I have a post on Spain in the scaffolds and was trying to get one up about the French regional elections, but in the end found out I was too goddam tired to come up with something original from moi. Luckily, Michael Colhaze over at The Brussels Journal has a very good post up regarding modern art.
"...He is Baselitz, a name tuberose, not only acoustically, with dirty connotations. He is Germany’s foremost Modern artist. He is one of those who accepted the thirty pieces of silver and turned them into a heap of gold. He is a well-received guest at the London Royal Academy of Arts, which strikes you as odd since the Brits and the Krauts, never mind what they tell you in Brussels, regard each other warily. He is loved by the country’s foremost gazettes, like the FAZ, or the SZ, or the old pansy ZEIT. He can be found in Tate modern. He owns a Giant Schnauzer with a degree in psychology who handles his castration complex, the foremost source of his creative inspiration. He produces his masterpieces watching Big Brother on TV while reclining on a sofa next to a canvas previously splattered with an undisclosed amount of colours on which he diverts an occasional glance and then arranges artistically by means of an Italian bread roll using his left hand only. Once dry, he signs it with his illustrious name, waits until that one is dry as well, and hangs it up upside-down.
This, the upside-down, has made him famous.
Ever repentant Germany, foremost bastion of politically correct forces, where, rather en passant and widely unnoticed, book burnings and show trials have been reintroduced and hefty jail sentences are handed down to those who dare to insist on their constitutional rights and challenge the official credo, is an El Dorado for those in Modern art with the necessary connections. It is less so for the ordinary citizen, because here the crunch has shown its ugly claw as well, particularly since seventy percent of the country’s produce is earmarked for export and thus a recipe for disaster once the cash flow begins to stagger. The lawmakers and law enforcers feel uneasy as well, wondering in moments of quiet reflection if the hate laws they have so carelessly set afloat or applied might come back and bite them in the backside, once the hour of reckoning arrives. Like in Nuremberg not long ago. Or in London right now, where the country’s supreme PC warriors, though not their minders, are accused of invading Iraq without the faintest shred of legal support and causing the death of hundreds of thousands of innocent bystanders, while the folks at the International Court of Justice in Den Haag are popping their garters for fear of being saddled with a trove of their own kind.
As for the Baselitz’ meteoric ascent on the murky skies of Modern art, the usual machinations were set in motion. Among thousands of candidates, both academics or naturals, all waiting eagerly for a hint from the established Modern art Mafia, now and then one is chosen. Since he is, just like his many contenders, about as gifted as a bedbug, nobody with a sane mind would assume that considerations of artistic merit ever played a part. What counts is a rigorous talent for self-representation, unfettered by the smallest grain of aesthetics or ethics, an inborn and unlimited vulgarity, and the stated objective to be the most ruthless Judas Iscariot to the Fine Arts that ever set foot on our sacred earth. As to the operational level, it works more or less in the following way. One of the great Modern art dealers, a highly visible member of the afore mentioned Mafia, contacts a few of his highly invisible godfathers, strikes a deal, and the Baselitz (or anyone like him) is launched. Surprised by the sudden onslaught, goes the latter into high gear and produces twenty masterpieces a day, all of which fetch prices that increase breathtakingly fast. The press is informed, the usual dolls and pansies from the art section do their job and tell the astonished aficionado in exalted crap-art parlance what it is all about, and a new star is born. Next he has the so far unheard-of idea to present his work hanging upside-down, a clear sign of sublime genius if there ever was one, and prices go through the roof. Retrospections in the artist’s honour are arranged, Modern art sanctuaries like the Moma or Tate modern buy his crap, even the occasional sausage-and-ham manufacturer is impressed and lays out a sack of ill-gotten money for a slice of Baselitz."
Here, some anti-poison for Die grosse Nacht im Eimer:
Biondina is an 1879 work by Frederick Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton (3 December 1830–25 January 1896), an English painter and sculptor whose works depict historical, biblical and classical subjects.
Listening to Schumann, a marvellous work by my compatriot Fernand Khnopff (born Grimbergen, 1858- died Brussels, 1921). Too bad I don't have more time on my hands, because this artist deserves a post dedicated to himself alone. Khnopff is probably our most renowned symbolist painter. Listening to Schumann actually stands somewhat apart from the majority of his paintings, which often depict esoteric women and still, mysterious buildings and landscapes, submerged in melancholy. As for Schumann, meant is Robert Schumann, one of Germany's foremost Romantic composers of the 19th century. That his compositions are written mainly for pianos - see the pianists' hand in the upper left corner of the painting - is no coincidence. He had actually wanted to become a virtuoso pianist but a hand injury blocked this career path; so he dedicated his energy to composing instead.
One week ago, Hicham El Gaabouri, fleeing from a robbery scene in the Brussels commune of Ukkel with his companion Hassan, tried to carjack an auto which had just stopped for traffic lights. When the driver, Mrs. Frédérique Léveque, wasn't quick enough in handing over the keys, he shot her first in the shoulder and then in the head. The murderer now claims the two (!) shots went off by accident.
The (notoriously leftist) Belgian daily De Standaard now gives the father of the killer a much-needed forum. After all, we don't want to jump to conclusions too fast, do we? Besides, it's a tragedy all right, but it would be an even bigger tragedy when our precious diversity was the victim here.
'Hicham must have been influenced by somebody', thinks father Ahmed. 'An armed robbery is not his thing. He is a sensitive young man who often reacts very emotionally.'
'What was he thinking? He didn't need money, because he had a job. How sad the jeweller did not shoot in the air. That would certainly have caused Hicham and Hassan to flee. I am sure that Hicham never wanted to kill somebody.'
The father understands that the family of the dead mother demands a heavy sentence for his son. 'I am mourning twice', he says. 'For the dead woman, her children and her family. Their suffering cannot be described with words, that I understand all too well. But I also mourn for my son, because I have lost him too now. And I do not know how long that is going to last.'
'The family of the victim asks that my son never be released from jail. I realize he must be convicted, but I know the Hicham how he was before he got behind bars for the first time in his life. He is a good boy. I fear that a long sentence will only turn him into a bad boy. And in the end nobody's gonna win by that.'
Draw your own conclusions. Hat tip commenter Blauwvoeter.
Last Friday, Mrs. Frédériqe Léveque, a 46-year old physiotherapist from Braine-le-Chateau, south Belgium, was driving her car in Ukkel, a Brussels commune, when she was carjacked by two Moroccan gangsters, Isham E.(24) and Hassan E.(20). One of them asked for the keys. When Mrs. Léveque did not comply immediately, he shot her first in her shoulder and then in her head. The two had just robbed a jeweller. Fortunately, two alert police officers were nearby and were able to force the Moroccans to the ground. They remain in custody.
I am very short on time and see no possibility to flesh this out, but what I wanted to write about was the explosion of violence in Brussels over the last one year and a half at the hands of Moroccan and Turkish criminals. What is ominous is the surge in the use of submachineguns. Every month now we hear of shooting incidents whereby AK47's are involved. Police razzias in 'sensitive' neighborhoods produce Scorpio automatic weapons. A police precinct is torched. A neighborhood has to be sealed off because gangsters have fled, after a firefight, into a building. From which they mysteriously vanish despite the cordon. Aided, of course, by their kin.
