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.
Sunday, October 09, 2005
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.
Riiiiiiight.
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
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
Monday, October 03, 2005
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:
Thursday, September 29, 2005
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.
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.
Thursday, September 22, 2005
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!!!
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
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
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
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 newestturd 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.
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
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.
Monday, September 19, 2005
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:
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
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.
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.
Saturday, September 17, 2005
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:
...or read this article from The Telegraph instead:
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
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
Friday, September 16, 2005
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Monday, September 12, 2005
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.
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.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Thursday, September 08, 2005
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:
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:
Oh, I know, that Black Dawn simulation is just another ploy of scaremongers like Rover. Well, sorry to disappoint you again Marti:
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):
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:
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
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
Saturday, September 03, 2005
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.
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.
Friday, September 02, 2005
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:
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:
*
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.
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.
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.
*
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
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:
*
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.
*
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
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
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.
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.
Monday, August 29, 2005
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
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
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Friday, August 26, 2005
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