The caption underneath the ad reads:
THE SUPERSIZED AMERICA JOURNAL FROM DE STANDAARD
Not to miss on Friday 31 October
America is more than the country of hamburgers, coke, Hollywood and George Bush. Do not judge too fast and discover the real America in the extra large America journal of De Standaard on Friday 31 October. Therein we give you a surprising and nuanced view on America, beyond the clichés. Life as it is in real in the states of America. In addition, you get a free Panos donut.
Follow America on its heels via www.standaard.be/vs2008
Notice the snippet "and nuanced view of America". I added two arrows. You can see for yourself how nuanced De Standaard's view of America is.
Despite the newspaper's claims that it brings you "nuanced" news, the only thing you'll find there is incessant, foaming-at-the-mouth tirades against everything Republican. It's not a recent thing: in 2004, De Standaard publicly endorsed John Kerry. I suspect very strongly that tomorrow morning, Monday 3 November, it will do the same for Barack Obama. In this campaign, possibly the most vicious, below-the-belt-attacks were reserved for Sarah Palin: literally nothing good has been said about her.. It should be noted that the Foreign Editor of De Standaard, Evita Neefs, is currently in the US covering the US elections. On De Standaard online, she regularly posts her impressions. Mrs. Neefs recently had the honour of being mentioned in a CBN broadcast, more precisely in "The 700 Club" during a conversation between Dale Hurd and Pat Robertson. Via Luc Van Braekel:
"American presidential elections are not home affairs. American decisions have repercussions all over the globe... Hence, the world should be given the right to vote." (...)
Alternative translation: "Those 60 million stupid American rednecks who keep voting the McBushitlers in the White House are a roadblock on humanity's path toward a socialist future and their votes must thus be annulled through the participation in the US elections of intelligent, enlightened progressive individuals like me."
Further evidence of De Standaard's nonpartisan character is offered by the ad hoc column, in Friday's America special, of Sarah Bettens, a Belgian popsinger of dubious fame who currently lives in Tennessee, of all places:
Translation:
HELP, OUR NEW FRIENDS ARE PRO MCCAIN
Bad news, people: the couple we befriended over here in Johnson City and who fly over the ocean in a couple of weeks to see a concert of mine in my country of origin (and maybe also to see bit of Europe), is pro McCain! How could this happen? And that is not everything. Neither are they totally disgusted by that rightwing slut Sarah Palin, the biggest 'Jesus freak' walking in the political landscape. While registering and processing this ominous information, four options presented themselves in my mind. A first possibility is to completely evade the subject and pretend there's no presidential elections. If November 4 is mentioned, I excuse myself nonchalantly to go to the restrooms and linger there long enough until the conversation has switched to a lighter and less controversial subject.
Secondly, I could end our friendship abruptly and saddle my girlfriend [Sarah Bettens is lesbian - note from MFBB] with the ungrateful task to share a flight with people whom we don't talk to anymore.
Thirdly, I could bombard them the coming week with information and desperately try to convince them of why I am right. Those who know me somewhat, know that this is my favourite option.
Fourthly, I could try to look at the world from their POV and go search somewhere deep in me to some understanding for their vision. Those who know me somewhat, know that this is useless. But because option one to three are impossible, I will have to make an effort. Or at least pretend to, I'll get thru the week with that.
Notice for the umpteenth time how liberals are always dumbfounded when they discover that there are actually real people of flesh and blood who do not share their enlightened progressive opinions. While Miss Bettens says that option two, ending the friendship, is not feasible, I can testify that in my personal case, it was possible for a leftist friend of mine with whom I shared a student's home twenty years ago in Ghent. Four years back I encountered Paul K. again on the web. Despite our very good relationship back in the days, and my willingness to continue the friendship even upon discovering he had only radicalized in his leftist views, he abruptly ended our camaraderie when he found out about my activities on DowneastBlog. So much for the kind, tolerant and diverse leftist mindset, and Miss Bettens' pro McCain friends may very well find out she opted for no.2 after all. It won't be a great loss. Sarah Bettens biggest "hit" in the Low Countries was the song "I'm not an addict". Here's an exerpt from the lyrics:
Breathe it in and breathe it out
And pass it on, it's almost out
We're so creative, so much more
We're high above but on the floor
It's not a habit, it's cool, I feel alive
If you don't have it you're on the other side
The deeper you stick it in your vein
The deeper the thoughts, there's no more pain
I'm in heaven, I'm a god
I'm everywhere, I feel so hot
It's not a habit, it's cool, I feel alive
If you don't have it you're on the other side
I'm not an addict (maybe that's a lie)
It's over now, I'm cold, alone
I'm just a person on my own
Nothing means a thing to me
(Nothing means a thing to me)
Like I said, no great loss. Rather a win.
