PRESIDENT CHIRAC MISSES A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK OUT...

At the moment I'm typing this, French Muslim youths are partying like it's 742. Just consider, over the past 24 hours:


* an estimated total of 897 vehicles nationwide on the night of Friday to Saturday was torched (500 the night before), bringing the tally to an estimated 1,260 by Saturday morning
* paramedics who were evacuating a sick person from a housing project in Meaux were stoned, and the awaiting ambulance was set on fire
* a nursery school in Acheres, west of Paris was completely destroyed by fire
* cars were burnt in Lille, in the northwest of France (on average three a day)
* police counted some 20 torched cars in Tourcoing, Roubaix en Mons-en-Baroeul, places near the Belgian border. So that's where that smell comes from.
* a bus depot to the west of Paris was set alight and twenty buses were completely destroyed
* in Rennes and Nantes, cities in Brittany, 45 cars were destroyed
* violent riots were reported in Dijon, a large city in east central Francd, and Marseille, on the Mediterranean coast
* there was arson in Rouen (Normandy) and Toulouse (south west France)
* in Suresnes, normally a quite town west of Paris, 44 cars were burned
* 258 thugs were detained overnight
* in Torcy, to the east of Paris, looters set fire to a youth center and a police station
* in Aubervilliers, to the north of Paris, a carpet warehouse was set alight
* in Percan there was arson in an underground garage
* gunshots were fired in Sarcelles, north of Paris
* in Pierrefitte, to the northwest of Paris, an attempt was made to burn a synagogue using an incendiary device
* in Essonne, police already documented 23 cars destroyed by fire before 21h00 Saturday evening
* in the commune of Grigny, two schools were burnt. Five classerooms of the "Sleeping Beauty" nursery school were destroyed and two in "Ecole Triolet". A large fire also devastated a paper recycling plant.
* in Vigneux, another school was set alight, and police reported that 35 vehicles had been set on fire throughout the department not long before 22h.
* in Seine-Saint-Denis, police reported many burnt vehicles. A significant fire was also announced in a gymnasium of Noisy-le-Grand.
* in Seine-et-Marne, weight-heavy was on fire opposite the professional college of Savigny-le-Temple, where the firemen were taken for targets by stone launchers.
* in the Quartier des Musiciens in Mureaux (Yvelines) approximately 50km to the west of Paris, a car was set ablaze requiring the intervention of firemen.
* in the Quartier de la République in Paris, three cars were damaged by Molotov cocktails near the police station.
* from other parts of the country, multiple incidents were reported from towns and cities that were relatively calm until now. Mainly cars set alight using Molotov cocktails by gangs of young people, as in Avignon (Vaucluse), Saint-Dizier (Haute-Marne), Soissons (Aisne), Nantes (Loire-Atlantique), Montauban (the Tarn-and-Garonne) or in Loir-et-Cher.
* fire officials reported a tractor-trailer set on fire in Lille and a bus burned in Auby.
* in the south, in Marseilles (Bouches-du-Rhone) police reported three fires of cars by 21h00.
* in the Alpes-Maritimes region, several vehicles were also set on fire in the cities of Cannes and in Nice, where firemen were pelted with rocks while trying to extinguish the blaze.
* in Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) a half-dozen cars had already been set alight not long before 21h00.



However, French citizenry responded in force: e.g. on Saturday morning, more than 1,000 people took part in a silent march in Aulnay-sous-Bois, filing past burned-out cars to demand calm. Banners read: "No to violence". And from his part, PM Dominique de Villepin did not sit still himself: on Saturday he met with community leaders and members of his Cabinet Saturday to address the situation.


This rather uncompromising French reaction was not entirely approved by Mr. Dalil Boubakeur, Head of the Paris Mosque and of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, and so, after the meeting, Mr Boubakeur urged a change in tone from the government:

"What I want from the authorities, from Mr Nicolas Sarkozy, the prime minister and senior officials are words of peace,"

After coming across some of the numerous tawdry French blogs such as No Pasaran, I tend to lean over to Mr. Boubakeurs viewpoint. E.g., just read the following tasteless diatribe and judge for yourself (excerpt from abovementioned blog):

Dalil Boubakeur, Head of the Paris mosque and of the ineffective joke known as the French Council of the Muslim Faith, has called on French authorities to use respectful words of peace so as not to rile up hair trigger sensibilities. Mr. Boubakeur needs to be reminded that when Interior Minister Sarkozy called suburban youth riffraff and thugs, it was following the murder of a 10 year old child. Punks who kick a father to death in front of his family are scum. Rioters who douse handicapped people with gasoline before setting them alight are animals. And now that I think of it, Mr. Boubakeur can go straight to Hell.

You will agree that the Blogosphere can be a very nasty place indeed. Now let us cut the crap and proceed to MFBB's expedient solution to solve the crisis:




MFBB

Superpundit

Look who's got an article up at NRO.


Way to go Kerry!

ALL RIOT ON THE PARISIAN FRONT.

For the fifth consecutive night, violent riots have taken place in Clichy-sous-Bois. There was also a rather underreported riot in Utrecht, The Netherlands, where a large group of Moroccan youths attacked police, but hey, after all it's the peaceful season of Ramadan dontcha know.

A Le Monde snippet:


Le ministre de l'intérieur, Nicolas Sarkozy, devait recevoir, place Beauvau, lundi 31 octobre dans l'après-midi, les parents des deux adolescents morts électrocutés dans un transformateur EDF, à Clichy-sous-Bois. Mais ceux-ci ont refusé de rencontrer le ministre de l'intérieur. Au cours d'une conférence de presse à la mosquée de Clichy-sous-Bois, Siyakah Traore, frère du jeune Bouna décédé, a déclaré : "En aucun cas, nous n'irons voir Sarkozy qui, pour nous, est incompétent, comme l'ont montré son discours à la télé (sur TF1 dimanche soir) et la manière dont est menée l'enquête". "Nous demandons le calme, nous demandons que justice soit faite, nous demandons que les CRS partent et nous demandons à être reçus par M. de Villepin". De son côté, Amor Benna, le père du jeune Ziad, le deuxième mineur, décédé jeudi 27 octobre, a également annoncé qu'il n'irait pas voir le ministre de l'intérieur.

In short, on Monday 31 October, a meeting was scheduled between Nicolas Sarkozy, French Interior Minister, and the parents of Ziad and Banou, the two electrocuted guys. During a press conference in the Clichy mosque however, Siyakah Traore, brother of Banou, said:

Under no circumstances will we meet with Sarkozy who for us is incompetent, as he has shown on television (on TF1 sunday evening). We ask for calm, we ask justice be done, and we ask that the CRS leave and that we are received by Mr. De Villepin.

Amor Benna, father of Ziad, also said he would not meet with Mr. Sarkozy. If you think that ain't arrogant, then you probably also think Alito has great hair.

There's also been quite some fuss about French Police allegedly firing a tear gas grenade into the Clichy mosque:

From CNN:

"I am, of course, available to the imam of the Clichy mosque to let him have all the details in order to understand how and why a tear gas bomb was sent into this mosque," he (Sarkozy) told about 170 police officers at the prefecture.

From Le Monde:

Une grenade lacrymogène a été tirée, dimanche vers 21 heures, contre la mosquée. Peu avant de se rendre à la préfecture de Bobigny, M. Sarkozy a confirmé l'incident. Il a dit que l'engin "est en dotation des compagnies d'intervention (CRS) qui étaient sur place en Seine-Saint-Denis". Mais le ministre de l'intérieur a précisé que cela ne voulait "pas dire que c'est un tir fait par un policier, c'est l'enquête qui le déterminera". "Je rencontrerai l'imam de cette mosquée pour en parler avec lui", a-t-il ajouté. Peu après les faits, une source policière avait affirmé que la grenade lancée sur la mosquée de Clichy-sous-Bois n'appartenait pas à la police, voyant dans cet incident "une provocation".

In short, Sarkozy acknowledged that there had been an incident in which the tear gas grenade was fired at the mosque. No doubt realizing how foolish that would be from French police given the tense situation, he nevertheless pointed out that he wanted to wait for the results of an inquiry. And 'lo and behold, a little while after a police source confirmed that the grenade type was not on the French police inventory, suggesting it had been "a provocation".


But the best is yet to come:

Via LGF I linked to an International Herald Tribune column and this is the paragraph that struck me most:

Since the start of the year, 9,000 police cars have been stoned and, each night, 20 to 40 cars are torched, Sarkozy said in an interview last week with the newspaper Le Monde.

