluding events – including tomorrow’s Tour of Flanders.

That Tour of Flanders is actually a 256km-long race held in the western part of Flanders, with a trajectory spanning a wide arc starting somewhere to the southwest of Brussels going northwesterly towards Bruges, and encompassing a region called the "Flemish Ardennes", which sports many low hills featuring narrow cobblestoned streets leading to their summits. Now while the race actually starts in Bruges, where the land is flat, the Flemish Ardennes are reserved for the last part of the Tour – see map – kind of keeping the best for the last. And of those "calf-biters", no one is dreaded more than the so-called Muur van Geraardsbergen, where a height difference of 92 meters over a distance of 1,000 meters (9.2% on average, one steep stretch of 20% on the last part of the Muur) shifts the cyborgs from the mere mortals. The "Muur" leads to the summit of the 111-m high Oudenberg, the hill overlooking Geraardsbergen – which is my beloved hometown, one of Flanders oldest cities (1068).

Since the Tour of Flanders is in fact outgrowing its status of minor TdF preluding event and becoming a huge tournament in itself, with tickets being sold long in advance (even in the States!) there’s no way I will be able to secure myself a nice spot on top of the Oudenberg to personally take a shot of Lance on this 89th Edition of the Tour. So instead I took to the site this evening, to give you at least an idea of the battlefield of one of tomorrow’s hot spots. The first picture below shows the last meters of the cobblestoned road to the Oudenberg's summit, which is crowned by a nice chapel. The guy on the photo - one of the ubiquitous amateurs today - obviously has had enough. I can sympathize.



The second picture shows the Chapel from another angle and from a plateau on which there is also a small pond...



Finally, this photo was taken from the very summit of the Oudenberg, 111 m above sea level. In the distance you can make out the land below. The cyclists have to climb 80% of the height difference over a fairly short distance, at some point confronting a 20% slope. It's excruciating!





I will be glad to report on the race's outcome tomorrow evening.


MFBB


UPDATE:

The Tour of Flanders has been won by 24-year old Belgian promise Tom Boonen, who also one of the first rides in 2004's Tour de France as well as its last one. Details here. As you can notice, Lance was 28th (248 cyclists participated). Nothing to worry about, Lance did not intend to win.

REAGANOMICS THROUGH EUROPEAN GLASSES/ DEATH OF THE BOLKESTEIN DIRECTIVE?


A lot of people are way smarter than me. Still, I can’t really say I was lingering somewhere near the restrooms when God handed out neuron kits and brain cells. That is why, now some five years ago, I was surprised myself how I could ever have mistaken Ronald Reagan for a dumb cowboy. Five years ago a friend of mine asked me who I thought was the most important 20th Century US President. I guess that while I considered my cautious answer – Roosevelt – certainly not the sole candidate for the laurels, I’d never have contemplated bestowing the honour on Ronald Reagan. At that time.

The reason? European MSM. During all of the Reagan years, we in Europe were fed with a continuous battering of negative spin and half-truths on Mr. Reagan. Unrightful beneficiary of the credit for liberating the US hostages in Tehran. Religious zealot. B-film actor fallen upward. Heinous warmonger in central America. Player with fire in scoffing the USSR. Dumbass. Liar to Congress and the American People. Social Butcher. Idiot. Etc etc… No occasion was missed to highlight his – admitted – numerous lapsuses. That’s why the quotes that stick with yours truly are not that his economic thinking was influenced by Von Mises, Hazlitt or Hayek, but that he once toasted on Bolivia while on an official visit to Brazil. Or that he once claimed that it’s actually trees which are mainly responsible for air pollution.

Anyway, on that day, now some five years ago, my friend, a rightwing madman and a Michael like myself, showed me another Reagan, one who should have gotten the Nobel Peace Prize for eliminating the nuclear threat through pioneering ICBM reduction talks. One whose Administration produced important legislation slashing insanely high taxes (70%!) from the Carter era. One who gave Americans not only their jobs back but also their Pride. And one who, simple as the phrase may sound, by denominating the USSR as an "Evil Empire" saw a hundredfold clearer the inhuman face of the Warsaw Pact regimes while Western Europes socialist "elites" had no qualms being thick with their namesakes on yonder side of the Iron Curtain.

But that was politics.