I do not want to hear ONE WORD about how all this has no relation to islam. There IS a very clear relation in the sense that these scoundrels are brought up in the belief that westerners are filth.
It should also be noted that in islamic 'culture', there is no place for empathy. By the time a subject of islamic culture rounds the cape of childhood, he or she emerges as a curiously blank individual with regards to emotions and aspects which distinguish us from beasts. It's actually a wide range of human assets that's lacking. Humor e.g. How many real good arab jokes do you know? In our culture, we have tons of cartoons - I'm not talking motoons here - that make your eyes fill with tears of laughter. Now think arab cartoons. Exactly.
It gets more serious when pain and suffering is involved. Your average western citizen cringes when he sees someone else, or something else, suffer. It's also why we have animals rights movements and be honest, even if you're a carnivore like me, if you're a run of the mill Euro or American you don't want the animal to suffer when it's finished to provide us with meat. Not so Ahmed, Ali or Yasmina. At a very young age they learn to butcher animals in the most horrible means imaginable. The pain of their victims is uncomprehensible to them. It is impossible for these creeps to place themselves in the shoes of their victims. Therefore, you have a qualified individual like Mrs. Léveque, a loving and caring spouse and mother...
... don't matter.
Empty a heavy caliber gun in her head. Skull shatters. Blood splashes. Bone fragments fly. Don't mean nothing. A fresh widower? Fresh orphans? Doesn't even cross the mind of these animals.
Islam.
Pray for Mrs. Léveques soul and for the wellbeing of her family.
MFBB.
PS: the title of the piece means: one of the killers in Ukkel is security agent with the Brussels Underground.
Rags to Rags from Eels' debut album Beautiful Freak (1996) was apparently never deemed good enough to qualify for hit, but to me it sounds just as good as Novocaine for the Soul or Your Lucky Day in Hell. Video is hilarious too. Singer's Mark Oliver Everett aka E.
Mayonaise is one of the less accessible songs on The Smashing Pumpkins' second album, Siamese Dream (1993). This ain't indeed no commercial easylistening stuff like Tonight, Tonight or 1979, but to me it's an essential nineties sound. Jesus, how time flies. I recall how, in the mist of time, in my chick chasing days, I asked the barkeeper in De Draa Deurkisj (The Three Little Doors) time and again to play it. The Smashing Pumpkins' frontman is Billy Corgan. IIRC, he used to do Courtney Love, also in the mist of time, so apparently his chick chasing days were more successfull than mine.
Great sound huh? If you disagree with me, you must certainly be a, wait for it... a nazi!
A major political event in Europe today, March 4, 2010, were the municipal elections held in The Netherlands.
When skimming Anglosaxon websites reporting on them, you would get the impression there's been an electoral seismic shock in Holland. I will not disagree, but it should be noted that, after all, they were elections of town councils - no parliamentary elections, national or European.
Then, the PVV, or Partij Voor Vrijheid (Party for Freedom) of Geert Wilders participated in only two cities, namely The Hague and Almere. The Hague, pop. appr. 486,000, is the third largest Dutch city. Though it is not the country's capital - that is Amsterdam - its importance is paramount since it is the seat of both the government and parliament (which the Dutch call the Staten-Generaal). In addition, Queen Beatrix lives and works here, and all foreign embassies are located in The Hague.
As for Almere, pop. 186,000, it is one of The Netherlands' youngest cities (its first house was completed in 1976). It is located in a province, Flevoland, which the Dutch reclaimed from the sea - as they did with so much of their land since medieval times.
Wilders, whose PVV was after his departure from the center-right VVD for a long time a one-man project, expressly decided to participate in only two municipalities because the PVV still lacks screened, suitable candidates for local mandates nationwide - a problem which has its cause to a great extent in the severely reduced mobility of Mr. Wilders.
The results are promising. In June, the Dutch go once again to the poll booths, but for parliamentary elections. If today's results would be extrapolated to the whole of The Netherlands, the PVV would become, with 24 of the 150 seats in Parliament, the country's third largest party, after the Christian Democrats (CDA) and Labour (PvdA).
Over at The Brussels Journal, Paul Belien has a succinct but insightful column on the events in The Netherlands:
"...Yesterday’s local elections in the Netherlands resulted in a victory for the Freedom Party (PVV) of opposition leader Geert Wilders. On June 9th the Dutch will again be called to the voting booths for the general elections. Yesterday’s outcome reinforces the PVV’s momentum, which may result in a political landslide next June with repercussions all over Europe.
In yesterday’s local elections – the first ever in which Wilders’ party, established as recently as 2007, participated – the PVV became the biggest party in Almere and the second party in The Hague, two of the country’s major cities. The PVV won 21.6% of the votes in Almere and 16.9% in The Hague. The parties of the left had mobilized Muslim immigrants to come out and vote against Wilders. Many of them did so.
The Hague and Almere were the only two municipalities where the PVV fielded candidates for yesterday’s local elections. The PVV would also have done well in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and other cities, but decided not to run there. Wilders is leading a young party which still lacks a solid local structure. Rather than concentrating on quantity and fielding candidates wherever he could, even if he was not sure about the candidates’ background and talents, Wilders concentrated on quality. He could not afford to take the risk that in the three months remaining until June 9th, local PVV newcomers might discredit the PVV’s good reputation.
Wilders is a shrewd but cautious political strategist. He has learned from the experience of the LPF, the party of the late Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn. In many respects Fortuyn stood for the same ideas as Wilders. After Fortuyn’s assassination the LPF fell apart in quarrelling factions. In 2007 the party lost its 8 seats in Parliament, while the PVV gained 9 seats in the first parliamentary elections in which it participated.
A poll taken yesterday by Dutch state television NOS predicts that Wilders will gain 24 of the 150 parliamentary seats next June. This would make the PVV the third biggest party in the country, after the Christian-Democrats (CDA) of the current Dutch Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende, and Labour. There are, however, other polls, such as the De Hond poll, which many consider to be the Netherlands’ most respected, which predicted yesterday that the PVV is to become the biggest party with 27 seats..."
The following video contains some general information:
And this one the victory speech held by Mr. Wilders in Almere:
We should still be cautious. It is possible that a Grand Operation Damage Wilders is in the scaffolds. Actually the trial against Wilders is already part of that operation.
But we should nevertheless be glad with today's success - there is reason for optimism!
First, the fun part. UKIP MEP Nigel Farage blasts EU President Herman Van Rompuy.
Let me make it clear that, even though I share Mr. Van Rompuy's nationality, I think it's a great thing that Farage was able to pull this off. As readers of this blog know, I absolutely LOATHE Barack Hussein Obama - but he has one merit over his European "counterpart": he was democratically elected. Van Rompuy was not. The former Belgian Prime Minister owns his appointment to a backroom deal in a secret meeting, last November, of the 27 heads of state of the European Union.
Then.