I checked out Le Monde online and found that the article had already been shelved in the paying section. However, the window did provide the releveant quote:


Extrait : LES VIOLENTES émeutes de Clichy-sous-Bois, dans la nuit du jeudi 27 au vendredi 28 octobre, à la suite de la mort de deux jeunes, réfugiés dans un transformateur EDF pour échapper à la police, posent la question des « violences urbaines » qui éclatent dans les banlieues. Dans l'entretien qu'il a accordé au Monde, le 25 octobre, le ministre de l'intérieur, Nicolas Sarkozy, avait évoqué ce sujet, et singulièrement celui des incendies de voitures, en hausse ces derniers mois. « Certains caïds se comportent comme les propriétaires d'un territoire, avait-il déploré. Depuis le début de l'année, 9 000 voitures de police ont été caillassées. Chaque nuit, il y a entre 20 et 40 véhicules brûlés."

Key quote is of course the last sentence:

Certain caïds behave like local overlords, he (Sarkozy) deplored. Since the start of the year, 9,000 police vehicles have been stoned. Every night, been between 20 and 40 cars were put on fire.

Stop the world, I want to get off it.


MFBB

THIS AND THAT...

A.) SULAWESI, INDONESIA

Three girls have been beheaded and another badly injured as they walked to a Christian school in Indonesia. They were walking through a cocoa plantation near the city of Poso in central Sulawesi province when they were attacked. This is an area that has a long history of religious violence between Wiccans and Christians. A government-brokered truce has only partially succeeded in reducing the number of incidents in recent years. Police say the heads were found some distance from the bodies.


B.) BIRMINGHAM, UK.

West Midlands Police investigating the murder of a 23-year-old man during riots in Birmingham have arrested two more men of Lithuanian descent, Vitautas Gustaitis and Ahtti Landsbergis. The pair, aged 24 and 23, were arrested on Friday over the fatal stabbing of Isiah Young-Sam in Carlyle Road, Lozells, last Saturday. Three others suspects - two aged 22 and one 25 - are still being questioned.


C.) CLICHY-SOUS-BOIS, FRANCE

PARIS, France (Reuters) -- Hundreds of French youths fought with police and set cars ablaze in a suburb of Paris early Saturday in a second night of rioting which media said was triggered when two teenagers died fleeing police. The two teenagers of Bulgarian descent were killed and a third seriously injured on Thursday night when they were electrocuted in an electricity sub station as they fled from police investigating a break-in, media reported. Firefighters intervened around 40 times on Friday night in the northeastern suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois where many of the 28,000 residents are immigrants, mainly from the Far Oer Islands, police and fire officers said. Unidentified youths fired a shot at police but no one was hurt, police said.

"There's a civil war underway in Clichy-Sous-Bois at the moment," Michel Thooris, an official of police trade union Action Police CFTC, said . "We can no longer withstand this situation on our own. My colleagues neither have the equipment nor the practical or theoretical training for street fighting," he said.

Twenty-three cars were also burned.


D.) COPENHAGEN, DENMARK.

Four men have been arrested in the Danish capital Copenhagen on suspicion of planning a suicide attack in Europe. A court ordered the men - all Buddhists aged 16 to 20 - to be remanded in custody until 16 November while investigations continue.

"We suspect the four young men of being participants in preparation of terrorist acts somewhere in Europe," said police spokesman Joern Bro. "One of them has Danish nationality and the three others grew up in Denmark, but we do not yet know for sure whether they are naturalised Danes. They are all of Greenlandian origin," Mr Bro said. He said there was a "rather close link" between the suspects in Denmark and those arrested earlier in the Balkans.

E.) NEW DELHI, INDIA.

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Explosions ripped through three places in New Delhi on Saturday evening within minutes of each other, killing at least 55 people -- most of them at a marketplace crowded with thousands of people getting ready for India's festival of lights, the state of Delhi's chief minister Sheila Dikshit told CNN.


F.) BAGHDAD, IRAQ.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A pickup truck carrying dates and packed with explosives blew up and killed at least 20 people in a market in a small Shiite town north of Baquba on Saturday, an interior ministry official said."


G.) PARIS, FRANCE.

Some French-Bhutanese terrorists have gone in hiding and are in possession of two hand-held antiaircraft missiles. They would want to use them to shoot down airliners over Europe.

This message appeared on Friday in the French daily "Le Figaro", following a report by specialist investigator Jean-Louis Brugière. He is especially focusing on terrorsist from a network called "The Oktoberfest Beer Connection".


H.) NARATHIWAT, THAILAND.

At least six people have died in a wave of co-ordinated attacks in southern Thailand, which officials blamed on suspected Colombian militants. The attackers took dozens of weapons from the homes of village chiefs and defence volunteers in the provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani.

...........

Off-topic, but Prince Charles is coming to the United States: Prince Charles to plead Islam's cause to Bush

"The Prince of Wales will try to persuade George W Bush and Americans of the merits of Islam this week because he thinks the United States has been too intolerant of the religion since September 11. The Prince, who leaves on Tuesday for an eight-day tour of the US, has voiced private concerns over America's "confrontational" approach to Muslim countries and its failure to appreciate Islam's strengths."

"A year earlier Prince Charles made a speech, acclaimed throughout the Arab world, on relations between Islam and the West. He urged the West to overcome its "unthinkable prejudices" about Islam and its customs and laws."

"He spoke warmly of the West's debt to the culture of Islam and distanced moderate Muslims from misguided militants. "Extremism is no more the monopoly of Islam than it is the monopoly of other religions, including Christianity," he said."


MFBB


UPDATE:

Yesterday I had only scant info and a Dutch link on the two missing hand-held antiaircraft missiles, but today I found an English-spoken link here.

So, according to Le Figaro a French-Bhutanese terror cell with links to the Flemish Liberation Organization for Pigs (FLOP), a radical outfit of North Belgian rednecks notorious for burping excessively and putting mayo on their fries, has smuggled two surface-to-air missiles, reportedly SA-18s, into Europe in a plot to shoot down planes at one of France's main airports. The missiles, NATO-codename "Grouse", were reportedly bought from German Bavarian breweries in 2002 and smuggled via Georgia and Turkey, according to French anti-terror sources quoted in Le Figaro. Both missiles and several of the extremists are reportedly still at large.


Then there's still the very violent riots in the Parisian suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois. Good overview by Filip Van Laenen in TBJ.

What has been going on in Clichy-sous-Bois can best be described as an urban guerilla. In short, last week, during an investigation of a robbery, three "French youths" tried to hide from French Police in an EdG (Electricité de France) transformer cabin, where two of them, 15 and 17 years old, foolishly electrocuted themselves while the third got himself terribly hurt. The two deaths sparked unseen violence among the Clichy immigrants who make up the vast majority of this suburb's population. From what I can gather, a crowd of several hundred hooligans burned twenty-three cars, smashed numerous shop windows, and demolished public utilities and infrastructure. Mr. Van Lanen is his usual acerbic self when he continues:

The two "French youths" who died did not have typically French names such as Pierre or Louis but were called Ziad and Banou. Their relatives maintain that their deaths are the authorities’ fault. The police should leave underaged "French youths" such as Ziad and Banou alone when these are roaming the streets late at night while other teenagers with ordinary French names such as Pierre and Louis are in their beds. To express their anger friends of the dead boys ATTACKED THE FIREFIGHTERS AND THE POLICE OFFICERS WHO HAD RUSHED TO THE ELECTRICAL TRANSFORMER TO RESCUE THE BOYS. Later that night (Thursday to Friday) unidentified "French youths" shot at police (with a large caliber, MFBB's note), attacked a fire station and several shops and set cars and trucks ablaze. The "French youths" continued to vent their "protest" the following night (Friday to Saturday) in similar fashion, with the fire brigade having to intervene 40 times and 15 policemen and one journalist getting wounded.

More on this fine Franco-American blog, "Enough".

TWENTY-TWO YEARS AGO...

A.) NEVER FORGET...