Oh yeah. You might to watch out for five Belgian clowns heading your way to monitor the US elections. It's just a matter of making sure Repimplicans don't steal them for a third time. Like De Standaard, the five pretend they are "nonpartisan". Still, Belgium's top blogger Luc Van Braekel found out something curious about two of them. From Luc's site:
"Five Belgian MP's left for the US as monitors for Tuesday's upcoming presidential elections. On account of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe they will check out whether the voting procedures are observed fair and correctly. It is however remarkable that two of the five are members of the support committee "Belgium for Obama" and can therefore hardly be called impartial."
Here is these bozo's website:
If you can stomach to venture into that site, you'll discover there's some peculiar Obama supporters over there. Take Elio Di Rupo e.g., Chairman of the Belgian Socialist Party, Wallonian branch. Here is what Mr. Di Rupo has to say about the great prospect of a Fellow Socialist at the helm of the US of A:
Just so that you know, the Wallonian Parti Socialiste, nicknamed the "Party of 1,000,000 scandals, is the main cause of Wallonia's dismal state. Wallonia has now been ruled for nearly a hundred years by this party, and it shows. It's an economic graveyard and can only be kept afloat by massive subsidies from Flanders, Belgium's rich north, channeled to it via the redistributionist network of the Belgian federal state. It should be noted that life expectancy in socialist dominated Wallonia is lower than in the more free market Flanders:
Relative risks per region. Flanders, relatively free market, is roughly the top half of Belgium, socialist-dominated Wallonia the south half. The darker the region, the higher the health risks and the lower the life expectancy. ALL of the white areas are in Flanders. ALL of the dark areas are in Wallonia. Just so that you know what's in store for you when The One gives you the famous socialized health care system so many Americans are craving for. Here is more info from the NCBI PubMed site, a service from the US National Library of Medicine:
SETTING: As part of the WHO-MONICA study, acute coronary events have been registered from 1983 until 1992 in the general population aged 25-69 years in two Belgian cities--Ghent in the northern Dutch speaking part of Belgium and Charleroi in the southern French speaking part. Registration of events was done according to an international standard protocol. OBJECTIVE: To study trends in total, fatal and non-fatal event rates and trends in case fatality rates in these two cities. MAIN RESULTS: Incidence of CHD was on average 50% higher in Charleroi compared with Ghent in both men and women (attack rate ratio Charleroi/Ghent was 1.5 in both sexes). In both men and women, diverging trends were observed between the two cities for total and non-fatal event rates, while parallel declining trends were observed in fatal event rates and in case fatality rates. In both sexes, total attack rates showed a significant decrease in Ghent and a significant increase in Charleroi. Also in the two sexes, attack rates of non-fatal events increased significantly in Charleroi and remained stable in Ghent. Attack rates of fatal events decreased significantly in men and women in Ghent and in men in Charleroi. Both "total" and "in hospital" case fatality rates declined significantly in both sexes in the two cities. CONCLUSIONS: Important differences in coronary heart disease (CHD) incidence and CHD trends between Ghent and Charleroi were observed. These differences and trends are interpreted in the context of existing and still growing differences in the overall socioeconomic situation between the north and the south of the country. On the other hand, the efficacy of medical treatment of CHD is comparable in the two regions, as reflected by similar figures and trends for case fatality rates.
Crime-ridden and corrupt Charleroi, sometimes called the Chicago on the Sambre, has been a Parti Socialiste bulwark for over a century.
Are you still following? We're almost there. Apart from Mr. Di Rupo and a fair number of lesser socialist gods, you'll find on the roster of the Belgium for Obama Committee also a Dane. We're talking about Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, a Danish political heavyweight and former Danish PM, until the Danes, these days possibly the sanest Europeans, kicked him out in 2001 after he had sufficiently trashed their economy. Mr. Rasmussen, not related to the current Danish PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen, did not end up in the desert however. Far from. Currently he is President of the Party of European Socialists! It turns out that after Ayers, Dohrn, Rezko, Khalidi, Pfleger, Odinga and Di Rupo Mr. Obama can add yet another phone number of the "guy in his neighborhood" type to his Rolodex.
In Café Maison du Peuple, Parvis Saint-Gilles, 39 - 1060 Bruxelles, this Tuesday, November 4, the Wallonian Parti Socialiste organizes a "Soirée Obama Night"! Indeed, the Belgian Support Committee for Barack Obama, its president Elio Di Rupo and its co-president Marleen Temmerman will welcome you there for a grand evening of festivities in anticipation of a socialist in the White House, with direct election results on a big screen! Happy Hour from 20.30h till 22h30!
As a real American, you might want to trash that party.
This was Outlaw Mike reporting from a continent committing suicide.
MFBB.