I will dwell somewhat on the frighteningly undemocratic character of this appointment later on, but first I will make it clear that I still support the notion of a European Superstate. Over the past seven years, I have expressed this opinion on these pages several times and have handed out the arguments in favor of it.
A politically, economically and militarily united Europe will be far better suited to face the challenges posed by the world's major power brokers, both the existing and the emerging ones. To our American readers of whom I still have to meet the first one sympathetic to a United States of Europe, I would pose the question: "have you forgotten your own history"? Have you forgotten that only by amassing strength between your thirteen original states you were able to bring the War of Independence to a favorable conclusion? Have you forgotten that in America too, there was tremendous skepticism between the Federalists, who wanted to take the Articles of Confederation a step further, and the anti-Federalists, who wanted to keep Washington weak and dependent on the states? Have you forgotten how foolish it was, in the years between 1776 and the passing of your Constitution in 1788, that several of the thirteen had an own petty army and ditto navy, an own ambassador in European countries, and an own currency? Have you forgotten that George Washington himself was an outspoken proponent of a strong federal state?
Considering all this, I would ask you then if you think that the United States would have become a hyperpower had the anti-Federalists' view gotten the upper hand? And I would also ask you: would you want to go back to the time when an insignificant, virtually powerless central government would have had to beg for money to the states?
I would wager that the answer is NO. You wouldn't want to go back to that time.
The same applies to Europe. Apart from the timeframe encompassing the unification processes on both sides of the Atlantic, there is no defining major difference between the two cases. Hence, the birth of a United States of Europe is, in my view, not only a desirable, but also a logical development. Human history shows us that integration is a normal thing, the evolution of which is "defined", dictated if you will, by a "federal" gen in the DNA of every human organization aimed at harnessing the assets of its people to get better organized - be it a tribe, a clan, a province, or a state.
While I recognize the gigantic waste and corruption in the bowels of the EU, I would wager that anno 2010 the benefits justify the unification process. Take, e.g., the single market and the single currency. What Europeans, even the skeptic ones, would in all honesty want to go back to the days when you had to have several currencies in your wallet when travelling from your home country to, say, Portugal or Denmark? Who would want to go back to waiting in line for hours when crossing a border? Who can deny that the opening of these borders, and the competition it made possible between European companies, has led to a sustained economic growth - even if that growth has been kept in check by the tax burdens imposed by so many countries?
No, personally I am all in favor of a USE. And since both America and Europe constitute what is commonly termed "The West", there needs to be no antagonism between the USA and the USE: our roots are the same, and we share - or used to share until recently at least - the same history, the same values, the same goals.
A couple of years back, I used this analogy when discussing the matter with one of the founders of this blog: if you are upset with the direction a unified Europe is taking, blame the driver, not the vehicle. There doesn't have to be anything wrong with a USE, provided that the guys at the helm are "good" ones and no Hugo Chavez types. The same applies to the United States: it is not because the country is currently steered towards a financial, moral and military abyss by what is certainly the most radically leftist US government in history that Americans would suddenly have to reconsider the arguments of the anti-Federalists. What needs to happen is that Americans realize that the current president is a fraud and his government a bunch of immoral crooks hell bent on destroying the country - and if you think that is crass, ask yourself how it is possible that the murderer of 3,000 innocent Americans in the most abominable terror attack on US soil, a man who has literally waged WAR against the US, ever can stand trial in a CIVILIAN courtroom, with all the the prerogatives that entails.
And here we come to the crux of the matter. My long defense of the European Integration and the evolution, and desirability, of a USE, does not mean that I do not recognize the frighteningly undemocratic character of many EU policies over the last years.
America's president is a fraud, but he was democratically elected and he would have been too even without ACORN crooks. Europes President, while not a fraud (yet), has NOT been democratically elected. It was a backroom deal, and the very Treaty that stipulates that there SHOULD be a President, the Treaty of Lisbon, is of a highly undemocratic nature.
The democratic deficit of which the EU is currently suffering is mainly the work of Europes leftist parties. Over the past five decades we have seen these policies at work in all member states. They entail:
* cozying up to their ideological confrères at the height of the Cold War; * the assault on core elements of European heritage (Christianity, patriotism, labor ethic...). * undermining democratic principles (stifling of free speech, machinations to outlaw political dissenters). * striving for the application of economic theories that have proven not to work. * denial and ridicule of our culture * deliberate infiltration of the media, governmental institutions, the educational apparatus... to indoctrinate the larger population * deliberate attempts to change the ethnic outlook of Europe so as to create a new electorate
Post World War Two, the Left has scored two major victories. The first one is that they have succeeded in spreading the fable that the defeated Nazi Regime was Rightwing. This is the Mother of All Political Lies. Seventy years ago, a famous socialist, Joseph Goebbels, proclaimed that a lie repeated a hundred times becomes the truth. We are 2010 now, and the lie about the alleged rightwing character of the Hitler regime has not been repeated a hundredfold, but a billionfold... with results.
The second victory by the Left is that they have so successfully entered many of their talking points in the public discourse, that these ideas have seeped into the party programmes of their political opponents. Of no small importance in this mechanism was, of course, the help of their lackeys in the media and the educational system. The result is that, even with the leftist parties currently on the defensive, leftist ideas still dominate the political agenda, and supposedly rightwing politicians have come to unwittingly accept many of the leftist dogmas. This is why in Spain e.g., the leading conservative opponent of Zapatero's radical government, Mariano Rajoy, has indicated that even when in power, he would not repeal Zapatero's gay marriage legislation. It is why in Sweden, a supposedly center-right PM Fredrik Reinfeldt, has no qualms about placing a cordon sanitaire around Sweden's equivalent of the VB, Sverigedemokraterna - it is a proven and often attempted leftist tactic. And it is why in the UK, a so-called rightwinger like David Cameron is actually half of the time posing as an econutter.
... It is also why in my own country, the supposedly center-right Herman Van Rompuy, had in 1990 his party, the Flemish Christian Democrats, sign one of Europes most liberal abortion bills. Correctly, Andrew Millar in The Brussels Journal asks "Where have all the conservatives gone?".
When we thus consider the European Union's current status, we must conclude, using my earlier metaphor, that the European vehicle's chauffeur is nominally center-right (Van Rompuy and his younger brother Eric Van Rompuy are considered as belonging to the Flemish Christian Democrats's right wing - actually, Eric Van Rompuy was the first politican I ever voted for)... but that in practice he may very well steer a leftist course. A case in point were some ominous remarks he made during his acceptance speech, where he litterally stated that "2009 is also the first year of global governance".
And unlike the current White House occupant, it can be safely assumed that Van Rompuy, an intellectual and a poet (he already earned himself the nickname Haiku Herman), wrote his six books himself. Dreams of My father may include marxist dreams by Frank Marshall and have been fathered by William Ayers, but I am sure that this book: Het Christendom. Een moderne gedachte ...
... meaning Christianity. A modern thought (Davidsfonds, 1990) was written by Herman Van Rompuy and himself alone. Furthermore, his wife, smart and decent Geertrui Windels, is about the furthest you can get from Michelle Obama. Europe's "President" is also a family man and the loving and caring father of Peter (1980), Laura (1981), Elke (1983) and Thomas (1986) - and grandfather of Lander (2008) en Jasper (2009).