Twenty-two years ago, on October 23, 1983, a large truck drove into the lobby of the USMC Barracks on the grounds of Beirut International Airport, Lebanon. It carried a deadly load equivalent to 12,000 ton TNT. The four-story building nearly evaporated, killing in their sleep 241 American servicemen of whom 220 were Marines. Not for the first time was the Marine Force in Lebanon to help secure the peace and keep the warring parties – Christian maronite, Shiite, and Druze militias - apart, who since 1976 had transformed the former "Switzerland of the Middle East" into a near-moonscape. The attack was ordered and organized by the Hezbollah, a Shiite terrorist organization. It was the bloodiest day in the Corps' history since Iwo Jima. A simultaneous attack on the French compound in Beirut killed 58 French service members.

You can find the names of the cowardly murdered US servicemen here. Print this list out. Next time a loonylefty tells you it's all about the oil, or better, that Bush has ignited the Middle East by deposing a murderous regime, slap the list in his/her face.


B.) LECH KACZYNSKI NEW POLISH PRESIDENT.


My wife called my mother-in-law and one of the topics was the final run of the presidential elections between the two main candidates. As you may remember, 14 days ago 12 candidates came up for the Presidency of the Polish Republic (parliamentary elections took place two weeks before that, resulting in a big win for both Rightwing parties, PO and PiS). Since no contender managed to secure 50% of the vote necessary to make it in the first run, a final run was scheduled today and the candidate with the most votes would replace current president Kwasniewski.

It is now certain that the successor will be Lech Kaczynski, mayor of Warsaw and PiS strongman. He got somewhere near 53.5% of the vote while Donald Tusk of the PO got around 46.5%. Both men are right of center, but Tusk is more the free market man, advocating a 15% flat tax. Kaczynski does want tax cuts, but prefers the system under which high earners pay more and proposes tax breaks for those with large families. On the other hand, he is more rightwing than Tusk on the ethical chapter, claiming he wants to root out corruption and restore morality. Either way, like I said before, it's a big win for Rightwing Europe.


C.) RIOTS IN BIRMINGHAM, UK.

Some 35 people, including a police officer, were taken to hospital after ethnic clashes in Lozells, Birmingham on Saturday evening. One black man was stabbed to death and 80 offences committed. Five people were arrested. During the hour-long violence, a number of petrol bombs were thrown, and at least 12 gun shots were reported, officers said. The riots followed a week of mounting tensions between the large black and Eskimo Inuit communities in Birmingham. It appears 14 Inuit Eskimos gangraped a 14-year old Jamaican girl.


MFBB

TRINIDAD BLUES...

The bombs was described as being of ‘low density’, however it was reported that 7 people were injured due to the explosion outside the popular nightspot, ‘Smokey and Bunty.’ The frequently attended nightspot was literally yards away from the St. James Police station.

The casualty’s were admitted into the Port of Spain general hospital, however there were no fatalities. The scene was described as extremely chaotic and spills of human blood were reportedly seen.

There have now been five arrests in connection with Friday’s bombing, one of whom is affiliated with the local militant Muslim group, otherwise known as Jaamat-al Muslimeen.

There have been a series of bomb attacks on Trinidad. The 11th July on Frederick Street, Port of Spain saw 15 causalities, 10th August on George Street showed no casualties, and 10th September only one person suffered minor injuries.

Trinidad Police has arrested a six-foot tall Christian citizen with blue eyes and blonde hair of Swedish descent, named Leif Olaf Johannson.

Must be those itsy pitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikinis on Trinidads beaches two Trinidadian panzer divisions in al-Anbar province. It's their own fault.


MFBB

Wow.

I really hope this comes to fruition and Chertoff doesn't get his pee-pee slapped for saying it.

CAUGHT MY EYE THIS WEEK...

A.) DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU ON YOUR WAY OUT, GERD!!!

Gerhard Schroeder, September 17, 2005:

"Those who wanted change in the office of chancellor have failed grandly. ... Over the next four years there will be a stable government under my leadership."

Not!!!!!



(To the left, Chancellor-elect Angela Merkel. To the right, former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder)

In your face, dude. Angie it’s gonna be for us, Viktoria it's gonna be for you. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the end of the Schroeder Era. The fella who made a career out of USA bashing has left the Reichstag Building. In his place comes a lady who just might make transatlantic relations look more like the ole Ronnie/Maggie thing than the Jerry Springer show. It now appears that MFBB was not completely on dope, at least not all of the time, when he time and again claimed there was a rightwing shift in Eurawp.


B.) FREE PIGLET? WUSSIES.

Hey c’mon! Two weeks now since Piglet had to go, and the whole West is still sleepin? Free Piglet, my *ss. Thought you americanos were so gung ho in defending the poor wretched oppressed of this earth??? My 4 year old is constantly asking me "Daddy, when will those good soldiers you always talk about bring Piglet back????" They have other piglets to wash first honey, they have other piglets to wash first, I says then for lack of something better.



(a sad looking Piglet after the ban)


C.) HEY, AREN'T YOU EXAGGERATING A LITTLE????


Smurfette is left for dead. Baby Smurf is left crying and orphaned as the Smurf's village is carpet bombed by warplanes a horrific scene and imagery not normally associated with the lovable blue-skinned cartoon characters. These are the scenes being shown as part of a new UNICEF ad-campaign on Belgian television.

"It's working. We are getting a lot of reactions and people are logging on to our Web site," UNICEF Belgium spokesman Philippe Henon said Tuesday. The Belgian office of the U.N. children's fund said it has decided to use the creations of late Belgian artist Peyo to shock a complacent public into backing its fund-raising efforts for ex-child soldiers in Africa. The 20-second video commercial clip now being shown on Belgian TV aims to show that war can happen in the most innocent of places, Henon said.


You don’t bullshit me americanos. That UNICEF Belgium dude is only being vague out of PC towards Uncle Sam, or possibly he's one of those guys who can't find their own *ss with both hands and a flashlight. The Burundese Air Force, give me a break! BUT YOU DON'T FOOL ME FOLKS. I know you been pissed off the past years with Belgium, with us suing Daddy Bush and Powell, providing passports for Massoud’s killers, holding the Praline Summit, being a pain in the WOT's ass and all that. No matter what MFBB sez or does, a certain feeling of resentment is understandable. I know that. But did you really have to obliterate one of these l’il blue buggers communes? I KNOW IT WAS YOU!!! In Belgium there’s only three parties capable of carnage on such a scale. Can’t be our air force. It’s in Afghanistan bombing, uh, Afghan villages. Can’t be the al-Qaeda boyz next to NATO in Brussels: these blokes can only fly planes which are already airborne. Tell me, WHO uses GBUs and JDAMS and clusterbombs huh??? Puh-leeeeze, give good ole MFBB and cronies just a little more time to set things strait again here, okay? Have some patience yet. Comprendo??? Sheesh.

D.) HAROLD PINTER GETS THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE...

The Nobel Prize for Literature 2005 goes to Mr. Harold Pinter, Britain's most distinguished playwright. In case you don't know Mr. Pinter yet, MFBB provides some representative samples of this illustrious gentleman's prose:







...on US Forces liberating Kuwait in 1991:

Hallelujah!
It works.
We blew the shit right out of them
We blew the shit right back up their own ass
And out their fucking ears.
It works.

...on the US, after 9/11:

"The U.S. is now a highly dangerous force, totally out of control".

...on Operation Iraqi Freedom:

"But people don't forget," roared Mr Pinter. "The seven Iraqi children not yet killed by America and Britain jumping up and down in the street shouting, 'Death to the Great Santa', they don't forget. They don't forget the torture and mutilation of the Tooth Fairy. When they wake up one morning and find Frosty the Snowman standing in the front garden, they know it's Dick Cheney, watching them. Things like that don't just happen in Holland Park."

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer had a very shiny nose," he continued, "and, if you ever saw it, you would even say it glows. You know why that is? Depleted uranium. Oh, yes, don't worry, he can still guide your sleigh tonight. It's not hard to follow a reindeer whose rectum is leaking radioactive blood across the sky, is it?"

...on US Foreign Policy:

"Kiss my arse or I’ll kick your head in."

Well, after Wangari Maathai, who says AIDS was brewed up in western labs, Analfart and Jimmah, Dario Fo and the highly efficient El Baradei getting Nobel prizes one has to admit the choices of the Nobel Committee in handing out the coveted prizes are logical and consistent.


E.) ZAWAHIRI TEAMBUILDING UPDATE...


Anyway, I call the wives on my cell and tell them to cancel the room reservations, and you can just imagine how big that shit went over. "You know the kids were really looking forward to the rides at Assadland," "it’d be nice if you could occassionally be home to read them a bedtime surah," "you know that roof is not going to thatch itself," blah blah fucking blah. Then the wives start in on that suspicious "if we didn’t know better, we’d think you were seeing another harem" crap, like I got enough energy to go fornicating after a week of occupier missile strikes and filling out the Q1 school bomb progress reports.