Politics is easy stuff. One can be a Professor in Politics, tell nonsense for three decades and at the end of his/her carer still come away with honorary doctorates in nanny states and retire as Sir or Herr or whatever.

Economics though, is another matter. Belgian, or should I say Flemish, Blogger LVB has a first installment on Reagan as seen through an economic lens. In an eloquent way he sheds some light on Reaganomics from a European Point-of-View. That’s why I think that the Americans reading Downeast (afaik the majority of our readership) should read this. FYI, LVB is a pro free market type. Professionally, he's an Internet entrepreneur. Some excerpts:


[Reagans policy] ...policy meant a radical rupture with Keynesianism where consumption was stimulated by massive government spending. Keynes put the emphasis of economic policy on the demand-side (consumption). Reagan, by contrast, put the accent on the supply-side (production). Keynes believed that demand would create supply, but Reaganomics started from the opposite idea, namely that supply would create demand. In this way of thinking, the supply side of the economy (the economic activity, production etc…) had to be stimulated in order to create wealth. The best way to do this was to cut the marginal tax rates on personal income. Such a tax cut would create a strong incentive to increase economic activity and would have spectacular effects on growth, investment, risk-taking and saving...

....

When tax rates are raised, people reduce their participation in taxed activities, such as working, risk taking, saving and investing. When tax rates fall, people increase their participation. Fortunately, Reagan understood this logic immediately. Few people know that Reagan had a major in economics, which he obtained at the Eureka College (Illinois) in 1932. The economic theory he was taught was untouched by Keynesian thinking and, as a consequence, very appropriate to the problems of the eighties. Reagan followed the advice and took action. The top marginal tax rate of 70% was lowered in two phases: to 50% with the "ERTA" (Economic Recovery Tax Act of October 1, 1981) and in a later phase to 28% (The Tax Act of 1986). These tax cuts created 18 million new jobs in 8 years, lowered inflation to 4.3% and cut unemployment from 9.7% to 5.4%. One of the longest and strongest economic expansions since World War II had begun, with an average annual growth rate of 3.5%.





(Economic mentors Von Mises and Hayek and President Reagan)



If you have read the post, you may want to read a little further and check out his post on the so-called Bolkestein Directive, which was essentially shot off this weekend. Bolkestein is EU Commissioner for Internal Markets and Taxation; as a leading proponent of the Dutch Centre Right VVD, he was nearly crucified by the PC Crowd in the early nineties for haveing the audacity to say that the integration efforts in The Netherlands were a shambles. If only they had listened to him: the news coming out of Holland these days is appalling.

Anyway, the Bolkestein Directive was meant to create the legal framework for liberalizing services throughout the EU. For example, if you are a Czech flower arranger, making it easy for you to set up business in Austria. Or if you are a Lithuanian plumber, facilitate working in another EU country. All this under the regulations of the service provider’s country. In other words, if you work as a Polish architect in France, you still pay the (lower) Polish taxes. The Bolkestein Directive was one of the tools to generate millions of new jobs and make Europes economy the strongest by 2010. (Old) European neoprotectionism killed it prematurely. One of the most outrageous statements of the past week was Chirac's, who more or less said that unlimited free markets are as bad as communism.

Poor Europe. Read it at LVB. It's in English.



MFBB

Hey European types - this story can't possibly be true can it?

"Lets take a look at the case of Gerhard Haderer. He's an Austrian cartoonist who published a satire on the life of Jesus. Like most satires, it is not very respectful, but it contravenes no Austrian law. Unbeknown to him, however, the book was republished in Greece, a country not known these days for its attachment to freedom. The book was banned, Haderer was found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to jail. He's appealing, but if he loses, he can under EU law be extradited to Greece to serve his time and Austria cannot do anything about it."

WTF?

HAPPY THOUGHTS OF THE DAY.


Yesterday evening at around 7pm, yours truly (to the left of the goatf*cker) was heading off with his lady to some eating event organised by a diving club (there were salmon and fries on the menu card) and on dropping off the kid at my parents house I was able to see a few TV newsshots. Just a few secs of watching neocommie Belgian TV was enough to get furious and possibly have my appetite spoiled, so we quickly left for our salmon. However, fellow Blogger De Andere Kijk (The Other View) had the guts to watch "Eén" (One), as the Belgian/Flemish state-run TV broadcaster has recently been renamed. Watch it out, rather. This is a translation of the report he filed:



You are wrong, wrong, wrong!