The Brussels Journal's Chief Editor Paul Belien writes in a commendable column that Van Rompuy "is like Saruman, the wise wizard in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, who went over to the other side." I would not put it so stark yet. Van Rompuy's conservative credentials still mean something. But if anything, they will probably merely postpone Europes evolution towards a statist Leviathan. The chauffeur may feel the car has a strong tendency to go left but he won't certainly be tugging frantically to the right. Not only is Van Rompuy very much a "conservative" like Rajoy, Cameron and Reinfeldt (actually the latter played a considerable role in boosting Van Rompuys chances), he himself has indicated that he sees his role as EU President as a manager of councils and a consensus builder.
So, the bad news is that we now have an EU President who will do very little, if anything, to prevent the EU from becoming an EUSSR. The good news is that he will also not pull it straight away in that direction, something that is at this very moment happening across the Atlantic. This means that there is still time for Europes truly rightwing parties to consolidate and oppose the EU's leftist course. Upon the shoulders of parties like UKIP, Vlaams Belang, Lega Nord, Dansk Folkeparti and Sverigedemokraterna rests the heavy burden of offering a resistance to the collectivist totalitarian peril threatening the old continent. This may not be such a hopeless endeavour as it seems. Just like America's Right found its breath in less than a year again, and spawned a phenomenon like the Tea Parties, Europes Right may rise up, and new political players may emerge to take over the conservative banner. In the UK, this is already happening with UKIP vs the Tories. In The Netherlands, with Wilder's PVV vs CDA and VVD. In Germany, an ursprunglich local initiative like ProKoeln may morph into a nationwide movement, ProGermany.
The trend towards a United States of Europe should not be stopped, like history has proven in America. There IS however a crucial role for Europes new, Truly Rightwing parties: the role the Anti-Federalists played in America over two hundred years ago. Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry probably realized at some point they couldn't oppose the unification of the original thirteen forever - but they managed to chisel the Bill of Rights into the US Constitution.
Likewise, we Real European Rightwingers should not oppose the unification of the original fifteen - now twenty-seven already. But we should make sure we get OUR version of the Bill of Rights.
Now, I realize that defending your basic rights with Tea Partyesque panache is something very un-European to do. Proudly toting national banners only happens at soccer matches, and there's no thing like "Support the troops" here - if only because in too many European countries, there are barely troops left. We should take into account that the average European cares far more about his 37 insurances and his two or even three retirement savings systems than he cares about his liberty.
Perhaps we must therefore accept that the contemporary variant of Patrick Henry's slogan "Give me liberty, or give me death!" is Nigel Farage's less lofty, but otherwise pretty effective tirade in the European Parliament. Hell, if a speech like that can galvanize sufficient Europeans and make them realize they're on board a 1984 express towards the 21st century version of the Soviet Union, I will have absolutely no trouble with an MEP blasting the Euro President for having the charisma of a damp rag and the appearance of a low grade bank clerk.
Even if that Euro President happens to be a Belgian like me. You rock Nigel Farage!!!
Possibly one of the dumbest questions ever brought up by a rock journalist was, when sometime in the nineties a Japanese reporter asked XTC's Andy Partridge why they had named their band after a drug. XTC had actually been around since 1976 - long before 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine started killing off around 30 suckers yearly in the UK alone. Between that year and 05, just missing their thirtieth birthday, XTC produced a small number of reasonable hits, of which imho Making Plans for Nigel is their best, and then (in that order) Dear God, Senses Working Overtime, and The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead. But that's just my opinion. Oh well. Generals and Majors and The Mayor of Simpleton aren't bad either.
In 1988 the song Fisherman's Blues and the album with the same name kicked off the start of the second phase of Scottish-Irish-English band The Waterboys' long life, which was formed in 1983 around Mike Scott and continues to this day. Fisherman's Blues explored folk and country songs. Before that, The Waterboys produced a run of the mill rock sound which included a couple of good solid hits (A Girl called Johnny, The Whole of the Moon). After that, that is past 2000 - the band was actually on hiatus between 1996 and 2000 - came a mix of alternative rock and acoustic folk.
That didn't take long. As anyone who follows the international news even remotely knows, the Dutch Cabinet, a coalition of Christian Democrats (CDA - ChristenUnie) and Socialists (PvdA), has fallen over the question whether or not to prolong the Dutch NATO mission in Afghanistan. Over the past few years, the Netherlands has had some 2,000 military personnel in that country, of which the ground arm - some infantry battalions, mechanized howitzers, mortar units and several Apache helicopters - was engaged in Uruzgan province, and the air arm - first six, then four F-16 fighter bombers - in Kandahar. Unlike the bulk of NATO members, the Dutch had no caveats regarding the deployment of their troops, were often in the thick of the fight, and suffered accordingly: at least 21 dead so far and scores of wounded, many of them maimed for life. NATO and the US wanted the Netherlands to prolong the Dutch mission beyond August 2010 - a departure date the Dutch had been predicting for some time. The Christian Democrats under PM Jan-Peter Balkenende viewed the request favorably. The socialists of the PvdA, under the leadership of Wouter Bos, also the country's Finance Minister, were adamant and did not want to stay in the government if Balkenende insisted on staying the course in Afghanistan. Thus happened. So last Saturday, Balkenende had no choice but to offer Queen Beatrix the resignation of his cabinet.
Rotterdam, February 24. The Dutch withdrawal from Uruzgan is "a very good decision".
It is "just and truthful that the Dutch people understand that they don't need to give their lives for America's goals", says Qari Yuousef Ahmadi, spokesman for the Taliban for South Afghanistan", in a telephonic conversation with this newspaper [NRC Handelsblad - MFBB].
The Afghan Taliban have two 'official' spokespersons, who claim attacks and provide the media with commentary on the NATO mission and the Afghan government. It is unclear how they keep contact with the Quetta-shura, the Taliban leadership allegedly having its headquarters in the Pakistani city of Quetta.
Ahmadi calls on "other countries that lose lives for American purposes" in Afghanistan to "follow the way of the Dutch". The Netherlands is the first of the 43 countries participating in NATO's mission in Afghanistan to withdraw. "The Dutch have realised: we have no profit here, our objectives do not lie in this country, so why would we sacrifice ourselves?" says the spokesperson.
As I have often ascertained on these pages, in the struggle between the west and the islamic world, there are but two options. The first is that the west tries to implement the values and mechanisms in the hellhole and sub-standard-everything-humanly-worthwhile that is the muslim world. We should not hope for them to become like us, but if we can steer them to some semblance of economic prosperity and can convince them to solve their problems in what passes for parliaments there, instead of caving each other's heads in, I would consider that a HUGE victory. If anything, better economic prospects may make it less attractive for their 18-40 years old to self-detonate. And maybe, just maybe, a daily life less desperate may encourage 'enlightened' (read less fanatic) scholars to define a less bloodthirsty version of their moon cult.
The second option is an all-out war between the muslim world and the rest of humanity, lest the latter be not infected over time with the cancer that constitutes the former.