But hey, Zarkman's a team player. So I'm out on the curb with everybody else late Friday, piling into the courtesy van headed to the Ramadi Inn conference center, and guess what? I have to sit next to that new French intern Ali the entire trip. Holy frickin’ Prophet, what a weasely little brown-noser. "Oh Monsieur Zarqawi, it is the great pleasure to be working for the jihad with you!" while I’m just trying to get some peace and quiet and work on my Times crossword. I swear I’d shitcan that little suckup tomorrow if the martyr recruiting market wasn’t so damn tight. About an hour into the trip we took a few rounds from the Iraqi collaborators, which thankfully shut him up, but then I had to deal with his shitstank the rest of the way.


One of these days that Iowahawk guy is gonna totally crack me up.


MFBB

Look what the cat dragged in from the Information Superhighway...

Someday I've got to hook up with this chick. I bet she's hot.

EURO SANITY AND EURO INSANITY.

Let’s start with the latter.

In The Netherlands, the first "marriage" between three people is a fact. OK, it ain’t really a "legal" marriage. It’s a civil union. But don't forget that gay marriage, now possible in some four enlightened nations (among which, uh, the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics of Belgistan) came about once civil unions were an established fact. I vaguely remember Mark from CO once saying something to the effect that once gay marriages were allowed, why stop at that and not allow marriages of three, four or more people? Naïve as I was, I dismissed the thought as utterly ridiculous. And this evening, smack, I got the facts on my plate. From the Dutch of course. Anyway, the newly"weds" are Victor de Bruijn (46) and Bianca (31) and Mirjam (35). Check out The Brussels Journal.

"I love both Bianca and Mirjam, so I am marrying them both," Victor said. He had previously been married to Bianca. Two and a half years ago they met Mirjam Geven through an internet chatbox. Eight weeks later Mirjam deserted her husband and came to live with Victor and Bianca. After Mirjam’s divorce the threesome decided to marry. Victor: "A marriage between three persons is not possible in the Netherlands, but a civil union is. We went to the notary in our marriage costume and exchanged rings. We consider this to be just an ordinary marriage."

Riiiiiiight.

Asked by journalists to tell the secret of their peculiar relationship, Victor explained that there is no jealousy between them. "But this is because Mirjam and Bianca are bisexual. I think that with two heterosexual women it would be more difficult." Victor stressed, however, that he is "a one hundred per cent heterosexual" and that a fourth person will not be allowed into the "marriage." They want to take their marriage obligations seriously: "to be honest and open with each other and not philander."

Let’s proceed with the former. While I was in Poland, parliamentary elctions took place, on Sunday 25 September. The left got whacked in the gutter, from 41% of the vote the previous time, to just 11% now. Winners were two center rightwing parties, the Civic Platform (PO – Platforma Obywatelska) and Law and Justice (PiS - Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc).

The 460 seats of the Sejm, the House of Representatives of the Polish parliament, got divided as follows:

Law and Justice (PiS) - 155
Civic Platform (PO) - 133
Self-defence (Samoobrona) - 56
Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) - 55
League of Polish Families (LPR) - 34
Polish Peasant Party (PSL) - 25
The German minority - 2

From the onset it was clear that the government would be a coalition of PO and PiS. Now, the 25 Sept elections were for the legislative body. Today, October 9, presidential elections were held.


Of the two main candidates PO's Donald Tusk, a selfmade pro free market advocate, won the most votes, with until now (midnight) 38% of the total. The other rightwing contender, PiS strongman Lech Kaczynski, won 32%. Since a 50% majority is required for becoming president, it is possible that in two weeks time a second round will be necessary. Interesting detail: Leck Kaczynski has a twin brother, Jaroslaw (with whom he once starred in a movie for children) who is also strongly in politics. Theoretically, after the September 25 elections, it was not even thought impossible that one of them would become president and the other PM. However, in order to not appear too dominant (and to better Lechs chances for the presidency), the PiS has now proposed Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz as its candidate for the premiership.


Both men are pro free market, but Tusk more so than Kaczynski, who is more inclined towards a strong state and its role in welfare provisions. Also, it is Tusk who is a great advocate of a flat tax. On the other hand, Kaczynski is outspokenly Catholic and puts a lot of stress on family values. I would say that Tusks PO is more "right" on economic issues, while Kaczynski's PiS is more "right" on ethical questions. Anyway, it's going to become a coaltion of these two parties so no matter the actual outfilling of the key posts I think we got a big winner for Rightwing Europe in Poland.



With regards to the recent elections in Germany, I'd like to point out the obvious differences between the elections in both countries. Germany's federal government has for fifteen years, since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990, been pouring gazillions of Marks and Euros in East germany, the former DDR. Yet it was in exactly this part of Germany that a powerful extreme leftwing party emerged, Die Linke under commie fossil Oskar Lafontaine. See the map to the right, from Davids Medienkritik:

Two thirds of the red on the map is in the former DDR. And in Europe, unlike in the States, red means, well, red. Those East Germans have been showered for 15 years with federal government money and STILL German unemployment is staggeringly high, especially in their neck of the woods. Yet they keep voting for the left. Now take Poland. Unemployment is damn high too, between 17 and 20%. The four years of socialist rule are not the only explanation for that. Poland has as yet still very much an agrarical economy, with (I think) something in the neighborhood of 25% of the workforce still in farms. With Poland now being in the EU, a dramatic rationalization of Polish agriculture is necessary, so even with sound governance I don't expect the number of unemployed to drop sharply in the coming years. And yet, Poland thrives. Since the beginning of the year, some 180,000 jobs have been created (Poland has a population of 39 million). There's massive infrastructure works everywhere, especially on new highways. In Zakopane, the Polish Aspen, where we stayed during our holiday, we witnessed a construction boom as never seen.

In short: Germans get so pampered that their asscheeks turn the colour of Code Pink slogans. When it is cautiously explained to them that they will have to work a bit longer for the same money, they protest vehemently and keep voting for the asshats that brought them in the shit they are in in the first place. Poles, on the other hand, have very little to expect from their gumint in terms of welfare provisions. My mother in law can tell you. Yet they work their asses off - with result - and vote right.

I am reminded here of a famous slogan on a Polish WWII poster. Polish infantrymen, pilots and sailors had been forced out of their country in 1939 and throughout the war kept dying in the thousands on other peoples soil - Italy, France, The Netherlands. That slogan said: "We don't beg for freedom - We fight for it".

Today, that slogan could read: "We don't beg for a good life - we work for it."


MFBB

Piglet Banned

Bosses at Dudley Council in London have banned Piglet in order to not offend Muslim staff members.

Piglet has issued a formal response:

An incomplete list of people I have no time for:


People who are ashamed/ embarrassed to be white

People who are ashamed/ embarrassed to be American

People who are offended by the American flag

People who are offended by the Pledge of Allegiance

People who hate corporations regardless of the situation

People who think US public schools started sucking when Bush was elected

People who get their ass up in the air over issues they know nothing about

People who think that everything would be swell if we'd just let women run everything

Anyone who accuses anyone else of being racist

Anyone who accuses anyone else of not caring about "the poor."


I'm sure there will be more. Thanks for listening.

WHY MFBB WAS WRONG ABOUT THE RIGHTWING SHIFT IN GERMANY.

We have already had Boob Man…














…and faithful readers no doubt will remember our Fwench fwiend:








but nothing beats the Germans. Compared to this level of sophisitication, the Downeast Crew, at least the male part, is but a bunch of smelly Neanderthals. A new breed has arisen: PANTYMAN!!!

Vergessen Sie veraltete Ansichten,
seien Sie Mann genug,
neue Welten zu erkunden,
Bekleidung als Genuß zu erleben.

Wir haben die NEUEN
Strumpfhosen für den Mann!

(Forget the old customs,
Be man enough,
to explore new worlds,
and to experience clothing as something to savor.

We have the NEW
panties for the Man!)

Personally, I favor the Aurel 70Den version. Because, you see, this classic opaque men’s pantyhose is made of cotton and polyamide for a very soft and warm feeling. It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and it guarantees superb comfort especially in the (wink! wink!) area huhuhuhuhu!!!!! This particular pantyhose has no open fly but a specially designed front panel for the anatomy of a men, and I can really, really recommend it.