Two years ago Operation Iraqi Freedom started. "Our" national broadcast again did its utmost best to "offer content" at this anniversary. The 7pm news was typical again:

*one could see the victims of American bombs, but not those of suicide terrorists driving [their bomb-laden cars] into [crowds of] their own compatriots.

*"remorseful" ex-soldiers and angry parents of deceased soldiers were allowed to have their say, while soldiers stationed right now in Iraq and parents who did not want the name of their killed son was used for propaganda, could not be heard.

*the man/woman in the street who can complain about the so-called absence of an "exit-strategy"

*the demonstrations of "the population" against Bush while your TV screen was full of red flags, of UK Socialist Party banners and of communist symbols and strongmen

*I even saw a placard with "HANDS OFF IRAN AND SYRIA". Indeed, let dictator Assad and Mullah Khamenei go on terrorizing their own and other populations.

*the moral bankruptcy of the Left is devastating. The show they perform is shameful and yes, dangerous.


UPDATE 20/3: today again some "coverage" of "our" national broadcaster. Again a couple of "remorseful" ex-soldiers and angry parents. To top it all off, an interview with Giuliana Sgrena who wants an explanation of George W. Bush himself.


Thank you De Andere Kijk.

I will say it again and again: while there may indeed be a certain resentment and inherent anti-Americanism among European populations, mostly born out of a certain sense of inferiority and impotence, I keep insisting that the media is the key in (starting to) altering the political landscape in Europe. I would say that 10-15% of the European populace are diehard moonbats, 7-8% pro-US and the middle field, well, in the absence of the European Neocommunist networks they would be either indifferent or mildly pro-US. As it is now, this undecided, lukewarm-for-everything-but-soaps-wages-vacations-sexlife-retirement mob is prone to a constant bombardment of false impressions and outright deep red propaganda. Take our national TV broadcaster: I have a fairly good idea who the producers are, the directors, the anchormen: I know their backgrounds, I know the circles they come from: leftist to extreme leftist, all of them. You won’t find a single rightwinger at "Eén", except for an occasional lower level technician maybe, and even that is doubtful.

Our state-run TV networks have to be privatised. And Europe needs its FOX, or FOX-like, networks. The media is the key.


MFBB

P.S.: the salmon and fries were good, just a tipsy getting cold.

THE DUTCH ARE SCREWED BIG TIME...


Teachers of the Mozaiek elementary school are very concerned about the radicalization of their pupils. Mohammed B. [Bouyeri :The killer of Van Gogh] is revered as a hero, when Hirsi Ali is shown on school TV they mimic ‘shooting’ movements. When they visited the Anne Frank House pupils said “they deserved it” and
"They should have killed more Jews".

The radical behavior is not new. The teachers of the Christian elementary school say they ask for years now attention to this problem. Teacher Marlene van den Berg: "After the September 11 attacks, they made a St. Nicolas [children feast where presents are packet in self made creative wrappings] surprise of the WTC towers, complete with flames and falling people. We started the dialog: What do you mean, why do you do this? Then you get a ruthless answer: They deserved it, they had to do it a long time ago"...


Hat tip to Dutch Report. I recommend you bookmark that site.

On a population of 16 million, The Netherlands count 1.6 million, or 10%, non-western immigrants. 1 million of them is Muslim. Somali-born Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who spoke out against Islam and who since the fall of 2004 has to be kept under close guard on a Dutch marine basis in central Amsterdam because of death threats by Islamic extremists, estimates that 2/3 of those 1 million Muslims are NOT integrated, nor do they show any desire to do so. Criminality among young Moroccans, who make up the bulk of the Muslim population in The Netherlands, is rampant: 80% of crimes committed in Utrecht, famous for its university, is contributed to Moroccan youths. It is estimated that by the middle of the century the Dutch population will count some 18 million plus inhabitants, of which 32% will be immigrants or their descendants. The number of native Dutch emigrating from their homeland is growing year after year, and in 2004 passed the peak of 1954.

MFBB

Maine state legislature taking on the tough issues Part 2.

Time to head up to Augusta with some pitchforks and torches...

"My name is Walter Moore and I'm running for mayor, and you know what? I don't speak Spanish and I don't intend to learn." -- L.A. mayoral candidate Walter Moore

I don't think he'll win but I do admire his refreshing lack of pandering.