In my not so humble opinion, the first option is the best. There is no guarantee it will work out, since islam is "the strongest retrograde force in the world", as a famous British politican once remarked. But because the alternative is so terrible, option 1 should at least be tried. In Iraq, it worked, or, at least, we did our part of the bargain. A strong indigenous military apparatus guards the young republic. Democratic principles leave an awful lot to be desired, the christian population has rarely had it worse, but personally, I'd counsel some years of patience yet to let them sort their things out. If the sane part of humanity comes to an inevitable conclusion a few years hence, no one can blame us for not having tried to hammer sense in islamic heads.
The Dutch now running away in Afghanistan, at this stage, nullifies all the good that came from their involvement. Nursing generations of muslim girls to school for example, with hopefully bening effects on Afghan policy in years to come, is now being flushed through the toilet. And because of who and what?
Why, because of the socialists of course. Had it not been for the man below, Wouter Bos, Uruzgan would continue to receive Dutch support and protection. Dutch soldiers would have kept islamic fanatics at bay.
Instead, Bos is pandering to the islamic fanatics at home. You see him here with a thoroughly brainwashed young muslim girl, Azeza Morcy, on a PvdA congress a couple of months back.
Dutch socialists should pursue a policy that keeps a battle involving howitzers and Apaches 8,000 kloms away from their mills and canals... simultaneously, on the homefront, they should stand up for everything that we hold so dear, especially our freedom... Instead, they cut and run in Afghanistan, and pander to the fanatics at home. Below Lodewijk Asscher, a prominent socialist in Amsterdam. As you can conclude from Mr. Asscher's campaign poster, his integration efforts in Turkistan on the North Sea proceed very well.
Campaign poster exclusively in Turkish. Gee, are Piet and Klaas and Johanna not interesting anymore Lodewijk?
Campaigning for the upcoming elections with a trusted aide and/or mentor, one of his New Adopted People.
Congratulations asshole! You have made it to the pages of Hurriyet, the no.1 Turkish Newspaper! You succeed summa cum laude for the Dhimmi Integration Test!
And so The Netherlands sink away in the multicultural quagmare. In Afghanistan the Dutch cut and run in the face of bearded medieval wifebeaters and headchoppers who couldn't possibly imagine what a toilet pot is for except for washing papaver poppies. At home they slither in the mud and whore for votes to please their future muslim overlords, who shit on everything the socialists have been so gung ho about for decades.
"If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without blood shed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." -- Winston Churchill
My condolences to the relatives of the Dutch soldiers who fell in Afghanistan, and my heartfelt wishes for the best for those wounded there.
They are backtracking now, but only because there has been stiff opposition from saner minds. The real travesty is of course that a courtroom next to Ground Zero was scheduled in the first place.
I am NOT thinking of my retirement, hell no. I hope I will still be working when I'm 70. However, when the day comes I will finally have some more time for the wifey, let's just hope there's sufficient dough for maintaining the same living standard. Since I do not really count on the Belgian State anymore to provide me with a decent pension by 2040, what with importing bazillions of welfare consumers and paedophile worshipping wifebeaters while indigenous Belgians seem to have forgotten how to procreate and all that... I've been taking my precautions since a couple of years. My company pays for a so-called Group Insurance, as well as for an IPT (Individuele Pensioen Toezegging, litterally translated Individual Pension Allowance). Personally, I have, apart from my savings and stocks, a VAPZ (Vrij Aanvullend Pensioen voor Zelfstandigen, meaning Voluntary Additional Pension for Independents), and, in addition, I participate in the popular 'pensioensparen' (Pension savings), in simple terms setting apart your own future pension with montly payments, tax deductible so that you may get up to 40% back annually, i.e. taxed less, depending on your income.
I understand the US has something similar in the form of those famous 401(k)'s, be it that apparently this form of retirement savings seem to be mostly employer sponsored plans, whereas our 'pensioensparen' is a wholly individual undertaking.
Well... for the time being the money hungry Belgian State seems happy to let us take care of ourselves. In the US however...
Yesterday I stumbled, via Protein Wisdom, on a very interesting column by Newt Gingrich and Peter Ferrara in Investors.com, titled
CLASS WARFARE'S NEXT TARGET: 401(k) SAVINGS By Newt Gingrich and Peter Ferrara Posted 02/17/2010 06:52 PM ET
"You did the responsible thing. You saved in your IRA or 401(k) to support your retirement, when you could have spent that money on another vacation, or an upscale car, or fancier clothes and jewelry. But now Washington is developing plans for your retirement savings.
BusinessWeek reports that the Treasury and Labor departments are asking for public comment on "the conversion of 401(k) savings and Individual Retirement Accounts into annuities or other steady payment streams."
In plain English, the idea is for the government to take your retirement savings in return for a promise to pay you some monthly benefit in your retirement years.
They will tell you that you are "investing" your money in U.S. Treasury bonds. But they will use your money immediately to pay for their unprecedented trillion-dollar budget deficits, leaving nothing to back up their political promises, just as they have raided the Social Security trust funds. This "conversion" may start out as an optional choice, though you are already free to buy Treasury bonds whenever you want. But as Karl Denninger of the Market Ticker Web site reports: "'Choices' have a funny way of turning into mandates, and this looks to me like a raw admission that Treasury knows it will not be able to sell its debt in the open market — so they will effectively tax you by forcing your 'retirement' money to buy them."
Moreover, benefits based on Treasury bond interest rates may be woefully inadequate compensation for your years of savings. As Denninger adds, "What's even worse is that the government has intentionally suppressed Treasury yields during this crisis (and will keep doing so by various means, including manipulating the CPI inflation index) so as to guarantee that you lose over time compared to actual purchasing power."
This proposal follows hearings held last fall by House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., and Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., of the Ways and Means Committee focusing on "redirecting (IRA and 401k) tax breaks to a new system of guaranteed retirement accounts to which all workers would be obliged to contribute," as reported by InvestmentNews.com..."
"In other words, the government will allow you the "opportunity" to give Washington your savings, in return for which the government will give you unmarketable T-bills or other unreliable promises to pay some minimal rate of return. The program likely will be "voluntary" to begin with, but that makes no sense--you can buy T-bills in your retirement account any time you want. So the only possible point is to make the exchange mandatory. The government steals your savings in exchange for an IOU.
Will it happen? Clearly the Obama administration, inspired by Argentina, is exploring the option. Today, we have the first administration in American history that aspires to be a banana republic. But can they get away with confiscating millions of Americans' savings? I doubt it. Because first on the list of those who have accumulated wealth in reliance on the laws governing private savings accounts are lawyers. Most people don't realize it, but even lawyers of modest ability typically have, after three or four decades of diligent savings, seven-figure retirement accounts. (This is one reason why influential Democrats don't care whether Social Security goes bust. They wouldn't dream of depending on it.) Lawyers are the heart and soul of the Democratic Party; public employee unions are more important in some ways, but they are junior partners in the Dems' coalition.
If the Obama administration were to announce an intent to confiscate Americans' retirement savings, the howls that would arise from lawyers (and others, too, of course) would be deafening. I don't think the administration could get away with it. Which doesn't mean they won't try, as the current efforts by the Departments of the Treasury and Labor indicate.