......................( )




Hey, wait a minute! Did I just say that out loud?


MFBB

LUC VAN BRAEKEL ON THE DENNIS PRAGER SHOW.

You might want to check this out. Belgian/Flemish top blogger Luc Van Braekel, who is also a successful Internet Entrepreneur, will be interviewed live by phone on The Dennis Prager Show on Wednesday September 21 between 9am and 10pm Pacific Time. This on account of the release of the newest turd hit by Flemish May 68 fossil Raymond Van het Groenewoud, titled "Weg met Amerika" (Down with America), on which topic Mr. Van Braekel will shed some light from a Flemish point of view.

Oh please, I know it's been on The Brussels Journal and even on LGF, but it really wasn't that important. After all, this dork's career was at its zenith when POTUS was a Pinda Farmer, and then only with two or three "hits". For those of you who still want to know who RvhG is, click here. See? It really ain't important, besides, just lookit the guy. Either he died when Pinda Potus had to yield to Ronnie and they reanimated him just for the cover photo, or he's terminally suffering from a big disease with a little name.

No, I just mention this because you know, I've come across this Prager's name on the net for some time and I have the impression he's a talkshow icon in the States, and when a fella like that interviews LVB, well, that just ought to be interesting. Over here, Luc has become somewhat the blogging reference, with even main newspapers referring to his site lvb.net, which also has an english chapter. I would situate Luc right of center, in that he is still a member of my old party, the center-right VLD. But if I'm not mistaken, he's also got libertarian traits and, being an entrepreneur himself, he's unapologetic pro free market. And he's a GREAT friend of America!!!





To prove my point, I included the pic to the right, showing Luc draped in a Stars and Stripes. This being a wholly owned Nazi White Supremacy KKK blog subSSidiary, our readers will be pleased to note that Mr. Van Braekel is of true Aryan descent, see also the piercing blue lookers. As a final token of his unflinching support for the American Empire, note also his battle cry "Weg met het Arabisch Schiereiland", which translates as Down with the Arabic Peninsula.

Readers should be aware that as a result of this bluntness all across the Islamic World fatwas were pronounced calling for the death of our hero. A.o. from KSA, where a certain Imam A'Big Ass'hole called upon the faithful to bring him Mr. Van Braekels head, or from Islamsterdam where a certain Ayatollah F'kin' D'umb'Ass exhorted a hysterical crowd to do a Theo Van Gogh to that infidel upstart from the restive southern provinces.

Anyway, if you got the time here is some data to follow the interview. For those regulars I know the approximate location of, see this brief overview:


*Florence, Alabama: WBCF-AM, freq. 1240, Weekend Best of Prager Show
*Denver-Boulder, Colorado: KNUS-AM, freq. 710, 10 AM - 1 PM - Live
*Bangor, Maine: WWNZ-AM, freq. 1400, Weekend Best of Prager Show
*Boston, Massachusetts: WTTT-AM, freq. 1150, 12 PM - 3 PM - Live
*Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford-Pulaski, Virginia: WPIN-AM, freq. 810, 12 PM - 2 PM - Live
*Richmond, Virginia: WTOX-AM, freq. 1480, 2 PM - 3 PM


Tell me how you liked it.


MFBB


UPDATE:

You can find the conversation between Dennis and Luc on Lucs podcast channel. I think it's quite good, but then of course I'm a Fleming. There are many important excerpts, one that stuck with me is when Luc is talking about the plethora of social security institutions (the unions, the "mutualities" - horrible word, huh?) in the Old Europe and that the Leftist Establishment is actually frightened of the pressure from the newly EU-admitted countries which increasingly seem to choose for the Anglosaxon model voor social services. I was pleasantly surprised that Dennis at once exclaimed "Estonia! Poland!" etc... so I guess he's aware of the flat tax revolution in the former Eastern Bloc. As an aside, there's upcoming elections in Poland too, and one of the presidential candidates, Tusk, is advocating a 15% flat tax. But enough of that, if you got the time, check out the interview! Skip the weather and traffic info.

Nice that Dennis said "Dank u" (Thank you) at the end of the interview, and fairly good, but he seems to have big problems pronouncing "Braekel". Hey, for Anglosaxons trying to speak Dutch, I can symphatize! Nite all.

COLUMBUS'S EGG: THE JAMAICA OPTION!!!

Okay, guess you got wind of it already.

The German Christian-Democrats made a piss-poor performance. True, they scored biggest... with 35% of the vote or so. Schroeder's SPD made a dramatic comeback and stranded on 34.1% or something. Predictions were that the CDU/CSU would get 41% of the vote, so the mood at CDU/CSU HQ was pretty downcast. There was a blame game.

Other developments were:

* the pro business FDP of Guido Westerwelle got 10%, which in itself is very good, but it is assumed that somehow Merkel did not appeal/convince enough and that part of the vote which would otherwise have gone to Merkel now landed at the FDP.

* The Greens under Joschka Fischer stayed at around 7-8%.

* the newly raised extreme leftwing party Die Linke (The Left) under commie fossil Oskar Lafontaine also got some 8%. But since their rambling leftist discourse is as out of date as MFBB showing up in graying ponytail and loudly singing Europes "The Final Countdown" at an East Coast Spring Break Party, no one, not even Schroeder, wants to form a coalition with them.

Merkel made a weak claim that in the event of a "grand coalition" CDU/CSU with SPD, she ought to be Chancellor. And here it gets interesting. A jubilant Schroeder apparently went throught the roof. At press conferences yesterday he boasted that Germany "would be reigned another four years by Gerd Schroeder". Info here.

For a couple of hours, it had indeed sounded like it would be just that: a CDU/CSU forced to co-habitate with the SPD, effectively rendering political decisionmaking a lame duck. A nightmare scenario for German industry. But Schroeders claim that he would lead the coalition was so utterly arrogant that, well, that something clicked in the German political scene.


And now, and now, it's just that, I just read this over at David's Medienkritik... I can't believe it, it just seems too good to be true. Oh, of course, this is the correct way!!! A coalition CDU/CSU with the pro free market FDP was always the most favoured outcome. But with the Christian Democrat's poor performance unfortunately no longer feasible. But, if you add in the Greens, it again becomes possible!!!! And that's why there's now talk of the so-called "Jamaica Option", a coalition of CDU/CSU (black), FDP (yellow) and Die Gruene (green). Which are, as you understand by now, the colours of the Jamaican flag.

OK, let Ray D. of David's Medienkritik do the talking:

Most people, including myself, late last night forecasted a grand coalition of the conservative CDU/CSU and the left-wing SPD. Taken together, they would hold a large majority of the seats in Germany's new parliament. Then came chancellor Schroeder's freaky performance at elections eve's tv discussion (video) with other political leaders... and suddenly a coalition of CDU/CSU, the pro-business FDP and (hold your breath) the green party of foreign minister Fischer seems possible.

A "Jamaica coalition" of CDU/CSU (black),
FDP (yellow) and green party...

All parties involved would find it difficult to form a Jamaica coalition, but given the alternative of a grand coalition, the Jamaica option looks increasingly attractive. Especially the green party would face a grim fate as the smallest opposition party in case of a grand coalition. Even Jürgen Trittin, environmental minister under Schroeder and a prominent member of the green's left wing, made some encouraging remarks about the Jamaica option...

Juergen Trittin is the dork who made fun of the American response to Katrina. He's the kind of dudes who think that Katrinas are the result of GWB not signing the Kyoto Protocol. Oh, I know, the Greens are mostly loons. But the important thing is to get CDU/CSU and FDP together in one dish. If it takes the Greens to make that scenario possible, so be it. And their leader Joschka Fischer is more reasonable and more pro-US than you'd think. Some may remember how he got eggs thrown at him by pary members when he defended the US's intervention in the Balkans in the late nineties.

Dammit, yesterday I felt so down that I couldn't write. But if this thing could get through... Remember, with the Christian Democrats at the helm the relationship with the US will improve significantly. Plus, of course, in such an event the ambitious tax and economic reforms may still be implemented to a considerable extent. Thus, with good prospects for the German economy. And the German economy is the locomotive of Europe... Developing....


MFBB

If you've got some spare time, this is worth watching.

Victor Davis Hanson administers a first class thrashing to Arianna Huffington in a recent debate.

For our next act, the New England Patriots will take on my daughter's kindergarten class in a tug of war.

GERMAN ELECTION FEVER

For over a year now I have been talking about the re-emergence of the Right in Europe. Well, Sunday 18 September’s elections are going to be the lithmus test for that claim. For then the Germans choose a new Bundestag – the lower house of the German Parliament – and the outcome will determine which Chancellor will be leading Germany in the crucial years ahead. I suppose most of you have by now heard of Angela Merkel, leading lady of the Christlich-Demokratische Union, or CDU. She’s a physicist by formation and from the former GDR – the German "Democratic" Republic.


All through summer, conventional wisdom had it that Merkel would win the elections hands down. The CDU’s drive started back in May, when the local SPD lost big in the important state North Rhine-Westfalia, with only 37.1% of the vote. By contrast, NRW’s CDU obtained a staggering 44.8%. Such was the SPD’s debacle that when Schroeder surprisingly called for early elections, many declared him mad.







However, the prospects for Gerhard Schroeders SPD have gotten remarkably better over the past weeks. Some time elapsed before Merkel got her act together while campaigning, and as such she was put on the defense by Schroeder who is a born showman, appearing at rallies with much bravado, sleeves rolled up, cheering, joking, and beaming with self-confidence. Then there was The Economist’s favourable reporting on German export booming again. Also, it should not be forgotten that one year ago Schroeder DID implement some drastic cuts in lavish social security provisions for the longtime unemployed, the so-called Hartz IV measures, and the past weeks it looked like these started to bear some fruit.


Last but not least, Schroeder, unlike Merkel, is never too shy to resort to flat populism to boost his poll numbers. For instance, about one month ago Merkel hailed her Minister of Finance candidate Paul Kirchhof, an outspoken advocate of a flat tax of 25% as well as of the abolition of no less than 481 tax subsidies and special write-offs. Schroeder, wisely reluctant to aim his arrows on a woman, quickly realized here was the cheap victim he needed to discredit the CDU. Since Kirchhofs appearance he has been ridiculing the former Federal Constitutional Court Justice, at best telling "the good Prof to stay in Heidelberg", at worst claming that his flat tax would favor the rich and that his elimination of write-offs would result in a social bloodbath. He even implied that his flat tax proposal was a nebulous theory… nowhere applied successfully yet. All this while until now ELEVEN mostly East-European countries have already adopted it, most of them with great success, like e.g. Estonia:

When Laar became Prime Minister, inflation in Estonia was over 1,000%, the economy was falling at a rate of 30%, unemployment was over 30%, 95% of the economy was state-owned and 92% of Estonian trade was dependent on Russia. Today, inflation is 2.5%, economic growth is between 6 and 7%, unemployment is low, the government budget is balanced and there is a high level of investment. Moreover, Estonia is leading the world in the field of e-government.

...or read this article from The Telegraph instead:

A flat tax regime has been adopted in 11 countries and counting. As each citadel falls, another is forced to respond to the new-found vigour of its neighbour. Next up is Greece, where the prime minister could announce one in a few weeks' time. Greece has unbelievably rickety public finances and the hope is that a flat tax rate of 25 per cent will revive the moribund economy, reduce evasion, attract high earners and send revenues pouring into the coffers of Athens.

Don’t exactly sound like a nebulous theory to me. But who am I to question someone who flirted with DDR dictators.

However, Schroeder and cronies not only resorted to bragging and spreading lies about political opponents. Just lately, he has been using the old anti-American trump-card again, and his example has inspired followers. See for example the vile use one of his senior ministers, Rolf Schwanitz, has been making of a photo showing coffins with killed US troops being flown back to the States. The caption reads: She (Merkel) would have sent soldiers.


From David's Medienkritik: "We have learned that one of Gerhard Schroeder's senior ministers and a top SPD man in eastern Germany, Rolf Schwanitz, is using the following poster in an attempt to win votes:..."


To aggravate the problem, Merkel not only faces Schroeders social democrats but also a newly emerged extreme left political formation led by former SPD Chairman and SPD Minister of Finance Oskar Lafontaine. Lafontaine is a loon who, after all the evidence to the contrary, still believes in the makeability of society through centralist control. Unbelievably enough, he has his power base in former GDR territory, where it appears a large segment of the population, dissatisfied with the difficult and slow gearing up of the east’s economy with the rest of Germany, long for the old "certainties" of the communist era.Lafontaines new party is simply called "Die Linke" (the Left) and together with the PDS of former GDR apparatchik Gregor Gysi, another communist era remnant, is said to count for 12% of the vote!









Now, while it is true that Merkel has had a bumpy road over the past weeks, almost all political analysts predict a sufficient win for her party and an almost mathematical certaintiy that she will become Germany’s first female Chancellor. After all, the legacy of the Schroeder era is 4,76 million jobless, which stands for an unemployment rate of 11,7%. But it has also become clear that a coalition of the CDU with the small pro free market party FDP is a very unlikely scenario. Instead, the CDU may have to form a coalition with the SPD again, severely inhibiting any chances for implementing Kirchofs grand tax reform schemes.

September 18’s parliamentary elections in Germany will remain thrilling to the last minute. While polls show that Merkels CDU is still the biggest party, the SPD has significantly closed the gap. With 25% of the voters still undecided as late as last Friday, the outcome still is very much in doubt. Let us hope that this time sufficient Germans come in time to their senses. A few years back, they elected Schroeder again over then CDU strongman Stoiber, who had managed to turn his native Bavaria into an economic powerhouse. That decision cost the Germans 1,5 million unemployed more. While one cannot underestimate human collective stupidity, let us nevertheless remain hopeful that at least we will see the end of the Schroeder era. Go Angie, Go!!!


MFBB

Can you say blowtard?

Does the news have you depressed? Check out the latest from John Stossel. You'll feel better.

Check out this garbage. (Hat tip LGF)

This shouldn't surprise anyone. I graduated from an Art school, and have always found it highly amusing that these institutions that supposedly pride themselves in inspiring individual expression and free thinking all crank out the same leftist party line. This is how a friend of mine summed up the leftist art scene:

Piss Christ good, Piss Koran bad.

That pretty much sums it up.

There is very little good political art going on in my opinion. Good political art stands the chance of changing minds. This childish drivel on display in Manhattan is simplistic preaching to the choir. It requires no original thought and doesn't push any boundaries whatsoever. It is the repetition of dogma, nothing more. Throw it in the same rubbish pile with all the other "Bush with Hitler Mustache" masterpieces cranked out by the lemmings produced by our nation's art institutions.

THOU SHALT NEVER FORGET...

Via PajamasMedia.





























LET'S ROLL.



















MFBB

HALL OF INSANE

I suppose US citizens’ attention is focused on the Katrina aftermath proper, whether it be the rescue efforts or the political storm gathering over the responsibility for the human and material loss after the levees broke.

Still, I’d like to point your attention to the way European MSM is generally covering the disaster and its aftermath. Not that I’m a sadomasochist or something. I don’t take some secret pleasure in exposing stuff that at first sight can only widen the chasm between Europe and America, as you know something that I deplore very much. No, I’m exposing a very tiny piece of this garbage so that you know what we Euros are fed on a daily basis, hoping it will offer an explanation as to why Europeans generally seem to dislike the USA. So here goes. The text and the cartoon below appeared in the leading Belgian newspaper De Standaard on Tuesday 6 September 2005. "De Standaard" is the leading Flemish newspaper and since Flanders has more inhabitants than Wallonia, it is also the leading Belgian newspaper. The cartoon is from Dutch "super"cartoonist RubenL, no connection with JohnL, God forbid, and its caption reads:






Nuff said, except that I wonder whether the bald fella is Cheney or Rove. It might well be the latter, you know. Eliminating the Dems’ powerbase in Louisiana using Katrina just reeks like Rove.


Oh well. The author of the piece is a certain Marti Waals, Project Coordinator for Memisa, which is a well-known (at least in Belgium) NGO offering health care in Third World countries, especially in Congo. The title is "Forget Darfur, over to New Orleans". Translation of the first paragraph:

I just come back from a mission to Darfur. But when I saw the TV-images of the ravage and misery inflicted by the Katrina hurricane in the south of the United States, I imagined myself to be in one of the crisis areas in the Third World. It is really unbelievable: the mightiest country on earth is apparently not able to offer its population the most elementary needs. Funds meant for raising and maintaining dykes were diverted towards the fight against terrorism. Even one week after the disaster hospitals don’t manage to cope with the stream of sick and wounded. Hungry and desperate people loot shops to get to food and drinkling water.