Still, others disagree. Earlier today I learned that a relative on Wall Street has stopped accumulating funds in his retirement accounts precisely because he thinks they may be confiscated by the Obama administration. Instead, he is acquiring untraceable, tangible assets--gold and silver--that the government won't be able to steal without a physical search of his property..."
Over here in the United Socialist Repooplicks of Belgistan we have enough to be wary of, but I think I can manage some li'l advice to Americanos. It's a Flemish saying: "Als de vos de passie preekt, boer pas op je hennen." Translation: "When the fox preaches compassion, farmer watch your hens".
Don't let these crooks and thieves put their claws on your retirement savings. Let them find other ways to fill their bottomless pits.
We are actually past the birthday party, since DowneastBlog's very first post came up on February 11, 2003, but hey, February ain't over yet. Let it thus be known that this month, DowneastBlog has been around in the blogosphere for seven years.
For those of the readership who joined past 2005 or so, here's a revelation: DowneastBlog is not my project. The blog started in early 03 as an initiative of three Maine people, Tom and Kerry D. and Scott F. In November 2003 Kerry, who had spotted me in the comments sections of several Iraqi blogs, invited me to join. My first post dates from December 22 of 03, a piece about the European Union. I started reluctantly, certainly not suspecting that seven years on I would still be on the team. Well, team. That word has become a bit awkward actually, since unfortunately, both Tom and Kerry disappeared along the road, IIRC somewhere in early 2005. Only Scott's still around, and his last post dates from mid-09 or so. Here's the weird thing: Tom and Kerry must still be paying for DB. Thus, either they have plenty of money so that they can't be bothered by a couple of bucks every year for keeping the thing up... or they still peek in from time to time and approve. Or, both. Whatever. Anyway, as I have repeatedly stated on these pages, if they ever decide to throw me out it's their right: even after seven years and after having become the most, ahem, regular contributor, I still consider myself a guestwriter. However, should they decide to kick me out, or stop with DB altogether, I'd very much appreciate it if they allowed me to save my material first.
That said, I realize full well I may have chased them away - as I have probably chased away a lot of people. I do not bring a happy message, at least not most of the time. Also, the package of the message - writing style, power words - must definitely not be to everyone's liking and is probably one of the reasons, if not the main reason, that our readership is still modest, give and take 70-80 visitors a day.
As long as I can however, I will continue in the same manner. This is how I am, and I'll stick with it. I am a westerner, more precisely a European. Even more precisely a Belgian, and if you got to know even more, a Fleming, i.e. a Dutch-speaking Belgian. I am also a conservative, a small business owner, an engineer by formation, a family man with a married partner and two great kids, and 44 years old. My experiences in life have taught, or rather convinced me, that generally, the best way to cope with the challenges of life for the majority of people is offered by a stout conservative mindset and ditto behaviour. I expressly added the 'for the majority of people' because naturally, if you smoke pot and screw around and beat your parents BUT you're otherwise a genius with, say, rock music, you can obviously still belong to the 'some guys have all the luck' category.
The thing is, most of us do not have the benefit of an exceptional talent that allows us to do a lot of stupid things and still end up with Talking Heads' proverbial beautiful house, and a beautiful wife, and a beautiful car. As for me, I do not have special talents either, or it would have to be a certain stubbornness when faced with challenges.
But even if personally, I would be blessed with some magnificent knack for doing this or that and making big bucks of it, I think I would still be a conservative. Because I would still appreciate the inherent nobleness of working hard, respecting your past, and loving and caring for your family. At the age of 44 I have also seen far too many young people end up in the gutter because, well, precisely because they didn't deem a conservative lifestyle a cool thing. Not only that - having read quite a lot of history, I have become convinced that if enough citizens of any society choose for 'the cooler things', the whole shazam ends up in the gutter. I recall here an anecdote in which a teacher of mine in the fourth year of High School read out some text that seemed to have come straight out a contemporary issue of Kerk en Leven (a Christian conservative magazine, and we're talking 1982 here). The exerpt my teacher was reading out aloud was in essence a rant by some elders on the laziness of slacking youngsters, it boiling down to that they couldn't even be brought to cut off the rope of the noose they were hung with even if someone handed them a knife.
My teacher, a dedicated lefty who, btw and perhaps a bit surprisingly I am still very fond of, then enlightened us as to date and author of that exerpt.
Turned out it was some Greek philosopher 2,200 years or so dead and complaining of the punks and hippies of Ancient Greece. My teacher's intention was clearly to neutralize the conservative talk which was doing the rounds among our parents' generation, who had seen the war and built Belgium back up in the fifties and sixties - I told you he was a lefty.
Toooooooo bad, in retrospect, that I have never been a quick-mouthed smartass, nor, at the time, all too familiar with the story of Greece post Alexander the Great. Because I would then have been able to point out to my teacher that not long after that Greek philosopher, Ancient Greece with its dandy Athenian pederasty was pocketed by the Romans.
To cut a long story short, as far as I am concerned, it's going to be more of the same here in times to come, interspersed with a few bikinis and decent songs to make sure people don't drop dead from boredom. It's going to be MORE of the blessings of unapologetical conservative behaviour, the lovely monocultural society, the enormous achievements of western civilization and christianity, and the genius of the supply side economists. It's also going to be more of the clear and present danger presented by socialism and islamization.
Because being aware of those plagues is a necessity, if you value your life and freedom and the life and freedom of your offspring.
Good night, and thank you for your attention. You can stay tuned if you want.
Throughout their career, which lasts to this day, The Cult has very much remained, well, a cult group. A UK postpunk and gothic rock band, their biggest hit was She sells sanctuary, from the 1985 album Love. In the late eighties they made their presence in the US known by evolving towards a more hardrock sound (album Electric, 1987). Since 1983, when they formed in Bradford, Yorkshire, till today, The Cult has had a veritable plethora of members. Singer Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy have remained constants though.
In 1995 London based dance group Definition of Sound had a commendable hit with Pass the Vibes.
Just one article among a bazillion ones. From Belgian daily Het Laatste Nieuws, February 16, 2010:
Translation:
"AGRESSIVE FATHER NO LONGER ALLOWED TO ENTER SCHOOL IN RONSE. An Omani man has been forbidden on court order to set foot in the Saint-Anthony College in Ronse. Two years ago he molested sports teacher Patrick Vanden Broucke (43) so badly that the man is handicapped for the rest of his life. Only after nine months and extensive surgery could he go back to work [however, not in his former capacity - MFBB]. He [the muslim father - MFBB] did not accept that school regulations proscribed that his daughter had to participate in gym sessions with short pants. Abdullah A. (46) was also convicted to a two year postponed jailtime and a fine of 2,200 EUR if he dares once again to enter school. He also has to pay a fine of 6,500 EUR" (belga/adv).