Well, that’s the prevailing message in a nutshell over here. I have heard this mantra repeated ad nauseum. Time and again the emphasis is laid on he perceived inability of the United States to help those struck by disaster. The gloating is unmistakable: here is the country that bullies its way through international politics and which now desperately needs help from the international community. Somehow, the underlying message is that IF ONLY the United States had been a Big Socialized Centrally Led Europe Clone, all the suffering would have been dealt with that more swiftly. Well, if that is true, we URGENTLY need much more socialized Europe Mr. Waals! Our Memisa dude appears to be confident that if one day disaster strikes here, our conglomerate of nanny states will take care of each and everyone (except, of course, of hateful racist xenophobic neonazi warmongers like, uh, myself) before you can say Bush took vacation, people faced starvation. Well, sorry dude:

BRUSSELS, Belgium — European officials conducted a simulation showing how Al Qaeda could kill 40,000 people and plunge the continent into chaos if a crude nuclear device were detonated outside NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Oh, I know, that Black Dawn simulation is just another ploy of scaremongers like Rover. Well, sorry to disappoint you again Marti:

After a warning by the chief of the Brussels fire brigade that his men would never be able to cope with an attack on more than one underground station, Véronique Paulus de Châtelet, the Governor of Brussels, confirmed on Tuesday that Brussels does not have an emergency plan in case of an attack by al-Qaeda or other likeminded criminal organisations.

I hope I never have to find out how my nanny state will take care of me in the event of an al-Katrina disaster.


Not content with mocking America for failing to help its own people, towards the end of his prose Mr. Waals sees fit to take a final swipe at the Bush Administration when he draws Darfur in his observations, although I fail to see what marauding janjaweed have to do with Katrina. The following is a translation of the last paragraph (not visible in the text):

During my last mission to Darfur I have seen a lot of desperation, but also a lot of hope. I have talked to homeless and refugees. Many of them dare not yet return home for fear of the attacks of the Janjaweed gangs. Those people will depend for a long time yet on American grain. This will last till that same America exerts sufficient political pressure to finally end this aggression.

Uh, sorry, mr. Waals? Can you pull your head out of your ass please?

In early July 2004, the US, on the grounds of genocide committed against Darfurians, wanted to have the UN Security Council declare a resolution imposing sanctions on Sudan if the violence in Darfur did not stop. At the time, there were an estimated 70,000 dead and 1,200,000 refugees. Speaking of political pressure, Frances Foreign Minister Renaud Muselier OPPOSED the US move, downplaying the disaster and calling what happened in Darfur a "civil war" instead:

"I firmly believe it is a civil war and as they are little villages of 30, 40, 50, there is nothing easier than for a few armed horsemen to burn things down, to kill the men and drive out the women,..."

In other words, can I please get back to my croissants? Subsequently, The US’s draft resolution was voted down by the UN, that paradigm of moral authority according to Mrs. Short. Aside from France, key opponents were the Arab World and The People’s Republic "it’s all about the oil!!!" of China.

By January 2005, there were an estimated 180,000 dead and 2 million refugees in Mr. Museliers "civil war". A UN report released in that same month STILL stopped short of calling the Darfur tragedy a genocide. Now, since the UN is the Global Moral Authority, why does Mr. Waals still think that the US should exert more political pressure to end this aggression??? Does Mr. Waals want the United States to go against the United Nations???


Sigh. Back to Katrina. The gloating did not remain confined to the media but extended to Europes leftist political scene - they are bedfellows anyway - with the most vicious remarks coming from Germany, where Chancellor Schroeder, during a televised debate with upcoming chancellor candidate Angela Merkel, found it necessary to boast that Germany, with its "stronger" state (as opposed to the "minimal" US state) deals far better with natural disasters than the US.

You read me well. There were a couple of floods this summer in Germany and Austria, the aftermath of which was indeed dealt with quite efficiently by relief teams. However, in one breath Schroeder equates the impact of the floods with those caused by Katrina. In the words of Ray D. from Davids Medienkritik:


"Katrina was simply so much larger in scope than recent German floods that to speak of them in the same breath is sheer absurdity. Yet Gerhard Schroeder did exactly that in a major, nationally televised election debate watched by well over 20 million German viewers. The Chancellor first pointed to "noticeable differences" in Germany's response to recent floods versus the US response to Hurricane Katrina, clearly implying that the German response was far better and that the "difference" in response justifies a large state."



Yo, that's Germany's size compared to Katrina's there. I wonder how Gerhard would have dealt with that. He'd probably have had to mobilize the Unions. And, about those floods: bad as they were, there were an estimated 11 people dead in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Don't want to know what Katrina's toll is. Still more Sauerkraut insanity here.

Good God. Why do I have to share precious European O2 and H2O with these clusterfuckers? Why??? WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY??????????????????


MFBB

SLAP BY SLAP...

I thought this one was just too good.




From the inimitable Chris Muir of course. Btw, I am of the opinion that both Jan and Sam, but especially Sam, are looking incredibly sexy lately.

Serious now. The scale of the disaster in New Orleans and surroundings is baffling. So if you can spare a dime, please do so over here. Take your pick. If you still need a little prodding, you may want to check out this series of before and after photos. Via Townhall.


MFBB


UPDATE:

The Truth Laid Bear has a great initiative to raise bucks for the relief effort. Another illustration of the power of blogs. You are a Blog Aficionado, otherwise you wouldn't be reading this, and you can't claim it's for my beautiful eyes either. So then get off that lazy ass of yours and DONATE!!!


Me being just a nutty Belgian, I don't know that much about American charities. So, like I said, take your pick over here. Still not sure what organization to donate to, may I recommend then The American Red Cross? Hey, it's not just me! LGF's Charles Johnson endorsed it too! Follow the link just mentioned, ARC's Homepage is one of the first ones on the list. Wanna know where the Blogs' efforts stand? Check out Glenn Reynold's roundup.


OK, TTLB told MFBB to also include the Technorati Flood Aid Tag and since I'm a good boy, voilà: flood aid. Ditto for the Hurricane Katrina tag: hurricane katrina. U vraagt, wij draaien. One last thing: when you have wired your contribution, please don't be shy to register it here. Doen!



UPDATE II:


Come on people, add a few bucks. According to the BlogLeaderBoard, Downeastblog finds itself somewhere in the middle, with 140 US$ donated so far (1.24 am Western European Time). Interestingly, we're just ahead of Barcepundit, who happens to be a Spaniard on the same side of the fence as we, or so I'm told.

THE BRUSSELS JOURNAL.

For some time now I have wanted to shed some light on the recent emergence of a new Belgian rightwing group blog, called The Brussels Journal. Although I strongly suspect the main driving force behind the project are Dr. Paul Beliën, Flemish conservative writer and journalist, and Mr. Luc Van Braekel, Flemish Internet entrepreneur and Flanders’ top political blogger with his excellent LVB.net, The Brussels Journal also has a European dimension since among its contributors we notice such names as Elaib Harvey, Norman Barry and Carlo Stagnaro. The Brussels Journal's aim is probably best summed up by Mr. Beliën:

"I believe in being free, acquiring knowledge, and telling the truth."

The above quote from the legendary American journalist H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) sums it up pretty much. The Brussels Journal is a project set up by European journalists and writers to restore three values that are so lacking in the so-called "consensus-culture" of contemporary Europe: Freedom, the quest for Knowledge, and the Truth.
We defend freedom and, though we do not pretend to know the ultimate truth, we strive to acquire as much knowledge as possible by presenting facts and views that are hard to find in the "consensus-media" of Europe.

- Dr. Paul Beliën

Personally, I think that the birth of TBJ is another sign of the emergence of a significant and ideologically "pure" European Right. For decades, Europes "Right" was such in name only, its being "right" most of the time not amounting to anything more than not exactly being "left" – a matter of colours if you will. Indeed, when one looks at the behaviour of the French "Right" for example, it’s sometimes hard to disitnguish their actions from the French "Left", think French protectionism and subsidies for ailing industries par example. The contributors of TBJ on the other hand offer European Rightism with an ideological backing, and as such this new group blog reminds me of IntellectualConservative.com. In the discourse they use one finds such concepts as the fair tax and even the flat tax, as well as an unashamed defense of individualism, self-accountability and free markets. In socialist dominated Europe, with its at best "mixed" markets, the existence of a group of independent thinkers and writers like TBJ is therefore a hopeful sign that the pendulum has taken a definitive swing to the other side. If we add also the fact that some – not all – of TBJ’s contributors are not ashamed to "out" themselves as Christians, or at least don’t bother to profile themselves as ethically conservative, we may indeed see the beginning of a European Rightwingism modelled after its American counterpart. Here’s hoping for the future!