A fleshed out version of this short article can be found here, where we learn, a.o., that two years ago the ten year old daughter of the Omani man refused to put on the school sports attire consisting of short pants, a T-shirt, and white stockings. Only when the school Director showed up did she dress in the regulatory uniform. One week later, Abdullah A. showed up during sports hour. Teacher Vandenbroucke recognized him since only a short time before, the man had verbally assaulted a female teacher. Abdullah A., a giant of a man, dislodged with tremendous force the teacher's shoulder. X-rays later revealed that tendons and muscles had been torn apart. Patrick Vanden Broucke recalls how after nine months and extensive surgery, upon entering the school's premises again, he found himself face to face again with... Abdullah A., who mocked him....
I came home at quarter to midnight about one hour ago, after yet another hard day's work. Which means I have to limit myself to this short post. This one topic absolutely does not mean I'm short on topics. I could have posted the story of Moroccan gangsters spraying helpless police patrols in certain Brussels neighborhoods with Kalashnikovs, or Moroccan parents (yes, the mother too) who beat two teachers in an Antwerp school into hospital because they deemed a reprimand their kid had gotten in school offensive.
But in the end the conclusion is the same.
I'm sick and tired of all the PC bullcrap about how that grand elusive majority of muslims are peace-loving and law-abiding citizens. They are not. And if you come up with that age-old story about that good decent muslim neighbour you have, I dare you to put him to the test and ask him if he will allow his children to convert to hinduism or christianity or whatever.
The truth is harsh and bleak. The problem is islam. That scumbag handicapped a decent citizen just doing his job FOR LIFE... because he is a muslim. Because he adheres to an insane backward mysogynistic paedophile worshipper cult. THAT, people, is the problem.
Get to terms with it, and learn to handle a weapon. They can already.
In all likelihood there's gonna be elections this fall in Holland, and it's clear that The Netherlands' extremely well integrated immigrant minorities will play an important part in the outcome. To make sure they don't encounter too much resistance from undemocratic racist xenophobe whiteys the Dutch gubbermint has ensured that one such a firebrand, a fella with the unsavoury initials G.W., will be tied up in court at that time.
The first and second posters are from the PvdA, the most important Dutch socialist party (the second most important one is the SP, for Socialistische Partij). The third poster is of the Liberal Left party D66. The last one of the GroenLinks (litterally GreenLeft) party.
And now Phil Jones, who had to resign because of Climategate as Head of the CRU [the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, the prime institution that provided the IPCC with "scientific proof" of climate change - MFBB]... himself admits that there has been no global warming since... 1995. From The Daily Mail:
First off, I am not going to let myself go into a rant against the alarmists. Personally, given the fact that the winters my parents recount of were apparently far more severe than even the one we are currently experiencing, I would counsel ... I would simply counsel... serious, competent and steady research without interference from leftist scumbags wanting to politicize it all. Oh, and neither from fossil energy tycoons, for that matter. If, and that's a big IF, there would really be some kind of global warming, and if, and that's even a far bigger IF, man would somehow be somewhat responsible for this, then the most sensible thing to do would be rather to PREPARE for climate change rather than try to reverse the trend by going back to the Stone Age. In the meantime, it doesn't hurt to care for the environment.
But that's not all.
We should not make the same mistake as in 1990.
In 1990, the Wall came down. And we, evil rightwingers, greedy capitalists and backward conservatives, OUR worldview had won. The Left stood there with bleeding noses and...
... we let them get away with it.
We were rewarded for our fair play with anti racism laws, borderless immigration, indoctrination of our children, the brainwashing of the greater part of the population via the overwhelmingly leftist controlled news outlets, and mass abortion, gay marriages, gay adoption and active assistance of leftists in the islamization of our countries.
The whole climate change hoax is now blowing up in the Left's faces.
THIS TIME ROUND, WE SHOULD NOT LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT.
1968. Herb Alpert with This Guy's in love with you, a timeless classic. Alpert had already made a name for himself as frontman of Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. This number, imho one of the best love songs ever - if not the best - was a solo thing though. Also, it was originally written by Burt Bacharach, another music legend.
1978. Dean Friedman with Lydia, tremendously beautiful ballad that flopped for some reason. Popular perception has it that Ariel is Friedman's No. 1 hit. Can't figure out why.
1990. 'Falling', sung by Julee Cruise. The theme was the intro on the soundtrack of the quasi mythical series Twin Peaks. My wife and I requested this number - okay, actually it was just me - for our opening dance on our wedding ceremony in summer 1999.
1995. Adam Ant began his career as the lead man of the English postpunk/New Wave band Adam & The Ants, but this number was made a long time after the group's demise. It's called Wonderful, and it is from his last album to date. Probably the very last, since the fella has since, on more than one occasion, seen the interior of psychiatric wards. Not as a personnel member, mind you. Anyway, Wonderful is, well, wonderful.
Make it a nice Valentine's Day for your sweetheart.
The German town of Rendsburg [in northern Schleswig-Holstein, on the Kiel Canal - MFBB] has authorised the call to prayer via loudspeaker of a muezzin from a minaret of Rendsburgs mosque, despite the protests of a part of the population, thus announced on Tuesday Rendsburgs Social Democrat mayor, Andreas Breitner.
The project, defended by the Islamic Centre, which is running the mosque, had provoked lively protests from part of the population, which focused on the nuisance caused by the call to prayer, launched five times a day to invite the faithful to prayer. A petition of the group "No Public Call to Prayer" had gathered 800 signatures.
However, according to the mayor, a study on the limits beyond which noise levels would become troublesome had shown that the public calls to prayer would not exceed 40 decibels, which corresponds with a radio or bird cries [said the mayor].
"Skin color, one's origin, gender or different religions do not play a role (in this kind of decisions). And it's good like that", explained the mayor.
The mosque of this town of more than 28,000 inhabitants, situated 100 kilometers from Hamburg, is the biggest one in Schleswig-Holstein, with two 26m high minarets. It was inuagurated in the fall of 2009."
One party which absolutely welcomed the decision to allow the muezzin's call were the Rendsburger Gruene, the Greens. While it is certainly true that all over Europe, the greatest facilitators of islamization are socialists, the greens show barely less enthusiasm - perhaps they are so enamored with islam because they share with it the same color. It is no coincidence that the National Chairman of the German Greens is... a Turk and self-described "secular muslim", Cem Ozdemir. But perhaps the most striking case in point of the affiliation between greens and muslims remains a 2008 incident involving a Green Party spokesperson in Hause, a district of Frankfurt, central Germany. The district there was already home to two mosques, and yet another muslim association wanted to erect a third one, including a muslim community center... this within a 400-meter radius of the other two. Estimated cost: €3 million. When indigenous Germans protested at a meeting concerning the building plans that "It wouldn't feel like home anymore if more come here", the Green Party spokeswoman AND Frankurts Integration Official (!!!), Nargess Eskandari-Gruenberg, blasted back that:
"40 percent of the city's population are immigrants. "If that doesn't suit you," she said, "then you need to move somewhere else."
Oh yeah, never mind her liberal western looks. It's all taqiyyah you know.
Sadly, these are no isolated cases. Currently, 184 new mosques are being built and/or planned throughout Germany. That's basically, all of a sudden, a 115% increase over the existing 163 mosques [apart from that, there are also an estimated 2,600 prayer rooms - MFBB].