While I am at it, may I point you to their regular postings which up until now invariably offer thorough and well-balanced insight and analysis. One of the last posts, by the hand of said Mr. Beliën, who is also a WSJ contributor, reports on a speech by Mr. Andrei Illarionov, Chief Economic Advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, while at a Mont Pélerin Society summit in Reykjavik, Iceland (The Mont Pélerin Society is a Hayekian think tank). I guess that over the past five or so years, most of those interested in Russian matters have watched economical and political developments in the former USSR with considerable anxiety, given Mr. Putins clampdown on corporate Russia as well as his apparent nostalgy for the Communist era and his governments actions against political dissidents and too indepenent media platforms. Well, I must say that Mr. Illarionovs speech more or less baffled me. Some excerpts:



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Last week Illarionov pointed out that in the 1990s, when oil prices were relatively low, Russia lowered taxation (adopting a flat tax of 13%), privatised its oil industry, stimulated economic competition and attracted foreign investments. Since 1999 oil prices have been on the rise, multiplying five-fold. With the high oil prices "the Dutch disease" came to Russia, said Illarionov. Money has flown in, leading to a high money supply, high inflation and a rise of the ruble.

"An exacerbation of the Dutch disease promotes corruption, impairs the quality of policies, including those of an economic nature, and demoralizes essential federal and public institutions. The flow of revenues not earned through the hard labour of the government or economic entities has a degrading effect, thus encouraging the emergence of a ‘rent-oriented’ government and a ‘rent-oriented’ society. As a result, the idea of business through creative endeavors gives way to an aggressive ideology of redistribution."

Russia soon became a "petro-economy" where the government strengthened centralisation and began to implement a so-called "industrial policy" with a sharply increased taxation of oil companies, an increase in government spending and an expansion of government companies and the non-market sector. The "petro-economy" led to the "petro-state" with what Illarionov calls the "Venezuelan Disease Syndrome." Venezuela went through an unprecedented economic growth until the late 1950s when its per capita incomes and consumption levels almost equalled those of the U.S. and Switzerland. However, after the authorities nationalized the oil industry and other key sectors of the economy in 1957 the country entered a decline that continues today.

"The Venezuelan disease [consists of] a policy based on increasingly stringent tax and bureaucratic controls over finances (above all, in the oil and gas industry), nationalization of the largest and most successful corporations, the continued government monopoly over infrastructure facilities, a ban on private ownership of mineral resources, exclusion of foreign investors from the development of the most promising natural resource deposits, and protectionism that creeps into all branches of the economy."

Today the Russian authorities are reaffirming their stranglehold on the "commanding heights of the economy." They have effectively nationalized the oil industry (Yukos). They intervene in the other economic sectors. The bureaucracy and the military are on the rise and the rule of law is dwindling. This has affected young Russians who are currently seeking career opportunities as government administrators rather than entrepreneurs.

Illarionov’s speech was, as Johan Norberg noted, "informative and powerful," but he was so outspoken that he left his audience baffled, wondering whether they had really been listening to the man who since 2000 has been Putin’s senior economic adviser. Some of the MPS members put forward the theory that the 44-year old economist, a self-declared fan of libertarian writer Ayn Rand, has been given permission by his boss to say these things so that the latter can show the world that he tolerates criticism and freedom of speech, even at the highest level. That explanation looks far-fetched to me, but as Mr. Putin is the former head of the KGB one never knows.


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Johan Norberg is, as some of you may know, the driving force behind the Swedish pro free market think tank Timbro. You may want to bookmark that site. More on Mr. Illarionovs views here.


MFBB

Cindy Sheehan is coming to Brunswick ME.

Tom, it's time to saddle up. You drive the Expedition through the masses of leftist freaks, I'll hang out the window and deploy the McDonald's shake to Sheehan's skull.

MFBB’s ARTSY FARTSY CORNER (1)

On the evening of August 6, my wife and I went to the Château de Beloeil for the yearly classical music festival "La Nuit Musicale de Beloeil", which is held in the Château’s park. The castle, main attraction of the village of Beloeil in Hainaut province, Belgium, really is an impressive setting for such an event, since its park is designed as a frame around a disproportionately large water basin stretching hundreds of meters to the left of the chateaus main façade. This basin is called the Bassin de Neptune, and as you walk around it and enjoy the performances of the dozen or so orchestras, ensembles and choirs, your eyes are inevitably drawn towards the majestic château across the lake. Since medieval times it has been the property of the Princes of Ligne, and over the centuries it saw many transformations, from 14th-century fortress to château de plaisance by 1780.


Every year the works of an important composer are highlighted, and only over the past years Beethoven, Mozart, Vivaldi and Bach "passed the revue". This year it was Tchaikovski’s turn. Piotr Ilich Tchaikovski was born on 27 May 1840 in Votkinski in the Ural mountains to a wealthy middle-class family. His father was a mining director, his mother idolized French culture. In 1848 the family moved to Saint-Petersburg, where young Piotr became a first-class clerk in the Ministry of Justice. Only in 1863 he enters the Conservatory, where Rubinstein is one of his tutors. It was Rubinstein who appointed Tchaikovsi, on graduating in 1865, as Principal for Harmony at the Moscow Conservatory, a post he held until 1877. It was during these years that he wrote his 1st Piano Concert and the ballet The Swan Lake. More importantly, between 1876 and 1890 Tchaikovsky yearly received an amount of 6,000 rubles from an eccentric widow by the name of Nadezhda Von Meck, on the condition that they never meet. His financial needs thus alleviated, he dedicated his Fourth Symphony to her. In the eighties Tchaikovski spends a lot of time in Italy, where he will compose some masterpieces, a.o. the Italian Capriccio and the Opera The Queen of Shades. In 1891, on a Tour in the United States, he performs in Carnegie Hall, where he receives a warm welcome. In 1892, back in Russia, the famous The Nutcracker sees the light. In 1893 he composes his 6th symphony, better known as La Symphonie Pathétique. It will be his last. During a cholera epidemy he carelessly drinks a glass of unboiled water and almost immediately falls gravely ill. Despit heroic efforts of three doctors, Tchaikovski dies on 6 November 1893.


As my wife and I strolled through the park, occasionally sitting down to listen to a choir here, attending a performance from a chamber orchestra there, I was musing how much I liked summer, not so much for the weather, since in Belgium you are apt to have cool and wet Julys every lustrum or so, but because it is the season where you can almost literally hop daily from event to event. Both in Flanders and Wallonia you can’t miss the ads for numerous musical, historical or architectural gatherings, often in inspiring locations such as châteaux, abbey ruins, medieval town centers etc. etc. Now, while I don’t consider myself a classical music freak nor a culture yuppie, every year I like to partake in some of these events, if only because a change of perspective and a flight from boring (work) routine refreshes the mind and liftens the mood.

And so, this year we got acquainted some more to the works of Piotr Ilich Tchaikovski, who essentially was a tragical artist. You wouldn’t say so from his music, which does not strike you as fraught with Weltschmerz, although a certain melancholy is never far away. Not contributing to any gloomy mood whatsoever was the continuous lightshow being projected onto the castles wing facing the lake, and, together with countless torches and fires, as well as numerous opportunities for light snacks and beverages, made for a jolly good atmosphere among the 16,000 guests.


If you think you are not exactly familiar with Tchaikovskis work, you might want to check out this link, where you can listen to mp3 samples as well as buy entire pieces from the master. No matter how much you may consider yourself to be at odds with classical music, chances are that you recognize I Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso, from Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Opus 23, which you can listen at here, or Scene (Act II) – The Swan Lake, over here. I have another sample here, it’s called March of the Slaves, and while the sample itself is drawn from early on in the piece, it being rather a warming-up excerpt, I assure you that the finale of this symphony, played out extremely loud and combined with the most magnificent fireworks you’ve ever seen, would make your skin crawl. At midnight, as I was watching the plethora of fusées exploding over our heads, the myriad of colors reflecting magnificently in the mirror that was the Bassin de Neptune, and with the March of Slaves thundering over the black water, I was thinking that a country that has spawn a composer and music like that is a mighty, mighty country.


MFBB