Powerful organizations behind this sudden building frenzy are DITIB and Ahmadiyya. DITIB is actually a branch of the Turkish Ministry of Religious Affairs, and is on its maps already dividing up Germany in religious entities not unlike Christian dioceses. Ahmadiyya is an organization totally apart from DITIB, but no less ambitious, since it has introduced a "100 Mosque Plan" - of which 25% has already been completed!
But back to our Rendsburger muezzin. If the gullible mayor thinks that the call to prayer won't exceed 40 decibels, I have another bridge across the Kiel Canal to sell him. The naivete of those people is really striking, especially in light of the undisputable fact that muslims don't give a jolt about kafir laws. Time and again, muslims do not honor their part of the bargain. Building perscriptions are violated, payment deadlines aren't met, and agreed on transparancy is not provided. Some examples:
So, if you think this guy, Hasan Unsal, the muezzin of the Rendsburg mosque...
... will stick to the 40 decibel limit when trying to wake up his co-religionists at five in the morning... you're probably one of those people who are still convinced the Himalaya's glaciers will all be gone by 2035. Meanwhile...
Via Galliawatch, a January 29, 2010 exerpt from an utterly sad article by Mireille Popelin, first published at Riposte Laïque:
"There are 12 million of them. French salaried workers. And everything is being done to make them disappear. No one even talks about them anymore! The radical chic ("bobo") Left even says they no longer exist. They endure discrimination. The workers at Conti, at Caterpillar, etc... who fight against the relocation of their companies, who fight against so-called social plans, i.e., unemployment, have to wage their battles alone. They are the people who live in low-income housing and who are subject to the laws of the fanatics and the mafiosi.
Many left the suburbs that had become unlivable. But not those who did not have the means to buy or rent elsewhere. Old retired people who were not able to leave are insulted: "dirty French, old whores, and 4 square meters." You don't know what "4 square meters" refers to? It's the grave. They reduce these older workers to the grave! With targeted spitting, near their shoes. With seats in the bus offered to a veiled Muslim woman apparently younger than they are. At the marketplace it is the Muslim woman who is served first, ostensibly, while the French woman has to wait. The merchants are Arabs. The butcher shops are almost all halal and the retirees have to take a bus or subway to stock up on meat that is not halal. I know them, I listen to them in their retirement clubs.
What of the schools? Islamists are at the door and put pressure on the poor teachers... no swimming pool for girls, no "sex" ed. (We have religion, they say, we don't need that. We don't talk about that.) Biology, history... the teachers often break down, torn between fear and the desire to "pull" these kids towards emancipation and knowledge. I know this well, because it has happened in my family, and it ends with depression and heart attacks.
I'm tired of reading everywhere about the great fears of Muslims who are discriminated against, when fanatics and mafiosi force their "law" in the "lost territories of the Republic".
Note: The Lost Territories of the Republic is the title of a book by Emmanuel Brenner (a pseudonym) that came out in 2002. It describes the breakdown of law and order in large areas of France where even the police dare not go. The following is drawn from a review of the book at JCPA:
The testimonies indicate the serious plight of French democracy. Many teachers close their eyes to the violence, intimidation, and racism. Others describe the perpetrators as "hooligans" or "hoodlums," in denial of the fact that there are elements in the French Muslim community as well as foreign television stations that systematically incite against others. Other teachers try to maintain "social peace" by appeasing the bullies and withholding sympathy from their victims.
The schools' attitudes broadly reflect those of the left-wing government and the previous political position of President Jacques Chirac. During three years of major anti-Semitic incidents, he denied that there was anti-Semitism in France. Only after yet another arson attempt against a Jewish institution in November 2003 did Chirac decide to change his stance.
The cases described are not limited to Jewish victims. Some Christian pupils are so intimidated by the Muslim majority in their classes that they have considered converting to Islam. Teachers are harassed as well. Some Muslim pupils expressed their joy about 11 September, and Bin Laden is a hero to them. It would be a mistake to think that the hatred focuses exclusively on Jews and Americans; the Muslims' main disgust is for the French and French society."
Meanwhile, French officials have far more pressing matters at hand and events to attend which are a gazillion times more important than the stupid pathetic lives of Jean-Claude, Marie-Claire, Sébastien and Sandrine. François Desouche follows Mr. Brice Hortefeux, French Interior Minister, at the occasion of the inauguration of the Grand Mosque of Clermont-Ferrand, central France:
"The Grand Mosque of Clermont-Ferrand, expected since more than ten years by the about 35,000 muslims of Auvergne, was inaugurated this evening by the Interior Minister, Brice Hortefeux.
Integrally financed with 1.2 million EUR by faithful French and foreigners, the mosque, which boasts a dome and soon a minaret, covers a surface of more than 1,000 sq. meters and can accommodate 1,500 people.
"My presence here, as Minister of Interior responsible for religion, is meant as a sign of the will to dialogue which unites the Republic with France's muslims", declared Hortefeux, who was accompanied by the rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, Dalil Boubakeur, the chairman of the National Muslim Council, Mohammed Moussaoui, diplomats and religious and political personalities.
"This mosque is the hallmark of an islam of peace, moderate, far from the radical sermons that may poison the life of France's muslims, Hortefeux added. Boubakeur said that as far as he is concerned, the mosque is "a historical work", "a place of love, peace and spirituality for all the faithful of the region".
Hortefeux, at the same time Regional Councillor of Auvergne, then donned a burnous, a traditional muslim garb presented to authorities, offered by the mosque's imam Hocine Mahdjoub."
Here's a short video of this dhimmi scoundrel and traitor:
Meanwhile, construction of mosques all over France continues like a whirlwind. Below you see a photo of the building site of the Grand Mosque of Strasbourg, in France's east.
And this is the projected Grand Mosque of Marseille, construction of which saw the green light in January:
Sweden is bad. The UK is bad. Germany is bad. The Netherlands is very bad. Belgium is bad. But I am pretty certain the first country to go down in flames will be France.
Let no one say there were no warnings.
Outlaw Mike, the mean Belgian/Flemish Capitalist, Conservative and Christian follower of Hayek, Von Mises and Friedman salutes you.
This, the upside-down, has made him famous.
They will tell you that you are "investing" your money in U.S. Treasury bonds. But they will use your money immediately to pay for their unprecedented trillion-dollar budget deficits, leaving nothing to back up their political promises, just as they have raided the Social Security trust funds. This "conversion" may start out as an optional choice, though you are already free to buy Treasury bonds whenever you want. But as Karl Denninger of the Market Ticker Web site reports: "'Choices' have a funny way of turning into mandates, and this looks to me like a raw admission that Treasury knows it will not be able to sell its debt in the open market — so they will effectively tax you by forcing your 'retirement' money to buy them."
What of the schools? Islamists are at the door and put pressure on the poor teachers... no swimming pool for girls, no "sex" ed. (We have religion, they say, we don't need that. We don't talk about that.) Biology, history... the teachers often break down, torn between fear and the desire to "pull" these kids towards emancipation and knowledge. I know this well, because it has happened in my family, and it ends with depression and heart attacks.
